Learning

May wrapped up a lot of structured learning experiences for the girls.  It is also a transition to summertime.  I will get to that in a later post…

PRESCHOOL

Ellie ended earlier than Madison.  I was able to go with her on her last field trip to the Barn restaurant, Toyrifix, and the Oak Cupboard.  It is a fun trip because they go to three spots with special things at each stop.  At the Barn, Ellie enjoyed a glass of Dr. Pepper; Madison did lemonade on her trip because she couldn’t handle the “spicy-ness.”  Ellie quite enjoys pop.  At Toyrifix, they had sock puppets to make and a pretend play area for the kids.  It was good for them to move around and create.  And the Oak Cupboard provided ice cream scoops for them to eat!  Fantastic!

    

Ellie’s last day was a relaxed day of preschool followed by a carry-in meal with a presentation of a certificate of completion.  (I forgot the end of school pic.  I will have to take a cheater/late picture later.)  Ellie had a great year learning how to be a part of the class, watching what is right and wrong, figuring out how to make friends, and looking up to her teachers. 

    

KINDERGARTEN

This was our first year of daily school.  I enjoyed the routine, even though the days start earlier than I think is necessary sometimes.  Madison loved school.  She had a great teacher, made friends, enjoyed playtimes, and learned a lot – including how to read which is just an amazing feat if you ask me!  I was able to go on her last two field trips of the year.  The first was to the Wilderness Center.  It was a day that threatened of rain that never came… thankfully.  It was full of talkative kids, redirecting, some learning, and lots of exploring.  I think we all had a good time.  I didn’t take any pictures that day.  The second field trip was to the Akron Zoo.  I carpooled up with some other moms, which was a good opportunity to get to know some new people and reconnect with some I already knew.  I walked around with Madison and her friend Brooklyn all day.  It was pretty low key.  I think the girls had fun together.

  

I also had fun with Madison on field day.  I helped with a basketball station.  Because there were some breaks between groups of kids, I was able to go watch her class do a few of the other stations that day.  That morning we took our last day of school pictures!  My, how time flies.  I now have a first grade girl on my hands!!  Check out these Beginning and End of school pictures…

              

BALLET

Madison started her ballet classes in January.  It was every Satruday.  Because it was Saturday, I found it a little bit hard to keep my enthusiasm up.  But she seemed to enjoy her time at ballet.  She had a great time at her Cinderella performance.  She also had fun with the small group of girls she got to know.  On the last day of school we could go observe a class. 

              

She and Ellie will go to a week long dance camp this summer, and we will see what next year brings. Until then, we will dance, tumble, and flail our bodies in our own home…

     

Happy Mother’s Day

Here’s to my girls – the ones who made me a mother!  and to my own mother – I hope that when I am the lifeline to my girls, I have the energy, the time, and the love you have for me!

    

On Saturday, we invited both sets of our parents over for dinner.  We had grilled hamburgers, brats, potato salad, baked beans, and grilled vegetable kabobs; we finished with strawberry shortcake.  Beyond the food, our conversation was good, albeit broken up by children interjected “Watch this!” “Did you know___?” and more.  But that is what the day is right? Celebrating that there are “littles” that make you a mother.  They were great, dressed to a T, and full of energy.  I have no pictures of this night.  Unfortunate because they were adorable, and we all looked pretty decent.  Another time…

For my family, we had much to celebrate.  And I am so thankful for that.  It is a rare thing to have a family who can be together and laugh, share, and play without too much conflict.  I am thankful for the beautiful weather so the kids could be outside!  I am thankful for a big table at my mom’s so we can all sit around it as adults to share stories.  I am thankful for good health for myself so I could pass the volleyball with my niece and race (and lose to) my nephew.  I am thankful for a mom (and dad) who value family time.  I am thankful, and am not blind to my blessings.  Some shots of the day (not a fair shake to all who were there…. I only brought the camera out when I wasn’t talking or playing volleyball.)

              

To all the mother’s out there – Happy Mother’s Day!  I hope the day, for you, was filled with joy and good memories as you celebrated.

