May 2012

Kelsey finished 1st Grade in May and we mostly continued on with our normal routine. I continued to work on my preschool curriculum--which is one reason this blog has been neglected so much--Blake continued to work like normal except for one week that he took for vacation. Before we had talked about going to Pine, Arizona to stay at Blake's grandparents' cabin, but we didn't think it was the best idea with me being so close to my due date. Instead we stayed home and worked on projects--yea!! I was actually really excited about it. We got the girls' dresser that we acquired for free in Vermont from their dorms when they were remolding painted white. We also got Lanaea's trundle painted white. We varnished the baby's changing table that I had sanded down. Blake got a lot done on a new rocking horse for our girls. We worked on little projects here and there around the house and enjoyed multiple movie rentals from redbox that week.  

 For "K" week Mylee and I went to the dollar store to purchase a kite to fly. FYI!!! don't buy kites from the dollar store. We started to walk to the park at Kelsey's school, but ended up having to turn around because the wind tore part of the kite, so we went back home to fix it. This time I drove over and just as I got the kite situated to fly it broke again. We never successfuly flew it. We ended up leaving the park with all my girls in tears. It was sort of funny and frustrating all at the same time. The next day we went back to the dollar store to return the kite--luckily they let us and we got beads instead which entertained all my girls for hours!!

 Enjoying the Texas heat!!

 This is Kelsey at her rewards ceremony. She received an award for reading--which didn't surprise me at all. She's read 10 of the Box Car Children series books and she is currently reading Little House on the Praire. She's a champ at reading and she'll even set her alarm to get up early to read! She has determination like her Daddy.

 During one Saturday we were all working in the yard, trying to get things cleaned up. At one point, Blake was working on something in the garage and told Lanaea that she had to stay in the backyard. After not hearing from her for a while, he went back to check on her and this is what he found :)! She had fallen asleep by the backyard gate next to the garage where Blake was working. Sweet little girl!!

 This is the present Kelsey and I made for her teacher. "#2 pencils for a #1 teacher" and on the back we had her teacher's name, "Mrs. Frick". It turned out really cute!!

 Kelsey on her last day of 1st grade!

 Kelsey with her teacher Mrs. Frick.

 For the past couple of years our stake holds a food drive for our local food bank. To kick off the event our stake hosts a 5K and 1 mile race for the community. Admission is free. Kelsey, Mylee, Lanaea and I did the 1 mile run (well we walked--I was 8 months prego!!). Blake ran in the 5K. It was a great event and there was a huge turn-out. One of the local grocery stores even donated food to feed us breakfast!

 Blake at the finish line.

 Kelsey got her face painted at the 5K run.

 My little reader!! This is a picture I snuck of her through our kitchen window.

As part of the preschool curriculum I have been working on, I put together a Pre-K busy bag exchange with women in our stake and local community. There were 20 women that participated so we all received 20 preschool kits to help our preschooler learn. I was so excited about this and I was so pleased with the kits everyone shared. This is something else I will share the details about on my learning blog: learningtoletter.blogspot.com