{week 20}

Summer begins!! Week 20 was the last week of preschool for Cassidy & Kalea. We celebrated at the school picnic on Tuesday. I hit up Pinterest & found a cute gift idea for the class gift for Kalea's wonderful teachers. (Cassidy's teachers are fantastic too, but I just wasn't the room mom to create a class gift!!!) The kids & I celebrated Mother's Day by spending Sunday at church & then heading out for brunch. Michael came home from his trip right after lunch & spoiled me the rest of the day...no diaper changing or cooking for me!! We hit up the zoo with a friend mid-week where the kids got to pet some goats & ride the merry-go-round. I visited with a friend from out of town Thursday on a rare night out mid-week which was super fun...until Cade woke up at 6:15 the next morning. How do they always know?!? We ended the week with some more yummy food, a new app for editing pictures on my phone & a performance of "The Gardening Show, A Musical" written and produced by Cassidy, starring Cassidy, Kalea, Cade and Michael. In our backyard. It was stunning!

{be mine}

Valentine's Day was a hit this year! Cassidy & Kalea decorated the house with pink, red, purple & green construction paper hearts & 99¢ Super Girl Valentine decorations from Michael's craft store. We spent at least four nights making Valentine's boxes, bags, little gifts to share with friends and made, upon Cassidy's request, pink lemonade cupcakes to share at school.

Michael took off work for a couple hours to help in Kalea's Valentine party & I helped in Cassidy's party the same day. It was fun to have some special time with just the girls while Cade stayed at a friend's house for the morning.

{the mitten}

Remember when I said I wasn't making any New Year's Resolutions, kinda? Well, other than this being the year I blog for real, regularly, with words and not just all pictures? So far - 22 days in - I'm having trouble finding topics that make my mind run & my fingers fly. Thus, there's been a lot of pictures. But honestly, most of the people who read this are family & they really just want to hear about the kids, see how they're growing & that's ok. They are growing, learning, playing, fighting, acting silly, dancing & doing all the things you do (& sometimes do not) want a 1, 3 & 5 year old to do. 

Last week a storyteller visited preschool & read The Mitten, by Jan Brett. It's a Ukranian folktale, rotold by the author, about a young boy who drops his snow mitten while playing &, unbeknownst to him, animals seek shelter inside. The end is funny & the story lends itself to a lot of easy little follow up projects. Kalea was sent home with "homework" of making a mitten (from paper!) and putting the animals inside in the proper sequence. Cassidy got in on the project & they had a fun time decorating & ordering the animals as we re-read the book. (It is amazing just how many children's books I just happen to have leftover from teaching. This was one of them!) 

Doing the craft reminded me how fun it is to "lesson plan" around a good children's book, to find a good project to go along with it & to throw in some math or reading objectives too. I'm thinking about trying to find a book every week or every other week to plan around & give the girls something to do in the afternoons once that "witching hour" hits. Anyone have some good, pre-made ideas, blogs or Pinterest boards devoted to this?

{family of five}

This fall we were lucky enough to "win" a photo session with a local photographer and fellow preschool mom during the annual fundraising event, Bids 'n Bites, at Cassidy's preschool. A very persistent Grandma Betty got into a pretty funny bidding war over this particular item with another preschool grandmother. We were in no way surprised that Grandma Betty won & were very excited to have some portraits taken of our family with the new addition. 

It's taken a few months but we're hoping to use some of these to fill some of the very beige space on our new home's walls! Thanks to Grandma & Grandpa for the gift & to Jessica Bampton of K & B Photography for the wonderful images!

{pirates & princesses birthday}

Cassidy decided that her party this year would be about pirates & princesses - two things that she & Kalea play all.the.time. We have the dress up bins to prove it. I knew we would be cutting it close as far as baby goes since my due date was 9 days later but we like to live on the edge, right? Invitations went out, RSVPs for preschool friends and family near and far came back & I started ordering decorations and doing as much early preparation as I could. Well it was a good thing; brother came early. She only turns four once though, so who was I to postpone such an important event...8 days after her brother was born! I'm fortunate that my wonderful parents were in for the weekend, I have a husband who likes to entertain & in-laws who bring food!

