Emily's Dinosaur Mural

Emily made this huge dino mural at school with some friends.  She bought it with her class money so she could hang it up at home.  She was thrilled!

Last Days

 I love the last few days of school when everything feels so carefree and the anticipation of summer is everywhere.  Here are Kelsie and her two closest friends from her class last year.  Holly and Brinley.  Their last lunch as 5th graders!

 Emily at lunch with her friend Sydney.  Sydney and Emily became friends in kindergarten when they were put in the same class.  They have been in the same class every year since kindergarten, even through school changes.  :)  I would love for them to end up together again.  She is always by Emily's side at school.  They are on to 3rd grade next year!

Matson loves seeing his sisters at school and can't wait to go to school one day.

Teacher Gifts

Here are the end of year gifts for the girls teachers.  I went in at lunchtime and had each student put their fingerprint  on the tree and I added their names over their print . I loved their teachers and appreciated how much they both loved teaching and you could just feel that when you walked into their classrooms.

Last Day of School

 

Ms. Decker and Kelsie.  We loved Ms. Decker and wish she could move to 6th grade right along with Kelsie!  She truly loves teaching and loves the kids.  She is always smiling and shows such respect for the kids.  Kelsie truly loved her class.  The whole 5th grade team was amazing and Kelsie had the best year!  The wax museum, Clear Creek Camp, Hope of America, Suessical Jr., hatching chicks, baby bunnies, and so much more!  Those teachers must be tired.  So grateful for all they did.

 

 Miss Layne and Emily.  We loved Miss Layne.  She is a very talented teacher who challenged Emily and also did lots of fun things along the way.  Camper of the Week, 100's Day, Pirate Day, Christmas Shoppe, Class Money and Auctions.  She was perfect for Emily and Emily adores her!

Hooray for the Last Day of School!  It's summer!

Surprise!!!

This was a surprise that had been in the works for months.  The Barker's planned to come down on May 23rd, but my kids had no idea.  They didn't tell anyone because Brianna wanted to show up and surprise Kelsie, and they wanted to surprise everyone at the school too.  How fun is that?  For weeks, Kelsie kept asking when she could see Brianna and it was killing me but I stayed strong!  :)  So the anticipated day finally arrived.  I told Kelsie to answer the door and I ran outside to greet the Barker's and get the surprise on video!  Brianna knocked on the door and Kelsie answered the door.  She was SHOCKED!  She gasped and started crying and hugging Brianna.  They were so happy to be together again!    This is the first picture I got of them.  I love that you can see how thrilled they are to be together again!

Love these two girls SO much!  They are the best of friends.  They were completely inseparable when they lived next door and this move has been extremely hard on both of them.  You couldn't wipe the grin of Kelsie's face all night.  She was so happy to have Brianna back!!! 

After a few minutes I rushed down because I wanted to see my other kids reactions when they saw the Barker kids.  I was way too late!!!  Emily and Amber were already in the basement playing ponies as happily as can be.  Emily was ready for soccer and quickly told me, "I'll skip my soccer game!"  She never wants to miss soccer but she was so happy to have them here.

The little kids had found my boys and they were jumping on the trampoline, just like the old days.  It was such a fun day.  It was SO fun to surprise my cute Kelsie with her best friend!  And it felt so perfect to have all of Mindi's kids running around the neighborhood again.  It felt like the old days..and I really miss the old days.  :(  It was the best feeling.  Like everything was back to normal and the Barker's were still our next door neighbors and had come to hang out for the evening.  We miss them so much!!!

Together

 Brianna got to stay with us for a week while her family was at their Grandma's.  They had so much fun and our whole family loved having Brianna here again!  This picture is on Sunday.  They wore matching clothes and did their hair alike for church. 

 Making Smores with the neighbor friends!  All the kids were so excited to have Brianna here. 

 

Jumping on the tramp in jammies.  This one made me sad cause I miss this.  This is how these 3 spent every summer night for the last few years. 

Making cake pops!

I Phone Addict

 

We couldn't find Matson and started looking around for him.  We found him in the bathtub.  He had climbed in the ducky tub, closed the curtain around the bathtub and was happily playing the I Phone where no one could find him or take it away from him!  Smart boy.  He knows if he stays in view one of his siblings will try to take it...or I will put him to bed!

 

He is totally obsessed by playing "Subway Surfer" on the phone.  And he's incredibly good at it too.  Forget preschool games, he's moving on to the big kid games! 

Spring Soccer

 Emily's soccer team with Chad as coach.

 Emily LOVES soccer!  She plays hard and is very competitive. 

 Carter's soccer team with John as coach.  John loves coaching! 

Carter and John.  Carter loves having his dad as his coach!  He is a good little player.  It is mob ball at this age but Carter stands back from the crowd and waits for the ball to come out to him.  I'm not sure if it's strategy or if he just doesn't like the crowd, but it worked for him.  A few neighbors commented on how cute is was to see Carter and his dad hanging out at the soccer fields.  It was pretty cute.  Carter loves hanging out with his dad!

