Early Week Randoms

Jack received some water balloons for his birthday (such a great idea for kids with late Spring/Summer birthdays!) and we have had a lot of water balloon fights.  The kids are able to fill the balloons themselves -- especially the ones that automatically tie -- and are such good sports about playing together.

Jimmy usually pics just a couple that he really likes (probably based on color) and then prefers to keep them away from the others so that they don't pop.

Summertime fun at it's best.

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More summertime fun = playing in the sprinkler.  Some days, due to time, I am not as apt to suggest going down to the beach.  Those days are better spent with the sprinkler hooked up in the front yard, doing double-duty watering the lawn at the same time.

Two peas in a pod.

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Packing for our first camping trip of the season.

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Samantha did Dance Camp again this summer and had a blast.  It is a full week (9 am to 3 pm, Monday through Friday) and concludes with a performance for family on the last day.  We were able to see all of the routines that they learned -- and there were so many of them -- and then snap a group picture at the end.

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We celebrated my dad's 71st birthday at my house with a big lunch, swimming/boating at the lake and then dessert afterwards.  He always requests my raspberry cheesecake, but I also made a strawberry poke cake to go with it for the kids that have not yet (sadly) acquired a taste for cheesecake.  It was definitely a fun day!

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This boy discovered that the battery-operated four-wheeler that used to be his big brother's is now passed on to him.  Not a single day goes by that he doesn't back it out of the garage and ride it all over the yard.

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One of my friends (who used to be a neighbor and moved away last year) invited us to her little one's first birthday.  It was a watermelon theme -- I love a good theme! -- and asked me a long time ago if I would be willing to make the cake.  Of course!  I think that it turned out pretty cute ...

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We have been waiting so long for some good Michigan sweet corn because the very rainy Spring made planting quite difficult here.  I broke down and bought some earlier in the summer and I had three anxious kids who were more than willing to help shuck it for me on the back patio.

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This just made Jimmy's day ... I let each of the kids pick out one item from the clearance section at Walmart and this is what he chose; a bubble cycle.

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Jack has really started to enjoy the hobby of fishing this summer.  Steve bought him his own fishing pole and Jack will often go across to one of the docks on the lake and fish either with Steve or even by himself. 

He had been asking for a tackle box of his own and Steve surprised him one day after work by bringing one home.  And even better -- he has lots of special lures and worms for Jack to add to it.  Jack loves a nice organizational task and he set right to work putting everything in its rightful spot.

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Jimmy turned 3 1/2 on August 4th.  This was a day that he has been waiting for ... forever.  This meant that he would be old enough to go to preschool in the Fall.

I didn't want the day to just pass by with little acknowledgement, so I made him a firetruck cake and he could hardly believe his eyes when he saw it.

And we let his big brother, with close supervision, light the candles for him.  All 3.5 of them.

(And then he woke up immediately after his nap and put his bookbag on to head to school.  I should have predicted this, especially since we said that he would be able to go to school after he turned 3.5.  Instead, he actually doesn't start school until after Labor Day ... a long time from now!  Ugh!).

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Happy 4th of July!

We started the holiday week off with a fun 4th of July craft that I hope to pull out year after year.  These are some of my most treasured things and I am finding that the kids love seeing them out too and recalling how we made them together. 

We began with a blank canvas and some bendable straws taped together to mimic a sparkler.

Each kid took a turn dapping their "sparkler" in red paint and placing it on the canvas.

Then, we overlayed some blue.

Portion-control was critical for this little crafter.

The finished project, hanging on our wall -- complete with the year their names next to their personal sparklers.

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One night, I surprised the kids (Aunt Minnie was over with Louie and Zoe too) with sugar cookies that they could decorate.

I loved watching their creativity.

Yes, this was deinitely a favorite activity ... espeically when I told them that they coould each have a decorated cookie (or two?  or three?) afterwards!

Jimmy still continues to have curls, even after two haircuts.  I hope that they stay their forever.

Some of the finished products (and evidence of a blue-frosted cookie consumed by Sophia).

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The girls were playing down the street with their friends, so I asked Jack if he would like to work on a special project with me (Jimmy was napping).  Of course, he was interested so we set to work gathering our supplies.


Pouring the dry plaster into a bucket:

Adding the water slowly before mixing:

Leveling the wet plaster:

Adding glass stones to make a pattern:

The finished project -- a stepping stone for our flower garden:

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Bikes decorated and all ready for the neighborhood parade down to the park on 4th of July morning:

These girls of mine are growing up so fast.  Sam will be entering middle school in the Fall this year (how did that happen???) and Sophia will be the oldest sibling in the elementary school. 

