Last Day of School!

Well, today marked the last day of school. The last day of Fourth Grade, for Emily. The last day of Second Grade, for Ryan. My goodness, how time flies. They both had a really great year and did so well. Their report cards are actually being mailed out this year, so I'm not sure of their exact grades; however, I do know that they both made honor roll again. We are so proud of them both for how hard they worked. They got out at 12:35 today and here are the pictures of them, as they walked up to the van.

Ryan

Emily

Hunter and Adam


After we picked Caitlynn up, we went over to Nana and Poppy's to swim. It was such a beautiful day. The weather was in the 80's, which was such a welcome relief from the scorching heat that we've been having. We all had so much fun. We played Shark, Marco/Polo, Crab, the color game, diving/jumping contests, had snacks and drinks, the kids played hide and seek (while I was watching from a noodle, in the pool - LOL), and just had a lot of fun. Here are some pictures of our pool time ~~

The kids before we got in the pool.

The boys enjoying their snack break. In fact, in the close up pictures, of the kids below, you will notice Doritos on their faces - LOL (I didn't realize this until I uploaded the pictures! Oh, and I usually do not offer any chips as a snack option; however, since today was the last day of school, we "junked" it up a bit!).

The girls enjoying their snack break.

Caitlynn

Emily

Hunter

Ryan


After Kelli picked up Caitlynn and Hunter, Nana and Poppy gave Emily and Ryan a wonderful gift. Poppy had taken pictures of both of them (Emily is ice skating and Ryan is skateboarding) and enlarged them, printed them out on his photography equipment, framed and matted them. They picked fun colors for the frames. They picked "purple" for Emily and "blue" for Ryan. Here they are, holding their beautiful pictures, with Nana and Poppy. We will be hanging them in their bedrooms, as soon as we paint the walls. Oh, and Ryan is making a funny face in the picture, but this one is better than the first because his eyes were closed!! He says that I take too many pictures and my flash blinds him. He is too funny!


Nothing ends a GREAT day like catching lightning bugs!!! And, even though they didn't catch many of them, it was so much fun watching their tired eyes sparkle, when they were running after the tiny specks of light they would see! We are looking so forward to our care-free summer days -- filled with lots of fun, times with family and friends, and lots of memories to be made!!

Lance, Ryan, and Emily

Emily, with her lightning bugs!

Ryan, with his lightning bugs!

My precious babies! I love them so much!

TEN THINGS TUESDAY!!!

Good afternoon -- and, what a HOT one it is!!! It's that time again -- Ten Things Tuesday. Actually, it seems like that's all that I've been blogging about lately. However, I guess if I'm not blogging about daily happenings, it's always good to reflect upon the things that I'm thankful for during the week. So, here goes ~~~

This week, I am thankful for:

1. For one more day of school!!! Yippee, yay!!! Tomorrow, at 12:35pm, Emily and Ryan will officially be on their summer break! We are so happy! This will give us even more time to enjoy things like Nana and Poppy's pool, sleeping in, care-free days, visits to museums, Water Country, Vacation Bible School, picnics, the beach, and etc. Oh, how we love the summer!!!


2. For my wonderful air conditioned house, which is running non-stop with the heat wave that we are experiencing.

3. For beautiful weather on Field Day. The children had a blast. The P.E. teacher did a fantastic job this year planning events/activities that the children enjoyed.

4. For Joshy, our sweet nephew, who turned 4 last Thursday. We are all getting together tonight to celebrate his birthday, at Chuck E. Cheese. It's sure to be fun!

5. For our family day, over the weekend. I always love when Rob is off from work and we get to spend the entire day together. I love our sweet family!

6. For Rob coming to his parents house, right after work, to put gas in my car. While we were enjoying the pool, my beloved husband got my van and filled her up!! I know that I mentioned this in my first or second list, but he is just so amazing. I love him.

7. For Emily making honor roll the entire year. She makes us so proud!

8. For Ryan making honor roll the entire year. He makes us so proud, too!

9. For a night out with my friends (Michelle, Sharon, and Melinda) on Saturday. It was wonderful getting together with them and catching up. We went to Applebee's and then to see "Sex and the City." And, even though I hadn't watched the TV show, I was still able to follow the movie.

