The Start of Summer, Rockies Game, Moments in Pictures

Eli's last day of school was May 28th. I can't believe this guy is already done with kindergarten! He is growing up way too fast. 

We've been on summer break for a couple weeks now. So far we've joined library summer reading programs, been to park playdates, gone on long bike rides, and taken a mini vacation. Right after Eli got out of school, we started a new behavior chart system. The boys have lots of fun plans for the summer (many of which involve expense), and I wanted to give them a way to earn some of those privileges themselves. I got this idea from a friend, and let me just say, it has worked wonders for behavior, especially Eli's. 

To briefly describe it, the boys have six different colored cards in each of their folders-- blue, green, yellow, orange, red, and black. They start out each morning with a blue card, which is the best card. If they have negative behavior, such as fighting, arguing, etc., the blue card in front (or green, or whatever the color may be) goes to the back and they've "lost" a card. If they have a positive behavior, the card in the back comes to the front (as long as it's not the black) and they "gain" a card. However many cards they have in front of the black card at the end of the day determines how many stars they get (5 being the most). Sometimes we give out an extra star or two for extra good behavior. The stars are paper cutouts I got from the dollar store and the boys each have a ziplock bag that holds their stars. They can redeem their stars for rewards once they hit 25 stars, 50 stars, or 75 stars. They can earn rewards such as dates with mom or dad to places like McDonald's, Jump City, the Apex (swimming), miniature golf, Water World, etc. Eli is very focused on earning stars so he can go to fun places. 

On Tuesday (June 2), Justin and Eli went to a Rockies baseball game. It was a special date for just the two of them. I dropped Eli off at Justin's work around 5 and they headed over to the game together. They had nosebleed seats, but were planning to spend a lot of time in the little covered playground area closer to the field so Eli could play and Justin could watch the game. As they were walking around before the game started, a man approached them and started chatting them up. After a minute or two, he said he was with Stub Hub (a ticket vendor) and wanted to pick the two of them for their seat upgrade of the night. So Justin and Eli got moved to club level seats, got bags of Rockies gear, and were featured on the Jumbotron! 

One day we rode down to Westbrook Park (where Benjy's birthday party was) and enjoyed some lovely scenery and a picnic at the playground.

The kids have been playing out in the backyard quite a bit.  

On Friday (June 5), there was a microburst in our area. It started pouring, followed by almost marble-sized hail and fierce winds. It was blowing so hard that I took the kids down into the basement. Later that afternoon, we saw that a trampoline had been blown out of the backyard of the corner house onto the street. It's so fortunate that no people or cars had been on the street right at that time.

I snapped this photo after bathtime when Emmie insisted on combing her own hair.

I asked Eli to stack the dishes from the dishwasher so I could put them away. These are the "stacked" dishes I ended up with. I realized I should have given him a little more explanation!

Emmie with Grandpa Herb.

My friend started a program called Home Slice that donates birthday cakes to a children's shelter in Denver. I made this cake for their May birthday party.

Benjy loves to take his Lego people apart and build them with mismatched bodies. The combinations are often very funny! I thought the Venom head on the Batman body was particularly unexpected and a little creepy.