Summer Reading

Being a Reading Specialist, I'm pretty passionate about preventing summer reading loss and did a few things at my school to try and encourage kids to keep reading throughout the summer. Willow's school sent home a Reading Journal and are having a field day for those students who turn in the journal once school begins. OF COURSE we did it, though we had to really space it out throughout the summer to keep a good attitude about it =)  Willow didn't seem to have to do many graphic organizers like these in Kindergarten so she definitely completed it with support, but did a great job  coming up with the ideas and sounding words out together. 

Side note: We technically finished our 100-book reading challenge although "someone" erased the majority of the hundreds chart when we were at 82, then we stopped keeping track. 

Spring Phone Photo dump

There are multiple reasons why I don't like taking pictures on my phone, the biggest reasons being (1) they get trapped on the phone and never get off (and the Blogger app no longer allows me to add photos to a post?!?) and (2) the quality of the picture isn't always that great. Well...tonight was the magical night where pictures were unloaded. So...here's the "spring compilation:"

Seeing "Cinderella" in the theater with Gramma

Reading books with Nana over Spring Break

 Sydney's birthday party at "Just Dance:"

Alli likes the window seat pillow that Nana made for us too!

Ballet of "Cinderella" with Gramma and Nana on her birthday weekend

 Don't we have the best view as we leave Walmart? Seriously it makes me smile every time!

So does the view coming down the hill into our neighborhood (in all seasons!):

Alli's rare cuddle with Owen for a post-nap tv show:

Willow was pretty adamant about getting a toy My Little Pony (where does she find out about these things??). It kindof broke my heart when, a week after her birthday, she was asking, "For my next birthday can I have a My Little Pony?" I mentioned the idea of using some of her birthday money to buy one herself and she was all about making her first purchase! It wasn't nearly as quick of a process as I'd thought it would be since we went with the purpose of purchasing a pony or two. But there are sooooo many choices (pony and non-pony toys!)!!! We definitely scoped out all of the options seeing which ones she'd brought enough money for, then ended up with a couple ponies and some Elsa jewelry. She even proudly handed her cash to the cashier and was ready to walk away and let her keep the change (clearly hadn't been part of our conversation prior to the experience!). 

The Seths autographs for Sarah's wedding card:

Spoiling Owen with a Krispie Kreme donut "morning snack" during my first week of summer break:

Mrs. Bray's hug attack from her sweet class during their End of Year party:

A fun Home Depot building project:

One last playdate with McKenna before they moved a couple hours away:

Fun at Elena and Vanessa's pool:

Well, maybe one benefit to videos from my phone is that I don't have to load them to YouTube first?? Check Willow out jumping off the diving board at Elena and Vanessa's pool! It took a little convincing, but once she did it, she wanted to go and go and go! She probably went 8 or 9 times while we were there!

Playing in the fountains yesterday:

Watching "Paddington" in the theater for $1 each!!

 I'm glad Owen seems to be out of his "undressing after we leave his room at bedtime" stage!!

T

Family dinner to celebrate Grandpa's birthday:

Willow's sidewalk drawing of Anna:

I woke up one morning to Owen yelling, "I don't want you! I don't want you!" When I entered his dark room to figure out what in the world he was talking about, I stepped on something slick and reached around him noticing that he was bare-bottomed.....welp...this is what I found:

Owen is as tall as a lily =)

She  had very good intentions when helping me make the cupcakes:

I love moments like this!!

Watering the tomatoes:

An afternoon ice cream treat with Owen during my first week of summer break:

When I told Owen to use a different paint brush for each color, I didn't mean a different paint brush for each color EACH TIME! This is the pile of used brushes we ended up with:

Owen, the two-fisted painter:

End of Kindergarten!

This is a little late, but Willow had a great end to her Kindergarten year. We'll see if I can keep track of this shirt for 12 years to be able to see how much she grows into it by the time she's ready to graduate high school (which I'm not even ready to talk about!).