Funny Matson

 

Before church Matson was throwing around potty words to get attention.  I talked to him about it and said that he shouldn't say those words when he goes to nursery today.  He should be a nice boy. 

He grinned back at me like I was out of my mind. Then he said, "But if I say farty head then all the kids will laugh!"

Apparently his goal is to get all the kids to laugh at him.  I had no response for that.  I didn't realize my 2 year old's greatest desire was to be the class clown at nursery.  I guess I should have seen it coming.  This little boy is overflowing with personality.  We have our work cut out for us!

Later in the day:

After sacrament meeting he saw his little friend, Siri.  He ran up to her because he wanted to walk to nursery with her.  She saw him and said, "Do you want to walk with me?"  

Matson stuck his thumb up in the air and said, "You got it dude!" 

Totally cracked me up.  Somebody has watched too many Full House episodes with his older sisters.  He is one funny little 2 year old. 

My Preschool Graduate

Carter officially graduated from preschool and is headed to Kindergarten in the Fall.  He is getting so big!  At preschool graduation he told us that his favorite part of preschool was, "learning about dinosaurs."  When he grows up he wants to be a Farmer. 

 Carter and his proud parents

 Carter and mom.  We made it through two years of preschool together.  Yeah!  It was trying at times (for both of us) but I am so glad I got to be his teacher and see him in a school setting with his peers.   He is a smart boy and has been ready for kindergarten for a couple of years.  He thrives on attention and knows just how to get all the kids to laugh at him.  He is a leader and I often found that he had created some game during center time and had all the kids playing along with him.  He loved preschool and wishes he could do kindergarten AND preschool next year!  He is excited and nervous to head to school and have a REAL teacher (one that is not his mom)!  I know he will love it and do GREAT!

Preschool Graduation

 Preschool Graduation Food.  My mom made all the fun cupcakes for me!  And I found the idea for cake roll diplomas on Pinterest.  Cute and easy. 

 Here is the morning class all ready to graduate!  Carter is in the middle.  This picture totally shows the personalities of this class.  They were a handful for me!  Lots of strong willed, very smart kids.   But, they are all such fun kids and I will miss them!

Here is the afternoon class (minus Carter).  He came to the morning class every day and liked to make guest appearances in the afternoon during playtime and snacks.  :)  I love this little class and will miss them.  It was fun to have such diversity (a rare thing around here) and they were all the best of friends and were so easy to teach. 

 Loved being able to teach my neice, Ashtyn, this year!  She is so sweet and always brought me cute little notes that made my whole day!  Carter and Ashtyn loved going to preschool together!

My sister made this wall hanging for my classroom, as an end of the year gift from her and Ashtyn.  It is hands down the most thoughtful gift anyone's ever given me.  I about cried when I read it.  I love it and can't wait to get it hung.  Thanks, Kandace! 

May Fun

 The boys got some cool, boy potatoe heads from a yard sale.  Pretty cool.

 Carter insists on having a butterfly sandwich every time we have grilled cheese.  He added the apple slices and I had to get a picture of his cute butterfly creation!

 Kelsie and Emily taking their dolls on a walk on a Sunday evening.

The boys are trying to convince me that they should share a room.  Carter takes Matson into his room and reads him books and they "nap" together.  There is little napping and lots of giggling.  Then Carter comes and professes how wonderful it would be if we moved Matson out of his crib and into Carter's room so he can help him take naps.  I am not convinced!!!

Pets

Kelsie bought a fish.  It lasted about 3 weeks with our cat before the cat won.  :(  I am not sad to see the fish off my counter.  They really stink.  But, Kelsie will move onto another pet.  She is an animal lover.  She was reading a book called, "The House of  a Million Pets".  She was really into it.  I asked her what the book was called, and started laughing out loud when I saw the title.  It was like I was seeing a foreshadowing of what the future held.  Kelsie would like nothing more than than to have a houseful of pets! 

Texas Roadhouse Fieldtrip and BYU Rolls

 Texas Roadhouse is the best preschool fieldtrip of the year!  Carter loves it!  I may have to check him out of kindergarten next year so he can go with us!  He drew all over the floor with chalk, learned a line dance, went in the freezer in the back, made our own rolls, and had lunch! Here is Carter with his name on the Texas Roadhouse floor for all to see!

 They give us dough and let each child make their own rolls with cookie cutters.  The kids were all making animals, etc..  with the cookie cutters.  But, not my boy.  He searched all through the cookie cutters to find the letters "B" "Y" and "U".  He made BYU rolls from Texas Roadhouse!  We couldn't be prouder!

That's our boy.  BYU fan through and through.

Concert at the Waterfall

 The girls and I went to the Peter Breinholt Concert at Thanksgiving Point.  It was free for members!  Super fun night hanging out in the garden and listening to music.  Iphone pictures are terrible at dusk, but it's the only camera we had. 

We also did a little exploring and discovered the "Secret Garden".  We had never found it before and it's so magical.  The door was open just a bit and we snuck in and felt like we had just walked into the Secret Garden movie.  Everything is the exact replica of The Secret Garden.  Kelsie fell in love with the place!  It was such a fun, magical night.  We love the Thanksgiving Point Gardens.