Crazy hat day

(I have so many things to blog about and am so behind...so in an attempt to get caught up, I'll just start with the most recent and backtrack!)

Preschool days are whizzing by and before I know it Leda will be in Kindergarten in September (eek!) and then I'll blink and it will be Chase.

I love that all my children have had the opportunity to go to Grandma's preschool and have been in such good care there. They love their friends, love their teachers and love giving Grandma kisses at her desk in between activities. We're so blessed.

This week they had a "crazy hat day" where they were to wear their craziest hat to school to present to their friends. Well, upon looking around our house for our CrAzIeSt hat...we found not a one!

So we dug into the craft cupboard and made our own! At first Leda wasn't feeling it and couldn't understand where I was going with it, but once she saw my plan she got very excited.

It was a special morning, as cheesy as that sounds, but after being so busy lately, it was just nice to chill and relax with my youngest two kiddos...and a morning I don't want to forget anytime soon, so I snapped some shots of our fun.








Ta da!



Leda was giggling as she was putting on heart stickers upside down because, "Hearts don't belong upside down! That's why this is a crazy hat, hahahaha!"


And had to get a shot of them after class with a few of their besties and their favorite teachers Mrs. Kelli and Miss Jordyn!

First grade

Spencer is having a ball in the First Grade. He loves his teacher, loves his friends and loves going to school.

A few weeks ago was "Wacky Wear" day at school. Spencer was the special helper that week in his class and had the opportunity to walk around the play ground to ask people if they were participating in "Wacky Wear" day later on in the week. He got to keep a tally with a clipboard and everything.

(Oh the little things, eh?)

When he got home from one day of tally-ing he said, "Mom, some people don't want to dress up, but WHY would they not want to dress up? It's gonna be SO fun!" I love that at this age he's still his own person and not easily swayed one way or another.

So come Friday, he was thrilled to pick out his OWN outfit and go to "Wacky Wear" day. Here he is in all his glory, by the way, these pictures were not staged. Goof.






And then yesterday was his teacher, Mrs. DiBene's birthday. Because I'm his class librarian once a week, I've had the opportunity to get to know her fairly well and I just really love her. She's such a kind-hearted and compassionate teacher and we're so glad he's had such a good year with her in this class.

Sunday night the kids and I decorated this poster for her door. All three kids had a ball doing hand prints, helping me stick down stickers and Spencer wants the world to know he blew up almost all of these balloons himself. Quite the task for a seven year old.


Yay for fun memories of the First Grade!!

Service

Ready for some honesty? Here it goes:

My children have been a little (ie: a lot) ungrateful lately.

With Spring Break they've had a ton of fun--pool, beach, play dates, ice cream outings, picnics at the park, hot tub with Mom trips....with very little (ie: never) "Thank you Mommy" heard after said outings....and an increase in fighting and arguing with siblings.

Well, enough was enough.

So I looked for ways I could stop the chaos and an opportunity to serve presented itself.

This week we took a sick friend & her family dinner. I asked the children to help me plan the meal and dessert, we took a trip to the store to buy some things and then later drove with me to drop off the prepared meal. It was great fun, and I made a mental note to do this more often.

Later on in the week, we needed a refresher course on our blessings (ie: their super fun Mom who does so many fun things for them with no apparent appreciation) so we looked for another opportunity to serve and in turn recognize our own blessings. This time it was through a care package for cousin Carter.

Carter (in Utah) is scheduled to have surgery this next week. Poor 6 year old kid has to have his tonsils and adenoids removed. Life is so unfair. I've had this particular surgery before (it's killer) but we know he'll feel much better once this is all over---and no more strep throat or extended hospital stays for Carter after this is all behind him. His Mom will really appreciate that.

So onto our care package.

We each designed our own personal card

Chase's card says: "I wanna come to Utah and shake your hand"


Leda's reads: "Carter, I hope you feel better tomorrow or today. I might think you are gonna be fine up there in Utah. I love you Carter"


Spencer (not thrilled for this photo-op) created a book complete with a front cover, inside and back:



"Dear Carter, Get well soon, I will see you in a cupil weeks"

"Love, Spencer"




then we picked out some unopened art stuff from our art cupboard to donate to Carter. (I won't lie, some tears were shed not wanting to part with MY ART STUFF...but he (Chase) got over it)




Then it was off to McDonald's to pick up a gift card so Carter could have ice cream on demand during recovery and then we trekked it on over to the mail center to send it off.



The kids were so excited and it felt REAL good to do some things for others this week.

And while this is still an honest post and I'm feeling chatty: When these kiddos of mine were little (babies) I was so focused on getting through the day and meeting their physical needs---it was of course exhausting. I used to think it would get easier once they grew up a bit. On some level it has of course, but now that my children are growing older, I'm realizing more and more that while they don't need me to meet as many of their physical needs day to day (changing, feeding, constant supervising), they need me way more now on an emotional & spiritual level and every day is a teaching opportunity because we struggle. Some days it's hard to remember that they are still little people learning and growing and that their actions or words are not meant to insult or hurt me. Does that make any sense?

Anyway, I'm grateful for these experiences this week and hope it helps their attitude some...fingers crossed.