Tuesday, June 12, 2012

5th Grade Graduation

 Jacob graduated from the 5th grade at Blackland Prairie Elementary on Friday, May 25.  Here he is receiving his diploma from the principal, Ms. Hildebrand.  His teacher Miss Corbett is at the microphone.  He is very excited (and nervous) to start middle school in the fall.  He has chosen to do orchestra and will be learning to play the viola.

Savannah and Dallin came with me to the graduation, but then Savannah went back to her classroom for her ice cream party.  We loved her teacher Mrs. Patterson, and hope that we'll still get to see her around the school often.
Zach had a class party also, but wasn't too excited about me taking pictures.  He had a great teacher this year that we will also miss.

Now on to summer!

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Mother's Day Weekend

We were lucky enough to have family here for Mother's Day!  My mom flew in the Tuesday before.  She got to stay for a whole week and we loved every minute of it!
 She missed Connor's preschool graduation by just a few hours, but was able to go to the kids' Gallery Night that evening.  The art teachers display art from every single child in the school (over 1,000 kids).  Jacob's is the top picture directly above his head, that has light columns running through it.
 Zach's is the yellow and red piece next to him.
 Savannah was very proud of her red bird.
 The kids had fun every day keeping Grandma busy.  One afternoon Savannah & Zach convinced her to draw mutant food with them (don't ask).  The next day they drew mutant sports equipment.
 Grandma & Landon helped Savannah with homework too.  Savannah had to throw a cup in the air 20 times and see how it landed, to practice tallying.  Landon was very willing to help throw that cup over and over and over again.
 On Friday night my brother Steven and his family came.  They went to my cousin Reed's wedding in Dallas and then drove here after.  My dad was actually in Dallas just for the day, so they got to have lunch with him and be with him at the wedding.  Landon remembered Steven from our trip in March and still adores him.  Steven had a little shadow the entire time he was here.
 We loved meeting Madelyn in person.  She is 4 months old now and super cute.  Savannah is excited to have a girl cousin on the LeSueur side of the family now.
 Grandma loved having 7 of her 8 grandkids together!
On Saturday morning we went to the new park.  The weather was great and the kids got good and worn out.  This swing is Landon's new favorite spot at the park.  In the afternoon Steven took Max, Zach, Savannah & Connor to the Botanical Gardens in Austin.  I don't have any pictures, but I know the kids enjoyed spending time with him.
 Max was in heaven with new toys to play with.  One of his favorites were the "special marbles."  They are magnetic orbs that I only brought out when Landon was sleeping.  I'm still afraid he'll try to put one in his mouth.
 My dad surprised us by sending a box of chocolate covered strawberries to my mom and us girls.  They were beautiful and tasty.
 Sarah and cute Madelyn.
 My kids and I on Mother's Day
 We tried to get a good picture of grandma and most of her grandkids, but Landon was not cooperative.
 
 The girls
 Having Max here made my kids actually play more with some of the toys they haven't touched in a while.  Zach and Savannah made a huge zoo with a "freeway" around it.
 We have two nests on our porch this year.  The first nest of baby birds hatched just before my mom got here, so she got to see them.  They just flew off a couple of days ago.  The other next was built while she was here.  The momma bird is still sitting on two light blue eggs.
 On Saturday Dallin & Jacob disappeared to the store.  Grandpa had made secret phone calls to Jacob a couple of times and we found out why.  He gave Jacob the job of going to the store and buying Grandma flowers for Mother's Day.  He did a great job.
 I got flowers, chocolate, and body spray from Dallin, and nice cards and pictures from the kids.  My favorite quote came from Savannah that she did at school.  It was a fill in the blank, and said "My mom is as tall as...a fridge."  I can just picture her trying to think of all the things in our house and what I'm the same height as.  But she's right, I'm just about as tall as the fridge.
 Steven's family left Sunday after lunch and Grandma left Tuesday evening.  We miss you already!

On Thursday Zach woke up with a fever, and so began Round 2 of "The Strong kids get a fever."  Landon got it again Thursday night.  This was the 3rd weekend in a row that we've had fevers.  Zach was home Thursday with a mild fever and stayed home Friday even though he was fine by then.  They had field day at school and I didn't think it would be good for him to be out in the sun all day yesterday because he was more worried about missing his camping trip with Daddy and the boys.  So he rested up all morning while Jacob & Savannah enjoyed having Dallin at the school helping with field day.  After they got home Dallin left with Jacob, Zach & Connor to go camping with the guys from our ward at Inks Lake.  Savannah and I rented a Barbie movie from redbox, painted fingernails, and made brownies.  Landon got to hang out with us, lucky boy.

Only one more week of school!!!




Friday, May 18, 2012

Preschool Graduation

 Connor graduated from preschool last week!  We had a fun time doing our little co-op this year with some other moms and kids.  He made some great friends.
 Our plan was to meet at the park for the graduation and then let the kids play after.  But it was raining all morning.  Luckily the ramada was huge and had lights, so we improvised.  They were finishing up the letter "Z" before the little graduation, so I brought some tape and made a huge ZigZag for them to run on.  It was a hit.  Then Miss Cara read "Oh the Places You'll Go" and gave them their certificates.
 
 
 
 
 
This year Connor taught himself to read.  His favorites are snake books, of course.  He doesn't love to write, and being left-handed doesn't help any.  Luckily he'll get lots of practice in kindergarten!

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Cameron Park Zoo

A couple of weeks I took Connor & Landon to the zoo with a friend.  Connor was too little to remember the last time we came, and he loved it.  It is in Waco, which is a drive for us, but well worth it.
There are a few play areas scattered throughout the zoo.  Here is Connor on the tree house slide.
 Connor was actually pretty nervous to get inside this snake head.  He wouldn't go near it until I went and stood inside it myself first.
 Landon's favorite part was the aquarium building with all the fish.  He was totally enthralled.
 There is a clear slide that goes through the water in the sea otter habitat.  Landon got stuck at the the top (and a little freaked out), so I had to go up and push him down from behind.
 
These alligators were just floating in the water, and one turned and floated straight towards Connor.
 
We finally made it to the reptile house and Connor was in pure snake heaven.
 
 He was looking for the Western Diamondback Rattlesnake (which is his favorite) and was disappointed when he didn't see any.  But then just as we were walking out we came to the last, and biggest exhibit.  Three of his favorite snakes!!!  One of them was albino, which was pretty neat.

 The elephants were pretty far away, but I'm happy I got a picture with Connor.  Next year he'll be in kindergarten, so we won't get to do activities like this as much together.  He's been my little buddy for a long time now.
 Other than the reptile house, Connor's favorite animal was the komodo dragon.
 Connor trying to swing on the ropes and kick the gong with his feet in the monkey play area.
 They had some fun chimes that you jumped on to play, and both of the boys spent quite a while there.
 
The orangutan finally came out just as we were leaving, but he was old and slow and just walked around finding his food.

Monday, May 7, 2012

3 Hours of Texas Weather

My favorite part of this forecast is the 15 degree drop in one hour and then back up 10 degrees the next hour.  It totally happens like that here.

5 PM May 7

Cloudy
91°F
Cloudy
FEELS LIKE:
93°
HUMIDITY:
45%
PRECIP:
15%

6 PM

T-Storms
74°
T-Storms
FEELS LIKE:
74°
HUMIDITY:
81%
PRECIP:
75%

7 PM

Scattered T-Storms
84°
Scattered T-Storms
FEELS LIKE:
87°
HUMIDITY:
60%
PRECIP:
40%

8 PM

Cloudy
80°
Cloudy
FEELS LIKE:
83°
HUMIDITY:
65%
PRECIP:
15%