Sunday, June 1, 2014

4K graduation

Last Thursday Jocelyn graduated from 4K!  They still have 3 days of school this week because of snow days, but I'm quite sure they're just playing and having fun.  Thursday morning she was very excited for graduation.  Wednesday evening...not so much.  We are at Kailee's ball game and she was just a grump.  I think it's probably starting to get a bit sad for her; her one best friend won't be going to daycare this summer, and they're at different schools in the fall.  And, she doesn't know anyone at her school next year.  I don't think she's realized that yet, but she does know none of her daycare friends are going to her school.  Which is hard - she's been with a lot of these kids since she was 12 weeks old!  

My big girl!  She wanted to wake up early so I could curl her hair.  Isn't she just the cutest?!


 Waiting for the rest of her friends to come in...guess we were keeping her up
 They all got diplomas, sang a song, and watched a cute slide show of their year.  The teachers put on a great ceremony, and even had cake afterward!




 Her good friends Keagan and Becca
 Her good friend Nakiah
 Her wonderful teachers - Melissa and Keshia



I truly can't believe how fast this year flew by.  And I know next year will be even faster.  She had a great time in 4K, learned a lot, and made good friends.  We've learned that she is a leader (some may call it bossy) and likes to make sure everyone is following the rules.  She's good at playing with everyone and tries to smooth things over when issues arise.  She's coming along great with her reading and is enjoying it more and more.  I think she has more confidence and doesn't get frustrated as easily.  She really likes math and numbers, patterns and ordering.  I'm excited for her to start kindergarten because I know she's going to love it and will do so well.  But for now, we're going to enjoy our summer and our 4 days off together!

Variety show

Here are a variety from the last few months

Easter - we had a nice relaxing day, woke up to see what the Easter bunny had brought (Frozen undies!) and then went to church followed by a nice lunch at Pat & Anita's.  



 Playing dress up with Ellie, the most patient dog in the world
 My mother's day presents!  The puzzle was what they made at school, and she was so excited for me to put it together so I could see what she had painted!
 She also made me this necklace with my name on it..."So if you lose it at work you'll know it's yours!"  Good thinking, girly.
 How blessed I am to be mommy to such an amazing girl!
 A few weeks ago we had 3 trees taken down in our backyard.  This one - you can't tell in this picture - was leaning quite a bit and would have landed right on the neighbor's garage one of these days.  The other was an ash and was starting to rot inside.  The 3rd was a little mulberry tree (bush?) that had just gotten too messy.  The berries drop and stain and just get everywhere.  I don't like taking trees down, and really don't like how it looks, but it had to be done.  Calvin's working on replanting most of the backyard, so once that back corner is done we'll get a new tree or two.  I already miss the shade!

 Jocelyn sure liked climbing on the trunks!

 Before the trees came down we took down the swing set.  It was 8 years old, and was getting to be unsafe to play on.  Jocelyn was so mad - she loves her swing set and sand box.  But we promised her that Bumpa & Daddy were going to make her a new one.  And did they ever!  This was their project over Memorial Day weekend.  It's so sturdy and big enough that I can stand up on the platform.  She loves it and it's already gotten a lot of use.  We'll put it back in the corner once the grass is grown in. 
 She's also been hard at work learning how to ride her bike without training wheels!  She officially is a no training wheels bike rider now.  Took her about a week and a half, which was great!  I wasn't sure my back would have taken many more trips around the block.  She was pretty wobbly, but then one day she just did it!  She's pretty good at starting by herself, and is now working on turning and remembering to stop at alleys and slow down at driveways.  It's a lot to think about all at once!  She's very proud of herself and I was proud of her attitude - she never once got frustrated or mad.


 She's going to be starting T-ball this summer, and is excited to start!  She's even fairly good at hitting without the tee, so I think she'll do fine.  She's been watching Kailee play softball for 5 years, so hopefully some of it's sunk in!
 The little stinker still loves a patchy (not that she ever uses it).  This is her baby doll one, and last week she decided she wanted to use it again!  She went and got this clip and some ribbon, and made a holder for it.  Creative little stink.  Then when I went to check on her when I went to bed, she had it in her mouth.  Yikes.  So, it's now hidden or she probably would sneak it in her room.  On a totally unrelated note, she did her hair in this picture!  I did the braids, but she put the pigtails in all by herself!  She's been very into doing her own hair, and can get a ponytail in and wrapped around twice!  I'm pretty sure I couldn't do that until I was 10.  She'll probably be braiding her own hair soon.
 This weekend we planted our garden and a few flowers.  I'm not sure why it went from winter to hot summer, but we won't complain.  



Little Mermaid

The end of April, Mom, Jocelyn and I went to see The Little Mermaid at Chanhassen Dinner Theatre!  We didn't tell Jocelyn what we were doing, and when she finally guessed, was SO excited!  It was a wonderful show, and fun to get all dressed up and go to a fancy lunch and play.



Baptism and Birthday

In May we celebrated two exciting events - Evan's baptism and Elliot's 3rd birthday!  Both were in Eau Claire, and we had such a nice day celebrating both boys.  Most of the pictures were on Angie's camera, but I did get some.

Kailee and Evan - the happiest baby around

 The weather was gorgeous and Henry was so happy to eat outside!
 Elliot helping Henry get his shoes on so they could go outside and play
 Elliot got lots of fun presents - he and Jocey played for a while with his new pirate ship!




 The whole gang (minus Cory)