The Ends of Things

This is the time of year when everything wraps up, and things come to an end. Kiersten's Daisy troop had their bridging ceremony last week, to go from Daisies to Brownies. It hardly seems like it's been 2 years already.

 I made a rainbow bridge out of candy to bridge between this cake and a plate of brownies, but I didn't get a very good picture. It was made of rainbow twizzlers and rainbow lollypops.

The girls each had a daisy that they gave away to a future daisy scout, and then they crossed the bridge and received a brownie from an older girl scout on the other side. We have the sweetest group of girls!

My Kiersten Joy crossing the bridge.

 

 I just love all these silly billies!

 

On Thursday Evie graduated from preschool. She has been in this school for 3 years. She was very excited about graduation day. Her class did an adorable song for us.

There she is, ready to graduate!

My sweet girl! She just loved her teacher this year, and she will definitely be missed. Kiersten still talks about when she was in her class.

Luckily, Ben was able to take the day off to see her graduate. She was so excited to get flowers.

She also gave flowers to her sweet teacher.

No more preschool for this big girl!

On Friday, the kids were invited back for a magic/comedy/clown show.

I had to share this one, because I love how she's laughing so hard.

After the show, all the kids got popsicles to enjoy.

Last week I also got to accompany Kara on a field trip to Powder Valley. She loves learning about animals, so this field trip was right up her alley. She was extra thrilled to be assigned to learn about the bob cat, because of her thing for cats and all.

 It was a nice day, and the kids loved being outdoors.

 I enjoyed the hike, but was not as enthusiastic to dig for bugs. It was hard to talk the kids into not being freaked out, when I wanted scream and run away myself. Kara was excited to catch the bugs. She caught a roly poly, a worm, and a spider.  

 

 After lunch, our group had time to hike the trails and explore the exhibits. the girls I was chaperoning had a great time.

 They were particularly excited about this fish tank, because it was feeding time, and they thought it was hilarious to see the large fish and turtles catch and eat the smaller fish that got dumped in there.

Today was the final Evie/Mommy Monday. Next year she'll be going to school all 5 days, so we won't have a day all to ourselves. I took her to six flags bright and early. It was a great day for it. There were lots of high schools there, but they don't tend to be in the kiddie ride area, so she had the run of the place.

It's finally warm enough for the fountains to be turned on at the splash pad. We went on more rides than we've been able to for a while. It was a perfect, sunny day, and really no lines. We even hit the timing perfectly for lunch. Only one person was ahead of us, and then the line flooded in right behind. I really can't imagine how it could have been a nicer day.

My Day

For mother's day this year, Ben got my oil painting framed! He bought this otter painting for me on our honeymoon in 2003. He didn't love it as much as I did, and we just haven't ever gotten around to having it framed. We have always talked about getting it framed, but other projects kept pushing it off the list. So I was definitely surprised when I opened it! 12 long years these otters have been waiting around.

I got it a day early, because that's when Ben picked it up, and he didn't want to try to hide it for just one day.

I wasn't sure where I wanted to hang it, but after trying out a few locations, I settled on putting it in the livingroom. I am actually kinda surprised how well it goes in there. I wouldn't have thought of this as being livingroom worthy, but I love it there.

On Sunday, I got to sleep in while Ben and the girls made me breakfast in bed. It was a huge, yummy breakfast, and I was more than ready to take a day off from eating healthy. I enjoyed every bite!

Later in the morning, we went hiking with the girls in Castlewood State Park. It was a lovely day, and I really enjoyed it, though Ben, Kara, and Kiersten were swarmed by mosquitos the entire time. We forgot to bring bug spray. I never notice, because I rarely get bitten, or even see them land on me, but Ben always gets bitten like crazy. The CCL nurse actually called me yesterday to let me know both girls had been in her office complaining about bug bites, and needing calamine. Evie is like me, and doesn't really get bothered by mosquitos.

Because of the bugs, we did cut the hike a little short, but it was a nice activity, and the girls were very happy to get Silky's custard instead.

Here are a few of the cards I received from the girls. There are about 20 more, but these were some of the stand outs. This was made by Kiersten. She also made me a rubberband necklace, a coupon book, and several pictures and cards.

 Kara made me this cute book about all the things she has learned from me. She also gave me two plants and a few other cards and pictures, and made me two necklaces.

 Evie made me several pictures, and I think this is my favorite. She is just so cute, and is lately writing the word "cat" on every picture she draws. It doesn't matter what the picture is of, she always writes "cat". She also made a few pictures at school which were adorable, and at school they baked muffins. She gave me that in a bag with some orange juice.

 

 

 I liked this sheet that Kiersten made at school. Why do they all think my favorite food is salad? This is hardly the first time one of them has said that. It's always fun to get a glimpse of myself through their eyes.

Hopefully all you fabulous mothers out there had a fantastic day full of love!
I love you Mom!!!

End of the year at CCL

Today was the girls' last day at CCL for the year. So last week they both had their final project night. Kara's unit this semester was on healthy living. Her project was a video game she made using scratch. It turned out super cute.  

She is very proud of  her work.

 

The girls all had fun seeing all of the different projects the 3rd graders worked on. There were a few other video games, several board games, crafts, and other interactive activities. They did not want to leave when it was time to go.

One of the tables had the kids make stress relieving sponges. Kiersten and Evie both liked making those.

The next evening was Kiersten's project night. She has been learning about animals and the environment. For a field trip, she got to visit the World Bird Sanctuary. The project night was a big fund raiser for the WBS. There were live birds, face painting, a cake walk, raffle baskets, and items the kids made to sell. Kiersten worked the table selling these cute bird houses and magnets that the kids made at school. It was a pretty fun night.

Kara was a big spender at the event. She bought me a surprise flower planted in a tea cup for a mother's day gift. She also bought some of Kiersten's magnets, a rock painted like a lady bug, several treats, and raffle tickets for herself and Evie.

Ben was off work early, so he was able to attend. That was great, because he was able to take Kara and Evie around while I helped Kiersten run her booth.

This morning I got a phone call that Evie and Kiersten had both won raffle baskets. Kiersten's teacher didn't want to send them home on the bus with her, so Evie and I stopped by to pick them up. She won a frozen basket, and was more than thrilled. She kept saying she just wanted to tango with Olaf. She had put all of  her tickets in that basket, and plans to share with Kara, since she bought the tickets for her.

Kiersten won a palace pets basket. She got a few palace pets, and some other cute toys. She was really excited when she got home from school.

The tango happened about  6 times. Now she can stop complaining that she didn't win the Mickey Mouse from the carnival a few weeks ago. She had wanted to tango with him originally. This stuffed Olaf talks, and kept talking the whole ride home, so that kept her pretty entertained.

Kara wanted me to take a picture of her looking "jealous". And this was the best she had. Ha ha. But in reality, she was excited for her sisters and was very excited to play with the new winnings.