Harry Potter Marathon

Jesikah has become a very avid reader over the past year. At the beginning of the summer, she decided to start the Harry Potter series and see if she could read through book #6 before the movie came out. So, the first day of summer she started #1. Each time she finishes a book, she will watch the movie (we own them all, so far). Yesterday, she finished #5, and then watched the movie last night. She started book#6 today, but even though the movie comes out tomorrow, we'll wait until she finishes it before we go.

Well, in light of the new Harry Potter movie's release, the library was doing a "t'ween" activity for 10-12 year olds with lots of fun Harry Potter stuff to make and do yesterday. The kids could dress up and win prizes for the best costumes.

Jesikah was SO excited about it, and she wanted to dress up as Hermione. However, after looking for costumes online, I decided that I wasn't going to pay $40 for one. So, on Saturday, we headed to Goodwill to see what we could find that might work. It must have been our lucky day because Goodwill had everything in the store half off that day. I think we did pretty well in the end.

We found this black shirt that snaps up. It was a womens 3/4 length sleeve top, but the arm length fit perfectly and with the collar tucked under and the bigger size, it looks like a robe.

Then we found the dressy black gauchos. They were a little big around the waist, but safety pins work wonders. And then, of course, the maroon and gold tie. (Probably the hardest part was to figure out how to tie the darn thing while Eric and Alex were gone to scout camp--I sure could have used their expertise on that). We used a white shirt of Alex's that had gotten too small. The shoes we found in her closet (some she had never worn). We found the Gryffindor crest online and printed and laminated it. Then we (mostly I) sewed it on to the black shirt. We finished it off with curling her hair with the triple-barrel iron and she made a pretty cute Hermione for only about $4.25.

They made these pensieves at the library, and they did other crafts too. They also each got sorted into one of the houses with the sorting hat. Jesikah was in Ravenclaw which she said was second only to Gryffindor. But, best of all, she won the best Hermione and got a book for a prize. Now, she wants to go to the elementary dress-up storytime on Friday and she wants to keep her costume for Halloween this year. Score! One less costume to figure out for this year! :)

That Cardinal

I think I got my interest in birds from my dad. I love seeing all the different birds in the different places that we've lived. I especially love the colorful ones. Well, when my parents were here, I told them about all the cardinals around here. My dad said that he wanted to see one before he left. So, all week, I watched for them in the usual places so I could point one out, but never saw one. Well, since they've been gone, I've seen them everywhere (of course).

I took this picture of one that landed on my weeping cherry tree in the backyard. That is the first time I've seen one there. I took the picture through the kitchen window so I wouldn't scare him away. So, here's your cardinal, Dad. They really do live here. :)

Wiped Out!

We are now on our second week of swim lessons...only 3 more days. They have turned out to be a really good thing. Jarem who was afraid to put his face in the water at first, is jumping in, swimming all around underwater and bobbing up and down constantly, so he has gotten over his fear, which is great. Tessa has done a lot of diving, and is pretty excited to know how to dive now. It has really worn them out.

The picture above is Jarem one of the nights after he swam. He had fallen asleep on the couch about 10 minutes after we arrived home. We carried him to bed and he slept all night. Then another night, he fell asleep on the way home. When I carried him in, he didn't move, and so I changed him out of his swimsuit and put his pajamas on and he stayed asleep the whole time and again slept all night.

I had really wanted morning lessons, so we could stay and swim afterwards, but the evenings have been ok mainly due to the fact that they sleep so well. However, we've missed seeing our friends at the pool this week because we just go in the evenings now until this week is over.

Swimming

Even though it felt a bit wasteful since we already have a membership to a gym with a pool, I decided to go ahead and get the city pool pass for our family. It really wasn't very expensive and you get access to all 5 city pools all summer, but the most convincing factor was the Howe's and the Young's getting passes as well. The kids all have friends between the two families so we decided to set a time to go and meet there as often as possible. We've been meeting at one of the pools most days between 10am-12pm. It's usually not crowded that early and it's just a good time to go. Amazingly enough, we've found other friends there as well that have joined the fun and we've all had a great time. Today I got a few pictures...although we went later today so we didn't see the Howe's or Youngs. Alex usually goes with us too, but went to soccer camp today and was too tired. Not that I would have gotten any pictures of him though, because he hides from the camera whenever it comes out.

