Preschool Graduation

It's was Kaitlyn's last day of preschool (for the year) yesterday. That makes it officially summer right? Ick. I'm not really looking forward to having her home all day every day. I think it will drive us both insane. And I know she feels sort of the same way because when I picked her up yesterday she asked "do I get to go to my new school tomorrow?"

"Miss Dari" has done a great job with preschool this year. I am amazed at how much Kaitlyn has picked up. She can write her name. She knows all the letters, the sounds they make, and can write them. And is very interested in learning how to spell things. She can count well past 30 - up to 100 if you give her a bit of help after each _____ty-nine. I have noticed that she is catching on to basic addition and subtraction too (though that may just be something she has picked up because I haven't seen her bring any "work" home with that). Yes, I'm bragging a bit about Katy because I'm the Mom and I can :) Kaitlyn has also enjoyed some of the other themes the last few weeks, especially dinosaurs and rocks.

I'm not sure exactly what they did on their last day of school but I know Dari had some fun things planned. Kaitlyn took her blanket and "fluffy puppy" along with her for a "teddy bear picnic." They must have done something with the cute yearbooks Dari put together for them because Katy has a picture and some notes on her signature pages. The yearbook also contains a bit of info about each child, some of the highlights from the year, and some of the funny things the kids have said. That one is definitely going in the scrapbook :)

The graduation cap is now a favorite toy for both the kids. Tyler loves trying it on. His preferred style is the one in the second photo, with the hat covering his eyes. It's a good thing I snapped these photos when I did because Kaitlyn is possessive and now refuses to let him play with it anymore.



Has anyone else noticed that May is a busy month? I hadn't realized it until this year - possibly because my kids were too young for it to affect them before now? But with all the end of the school year stuff, plus Mother's Day and our Anniversary it has made for a very busy blogging month!

Awwwww

Isn't that just the sweetest thing? I love to see my kids playing nicely together and even better is when they are showing how much they love each other. I was lucky enough to have the camera sitting out on the counter and not miss this moment.

Kaitlyn loves playing with other kids and more and more often lately she lures her brother somewhere to play with him. In this case I think she used her popcorn to get him to sit under the table with her. Then continued to feed him a piece at a time to get him to sit there.

A Ride on Thomas the Train

Thomas the Tank Engine came to town and since Kaitlyn is in love with trains of any sort, but particularly Thomas, then of course we had to get tickets. It's one of those things you get sucked into doing for your kids (at least once) even though you know it's overpriced and will probably be a letdown in the end. I also have to say that we have THE WORST luck with weather this year. It rained while we were in Disneyland. It rained while Sam and I were in Vegas. And once again, it was a rainy overcast day today. Anyway...

Kaitlyn could not contain her excitement this morning when we told her we were going. When she is excited she asks every 2 minutes how soon we can leave, so we wisely waited until today to tell her the plan. And of course she was very anxious to get going. It's so much fun to watch her enthusiasm for things.

We did the mini petting zoo (they only had miniature horses and donkeys), saw the Lego train set up, got temporary tatoos, and got balloon animals for the kids. Then it was our turn on the train. The kids had fun with that for a few minutes but I think Kaitlyn got bored. And Tyler, who had refused to take his morning nap as scheduled, fell asleep.

After we got off the train, Sam quickly got tired of carrying the sleeping (and heavy) Ty. So we cut our time there short, before we had a chance to get a picture with Thomas or Sir Topham Hat. But we did make it out of there before it really started raining on us.

Kaitlyn's favorite part? The gift shop! :) She wanted to go in that tent from the minute we got there and had a wonderful time wandering around and picking out a toy for herself and her brother.

9 years...we deserve the weekend in Vegas

It was our anniversary this week (the 22nd). We have now been married 9 years (wow, that long?). To celebrate we did absolutely nothing on the 22nd since Sam decided to be a work-a-holic this week. But on the weekend we headed to Las Vegas. Just us for 3 days. (thanks Mom and Dad for taking the kids. I know they had a blast.) It was so great. We tried to take advantage of the whole Vegas experience.
-We went to the huge buffet at the Rio. Their dessert bar is ...completely decadent.
-We rode the roller coaster on the top of New York, New York. As far as coasters go, I'd say that one ranks right up there for thrills.






-We saw the Tournament of Kings, (at the Excalibur) which was a lot of fun. Where else do you get to eat with your fingers and cheer for your favorite knight? And they put on a really great show.
This is us in one of those cheesy, hold the camera out and snap the shot of ourselves photos that I decided we needed to commemorate the experience.



-We did some shopping. Quite a bit of shopping actually. I think our favorite place was M&M World. We had to go back the second day to pick up gifts for the kids. And Sharon - Sam says this photo is for you :)





-We walked up and down the strip countless times and spent an hour in front of the Bellagio waiting for the fountain shows. I think we saw 4 different ones in that amount of time. The combination of talent and artistry that must have gone into developing them is amazing.



-And we did a bit of gambling, of course. I didn't have any luck but Sam got on a roll with the video Blackjack and we figure we came out $20 ahead in the end.

We didn't really want to come back to reality today and are already planning our next trip. But we have tickets to ride Thomas the Train with the kids tomorrow...and we really did miss those kiddos.

Beautiful Dancer

Kaitlyn's dance recital was last week (May 7). She did great and looked so cute up there on the stage. She wasn't scared a bit and she knew all the dances really well.

Getting ready for the recital was a lot of hard work, since my mom teaches Katy's dance class and I ended up in charge of the recital. Mom and I sewed the skirts, and I put the rhinestones on the leotards and made the hair bows. Then there was the photos, and scheduling the hall, and setting up the chairs and decorations and...phew! I have to say, I'm glad it's over. But it was worth it.

Kaitlyn, Sydney, Katie, Lindi

(2 of the girls in her class couldn't make it to the photo shoot)