School's Out for the Summer!

Last Saturday afternoon we attended the Annual Milford Picnic. It was a warm day and the kids got nice and sweaty but they had fun (80's here is nothing like the 80's in Arizona thanks to humidity). They pretty much spent most of the Picnic in the Bounce House and doing the Bouncy Obstacle Course, their idea of heaven. They also got to ride on a pony (even Benny got brave and rode on one), run in a race (in which Steven tied as a winner), sit in a Police Car and eat free hot dogs (I may or may not have eaten 3 of these). No pictures taken, but good times for the kids.

This Wednesday we went to Steven's Kindergarten Celebration. All the Kindergarten classes sang some songs (titles included "The Vowel Song" "Apples & Bananas" and  "I live in Michigan") and we were SO impressed that for once, Steven was singing and not just chewing on his hands! After the songs Steven got to come sit with us and watch a slideshow of pictures from the year.Lucy stayed happy throughout the Celebration but you'll see by the pictures that Ben was a pretty big grump at times during it:

After the slideshow we went to his classroom where we got to see work he has done throughout the semester. It seems like he had a pretty good semester with Mrs. Hornyak:

And now, believe it or not, school is over and I can officially call Steven a first grader! I am impressed with his growth as a reader and it never gets old to hear him give answers to simple addition and subtraction facts. He is such a fun loving guy, with a huge imagination and a huge amount of energy (he LOVED being a part of the mileage club at his school). I am proud of my boy!

And lastly for this week (a long boring self indulgent story), yesterday I was feeling kind of down after a play date at the park with some ladies in the Ward. I was having a hard time relating to them and it made me miss my Arizona friends! So after feeling properly sorry for myself I said a prayer in hopes of feeling better. Not too much later I was outside with the kids when my neighbor came outside with her kids and I had such a good conversation with her. I felt so much better and I realized that I can make good friends here in Michigan, I really can! It helped chase away some of the homesickness. 

Later that night, I had scheduled to do an Endowment Session with the sister I visit teach. As we were driving there I found out she hadn't been to the temple for over a year. Her husband didn't go and that had made it hard for her. That made me feel extra good! I helped someone get back to the temple! It helped me feel like there are reasons I am here in Michigan. Really, it's the little things sometimes that can help us feel so much better :)