Preschool Wrap-Up

I just wanted to share a few more pictures from Jack's preschool co-op, during the months of January through April:

Money

We talked about money, looked at money, used money to do a couple of crafts, then played "store" in the living room.  I brought out a clerk's apron and put a toy cash register on the piano bench, then gave the boys a big basket of toys to "buy."  Oh, and some plastic bags.  They loved it, playing continuously for at least an hour.

Animals

This was another fun day.  Once I started trying to come up with animal activities, the ideas just flowed.  We read the story of Noah's ark, then "found" Little People Noah's animals, which were scattered all over the family room, and put them back in the ark.  They played animal scramble, tossed animal bean bags into a big bin, and put our big animal alphabet puzzle together.

Pirates

Oh, how the boys loved Pirate day.  Cat was home from school because it was Spring Break for her that week, and she just ate it all up too.  We read Roger, the Jolly Pirate and Pirates Don't Change Diapers.  Each child received a scarf to tie around his head and made a spyglass by covering a paper towel tube with drawn-on construction paper.  I tried to make eye patches for the boys, but I did it all wrong.  I used card stock; should have used black felt.  I tied them on with ribbon; should have used elastic thread.  Oh well.  They still liked them. The highlight was when the boys followed Cat's instructions to find the hidden treasure in the back yard based on my oh-so-artistic treasure map.  They were lucky that the booty was already divided up evenly.  Nobody had to call anyone a "scurvy nave," which one boy kept saying in an awesome pirate voice the whole time, or bust out a hook to get their fair share.  Each bag had a few jewels (big fat jelly beans) and pieces of eight (chocolate gold coins).  We still had some time left after the treasure hunt, so the kids started playing "hot and cold" by hiding the Little People treasure chest in the back yard.

End of the Year Party

When I taught the "Money" lesson back in January, I introduced Preschool Bucks, which were awarded to boys when they came to Preschool.  We kept the boys' bucks for them and then I put together a little store consisting of items we all contributed.  The boys used their bucks to buy things from the store during their end of the year party.  This was a huge hit, and Jack LOVED all of the fun little things he came home with from the store.  They also made things out of marshmallows and toothpicks (Jack's is an airplane, btw), played t-ball, and moms painted boys' hands to make handprint shirts.  We also watched a slideshow I made of pictures from preschool this year.

 

I was skeptical about how much I would like participating in a preschool co-op this year.  I never did anything like this with Cat, and I was sure that having to prepare several lessons over the course of the year would become a burden for me.  Boy, was I wrong.  It did take some time to get some of my lessons together, but once I had done it a few times I realized that I could simplify and the boys would still love it, and learn a few things.  I loved being a part of this with Jack, and feeling like I was focusing on him in some small way.  It was fun to see him "at school," to see him feel big and independent, and to watch him interact with his peers.  We (the moms) all loved having a group of boys to teach.  We made sure to focus on things we knew they would like - there was a day about trains, a day about dinosaurs, a day about farms, a day about sports, you get the idea.  It was great.  This experience really was a great blessing in my life.  I'm so thankful for it, and I'm thankful to the other moms who made it as great as it was.

Everyday Stuff - March Edition

Remember our last/first big snow?  This is the snowman 3 days later.  Yes, when this snowman was in the sun, he melted, melted melted.... very slowly.  Also notice how much warmer the weather was.  The kids were having a picnic with Cat's friend Lily in the back yard. 

I discovered this winter that my Pampered Chef baking stone rack is the perfect item for drying gloves and mittens.

The kind of fun you can only have with Daddy.

Love this.  And love these quilts Mema made!

When I pulled the chairs out of the dining area to clean the floor, Eliza climbed right up into her seat to read a book.  Sometimes just moving an item from its normal location will do wonders.

Being a big boy Sunbeam at Church can be exhausting.

Yogurt!

Didn't your mother ever tell you not to play with... oh, nevermind.
(And, yes, these were cleaned up and put away as soon as I took the picture.)

