Early June

The kids finished school last week. We couldn't make it to Elaine's 2nd grade graduation/award ceremony, so when Jimmy picked her up from her babysitter, Wendy, he surprised her with graduation balloons! Elaine got an award for having straight A's the entire year, and also for having 2nd place for her entire school in the 'Reflections' contest (3rd place for the school district).

Helping Elaine hold up her awards

 

 Allan's kindergarten class decided to have a picnic instead of a formal ceremony for awards. If you ask Al what his award is for, he'll tell you that it's for "keeping all the kids together and telling Mrs. Fagan when someone isn't staying in line."  In truth, his award says "Most Imformative"... he's the class snitch! lol  (Yes, his teacher misspelled 'informative' on a laminated award)

Friday the kids went to work with each of us. Jimmy's boss told him to buy Allan a new Wii game on the company's dime.  Now, Elaine wishes she went to work with her Daddy. That night, I gave Allan his typical Summer haircut. He's been growing his hair out for the last 3 months, so we could spike his hair up tall. We even have red temporary spray for his Mohawk, left over from last Summer.

This last Sunday we went to Canton trade days, again. This will probably be our last outing to Canton until Winter. It was 99 degrees in June and just gonna get hotter. I bought a lamp for the living room. It's a tall brass lamp with a pose-able arm, so I parked it behind our big comfy chair/ottoman set for task-lighting. It was only $20!  I bought a handful of DVDs (can't beat $2 or less price!) and we shared an awesome funnel cake. :) I'm still tired 2 days after my 'day off'. We walked a LOT. We all managed to avoid sunburn and made a valiant effort to stay hydrated.. Sidenote: Allan definitely tans like his uncles David and Mark.

 Allan was being friendly with a little dog on a leash, and then when his cowboy hat fell off the dog freaked out barking at Allan's mohawk. :))  We wonder if the dog thought Allan's head was on fire.

That night, after Canton, my coworkers picked up the kids and took them to see 'Rango' at the $2 movie. I heard there were 2 dirty words and a couple jokes that were over Elaine's head. But overall the movie was enjoyed.

Our new babysitter started yesterday. She's our friend's 15-yr-old daughter, Shannon. Everything's going awesome with that. Jimmy picks her up before work in the morning. She hangs out with me and the kids until I get picked up for work by my coworkers. This morning we all watched 'Toy Story 3', and I sat out a BUNCH of crafty supplies for the kids and Shannon to play with. They made bridges out of Popsicle sticks (I have about 900+ left over from this college design project) and made friendship bracelets.