A Day of Lasts

Today was Payton and Lincoln's last day of school and the ACS Carnival.  What a fun way to end the school year!

There were lots of carnival games, face painting, a balloon person, and karaoke.  Plus popcorn, snow cones, and cotton candy.  Can you say sugar coma?  The kids had a blast!

In case you were wondering about Lincoln's choice in face paint, he was either Olaf or the snow monster depending on when you asked.  Haha!

I can't believe the year is over.  I can't believe that Payton will be in 2nd grade and that Lincoln will be in Kindergarten.  Crazy! 

Lincoln and Payton both had such wonderful teachers.  Ms. Gomes was wonderful with Payton and Mrs. Lasher and Ms. Day were a perfect combo for Lincoln.  I feel so blessed to be able to send them to Almaden Country School. 

Today was also the last day of soccer.  Lincoln is super sad because he loves to play, Payton is thrilled because she doesn't like to play, and Austin is really indifferent about the whole thing, I think he actually loves it but his class was the last of all of them and he was always tired by the time his class started.  Haha!

Teddy Bear Picnic

Today was Payton's Teddy Bear Picnic with her Kindergarten class.  Last week they had to bring their favorite bear to school for sharing and then keep it at the school until the picnic.  Payton went back and forth for several days trying to figure out which of her bears was a favorite but also one that she could live with out for a few days.

 

To start, some of the parent's planned some games for the kids to play.  A relay race, potato sack race, and egg on a spoon to mention a few.

Lunch was next.  The boys even got to enjoy.  Juice pouches, noodles, fishy crackers, yogurt, fruit, hot dogs, chocolate cake, etc.  So yummy!

It was so fun to see Payton with all of her school friends and teacher.

ASSETS

Today we went to enjoy the ASSETS program at Almaden Country School.  I can't remember what ASSESTS stands for but they had a talent show in which the kindergarteners sang a couple of songs and then had a huge display of projects that each of the classes worked on throughout the year.  It was really fun to see.

Easter Party and Mohawks

Today was Payton's Kindergarten Easter Party.  I am so grateful for a class photographer that takes pictures of all the activities so that I can take a peek at the activity when I can't be there.

I know they had a picnic lunch and had an Easter Egg hunt.  It looks like they had a lot of fun.

Guess who got a haircut today.  Guess who ended up with a Mohawk.  Haha!  He told me that he wanted hair like Uncle Rob.  I was a little unsure about going short short so I started  a little longer.  He kept saying, "shorter mom, shorter."  so I went shorter.  As I was cutting it I thought it would be funny, as a joke, to cut a Mohawk and send the picture to Dave.  Little did I know that Dave and Lincoln would love it.  There have definitely been mixed opinions about it but I think he looks like a little stud.

And I think I did a pretty good job cutting it.  :o)

Ted

Lincoln, Austin, and I went to my friend Jessie's house for a combined play date and craft group.  While there I got everything ready for Payton's Valentines so that when she got home she could quickly put them together.  Then prepped everything for Lincoln and Austin's, now all I have to do is cut them out and assemble.  Yay!  So glad I was able to get that done.

Another exciting thing about being VIP is that you get to bring home Ted for the week.  He comes with his own backpack with clothes and a travel journal.  The kids get to document what they get to do with Ted.  Tonight Ted joined us for FHE.  We had a lesson on the creation and how we can show gratitude for all the Lord's creations.  Good times!  Hope Ted had fun.  Haha!

VIP

Payton was selected to be the her Kindergarten classes Very Important Person this week.  As the class VIP she gets to complete a little book about her likes and dislikes and also gets to bring a bunch of her favorites things that she will be able to share a few of everyday in class.  She was SO EXCITED.  She packed a whole Costco bag full of things. 

She looks older in the left picture than I see her normally.  Yikes!

Grandma Day

My mom came up to spend the day with us.  It was cold!  We were going to go for a walk on the trail again but decided we would wait for a warmer day.  :o)

So instead, when we got home we worked on Payton's homework.  Haha!  I know.  I know.  Homework doesn't sound like a fun alternative but Payton LOVES doing it.  This week she had to draw a number line and then we had to ask questions and stand on the number that represented our answer (1 = Always and 10 = Never).  We got quite the kick out of Lincoln answering that he always ate his dinner.  Haha!  How about NEVER eats his dinner.

 

Lincoln tired of the game pretty quickly and decided to draw a self portrait with sidewalk chalk.  He says, "Look it's me!" and then a few minutes later we looked over and he was writing his name.  He is a genius!  :o)

Payton couldn't be out done.  She had to do her own self portrait.