The hit of the afternoon was the treasure hunt, complete with map - courtesy of Grandma Betty. We raced around the house & yard searching for telescopes, eye patches, jewels, tattoos & assorted other pirate loot. The kids had a blast! 

Happy 4th Birthday to my pirate princess, Cassidy. We love you....aaaarrrggggh!

{harvest day}

Cassidy's preschool celebrated Harvest Day toward the end of October with lots of fun activities. Michael got to spend some one on one time with her during the day which she just loved!

project 365 photo: 09.25.2011 {preschool sunday}

Cassidy has been attending preschool at a local church for the past month or so & loving every minute of it. She comes home every day & exclaims that she has a new friend named _____________. Every day it's different &, much to her daddy's chagrin, many times its a boy!!! We don't get much information about what she does daily when asked outright but her teachers are clearly making an impact on her because tidbits trickle in during the late afternoon & evening.

This morning was "Preschool Sunday" at the church to give the congregation a chance to see the children they support. We've not found a new church "home" so it also gave us a chance to check this one out. There were tons of kids there & the preschoolers got to sing a song during the service. Cassidy did great - singing loudly right up front!

project 365 photo: 07.07.2011 {art}

I've been trying to keep up with the ever expanding collection of artwork created by Cassidy by photographing each most pieces & then keeping a couple in a binder for posterity and amusement when she gets older. It's daunting since there seems to be at least one masterpiece created daily & the ones that she really gets attached to tend to be covered in glitter, glue, goopy things or are the size of a small country. 

We've been talking about art & artists lately too - a conversation spurred on by a random video we came across on Netflix. (If I had any recollection of what it was, I'd tell you, but the details are slipping these days.) A book I shared with her on the topic, which happens to be one of my absolute favorite children's books, is Seen Art? by Jon Scieszka.

An online review says, "While trying to find his friend in Manhattan, a boy asks a passerby, "Have you seen Art?" and sets off a chain of events that propels him through the museum on an unexpected journey of artistic discovery. Once inside, every variation of his "where is Art?" request compels helpful museum-goers to respond in a more esoteric fashion as each visitor briefly introduces the works of his or her favorite contemporary artist to the narrator. After a thorough, eye-opening tour, the boy finds himself back where he started. But now when he is asked, "Did you find art?" he resoundingly replies, "YES!" And, on the final page, he does; Art is waiting for him outside the museum doors." 

It's such a fun way to introduce "art" to little ones. I'm really looking forward to taking Cassidy to the High in Atlanta sometime next year to see some in person!

project 365 photo: 05.27.2011 {last day of preschool}

We love our preschool, Holladay Preschool, and are sad to be leaving it after this school year due to our move. It'll be hard to replace a place that cares so much for the students and families who attend the school. Friday was Cassidy's last day of school & I was lucky enough to be scheduled as the co-op parent, meaning that I got to stay to help out for the entire class, watch the kids interact one last time & experience the craziness of the last day of school. It was so much fun!

Cassidy & I had a fun time making a gardening kit as gifts for her teachers. We got the idea here.

project 365 photo: 05.17.2011 {preschool picnic}

The end of the school year is closing in quickly for Cassidy - just one more week after this one until she's done! The school has a picnic to celebrate the accomplishments of the year, give the kids & parents a last chance to interact & share time together. It was a bit chaotic to have 30+ two & three year olds plus their siblings, many of whom are younger, as well as parents, grandparents & teachers in a contained space, but the kids had a fabulous time together and just loved showing off & singing to an audience.

Thanks to the great teachers, staff and friends we've made a Holladay Preschool this year. We certainly wish that we could just take you with us when we go. You'll be a hard group to replace!

project 365 photo: 05.11.2011 {preschool carnival}

Last year we attended the preschool carnival and, while Cassidy enjoyed herself, she was definitely a little small & a bit too shy to really get into all the games, bouncy houses, etc. This year, since she's now officially BIG, she had a spectacular time jumping around with her friends, running from activity to activity & generally wearing me out. I got to see her be a little more independent (if that's possible!) than she tends to be when I'm around sometimes, & certainly much more so than she was just a year ago. It was a great time and a great way to hang out a little extra with her preschool friends who we'll soon be leaving.