The Last Day of Preschool

Today was the boy's last day of preschool. And let me tell you- I am a ball of mixed emotions! On one hand, I am so happy that we made it this far. They have grown so much! Its been such a great and fun year!! But then on the other hand, my boys are growing up WAY TOO FAST! I want time to slow down. They are officially kindergartners now. When did this all happen? I have teared up today and also smiled a lot today. If I am this emotional now- I am scared what I am going to be like ON their first day of kindergarten!

The last day of school was a blast!! I have to tell you the Gingerbread Hose preschool is AWESOME! This year especially was so great!! I couldn't have asked for better teachers! The boys went on monthly field trips. They had themed lessons and learned so much!! There was an art show. It was a year packed with one fun activity after another!! So it is fitting that the last day they had a picnic. All four 5 day classes met at Zorinsky park for an afternoon of fun. A week or so before each class made their own hand print t-shirts. It was kind of cool to see a park filled with these shirts.

The kids ran and played. I have to say it was interesting because the boys didn't play with each other like they usually do. They each ran off and played with their own group of friends. They always fascinate me somehow.

There were water toys to play with. Should have brought beach towels. But the boys didn't seem to mind getting all wet.

One of Josh's friend brought his walk-e talk-es. They had fun playing that together.

The teachers even brought popsicles for everyone to eat. The weather was perfect!! Matt and I had a great time sitting in the shade, watching the boys play, and chatting. It was a perfect way to end a wonderful school year! Plus it really wore the boys out! :)

I will really miss the Gingerbread House! I will treasure the memories and hope that time SLOWS DOWN!!

Amazing Awe-inspiring Art

Last night the boys preschool had an art show. It was fabulous!! Each teacher had collected art work throughout the whole year from each student and then displayed it for the show. It was so cool!!

The walls were filled with art. Tables were filled with art. The classes had made various types of sculptures that were in various places. They even had decorated the sidewalk out front with chalk drawings. AND if that wasn't enough-they even had a little snack bar. Unfortunately for me it wasn't wine and cheeses, but that wouldn't have been appropriate for a preschool art show now would it? :) The boys were so excited to show off their work.

Here is Josh with a painting....

and his play-do sculpture.

Alex wanted to show off his sculpture more than his painting- and here is why-

Its batman! I thought his painting was cool too but he didn't want a picture of that.

Zach, my little artist, had two paintings and his sculpture is of a snowman.

We were pulled in- well three different directions to see all the art! Then who showed up?!?! But Grandma and Granddad!!

The boys were so excited to see them AND be able to show their art off again!! Matt and I were happy that they came to.

It was really nice. Not only did they show off their own art, but they wanted us all to see what their friends were doing too.

You can tell it was a lot of work to put together and, in my opinion, it was well worth the effort! Best art show I have ever been to hands down!

After the show we went out to dinner and of course had to celebrate a little with shakes!

So Yummy!!

Valentine's Day Activities

I am not one that totally gets into Valentine's Day. It's a nice day and all, but I would much rather have my true love show me throughout the year how he loves me rather than just one grand gesture on Valentine's Day. (and vice versa) Also, as a former first grade teacher, Valentine's Day brings memories of chaos and sugar highed screaming kids. :) But I am not ANTI Valentine's day either.

This year I had the boys help make their class cards. The past couple of years I have just gotten the treat and cards ready. This year they were happy to help and honestly I was happy to have the help! :) We had gone to the store and they chose what cards and treat they wanted to give to their friends. Then we set up our stations and got the cards ready.


They worked very hard and did a great job! It was fun. I loved hearing the reasons why so and so got which card.

Friday was their Valentine's Day party. I spent the afternoon with Zach. Instead of trying to get to all three classes, I chose one event to spend with each kid throughout the year. I spent Halloween with Josh. I made gingerbread houses with Alex. And now I was able to spend Valentine's day with Zach. I like spending the whole party with each kid instead of running around from class to class. Plus I also get to help the teacher out too.

Zach's party was fun! They passed out Valentine's. Which was fun for all the kids. Except one little boy who if didn't like what he got, tossed it aside and said gross.

They played games like fishing....

matching....

puzzles....

and a racing game. They had little tongs to pick up a candy heart and race across the room to drop the heart into a bowl. They all had a great time with that!! I am going to file that idea away to use when I go back to teaching as well!

Then it was time for cookies! YUM!

It was a really great party. Very organized and lots of fun!!

Valentine's Day Ronna and Larry invited us over for brunch.

It was delicious!! Cinnamon rolls, sausage casserole, and fruit!! It was a great start to the day. The men dished up the food, while the kids drooled over it.

After eating, we opened presents.