10. For knowing that I will go to heaven one day. It's very reassuring on those days that may not be the easiest, that the Lord is always in control of everything. I am so thankful that I know God.

TEN THINGS TUESDAY!!!

It's that time again -- Ten Things Tuesday!!! I haven't been on here since last week. I've been so busy lately that I haven't had time to blog; however, I have so much to jot down that I will be doing an update post soon. But, back to my 10 things!

1. My sweet Emily, who celebrated her 10th birthday on Friday, May 30th. We have been so blessed with this precious girl. We prayed for her and God answered our prayers. Our first-born -- Daddy's Princess and Mommy's Sweetest Angel! It's so hard to believe that our baby is in "double-digits" now. I'm so thankful that we have her. I couldn't imagine our life without our Emily Kathleen! Here is a picture of her, just waking up on her birthday. She is in mismatched pajamas, and "posing" with her presents. LOL!!


2. I know that he has been on my list each week, but I am so lucky to have him. So, here goes: For my loving husband, who knows just what to do and say to pick me up, when I'm feeling down. He is truly my rock and my best friend. I appreciate all that he does for me and our family!

3. For my far away friend, Jenn, who I met on MySpace. She truly helped me this past week. She has been there for me and I appreciate it so much. I am thankful for our friendship. And, I'm so proud of her for some major life changes that she has made lately. She is amazing!!!

4. For my Dad, who was there for me, when I was in the parking lot, of Wal-mart, and had my break-down! I love you!

5. Ryan is getting much more independent and actually stayed the night at his friend's house again. This makes two times now. He is really starting to spread his little wings. I adore my biggy boy! Here he is, jumping into Nana and Poppy's pool!


6. For the peace that I am now feeling for letting "things" go that are beyond my control. I have been so tormented with this lately and I finally have an inner peace that is hard to describe!

7. For my new found love of beading! I have made some cute, cute, cute necklaces! I love the opportunity for this creative outlet! It's so much fun!

8. For the neighborhood children who come over and play at our house. They are such good children and it's nice that I have my own children right here so that I can keep an eye on them. I love that our house is the "neighborhood hang-out!" LOL!

9. That our grocery bill was $40.00 cheaper this week!! Yippee!!! With gas prices rising, it's nice to be able to cut back in other areas, and believe me, FOOD is NOT usually one of them!! LOL!!

10. For my health, the health of my husband, and the health of our children! Thank you, to the Lord above, for blessing us with good health. We were watching the Children's Miracle Network Telethon over the weekend and it makes you appreciate even MORE that we are all healthy!


Have a wonderful week! I am going to try to post an update on all the happenings of the Farrell's very soon! I have so much to catch up on.

TEN THINGS TUESDAY!!!

Well, it's that time again, "Ten Things Tuesday!" I love the idea of this and if any of you would like to join in, on the fun, just click the picture above and it will take you to the place to get started!!

This week, I am thankful for:

1. My mother-in-law! She is the most loving, generous, and kind person. I am so lucky to have her. We are all lucky to have her! My children love spending time with her.

2. My father-in-law! He is hard to read, at times, but is such a special man. And, my children adore him!

3. My husband, as he never ceases to amaze me!!

4. The beautiful weather that we've been so blessed with!

5. My two precious miracles -- true blessings from above -- Emily and Ryan!

6. That the Lord has given me another day! I always thank Him, as soon as I open my eyes!

7. For all the military who have served and continue to serve our country. They are true heroes!

8. That our end-of-year conferences, with our children's teachers, went so well. Both Emily and Ryan have worked so hard this year, and we are so proud of them.

