Memorial Day!

Both of the boys marched in Memorial Day parades playing their instruments.

BUT

They marched in DIFFERENT parades.

The girls waiting for the parade to begin.  All dressed for the holiday!

JM marched in the New Era parade and needed to arrive at 8:30 am.  The parade was short but they also had to play for the service.  He was finished by 10:15.

The girls watching the parade.

Here comes the parade.  JM is playing a trumpet -- 3rd row 2 kid.  This is his 1st time marching in a parade.

The group playing at the service.

MD had to arrive at 10:15 am at MPS. Matt brought him since the rest of us weren't home, yet from New Era.

The parade started at 11:00 am and again was short but he also had to play for the service.  He was finished by noon.

MD marching -- he is playing the tenor sax and is in the last full row with 3 students -- he is the 3rd one.

The Montague Band combined with the Whitehall band to play a special number.  MD is in the 2nd row 1st student.

Elizabeth watching it all.  She was fascinated.  

All the beauties :)

Other Nanny and Pa took all of us out for ice cream when we were finished.  YES, it was HOT!!!

We used the rest of the day to relax -- we joined some friends at the pool to refresh!!!

Kindergarten Graduation AND Violin Recital... SAME DAY

Monday was a CRAZY day!

We all started our days normal.

BaJab's graduation was at 1:30.

Thankfully, I was able to get someone to fill in for me at school for my last 1 1/2 classes

AND 

Matt was able to take an extended lunch.

The graduation time started off with some singing.

AND yes, it seems our BaJab's is NERVOUS!!!

She was serious and did very little of the motions.  

TOTALLY, NOT like the way we know her :)

I did catch her doing the final SNEEZE in the song, 'On Top of Spaghetti.'

They did their favorite song/game -- 'In and Out the Windows.'

AND

Her favorite bud, JN picked her to dance.  LOVE the silliness.  

NEXT,

all of the kids put on their animal costume.

Each child picks their favorite Zoophonics animal (the way that the ABC's are taught)

AND

they have to dress up.

Yep, BaJab's picked Honey Horse.

She had a little part to memorize:

I am a horse, with a good sense of smell and keen eyes.

My sharp ears and strong legs are just the right size.

I eat grain and plants and never meat.  

I give people rides and that's always a treat!

The HAT was adorable -- but she decided when she got on stage she didn't like it -- she LOVED it the day before when we made it :)

All of the kids were dressed adorable!

Next,

the kids had the actual graduation part.  

BaJab's was first -- different for us :)

She did NOT stop in the middle of the stage but just went right to the floor and sat down.

She FINALLY looked at me and I motioned for her to put her hat back on and I was able to snap a picture.

Oh, she is looking so grown up!!!  She's is such a beauty!

She wants to work with food when she grows up.

We watched a powerpoint of the entire year of events.  The teacher had taken pictures of ALL of the events for the year.  It was set to music.  Oh, it was great!!!

Finally, they had make your own sundaes at the end.  YUM!!

Each of the kids were traced and designed themselves on LARGE paper. The family was suppose to try and find their child.

My Darling and I picked the right one and Daddy and Nanny picked the wrong one :)

She did a great job.

The round 'thing' in the middle of the chest of the drawing has ALL of our names -- which is similar to the necklace I wear.  So, she said, "if you would of looked close, it was EASY to figure out mine!"

So, my last one done with kindergarten.  YEAH!!!  BaJab's LOVES school.  She loves recess and gym.  She does great in school.  Of course, she knows all of her letters and sounds.  She is reading some beginning books.  She is much more social!!!  AND more of a tomboy.  She totally wanted the BLUE dress -- I LOVE it!!  AND yes, I finished it at midnight the night before :)

Matt left at the end of the graduation to deliver asparagus.

I waited and for all of the kids and brought them home.

I had a few things to finish around the house.

Make dinner,

Oops, just remembered I had to bring cookies for the cookies reception

SO, ran to the store to get them from the bakery!!  I DON'T have time to bake -- today!!

Got everyone ready, picked up my MIL

AND made it to tuning time for the recital!

Matt made it right before it started!!!

My Darling loves to play her violin.  She just started in January and has done wonderful.

Tuning time -- they tune each string.

The group. 

 My Darling actually has semi-private lessons.  There is 2 girls in the class.  

2 weeks private 1 week full group -- this is a great set-up as it helps the kids learn the basics, gives individual attention to each child, teaches them to watch a conductor, AND listen to others in a group.

One of the songs.  She keeps her eye on the conductor.

Watching as she is playing.  AND yes, NO music -- they are learning to use their ears.

At the end right after the bows!

BEAUTIFUL!!!  

When we got home she got a little gift for her first recital.  Lauren and I went together and got her ......

She's so excited!!

Yes, it's American Girl -- can you guess???

She knows!!!  LOVE!

A violin for her doll!

Adorable!

AND yes, I made her dress, too -- BUT she picked it out -- style and all!! We even made a matching hair clip -- she LOVED it!

Yes, we are continuing with violin.  She is going to take PRIVATE lessons this summer and then we will continue with the rotation lessons in the fall.

