Pretty Ironic Award

"Mom, come on. Mom,  I don't want to be late."

"Seriously, let's go."

"Mrs. Bahati said that we have to be there on time because it's a special day."

"Ahhhhhh Mom. Hurry up!"

Needless to say this dude was excited about getting to his preschool awards ceremony. He reminded me many times that he had to dress handsome and be on time. 

Dressed Handsome - CHECK!

On time - CHECK!

I knew what to expect when we arrived because Afton had just attended this same preschool the year before. We knew they went all out for this special occasion. Complete with our red carpet, our own table, yummy lunch, lots of treats, and a special display of student work. 

Jack's project was great!
He wants to be a professional skateboarder when he grows up.

Daddy made it lunch!

"These are special Skittles sorted by colors. See. Marshawn Lynch would LOVE this."

But the most important part of this day was all of the recognition of each student's accomplishments through out the year. And my boy accomplished a bunch!

He earned the Outstanding Student award for learning all of his letters, their sounds, and mastering many sight words.


He also earned the Great Story Teller award.
Mrs. Bahati said, "I just love when Jack comes back from vacation because he always tells us all about what he did. He makes me feel like I was right there with him because he uses so much detail and emotion!"

Another award was one that made me giggle a bit.
"Jack is being presented with the Most Patient Award. He will sit quietly and wait for instruction, he will be patient with his classmates if they are not making the best choices, and he will be patient when it is time to be dismissed even if he sees his baby sister and Mom outside. He is a great example of patience for his classmates."
I giggled not because I didn't think that he didn't truly earn this award in the classroom, but because of the morning we had had.
"MOM, LET"S GO!!!!!!!!! Are you ready yet? Come on!!!!"

"This is exactly what I have wanted for my whole life. My very own special gold trophy." 

Jocelyn and I are proud of our boy and all of his hard work this year in preschool. 

Yay Jack!

So is Grandma Jones!

But I think Mrs. Bahati is equally as proud as me. She just loved my boy and cried when she talked about his leaving her for kindergarten.  I know what it is like to have special students in your classroom. I am so thankful that my boy was a special one to his very first teacher. 

"Let's Hear It for the Boys!"

My girl is in Itty Bitty Water Ballet. (It's adorable! But I may be a bit biased.)

I told her cute friends to join the class so she would have more fun.

And fun she has had.

Lily + Zoe + Kenny + Afton = F U N

Their cute dance was set to "Let's Hear It for the Boys." The girls dressed in adorable 80s gear and killed it!

Lily was out of town for the performance so that was a bummer, but these three were great! 

Their coach was super sweet. 

The girls all adore her. 

Jocelyn wanted to wear sunglasses too! 

Their next song they are dancing to is "I Want Candy!" Makes this 80s girl momma smile! 

If you want to come, let me know. It's going to be fabulous! 

Let's hear it for MY GIRL, to heck with silly boys! 

About to POP Baby Shower

This is my third baby shower since having my compassionate service leader calling. I love putting them together because I get to obsess over little details throughout my days, and nights, much like I used to do with lesson planning for my classroom. (Salerno and Bojorquez remember my frequent texts that came regularly around midnight!)

This one was a bit more challenging because I had some help. Why more challenging if I had help? Well, because I had to ask for very specific things to be purchased, made, placed all to have it perfect. I was forced to openly share some of neurotic behaviors with others.  When I'm just doing it on my own, no one knows how crazy I am, except maybe my Sugar.

My friends Cori, Joann and Tacyu, offered to buy food and Gina, offered her home for the baby shower.  Sweet gestures and I'm thankful for the kindness but I know without a doubt they all look at me a bit differently now.  Some 200 texts later, and very specific texts to be exact about just what I wanted the party to look like (an exact replica of what was in my head),  I bet they are happy it's over. Ha!

I recognize that I'm a "crazy-attention-to detail-try-not-to-use-pinterest-theme-driven-must-be-perfect" kind of party planner.  And I would be totally lying if I said that I was trying to tone it down. Because, I'm not. I used to put this sort of energy into my classroom, and now, it goes into keeping my children happy during the day -  both learning and playing, BUT also into my parties. My Sugar thinks I'm nuts, but he thinks that about me for many reasons. He still loves me though so that's a good thing.

It was a fun party.  I'm super thankful for all the sweet friends who helped me put it together. The guest of honor,  Courtney really enjoyed it and that's really all that matters. 

Now to begin planning my son's 5th birthday party! 

