One of the boys' favorite "annual" events is going to the fishers freedom festival parade. Of course getting candy is the #1 priority they also enjoyed a bit of time with grandpa, grandma, uncle brett & our neighbors owen & evan. The last picture is a photo of the "King". . . this is Luke's good friend from school, Quinn.
Last fall our church started a drive-by food drop off in the parking lot every Saturday morning to help collect food for the 32 hamilton county food pantries. Our small group collected and sorted the food this week. . .
We got together with the families in our small group for some yummy dinner and an evening of fireworks. The kids LOVE being together--as you can tell there seem to be bunches of them.
The kids broke out the snaps after dinner and even the daddies joined in to throw the snaps at a huge pile of ants. . .what fun.
Shortly before fireworks time, the dark clouds started rolling in, and then the storm came. The kids waited all week long for "the show" and it turned out there was none!
The boys have had swim lessons this week. This is our 4th summer with Mrs. Stephanie! She is just the best, with a very firm but loving attitude. She knows just how to push the kids to get a bit more out of them. She started teaching during her summers off from Ball State. Thankfully, after graduating this past Dec., she decided to come back and keep teaching swim during her summers off from being an elementary teacher at the deaf school in Indianapolis. We are oh-so grateful that she is willing to drive 45 minutes back to Fishers every morning to teach the lessons in her parents pool!
Luke has been working all week on the breast stroke. . .and has progressed really well--hard to put it all together, but I am impressed. Here he is working on his arms/breathing .
Cole is working on diving. . . 
he and Grant also worked on freestyle and back stroke.
The reward after each individual lesson is a few good jumps off the diving board. . .so fun, since our neighborhood pool does not have one.
While each brother took their turn at their lesson, the others played with the "Eliminator Waterguns." They seemed to be addictive. . .just can't stop squirting 'em--at each other or at Stephanie's cat!
On Saturday I heard the boys outside on the patio talking about some swords that they wanted. It was quite a lengthy conversation and later that day I saw they left the magnadoodle outside with their "sketches" of what they wanted.
Grant even came inside to tell me how he could build a sword in grandpa's workshop. On Saturday night, Grant and Luke had googled "wooden swords" and found a picture of exactly what they wanted and then asked to send grandpa an email to see if he could make it.
By Sunday, Grant could wait no longer for a reply back from grandpa, so he called and asked if he could make the swords. Of course, my dad said he would "see what he could do." About 20 minutes after Grant got off the phone, he announced he had to call grandpa again. It was a one way phone conversation and Grant said, "Grandpa, you can make those swords and put them in the mail." {hmmm. . . .we live 6 miles away!!!}
On Monday Grant wanted to know when the mail was coming, and I had to tell him that grandpa probably did not have a chance to make the swords yet. 
But, today grandpa showed up at the pool with some very awesome handmade wooden swords for the boys. They have had them in their hands all afternoon and are thrilled. At dinner Grant said we should send grandpa a thank-you with $2,000. We will definitely write the thank-you, but might have to skip the $2,000!
THANK YOU, grandpa!!!
Luke finished up his baseball season last night. He really enjoyed playing this year and having his dad as his coach. The skill level of these kids has increased emmensely which made the games a blast to watch. Luke was voted on to the All-Star team. The All-Star game was so much fun, both for the kids to play and for the parents to watch (and cheer in such a positive environment). You had a great season, Lukey!
2007 Stats:
AB:51 Hits:40 Runs:25 Doubles:7 Bat Avg:.784
School is out, but the learning is not over. Luke's teacher, who is phenomenal BTW, is looping. So, most of the kids from his class last year will be together again with her for second grade. She has decided to keep the kids working this summer. They are loaded up with books to read, work to do, journals to write, etc. The class meets about every week and a half to two weeks all summer long. It is not a long meeting--and she has tried to make the meetings fun. The whole family is welcome. We meet after dinner, long enough for a little reading lesson and literature circles facilitated by parents, as well as time to turn in books/homework and pick up more.
Luke is persevering through the work. It made me realized that some days we are really busy and he hasn't had time to work on it. But most days he heads upstairs at "rest time" and works diligently.
The boys went to 4-H Camp this week up at the fair grounds. They had a blast! There were so many activities: a magician, a meteorologist, a bee keeper came, they learned about goats, llamas, pigs, elk, rabbits & more, played a bunch of games, did crafts, etc.
Of course after the first day when we asked Grant what his favorite part of the day was, he said "lunch!"
The bottom picture: Grant, Luke, Sophie (cousin), Owen & Drew (neighbors).
Our niece/cousin turns 10 today. . .wow, the time goes fast--I still remember visiting her in the hospital and she was one month old at our wedding! We look forward to the next 10 years with you Grace!
BTW, for all of you Taylor grads--Grace celebrated her birthday in Upland! Yes!, I said Upland. She had her party at Wandering Wheels (they have a pool now!) and we had Ivanhoe's instead of cake. What a perfect party!
Ahhh, my favorite time of year. Summer. The kids are back at it. . .heading to the pool 4 or 5 times a week. The kids enjoyed some swim time with their cousins this weekend(in celebration of Grace's 10th birthday. . .I'll wait to post those pictures after she has her kid party) and went again today with friends. I love how great they sleep after an afternoon of swimming!
I have 2 cameras. I always keep one in my purse. Tonight, I got it out because I knew that I had pix from Luke's field day at school on Friday. I quickly realized I missed a few other things from this month. . .so here is a catch up!
Grant's preschool class took a trip to the Indy Zoo. We had a perfect day. . .Check out this picture of the kids at the dolphin show. . .there is Kiley, our neighbor who is tough enough to hand out with all these boys!
Luke wrote a story called "Luke's Story" for his Young Author Book this year. He did a super job. . .and the sweetest part of all is that he dedicated it to Grant {is this called brotherly love?}!
