Twin Falls Hike

On Saturday Papa G had the great idea of going on a hike.  He didn't end up going but we went anyway and the kids had a BLAST!  We went up to twin falls, 3 miles round trip.  The kids did great.  They would get worn out on the steep parts but they walked the whole way.  That was one of the conditions.  They are old enough to walk on their own for the whole hike.  Mommy and Daddy would NOT carry them, no piggy back rides, nothing. 

Here they are just starting out.

 Carson loved the backpack and was perfectly content looking around at everything.

 Daddy was explaining white water rapids.

 Dillon was having a great time exploring.  He climbed on every available rock!

 Daddy was "soooo tired" so Kayda grabbed his hand and pulled him up the hill.

 Carson was so comfortable he crashed in the backpack.

 We saw a mouse looking for food so we all stopped and stared.  You can't really see it in this pictures so it's in the next one.

 Kayda LOVES butterflies.  We don't know if this was a moth or a butterfly but we saw four of them and she was SO excited!

 Yes, I was there.

We had a great time throwing rocks in the river at the end of the hike.  Daddy and I got a kick out of a tree they had on the hike, there were fences all around it and a sign that basically said stay way so you don't kill the tree.  We walked about 20 ft up the trail and turned to look at it and guess what... the WHOLE top of the tree was gone.  It had all of one branch left.  We found that particularly entertaining.

Preschool Graduation!

Today was Kayda and Dillon's preschool graduation program.  They get dropped off for school at 9:15 and the program started at 10 so Grandma G, Carson and I ran a quick errand and then just hung out at the church.  Carson thought these little steps were fantastic, the sneaky little bugger loved the microphone and it's cord.  He even managed to pull it over in the middle of the program with both Grandmas watching him!  Daddy and I were video taping/taking pictures. 

The program started with the typical graduation music, the kids got to walk up the aisle. The "frogs" (in kindergarten next year) got to wear little graduation caps.

The "bumble bees" got to wear frog hats since that's the class they'll be in next year.

We said the pledge of allegiance which was kind of akward.  None of the parents wanted to stand up because of the MANY parents attempting to video tape the program. 

Each of the frogs had a speaking part and they all sang us several songs.  My favorite had to be "Pa-tu-te-ta" which is their VERY silly song.  It was SO much fun to watch the kids do.

In "Pa-tu-te-ta" they have to go through various stages and say "pa-tu-te-ta".  The final is thumbs up, elbows back, feet apart, knees together, bottoms up, tongue out, eyes shut, turn around.  So we had all these preschoolers spinning circles looking OH so goofy.

Kayda got to sing a duet for a little while before the other kids joined in. 

The bumble bees sang a version of "Zippity Do Da" to the frogs and then the frogs sang a song about growing up and heading off to kindergarten.  Is it weird that I'm sadder that Kayda is officially no longer a preschooler than the fact that she'll be in kindergarten next year?  I'm excited for THAT part.  Each student was called up and they said something nice about them.  Miss Brenda said that Kayda "Loves to smile and laugh" and Miss Donna said that Dillon "Makes her smile every day".  Have a said how much I love this preschool?

Here is Kayda with two of her favorite girls, we missed Alyssa.  On the left is Khushi, then Kenzie and then my beautiful little girl!

Kayda's diploma!

Dillon's certificate of completion!

Kayda and Miss Brenda

Dillon and Miss Donna

Here's our family!

Both grandmas were able to make it so we HAD to get a picture with them!  Too bad the kids weren't cooperationg.  I still like the picture though!

Oh there's the best friend again!  Kayda and Kenzie.  Kenzie thinks the end of preschool means she'll never see Kayda again so she didn't smile the WHOLE program.  Lucky for her I enjoy her mom so she'll see Kayda PLENTY.

They were having a fantastic time on the stairs.

The End of Preschool

This year has been SO busy and has gone by ridiculously fast.  We have absolutely LOVED their preschool and ADORED their teachers.  When we went to the Home Depot workshop the kids went knowing we were making their end of year "teacher's gift".  They of course built them, with a little assistance, painted them, made "thumb-print" hearts (each kid made one on each planter) and chose flowers to put in them.  I found some decorations featuring bumblebees and frogs since that's what their classes are called, Grandma G helped me make up some vinyl wording and viola.  I thought they turned out GREAT!  The kids and I were SO excited to give them to their teachers.

 Last week it was a sort of "spirit week".  They had backwards day, crazy hair day, mismatch day and favorite sports team day.  Guess which day we gave them to their teachers...  I loved that their teachers did each theme with the kids!  It makes it SO much more fun!

 Dillon and Miss Donna.

 Kayda and Miss Brenda.