Tessa taking a break from swimming. She's been practicing hard swimming so she can pass the test at the YMCA. She has also gotten brave and goes off both the high and low diving boards daily and loves the slide.

Jesikah playing with Jarem

Jesikah getting under the water to lift Jarem up on her shoulders. He was a bit heavy for her once she came up, but she managed for a minute or so.

With the pool pass, I was able to sign the kids up for swim lessons for only $15 a two-week session. I signed Tessa and Jarem up for lessons which started today. I put Jarem in Level one, but I had to bump him down to preschool since he was the only one in his class that couldn't touch the bottom in the 3 feet(the other kids were 6, 8, and 10), so he didn't quite fit in even though it was a beginning class. When I walked over to put him in the other class, I accidentally half-stepped on the other coach's sunglasses and one of the lenses popped out. I felt horrible and apologized. I know how people can be very attached to their sunglasses and I felt bad that I had been so careless. I worried about it the whole lesson, but in the end, he was able to pop the lense back in and it didn't end up being a problem. That was a relief, but I still felt very bad about it. It doesn't seem like Jarem will be learning much in the preschool class because they mostly just play in the baby pool, but at least he'll enjoy it. Tessa though, has a great teacher that I think will really help her.

Haircuts

It's too hot for long hair, so today was a day for haircuts. I'm one to procrastinate haircuts as long as possible because I don't like getting everything out and getting hairs all over. Not only that, but it feels more rewarding if you cut a lot off. :) It gets expensive to pay for all of us to get haircuts, so I usually try to cut Eric and the kids hair myself to save money. Then, I get mine done elsewhere since there is no one to cut it. What's a girl to do? ;)

Today I cut about 6 inches off Tessa's hair, so it looked a lot different to me. For Jarem, I just gave a good short boy cut. You can't see his too well because I kind of cut off the top of the picture. Jesikah said she didn't need a haircut and Alex was at soccer camp (he whines the most about haircuts). Alex will be getting one before the end of the week though. His hair is getting too long and with scout camp next week, he'll want to do anything he can to keep cool.

4th of July Breakfast

On the morning of the 4th, we had a 4th of July breakfast at the church. After being up so late the night before, we had a bit of a hard time getting there by 8am. I admit, we were a few minutes late, but didn't miss anything (thankfully). We started out with a flag ceremony and then had a yummy breakfast followed by a bike parade. The idea was to decorate your bikes and scooters for the bike parade, but we didn't remember until it was time to go and since we were already running late, I decided to leave the bikes home. The kids felt a little jipped, but at least everyone else let them borrow their bikes and scooters. :) Jarem even scored by getting a chanced on a kid-size motorcycle that really worked.

Tessa, Brittany, and Jesikah at the flag ceremony

I had to get a picture of the Howe's just standing there so cute at the flag ceremony.

I tried several times, but could never get a good picture out of Jarem on the motorcycle because the sun was too bright and he didn't want to open his eyes. I was very hot for only 9am.

I did get a better picture of Rose Howe the second time though. Who would have guessed from the hot and sunny morning that we would have bad storms and tornado warnings here later on that evening? Fort Campbell's fireworks show was even postponed until the next day due to the severe weather. We were having dinner at a friend's house from Eric's work that night and we secretly wished we were home safe in our basement. But, the guys still lit the fireworks rain and all.

Independence Day!

Clarksville City did their annual fireworks last night on July 3rd. We decided to head out and check it out. Eric didn't really want to go since he hates crowds, but I talked him into it and it turned out to be a really good fireworks show (although he still thinks I owe him) :). The kids all enjoyed it. Jesikah brought her friend, Brittany, along with us. I think this was the first year that Jarem didn't cry because of the noise.

