Girls and Boys Weekends Away

I headed out of town one weekend in May to see my childhood best friend, Rebekah.  She just moved to Nashville, so I flew there to spend the weekend with her.  We did some hiking, went out to some great dinners, and just spent the weekend catching up.

After dinner one night.

 

On a walk in a park near her apartment. 

 

We stumbled across a music festival.  They had an area fenced off with food trucks and a different artist would perform every 30 minutes or so. 

 

Brian went on a boys weekend with some college buddies.  They headed down to the hill country.  Here's the lone pic of them at dinner the first night.





Caden's First Grade Portfolio

Each year the kids work on their art portfolio all year, and then they get to bring them home the last week of school.  It is so fun for us to see all that Caden worked on all year.  He loves art class, and I love seeing what he worked so hard on throughout the year.

A list of their 1st grade works.

 

Caden's "Elements of Art Painting".  This is the work that was hung at the local coffee house for the month of March.

 

"Henri Matisse Fauvism Portrait"

 

"Henri Matisse Paper Cuts"

 

A work when they were learning about figures.

 

 

"Egyptian Pyramid"

 

Caden worked with two other classmates on the "Egyptian Sarcophagus".  The kids played a game to see who took home the sarcophagus, and Everett won.  Here's a picture of Everett and Caden on the last day of school holding their sarcophagus.

 

"Egyptian Ceramic Cat"

 

"Picasso Peace Doves"

 

"Picasso Blue Period Guitar"

 

"Picasso Print Cubism"

 

Caden also went to an art class at his teacher's house.  We paid for the class at the Covenant Auction.  They got to choose whether they would paint a lion or a dog.  Here is Caden's lion.



Annabelle's Preschool Graduation and Caden's Last Day of 1st Grade

Annabelle's last day of preschool was this week.  They had a little ceremony for the kids in her class. 

The teachers presented each child in the class with a certificate.  Annabelle received the "Future Teacher Award". 

 

Annabelle with her friends Belle and Cate. 

 

Annabelle and Mommy. 

I cannot believe Caden is already finished with first grade.  Caden and Mommy at his end of year party. 

 

Mrs. Kern and Caden.  We loved having Mrs Kern this year, and we will definitely miss her. 

 

Caden giving Mrs. Kern a picture that he drew. 

 

As room mom, I was in charge of the class teacher gift.  Each child gave me one word they would use to describe Mrs. Kern, and I made posters for each of them to hold.  Back row: Willa Lewis: "Mrs. Kern is..."; Mikayla Horner: "Wise"; Annie Pattison: "Gracious"; Reagan McKay: "Fun"; Ellie Bailey: "Amazing"; Front Row: Everett Horan: "Kind"; Owen Jensen: "Lovely"; Maverick Penley:  "the Best"; Henry Buja: "Timely"; Andrew Collins: "Good at Math"; Caden, "Nice"; and Levi Webb: "Encouraging".

 

Mrs. Kern opening her gift.

 

A group hug after giving Mrs. Kern her gift.

 

Playing a game at the party. 



Mother's Day and the End of the School Year's Activities

We had a low key Mother's Day weekend.  All I asked for was a picture with my babies; unfortunately, my request was met with whining and crying.  Out of frustration, I deleted the crying pictures.  I wish I had kept them to post here, so the kids could see how ridiculous they were being.

A post church picture. 

 

A Mother's Day card that Caden made for me at school.

 

A questionnaire that Caden filled out.

 

Annabelle answered this "ad-lib" about her wedding at school.  It was pretty funny reading all of the kids.  One little boy, Cohen, who is going to be an Explorer with Annabelle next year at Covenant, said he wanted to marry Annabelle.  Annabelle said that, if Caden doesn't want to marry her, she will just marry Cohen. Annabelle's Wedding Story goes like this, "I will marry my brother who is 7.  I met him at the park playing on the monkey bars and swings.  I will wear a pretty purple dress with white shoes.  My husband will wear jeans and a work shirt.  We will get married at the park or church.  I will invite my mommy and daddy and my family to the wedding.  After the wedding, we will serve cookies and pizza and drink water.  We will live in Colorado in a house.  My job will be to work at a vet and fix animals.  My husband will work in an office building.  We will have 2 kids, a girl named Violet and a boy named Caden.  We will have one dog."

 

 

Brian and I went to a crawfish boil the weekend of Mother's Day.  It was an RSVP party from the auction.  Here's a pic of the 1st grade moms who were in attendance; left to right: Michelle Wilson, Angie Buja, Beth MacFarlane, Hilary Baker, Laura, Heather Roberts, Denise McKay, and Brooke Penley.

 

Brian and I enjoying the crawfish.

 

Caden had his second presentation of the year in May.  Each child was assigned an ecosystem.  They had to make a diorama and present five different facts.  Caden was assigned deserts.

 

 

Caden finished his first season of baseball.  He absolutely loved it, and he improved so much over the course of the season.  His team finished 10-1-1.  Here's a picture after their last game.  Back row: Carlo Capice, Drew Dzina, Chris ___, Nicholas Carter, Isaac ___, and Everett Horan.  Front row: Caden, Levi Webb, Andrew Collins, Adam Thomason, and Andrew Dawson.  Not pictured: Luke Baker.

 

Levi, Everett, Caden, and Adam lined up in their batting order waiting for their turn.

 

Annabelle finished her year of her ballet and tap combination class.  Her recital dance was ballet, so they performed a short tap dance for the moms at the end of the last class.

 

The girl loves to perform. 

 

Annabelle is continuing gymnastics through the summer, but her school year class came to an end.  She had so much fun in this class this year.  Annabelle with her coach, Rebecca, and her class.

 

One of our original preschool playgroup friends is moving to the suburbs.  We had a moms' dinner out to say goodbye to Jenny.  Front row: Laura, Jenni Purser, Mel Conner.  Back row: Natalie Knotts, Andrea Murry, Becky Overstreet, Kira Hartgrove, Heather Baker, Jenny Zimmerman, and Leigh Ann Tucker. 

 

We also had a play date at the park for the kids to say goodbye.  The kids on the monkey bars.

 

Jack Baker, Isla Baker, Belle Hartgrove, and Annabelle being silly on the swings. 



Spring Fling 2017

Spring Fling was this week at Covenant.  It's a field day for Explorers - 4th grade, but it's a surprise.  It was fun this year to see Caden's anticipation of when it might be.  Last year he didn't know what to expect, so while the day was super fun, there was no excitement in the anticipation of it.

It was on Wednesday, which is a day that Annabelle does not go to preschool.  So she and her friend Hadley were with me.  The parent chaperones lined up ready to make some noise to surprise the kids.

 

The girls were a little scared by the noise. 

 

The kids were jumping up and down with excitement when they heard the noise and knew that it was Spring Fling.  A pic of the class lined up ready to head to the park.

 

Annabelle and Caden before we headed to the park. 

 

The theme was "Super Hero Training".  Each grade had a different super hero who was training them to try to stop the bad guys, who wanted to end Spring Fling and send the kids back to school.  A pic from the opening ceremonies. 

 

Caden's first station was making super hero cuffs.

 

Then he headed over to play Jenga. 

 

A picture of Annabelle and Hadley Tilger watching the activities.

 

Caden and Mommy during a break in activities.

 

The 1st grade super hero was "Hairy Armpit Man".  A pic of some of the first graders with their super hero; left to right: Camden Clark, Henry Buja, Owen Jensen, Levi Webb, Hairy Armpit Man, Caden, Willa Lewis, Adam Thomason, and Maverick Penley.

 

Caden participating in a relay race.