End of Year Activities

*Kate’s recital – After some recital-day-jitters, Kate ended up blowing us away with her performance and afterwards settled on her future career: “I’m going to be a prima-ballerina!”  She’s got some natural ability and a fresh sense of passion. 

*Boosterthon Fun Run and Field Day with Avery’s class – Avery, still in cast, was only able to participate minimally.  But rather than let it get her down, she decided to be the best cheerleader/water fetcher the world has ever known.  Complete with sig

ns that read, “I knew you could do it!”, she cheered her friends on like a champ.

*Camp Learn-a-Lot - Mom's last volunteering time at Stanley and Avery's wrap up to the school year was Camp Learn-a-Lot.  We camped out in the pet rock room and Kate (in an owl beanie despite the heat) even got her own pet rock.

*Kate’s last day at school – One more year at St. Peter’s for this girl, who grew in leaps and bounds this year.  Her confidence and assertiveness have really taken off.

*Girl Scouts - Avery bridged with her troop from Daisy to Brownie.  We'll wait to see if we stay in Girl Scouts next year, but she certainly would be in a new troop so this was a good time to say goodbye.  We also celebrated the end of the year with her troop at a Build a Bear party.  Sister Reese tagged along and rearranged the store repeatedly while Avery enjoyed her party.

*Reese’s last Little Gym class – She did it the same way she did all of the other classes: she owned what she wanted to own and didn’t do the parts she didn’t feel like doing. 

*Avery’s celebration of learning and last day of school – During her Celebration of Learning, Avery earned the “Creativity Award” for “being so creative – sometimes more than I can even follow,” as her teacher put it.  And on the last day at her old school, Avery came across the street as a walker for the very last time, tears in her eyes.  She gets it – saying goodbye to her school and her classmates was not easy for her tender heart.

Click here for pictures

10 Steps for a Successful Move

Moving into a new house can be fun.  Just follow my steps below:

1. On the day you move out of your old home, make sure it is also a community garage sale day.  Then, sit back and enjoy watching as your mom and dad have to reclaim their stuff from garage sale shoppers... over and over again.

2. Wait to move until thunderstorms are forecasted.  Giggle with joy as Dad becomes soaked, head to toe, while unloading our things from the truck.

3. When your truck is packed to the brim, you never know what cool stuff you can find next to your carseat.  I was able to scavenge leftover pizza straight from the box once and another tim

e, a box of tissues to shred in the backseat.

4. In the between time from one home to another, it's like a vacation.  In our case, we stayed at Nana and D's house for three weeks.  Even when they were unexpectedly in LA with Uncle Trey, there were still fun things to discover.  The safety net on top of the pool is a spectacular play area - bouncing, climbing, jumping.  You can get really wet and it's almost like a splashpad.  OR, dump rocks, toys, and sand through the holes in the safety net on the pool.  It's fun to see which things get pushed around by the water flow and which ones stay put.

5. When moving into a new house, the most important thing is to invite people over BEFORE you move your stuff in.  Gymnastics on the closet rods, sprinting around through empty rooms, jumping on the air mattress... do not skip this step.

6.  Choose paint colors to make your room feel more like home.  But be clear about your expectations. Kate chose turquoise, black and white.  And when Mom interpreted that to mean turquoise with black and white accents, Kate became very confused.  "Why are you painting my walls blue?  Do you have to do that before you can paint them black?"  Oops!  It was a little too late for black walls, but Dad made it better with penguins painted directly onto the walls.  Avery was a bit more clear: purple with purple dots.  And as for me, I got leftover pink from the old house.  As Avery explained, "It's just Reese.  She doesn't know any better."

7. Use the air mattress as a dog toy.  The noise to blow it up makes Joshie really happy.

8. "Help" Dad move furniture and paint and Mom unpack and clean.

9. Use the empty boxes.  There are so many options!  Hiding spots... 'boats' sailing across the backyard... baby beds... the options are endless.

10. Make your house feel like a home for your pets.  Find them before sleeping and cozy up next to them.  After all, they're adjusting to the move, too.

Click here for pictures

Mother's Day

For Mother's Day, I got to enjoy a performance and tea with Kate's class and received hand-written gifts from my two oldest gals.  A sampling of their work:

"Mommy loves Oscar, Daddy, and cats.  She loves Oscar because he's our dog.  She loves Daddy because he's funny.  And she loves cats because we have one." - Avery

"Mommy loves running, cleaning, and playing with me.  She loves running because she does it every night.  She loves cleaning because I help her.  And she loves playing with me because it's fun." -Avery

"When I am at school, my mommy... plays with my daddy." - Kate
"My mom is pretty when... she puts on make up." - Kate
"My mom's favorite show is... our shows with us.  We love My Little Pony." - Kate

It was another precious Mother's Day with sweet girls!

Click here for pictures

Kate-isms

Kate has been really distraught over not knowing what she wants to be when she grows up.  Although we’ve tried to help her relax and told her that she has plenty of time to decide, the topic comes up a lot these days.  

Recently, while we were driving home from pre-school, Kate piped up with this series of thoughts:

(With great excitement) “Mommy!  I know what I can do!  I can have a special magical necklace when I grow up, and whatever I wish on it to be, I can be it!  I can be a dolphin trainer one day and then wish to be a cowgirl and then wish to be a prima ballerina!..."

(Brief pause, followed by a tinge of sadness and disappointment) “…but Mommy, I know where we can find the string for the necklace, but I don’t think we have a magical horse to string on it to make a wish on.  Do you think we have a magical horse to put on the string so we can make wishes?”

Poor girl, turns out we do not have a magical horse to put on the string so that particular solution didn’t pan out.

And, while getting ready for school: “I don’t want to wear my sparkly shoes anymore because my friend at school always tells me she wants my sparkles and I have to pick them off and give them to her.”

“Well, baby, you can just use your boundaries and tell your friend no.”

“But I can’t do that because she really likes the taste of the sparkles when she puts them inside of her mouth and swallows them.”

Needless to say, those shoes sat idle in the closet until the pre-school year was finished.

Click here for pictures