shorter...

Remember these shaggy kids from the last post?

Well, since G is home from school now and our summer has officially started...

 ...it was time for summer haircuts!

(G got over 5 inches cut off of her hair - it is now the all same length as her grown out bangs.

It almost hurt to cut off W's curls but I couldn't deal with sweaty-head boy all summer.

And this was actually C's first haircut on the top of his head - I have buzzed the back a couple of times, but the top hadn't ever grown enough.)

a graduation...

To commemorate the end of the Kindergarten school year and all that each kindergartener accomplished, G's school held a small Kindergarten graduation ceremony.  Shhhh, don't tell, but I went in to it thinking that it was going to be way cheesy.  Instead it was a great recap of their year, a wonderful program of songs and memory verses, a slideshow and great message from Mrs. Bierma about things they did and learned in the classroom over the year, and yes, slightly cheesy diplomas handed out to big proud kindergarteners with giant grins on their faces.  This has been such a good year for G and our whole family.  We couldn't have asked for a better teacher for G in Mrs. B, and G honestly loved every day of school the whole year.  What a great way to get us used to the whole school thing - dropping off and picking up a happy happy kindergartener every day!

Our friends (and neighbors) Mrs. L and her daughter K came!  (A huge amount of thanks goes to Mrs. L, who watched the boys one Friday a month so I could be a room parent this year - it was fun for her and K to see where G went to school!)

walking in with friend E (G was most worried that she wasn't going to be there and she would have to walk in with an imaginary person!)

so. so. happy.

singing with her class     (I think this is the Grizzly Bear song...ask G to sing that for you sometime =)

getting her diploma from Mr. S, the principal

showing it off with her brothers

family picture

G with proud momma and dadda

G with her para, Mrs. Pf, and her teacher, Mrs. B

hottest in the nation...

So what do we do on a day like today when temps reach 103 degrees F, the hottest temp in the nation, the hottest temp here since since 1988, and the hottest June day since 1934?

First of all, we invite our cousins and puppy (who do not have central air) to come over.  And we stay inside all afternoon!

Then after supper, when the temps finally cool to 97 degrees F, we kick all the kids outside in their swimsuits to eat popsicles...

...and play (and drink big glasses of ice tea)...

...and play (and water crispy plants)...

 ...and play in the water!

(We certainly wouldn't serve chili for supper. :)

just outside our front door...

..."mama-bird" house finch built a nest above our outside light...high enough all views of what was inside came from blind-aiming the camera and shooting...all while "mama-bird" and "dada-bird" squawked and chirped at us from nearby tree...and this is what we saw in just over a week's time...