End of School Year and Birthdays

This year we had a unusual cool spring. It rained on and off for over a month. Before it turned too hot, David had the idea of having our family night in the park. So he loaded up the car with things we needed as soon as the kids came out of the school on Friday. Then we headed to the nearest big park Erwin park. On the way, we stopped at a neighborhood pond to fish. Emily caught a big Perch with Andy's fishing pole.

 

 

Then we drove on to the park. The kids had to swing for a while.

 

 

 

 

 It was time to build a fire and cook the dumplings. Since it just rained the day before, David had to drive for a while to find some dry branches. The fire was pretty strong. It didn't take long to steam those 70 frozen dumplings.

But the bad part was, the steamer was blackened! We should have brought the dutch oven from home instead of the steamer. It took some elbow work to clean it up after we came home.

 After the picnic and some running around, we headed back in a different way. We stopped to say hi to some cows who were happily grazing on the grass. Some of them stopped eating and started staring at us as soon as they saw us. One calf came closer and closer. Andy and EMily started to call him. But when he was closer enough, an old cow pushed him back. He disregarded the cow and moved forward again. The old cow pushed him back again. The third time, the old cow almost shoveled the calf away. Finally the calf got the message and stopped right there. Wow! We never knew the cows were so protective of each other. In the picture below, the old cow was about to push the calf and warn him not to get too close to the strangers.

 

Andy graduated from preschool last month!!! He was so excited. He kept asking "Will I go to the Kindergarten tomorrow?" At the same time, he missed his school friends so much that he wanted to watch the video of her classmates everyday for the first week of his summer vacation. We attended the Kindergarten roundup for him and met all the Kindergarten teachers. He also went through the screening for the Kindergarteners. He was so ready to go to the school next year!

 

Emily graduated from the Kindergarten. She had a wonderful school year as well. I really hope some of her classmates can stay together next year because they had built such sweet friendships. Emily and one of her classmates were picked to dance in the front in the Kindergarten graduation program. Afterwards we attended the award ceremony in her classroom. We were so proud of her!

 

She had a blast on the last day of school!

 David and the kids were about to camp out in the backyard one Saturday. They were forced to move in when the storm came. Emily got a handful of hails in her hand.

 

Emily and ANdy had their piano recital with other 15 kids. They were the youngest of the all kids. So the piano teacher said if they didn't want to perform, that would be OK. But they both did great! Their practices were paid off. Mrs. Harman was so proud of them! Here is Emily's video: https://www.facebook.com/wendy.woodward.9277/videos/10200404190503557/?pnref=story

Here is Andy's video: https://www.facebook.com/wendy.woodward.9277/videos/10200403464165399/?type=3&permPage=1

Andy had two birthday celebrations this year: one at home; the other at Gayla's house. Although the kids' teeth had been healed for a year now. I'm still watching their sugar and gluten intake as maintenance measurement. I was so grateful to hear the dentist saying that Emily's teeth were "really good" last month! It came with great discipline from the kids. And that was another thing that we were proud of them! Based on Andy's request, I made this "cheesecake" out of cashews, cauliflowers, coconut milk, almond flour, dates, honey, lemon, cherries, and vanilla extract. We really liked it.

 

We also played at Jump Street as he asked.

David challenged himself to walk up to the highest pole and then jump off

Andy cheered for Daddy

Andy was so happy to open his birthday gifts

Andy loves praying the book "God's Little Warrior" every day. So the theme for his party was "Armor of God". We read about for a week before his birthday. Then we made some crafts, including the shoes "of readiness of peace and the Gospel", the breastplate of righteousness, the belt of truth, and Emily made her version of the shield of faith.

 

Gayla insisted giving Andy a birthday party at her house later on. So we got spent some time with Mary Ellen. This time I made a different version of "cheesecake" with mango, cashews, macadamia nuts, coconut milk, and maple syrup.

 

We also celebrated Sophia's birthday, Amy's birthday and Grandpa's birthday. Then it was Fang's birthday.

I am enjoying taking kids with me for the errands. They always found interesting things to play with. They found the tractors at LocalYocal.

 

And big stones in front of the Chinese market.

Our church had the "Mother and Son" roundup. Andy had lots of fun with the games.

 The kids loved playing with our neighborhood kids. One day, our neighbor brought them some treats with a note "Thanks for being great neighbors!!!" That was sweet.

 

The garden took off pretty well this year. We already harvested lots of vegetable.

 

Zuchinnis, cucumbers, green beans, squashes, garlics (we harvested a whole bottle full and ate them in one month), spinach, mustard greens, cilantro, etc.

 

Here are some onions, tomatoes, and peppers

 

Some mushrooms

 

They taste delicious, but cost lots of work and chigger bites

 

Emily's favorite Okra chips

 

Homemade chocolate (out of cocoa powder, coconut oil and raw honey) - a nice treat for the kids.

 We watched the mommy and daddy ducks to have babies in the pond behind our backyard. Then they taught the baby ducks to swim and fly. They enjoyed the pond for several month until they found somewhere else or the horses scared them.

 We also enjoyed having our friends for dinner or lunch during the weekends.

with Dan and Scott 

with Denis & Sharon (Cambodia), Cindy and Sandy

Summer is finally in full swing now! I am so glad that I don't have to set the alarm clock or pack the school lunches everyday. Hope you will have a great summer!