Everything I need to know I learned in Kindergarten.....by Lea

First day of school: Lea said "I was nervous for the first day." Last day of school:


Lea finished Kindergarten and has really grown up. We are so proud of her. She made the Honor Roll 2 times (92% and up) and the Principal's list 2 times - (96% and up). She stayed on green all but 3 times during the year when she ended up on yellow. She's a great student, good friend, beautiful daughter and loving sister. She has learned so much - more than I ever thought possible for kindergarten and she's done great work! Bring on the summer!


Kindergarten according to Lea -

Favorite special: music

Favorite subject: phonograms

Favorite Field trip: Phoenix Children's Museum

Friends: Alexia, Sara, Max*, Vallerie, Cami, Anissa, Alyssa, Rachael (we were in the same dance class when we were 3, she moved after spring break), Titus*, Arianna *-in picture

Teachers: Mrs. Gardner and Ms. Miranda

School Name/Mascot: Vista Del Sur Traditional School - Go TIGERS!

I learned phonograms, to not go up the slide when people are sliding down. I learned to write words and sentences.

Favorite time of day: recess - we played Hannah Montana

Favorite snack: cupcakes my mom made for my "un"-birthday because my birthday is during the summer.

Favorite lunch: hot dogs and chocolate milk and cereal w/ chocolate milk

Lea's class with diplomas - waiting for the proud paparazzi parents to finish taking pictures so they can leave. :)

Our little Kindergarten Grad - starts 1st grade on Aug. 3rd. So proud of you Lea - we love you!

Mother's day

This year for Mother's day, I got something a little different. Jeff came home from work one night with a dozen roses, a 24 pack of Dr. Pepper and a bag of candy with the condition that it was "to be consumed over a 2-3 day period". As if I would finish it off in one night....the candy not the DP.

Friday before Erin (you've seen her kids and her name mentioned a lot in our blog) invited me to see a movie with her Saturday morning. The thought of going in the morning was a little bizarre for me and the thought of going at all was way out there. I don't like to pay for movies I end up not liking - so frustrating to me. $9.50 for a movie!!! Ridiculous! Anywho, she wanted to see Star Trek to which I thought she was joking and didn't want to go. I didn't even know there was a movie out about Star Trek. Her selling point was "Lots of hot young actors" - okay who could argue with that, but Star Trek.....really?! I told Jeff about it and he said to just go and enjoy a day off, okay fine I'm in. :) Thankfully she wasn't too scarred from my laughter the first time and let me come. And...........it was a really good movie and I'd pay to see it again. I might even let Jeff come this time. So "Live, long and prosper" and all those other good trekky terms. :)

Later that night, Erin, I and Lea went to get pedicures. I had won a $30 giftcard at BUNCO and now was a perfect time to use it. Lea was excited to go and happily chose purple for her toes and fingers with white flowers. The night ended with Jeff going to Geoff's (erin's Geoff) house to play video games and I enjoyed a somewhat quiet evening....

Me and Lea
Erin said she was not looking her best after a long day at a massage, facial and manicure...strange girl. :)

Lea enjoying the warm water and bubbles

The finished product. Lea with the balloon sandals, Erin in pink and me in red/white/blue. So cute!

Sunday, (my sister) Kristin, Jonathan, Brendan and Dallin, came over for brunch. Yummy belgian waffles, strawberries and whipped cream. My fav - thanks Jeff for cooking. :) They were in town for the weekend for Jonathan's niece's wedding. It was fun to see them even if only for an hour or so. Thanks for coming!

Brendan

Dallin playing with his "big boy" toys

Lea showing Aunt Kristin, the teacher, how well she can read.

Where's Mickey?

Poor Lucas - he has been SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO whiny lately. Everything little thing and he's yelling from somewhere to find me or Jeff or running to his room and slamming the door. The other day I was getting ready to leave and Jeff was relaxing in our room with Lucas. Jeff changed the TV from the Disney channel to something more Jeff appropriate (Poker world series, pool, espn classics or something else rivoting....). Lucas was obviously upset as he loves the Disney channel. A normal response from him would be "I want mommy.... I want daddy....", but this time (in the most whiny voice you can imagine - masked with tears) "I want Mitty Mouse, I want Mitty Mouse!!" wahhhhh. :) Oh how quickly I've been replaced by Mickey Mouse.....

Family walk

After dinner at Panda Express (Lea's favorite!), we went for a walk. There is a fire burning a mulch farm nearby (it's under control and mostly smoldering now), but we walked towards the fire truck at the end of our neighborhood. The kids had a great time running the path and pretty excited to see the fire truck. There was one firefighter manning the truck and a long line of hose running from the truck to the fire area which was about a quarter mile away. He was nice enough to let Jeff and Lucas climb in the truck to sit for a minute (I didn't listen to that little voice and had no camera to take the picture!!!) Lea had her ears covered and wasn't interested in climbing in because she had already seen a fire truck at school. Thank you to the firemen and women and police that protect our neighborhood. This is the second fire very close to our home and people we know. We have never been in jeopardy, but it's not fun to see smoke and flames visible from the backyard. 