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES! 

Congrats Courtney. We are all excited to meet baby Levi.

Science

I pulled out all these things and placed them on the counter. I told them we were going to have some fun.

Baking soda, vinegar, few drops of food coloring, medicine droppers because I couldn't find eye droppers. Helped build fine motor skills too.

Then I started using some of these steps with my kids.

I used scientific vocabulary like predict, hypothesis, ingredients (even though that is not the proper science word - that's for cooking), reaction, observe, analyze, report, dissolve, conclude all while my kids were doing the first couple droplets of colored vinegar into the baking soda. I used them enough times for my babies to use them later on during this activity. 

I loved hearing them try to pronounce the words and use the words properly. It was so much fun.

"Mom, this is an actual reaction. It's sizzling like it's going to explode. And it smells. Like bad. Real bad."

"Jack, are you ready to be a scientist?"

"My hypoptimus is that it will become a volcano all over our kitchen. It will be the coolest thing ever."

"Do you observe this mom? I am."

"I am going to analyze this into a cake. Daddy will love it." 

"Ummm, Jack I don't think that is what analyze means. But I love your idea."

"I predict that Daddy will love to look at it but not eat it. It has got to be disgusting."

I hope my babies have a love (and brains) for science like their Daddy. They don't want my science skills. I called the stuff we used ingredients, for heaven's sake. Are they supposed to be called materials? (I don't know because I was not a science major.)

Round 2 - Duck Creek

I'm getting this post done!

I'm so far behind on my posts that it's embarrassing to me. It makes me sad to think about what I've become - a total procrastinator. Gone are the days where I knew I had something that I needed/wanted to get done and I actually still possessed the energy to accomplish it right then and there. I miss those energy driven - motivated - sense of accomplishment kind of days.

I currently have 11 blog posts that are still in "draft" stage. 11. ELEVEN!

I know what you are thinking,  "It must be nice to only have this type of worry." Or,  "Really, you are that lame to actually care about this?"

And guess what, I have this worry because this is my only form of journaling. It's my way of trying, TRYING, to keep a record of my babies lives. I mean, our little family's lives. So yes, this is important. And yes, that's why I'm setting a goal to get this post done NOW!

(I should be setting a goal to get completely caught up, but man there's a lot to finish. And sleep is really nice. Ha!)

DAY 1

Jake and my little man Jack 

We found a snake that was eating a dead fish!So gross. Everyone else thought it was really cool.

Jack was the first kid to touch it!

He grabbed my hand and just held it. Melt my heart!

Lily driving Afton around town. 

We grabbed some ice cream for all the kids!

All of the adults ended up eating all of the ice cream because the kids found a playground set that was more appealing. 

Crazies! 

Ice cream is way better than a slide.

DAY 2

Jocelyn spent her time swinging, playing in the sandbox or screaming a high pitch squeal. 

I liked the first 2 activities the best.

Jack and Rico - natural rough riders

Three minutes after we took this picture, a group of antelope came strolling on by across this road. Nature.

Such a pretty open field

He picked all these and brought me a special flower!  Love this boy! 

"These are bigger than my head."

Make a wish!  

These two painted rocks and made Barbie walking sticks. 

Many customers later, they each earned $6.50. (Never would have happened in Vegas.)

Day 3

My Sugar always takes my babies on a morning hike, but Lily woke up extra early to make sure she didn't miss out on the fun.

I actually even got to go on this one. 

It was so cool to see all these volcanic rocks just in the middle of all this luscious green.

I love their sweet smiles.

Jack loved getting to take Duncan on walks. 

He was so sweet with him. 

He wants another dog so desperately.

Sorry my little man.

We had to recreate the cute picture we took of her last year on these same logs. 

My oh my how how she has grown. 

It was such a fun trip, as usual. Good laughs, good food, good riding, good all around!

The Dunns are so sweet to invite us and we are so thankful to call them our friends. 

Who knows where we will be next year, but fingers crossed we get to still play at Duck Creek again someday with our friends!

Okay, so I intended on completing this post the night that I actually started writing it. I was ready to do so, and then my Sugar distracted me with a show we have been watching on HBO. Then next couple of nights, I uploaded a few pictures at a time, but then got tired. Really tired, don't judge me. Ha! But, I am happy to say that it is now complete, only 6 days after I started it. Phew, that's better than Jocelyn's baby blessing post (started in April of 2014!) 

Okay, no I am upset with myself again. Ugh.