Football and Cheerleading Awards

Wow...the eight weeks are already over!

Jenna had a blast with her cheers and really

put her loud voice to good use. I am sad to report

that the Eagles (Ian and Joshua's team) did not

win a single game. Even though we were win-less,

those boys played every down of every game.

They never gave up and they handled

the losses with class. Tonight we celebrated all

of their hard work with dogs, burgers and medals

at The Fort Myers Aquatic Center.

The proud, yet silly, participants.


The Cheer Medal and my sweet girl.

Ian receiving his medal from Coach Patrick, with

teammates Casey (Coach's daughter) and Miks

by his side.

The boys proudly wearing their medals. Aren't

they handsome young men??? Good job boys,

you did a great job! We are proud of you!

This was from my car last night. Tuesday evenings

after work, Toni and I meet downtown for a good

run. This is proof that it was HOT outside yesterday.

What my car can't show you is not only was it hot but

it was so windy making the run even more tough.

Despite the conditions, we finished and we felt great

for toughing it out. Thanks for the inspiration Toni!

Camera Tricks

We were supposed to have Football/Cheer leading
awards tonight. But, we had thunderstorms and
they were cancelled. Since Joshua was spending
the night, we needed some substitute fun.
Sparklers, smoke balls and amazing fountains
seemed to do the trick just fine. As I do with all
outings, the camera was out but tonight I was testing
different settings. We ended up with some
interesting pictures when we used the
"night scenery" setting.


This one made us do a double take. The image
at the bottom is Jenna, up to the left is Ian...just
his shadow, and holding the sparkler is Josh.


Cool huh? It looks like Ian is shooting a spark
over to John.


This looks Joshua is drawing an arrow towards
Ian.


Double trouble.

John was doing is sword techniques

from his martial arts days using

two sparklers. (for those

who may not know...he used to

TEACH martial arts!).

We thought these turned out neat

and decided to share!

Trophies, And yes, they earned it!

With Daddy, Papa, and all
of the other "Dads" we have
adopted, we need a good craft
so we could honor each one with
a gift. We decided on homemade
trophies.
The Wengels kept Ian and Jenna
the first two days of summer break.
We kept Sophia and Micheal
the third day. Plus, a good long craft
is the perfect solution for keeping
kids who have been around each
other all day long for three days
straight from being at each other's
throat. :)


At least Sophia was having fun.
Our trophies were two Styrofoam
cups taped end to end, covered in
masking tape, painted gold and then
mounted on a gold base.


A sample of our final product.



We gained a 5th kid for the day. His parents
own a mobile detailing company (Breakdown
Mobile Cleaning---645-3403). John's Father's
Day gift was to get his car detailed. Damon
and Stacy did a phenomenal job. Damon had
babysitter issues and had to bring his 10 yr
old with him. We invited Connor with us to
a picnic at our tree house and he ended up spending
the rest of the day playing with the kids like
he has known them forever.
Here, the boys are playing catch in the park, well
we call it Marjory and David's yard. You can see
David's awesome garden behind the boys.


A picnic shot...from left to right...Connor, Michael,
Sophia, Ian and Jenna. Connor was amazed to find
out that our tree house was actually in a tree. He was
a good kid and we were glad everything worked out
so he could play with us for the day. He even ended
up making a trophy for his Dad.

To close, a few quotes about our Dads...

What are men so reluctant to become fathers?
They aren't through being children~ Cindy Garner

A father carries pictures where his money used to be.

Blessed indeed is the man who hears many gently
voices call him father! ~Lydia M Child, 1839

He didn't tell me how to live. He lived and let me
watch him do it. ~ Clarence Budington Kelland

Happy Father's Day! We are thankful for all of you!

A Badly Needed Do-Over

When we moved back to Fort Myers, John and
his Dad tried their hand a building a pond.
It sounded lovely but there were just a few
items I didn't love. But...it was a great effort.
So, we had some money saved and decided to
give the pond a do-over, with professional help
this time. We are very happy with the (almost)
final result.

Before, our pond was some black pond liner with
a cement hill that was originally intended to
become a waterfall. We could not figure out
how to finish off the edges so it looked pretty
instead of like plastic.
In case you are wondering what Ian is doing, he
is talking to his pet turtle, JJ. He greets JJ every
morning and says goodnight every evening. This
little turtle knows his voice and if Ian is out, so
is JJ. If Ian calls him, he comes. It is quite crazy.


