Game ball

Saturday Avery had her second to last baseball game and she earned the game ball! She's a great player and yesterday she hit the ball so well. She was so proud to receive the game ball and has been waiting every week to get it. She's loved this season and we've loved watching her play each week. We're all looking forward to next year when she will play again. Thanks for such a fun season, Avery. You did a great job!

Here she is playing first base...

Avery's cute fans watching her at bat...

Receiving the game ball...

Yesterday was Justin's last swim class. We decided to take the summer off and then in the fall he can join the swim team. He passed all levels and has really improved all the different strokes. The most recent one that he's really gotten good at is the backstroke. He's quite the swimmer. He wants to learn the high dive, but I haven't been able to find anything around our area for that. Then again I haven't tried real hard yet either. To find out if he even will be interested at all, he's going to take the highest level swimming lessons through Temecula's Recreation Center during the summer. They say that the spring board is introduced. I figure he can try that out first and decide if we really need to pursue finding a high dive area or not.

Justin, you rocked swimming these past few months. Good for you!

Last day of speech

Today was Devin's last day at speech. We've been taking him once a week for only a half hour since January. Although it has helped me know where the gaps are that he needs help and has helped me know what to work on with him, we haven't felt like he has been progressing enough to warrant the money (it's so expenive!). So, today I pulled him out for the summer to assess how he does without it. If we see a difference we will put him back in. In the meantime I am working on getting his old ABA therapist that lives near us to come work her magic on him a couple of times a week. We know that this would be much more beneficial for him. Devin is doing great and is continuing to make strides and most people wouldn't even know there is any delay, which is great! But, we know once you dig a little deeper there are just a couple of loop holes that we would like filled to give him the best possible start to kindergarten in a year. Let's hope Jennifer will come through for us.

The above picture is of Devin with his speech pathologish, Miss Amy. She's been really sweet and has told me to call or email her with any questions during the summer and she's going to put together a folder of work for me to work with him. So nice and helpful!

At long last...

Last Tuesday my BFF's and I were finally able to celebrate Allyson's birthday a little late. We had planned this a couple weeks ago, but with Kirks dad we needed to postpone it. We always make sure we get together for eachother's birthday's and now that I finally have a Disneyland pass, guess where we ended up. Am I getting my use out of my pass or what?! Neither Colleen or I had ever eaten at the Blue Boyou in the Pirates of the Caribbean and since Allyson has been a 'Pirates' fan for...well, for forever, we thought it appropriate to give it a shot. We got lucky and got a table along the railing by the water, although in the picture you can't tell. We had such a nice afternoon/evening together as always. Colleen and I got there a little early and went to CA Adventure to ride a few rides before Allyson was able to join us. Then it was time to go to D-land for dinner and a few more rides. We closed the park down shopping and chatting. Then we headed over across the street to Denny's for a late night dessert. I was home by 12:40 am. I just love my friends!

Father and Sons Campout

This past Friday night was our ward's father and son campout. Justin and Kirk left when Kirk got home from his parents house. His dad had been released from the hospital that afternoon (but he was readmitted on late Saturday night when he hadn't been able to hold anything down). They stopped at the store to buy some treats and then ran through McDonald's (surprise...I was inside with Avery and Devin at that moment and we were able to wave as they went through the drive-thru lane). They went to a nicer place than last year, from what I hear. They arrived, set up camp and enjoyed the company of friends for our ward. They made smores and were able to fish at a little pond there. They had a fun time together and were home on Saturday by noon. Here are some pictures they took...