We even decorated the golf cart for the holiday!  You can never have too much red, white and blue!

Facepainting!

Decorated donuts!

Boats and silly moustaches!

Games galore!  (And just look at Jimmy trying to run as fast as his little legs would carry him!)

Nice form, Jack!

Jimmy found the firetruck and wanted to make sure that I got a picture of him sitting in it!

Later in the evening, we ate dinner at home (Grandpa came over to spend the day with us) and roasted s'more over the fire.  And of course, we all enjoyed the fireworks over the lake.  I say this every year, but I really do think that this year was the best ever!

Father's Day 2019

Each year, I ask Steve how he would like to celebrate his 'special day,' and his answer seems to always be the same.  He really doesn't need anything and doesn't care much about going out to eat (I love to though!); he would just rather keep things simple.

So ... I had the idea to pick out a few of his favorite things -- letting the kids weigh in with ideas -- and then we wrapped them up and set them on the table.  We filled in with some special messages and let him open everything after a homemade breakfast.

The kids took turns handing him their chosen items and I am not sure who smiled more, Steve or them.  It was the perfect idea!

Samantha gave him a super-soft tee-shirt that said, "Batman" on it to match his Superman one.  And she wrapped up a big bag of his favorite wintergreen mints.  She also filled out this questionaire, earning a few laughs along the way.

Sophia remembered that her dad loves coffee, so we picked up a big box of k-cups for his coffee maker and a bottle of his favorite Irish Cream.  She filled out her own questionaire, but I suspect that she borrowed a few ideas from her sister :)

Jack chose to gift his dad with some peanuts in their shells (Steve loves these!) and some Big Red gum -- his own idea and completely "spot-on."  Then, he worked diligently on this workbook for Steve, with this page being one of my absolute favorites ...

"My dad really likes hot sauce."

"My dad really doesn't like poop."

(I don't know if I have stopped laughing ... yet!).

Jimmy gave Steve a big container of "spicy bar nut mix," and I gave him a small keg of Oberon beer.  Yup, we know him really well!

And then a picture of one of our favorite dads and his crew:

The End of the School Year - 2019

This year, the end of the school year brings with it a lot of changes. 

Samantha will be leaving the Elementary School and heading into 6th grade at the Middle School this Fall.  She's excited about it -- her classes, joining band and just the overall increased independence.  She has a large group of friends to support her and this year has taught her more about organization and structure -- two things that I expressed concern about with her 5th grade teacher very early on.  We will be learning as we go, but so far, I feel pretty good about the transition. 

One of the afterschool clubs that she was part of this year was "Puppet Club" and they learned to make their own puppets and then record movies with them. 

This is Marge:

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Sophia will be entering 3rd grade in the Fall and this is the first time that she will be the "oldest Lapinski" in the school.  Unlike her sister, she has a much closer group of friends and they managed to stick together despite being separated over three different classrooms in 2nd grade.  She continues to love art (I'm hoping to get her signed up for more afterschool art again) and excels in everything -- math, spelling, reading, writing, etc.

Every year, the 2nd grade class does a big research project on a chosen animal.  They spend time gathering facts and then putting those facts onto a poster of their own design.  Sophia chose to research sloths (such a cool animal!) and we worked on her poster together.  She then had to present it to the class.  I hear that it went very well!

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Jack graduated from kindergarten this year (Class of 2031!) and will be joining Sophia at the Elementary School in the Fall.  I have no qualms whatsoever about that, as he is very familiar with the school ... we have spent a lot of time there over the years ... and I know that Sophia will be able to help him with anything that he needs.

He loves learning and despite showing some moderate mood changes at home from time to time, he is a perfect little solider in school.  His handwriting is gorgeous and he LOVES to practice writing words and sounding them out whenever he can.  I can't wait to see what the next year holds for him.

Receiving his dipolma from his indergarten teacher, Mrs. Klaver:

Sitting next to his best friend, Colten:

They processed out to the usual 'Pomp and Circumstance" music and I teared up.  That song gets me every time.

A newly-graduated FIRST GRADER:

The Class of 2031?!  Wow.  Just wow.

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James will be going to preschool in the Fall on Tuesday and Thursday mornings from 8-11 am.  He has been talking about this forever and we'll be starting a countdown pretty soon so that it is easier for him to visualize.  In the meantime, he picked out his new bookbag (a special tradition that I do with all of the kids, ordering them early and having their names monogrammed on them) and he was SO EXCITED to try it on as soon as the UPS man dropped it off at our house. 

A construction zone bookbag.  Yes, please!

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