The wheels on the bus go round and round

Here it is . . . the last day of kindergarten and the last time I had to walk to the bus stop to meet Sophie at noon!!! Happy, happy day for everyone involved! Let summer begin!

Kindergarten End of the Year Fair

I signed up to volunteer at Sophie's end of the year party for kindergarten. When a parent signs up to volunteer at a school event, it is assumed that they will be arriving alone. I've always been a little left of center, so when I volunteer, I bring a whole bunch of extra kids with me! I'm sure all of the teachers love me, but if I did not bring the kids, I would never be able to see my kids at school.

This time, I outdid myself and brought 5 kids! I had the normal Calvin, Natalie and Johnny and then I was also watching Luke and Evie for Kelly because her daycare was closed. I was in charge of the fishing booth, so I set up a blanket on the ground behind me and brought books and such for the kids. They blew bubbles . . .

. . . and when I was desperate to get Evie to stay in one place, they ate candy!

Here's my cute girl!
And here she is at the fishing booth. She's a natural - she must take after her Uncle Scott.

Look! She caught a fish! Actually, everyone caught a fish (unless the fierce winds blew it away) and won a plastic ring.Here is Sophie's class.
And here are her teachers. Ms. Corrigan has been struggling with ovarian cancer all year and has been out of the classroom for much of the time. Mr. Elo was the permanent substitute for the last couple of months. Sophie loves them both.

All in all, it went fine. The kids had a great time and my extra five were well behaved and stayed on the blanket - well except for Evie. She's just that age!

Sunday Tradition

We have started a new Sunday tradition now that the weather is finally warm and we have early morning church. After coming home and having lunch, we head over to the local park for a long walk together. This Sunday we saw a muskrat swimming in the water as well as a ton of birds and dragonflies. The park has miles and miles of trails so we let the kids pick the directions and usually we walk for 3-4 miles. I took a lot of photos of what was in bloom (on the 8th of June - I'm behind still).

Missing Tooth

Look who lost another tooth!! This time, Sophie pulled it out herself! Totally off topic, but pretty cute, Sophie was putting on some new flowered underwear today when she said "awwww, if underwear had names, I'd call these Bluebell!"

The Cavest Cave

Sophie was extremely fortunate this year to have Mrs. McDonald as her GT teacher. She was the only kid in her GT class, so she and Mrs. McDonald were able to work on projects that Sophie was interested in. This cave was her final project for the year. She researched it and then built it outside her classroom. Then, the last week of school, she took her classmates on guided tours, complete with a flashlight!

Here she is giving Calvin, Natalie and Johnny the grand tour!

The cave had stalagmites, stalactites, rain drops, water on the floor and a blind tetra.

Kids - so helpful

I have a hard enough time keeping the van clean without the kids using it as another surface to color with sidewalk chalk.

Walkin' in Sunshine . . .

While my Mom was here, we took the kids out to Thomas Lake Park for a walk around. I've decided this is not my favorite park - we saw some dead fish in one of the lakes and there are not enough trails, but the kids had a great time and burned off some of that endless energy!!!

The kids took it upon themselves to blow as many dandelions as humanly possible, this ensuring their survival!
The honeysuckle were in bloom and smelled amazing!

Does anyone know what this tree is? It has these beautiful rose shaped pine cones?

It's That time of Year Again!!!

It's that time of year again - SOCCER season!! I know you have all missed kindergarten soccer, so here are some photos to get you started. Max is also playing this year which means we have soccer practice Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights. Fun for all. Really.

We always start with some important stretching.

Sophie has been working on her kicking technique.

It's getting there.
Ooops, uh . . . air ball.
This is some sort of secret code thing she is doing . . . or she's just tired and decided to rest for a bit.

Hmm, here I think she is trying to kick up a dust storm to confuse the other team. Or, she's distracted again.

Sophie LOVES soccer!

2nd Grade Track and Field

Whew~! School's out and summer has officially begun. These last two week have been exhausting and I am trying to catch up on - well life really.

These are some photos from Max's track and field day. Despite the fact that this event is held in JUNE, I have yet to attend one that is not freezing cold. This was the case again this year though the kids did not seem to mind. In fact, several of them were in shorts! OK, so my kid was in shorts, but I did not TELL him to wear shorts. Here are some great action shots of the "tire pull".

This was my favorite event. The "loosen up your shoe and flick it up in the air and into a box" event. This one takes some serious talent.

Here is a close up of Max's technique.

Sophie even got in on the action on the sidelines!
But, most of the time, she and the other kids, sat around on their blanket eating stuff and trying to stay warm!
This lame event was called "make a pyramid with this stack of plastic cups". When the kids quickly got bored, they made them run laps. Clever.

Great Train Adventure

We took a trip up to Wisconsin while my mom was in town to go on a train ride with all of the kids. Of course Calvin was completely in his element. He brought best bud Hobbes along for the ride and was so excited to be able to go on a train!!! The trip was about 7 miles down the St Croix River and then back the same way.

After our ride, the conductor let the kids climb up on the train.

Peeking out the windows with a nervous Bryan close by.
After traveling 7 miles, we stopped for the engine to be taken to the back of the train. Here it is backing up to be latched into the train.
Here is Calvin watching this happen with rapt attention. I did not think it would actually crash into the train, but it did! I was about knocked off my feet as I was not watching at this point!

The mail area inside the train.
All of the kids had a great time, but Calvin most of all. He is still talking about the "green train" and wants to ride it again!