May the Fun Begin!

Once FCAT is over (state testing through the school), the rest of the year is full of much fun and excitement.  This year was no exception and I was grateful to be a part of most of it, even though I felt like I was living at the school a time or two.  Here's a quick recap of all our adventures.

Kate and I at her play - If You Give a Mouse a Cookie

We enjoyed Evening of the Arts by looking at all of my girls lovely art projects



Sidenote: Kate went through a phase for about a week where she wanted to write her name backwards and wanted us to address her as such.  I found it very fitting that her name spelled backwards is ETAK (pronounced "Attack!!")

It finally got warm enough to start playing in the water - the girls jumped at the chance and made the most of it!



Kylie in her pretend rain shower

I was also able to go to Analise's Play - The Ugly Duckling and The Tortoise and the Hare - an awesome ballet done with black lights and fluorescent painted costumes.  It was amazing!!!

I spent three fun filled days at the school for each of the girls field days.  They all did great in their events and loved the leaky bucket most of all where they get to be drenched and cool off at the end.

The girls also gave me a wonderful Mother's Day.  I was showered with flowers, cards, I.O.U. coupons, a friendship bracelet, homemade medals, and a pencil holder.  I feel very loved and very blessed to have such wonderful girls.



Also, for Mother's Day, Chris got me my own smart phone and a lap top.  I've never been so gadgety in my life!  As I'm learning how to use them, I am really enjoying them though.  Especially having my calendar on my phone and being able to talk my texts into the phone.  It's lovely.



Another highlight was going to the Kindergarten Circus.  Kate was chosen to be a clown, which was just perfect.  The part she loved the most was getting to squirt the audience with squirt guns.



I need to give a huge shout out to Kylie for being the girls' mascot whenever she comes with me to all the girls school activities.  The girls love to have her come and show her off to their classmates, and Kylie loves being a part of all the action and sitting with her sisters.  So much fun.

Another large event was the long awaited  Mud Run.  Here are the pictures of how clean we were before it started.  Aly really got into the spirit by dressing up.  (We saw tons of costumes there and she fit right in.) 



Chris going over the rope ladder wall.  He rocked it in the Warriors 10K early in the morning.

Chris and Stacy crawling through the mud in the 5K Challengers team competition. (Oh yeah, Chris ran the course twice!!)

 

Aly climbing up one of the mud mountains for the kids fun run 1 miler

 

 

We had a ton of fun getting the dirtiest we've ever been in our lives!

 

Kylie and I accompanied Analise's class on another field trip to the Sasquatch Zoo. 

A lot of the animals were injured and rescued from the wild.  The kids were able to feed some of the animals at the end as well.



The family was also able to go see Analise perform a floor routine for her gymnastics meet.  She did awesome!  It was neat to see how much she had learned in just 5 months.



For Memorial Day . . . we went to the beach of course!  We went with a bunch of friends from the ward again like last year and had a blast.



Kate had her friends bury her in the sand and loved the whole thing

Some of our friends had some paddle boards that they let us try out.  Aly and Chris did pretty well learning how to maneuver them . . . as long as they weren't on the board together!!!



One of the fun activities that the 5th graders got to do was a rocket launch with rockets they had built themselves.  Luckily a gust of wind brought Aly's back to her so she was able to keep it. :)



The Family was also able to attend Aly's End of the Year Chorus Awards Ceremony where the kids sang a few songs and were recognized for their efforts throughout the year.  Aly got the award for "Best All Around".  Great job Aly.



Aly was also recognized as the 3rd place runner for the year in Mile Club.  She ran 60 miles over the course of the year.



Meanwhile, Kate was living it up at her Kindergarten water play day!



Kylie of course got in on the action and they both loved the "car wash" station where you got to clean off the chairs with shaving cream (very ingenuitive thinking by the teachers to have the kids help them clean up the classroom furniture)



We were also able to join Analise at her end of the year ice cream party where she was recognized for earning over 100 AR points.  Way to go Lise!



 



On the last day of school the 5th graders had a promotion ceremony.  Aly sang a solo with her chorus group and was also recognized as the #2 reader for the year as she earned 550 AR points this year alone!  (This earned her a $15 gift certificate to the local bookstore - which we ran over to right after the ceremony so Aly could get some more awesome books to read!)  Aly was also awarded for being on the AB Honor roll.  I am so proud of Aly and all her accomplishments.  She is talented in so many areas, well-rounded, and excels in everything she does.  I am proud of her for all her hard work and am excited to see everything she's going to accomplish in middle school as well.   

After the ceremony, I took Aly to lunch, which was fun.  She chose Subway.  Here is a picture with Aly and the great group of friends she's formed in her class this year.  They have had a ton of fun together.



And of course we need another picture of Kylie here, always wanting a piece of the action.

After Lunch we rushed back to Kate's Kindergarten awards ceremony.  Kate got the "Full of Sparkle and Energy" award, which I think fits her perfectly.



 The day after school got out, Chris' work had a mini fair for the soldiers and their families to celebrate the guys coming home.

 There were pony rides, snow cones, face painting, bouncy houses, games, you name it.  Aly even sang a Taylor Swift Song at the karaoke booth.  Awesome!

 And finally, to celebrate school being out, we went swimming with some friends.  Kylie decided to dry herself off by laying in the sun.  (She saw Analise and her friend doing the same thing on some nearby chairs.  Oh how she wants to be like her big sisters.)

And one other funny Kylie-ism to share.  She is really obsessed with being "bigger".  She wants to be able to do everything that her big sisters can do and so she is always wanting everything to be big like her big sisters: big bowl for her cereal, big shoes, and, most importantly, to be able to sit in Kate's booster seat instead of her own carseat.  I told her she couldn't sit in that booster seat until she weighed enough (she's only a few pounds off).  So one day Kylie asks me, "Mom how do we wave?"  So I showed her how to wave, thinking "what is this about?"  Then, when we went to get in the car Kylie was like, "Mom, I can sit in Kate's car seat because I can wave (weigh) enough!!"  So she gets in Kate's seat and starts waving.  I couldn't say no.  So I let her ride in the seat and she waved the entire time we were driving to the girls school.  It was adorable/hilarious.  Man, I love that girl.



 

   So, as you can see, I have many, many things to be grateful for.  Most of all my wonderful family.  Chris has been home for a month now and I have loved enjoying all the little things about having him home. Here are a few of the little things I've found to be grateful for:

* Watching Aly give her Dad a hug and tell him she loves him before heading out the door to school

* Seeing Lise steal glances at her Dad and smile

* The sound of Chris and Kate shrieking in the Den while trying to break the record on some obscure Wii Game

* Hearing Kylie giggle when her Dad throws her in the air

* Running in the rain with my hubby while getting ready to do a Mud Run together

*** Life is Good ***