I thought also that morning about those for which Mother’s Day is hard.  So, for the one who has lost a mother, the one who has lost a child, the one who longs to be a mother, and the one who experienced abuse from his/her mother… you are not forgotten.  I remember the years when going to church on mother’s day was hard because I longed to be a mother.  (This doesn’t even rival those who have that same longing and are struggling with infertility or miscarriages.  Oh my, that would be so incredibly difficult.) 

Blessings in the week ahead!

Auction and Missed Pictures

I realized that while I said I did a few things, I didn’t post the pictures.  SkyMax actually has some pictures I didn’t share.  So, here it is:

    

We also stopped for ice cream afterwards.  It was delicious and a gorgeous day for eating it!

    

Ellie wanted to head to the auction.  We haven’t been able to do this for awhile since she goes to preschool on Thursdays.  This past week, it was on Friday, so we made it work.  We went after lunch which was different than the normal routine.  We were able to go see the pig auction instead of the cow auction.  The seats are much steeper, and the arena is smaller, but Ellie quite enjoyed it. 

    

On the way home, we stopped for a donut treat a Quince.  Ellie had sat through a two hour meeting that morning that I was a part of for youth group, so I thought a treat was in order.  She quite enjoyed it!

    

Hope everyone is having a great week. 

A little bit of Everything

Last week we had three days of fun with friends.  On Tuesday, Jeremy and I needed to plan for SYF things with Luke and Steph, so we headed to their house for dinner and planning.  The kids love these nights simply because they get to play for as long as it takes us to finish.  Unfortunately for them (and fortunately for us!), we have gotten better at planning more efficiently and in less time.  This time, Lilli took her face paints to their faces.  She did a great job – a budding face artist.  They played like this for awhile.  When we were in the car, Ellie says, “Do I have any paint left on?”  This is what I saw when I turned around.  I just laughed because I am pretty sure she had just as much paint as when Lilli did it.

    

On Wednesday, we had a get together with our story time friends.  There were three of us (Rachael, Amy, and I) who would talk while our girls were in story time; it was great social time, and I looked forward to it every week.  We realized that we could still get together even though there was no story time.  So, two weeks ago, we went to Rachael’s; this past week, we were at Amy’s.  We got a tour of the farmhouse they remodeled, and a tour of the dairy farm – complete with robots who milk the cows!  It was so cool. 

    

On Thursday, Steph, Landen, Ellie, and I went to Alice Noble Ice Rink to skate for an hour.  They had free skates on Thursday afternoons in April, so I wanted to take advantage of it once.  Landen had never been, but he was a real trooper.  He got pretty sure footed as the hour past by.  He even attempted to jump, but couldn’t get off the ice.  Steph explained that we weren’t quite there yet!  Ellie progressed to holding just one of my hands and the wall.  This was much easier on my back!  It was a good time.

                   

Saturday, we went and celebrated Paxon’s first communion with him.  I didn’t bring my camera for pictures, but he looked very spiffy in his suit.  We went to their house for lunch and play time afterwards.  That turned into a surprise sleepover for the girls and Megan – and a surprise date night for Jeremy and me!  Apparently, they had a lot of fun, especially because my brother decided it was a true sleepover and fed them Fruity Pebbles with marshmallows and ice cream sandwiches!  Jeremy and I went to eat at Old Carolina and then rented the movie The Intern, excellent movie by the way!  We took Jeremy’s mom and dad out to eat for mother’s day (early) after church on Sunday.  Then, headed to pick up the girls. 

Oh, we went to Sky Max trampoline center with the youth group two Sundays ago.  It was a blast…. and I was sore for at least a week.  I am not made like I used to be.  I did manage to impress the youth with some old school trampoline tricks! 

Not a whole lot else to report.  The weather is spotty – rain, sun, warm, cool.  You know, spring in Ohio!  The flowers are blooming and the tree leaves are coming out.  Things are looking nice.  Jeremy is working hard and getting a lot of our mulch spread out around the house.  We are working to mow down our dandelions before they become too obnoxious to look at.  The school year is winding down.  I am not sure if I am excited or not.  I have gotten used to our routine, and now we will have to adjust to something different, and I am not sure what that looks like.  It will be different than last summer because the girls play differently (better, more independently?) than they did, so we will see what happens.  Until next time… Wish your mommas Happy Mother’s Day!