9. That my headache went away. I have had one for 3-days straight!

10. For a short school week. Summer is right around the corner!

Ryan's Day with Daddy~

Yesterday, we actually let Ryan stay home and have a day off from school, to have a special day with Daddy. We did this with Emily about a month ago, but have no pictures of it, because she went to lunch and out shopping. Emily's day off started as a "sick" day, when she was supposedly feeling awful and couldn't make it to school. About an hour into our morning, she had a miraculous recovery and ended up spending time with Daddy. I had Brandon and Joshy, so I stayed home with them. Anyway, we let Ryan have his day yesterday. We were running out of time because they start their benchmark testing next week, and then the end of the year will be here before we know it! Here are where their travels took them yesterday: They went to the skate park, at Mount Trashmore, in Virginia Beach. I have taken the children there several times and Rob has always been working, so it was nice for him to actually see this HUGE park, as opposed to just seeing pictures. Since everyone is still in school, Ryan had the park, basically, to himself. Then, they went to Mike's, the indoor skate park, in our city. After lunch, at Red Robin, they went to play Putt-Putt. They were home shortly after I got home with the children from school. Here are the pictures from both of the skate parks. Enjoy!!! I'm also going to try to post a video of him skating at Mount Trashmore.

Pictures from Skate Park at Mount Trashmore ~~


Video of Ryan at Mount Trashmore ~~


Pictures, from Mike's Skate Shop (he was the only one there) ~~

Ryan's Chicken-Scratch (umm, I mean handwriting)!

As you can imagine by the title of this blog, Ryan's handwriting is a little bit on the "chicken-scratch" side, as opposed to neat and legible. It's something that he could absolutely care less about and really dislikes spending any time on at all. I guess I should mention, though, that he is a straight A student. This is the first year (2nd Grade) that they have actually received letter grades on their report cards and he has really done well. He's also on the younger side, as he had just made it for the cut-off for starting school in kindergarten. You had to turn five, by the end of September, so he just made it. Anyway, the reason for this blog today is that last night, while Ryan was doing his homework, he said, "Mommy, look at how neat my name is." I had to admit that it looked WAY neater than usual. Then, I noticed IT!!! My precious, 7-year old, end-of-the-school-year 2nd grader, who has been spelling his FIRST and LAST name since pre-k, had actually spelled his OWN last name incorrectly!! We all got such a chuckle out of it that we had to grab the camera!!! He put an extra "R" in our last name!! LOL!! It was priceless. However, I do want everyone to know that I did praise him for his beautiful handwriting!!! I just love my children!!


Here it is! Proof that my sweet biggy boy misspelled his own last name. I know that this still isn't the neatest handwriting; however, it's tons better than the way he usually writes.

TEN THINGS TUESDAY!!!

As I was browsing blogs, of "stay-at-home Mommy's," I came across "Ten Things Tuesday." If you click on the cloud picture above, it will take you to Mrs. Brownstone's blog, the person who started "Ten Things Tuesday." I thought it would be nice to reflect upon, on a weekly basis, the things that I "thankful" for. So, here goes my first attempt at "Ten Things Tuesday!"

This week, I am thankful for ..................

1. My sweet husband, who went out in the rain this morning, to pump gas in my van. He actually always does this for me, rain or shine. I love him so much and am so blessed that he takes such good care of me and our children.

2. Emily, my sweet, kind and loving daughter. She is so tender-hearted and definitely sticks up for and protects the "underdogs." When she sees someone making fun of another child, she will actually "correct" them and tell them that it's not nice to do that.

3. Ryan, my shy, sensitive and quiet son. He is such a "thinker" and is just starting to come out of his shell, a wee bit. He is so into skateboarding right now and it's wonderful to see him enjoying something so much.

4. Joshy, my nephew, and his sweet 3-year old vocabulary. After I ran out to my van this morning, to put his car seat and Brandon's booster seat into my van, I said, "It's wet and rainy out there." He responded with, "Amy, it's not raining, it's 'sparkling'!" I loved how he used 'sparkling' instead of 'sprinkling.'

5. My laundry being caught up.

6. Both of our families, who live so close to us. It's wonderful to see them as often as we'd like and for them to be so involved in our lives.

7. Being able to stay home with my children. And, to be able to watch my niece and nephews -- Caitlynn, Hunter, Brandon, and Joshy. I love that I am so close with my sister's and brother's children.

8. My "blooming" garden. Spring is definitely in the air.

9. A clean and uncluttered garage. I finally cleaned it out and organized it again yesterday. The children can get to all of their "things" so much easier now.

10. "Ten Things Tuesday," because I just love the idea of this and to have a specific day to just think about and jot down all the things I'm thankful for that week. With how busy we are, it's nice to slow down a bit and reflect upon all the wonderful things in our life.