Summer

Oh yes, it is definitely summer.  Tomorrow is Mia's last day of school for awhile.  I find it funny that it is an extremely shortened day, she'll be going from 8:15-9:45.  Just enough time to get your daily money from the state and feed the kids lunch who need it.  Yup, lunch.  Probably at 9:15 or so.  Well, for my not so good eater, another meal in the day won't hurt her, if anything she'll just get a few more calories. 

We are just grateful that she has had such a great year.  She really loves school and her teachers.  We will miss everyone, but know that this is really the best decision for our little family right now.  We've got some fun summer activities planned and I will work on posting more pictures this summer!

Cubbies

Mia finished her first year of Awanas in the Cubbies program.  They had a little award assembly for them on Sunday and she got her first year Cubbie Bear for her vest.  Since we are waiting on kindergarten next year, she will be in Cubbies one more year and so we are looking forward to that, it should be a lot of fun. 

On Tuesday at MARE she had her picture taken for an article in the local newspaper.  It should come out some time in July.  They will be featuring 3 riders from MARE and she just happened to be there at the right time, so she is one of the featured riders. 

I can't believe there is only 1 more week of school before summer vacation.  Wow!  This year has gone really quick, we are so grateful for such a good year! 

Back to School Night

Yesterday was Back to School Night at Mia's school.  The whole family got to visit her classroom.  I've seen it quite a few times, but it was nice for Daddy to get a chance to visit because he doesn't get to be there as much as me.  Mia had made a hand print book for us, so adorable.  It had poems to go through the different seasons of the year, there was a turkey for Thanksgiving, a Santa for Christmas, a Leprechaun for St. Patrick's Day...just too cute.  Her class has also been doing the Hungry Caterpillar and they had one of those grow your own Butterfly Gardens, so that was really fun to see.  We've just been so grateful for this school year, it's been such a nice one for Mia on so many different levels.  I used to be a teacher, and I knew my job was important, but now I have such a deeper appreciation and understanding of how important that job is and what it means when parents entrust their children with these people.  We are just grateful that Mia has had so many wonderful teachers over the past couple of years.  It isn't said enough, thank you Teachers for what you do!!!!

Blink

It seems like I blink and then a week goes by and I haven't updated the blog and I wonder, what have we been doing?  I know lots of good things are happening, I just can't seem to keep them all straight.  Much of this weekend was spent with family and celebrating Mother's Day.  I know I am a mother, but I feel incredibly blessed to have my mother and mother-in-law live so close and help so readily with the kids.  The kids adore their Grandmas.  Not a single day passes without them asking to go to one of their houses and sometimes being extremely disappointed when the answer is no.  These past five years haven't been extremely easy, but because of the help we get from the grandparents it has been so much easier...having their love and support and their willingness to help so often, I can't put it into words, except that we are so blessed. 

One of our fun days this weekend was spent at the spray park close to our house.  Mia, Calvin and Joy had a blast.  Even though the water was frigid, the weather was nice and they just didn't seem to mind being cold when they were having so much fun.  And on Mother's Day we got the inflated pool out at the grandparent's house and the kids just couldn't get enough of that either.  I had to cut their fun short because they were turning blue and shivering so much.  It was just a really nice weekend spent with family, I couldn't have had a nicer Mother's Day. 

This week we are just plugging along with our usual school and therapy routine.  That will change in the next few weeks as summer begins.  Normally I don't look forward to change, but I am really looking forward to this.  For the first time in awhile, Mia won't be in summer school and the kids will be home with me.  We'll start to sort out how our day is going to work and what it's going to look like having both kids at home.  I'm ready and I'm super excited to have that time with both of them. 

We learned this past week that Calvin can count to twelve.  He is obsessed with clocks, I still can't figure out if it is a good thing or a bad thing.  Anyway, we listen to the Hickory Dickory Dock song in the car all the time...yes, all the time.  So, I'm not surprised that he can count to twelve, but it sure is cute when he says it.  What a sweet boy.

Thank you Lord for my family!

Pictures and More Pictures

Mia at swim therapy with Ms. Kristi. We just found out today that she is leaving as her husband's job has switched locations. We are sad and we'll miss her! She has a very neat relationship with Mia.

Do I fit mama? 

At Lisa's brother's house. Their daughter's pig. Calvin and the dog are checking out the pigs.

MARE!

At Lisa's friend Amy's father's house. Is that too many possessives? He has some land outside of town and has cherry trees, so each spring there is a cherry festival. The kids really enjoyed themselves and Mia asks if we can go back all the time. Calvin and Amy's daughter Grace. So much fun!

Making Milestones

I am pleased that Mia is gaining weight again. Today she weighed in at 29 pounds! Praise God, that is such an accomplishment for us. Calvin also is gaining some more weight and he is now at 24 pounds. They both are definitely getting taller, it's nice to see the number getting bigger on the scale also. :)

Is it summer yet?!

It feels like summer, or at least like we are real close. We've had a busy week playing with cousin Joy and just having fun. Today the Mops (Mother's of Pre-Schoolers) group from our church had a play date at the park. They got a bounce house and the kids had a blast. I asked Calvin if he wanted to go in the bounce house, of which he replied, "no, no, no...", but then when he got closer and saw what it really was you couldn't keep him out. He thought it was great. And Joy had so much fun bouncing too. This past weekend we went to my brother's house in Palmdale. Their kids do 4H and raise pigs and sheep, so we went up there to see our very own petting zoo. They had just gotten their pigs that day and the sheep are pretty fresh too. Mia and Calvin really enjoyed being able to pet the animals and be up close with them. Calvin especially loved communicating with the pigs...he can make a really good pig noise. Lot's of fun things, we like fun!