Do you remember the video of Cat reading a homework assignment in which she exclaimed,
"I love love love to SING!"?
I smiled when I saw this card.  I'm glad that singing isn't the only thing she "love love loves."

How I know I'm working hard against a deadline: I not only let the kids do things, but sometimes suggest that they do things, they otherwise would get in trouble for. 

I love it when I find my kids happily playing together.
It's always such a pleasant surprise.

The beginning of the Pinkeye Epidemic.  That was fun.

A picnic with Ben during his lunch break between classes.  We picked him up and drove to a little green space with a duck pond on the south end of BYU campus.  We were happy to discover lots of turtles in the pond as well.

Just call her "Eliza the Barbarian."
She swallowed the amputated leg while I was trying to get her to spit it out.

Spring Breakin' It at the POOL

The week after Easter was Cat's Spring Break so we tried to do a few extra fun things.  We had some normal stuff to do, including teaching Jack's preschool group and Cat going to Daisy Girl Scouts.  But our extra fun things wound up being playdates with friends, going to the indoor playground at the mall, and visiting an indoor pool.  The pool outing was on Friday, so we were looking forward to it all week, and it was definitely a big hit!  We went with our good friends who are in the MBA program and who live in our neighborhood and all of the kids had a blast.  We ended up staying much longer than we thought we would since everyone was having such a good time.  The only complaint we had was that the water was a little cold.  Other than that, it was awesome.

We spent most of our time in the baby/toddler area you see above - the water was about 6 inches deep everywhere, it had 2 little water slides and some fountains, plus a few baby bouncing swing things.  Cat and Makayla ventured out to the lazy river and the big kid area (with bigger water slides and a big splash bucket) when me or the other Mom escorted them a few times.  It was a lovely way to end Spring Break, especially since it was a colder day outside.  Yeah!

Easter Weekend in St. George, UT

I realized as we were getting ready to travel to St. George for Easter that our family had traveled for Easter for the last few years -

2011 - St. George Island, FL with all of Ben's family
2010 - Columbia, SC for Suz's wedding
2009 - Jacksonville, FL for a niece's baby blessing

I wonder how long this will continue?

Anyway, this year, we were able to spend a weekend with many members of my extended family who live here in the West.  They came from Wyoming, California, and the Salt Lake City area to have some time together with my grandparents (Oma and Opa) in southwest Utah.  I am so grateful that we are close enough to get to spend time with my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.  What a blessing!

On Saturday we met up with two of my cousins and their families to hang out at the St. George Art Festival.

Cat and Jack were more into the nearby carousel than the art, though.

Eliza wasn't really into either.

Then we let the kids play in the water area for a while.  I think that was the real favorite for most of them.

While Oma and some of the other adults got dinner ready, Ben and I took our kids and a couple of the other older "great grands" to a nearby park.

Then back at Oma and Opa's condo, Abbie helped Eliza with her bubble blowing.

The kids ate their dinner on the front lawn.

While the parents were on the patio.

Then after dinner many of the kids continued to play outside - can you tell that the weather was bveautiful??  I love that they included Eliza in their game of baseball.  Look how happy she is!

Cousin time is silly time.

My cousin Madi was kind enough to paint Cat's nails that night.
Cat LOVED getting to have time with Madi.  
And Madi was super sweet and patient with all of the younger kids.

Easter baskets, Resurrection Rolls, and a sweet Oma & Eliza moment on Easter morning.

Family pictures after Church.
Can you tell that Eliza was NOT interested in having her picture taken?

The whole group, minus Ben and Mike who were taking the pictures.  Thanks, guys!

We had a fun Easter Egg out in the area in front of Oma and Opa's condo Sunday afternoon while our AWESOME dinner was being prepared.

One egg was hidden in a rather surprising spot.  Do you see it?

It took Cat a while to find it too.
(Click on the picture to make it bigger if it's hard to read the text.)

We had such a fun time with all of our family.  We are so thankful for them, and for the time we get to spend together.  And we are especially thankful for Easter - for the Atonement and Resurrection of our Savior.  We feel so blessed to have a knowledge of His plan for us, which includes the opportunity to live together as a family forever.