Graduation

This was a big week of graduations! Ellie and Matthew had their graduation ceremony last night, from Grace Place, where I have been teaching pre-school and the kids have been attending. It's just been two days a week, filled with fun, friends, crafts, songs, snacks, and...nap time...we'll talk more about this later....While Matthew and I will be back next year, Ellie actually did "graduate" from her four's class and will head on to Kindergarten next year...my baby...





Now, this adorable little devil loved his first "school" experience. He insisted on wearing his backpack every day even though it contained his lunch box, water bottle, and nap mat...and was so stuffed and big (compared to him) that he had to lean forward just to not fall over backwards.


Teaching in a classroom just down the hall I was always around, would have lunch with Ellie, and would pop in from time to time to check on Matthew. I also heard all that went on in the hall. I heard a few..."Matthew, hands off the wall. Matthew, stand in line. Matthew, don't scrape your lunch box along the wall. Matthew, please sit in your chair." Funny... NEVER heard Ellie's name. Tony, I think Matthew might take after you :)


And then there was nap time. In his defense, there were eight two year olds on mats, in one room. Come one, who's going to nap? However, I guess some of them were able to lay quietly on their mats till nap time was over. Not our little guy. He got in "trouble" quite a few times at nap time. He even had to go to the "principals office". (Tony was horrified). Now, I use that term loosely. You just get walked down the hall, to Mrs. Stephanie, who says, "Matthew, please lay on your mat nicely, and make good choices". But, hey, look at that face?!?! How could anyone be upset with him?

The best days were when I'd walk down the hall to pick him up at the end of the day, and he'd come running to me to tell me, "I didn't make any bad choices today!!!!". So proud of himself!
We all had a lot of fun at pre-school together this year!

And then there was the big graduation! My mom has been working for the last two years to get her Master's in Art Education from Boston University. I got to go up there last weekend to see her walk across the stage and get her hood! Good job, Nana! And I bet she stayed on her nap mat when she was in pre-school. It must run in the family :) Now, Dad...I have my doubts. Could it be a boy thing?

Mayfest

Dance recital #2

This time Ellie's dance recital was at Mayfest, our annual huge Fort Worth Fair with food, rides, games, crafts, music, performances...it's huge. We had never been before and got two free tickets since Ellie was performing, so we all decided to go early and enjoy the fair before her show at 2pm. This is what she looked like when we left the house...


Excited, and adorable. And clean.


We stopped first at a lumberjack show and everyone had a great time...till the chain saws started. Then we had two in tears with their hands on their ears. So, so far Ellie still looked like the above photo, just with a few tear stains and a little less makeup on.

Again, this was before the chainsaws. Cute :)


So we quickly moved on and spent the next two hours eating smoked turkey legs, playing games, making crafts, hammering wood, digging in sand pits...having a great time! However, by the time we got to her recital, we had all spent two hours in the 90 degree sun (the reason we moved on from tball to ballet), and she looked like this....

She also informed me that her tap shoes were too small. I thought she was just complaining but I looked at the size, and lo and behold, they are two sizes smaller than all the shoes she wears. Oops. Now, in my defense, I never put these shoes on her, so I had no way of knowing they were too small. They are just always in her ballet bag, and I drop her off and pick her up. The shoes thing goes on while I'm gone. Unfortunately, she waited till three minutes before her performance to tell me they were too small. So we had to stuff her feet in one more time, because the show must go on. She mostly just stood there and looked pitiful. Matthew conked out in the stroller one minute before she went on. But, all in all, they had a great time at May Fest! It just turned out that her dance show wasn't really the highlight of the day.

Kids Say the Darndest Things

Thing that have been said around here lately....

Matthew -(touching my hair) "mommy, I love your hair". (touching my face) "mommy, I love your beard...hey...where's your beard?"

Mommy - "What's that in the bathtub?"
Matthew - "Poopoo".
Mommy - "Why is there poopoo in the bathtub?"
Matthew - "Because it came out of my bottom". Sigh.

Matthew - (while at the grocery store, with one finger in the air) "Hey, I have a great idea! Let's get some ice cream and some m&m's!" (one moment later) "Hey, I have another great idea! Let's get some cheetoes!"

And in other news.....


We've been Easter egg hunting...four times. We have enough candy to last us until next Easter.


Ellie seems to lack the usually fundamental drive that kids have to get as many eggs as fast as possible. She preferred to only choose the pink ones, or the shiny ones, or stop to admire a flower in the grass....while I am yelling, "Go, go, go!!! Get the eggs", while chaos surrounds her as the other kids trample each other to get to the eggs.


Sheer exhaustion after a day at school with no nap. This is rare....


Eating the entire head of the bunny in one bite.

And the good old zoo.