Kindergarten Round-up

Today Zane got to go to his kindergarten round-up. He was very excited. The kindergarten teacher read them a two stories, they got to play with the toys, paint a picture and write in a journal like they would do in kindergarten. Then they all got a bag that had a dry-erase board, a book ,crayons, scissors, magnetic letters nad numbers and coloring pages. It was a lot of fun. After that, all the preschoolers and their families met at the park. They got to play for a while and then we had a picnic and the preschoolers put on a program for us. After the program they all got their preschool "diplomas". They were all so excited. Zane is telling everyone he's in kindergarten now. I can't believe he is that big. I ask him when he got so big and he told me that he was growing everyday. I told him he wasn't supposed to be that big though and he said he was big enough to wear a muscle shirt so he was ready for kindergarten. I guess that makes sense!

One of those days

Do you ever just wake up and know it"s going to be one of those days? I always say that with Makenna you can tell from the minute she wakes up what kind of day she's going to have and what we will be dealing with as far as moods. Well, I've discovered that I can be the same way and today is overwhelming. Hopefully I can get over it the same way that I tell Makenna she needs to get over it! Maybe it's Heavenly Father's way of making me empathetic towards her and her moods. It's not as easy to come out of one as we might think! If anyone os going to be attending a beach party anytime soon I found a really cute idea for a snack. You make blue jello and put it in a new fish bowl then put gummy fish in it (after the jello is set) so it looks like a fish bowl or put the jello in tie baggies with a couple of fish in it to look like you bought fish from the store. We did it last night for family home evening. Maddi taught us about things in the ocean and then we had that for a treat. The kids loved it. Another idea was to put vanilla pudding in a cup and sprinkle crushed graham crackers or vanilla wafers ontop to look like sand. Then put in one of those little paper umbrellas and a gumball (for the beach ball) and it looks like sand at the beach! Cute, huh? I thought so.

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers. I had a good day. The weather was beautiful and the kids were all happy and excited. Aren't they all beautiful? I got a flower from church and the kids made cards and gave chocolate in primary. Yesterday afternoon we planted the flowers they had given me and played in the yard for a while. Hope you all had a great day too!

Spring concert

Friday the girls had their spring concert. It was a really fun one. They did an excellent job. The kindergarten class also presented their teacher with the poem that I wrote and the quilt that they helped make. It was fun. Mrs. Richmond was crying and the kids were so excited. They all yelled "We love you Mrs. Richmond!" For the closing song of the concert they while school sang Everyhting I need to Know I learned in Kindergarten. There were more tears and cheers after that. It was a concert that will be remembered for quite a while! You can't tell much from the pictures. Makenna is on the back row, third one in weairng a white dress and Maddi is on the front row, white skirt and pink shirt. Zeke was enjoying walking around in the back with Michael.

The sweetest thing!

This morning Dillon saw the flowers they had gotten me last night sitting on the table in the fireplace room. He told me how pretty they were. I said yes they are beautiful and then he said, "they are beautiful just like you!" then he gave me a big hug. Doesn't that just melt your heart? It just doesn't get any sweeter than that!

A day outside

We had the most beautiful day today. It was around 60 degrees with a slight breeze. The boys and I spent almost the whole day outside. Olivia was outside too when she wasn't napping. The boys played in the dirt, on the swings and raced on their horses. I was able to edge around all the flower beds and the big dirt pile that the kids play in. This afternoon I started trying to clean up the shelter belt. It is going to be a huge job. I only cleaned out a 8'x4' spot and I got a huge pile of dead stuff and decaying garbage to be hauled off. It took almost 1 1/2 hours to do that. Now I have to go through with the cutters and cut out all the little trees and then rake everything. It will take all summer and then some. Hopefully it will look better when it's done. Tonight we went in to town and the kids picked out flowers for me for mother's day. We got tulips and snap dragons and a few other things to put in our flower pots. They each picked out what they wanted and we will plant them later on. They were excited to get to do that. I am hoping to have a few more beautiful days like this. It feels good to be outside after such a long, drawn out winter.

Do I have something on my face?

Zoo Day

Today Zane, Dillon, Zeke, Olivia and I got to go to the zoo with the kindergarten class. It was a lot of fun. The day was beautiful and the animals were out and moving around. They fed the ducks and goats, saw kangaroos hopping around, listened to a parrot talk to us, had a camel lay down and stick his head thorugh the fence and saw the penguins running around. After we saw all the animals we had a picninc and played in the park for a little while. Then the class got their picture taken on the playground equipment. It was a fun day. This evening we cooked out over the firepit and had s'mores. The kids enjoyed playing outside and Michael and I enjoyed the fresh air. It has been a long wait for the weather to finally warm up. I hope it's here to stay.

Books

In their classes at school, the girls got the opportunity to write and illustrate a page in a book. The class decided what to write the book about and then each child got a page in the book to do. They practiced drawing the picture and writing neatly several times before putting the book together. Then they sent it off to a publishing company that printed the books in hardcover and gave us the option to buy. Each book has a picture of the class included in it as well. They are really quite cute and the girls are very proud of them. This is Maddi's second book and Makenna's first. When they get into 4th, 5th and 6th grade they will get to write a book by themsleves if it is a program that the school is still doing. I think it's great and it's soemthing that the children do that they can be proud of and keep forever.

Nona's Farm

Today Dillon and I got to go with the kindergarten class to Nona's farm. It is a few miles fron town. There were chickens, ducks, pigeons, bunnies, goats, sheep, pigs, llamas, and a miniature horse. The kids had a great time. It was very interesting. She has a chicken and a dove that live in her house along with three dogs, two caged birds and a cage full of chicks. The chicken, dogs and dove run around loose. Kind of yucky when you think about food and stuff like that. The kids ahd a great time. They got to hold all the animals that they could catch. It was a fun time. Makenna liked the baby goats and sheep. Dillon liked the piglets as long as they didn't get too close. Most of the kids liked the baby bunnies. There was one special pig that we had to get Dillon's picture with - Susie the Pig. She was big but we finally got a couple of pictures of the two together. I had to be in one so he would get close enough. Then she wandered up to him and I was able to get another one before Dillon ran away. Makenna and Dillon also liked the horse tire swings. It was a fun day. Next week we get to go to the zoo!