Last Day of School

Giving Ms. Sarah a BIG hug.

The school director/kindergarten teacher has been such a lifesaver for us.

Ben's now writing his name!   (He's not feeling well, but he couldn't be prouder.)

The school year ended almost the same as it began, with someone ill and missing out.  Gavin missed the first day and now it was Ben's turn, but not only did he miss the last day of preschool, he missed the last week!  Poor Ben was sick Monday through Friday and still trying to recover over the weekend.  In the span of 1 1/2 weeks, all three boys have had pinkeye, two had ear infections, one stomach bug, two with allergy symptoms, and all three have been quite tempermental which I guess is to be expected.

Ben was feeling a bit better at the time we picked up Gavin from his last day on Wednesday, so I was able to get a nice picture of both of them with their teacher. 

Carson had Pajama Day on Thursday for his last day of school and I was finally able to get a picture with the director, his other kindergarten teacher.  Sheryl has been a great resource for all child/parent issues that arise.  Her knowledge of  Love & Logic and their follow through with it at school has really helped our family out quite often over the last couple of years.

We are so thankful we found this school.  The twins will enjoy pre-k next year while Carson goes on to first grade at our local elementary school. 

Cousin Visit - Day Two, Who Knew!

Waiting to ride the tram!

Sabrina & Zoey checking out the other tram while we head to the top.

Kim's cousin, Wanda, and her youngest, Savannah.

Attempting to take a picture at the top with the view of the city in the background.  The three year olds all wanted to run off and explore the landing we were on.

On our way back down, Brian holding Gavin with Jason taking pictures in the background.

Mike & Corrine joined us for dinner at our place and picked up Zoey after her weekend with six wild and crazy cousins!  Zoey LOVED hanging out with the girls all weekend.  She especially clung to Sarah, the oldest.

Playing in our backyard.

I think this is such a cute picture!  I snapped this right before the girls left.  They've left quite an impression on our boys.  I know they are anxious to see them again very soon!

Who knew how well our kiddos would get along and click together when the youngest ones hadn't even met and the oldest were just toddlers when they'd met previously.  All of the girls and boys just adore each other.  This visit was fantastic and it really makes me wish we all lived a bit closer.  Lucky for us, Sommer will be going to school near by, so our Cali Cousins plan to visit again and again!  Yay for us!!

Cousin Visit - Day One, What Fun!

Cousins Sarah, Zoey, Gavin, Ben, Savannah, Sabrina, & Carson

Piled into Grandma & Grandpa's hot tub since their pool was a bit chilly.

Waiting to ride the carousel.

Brian & Sabrina

Day one with our cousins from Cali.  My cousin, Wanda, along with her husband, Jason, and three daughters, Sarah, Sabrina, and Savannah, stopped off to visit for a couple of days en route to Sommer, Jason's daughter's high school graduation.  We were so excited to see them since we hadn't seen them in over four years! 

We crammed everything we could into our days.  Day one was spent at my folk's house, where the kids played in the water, we took them to the park, had dinner at their house, then off to ride the carousel and play on the playground there as well.  After pj's on and dessert, we took off back home for the night while Cousin Zoey stayed with the girls at Grandma and Grandpa's for the night.

Our Kindergarten Graduate!

Carson had a rough day today, waking up with pink-eye, with a tooth/gum ache and now an ear ache.  He did make it to his graduation (barely).  Despite feeling tired and not quite himself, he seemed to enjoy himself at the graduation and looked adorable up on the stage with the other kindergarteners and pre-kinders.

The students were really cute, singing songs with their music teacher, reciting bible verses, sharing a few songs and words they learned in French (taught by a parent this year), and giggling and shouting out each other's names during a slide show.

Happy Retirement, Grandma Joanne!

We all had such a fun time celebrating Grandma Joanne's retirement with her collegues and friends.  Many of her collegues pooled together and got her a weekend away to a casino at the coast and she recieved some large beautiful potted flowers.  "We" made her a bag and got her a bottle of wine.   Her party planner even had a Finnish phrase on the cake.  We think Grandma enjoyed every minute of the party and was pleasantly surprised throughout.

 Congratulations, Grandma!  We love you!

Oh, how we miss you, Mr. Sun!

Here we are in the last week of May and it's raining and pouring and there's even been some afternoon snoring! (Ben and I actually fell asleep this afternoon.)

We sure had some fun when the sun was out a couple of weeks ago, so thought I'd post those in hopes of the golden ray return.

Children's Museum Playtime