Austin having fun, playing peek-a-boo.

Full Day

Boy oh boy today was a full day.

After sending Payton and Lincoln off to school, Austin and I headed to my friend Jessie's house for a short play date.  Jessie and I had a great visit and the boys played nicely.  It was so nice!

Every day while we wait for Payton to get out of school the boys play in the dirt.  They get it everywhere.  EVERYWHERE.  They dump in on their own heads.  Why? 

On our way out to the car, the kids always take the "Secret Passage Way" a little path behind a row of bushes.  Well, today the kids all went behind the bushes and when Payton got to the end she climbed this little tree and was so excited about it and asked me to take a picture.  While I was taking this little gem, little Austin who we always have to drag out from behind the bushes decided to turn around and go out the way he came in and then kept walking.  We couldn't find him anywhere, it happened so fast.  He was on the other side of the campus when we finally found him.  I kept telling myself to stay calm but the more time that went by the more helpless I felt.  In reality it was only a couple of minutes but it felt like so much longer.  I am so glad that we found him and that he was OK.

On Sunday, I went to our Stake Primary Training Meeting.  One of the speakers talked about visiting the less active members and also about how it may be a good idea to take something, anything, big or small.  She brought a homemade braided bread loaf as an example of something you could take.  She brought the recipe too.  I took a copy thinking maybe I would try it sometime but probably wouldn't because it looked to hard.  :o)

Well, I am going Visiting Teaching tomorrow morning and thought, "Why not?"  So I tried it and it actually turned out.  I am not sure how it tastes but it sure does look pretty.  So excited that it worked!  So excited!

After I was done putting the ingredients in the bread maker to make the dough.  I turned around and found that this precious little guy found the sprinkles and a bag of BIG marshmallows.  Haha!  Busted.

Lastly, I tried my hand at making sweet potato chips.  I thought they were pretty good.  The kids didn't.  Haha!  I think they really wanted to like them.  Oh well.

Free Time

Payton went back to school today and the boys and I stayed home, played games, and just laid low because of Austin's fever. 

When we got home I tried testing out an idea I had after attending a meeting on the transition of kindergarten to 1st grade.  See, in kindergarten they have homework once a week.  But in 1st grade they have about 10 minutes of homework every night.  Yikes!  Anyway, I thought about making a routine for when we get home so that when 1st grade comes around we are all accustomed to having some quiet time devoted to homework.  Maybe the routine would be having a snack then doing a worksheet or two out of the summertime workbooks we got over this past summer.  Well, the kids loved it!  Well, at least they liked it today.  Haha!  I just let them do as many pages as they wanted.  Lincoln did 3 and Payton did 4 then they were off to something else.  PLAYDOUGH!

Alligators and Homework

Last night we got a package in the mail with the party favors for Lincoln's Birthday Party this Friday.  When I showed the favors to him this morning he snatched them all up and keep them until he left for school.  I hope they are as big a hit with the other kids.  :o)

 

 

More often than not, Payton's homework includes some kind of math game that she can play by herself or it can be a family thing.  Today it was a brother and sister thing.  They played this game for at least an hour while I was folding laundry from across the table.

The game was called Free The Penguins.  You place a "penguin" on each spot.  Each spot has a number.  Then you roll the dice.  Whatever number you roll, the penguin on the corresponding spot is freed and you play until all your penguins are free.  In addition, each time you roll a number you put a tally mark on the spot with the same number so that when you are done you can see what number you rolled the most, the least, and so forth. 

It was so fun watching them.

Payton's Pow Wow

Payton's class has been doing a section on native American's.  Today they had a Pow Wow.  The kids were so cute!

Over the course of the section they made all the neat things they are wearing.  They sang songs, drummed on their drums, then hunted for a buffalo.  Payton was so funny.  I think she thought there was a real buffalo out in the field because she would not let go of her teacher's hand.

I am so glad I was able to go.

Fund Run

Today was the fund run at Almaden Country School.  Amma, Papa Don, and Grandma Vella all came up to watch Payton participate.  What a cheering section!

Payton did such a great job.  She ran/walked for 30 minutes with her Big Buddy, Cameron, cheering her on.  Last year she ran 19 laps and this year she ran 27!  Great job Payton we love you and are so proud of you.

Crazy Sock Day

Crazy socks indeed.  Haha!

 

Crazy Hair Day

Today was Crazy Hair Day at Almaden Country School and Payton rocked the fauxhawk.  I think the only thing that would have made it better would have been adding a little color.  ;O)

Adorable!

