Can Kindergarten Be Over Already?!?!

Friday was Maggie's Kindergarten End of the Year Program (school gets out May 23). We took video of the program, but it's on the video camera, and only Tyler knows how to get it onto the Computer.

All 7 classes lined up and marched to the stage with a call and response thing like they do at bootcamp, but with cute sayings. Here's our little goofball.

I know her hair is in her face. She almost refuses to let me put it up and out of her face, this is the way she likes to wear it, and as much as it drives me crazy, it's not a hill I'm going to die on.

They ended the program with the Tootie-Ta!!! Maggie danced to this in her dance class last year.

There was a big picnic with all the kindergarteners and families after the program. Daddy and Maggie!

Trying to eat with James loose and free is always a bit of a challenge...

Daddy was a jungle gym for a while. James' new favorite thing to do is climb on anything and anyone.

Mama and her babies. And what's up with the vein in my forehead?! Have I always had that and never knew about it until now?

I thought I should include one of the 99 outtakes from trying to get a decent picture of me with the children. It is so funny! And maybe that's why my vein has popped out...

And here is Maggie with her teacher, Mrs. Miller. She has been so amazing this year, and has been such a great teacher for Maggie.

Hate the Mess, Love the Independence

Getting James to eat vegetables has been hit or miss lately (bread, fruit, never a problem). One day he loves peas and will eat 3 servings. The next day (week, month) he won't touch them. We have been avoiding the inevitable mess that accompanies learning to use a spoon and fork, but the past two weeks James has needed additional incentive to eat veggies. Spoons and forks have really helped out on that front. I've also resorted also to sneaking in extra veggies in our food. I grated and sauteed an entire zucchini, 1/2 an onion and extra garlic and Italian seasoning then pureed it and added it to jarred pasta sauce the other night. My hope was he'd eat some veggies this way, with pasta wheels. It was a MAJOR HIT!!!

Note the fork in the LEFT hand here, where it is most of the time, just not in the rest of these photos.  First serving gone.

Happy face!

Cheese face to Sissy. Working on second serving.

Cheese face to Mama. Covered in sauce. It was all over in his hair, too. He thinks everything needs to be rubbed behind his right ear.

He ended up eating THREE servings of pasta and sauce.Yay for forks and hidden zucchini!

Sparks Year 1 One - Done!

Tonight was the AWANA awards. Maggie memorized and recited her whole book, so a shiny new ribbon is now in her possession. 

"I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you." Psalm 119:11. Our hope as her parents is that the truths she has learned in Gods word over the past year will draw her to Himself.

Busy-ness

Sorry I haven't posted much lately. These days we are pretty busy. I am working for another florist part-time. Maggie finishes up kindergarten in 2 weeks, James is a crawling machine but not walking, and Tyler is busy with work and serving at church. I even put up my sewing machine, not sure when I'll be able to enjoy some stitching happiness in the near future.

But we are here. I'll try to do some more posting from my phone with pictures of the kids!

Fun bubble pictures from this weekend before Maggie's stomach bug set in. I made a "bubble snake" (washcloth tied around a cut-off end of a bottle) for the kids and it was a big hit!!!

Gotta love those belly laughs!

They were out again!

Coming home from the store the other day they mama fox and her kits were out again. I pulled in behind the church on the corner and just sat and took pictures for a while. I was about 50(?) feet away in my van, and they didn't really care. I got some good (as good as my camera can take) photos of all three kits. They are really quick and were pretty rambunctious so getting them all in one picture was a bit difficult.

I love our little town

Last weekend was the Buttercup Festival. For you Northerners, them're daffodils.

This is the third year we've gone. I love how the whole town shows up for the day. Cute booths, fun food, all the shops are open and so much cute stuff! I only took a couple of pictures, we were having too much fun. And running into people we know. Also so much fun to know we aren't strangers in town anymore.

Enjoying the petting zoo. Maggie stayed there about 1/2 an hour.

And milking a fake cow. Also a big hit with her. Maybe I should find the local FFA or 4H chapter?

And James' first bandaid. He loves to crawl around outside, but on aggregate pavement it's not always a good idea. He skinned his big toe pretty good that afernoon.

100% Boy

 

   

Sorry for the blurry iPhone photos- but I could not pass up the photo op. James took the drum, put it on his head and crawled all over my bedroom and bathroom this morning as I got ready for the day. He was SO pleased with himself!

Easter 2012

Here are the kiddos in the matching outfits I made.

James doesn't really like the grass.

Maggie in the Children's Choir at church. She woke up on the wrong side of the bed so I didn't even bother trying to do anything with her hair - it was not a battle I wanted to fight that morning.

Here are some short (and shaky) videos of her singing. I was close enough I can actually hear her voice in them!