School's Out for Summer

On the day before the last day of school (yesterday), I thought we should have a fun treat.

 Reagan was at Karlie's house, and she doesn't really like s'mores anyway.  Her treat was hanging out with her friend!

 I discovered that Kate doesn't like s'mores either.  She likes all of the pieces, just not combined and ooey gooey melty (CRAZY, right?!!).

I made cinnamon rolls for our last morning with Ellie.  I was so happy that Ellie likes cinnamon rolls!  I wanted something special to thank her for spending time with us before school each day, and she did indeed enjoy the special treat!

While they ate, they made tape/crayon creations.

OF COURSE, I had to take a few last day of school pictures.

 Of course Reagan had to be silly.

 Poor Ellie is trying to get Reagan to cooperate so that we can get the picture thing over with!!!

Finally, one normal picture.  As much as I like this picture, the silly pictures are the TRUE Reagan.

Reagan's class had a pirate party to celebrate the last day, and I jumped on board with the theme.

 While they enjoyed their last day of school, Kate and I got ready to greet them.

Happy Summer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tyler - Tennis Sportsmanship Award

In addition to the wonderful news that the team won this Sportsmanship Award, Tyler received the honor of being voted TEAM CAPTAIN for next year!!!  Congratulations, Tyler!

T is for Turtle

 This turtle may be my favorite fun food creation ever.  He's just adorable.  I saw a similar turtle on Pinterest and changed it a little based on what I had on hand.  The original turtle I saw had an apple head, but I think the kiwi actually looks more realistic.

 I gave Kate a cereal box and dot markers.  Later I cut out pieces to make a turtle.

 I hid some turtles in the water beads for her to find.  She really liked this!

I also added turtles to the water table.  Reagan told me a few of the turtles are land turtles - OOPS!

We read Turtle Splash! Countdown at the Pond.  Kate has been taking this book to bed with her all week.

I can't believe we only have six letters left!  This is working very well for Kate.  She enjoys our letter fun, and she recognizes quite a few letters now.  It's fun for me too!

End of School Year Notes

I'm having a little bit of fun leaving special notes for the last few days of school.

So far, the "fro yo" note has been the most exciting one for the kids.  We invited Ellie to join us.

I was so busy helping Kate that I didn't pay attention to Collin.  The three girls had very reasonable cups of yogurt and toppings.  Collin went a bit overboard, and surprisingly he never complained of a stomachache.

Two half days of school left; we are all very ready for summer vacation!

Around Here

 We went to Madison's sixth birthday party last Saturday, and all of the kids had a great time with these Belly Boppers.  

Of course, I couldn't help but think of the time Reagan and I had fun with Belly Boppers at Davis' Mega Maze.

Kate finger painted this week.  This is a HUGE deal because she has never wanted to get her fingers sticky or goopy or anything that goes along with finger painting.  She LOVED it!  As you can see, her messy fingers found her face.

 This silly faced girl insists on carrying a bag full of toys with her when we leave the house.  Sometimes (like when I'm rushing out the door, which sadly is more often than not), this can be difficult for me to deal with, but it's important to her and it is really harmless, so I am trying to let her be who she is and go along with the whole thing.

 We had a picnic outside after school earlier this week.

Collin and Reagan are learning how to play chess.

 Kate loves to hang out and play in boxes.  It's exciting to receive nice big boxes like this one.

 Reagan and Ellie have been playing Cake Wars and Cookie Wars with play dough before school each morning.  The top creation is by Reagan, and the bottom creation is by Ellie.  I have to be the judge, and it is not easy.

Ellie brought me this Edible Arrangement yesterday to say thank you for having her over before school every morning.  We all enjoyed it, and the fruit disappeared quickly.  I get teary eyed when I think about Ellie going off to middle school in the fall.  We are going to miss her tremendously; she is incredibly sweet and she has been a great part of our morning fun.

If you look closely, you may be able to see that Kate is wearing underwear!  Woo hoo!  She has not worn a diaper since Saturday; that's right NO DIAPERS, not even at night!!!!!!  She has been easy to train, and I am so proud of her!

I'll end this post with a video of Kate singing "Do You Want to Build a Snowman" from Frozen.

For those of you that read this via email, you have to go to the blog to see the video.  Go see it; she's so darn cute.

Invention Convention

 

 The fourth grade end of year program is called The Invention Convention.  Each fourth grader invented something to solve a problem.  We were out to dinner at Fiesta one night a few months ago when Collin came up with the idea for his "nork".  A nork is a combination knife/fork; it looks like a fork, but the corners are serrated.  Since he came up with the idea, I have found myself in many situations when I could use a nork!

I didn't take pictures of the other inventions, but there were so many interesting ideas at the convention! I was very impressed!

I forgot to get a picture of Collin with his teacher, Mrs. Vitullo, but if you look in the background of the picture of Tom and Collin, you can see her holding a bag.  

Collin's invention is very clever, and he did a great job putting together his display board.  Nice job, Collin; we are so proud of your hard work!

The Many Faces of Kate at the Zoo

Kate and I went to the Buttonwood Park Zoo this morning.  She had so much fun, and she was such a joy to be with.  I laughed so much with her today; she is just so funny and so darn cute.

Kate is all about making silly faces for pictures now.  She cracks me up.

 Kate rode the carousel twice.  Her first ride was on the hummingbird, and the second time she chose the zebra.  It was nice that she was able to choose which animal to ride; I love visiting the zoo when it is quiet.

 Lots of silly faces.

 Yes, she has a nasty bruise smack dab in the middle of her forehead.  She tripped over a blanket and hit her head on a chair.

 We also rode the train twice, and she chose the blue car both times.

Kate enjoyed seeing each and every animal, but she was content to take a quick look at the animal and move on to the next one.

When she gave me a chance to read the signs about each animal, I tried to tell her what each animal likes to eat.  The bald eagle likes to eat fish, and when I mentioned this, Kate said, "I love to eat fish".  I responded somewhat surprised with, "You do?", and Kate said, "YES!!!  I love to eat fishy crackers".  She didn't realize she was being funny, or that the "fish" she likes to eat are very different from the fish the bald eagle eats.

She is just so much fun; I love this little girl.

After the zoo, we went to Harve's to buy new shoes for Kate, and then we had lunch with Papa and Grandma at Not Your Average Joe's.  Kate loved playing cards with Grandma and trying on her bracelets.  I wish I had thought to take pictures at lunch!

Kate was exhausted after all of the fun, and she fell asleep on the car ride home.  She told me several times today that she had "so much fun" and that she "loved the zoo", and hearing that from my sweet girl is just about the best thing in the world.