And needless to say the boys were SO EXCITED to get the game Sorry. I played a game (and possibly ate a few pieces of chocolate) with the boys.

Then sadly I left early. Matt and the boys stayed a little longer (but not much cause the weather wasn't so good. Blowing snow makes white out conditions.) I left early to go work on my comps. STINKS! Oh well....I am almost done! That night we made french toast and then made up our own version of pictionaray. That was a riot!! Trying to guess what a five year old is drawing is awesome!

Overall, it was a nice holiday. It was spent with people I love, and really that is my only goal for the holiday. Not diamonds, flowers, chocolates and such...although I really wouldn't complain if I got those too! :)

Time with Alex

This week I had the privilege to help Alex and his class decorate a Gingerbread house. It was messy fun!! I became overwhelmed a little with all the candy and ideas. Luckily, I wasn't in charge.

Alex's teacher would call a couple of kids up at a time to help decorate the house. The other kids got to color while they waited their turn.

One of Alex's jobs was to decorate a tree.

He also got to make a pathway to the door out of m&ms.

Another job he/we got to do was to make help make a gumdrop fence.

I think Alex was really happy that I was there to share in the fun of the day. I feel privileged that I am able to do stuff like this!! Alex gave me lots of hugs and kisses while I was there. It was great.


(Alex's class) I posted both of the pictures I took. The top one is a nice one. The bottom one makes me smile because of the little girl trying to add her own sucker to the Gingerbread House.

Halloween: Part 2

The boys got to choose their own costumes again this year. Zach chose to be Luigi, a character from Mario Cart. Josh chose to be Toad, another character from Mario Cart. Alex chose to be Spiderman. They were awesome! I LOVE the mustache on Zach. It made me giggle every time I would look at him!
To continue with our Halloween festivities....Friday was an exciting and eventful day for us! The boys had their Halloween parties at preschool. This year I got to hang out with Josh at his party. It was lots of fun!
All the kids- well all of them but one- she didn't want to wear her costume....anyway all the kids got into their costumes and were ready for the festivities to begin! They began with a costume parade throughout the school. I loved that!! Is there anything cuter than kids in costumes?!? Plus I got to see Zach and Alex for a minute or two as well. When the parade was over, they got a sheet of games to play and then got to choose which game to play. The only rule was that they had to go to each game station.

Josh chose to bowl first. That wasn't a surprise to me at all! He loves to bowl!Then he did a bean-bag toss...

a penny toss....

fishing for prizes...

we played Halloween memory...

and stick the nose on the Jack-O-Lantern. That was his favorite game. We spent a lot of time at that station! He thought it was hilarious to stick the nose in the wrong place.
When the kids got done with all of their stations, they got to pick a prize out of the pumpkin.
Then it was time for treats. They enjoyed eating cookies with their friends. Us mom helpers got to enjoy cookies too!
After the preschool party, we got ready to go to Matt's work. Matt's work has a trick or treating event for the families of the employees. Its pretty cool. The boys get to walk around to each cubical to trick or treat.

They love it and the people are very generous as the boys came home with a TON of candy!! In fact, as we were finishing up Josh and Zach were asking for help carrying their loot! :) Then we rushed home to get ready for my parents to come over for dinner. They wanted to see the boys in their costumes, so I invited them over.
We carved pumpkins together.



Our finished pumpkins!

As we were putting the finishing touches on our jack o lanterns, we roasted pumpkin seeds.
I think we all had a nice time. It was nice that my parents were able to come hang out with us for an evening.

Saturday was Halloween! The day began with Josh running a fever! UGH!! That dreaded fever showed its ugly face again!! So poor Josh slept on the couch most of the day. We weren't sure if he was going to be up for trick or treating. That evening I made mummy pizzas for dinner. They didn't turn out exactly like I thought they would, but they tasted good.

After dinner, my aunt and uncle came over. We didn't recognize them at first! It was awesome!! I couldn't understand why the big kids came out so early!! Here it was my aunt and uncle coming to wish us a Happy Halloween! It was pretty funny!

The Johnson's also came over to join us. I stayed behind to pass out candy and everyone else left for candy. There weren't a lot of trick or treaters this year. I am not sure why. The weather was great. Maybe since it was on a Saturday there were a lot of other parties to go to?? Who knows! Oh well. It was still fun to pass out candy.

The kids had a great time going out in the neighborhood together. Josh didn't last long. They dropped him off with me, then headed back out. Josh didn't eat any candy at all! Poor guy! Luckily, this morning Josh woke up fever free and has been acting like his normal self all day. I am not sure what that was about, but am happy that it seems to have passed. Overall, I would say we had a nice Halloween!! Hope yours was good too!