This was the LAST of the crazy days for awhile.

YES, I still have school to finish and LOTS of papers left to grade.

YES, there is still planning and stuff BUT the extra night events are coming to an end.

We ALL did the JOY dance that tomorrow night we don't have

ANY PLANS!!!!

First time to Lake Michigan

We LOVE the beach.

So, it's obvious that we would LOVE for Elizabeth to share that LOVE with all of us.

Well, I don't think it will be a problem :)

Matt and I took the girls early Saturday evening.

It was such a beautiful weekend -- we had to go for a bit.

The boys left for the baseball game and we had to run some errands BUT we stopped at the beach FIRST!!!

The 3 princesses!

I do NEED to say before I continue ......

My mom did take BaJabs and Elizabeth to the beach in April .... the REAL very FIRST time ....

BUT it was freezing!!! 

Thankfully, she did take a picture!!

The real first time -- April!

We thought the easiest place to go to the beach was out by the pier.  They have a beautiful boardwalk --- so, it would be easy for Elizabeth with her SOLACE SCOOTER.

She was a tad nervous at first.  I'm not sure why but once she saw that we LOVED it and we were NOT going to let anything bad happen she got right into the fun!

We walked to the end of the pier first.

Yes, My Darling tends to stand on one foot when she is with Elizabeth :)

Walking back down the pier to the beach.

Next, we went down to the beach.  We parked her Scooter and I carried her down to the water.  It was still a bit COLD!!!  BUT she LOVED it.  

She is trying to figure out why her foot keeps disappearing AND if it will come out -- I wish Matt could of captured her face from my angle when she looked up.  She was scared and yelling like, 'My foot, My foot!'  

 Just loving the water.

 BaJabs -- Her prosthetic leg got a bit wetter than we thought -- she went in too far and the water went DOWN inside.  She laughed ..... so, we did, too.  It dried out overnight :)

My Darling!

The girls thinking mommy needs some splashing.  I really thought the water was FREEZING!

AND yes, there were people swimming.

 LOVE, LOVE this photo.  I LOVE seeing my children experience FIRSTS!!!  She was just LOVING the sand and experimenting with it -- the feels of it and what to do with it.  

 Kicking the water!  She laughed EVERY TIME!!!  

And yes, she did it LOTS!

AND she just had to bend down and do some splashing with her hands :)

 Look close on this photo ...

There is water draining out of the bottom of BaJabs' foot ....

Matt actually caught it in the photo.

Walking/Scooting back to the car.

Yes, we still ran our errands!

AND

ending our evening with another first!

She got to have her first FROSTY!!

I think you can tell from the photo .....

She LOVED it!

We are so looking forward to the warm days of summer when we can spend our entire day at the beach or pool!!!

A Week in Review

Wow!!! 

It was a busy week.

Yep, asparagus is in FULL swing --- thank-you warm weather :)

Yep, I'm still teaching -- LOVE the Tall Tale FINAL unit!!!

AND yep, our kids have MANY events in the evenings right along with all the normal daily 'things!'

So, I thought I would give a quick review --- 

My Darling's class finished their Rain-forest unit with A RAIN-FOREST OPEN-HOUSE!

Each child picked an animal to do EXTRA on -- they needed to do a report, make a diorama and have a costume. 

Yes, my dear daughter picked an IGUANA!!!

AND Yes, we made it as pretty and girly as possible :)

They started the evening with a fun presentation of many songs and skits they learned throughout the unit.

The full group

 My Darling HAPPILY singing along

My Darling doing her part in the skit -- she was a sloth.

Next, they each had to give a presentation of their animal.

Their prepared cards were all written like the animal they picked was talking....

"I am an iguana."

The BEAUTIFUL iguana giving her presentation/speech.

Each child had to describe and show their diorama.

Showing off her diorama.

They also had face painting, arts/crafts, games and yummy food.

It was a fun evening.

NEXT,

JM had a choir and band concert.

He likes to sing and sounds great.

BUT

He LOVES to play his trumpet.

I did promise him private lessons next year and he can't wait!

 He sounded great.  I can't believe he's only been playing a year.  He LOVES to practice.

At the end taking a bow.  Love the bow-tie.

We also had the final night of bible memory at Awana.

This is an awesome program our church uses to help kids learn about the bible AND earn money to help pay for summer camp(olders)/earn gift cards (youngers.)

MD, JM and My Darling learned all of the verses and BaJabs made a good dent.  Elizabeth will join in next year.

The boys went to The Whitecaps game.

It was a beautiful evening to go to the game.

So sad, the team lost by 1 point. 

AND

mom and dad did NOT attend so there is no pictures.

FINALLY,

MD had a band concert.

He performed with the jazz band.

They were great.

I could of listened to them the entire concert!

AND he also performed in the full band.

He really likes the symphony and jazz band -- not so much the marching band.  He plans on continuing with band next year. 

They did a great job!!!

The end of the year always holds so many activities.

It is fun to see the progress the kids have made in the course of the school year.  Yep, it's busy but still fun to see each perform.