Montana Capitol Tour

For Justice's Citizenship in the Nation Merit Badge, we needed to visit a historical sight. We decided to take a tour of the Montana Capitol Building. We invited a couple other Scouts to join us. It's such a beautiful building. Our tour guide knew a lot and tried to make it as interesting as he could for a bunch of little kids that were thirsty and kinda whiney. LOL Oh boy! Outings with kiddos is always an adventure!

Sprinklers Under the Tramp

The Paynes are going on vacation for a month to Alaska. They leave this weekend so they invited us to spend some time with them before they leave. They set up their trampoline with the sprinkler. The kid had a blast getting wet, blowing bubbles, eating treats and visiting. So fun! We'll miss you guys!

Dishers on the Walking Mall

We took the Disher ladies up to the Walking Mall for a stroll. The kids played chess and slide down the firepole. Glory caught bugs.  We checked out the Toy Store. We walked all the way to the Library to show them the Firetower. On our way back, We made a stop at the candy shop for some chocolate and some Turkish Delight. Delicious! And we ate Big Dipper ice cream/shakes for lunch!

What a fun visit! Thanks ladies for coming all this way to spend time with us! Luv ya!

Dishers at Spring Meadow Lake

After Church, we took Becky & Josie out to Spring Meadow Lake for a picnic lunch. It was a but warm but such a beautiful day to be outdoors.

Catch Fishing Fever

Last year, I heard about this community event called Catch Fishing Fever. Unfortunately, it was full before I could sign up the kids. So I got on a waiting list for this year. We got registered even before it was open to the public.
Early this morning, Brett took Justice, Victoria and Glory out to Canyon Ferry Lake at the Silo Campground by Townsend.

They did stations and learned all sorts of things about fishing like tying knots, water safety and fish identification (native Montana fish). They received backpacks, hats, sunglasses, fishing poles and lures. They got all that for FREE. How awesome is that!!!??

They also got to go out on a boat to do some fishing! They got 2 BIG fish!!!

We (Liberty, Becky, Josie and I) joined them at lunchtime. They actually fed us all as well. We ate hot dogs and chips on the beach. The kids fished a bit more from the shore. They skipped rocks. They all waded in the lake. Liberty and Josie took a walk down the beach. We had a great time!

It was perfect weather for such a fun day!!! Here's the info about the day:

When we got home, Justice measured his fish. It was 20 1/2 inches long!!! They cooked it up and ate it for dinner. Yum!

Liberty's Twin Came to Visit

Liberty very best friend, Josie Disher came to visit us this week. Back in Fargo, we always got them confused. Can you see why??? Freaky Twinners! LOL

It was so special that they would come out to visit. We appreciate the sacrifice of Dale to let Becky & Josie leave him and the other 5 kiddos for six days. And Becky for being brave to drive all the way out here and for not turning around when the GPS landed her on a dirt road somewhere in Montana. LOL We love you ladies!!

We took them to a couple places around town {More about the rest of their visit in the posts to come!} but we also enjoyed sharing our home with them. 

The girls got each other matching T-shirts that had something to do with the Percy Jackson series, their favorite colors and Greece? Super fun! {I know that Becky & I are not twinners like Liberty and Josie but we sure are cute. And we had a good time being together as well!}

The girls loved sleeping in (after staying up all hours playing on Minecraft on electronics). A couple of times we wondered if they even knew how to speak since they mostly were silent the whole week unless we asked them a question and their answers were just noises like grunts. Silly girls!

While they were here, we introduced them to Pitch Perfect. We laughed so hard!!!! We watched the first one at home one night. Then just us four girls went to the theater to watch Pitch Perfect 2 and go out to lunch at the Creperie. Yum! 

 

The Dishers brought Carbles with them for us to play. Fun times!!!

And we ate ALOT!!! Yummy meals everyday. I didn't take any pics except for when the girls made ButterBeer from Harry Potter!

Fun times!!!