Lea and I walked pushing Abbey in the stroller while Jeff and Lucas ran ahead. The walk was to wear Lucas out. 

She asked if the lights were on all the time.

me: No, they only come on at night so we can see when it's dark. 

Lea: No she told me, not those lights, the other ones..... 

me: huh? 

Lea: The behavior lights (the street lights at the intersection). 

me: Oh those ones!! Those are on all the time. 

For those without kindergarteners - the behavior lights are the discipline for the classroom. Green- good, yellow - warnings and red - no good. :) 

the big 3-0

Next big event was my birthday - I turned the big 3-0. Not really expecting much because were watching every penny since Jeff was out of work. We were receiving our usual paycheck, but we weren't sure how long that was going to last and my birthday was on a Monday - hard to plan anything for Monday. I went to play volleyball as usual and Jeff told me to be home by 11:00, okay fine. I was home by then only to find out I wasn't supposed to leave. Friends were coming to take me to an early lunch. So I missed that, Jeff felt bad, but still there was something up. Usually my friends would give Jeff so much grief for messing that up, but nobody said anything....interesting.

Then I was informed to be ready to go to an early dinner and Angie was going to watch our kids. Okay, pick up Lea, get everyone ready to go and early....(I figured this once I could be early since Jeff complains I'm not ready on time.) He took Lea and Lucas over to the Sorensens, then came back and I had Abbey ready. Asked if he wanted me to come with him and we would just go from there, no he'd do it....really???

Okay, waiting....waiting....waiting....finally we leave. We make it about 2 miles from our house, driving through the river bed (AZ doesn't actually have water in the "river", it's dry with roads) and he was driving 10 under the speed limit, he normally drives 10 over....."Why are you driving so slow?" Said he was thinking about an interview he'd had that day. Fine, but at least drive the speed limit.

He and friends had planned a surprise birthday party for me and he was stalling. We made it back to Sorensens for the kid-free party. They had taken the kids to Haynies for a couple hours so we could eat and play games. So fun! I have really great friends. :)

Picture catch up

I've been informed there are not enough pictures posted to our blog. So be careful what you ask for - here's about 3 months worth of photos. :) Happy viewing! This layout of pictures is not working so well - sorry it's all over the place. Not willing to re-load all the pictures again.

SOCCER: Lea finished soccer (she ended up loving the season and we had a great time at practices and games with our friends). Practice, games, THE TUNNEL after the game, and award ceremony. Lea was the "Best Passer" and everyone got the coolest trophies with a spinning soccer ball!

We've had visitors: my sister and brother-in-law came for a few days. So fun to have them come. For getting good grades and making the "good" Principal's list, Lea chose Panda Express for dinner. She was excited to have Uncle Jim come join us for her special dinner out. Aunt Caryn (my sister) came the next day - I made her play volleyball with me. Always fun! I can't find my pictures of this, but I love having my family come visit and stay with us.

Jeff was traveling for work for 3 weeks to Cincinnati and needed new luggage - this one came with a little red-head!. The first week he was gone, it was our turn for the babysitting co-op we are apart of. I was nervous to have all 14 kids on my own, but they were great and get along great - it's a blast! was the day before Valentine's day. All the kids at the table decorating cookies - it was a huge success. The little ones played together (Abbey and Joseph-18 months) and the aftermath. They are so worn out after these nights - sleep is no problem. Lea is sleeping against the wall on her bed.

My parents came for a week and I always love having them come. My dad is a hard worker and helps us finish our projects that have been left undone for a LONG time - painting, washing the van and more. :) My mom folds our laundry and they both play with the kids all day long. Went to school to watch Lea perform at the morning assembly. They sang "Fifty Nifty" with their 4th grade buddies. The blonde boy is Max Farris - one of Lea's friends. My dad helped Lucas to ride a bike and he now proudly rides a Princess bike - he's strong in his manhood. He rode it to pick up Lea from the bus stop. Lea is a diva in her dress up and taking a breathing treatment.

We went to Vegas the weekend Jeff was laid off. Hoping to win the big bucks!! :) We had a nice date night and the kids enjoyed G&G Risenmay. Although we left their scooters at their house....oops. I didn't remember until we had made it home and were getting to bed...oh well. This bridge makes me ill to look at everytime we make this drive - so do not like heights!! The kids made cupcakes with Grandma Judy, played in the pool and played video games with Jeff - nice to have a happy unemployed daddy to play with for a change. :)

And last but not least - Abbey has her first official pony tail. She looks sort of like a Cupie doll, but she's so dang cute. She's adorable and laughs hysterically at all of us. It's fun to watch her imitate coughing, sneezing, screaming and any other noise we can think of for her to copy.