Father's Day Questionnaire

For Father's Day, I had each child answer questions about their dad.  I asked them without the others around so that their answers would be completely their own.  With all answers, I will post them in the following order: Kya, Seth and then Elsie.

Q: My dad is how old?
A: 55 for all three

Q: His hair is
A: Kya~Blond, Seth~Black, Elsie~Dots

Q: His eyes are:
A: Blue (all 3)

Q: My dad likes to wear:
A: Kya~shorts, Seth~work clothes to work, Elsie~clothes to go to church

Q: He loves to eat
A: Kya~Hamburgers & Fries, Seth~Steak & Fries and Hamburgers & Fries, Elsie~Pancakes with Jelly

Q: He is smart because he knows
A: Kya~things about people, Seth~words, Elsie~that he is in charge

Q: My dad works hard at
A: Kya~school, Seth~work, Elsie~high school

Q: Daddy always tells me
A: Kya~stories, Seth~to be good, Elsie~to be good

Q: It makes me happy when
A: Kya~he's here, Seth~he tells me to be good, Elsie~he talks to me when I am sad.

Q: If he could go on a trip, he would go
A: Kya~with me, Seth~in his truck, Elsie~to Cars Land

Q: He would take
A: Kya~ me, Seth~ me, Elsie~ a car for me to drive

Q: I really love it when my Dad
A: Kya~ is here, Seth~ takes me in his truck, Elsie~ kisses me

Q: If I could give my daddy anything, it would be
A: Kya~ donuts, Seth~ to make him something nice, Elsie~ to make him happy

Q: My favorite thing about my Dad is
A: Kya~ when he's here, Seth~ he saddles Arasa so I can ride here, Elsie~ when he kisses me and helps me ride Arasa.

Kya ~ 7 years, Seth ~ 5 years, Elsie ~ 4 years

Lake Arrowhead Village

I took the kids to Lake Arrowhead today, not sure if they would like it or not, as it tends to have a lot of shops and restaurants geared towards adults. Luckily, they loved it and asked when could go back!

We started off the day by checking out the boats, ducks and catfish.  Some lady generously gave them the rest of her duck food and they enjoyed watching the ducks fly up out of the water onto the sidewalk to get food, as well as, dive under the water for the rest.

Then we picked up some Subway sandwiches and walked over to the park and ate in front of the water.  The kids liked watching the "speedy" boats go bye out on the lake, while I enjoyed checking out the water front mansions.

After lunch they played on the playground.  You can see a couple of the speedy boats in the back ground.

The village has a small area geared towards kids/teenagers with rides and a very tiny mini golf.  The kids got to ride on four of the rides for a small fortune.  First up  were the swings...

Kya is pointing out the next ride she wants to go on.

Next was the train, which Elsie decided she wasn't going to enjoy, because Seth hopped on the engine before she could and therefore she got "stuck" on the passenger car.

Third, was this cute little pirate boat that swings back and forth.

Elsie is way up high!  Wheee, so fun....

Seth and Kya on the other side.  Seth was brave enough to raise his arms, but Kya preferred to hang on.  Seth just told me she was screaming a bit.

Last ride was the carousel.

After the carousel, we headed on over for some ice cream, where they had this cute mural on one wall.

I made them go outside on the grass to finish their ice cream, and they ended up playing with this super cute pug dog.  He loved to play catch, pulled the girls while they had his leash and kept trying to get their ice cream. LOL

His owner showed them how to make him to tricks and then rewarded him with some treats from the doggy bakery.  Some of the "dogs" treats from there looked yummy enough for a human to eat!

High School Graduate

My best friends daughter graduated high school yesterday and I had the honor of attending the celebration.  I have known Noelle since she was 5 years old and entering kindergarten.  How fast these years just flew bye!    Noelle spent two summers with Teen Missions working as a missionary in Africa and Israel.  She has now decided she would like to be a full time missionary and leaves for a 3 year training program in Florida at the end of summer.  I am very proud of the young lady she has become and cannot wait to see what other plans God has for her future.  Congrats Noelle!!!

Southland the second?

Elsie and Seth sang with their Daddy and his band, Southland, last night at Chatsworth Four Square Church. Kya didn't want to and we refuse to ever make our kids perform.  They sang two songs: Jesus Loves Me and Micah 6:8  

Chatsworth is a couple of hours away and their church services tend to last a really long time and then we all went out to dinner afterwards.  Needless to say, it was a long night and we will be having a quite day at home today.  But, they were a big hit with the church that Wayne has been playing/singing in for over 30 years, so it was worth it.

Cherry Picking

On Monday, I took the kids Cherry picking.  It was their opening day and the weather was perfect!  Two days earlier it was 100 degrees, but yesterday it was in the low 80's.  After picking all the cherries we wanted, we headed over to Wayne's cousin to visit for a few minutes and see their lama, went to Subway for lunch and then drove back home.  We spent more time in our van than we did picking cherries, but it was worth it.

Beautiful Cherries

Running through the orchard is a great way to burn off some excess energy!

Check out our loot!  I had to stop them from picking any more.  At $3.50 a pound, it adds up quick.  Of course, this is still much cheaper and fresher than the stores.

After weighing and paying for the cherries, we put them into this cooler to stay fresh while on the drive home.  Our total weight was just under 17 pounds!  The plan is to can them for cherry pie's and other deserts throughout the year, freeze some for smoothies and ice cream and of course just eating them in their natural state.

Summer Schedule

School ended for the year on Friday, but our official Summer schedule didn't really start until Wednesday. We don't have a set schedule on the weekends (except church), Monday was Memorial Day where we went to my Aunts house for a pool party and then Wayne took Tuesday off. So Wednesday is the day I count!  I have decided that Monday - Friday, we will have basically the following schedule:  wake up and have breakfast, do chores, then school work and then have some fun.

Some of the kids chores (responsibilities) include your basics, such as getting dressed, making beds and doing their morning bathroom duties (toilet, teeth, hair).  Then I will assign 1 or 2 duties each day.

Here is Seth on Thursday taking in the trash cans.

Elsie is making her bed

Kya is putting the clean dishes away

and then filling the dishwasher with the dirty dishes.

Elsie helped with the dishes after making her bed.

After they complete their assigned chores, it is time to do some school work.  I feel it is important for them to review and keep up to date with their studies, so that they won't need as much review when school starts.  Currently, Kya is working on her addition and reading a book for 10-20 minutes, Seth is working on his writing, math and reading, and Elsie is learning how to write the letters of the alphabet.  She knows all her letters, numbers, colors, etc, but it is the hand coordination when is it come to writing that she needs help with.

Now they are free to have fun for the rest of the day!  On Wednesday, we went to the park and then Thursday it was the splash pad.  We usually stay for a couple of hours and then it is time to come home for lunch.

After lunch, we have some quite time.  On Wednesday, the kids played several board games, put together a puzzle and then played cowboy and cowgirls.  I didn't get a picture of all the games, but Kya did play Operation before taking a short nap.  Even at the age of 7, she still needs to nap for 30 minutes to an hour each day.  Thursday, I rented a movie to watch with popcorn.

This is just an example of how our days will go.  Some days, like today, we will hang out a bit longer in the morning before starting our routine and other days, we will skip the homework to get an early start and learn something outside.  Like on Monday, we plan on taking a 90 minute drive to pick cherries.  Stay tuned for pictures of this day!