A few highlights from the visit to Nana and Papa's house!
They have gotten lots of rain as well, so Lorelei and I went to check out the "river" that was running through the pasture.
They loved having a big mud puddle to play in! Mom said that Lorelei covered her skin with mud and requested to be a mud monster for Halloween. (She is great about sending me pics of the kids when she watches them, which I love.) They had lots of fun with Nana and Papa while I was busy. :)
John Deere Play Doh
On the drive home, we pass hundreds of wind energy machines. We even passed many trucks transporting the parts to build more! Its about time the utilize all that wind! :) I decided that we had better pull over for a 10 minute field trip to read about these amazingly huge wind turbines. The kids loved seeing them up-close and couldn't believe how big they were. We enjoyed learning about how they worked too!
This week we said goodbye to a woman I was privileged to know, Audry Gragert. She showed kindness and caring to everyone. A few of my favorite memories were her hosting countless get-togethers for our friends, and taking me along on family trips to Canada, the Grand Canyon, San Francisco, Oregon and Seattle. My heart aches for my friend and her family who are missing her dearly. She planted seeds of kindness in many peoples lives and we got a chance to see her powerful impact while at her funeral.
Amanda and I grew up together. You have seen bits and pieces of her on this blog. Throughout our friendship her family became a second family to me. We found out a couple of months ago her mom was very sick with kidney cancer. Brad and I deliberated when I should go to offer my support. That day became obvious, when Audry was quickly put into hospice, and passed away within 24 hours. We packed up from the Stahl's house, drove home (slept, did two loads of laundry and repacked) and then I drove down the Oklahoma to drop off the kids at my mom and dad's place. I was so thankful that my mom was done with school and was very happy to watch the kids for a while, and I could just concentrate my energy on supporting Amanda any way I could.
What can you do for a friend who lost her mom? It seems the impossible task. I was relieved she had a team of support as I arrived, but I was glad I could contribute. We had coffee, wine, margaritas, laughs, cries, and hugs. I had fun helping with Sydney, and then when my parents arrived with the kids, they loved seeing her too.
Mom and I then took Sydney out with the kids for some fun at the discovery center on Wednesday.
I love that our kids are friends even though they only see each other once a year or so. :)
Had to end with something for Amanda...thought this was a good one...
Isaiah 41:10 fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
We headed West for a week to spend time with the Stahl family. Hannah got confirmed and we wanted to be there to support her on that great step in her life. It was a fun time celebrating and getting family time!
Our highlights were...
Animal Time
The animals are one of their favorite things about G and G's farm. They were ecstatic to find out that there was a new batch of kittens for them to cuddle. Lorelei helped name them too. Makin thought they stuck their claws in him a little too much so didn't spend as much time with them. They always love their time with sweet Oreo. They also got to meet a few more animals at Aunt Sarah's house. They have sheep, pigs and bucket calves. The kids got to feed the bucket calves which was quite a memory for them. And yes, Lorelei is in roller skates. She loves those things.
Frog Hunting
Even though it was way too cold my my taste, it was the warmest day we would have. Hannah and Karter invited the kids to go frog hunting. They just got a lot of rain, so the puddle was very enticing. They mostly just had a mud fight and lots of laughs. :)
Confirmation Day
It was a great time celebrating Hannah confirming her faith. We celebrated with a small group lunch after church. I loved her special Bible from Grandma! :) Side note - my kids actually ended up sitting through THREE confirmations over the last month. They are building up that sitting quiet stamina! :)
(I should also mention here that Sarah, Hannah and Karter left for a trip for DI competition in Tennessee shortly after this. This is why they aren't in any pictures for the rest of the visit. Jeanette also watched Brooklyn, so we got more time with her than usual. It was great for L and M to get a chance to be the older kids!)
Trampoline Time
This is another favorite for the kids at G and G's place. This time I didn't get as many pictures, though. Brad, Grandpa, Karter and Makin went golfing one day, so L stayed home and jumped on the tramp with the sprinkler, so that is why she gets the spotlight this time. :) There was lots of jumping by all throughout the week. Makin loved throwing balls out to any adult who was standing outside the trampoline. The bounce adds a whole new fun to playing catch. :) Brooklyn liked Ring Around The Rosie. :)
Tride-and-True Favorites
Some of their other favorites include...the swing-set (more specifically, hitting the ball with the seesaw part of it), kid's pool, ping pong (lots of laughs), tractor, chalk, the wii, big gator, little gator and trikes. Another great memory from this visit that I don't have a picture of is the kids playing in the wheat. They decided to play hide-n-seek. Lorelei would run out into the wheat as far as she could while Makin counted, as soon as he was done she just dropped down and he couldn't find her at all. It was so fun to watch!!!
Brad's Office Away From Home
He goes from a basement with no light to nothing but windows. Thanks for loaning out your sun-room Grandma!
Wacky Weather
Some of the pictures are a bit misleading...the weather was mostly chilly and just got cooler as the week went on. We had both rain and snow. :)
May 19th Snowflakes
9:45 AM Ice Cream
Because she is Grandma, so she can do that sort of thing. :) They enjoyed ice cream treats at the Sundry.
Book Time
Apparently the nearly 20 Berenstain Bears books in Grandma's collection aren't enough...so we went to the town library and found more! :) They checked out 24 books and had such a fun time reading some we had never heard before. :) It was our first visit to the children's section and we were impressed! Lorelei also showed Grandpa her picture book from school. Grandma is always in charge of bedtime stories.