Burn School Burn! Bonfire

Liberty planned a Bonfire Party with some of her friends tonight. She is such an amazing girl that helps normal teenage boundaries disappear. (like "popular & nerdy" as Liberty would put it,  EVMS & Montana City students, "silly & serious", dancers & actresses)
All these girls came and brought armfuls of school papers from this year that they wanted to BURN!!!
Left to Right: Ann, Megan, Kara, Mikal, Liberty and Marcie

Brett helped them start a fire. Then, they let me come out for a tiny bit and take some pictures of them. Let the burning begin!!!!

Just let the frustration of the year burn away, girls!!!! LOL

It was fun to hear them reminisce about the year. Things like- "Oh man! Do you remember this? I hated that!!! Burn, baby, burn!!" or "You can help me burn anything you want except for my Animal Mitosis report. That one is mine!!!!" :)

I asked them to let me take a picture like they really meant it. I loved that they tore some of them in half before they burned them! LOL

I tried to keep my distance and let me just enjoy each other. But it was super fun to look out the window and see them out there visiting, roasting marshmallows and even gummy bears. Hannah came later so I ran out and grabbed one last picture of all them together as they roasted up their final gummy bears! Love these girls!

Last Day of School 2015

The last day of school was a half day with an assembly. I dropped the kids off to school, went and worked out, ran and errand and then headed home. Liberty and I made T-shirts for a friends that's coming to visit this week and then it was time to go get the kids. I took Liberty with me to get a picture of all my kids on the last day.
I forgot that I never took a picture of Liberty & her friends standing outside the school and waving goodbye to all the kids on the bus. She did it almost everyday!!! So here's my lame attempt at documenting that memory! LOL

Then we headed over the metal Mustang for a group picture of us, the Paynes and Mikal. The little girl in the pink is Sandra- Glory played a lot with her after school while she waited for the rest of the kids to get out. And then there's the Mom at the bottom right. ????? Perhaps I'm not quite ready for them to be home all the time yet? LOL

I just need to get my junk all together, make some plans to keep people off electronics, sleep in a day or two and then....

Bring on the Summer!!!!

Ring of Fire & Ice Cream Sundaes

Victoria's teacher this year was AMAZING!!! We love her! She is so smart, loving, positive, thoughtful and silly. She was perfect for Victoria! They are 2 peas in a pod!

All year, Mrs. Sharbono would have songs and poems and games for the kids to memorize that taught them valuable things like math facts, US presidents, poems about grammar, etc. For the end of the year celebration in her classroom, she acknowledged those kids that did an outstanding job! Of course, Victoria was one of those kiddos. She has one of the most amazing memorizing brains I have ever seen! 

For memorizing all her multiplication math facts, Victoria got 13 toppings on her ice cream sundae. 

For passing off her all of XtraMath (a program online to help you learn basic math facts in under 3 seconds), she was presented a "Ring of Fire, [SHARK BAIT OH HA HA]" {Mrs. Sharbono's favorite movie is Nemo}. 

Then, Victoria was also one of two kids to be presented a Sword of Bubbles for memorizing EVERYTHING that Mrs. Sharbono had asked them to this year!!! Way to go, Smarty Pants!

Here's a shot I got of Mrs. Sharbono's charts she used to keep track of the kids and their progress.. Victoria is the 1st one ***starred on the chart on the right. She memorized all 30 of those things. Wow!!

8th Grade Graduation Celebration

Liberty is DONE with Middle School!!! It has been quite the week long Celebration!! Montana City School is K through 8th so they make it a big deal when students are finished with their education here. Liberty even wanted to buy a new dress (she hates dresses) for the occasion. Mikal & Liberty went out this week to go dress shopping together. They looked pretty darling!!
The PTA {or possibly just the 8th grade parents- I didn't attend any of the Celebration Meetings. Oops!} had an extravagant week planned. On Wednesday night, they had a 8th Grade Graduation in the school gym. Everyone was invited in the evening to see the students get awards and their certificates. They played a slideshow put to music of all the students with baby pictures, current pictures and group shots while we waited to start. Then they played music as the 8th graders came out one by one.

The 8th Grade class all congregated in a section on the stage.

After a few speakers- the TA Teachers (the class they have for 15 minutes each morning that teaches cross-class cooperation and leadership skills) did presentations for the students of their extracurricular activities while in Middle School at Montana City School. Here's Mrs. Blaskovich reading about Liberty.

