A little curb appeal

Ever since my neighbors built a window flower box, I have thought one would be perfect in front of our big front window. I mentioned it to Billy and he said there were other pressing house projects for him to complete first. So, while he has been gone on this last assignment, I decided to build it myself.
It was a pretty easy project actually, didn't take long at all.
Here are some pictures of the new window flower box! It adds a little more curb appeal to the house I think. Now we shall see if I did a good job picking the right flowers..... it's been HOT lately. The boys helped me plant them today :)

Lets go Bowling

William and Zachary had dentist appointments this last Thursday, their first time getting their teeth cleaned. Well, I had made them an appointment last year but they both freaked out and wouldn't let the dentist do anything. So, we did a little more prepping and went to try again. A couple of days before the appointment, William said "Mom, if we do a good job at the dentist, can we go bowling afterwards? We haven't been bowling in a while."
It was agreed. If they behaved at the dentist and let her clean their teeth, we would go bowling! William went first and told me I didn't even need to go back there with him. He is getting so darn big. He did a perfect job and came out with a clean bill of teeth health. (although, he does have my mouth which means it's small and everything in there is very crowded already) Something we will deal with as it comes I guess.
Zachary was next and he clung to me and looked up at me with his puppy eyes and said "I need you to come with me Mom." I did, but not for too long, because with me comes a 1 year old a 2 year old and a 5 year old! Too many people back there in the dentists way and too many distractions. After a few minutes, I looked at him and told him they were not going to do anything that would make him hurt and I would be right in the waiting room. I told him I would check on him in a couple minutes too.
After that, he did great! He also came out with a clean bill of teeth health. Phew.
So off to the bowling alley we went :)
The boys all had a great time, Lucas slept the whole time and I pulled off bowling with 4 kids, 5 and under!!

 It was a 7 pound ball!!! They all did great carrying that heavy thing!

Natural History Museum

We spent the afternoon at the SB Natural History Museum on Friday once safety town was over. We had a picnic lunch in the garden area and spent some time in the butterfly house.

These little guys were mesmerized by all the butterflies flying around everywhere!

The boys played in the "back yard" of the museum where they have some running water, rocks and tree rounds to play on.

The remainder of the time was spent in the Smokey Bear exhibit room. The boys were in heaven in there! It was kind of a mini children's discovery museum in there. A tent and fake campfire, a row boat, learning house and climbing wall.... endless fun. I literally had to drag Zachary out when it was time to leave. He held onto the door jam for dear life trying to stay in there! They were all so happy, we will be returning there again soon :)

Safety Town

William participated in a safety town program last week, Monday through Friday at foothill elementary school. It was from 8:30am to noon each day, a test to see if I could handle actually taking him to school each day. We did okay, but by the end of the week we were all exhausted from being on a tight schedule and out of the house for a good chunk of the day. I'm going to be happy to continue home schooling, I think it's much easier and less stressful for our family.
Besides all that, William had an AMAZING week at safety town! I will recommend it to all my friends with Kindergarten age kids. He learned some awesome safety songs that he now sings at home all the time :) He got to visit with the ambulance, a county fire engine, Smokey bear, and a sheriff deputy. He got to ride on the MTD bus, learned street safety, fire safety, earthquake safety, water safety...  each day I picked him up he told me all the fun he had and told me everything he learned. He had a guest speaker who came and spoke on "good touch, bad touch" (parents were invited) and she did a wonderful job bringing that topic to their level of understanding in a fun and positive way. Zachary even picked up on her speech and later that day told William " that is a BAD touch William, no hitting me!". William got mad and told me NOT to bring Zachary to HIS safety town anymore! :)
On the last day they had a "graduation" from safety town that the boys and I attended. Each child was given a diploma and presented an award from one of the volunteers. William was the only one who did not accept his award! Apparently he did not like getting an award for best pedestrian because he wanted an award for best driver! :) :) What can you do. Haha.

I'm glad I was pressured into signing William up for safety town. I will look forward to putting Zachary in next year :) It was well worth the money and I didn't feel like it was just one of those "day care" camps. He learned a ton of valuable information and it sparked a lot of good conversation for our family.

 William was in safety town with his buddies, Kaiden Hodson and Merrick Marquis.

William had his arms tightly folded the entire graduation. I knew it wasn't easy for him to be up there... he was uncomfortable. But he was a good sport and made it through, he even sang all the songs. Good job William, I'm proud of you.

Kindergarten Grad!

William finished Kindergarten through CAVA (California Virtual Academy) the last week of May. He excelled in all the subjects he studied and is reading small level one books! We had a great experience learning at home this year and are set to give it another go with 1st grade in the Fall. He finally let me take a couple pictures of him with his graduation cap, best scientist award and diploma!
Congratulations my little Graduate! I sure love you A LOT!

Happy 4th

Ian, Stephanie and baby Emmett came down and joined us in our Independence day celebrations! We woke up and went to our church's patriotic pancake breakfast first thing in the morning. It was nice to sing some patriotic songs with friends and the boys loved the pancakes.

Ian and gang showed up around lunch and we had a nice mellow afternoon at home enjoying each others company. We ate some dinner and then packed up to head into Goleta for a little block party and the firework show. My parents old neighbors host an annual fourth block party and block off the cul de sac. The boys enjoyed playing some baseball, soccer and running in the street.

There was lots of goodies to indulge in and once the sky got dark the fireworks began. William & Zachary enjoyed the show just fine, but Jameson was not too happy with the noise. He kept saying " too scary mommy, go home now" "don't like it mommy, too loud, I want to go home now" pretty much through the entire firework presentation. We made it though. Emmett slept through it all! What a guy. We got home at the same time as Billy, who was extended until 10pm as usual.

Next day we packed up again and spent the afternoon at the beach. It was a perfect beach day, water was warm and swimmable and it was just slightly breezy. Our house was baking, so it felt nice to be on the sand and in the water rather than sweating at home.
Thanks Ian and Stephanie for spending the holiday weekend with us! It's nice to have some family close by :)

Jameson + Mosquitos

I have discovered that Jameson + mosquitos = not good. They don't mix too well. Thank goodness for essential oils to help calm and sooth the irritation :)