Bailey Family

I went to the blog to see what my last posted picture was as I prepared to post the rest of our crazy busy April and realized the spring break blog post was still floating around as a draft! Oops...  (Here I am counting down the days left until summer break and haven't even posted spring break.) Well, here it is. Alee had her (birthday) turn at my parents with her cousin over spring break. (Alee's birthday is long past, but her cousin's was recently, and they were planned to go have their visit together.) I love this picture my mom took of Alee. She was so excited to go and all she talked about was going to that pool! While she was gone, we started on this year's room project. (I'm trying to focus on one area at a time to keep my house projects not overwhelming and in budget.) Last year it was a little in several places, this year it's focused on the girls bathroom and finishing the last kids' room to be painted. Some funny things Alee said re...

Beth spends a wonderful amount of time chronicling the accomplishments of the kids, so I thought I'd take a moment and share one of hers. Beth loves to be around the kids. She loved having them around the house during the preschool years, and was sad to see our youngest start school this year. So she decided to volunteer at their school, so she could still be around them. She has chaperoned many field trips, and has a big one coming up with Seth- even though he's moved on to the much cooler Middle School era. She also participates in the Reading Buddies program, where she reads with children that don't have that opportunity in the home. I'm not completely sure how it worked, but it seemed like her role in Reading Buddies morphed into an additional assignment to give extra instruction to kids in 2 classrooms, not just reading. Each teacher evaluates the needs of her class, and then assigns Beth to give special attention or even instruction to help. In most cases, sh...

We went down to my parents this past weekend. Originally the intent was because my dad had a birthday this month, but when I checked the calendar, I realized it was also Easter weekend. Bonus! I'll include the gift he got at the end of the post because I really liked it. We went to the beach Saturday morning (mostly to play in the sand - the adults didn't even bother putting on swimsuits - it was cool and overcast). I do have a few crazy children though, and they insisted on playing in the ocean. (I would only let them go up to their ankles due to a posted warning sign.) My pictures aren't super awesome in clarity - I didn't want to take my nice camera to a windy sandy beach, so they're all phone pictures. (And of course I tried to zoom in more than I should have.) Overcast is my favorite sky condition. (Rainy is 2nd favorite and sunny comes in dead last!) Alee was very diligent in making her sand castle perfect. Makeshift balance beam we f...

Continuing on with our day to day... Some days we get a little tired of the day-to-day...spring break, are you coming? At least spring is here - yea for short sleeves and outside time! Guess who learned to ride a bike with no training wheels? :) Guess who taught her? (Kaitlyn was jealous because she wanted to teach her, but Alee chose Carolyn to teach her since Carolyn is older than Kaitlyn.) First fall! Shake it off... Visit from Saba and Nonny - always includes some chess time. Nonny began a new tradition last summer when she drove through and visited while I was at girls' camp. She has a collection of food cutters, food safe markers, and fun tools to make lunch "bento" style. (This is a boiled egg shaped while it's in ice water and then colored after it's cool.) I think this is Carolyn's: I think this is Seth's: After Bento Box Lunches, we went to a "ShareFair" of STEAM (STEM) activities. Th...