Duckpin Bowling
It has become a regular event for our visits and continues to be one of Makin's absolute favorite parts. We didn't get to stay as long as usual, but they loved bowling again. :) Even though it is his favorite, he isn't pictured because he is constantly in motion so its very hard to get a good picture of him here!
Helping Set Pins
Wrestling With Grandpa
They just love it. :)
Ending With A Tent
Grandma broke out the tent as Brad and I packed up to leave. She let them empty out her entire Tupperware cabinet to boot. This was one of their favorites from the trip as well. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!!!
I cannot believe I have one child that has completed Kindergarten and I'm so proud of my two preschool students. They have all learned so much this year.
The end of the year has had a few extra activities but it hasn't been too crazy.
Kindergarten
Lorelei had her class field trip to the Omaha Zoo. This was the first class Mrs. W had taken to the zoo. One other mom and I went along, and Makin was able to come too.
This picture has a cute story. I have had my Columbus sweatshirt for about 8 years now, as I got one when we lived here before and I was a substitute teacher. We made a quick run to a garage sale over the weekend when Brad saw they posted "free clothes" with piles on tables. And guess what sweatshirt we found? Lorelei was insistent that we match to go on her field trip. We ended up taking them off before
heading into the zoo, but it was fun while it lasted. :)
The class had a great time at the zoo. They loved seeing the baby giraffe and orangutan. The aquarium is always a favorite and they got to touch starfish in the touch tank. The girls all said the butterfly house was their favorite. Makin's favorite was, as usual, the penguins.
She was so excited to bring home her plant. She loves showing people the roots and is thrilled it is getting so tall. She even painted a water color picture of it.
Lets hope we can transplant it without any issues!
Lorelei really loved her teacher this year. I'm so thankful she had such a great first teacher.
The left side is a paper we gave Mrs. W with her end-of-the-year card.
I was amazed at what Lorelei came home with on her last day, including a writing book she had done throughout the year (so fun to read!) as well as a picture book of some of the fun that had throughout the year. Mrs. W also put together a little gift for each student. It was so thoughtful!
Lorelei's friend, Anna, also made each classmate a bracelet, which she really loved.
Last day walking into Kindergarten
Lorelei has continued to love school.
I found an end-of-school interview I thought would be fun.
Lorelei's End Of School Year Interview - Grade K
What is your favorite class? Math
What is the best part of the school day? Recess
Who are your friends? Anna, Mya, and Mrs. Wieberdink
What is something you learned in science? Bears Sleep In The Winter (I knew that, but it was something I learned.)
What is something you learned in math? Adding
What is your favorite book to read by yourself? The Elsa and Anna One
What is your favorite book that someone read to you? Berenstain Bears
What food do you like to eat at snack? Strawberries
What is your favorite game to play at recess? The Wolf Game (the wolf tries to get us, and if the wolf gets us we be the wolf with them and try to catch the other cats)
What do you like about your teacher? That she is nice.
What do you look forward to for summer? Swimming in my swimming pool.
Preschool
We finally got geoboards! Both Lorelei and Makin are lovin' em.
Makin has come a long way, even without much pushing from me. He has had lots of review/repetition from last year, so he is an old pro at letters and their sounds. He finished his school year working on putting numbers 1-20 in order on his own, filling in numbers that were missing, and reading cvc (consonant, vowel, consonant) words as well as learning around 10 sight words. His name writing came a long way from the start of the year as well. We did not emphasize handwriting since he and Drue were not into paperwork, so that may be what we focus more on next year. (Still in the air whether we will send him to preschool or not.)
One preschool activity we were working on lately was drawing their shapes.
They have improved so much!!!
I had to chuckle at Makin during name practice one day. He wrote exclamation points after his name. I didn't think we had talked about them that much, but somehow he understood what they meant.
They mastered the days of the week and months of the year...
We used Zoo Phonics last year with Lorelei, so Makin knew them already.
It really seemed to help Drue learn her letters/sounds and Makin was definitely not hurt by the repetition!
Celebrating the end of a year of preschool with a McDonalds lunch!
I really enjoyed last-year's Mother's Day, so I wanted to keep some of the same plans. Maybe they will become traditions for a few years. :)
One thing I have to mention was how fun it was to observe the kid's anticipation of giving this year. They loved plotting with Brad about going to the store to shop for me for Mother's Day. They really haven't gotten any gifts or really helped pick many yet, and are just getting to the point where they put more time, thoughtfulness and effort into cards etc. It was really fun to see.
The highlights:
Sleeping In.
Breakfast in bed prepared by Brad.
(Along with cards and a few gifts, one of which included wrinkle cream. My kids are adamant that I need it [I do!] but I realize this is not a normal gift request for kids their age. ;) It all comes from a book we read, where a mermaid is putting on night cream. They asked about it, which then turned into 6 months+ of them telling me I needed to use it. I have never gotten around to buying it, so made sure Brad knew he was in charge of googling and finding me a good one. :) Don't worry, I also got a Starbucks gift card and chocolates. :)) And no, I didn't eat ALL those cinnamon rolls, it was a family breakfast. :)
Lunch/Nap Off (I got to read! I cannot renew my book again!)
Red Lobster Supper! (Yes, we drove over an hour for this!)
So thankful I get to raise these kids and be their mom!
On the drive home, we pass hundreds of wind energy machines. We even passed many trucks transporting the parts to build more! Its about time the utilize all that wind! :) I decided that we had better pull over for a 10 minute field trip to read about these amazingly huge wind turbines. The kids loved seeing them up-close and couldn't believe how big they were. We enjoyed learning about how they worked too!
