House of Boys

On the last Thursday of school, we got to go to Monkey Joes then the park. "What better day to host a sleepover?" thought Mom. She thought we'd come home tired and just want to chill out and build LEGOs or watch movies all night. YEAH RIGHT!

Even though it was cold, we made her dig out every swimsuit I owned and headed out back for a battle!

It started with Mom blowing gigantic bubbles for us to shoot and destroy, but you know that quickly changed into us destroying each other and Mom!

Mom wants me to note the fact that Jeremiah is her favorite because he's the only one who didn't soak her. It should also be noted that Levi and I both doused her generously. You're welcome Ma!

Things got really great when it started to pour!

Seth wasn't interested in the rain and quickly joined Mom in the sunroom.

Not the rest of us rowdies though!

We are warriors!

One of the best things about my friends is how much they like my little brother. He's just part of the gang!

Okay it may have gotten a little intense. This is about the time Mom started asking us to please come in. We just pretended not to hear her

Until she told us she'd just pulled a warm batch of chocolate chip cookies out of the over for us. SOLD!

Cerebral Giant

My brother is a cerebral giant. There's just no denying it! Once again he got the top award in his class for both Math and Reading. Levi beat his reading minutes but they were both at least 1200 higher than anyone else in the class!

We're so proud of these great kids who work hard and we're especially proud of our smart cookie Cole.

Men and Mommies at Work

This is pretty much what you'll see if you look out any window in Vandyville these days.

Daddy and I are hard at work digging out all the old landscaping and planting new stuff.

My brother is more of a cerebral worker (see the next post). Me, I like to get my hands dirty. You can bet that if Dad is outside working, I'm out there helping! Mom even pitched in and earned some serious blisters this weekend!

The absolute coolest thing about digging out the old landscaping (besides the copious amounts of mud) was the GIANT pile of rocks that showed up in our driveway!

We were pretty sure they were put there especially for us to climb, throw, and slide down.

Of course, Uncle TaDa was in full agreement about the fun potential in this pile!

Boys will be boys, Mom!

Luckily it arrived while we were at church because Mom would not have been so happy to see us dirty beforehand.

See B's butt for evidence of fun and dirt!

Uncle TaDa



Just before Hayden left, Grandma and Bugga arrived for a quick hello, then about 30 minutes after THEY left, Uncle Tada showed up! Can you say P A R T Y?! We had an awesome time with him because he thinks just like us!

Memorial Day Madness

What better way to kickoff the long weekend than with a sleepover? I got to hang out with my old pal Hayden for the night. Hayden's Mom and super cool big bro came for dinner too. We had an awesome time being completely ridiculous!

Track and Field Day



It's totally worth it to endure 180 days of school because the last two weeks are AWESOME! After we got to run chapel, we were thrilled to have Track and Field Day! Jacob, Zeke and I were on the black team.

We won ribbons this year! I got first place for the Long Jump, Third Place for Softball throw and a few 4th and 5th place ribbons too.

Catherine dominated the girl's events!

Mom came as soon as she could with B. Luckily Clayton was there too.

We big kids like to hang around looking cool. People pretty much leave us alone.

I really love my friends. I'm going to miss Daniel!

B didn't want to do anything but slide down this big slide he's recently conquered.

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The only catch is that he won't go down unless he sees Mom's face at the bottom!

Violet was on our team. We boys enjoyed giving her LOTS of instructions for how to win.

This was the distance run. I thought I had it on lock down and I did own the event until I gave up about 15meters early.

Mom says my form could use some work too.

While all the action was taking place on the grass, Clayton and B were ankle deep in mud in the field.

Good thing he kept his clothes on. It's hard to find him amongst the cornstalks!

Probably the funniest moment of the day was when Mr. Finchum called Big Ol' Ryan Castor up. He claimed to be the fastest kid in school so Mr. Finchum asked if anyone thought they were faster and wanted to race him. You'll never guess which little man shot his hand up! Yup. He soon had almost every girl at Zion cheering "Go Batman Go!"

There was a catch! Ryan had to carry a bag full of soccer balls. This gave Jaden, the brave kindergartner a distinct advantage. Brave little Batman came in second without his shoes!


Sorry man, we take these races very seriously. Batman crossed the finish line first, THEN went back to check on Ryan.

What an awesome day!

Coach Cole

B spent a few hours working on the landscaping with Dad last weekend so Mom bought him his own bat and a large supply of wiffle balls.  I couldn't wait to teach him how to play and he couldn't wait to learn.

He insisted on wearing a batting helmet (like me of course) but mine was in the truck at Daddy's work so we improvised.

He can smack em pretty good!

Off to run the bases.

I do not let my players off easy.  Yer out!

After a few innings, we retired to our dug UP landscaping to make mud bombs.  Typical summer evening in Vandyville!