School's Out for Summer

I can't believe today is Payton's last day of Begindergarten.  She has had so much fun this year and has grown so much.  She is outgoing, confident, a leader (bossy?), and has made lots of friends.

 

While I am sad that I wasn't able to help out in the class more during the year, I am grateful that I was able to finish the year strong by helping out in the class room a couple of days, driving for a field trip, and taking a few of the kids around the carnival.  It makes me so happy that she gets so excited to have me around.

Last Opening Circle

 

The Begindergarten Room

 The carnival was so much fun.  I loved watching them decide what they wanted to do.  They had so many games/activities that the kids could choose from.  My favorites to watch were the spin painting and Payton going down the big slide.  I was actually surprised when she said she wanted to go too after her friend Kelsey had said she wanted to go.  I have always had to take her to the top and slide down with her but today she did it all by herself.

 I also loved the face painting.  Payton and a few of her friends all decided they all wanted to be puppies.  They were all so cute!



 Payton has been asking for cotton candy for a long time.  Whenever we go to a theme park she always asks and for one reason or another I always say no.  Boo!  I know, I am no fun.  Anyway, they had all kinds of carnival food and she got her cotton candy, as well as, a snow cone.  Love the colored tongues.  Haha!

 This year has been wonderful.  I am so, so grateful we are able to send Payton to Almaden Country School and hope that we will be able to continue to have her and Lincoln and Austin go there.  It is such a great school and atmosphere.  While we are going to miss Mrs. Drucker and Miss Day we are looking forward to what Kindergarten will hold next year.



Last Closing Circle

Digital Scrapbooking

My friend, Sara, offered to help me learn a few techniques to digital scrapbooking.  Today was the day.  Yay!  I have been so excited to do this.  I had planned to go over and be prepared with my laptop and the scrapbooking stuff already on my computer.  I totally forgot everything and came unprepared.

Even though I was unprepared, it was great.  I learned a lot of cool techniques and am excited to start using them.  If only I could decide on where to start. :o)  Payton's baby book may be as good a place as any.

I don't know how teachers do it.  All I am trying to do is teach Payton to write her letters and Lincoln to recognize the letters.  You would think I am trying to teach them Algrebra or something.  I am convinced they are playing stupid just to get me frustrated.  How hard is it to write a "c"?  I know I shouldn't show my frustration, but it is so hard.  I feel bad because both of them are so excited to do "school" everyday.  I don't want them associating my teaching them something with negativity.  Guhh.  I need to go online and search tips for teaching toddlers. 

An Awesome Day. So Far...

Today has been pretty alright.  We didn't have anywhere to go today.  Awesome!  For the most part crying, whining, and fighting has been to a minimum.  :o)

Today we started doing a little "schooling" at home.  Payton has shown a lot of interest in writing lately.  She can now write her name without having to copy it!  Amazing!  Anyway, I asked her if she wanted me to teach her how to write a new letter every day.  She was very excited about that.  I figured that while she was learning to write Licoln could be learning to recognize the same letters.

I gave each of them their very own three ring binder with paper in it and each their very own special pencil.  Payton chose a Dora pencil and Lincoln chose a baseball pencil.  For Payton I showed each step to making the letter on a different line so that she could practice each step of writing the letter a few times.  We are going to work on both the "big" (uppercase) and "little" letters (lowercase).  She did great!  Lined paper doesn't reall seem to mean much to her right now but she was successful in writing the upper and lowercase "a" several times.  To give her incentive to keep trying I told her that when she completed a line she got to put a "good job" sticker at the end of it.  I didn't get a picture of her with her first sheet but I will try and get one tomorrow with her "b" page.

Lincoln did great as well.  He needed a little more encouraging than Payton did.  Ha! Ha!  For him I wrote the upper and lowercase "a" at the top of the page.  Then I put the "a" in a grouping of three letters like c a t and tried to have him point to the letter "a".  After a few minutes of trying different things we tried having him put a sticker on the letter "a".  That worked!  I had four groupings for the uppercase "a" and four groupings for the lowercase letter "a".  Probably should do less groupings to match up with his attention span.  :o)

After "school" we read a couple of books and then went outside to play.  I pulled out the water table, they were so funny to watch.  Payton has always climbed up into the water table to play in it instead of standing on the side and playing.  Lincoln has followed her example and now does the same.

Lincoln is learning or perfecting his skill at pouring liquids.  He goes from pouring the water into another container, then to pouring it on his head, and finally to Payton "helping" him pour it on his head.  Ha!  Ha!  What was really funny was when he realized the water was cold.  :o)

I love this picture!