Step one...bust out the ugly cement hill. Ian and
John worked for hours, they pulled out the liner,
and had a lot of the "ground work" (ha ha pardon
the pun) done before the pond-scapers came.
I think this picture makes Ian look older than
9. He worked his tail off this day. Because of their
hard work, it only took a day and a half instead
of three days to get the basic pond in place.


I know it is poorly lit but this give you a pretty
good idea where we are going with the pond.
It is beautiful! We are still adding in rocks and
will eventually buy some nice plants to
finish off the edges.

A close up of the fountain. The blue
rocks are called Blue Ice. They add
a really neat touch. We have some
goldfish from the first pond in there
right now but will add Koi once
we are done with everything.



Tonight, John added lights. They are extra fun
because you can change out the light filter so
we can make them match the holidays. It adds
a little extra ambiance!

Kinder Awards

The end of the school year at Littleton Elementary
brings award ceremonies where students are
rewarded for going above and beyond. No...
not all of the students received something. Some
parents are bothered by this but I think it is
OK to give those kids who do more than is expected
a little spotlight. All kids have chances throughout
the year to receive accomplishment ribbons
for good behavior, attendance, etc. So on this day,
no child goes home with something to show his
or her parents. But only those kids who really did
well, get called on stage.


I know this is blurry, but look how excited Jenna
is to received her second award! (Science)
Before the teacher read the names, she told a
story of how a student stacked several magnifying
glasses on top of each other and pointed out
that this works just like a microscope. Once back
in the classroom, Jenna says "I was the girl in
the story Mom...you know, the one that made
a microscope out of magnifiers." I guess that's
why she recieved the award!


More awards...

Proud Jenna. She received an award for becoming
and Independent Reader, the Art award, the Science
Award, the Leadership award and the Over All
Academic Achievement trophy (highest GPA in
the class).
Jenna has been DYING for a trophy. Her cousin, Morgan,
has given her several of hers and each time we say, "it
doesn't mean the same thing because YOU have to
earn a trophy". On the way back to the classroom, one
of her classmates says "Jenna, I can't believe you got
a trophy!". Jenna says, in a very loud, almost forceful
tone "I EARNED IT!!!"



Jenna, her awards and Mrs. Hess.

Congratulations Kindergarten! Good luck next

year!

Jenna, you did so well this year! We are so

proud of you! We can't to see what 1st grade

brings!

4th Grade Awards Ceremony

All year long, students can earn
accomplishment ribbons for good
grades, meeting reading goals,
perfect attendance or good "star"
behavior. At the end of the year,
there is an awards ceremony for
special awards. It is a nice way to
bring attention of those students
that go above and beyond all
throughout the school year.


Ian proudly displayed all of his
accomplishments and awards.
He received the Writing award,
Presidential Education award,
and A-B honor roll award. Out of
5 4th grade classes, only about 15
students had A's and B's all 4 quarters.
There were only 3 that had all A's.


This is Ian with Drake, one of his best buddies.
(no size difference here, huh?)
As you can see by the # of ribbons, they both
had a great year. Drake won several additional
awards this year, including All Start Student!


Ian, David "the secret brother ", and Jesse all
proudly displayed their accomplishment ribbons.


A special thanks to Ms. Debbie and Ms. Ines,
our neighbors. They have been helping us collect
Box Tops and Campbell Soup labels all year.
The result of their efforts...Ian won an award for
turning in the most Box Tops in all of 4th Grade.
The prize pack was awesome...all of the supplies
needed for 5th grade!


Congratulations to Ian and all of his 4th Grade
classmates! (don't look too hard for Ian, he was
up by the stage and is blocked by the other kids)
Good luck next year!

Ian, we are so proud of how hard you worked
this year! Well done!

Hip Hop Chelsea

June 5th was Chelsea's dance recital.
Morgan's was so much fun that we
couldn't wait to see what was in
store of us this time! This recital
was titled Keys to the Kingdom.
Each number told another story
from the bible. It was really well
done.


Chelsea's class started with 6
students. By recital time, it was
down to 2. Chelsea was really
nervous but she got up there
and did a great job.
We were so proud of her.






Peace Yo.

Chelsea and the girls. Can you

feel the love????

Great job Chelsea! It was a really

fun evening, thank you for inviting

us!