Hanging out with the Neals

June 5th~ Between Ronan's last game and the team party we spent the afternoon at the Henry's house.  My aunt, uncle, & cousins from Portland were down for the day and we all got together to celebrate Spring birthdays & just hang out.  The kids played and played in the backyard--with the water table, swinging, chasing the chickens, and digging in the dirt. 

Cohen, Griffin, & Finn got all wet and decided to take off their shirts...so Becca and I got them to pose for a quick photo shoot.  These boys are best buddies and they each have such fun personalities.

Cousins~ Eleanor, Hannah, Katrina, me, and Becca

the whole group

Last T-Ball

On June 5th Ronan had his last t-ball game of the season.  It was neat to see how much each player had improved during the season!  By the last few games they had really figured things out.
Some of Ronan's fans: Memaw, Sadie, Uncle Aaron, Aunt Becca, Papa, and Grammie 

Later that evening the coach hosted a pool party and BBQ at his family's farm in Harrisburg.  It was an overcast, cool day, but lucky for the kids the pool was heated to 90+degrees!  They all had a blast!
Ronan doing flips off the diving board:

Each player received a certificate and a trophy (:

Ronan with Coach Ryan and Assistant Coach Daddy (;

Spring Field Trip

June 4th~ Ronan's teacher loves planning field trips, and I've really enjoyed getting to go on each of them with the class!  I know I've said it before, but I just think that kindergarten is so much fun. (:  It's been a great year for Ronan, and I'm so thankful for that!!  To finish off their Spring science unit on plants, the class went to Bloomer's Nursery for a tour and to choose something to plant at their school.

on the bus

the greenhouse

Ronan's flower, a Marguerite Daisy

Griffin got to pick one, too, because a few kids were absent that day.

Mr. Serious (;

Back at school the kids planted their flowers and vegetables in a flower bed by the library. 

Ronan's Performance

This Spring, in music class, the kindergartners learned songs all about Under the Sea.  It was a cute little performance--we were proud of our little 'mole crab'. (:  Ronan had quite an audience of family members, which I know made him feel pretty special: Grammie, Gr. Grammie & Grandpa Lermo, Memaw & Papa (with Finn & Cedar), Becca & Cohen, and Josh, me, & Griffin. 

Ronan is in the top row, 5th from left to right

happy little singer (:

singing Baby Beluga

Afterward, we got to go to Ronan's classroom to see his ocean artwork:

Sandy beach, a turtle, and a sand fish~ 

Tide Pool~

a dolphin~

Landscaping update

It's amazing to look back a year ago at what our yard looked like when we first planted our grass, tress, and shrubs.  Here are some before and after pictures of how things looked last June compared to now:

June '09:

June '10:

then:

now:

then:

now:

then::

now:

Josh gets the credit for the design and manual labor of it all...with just a little help from me in choosing certain plants. (:

Happy Birthday, Audrey!

On May 30th, we celebrated our niece, Audrey's, 11th birthday with all the family.  It's hard to believe that she will be in middle school next year!  I was telling Audrey that I was 11 years old when my family moved to Eugene and met the Ruddick family....and that's when I became friends with Amy (and discovered her cute brother). (:   
Four Generations: Great Grammie, Grammie, Audrey, & Erin

Great Grandpa pushing Emma on the swing

Griffin & Ethan

Lydia & Ronan waiting for pitches from Uncle Jon

Audrey's dinner request was ribs and brussel sprouts!  It was interesting to see which kids (& adults) ate the brussel sprouts--I loved 'em!
Macey loved the ribs!

Yummy ribs!!

More pictures of all the fun the kids had in Grammie & Grandpa's backyard:

Back to celebrating Miss Audrey!

She was so excited about each of her presents--clothes from her favorite store, Justice!!