RiverSong art show, graduation and more fun outside

Wow, I love this picture of Piper!

One of the professional photographer parents of RiverSong took on the role of capturing all the kids during the art show.  What a fun night for everyone.  The kiddos were so proud of their canvases and they should be...the theme was animals and wow did they turn out good.

Along with their paintings they all learned yoga poses to go with their animal.  Piper and Calvin both did giraffes and Jett painted a Super Frog with cape and all!

They had face painting and yoga to top off the fun filled beautiful summer evening.

Here is a sweet youtube video of Calvin feeling the music at the first friday art hop: http://youtu.be/6OaIJqgrI28

So cute how much the boys love their daddy and the lawn mower!  They are so happy to follow David around the yard and pretend to mow right behind him.

Eating snacks in the woods, cant think of a better way to spend a sunny summer morning!  We hunted for bugs, flew to the tippy tops of the trees on our magic carpet and on to the beaches of Hawaii.  Running the trails, kicking pine cones, finding sticks and catching grasshoppers...what a day!

The Montessori Maps! Piper has loved the map work at school.  Over the last two years, she has plugged away.  Tracing the puzzle pieces, then pin pricking(thousands of tiny pin pricks) to punch out the county, writing all the labels, then pasting it all together!  Piper started working on the Africa map in October and finally finished last week, just in time for the last days of school!  There are a lot of countries in Africa!  I love the follow through and completion of a hard project.  Piper is so proud and so am I!

 Oh Ms. Heather, how we will miss you!  What a great experience Piper had with RiverSong and especially the bond she formed with her teacher.  Such a kind and empowering woman, I could just feel the love she poured on the kids and I am thankful for her.

Piper has been super emotional about the thought of moving on to Kindergarten...she has said many times how she would just like Ms. Heather to be her teacher forever.

Graduation day was super cute with the kids preforming a few songs and then getting their names called out for a hug from the teacher and a triumphant strut across the graduation bridge!

A funny story from the day was when Calvin's name was called, he stood up puffed out his chest and raised is arms in such a proud, accomplished stance.  He proceeded to run to the teacher cheering himself on like he just won a Grammy or Emmy or the Super Bowl!

It was adorable and the whole crowd thought so too!

PS: Notice the new DO on Piper!  

OUTSIDE Fun

 The fishing poles are finally getting put to good use.  Still haven't quite tied on a hook, but the practice casting and reeling has proven to be great entertainment.

Our yard is a wonderful place to watch Spring unfold.  The tulips we planted came from our trip last summer to Holland. The flowering trees are super fragrant and colorful.  And the veggie garden next to the house holds tons of seeds for our summer time enjoyment.

Mother's Day mushroom hunting!  An adventure in the woods, YES, sign us up.  We had troopers, lots of scrapes and bruises from tromping through the trees, and we even were lucky and found ONE Morel mushroom!

We celebrated the rest of the afternoon at the lake!

Our budding photographer Piper captured this series on the log of Scout Lake near Sisters....

Me and my girl posing for some Mother's Day silliness!

I feel so lucky to be sharing my life with 3 little monkeys.  The joy, the laughter, the frustration, the pride, the LOVE, the snuggles, the fears, the failures, the successes and the simple everyday moments we share.  Every bit of it I cherish and am thankful for.  Being their mom fills me with feelings deeper than I'd ever felt before.  Watching them grow and learn and explore the world we live is a privilege and an honor.

I am proud to say we successfully took on the first camp out of the season.  We joined a group of friends who have dubbed these outings as COCKS (Central Oregon Camping with Kids Series)!  Super cool group of people who happen to be rock star mountain bikers and like getting out in the woods with kids.  The mountain biking was stellar and the kids had so much fun too, a success all around.

We were packed to the gills!  Bikes, beer, pillows, hammock...we didn't forget a thing.  

Between the hammock, tents, trailers and slack line, these guys stayed busy.

Marshmallows were an obvious highlight.

Waking up to rain the last morning didn't stop the bacon cooking!

Awesome camp site along the river.

The hot springs on the way home was a nice stop.  A bit murky when the silt got stirred up, but felt great and we had the whole place to ourselves most of the time.