Happy endings

Kayla's last day at Clyde Howell.  I just can't say enough about these 2 ladies and this amazing experience.  We will miss it so much.  

Graduating from Mrs McBride's pre-k class... we all learned a lot in here!

On to Journeyland!

"The Pup Revue"  at Clyde Howell.  They sang songs and acted out nursery rhymes from all their units throughout the year.  There was also a slide show that I managed to see bits of through all the tears!  Luckily we all got a copy to bring home and sob over in privacy!  

Sonshine School program.  I got to have Kayla in my class 1/2 days this year.  I enjoyed that so much.   This was a special group being her friends that she's grown up with for the last 5 years. They did a wonderful job at the program. I'm so sad but also proud that some of them are moving on from Sonshine School now.

Kyler walked across the stage with Daddy this year.  Unbelievable sometimes how fast life moves.  Last year on program night he was only 3 months old and we couldn't imagine him walking at all.  Obviously, we didn't know him very well yet!  ;) 

Getting ready to work the crowd!  

It's been a bittersweet couple of weeks.  I love seeing my kiddos grow and change and become little independent people but sometimes and especially lately my heart also aches to slow it down and keep them in my arms awhile longer.  

Fun in the Sun

Presenting Beach Day at "Pup School" as Kayla has lovingly called it this year.  It was a good time, we are really going to miss Pup school and her wonderful teachers.

Ready, set, go...

Bubble dancing

shaving cream

popsicles

Can you pick up marbles with your toes?

slip 'n' slide

sprinkler

and making boats

We were so blessed with wonderful teachers and good friends at school this year.  I know they'll all do fine next year but it breaks my heart to see them have to split up and go their own way now.  I don't know how anything could ever live up this idyllic start to the next 13 years of education but school is one of Kayla's favorite places to be and I am forever grateful to the ladies who made that so!

Play ball

I was planning to post about Kyler's birthday today but again... I'll get back to that.  

I returned from the laundry room this morning to find that he had found a way to combine 3 of his favorite pastimes:

eating fruit

playing ball

and, my personal favorite, climbing...

Practicing his pitching with a bowlful of oranges!  The part of the pitcher's mound will be played by the kitchen table.

And this bowl of oranges will do nicely since there isn't a ball up here.

oh, and 1 apple...

SAFE!!!

And, as for the eating fruit part; several of the oranges and the apple also had bites out of the peel.  From now on, Kyler will be helping me do the laundry everytime!  (See previous post)

Train up a child...

Ok, maybe training your 15 month old to do laundry wasn't what that proverb meant but, hey, if they're willing...

My sweet boy taking a break from his busy morning to help me get things done.  So, I could claim to be training him to be a helpful husband one day!  ;)

All done!
Time to go for a ride!  
And, yes, I did say 15 month old.  Which means that his birthday passed during my hiatus from blogging.  I will come back to that!  

Friendly competition

I overheard the funniest conversation between Kayla and her buddy Trevor on the way home from school the other day.  It went like this...

T   (playing hard to get)  "You know, Kayla, I'm not going to marry you."

K   " I know, I'm going to marry Braden."

T   "What?  is he cuter than me?"

K   "Yes"

T   Growling

K   "Well, not really, you have nice hair"

T   "Thanks, my mom and dad fix it for me!"

Hahahahaha!!  

T then proceeded to tell her that she would meet more people as she gets older and not to make up her mind so soon.  Such wisdom from a 5 year old!  

Kayla did tell us the other day that she was in fact going to marry Braden... if that was alright with him! ;)  Oh my, thankfully both of these boys are friends from church and have nice families but like Trevor advised, let's just take some time to mull this over....like about 20 years or so!  ;) 

Global warming

I don't know how to explain the warm weather we've been having but here's how we've been taking advantage of it.  You never know around here, tomorrow could bring the big ice storm of winter '09!

A sporting game of croquet

Kyler offering expert tips.

And then venturing off to taste the grass.

Swinging 

Zoo fun

Trying to be calm so as not to scare the deer.   Very difficult for 2 five year olds!  

Cruisin' the zoo

Flying kites at the lake.  She was a little freaked out about how hard the wind was pulling and afraid to let it out any farther.

Feeding ducks at the lake.  We should have brought more bread.  This doesn't even begin to show how many ducks, geese and gulls there were.  We were barely out of the car before they swarmed and surrounded us!

Kyler was pretty amused but made no attempts to come any closer than this!

This looks familiar....

Kayla at 15 months
Kyler at 10 months

How would I ever get anything done without the Tupperware drawer!?