Disneyland with Aunt Sandi

More Disney pictures!
My sister, Sandi, flew in for our cousin's funeral over the weekend, so she and I decided to take a mental health day, pull Justin and Avery out of school and head to Disneyland on Monday. I'll back up a little first. Sandi flew in and spent some time with us here first, which was very nice. The kids just love having their fun Aunt Sandi here. She's always so attentive to them. I wish she lived closer so my kids could be around her influence more. I have many fond memories of my Aunt Maureen growing up. She and my cousin only lived a mile or so away from us and so we got to be around them a lot. I wish my kids had that too. Anyway, on Saturday we went to the funeral. It was a nice service and we had a really nice time being with our family after. Like I said in a previous entry, we will deeply miss Janey. Sunday was Mother's Day. Avery made me a beautiful card and then Kirk gave me a surprise gift card to the mall from the kids and him. I told him not to get me anything, but he didn't listen. So nice! Later, the kids and I headed over to my parents while Kirk went to the hospital to see his dad. We spent the night at my parents so that we could get up and leave for D-land right away. My parents watched Devin for us so that we would be able to ride all the rides. We got there right after it opened and found we were lucky and hit another very light day. We rarely had to stand in line of any significance the whole day. We hit about 14 rides and Avery became quite the little dare devil. She (well, we all) went on Splash Mountain and Space Mountain! Thunder Mountain quickly became her favorite ride after we got our passes a couple months ago, but she wasn't ready to try anything beyond that until a couple of days ago. She really liked Space Mountain. What a brave little girl! It's old hat to Justin. He's been on those rides long before now. It was another great day at Disneyland and even more fun because we got to enjoy it with Aunt Sandi! From the sounds of it, Devin had a nice time with Gramma and Papa Winn too. Gramma took him for a walk over to Rite Aid for an ice cream and then to Petco to look at the animals and reptiles. What a nice grandma!

(I found out later there was a little smudge on the lens, so these pictures are a little fuzzy)

Mother's Day program

Avery's kindergarten class had a 'Mother's Day Tea' they hosted last Friday. We were invited to join their class at 2:30 and then they performed their program for us. Avery started the program out by reading the introduction and welcoming us. She's such a good reader and she did a great job. They then sang us many songs they had worked hard memorizing and sounded great. Then they each read their own page from a book their class made and had published. The theme was Family or what they like to do with their family. Something like that. Avery's page said "My family is special. I like to go to the yogurt factory with Justin and Devin and my mom and dad. My favorite flavor is chocolate with cookie dough. By Avery Sumida. And I love her picture of us. Notice that she has drawn me taller than Kirk. Luckily she didn't draw me fatter too. :-) And don't you love the fish on my skirt? So cute! After the program they gave us a pot they had decorated with flowers and a cute card (see picture at top). It was a nice afternoon and I loved every minute of it, Avery. You did a great job! I love you!

Avery's and my date

I'm having to do some catch up because it's been a little busy around here. A few weeks ago Avery and I went on a date to Disneyland - just the two of us. So much fun! I picked her up from school early and off we went to do whatever she wanted at the 'happiest place on earth'. I had made reservations at Ariel's Grotto for dinner over at CA Adventure so she could meet all the princesses, but we got there early enough to go enjoy the rides first. The first thing Avery wanted to do was go to Toon Town to meet Goofy. To her delight when we very first entered Main Street Goofy was walking out from the back lot and we were able to follow him to take a picture with him. That was a good omen that it was going to be a good day. There weren't very many people there, so we didn't have to wait for any of the rides for more than maybe 10 minutes, if at all. What fun! It was fun to watch her enthusiasm about it all and enjoy the opportunity to make all the decisions of what we went on and when. I even persuaded her to try Pirates of the Caribbean by the end of the night because I knew she'd love it...and she did! So, we did a bunch of rides over in Disneyland (even took a ride down main street in one of those old cars and then back up in the old fire truck) before heading over to CA Adventure to change into the princess dress she insisted on bringing. She wanted to bring one of her really frilly ones, but that would be hard to pack and cart around, so I talked her into bringing the one in the pictures, which wasn't difficult because Aurora is her favorite princess. Okay, so anyone with a young daughter has GOT to take their daughter to this place. It's incredible! A bit pricey, but in my book very worth it! You get a fabulous dinner that includes appetizers, main course and a dessert plate that is beautiful. They treat you...well, like a princess! As you're eating the princesses get announced one by one and then make their way around the room to each table to chat a minute with each child and do pictures and autographs. Darling! Avery was in princess heaven! And I'll admit I was too. We had such a nice time dining and talking and being excited about which princess would come in next. To our disappointment Belle wasn't able to make it, so Cinderella's Fairy Godmother came in her place. She was nice, but we missed Belle. So, after that wonderful experience we headed back out for more rides and closed the park down, which lucky for us was only 8:00. We were home in time for Avery to get a good night's sleep so she could have a productive day at school the next day. It really was a magical day and one I know she and I will never forget.
(And for those of you wondering, Justin and Kirk were supposed to have their own date night to D-land tonight, but with Kirk's dad in the hospital still and his mom needing someone to stay with her at her house, they have postponed it until the Fall, as our passes get blocked out for the summer months. But he's okay. Disappointed at first, but old enough to understand family comes first and also he has this weekend's father/son campout to look forward to)