Last Day of School!

Another school year has come and gone!  Each day seemed to go faster than the one before.  Except for maybe Friday.  That was the day for math homework.  It felt like time suddenly stopped at the torture hour then.  On the last full day Morgan said she decided she liked school.  Since it took her the whole year to get to this point, let's hope it carries over to next!  I think Shelby is looking forward to a new class with fewer clowns in it. Time will tell.  We look forward to summer break but at the same time you can't wait to see who next years teacher is and who is in your class.
Our Kindergarten graduate.  This little crazy tried to pick out the same skirt & shirt the last day she wore on the first.  I said no and when she didn't believe she wore it the 1st day I told her I had pictures to prove it!

 I apologize to Mrs. Fitzgerald and Ms. Groff for chopping off the tops of their heads.  I think with the height differences that caused me some problems.  Oh well, they will never see this!  The first pictures with their teachers were taken on Back to School night.  This explains why they don't match 1st day pictures.  We did not have an outfit change on the first day!

2nd grade grad!  Biggest change is the missing front teeth!

Morgan & her friend Kate

last time to lineup before school

 final swing for Shelby

Shelby & her friend Dawson

nice kid but he sure did get in a lot of trouble!

They are finally getting new playground equipment.  The last day of school is 8:30 to 9:30.  They started demolition at 8:00.  Why they couldn't wait until 10 is beyond me.  But since they have been waiting at least 5 years for this, no one was going to tell them to stop!

 Morgan was sad to see green and yellow go.  It was her favorite!

Hoping this sisterly love carries us through the summer break

I was thinking the other day if I could freeze them at this age I would.  They are for the most part self sufficient but still need us.  I can water flowers and not have to keep a constant eye on them.  They can play in the backyard and I just need to make sure they are not being pests to the neighbors.  They can get up in the morning and fix a bowl of cereal or make a piece of toast on their own.  They can play or read on their own but also enjoy family games and reading together at bedtime.
Our summer will be spent at T-ball for Morgan and a cooking class if she gets lucky and can get in.  She currently is on a waiting list.  Shelby will be participating in the theater program again and taking a 4 week art class in July.  Since I missed the softball sign up in February, this is the first summer she will not be playing ball.  She will work on her skills at home with dad when time allows.  I could probably dust off my glove and play catch too.  They both need to learn to swim and hopefully Aunt Ashley will accomplish that.  They will also earn fun prizes reading with the public library summer reading program.

Onward to 1st and 3rd grade!  August 22nd will be here before we know it!

Morgan's K Program

Morgan's K end of the year performance was funny as well as a display of all that they have learned.  Her class and 1 of the other classes performed together to keep life simple for the parents with twins.  They sang some songs and at the end they sat with parents to read 3 books they picked from their favorites.  It is one of those things I wish I had on video, but I just have pictures.  And a lot of them.  It is impossible to get a picture of the child without her chewing on her fingernails!

Mrs. Fitzgerald's class

 Morgan, Ali & Nathan

 with Kate on the end

 Morgan and her friend Brooke between the boys

fingers

 fingers

& fingers

the actions for this song were hilarious

Nathan is this animated on most days

Morgan still has her fingers in her mouth

Nate's team was playing in their conference tournament.  They had a 2:00 bus that day.  Morgan's program started at 2:15.  His Dad and Martha were staying over in Springfield to watch the baseball games so they drove up to see the program and drove Nate to the game so he was able to come.  Not every student had a parent there to read to so I volunteered Martha to read with Morgan's classmate Raniya.  Martha taught Kindergarten for 26 years so it was like the good old days for her.

 Morgan with her friend & neighbor Henry

Can't believe our baby is a Kindergarden graduate!  It's been a long year of not wanting to go to school and adjustment to the long days.  Here's to hoping every year is not like that with this one! 