We arrived about 7pm and the fireworks didn't start until 9:30pm, so we secured a good spot and then listened to the bands play music and ate funnel cakes and lemonade until the show started. Some bands were better than others and the music was a bit loud at times, but it turned out to be a good evening. We really had a perfect view and the show was great. We even remembered to spray ourselves with bug spray this year and didn't get any bug bites...yeah!

The only downfalls were the smokers and the long wait to go home. It seems that we have hardly ever been to a fireworks show that someone next to us isn't smoking, and it doesn't help to move either because there's always someone. I guess they just don't realize how revolting it is to some of us.

As far as the wait...we parked at the Dunn Center and took the free shuttle over in hopes of getting out more quickly. Well, as it turned out the ride over was great, but after the show the first round of busses couldn't carry everyone and with the traffic it took a very long time for them to get back. Overall, it was one hour and 10 minutes from the time the fireworks were done until we arrived at our car. The girls made the most of it by waving to everyone that passed and, of course, we had plenty of time for Jarem's emergency potty break.

(above) the shuttle that picked us up from parking and took us down to fireworks (it's a bus from Austin Peay University {pronounced pee}, their slogan is "Let's Go Peay".)

The stage next to the river where the bands played

When we first got there, it was a bit loud and both Jarem and Tessa were covering their ears. I was happy when the next band showed up. The 198th Army Band played, and I was surprised to learn that in addition to the instrumental band, the Army has a rock band as well. They were pretty good.

Tessa with her ears plugged too

Jesikah and Brittany laying back and enjoying the nice evening

The boys

Our view down river...there were a lot of boats that drove in to enjoy the festivities. They, of course, had to clear out before the fireworks started over the river.

Jesikah's friend, Brittany

My honey

Jarem's new picture face: kind of a grimace I think

Tessa just happy to be there

Hummingbird

Yesterday this little hummingbird got caught in our garage and couldn't find his way out. He kept going up next to the window towards the light and really wore himself out trying to get out. It's amazing how fast they flap their wings...it's no wonder he was so tired. In the above picture, he was resting on the cement floor taking a break before attempting again.

Finally, Eric got him to land on this broom and took him outside. At first we thought he was injured by the way he was laying, but as soon as we were outside, he flew away and was gone. It was fun to see a hummingbird up close. I didn't realize how beautiful and green they are.

Grandpa Time

Eric took this sweet little picture with his phone while my parents were here. Tessa and Grandpa were playing checkers outside Cracker Barrel while we waited for our table.

Tessa's Baptism

Tessa was baptized on Sunday, June 28 at 2:00pm. It was a beautiful and very spiritual baptism. All who were there were touched by the sweet spirit that was there. The talks and the musical numbers were so amazing. I got to be with Tessa right after she came out of the waters of baptism, and she had tears in her eyes and kept saying how good she felt. It was a perfect day. We are so proud of Tessa for taking this step in her life.

During church, the power went off for about 1/2 an hour and Tessa was so scared that her baptism was going to be cancelled. She said she prayed that the power would come back on and her baptism wouldn't be cancelled. She was so grateful and relieved when the power came back on.

We appreciated so much her Grandpa and Grandma Ricks and Collette (her step-grandma), who travelled long distances to show their support. We also appreciate the Howe's who have been a great support to us and thanks to Jeremy who sang and Nick who lead the music. We also really appreciated the Richards, Cravaths, Sister Stone, and everyone else from our ward who came to show their support and love for Tessa. It really meant a lot.

Beautiful Tessa on her baptism day

Eric and I with Tessa before church

Jarem had to get his picture taken too

Eric and Tessa just before the baptism inside the church

All our family and grandparents outside the church after the baptism

Just our family after the baptism

Tessa with Collette

Tessa with Grandma and Grandpa Ricks

My parents with all the kids