Believe It

Preschool Graduation

Caitlin had her preschool presentation and graduation last evening.
May I say, it was sooooooo cute.
They sang a variety of songs that they learned throughout the whole year.
There was a slide show of pictures throughout the year.
Then they received their certificates.
And we ate treats!
They got to take home their hats, a flower, a balloon and gift, and a notebook that their teacher put together of their work the whole year.

Dad and Ash waiting for it to begin.
They marched out in a straight line with Caitlin leading the way because she was chosen to hold the flag.


Getting ready for the pledge of allegiance.


They sang a lot of really cute songs.


With her fellow dogs in "Down on Grandpa's Farm"


Her teacher Mrs. Lilly was Fantastic!!


Her whole class (plus 3 from the mon/wed class)


Ashlee loved every second.
Chris told her that if she was good and worked hard and learned a lot she could graduate from preschool in a few years.
She said, "Ok, I will!"


Caitlin did a great job in her presentation and all year in school. We are so proud of her.
She is the sweetest little girl and loves to learn so much that she will be great in Kindergarten.

1st to Last

Today was the last day of pre-school.
Here is Caitlin on the first day of school.

And on the last!


She wanted a picture with the books she has been reading. She made it through all but the last 2 books of the series. It blows me away when she reads words and sounds things out.


It is a little surreal that she is going to be starting Kindergarten in the fall.
She is just growing so fast.

Some days are like that

It was a BEAUTIFUL day, we had a luncheon to attend, and Ashlee woke up with a fever and throwing up.

So we stayed home.
But she did feel a little better for a couple of hours in the afternoon so we played in the backyard a bit.
We are crossing our fingers it is just a 24 hour thing.

Sorting

Every laundry day for weeks Caitlin has helped me sort the laundry.
Today she sorted it by herself, and she did a great job!
She reviewed the piles with me first- whites, darks, reds/purples/pinks, and lights.
Then she sorted.

She only had to ask where a few items belonged.
(Ashlee tries to help, but she still hasn't mastered her colors so it makes it tough)

Framed

I finally painted a bunch of frames, put in art work from the girls, and

hung them in their playroom.

I've been planning to do this since we made the room, but I am so slow at getting to it.

To Bed

What to do when ALL of the pajamas are in the washing machine?
Wear Mom's shirts to bed.


Both girls got their hair cut a bit today.
Ashlee's "cut" hair is closer to the length of the rest of it now.
Caitlin's hair was a snarled mess from swimming, it is much better now.

Summarizing

Chris was so proud of his hamburger Sat. night. He had to squish it flat to even get his mouth around it. He loved it.


Twinsies.

I never planned on buying alike outfits for my girls, but I do occasionally.
It is fun.
And they actually love dressing alike- for now anyway.

The girls played in the sprinklers the other day, when it wasn't even that warm.

They were so excited at the time, but not so excited when they finished and were FREEZING.


Time spent at the park.
(until Ashlee had an accident and we had to go home. Kind of a reoccurring theme with us.)


Caitlin loves sliding down the fireman's pole.



Playing at swimming lessons. Ashlee can't wait until the fall when she gets to swim too!

Swimming with her face in the water! She is such a changed girl.

And swimming without someone touching her, the teacher is to the left just out of the picture.


Our little 2 year old who is starting to look so old!


Dining outside on nice days that aren't to windy.


And that has been our life the past couple of weeks.

Re-Lining

When we looked at our house, before we bought it, 1 thing that I really didn't like was this:
all the shelves in the pantry and laundry room were lined and them thumb-tacked along the edge to keep the paper on. My eye was drawn right to the thumb tacks, and I didn't like it.
But then we moved in, Ashlee was 3 weeks old, the shelves were all filled, and I got use to it so I didn't notice it anymore.
But I did finally get around to relining!
I cleaned and relined the shelves in the laundry room a few weeks ago, and did the pantry yesterday.

It looks much better.

I was dreading it because there is so much on all the shelves, but it wasn't so bad. The girls were a big help and we manged through with only 2 casualties.
Caitlin dropped one can right on her foot- ow!
And Ashlee stepped on a tack- double ow!! (luckily it just barely penetrated the skin and she is current on her tetanus)

Mother's Day

My 3 favorite people made this a great mother's day!

They made breakfast and decorated the downstairs with balloons and streamers.
They worked hard on a surprise present yesterday that was a complete surprise for me this morning except for Ashlee asking me, "You like Nm-a-Nm's mom? You like Nm-a-Nm's?"
It was a great present from my creative husband and girls.

Caitlin also decorated a hot pad at pre-school and wrote a book for me.
One page said "My Mom's favorite thing to do is work on the computer."
Not true, but obviously I am on the computer to much for my 4 year old, I'll work on that.

Happy Mother's Day to all of you.

Decorating sugar cookies

My favorite way to decorate sugar cookies:

1 egg yoke- divided and dyed desired colors

dyed egg yoke painted on the uncooked cookies

Freshly painted cookies sprinkled with sugar

Bake according to sugar cookie recipe

cookies come out beautiful and tasting delicious