All the students then were asked to go and give their parents a thank you gift- a flower and a card they had made.

Next came the presentations of their certificates. The principal called their names, they walked across the stage and got their certificates. Then tons of teachers had attended to stand in line and say congrats to the kids. It was a huge line across the gym. (I took several pictures so you can see Liberty hugging people along the way.

All the kids sat in one section for a group pictures before they set them free to eat treats & punch and say hi to everyone. She let me take picture of a few people. Mikal Fife, Morgan Oie, Hannah Caldwell, Rylee Holman, Tanner Davis, and Mikayla (who was from EVMS but was there for her cousin)

Now--- onto the After-Party!!!
I took a bunch of girls over to the Bowling Alley. They had rented it out for the evening. They had a Luau with pizza, bowling, soda, and a photo booth. They said they had a fantastic time!

The next day, the school bused the 8th graders down to Fairmont for the day. Liberty and her friends did races down the slide and timed themselves. Mikal & Liberty kept getting the same time so they finally just declared them both the WINNERS. All the other girls bought them a Tropical Sno. Yum! What a fun group of friends! Here's a bunch of them jumping together into the pool.

They didn't need to go to school on the last day so...

There ends the life of our Middle Schooler!!!

Celebrating our 7 Year Old for Days

Brett was going to be out of town for Glory's actual birthday so we started celebrating her on Sunday. We opened a few presents. I have been working hard to finish up her baby book for her birthday. I finally got it done so we gave it to her as well. She had a good time looking through it.

Brett made her a special dinner.

We even made her an awesome "Chocolate & Caramel with Whipped Cream & Health Bar Candy" cake {the kids refuse to call it it's real name. LOL}

This morning (her actual birthday), we made her a special breakfast and let her open another present or two.

This afternoon, I got to spend some time at school with her. We ate lunch together. Her friends sang to her in the lunchroom. At recess, they impressed me with their jump-roping & singing skills. ;) I got to help out her teacher in the classroom. Then we handed out cupcakes and sang to her.

Tonight, we did Birthday Celebration: Part II. We opened the rest of her presents. She was super excited that she got "high heel" shoes. She's been dying to get her feet on some lately! LOL She also got barbies, a webkinz, a Frozen blanket, stuffed puppy and some tennis shoes.

We made her another special dinner!

And surprise but we had more cupcakes!!! Yah? ;) Anyone want to some for leftover cake this week????? These ones were made to order for the birthday princess- Strawberries ones with purple frosting & sprinkles!!!

Wowzer! What a party! Happy Birthday Girly! XOXO

Glory's Memories of Being Six

Memories of being SIX:

*Favorite color: Purple
*Favorite Food: Strawberries
*Besties: your family, Lilliann {Moops} (apartment), Quinn Fife, Kara, Kassi & Korbin Payne, Brooklyn Smith, Sampson Seedall (all Church friends), Every girl in Mrs. Myers 1st grade class, Teegan & Kennedi Trettin (neighbors)
*Loves to Collect bugs for pets
*Participated in the Montana Mucker, Cheer Camp, the Missoula Children's Theater & the Bible Camp
*Loves family walks and playing in puddles & the rain
*Loves school- Mrs. Johnson in Kindergarten & Mrs. Myers for 1st Grade
*Loves to smile
*Loves to be silly with your siblings
*Loves to dressup & play Imaginary games like House & Pokemon
*Attended the East Helena Rodeo
*Loves the TV Show- Heartland
*Learned to ride a bike
*Got a tooth extracted & a spacer put in
*Went to Fairmont Hot Springs on Vacation to swim while it snowed & froze your hair
*Went to Bozeman for a Fieldtrip to Museum of the Rockies
*Pretended to be Siamese Twins with Grammy
*Loves the Go-Kart, swimming & sledding

Glory-
You are such a joy in our family! We love your smile! You light up a room when you walk in. You love everyone to be happy & are very silly! You are so smart and love to learn. You make the best of many situations. So grateful that we have you! Love you! XOXO!