Mastering the Pogo Stick

At the birthday party, my brother's oldest son Noah was hopping around on the pogo stick like a professional.  Shelby doesn't like to be beat in much, especially by a younger cousin.  The girls got pogo sticks for Christmas 2 years ago, but they haven't messed around on them much.  On Sunday after most of the party guests had left, Shelby bounced on that ridiculous stick until she got it.  She ended up with a big bruise on each knee and wore out the rubber tip on the end of the stick.

That was Sunday.  On Wednesday she hopped while I counted and she jumped off at 500 consecutive hops.  Noah had told her he had jumped 400 and something times.  She wanted to beat him.  Have I mentioned she's a little competitive?

Here is a short video I took of her in action.  It is not from the same night she jumped 500 times.  I had a hard enough time counting to 500.  I would not have been able to video at the same time!  I also can't figure out how to rotate it.  It's not too long so you shouldn't get a neck cramp watching.

Popsicles & Play

During the last week of school the room Mom for Morgan's class organized Popsicles and an outside game.  I went to snap a few pictures.

 Getting instructions for Duck Duck Goose.  I've seen 3 and 4 year olds play this game better than these crazies!  I guess they were still thawing out from their brain freezes!

Mother's Day

My Mother's Day this year was the definition of lazy.  We had some overnight guests from the birthday party.  After breakfast most of them made their way home.  I stayed in my PJ's all day.  I even wore them next door when we ate supper with the neighbors.  The girls brought me things they had made at school.
Morgan made me this paper flower arrangement.  I can pull out a flower and on the stem there are jobs for her.  Not surprisingly, the one she does not like is the one that says:

 I will clean my room

Shelby made something too.  Take note of the picture.  She didn't read above the box that said draw a picture of your mom.

 All I could think about was that nice letter she recently wrote to her dad.  If you didn't catch that post, you can read it here.
http://www.rlifeisbaseball.blogspot.com/2012/05/shelbys-letter-to-daddy.html
Now she did have the dinosaur say I Love You Mom.  I don't think she sees me as a dinosaur as much as that right now they are her favorite things to draw.
She did write some nice things about why I am special.  If you can't read it this is what she said:
My mom is special because she smiles like a flower in the sun.  You can see in her eyes that she is precious like a gem.  She loves the smell of roses and has cheeks as rosy as they are.  She knows what's right for me.  My mom is a good celebrity!  I love my mom.

Thanks girls, I love you too!  And I do plan to keep this to pull out that day you decide I no longer know what is right for you. :)

Time to Party for 8 & 6!

It's only 2 months later, but the weather if finally allowing me to sit out front while the girls play & update this ole blog.  I had the girls' birthday party back in May on Mother's Day weekend.  The usual suspects were our guests and they had another great party playing with their cousins. They do enjoy their grandparents, aunts & uncles too.  Shelby's party theme was Angry Birds as she and her dad have mastered all the games and levels.  Morgan's theme changed several times and we ended up with a colorful butterfly.  I made the invites.

 I added antennas to Morgan's butterfly with a sharpie.
We had BBQ Pork & Ham Sandwiches in honor of the pigs in the angry bird games.  Cakes were made to go with the invites.  Morgan's turned out a little crazy but that's what you get when they call you a few hours before you are picking it up to say they lost the directions.

I made an Angry Bird treat bag for each kid with their favorite angry bird.

And a butterfly pinata for a fun game.  They each got to hit it at least twice and we did youngest to the oldest.  Caleb was playing the shy card so he sat out.

Ian

 Trey

Morgan

Noah

Shelby

Reese

Drew

gathering the loot

As I look at these pictures from two months ago I am sad to see the beautiful green grass that is now entirely brown.  I am not sad to know that waiting to collapse swingset is no longer there.  And as of today, neither is that worn out fence!

As usual they got some fun gifts.  Here are a few pictures of some of them.  They also got money, DSI games & outfits.

After gifts we had cake and ice cream.

I think they had another fun party with their cousins.  Not sure how many more years I can get away with family parties over friends.  I think they are happy with it because their party gives them a chance to see their cousins which is not very often.