Last Week of Summer Vacation: Tuesday

So it's the Tuesday of our countdown week to start back to school...eek! Today I had a doctor appointment in the morning so Mom came and stayed with the kiddos for a bit.  They've been very busy playing in the sandbox that I finally refilled (300 pounds of sand went in on Sunday :)  In the afternoon we went to see the Smurf movie.  Very cute! So funny to be watching the Smurfs with my children.  I remember watching them as a child!  It was a fun time.  Afterwards we went to the shoe store to get new tennis shoes for the kids! Goodness, even with buy one get one half off and a five dollar coupon, my wallet still came home over 120.00 lighter! Then we ran to school to pick up the boys' teacher assignments! It was all the buzz in the neighborhood today! I love living here where all the children go to school together! What an amazing blessing!! Then off to Coney Island for a late dinner.  With all that fun and excitement, who has time to cook?!!  A great day over all.  I'm so thankful for these sweet days.

Last Week of Summer Vacation: Monday

I can't believe it's the last week of summer vacation already! To start the week off the boys and I made a list of "Goals" so that we could aim to do all the fun things they want to do this week!
On our list:
1.  Play outside :)
2.  Go to the Science Center
3.  Go to the zoo.
4.  Play date with our cousins
5.  Swim!!!
6.  See the Smurf movie
7.  Have fun (Andrew's addition....I told him it was a very important goal!!)

So for Monday, we hooked up with Sarah, and had a play date at the zoo!  We got to see the new lion exhibit...fancy, fancy!  and had a nice picnic lunch near some water squiriting frogs that we've never seen there before!  And of course, the best part....the train!  The kids and I ended our day with ice cream cones Monday evening....which we plan to repeat often this week :)  We will send this summer out with a bang!!

Kindergarten...Finished!!

Our little kindergarten graduate....:)

The class marched in with these awesome t shirts on from the pto.  I love this school! How sweet!!

David and Mrs. Cole, the world's best kindergaten teacher!

Andrew and Bella trying out kindergarten too :)

Look at all these adorable faces! Mason Elementary class of 2016

David's locker had this cute photo on it from his teacher :)

David and Ethan, his buddy

hug:)

David, Ethan, Evan, and Jack at Pepperoni Grille for our afterwards party :)

It seems like just yesterday I was walking my David to school for the first time, and now the year is over!  He has done a fantastic job and is growing and learning soooooo well!  He's so sweet, and we just love it that he had a great experience in kindergarten!  His teacher prepared a slide show for the closing program.  We sat in the library and then the class filed in wearing these gray t shirts that say "Mason Elementary Class of 2016".  The slide show was great, and so were Mrs. Cole's poems she wrote and read to us.  They even made pillowcases for memories with all of the kids' fingerprints painted on.  Each child received a sand bucket with all their classmates' names on it, and memories inside.  :) It was so neat for him, and we could see he was proud.  Afterwards we enjoyed a reception in the classroom and then some of us took the kids to Pepperoni Grille for a late lunch.  Kindergarten is finished.  I can't believe we have a first grader in the house now!  I'm so thankful for David's school, and for how the Lord provided for us to move to this great neighborhood for our family to grow up! Everytime I think about it I start to get teary.  He loves us so much and cares about these details, and I'm so thankful! 

Fun Summer Day :)

David and a fish fly :)

"Mommy, I go slide down!"

Woo hoo!

Merry go round meriment

Andrew doing flips on the monkey bars!

Three beautiful kids and a turtle! Only thing missing is my Joe!

The princess and the tortoise :)

The cutest thing ever!

Wheeee!!!!!

Ready for movie time!

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh......

I love summer. I love my kids.  I loooooooovvvvvveeeee summer with my kids :)  Today we had so much fun. We took a bike ride to the park to play in the morning, came home for a yummy lunch, then put Bella down for a nap.  For the first half hour of rest time the boys and I built a retaining wall in the front of our house from some reclaimed bricks (the ones we took down in the additon remodel), and then we rented "Harry Potter".  What fun! In the afternoon we packed some drinks and plates and such and headed to Lakefront Park for the boys' last swim lesson of this session.  Joe met us there with pizza after work and we picnicked and then swam for another hour.  A really nice day.  I love these long summer days, and I love these amazing little people I get to share them with.  Thank you, Lord!

David's Class Picnic Party

David and some of his kindergarten buddies!

Silly boys

Mrs. Cole leading the parade outside the school!

David playing the cup stacking game with his friends

Mrs. Cole's Kindergarten

It was supposed to be Field Day, but the weather did not cooperate, so we had the "Class Picnic Party" part and held off on Field Day, and I got to volunteer to help in David's class!!  It was so much fun.  The kids had a pizza party, game stations, party games, a parade, and ice cream.  I would've loved to spend more time in David's classroom this year, but with smaller siblings, he was a trooper and understood why I couldn't be there all the time :)  I am so glad I got to do this one though! What fun!!

David's Kindergarten Concert (May 2011)

getting ready to sing!

David and some of his classmates before the concert began

Handsome!!!!

Mommy and David after the concert

David and Ryan K.  I love their expressions!

beautiful trio :)

David and Nana after the concert :)

David's kindergarten concert was so awesome.  The kids worked on the songs all year and then we got to come and watch them all perform together.  He did a great job.  Unfortunately, he had a late(r) night the night before, so there were lots of pauses in his singing for yawns :)  So sweet. Mom and Mary joined us to watch our little kindergartener in his first concert.  We're so proud of you David!!

Andrew's Preschool Graduation (May 2011)

I can't believe Andrew has just finished a whole year of preschool. I know everyone says this but I really feel like I just brought him home from the hospital!  He's had a great year at Christ the King, and had a fantastic talented teacher who we really enjoyed.  He's grown so much this year...and he's just so smart! He knows all of his letters and sounds well and can count to 30! He's even been learning sight words along with David :)  We are so proud of our little man!