Last Day of School

First day / Last day
First grade is all finished up. Kalyana's teacher, Mrs. Hale was really great. I liked the way she knew how to keep her class in control and working hard, and Kaly worked really well with her. I was impressed with how well she stayed in touch with the parents and her system for notes/homework.

This year Kaly also got to go into the schools gifted and talented program with Mrs. Smith. About five other kids in her class went and she'd always come home and tell me the fun projects they were working on in science, math, and other areas that sparked her interest.

This is the thank you note Kaly wrote to her teacher as an 'end of year' gift.

Allergist Visit

Just one of the many tests little Tyce was subjected to. This was the allergist. On one side she tested tree nuts and peanuts. On the other side it was things like eggs, dairy, and other common food allergies. I held him in my lap, so his back was to the nurse, she pricked him all over and then I had to hold him for 15 minutes while he watched Whinnie the Pooh. He was very concerned that we were in 'public' and his shirt was off. He kept telling me he didnt want to be naked.

Sure enough one entire row swelled up and got huge red splotchy bumps. After they recorded all the information she wiped him down with alcohol and then, the coolest thing, she sprayed some benydryl all over his back and sure enough within 2-3 minutes all the swelling/redness was gone.

Afterward we had to meet with the doctor who told us he is indeed allergic to all peanuts and treenuts and shouldn't have them. He even told me we should be cautious of those warnings on most foods that say things like 'this food has been processed in the same plant as peanuts' or something. However I dont think he's that extreme. I certainly don't give him heaping spoons of peanut butter (though Makayla loves that treat and he'd LOVE to get to have his own) but he can have a little bit of pb on his sandwhich or even some Reeces Pieces.

The doctor prescribed us with an Epi-Pen in case we have any scary reactions but hopefully we'll never have to use it. (And yes those pants are way too big for his little waist so we had to make do.)

Edgemont Energy Recital

At the end of the year Kalyana's clogging team had a recital for the parents. They showed us their dance they took to competition and also their second dance they'd been working on.

Also there is something they call 'free-style' (they have these in competitions also) where the kids get to dance for 30 seconds or so.

After the recital my kids showed off on stage. Just for fun.

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Preschool Pro!

Makayla had a great year in preschool and I really enjoyed getting to go with her some of the time. I really love the program that they have set up and I'm glad Makayla had a good experience. Since this is a 3/4 year old class the kids go to school one day a week and get a 'home visit' one day a week. The home visit lasts 1.5 hours and the teacher comes over and does activities with us (even Tyce got to participate with us), plays games, makes cookies, basically anything we wanted we'd turn into a little learning and a lot of fun.

Miss Lindsay (in the blue) was the teacher that got to come over to our house once a week and we really liked her! My kids would always ask me when she was coming and would play so well when she was here.

This is from the last day of school. The kids got to have a little graduation ceremony. They sang us three songs and were presented their certificates. Tarl and I got to go the whole day (for lunch, outside play time, circle time, story time, snack time, and the games) and really are proud of what Makayla has learned this year. (Although we noticed it was much easier for her to not be shy if we didn't stay. So after a while, we learned to just drop her off and wish her well.)

She is such an amazing little girl! She loves to write letters and copy words (from labels, books, anything!) and is getting so great at starting to recognize small words. She's very curious about trying to sound out words on her own. She loves craft time and often asks me if she can create things at home.

You have GOT to see this video. This is the essence of the school year. I went into her classroom alot and, considering the kids were all 3 or barely 4 year olds I'm not surprised by the way a lot of the acted. They're kids. For the graduation ceremony the kids learned 3 songs to sing in the program. They all did so well during the first two and this is the 3rd one. They're supposed to stand in a line and do actions with their hands. It cracks me up. You dont need to watch the whole thing, but go in about 45 seconds and watch a little bit.

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Catching Fire

It's not by any means that I hated this class, because thats far from it. I really enjoyed learning all about Geography and how the earth works and quite frankly I thought it was fascinating. But seriously, I had to go out with a bang since this was officially my last class needed to earn my Bachelors degree. I wanted to go up to a campsite and throw this in a giant fire pit but after two months of hoping to do that and not, I finally threw it on the stove and played pyromaniac on it's book behind.

No Training Wheels Required

Makayla got a new (to her) bike (when Kaly got her new bike) and we've been having some issues with the training wheels, I think we're missing a cog. It seems that after one or two tilts of pressure the whole side wheel just turns up into the bike, which leads to her just falling over (assuming there will be a wheel there to catch her bike). After a few spills, Tarl went outside, took off the training wheels, and had a quick 'how to' with Makayla.

After a few runs down the street holding on to the back of her seat, he simply ran behind her, letting her think he was still holding on. She did AWESOME! Within an hour or so she was out riding around like a pro! I was pretty shocked considering I was inside cleaning and came out to find her pedaling around the neighborhood. I'm late in getting footage of it all but here she is just a couple weeks later.

Playin'

We love playing outside.

Zoo-Riffic!

Makayla's preschool hosted a family outing at the Hogle Zoo so Tarl and I took the family up. It was a sort of cold and rained just as we were finishing up, but in my opinion it sure beats walking around in the smoldering heat any day. Overall we had a really fun day! We even ran into our next door neighbors and got to sit by them to have lunch. I LOVE our good ol' wagon, which works perfect for things like this.

Dentist Trip For Three

All the kids actually got to go to the dentist today but this was Tyce's first time. He was super brave and did a good job (he's holding the prize he won out of the treasure box). Even though he's 2.5 the dentist told me he still has a couple 2 year molars slowly coming in. None of my kids have gotten x-rays though, even though they've tried on Kaly. Their mouths are just too darn small.

Edgemont Talent Show

At the end of the year the school has a talent show. They split for grades 1-3 and 4-6 and there are two kids from each teachers class who get to preform. Kalyana got to clog for her friends and I was so proud of her!

Preschool Bean Museum

Makayla's little preschool class got to go on a field trip and I got to go along. At BYU there is a place called the Monte L. Bean Museum filled with animals. I've taken my kids a few times before but it's been a while and was fun to go again. Since school was almost out and some kids have moved away the normal 9 kids is not about 5.

The bus Makayla rides at school is a little bus and they all get these fun seatbelts (I had to get a picture). Afterwards we got back and had a snack. I really love Makayla's preschool!

Lady Lambsons

I think this was our 5th annual Sisters Retreat in Eden Utah.

This is a weekend I look forward to all year long. These lovely women are my in-laws. Tarl is 5th of 8 kids, which means I have 7 sisters-in-law and 1 amazing mother-in-law which means when we get together there are 9 incredibly awesome ladies. I am one lucky girl because honestly we all get a long really great!

This year I was in charge of the weekend and I chose to take an afternoon and go shopping on Historic 25th Street in Ogden. In these pictures are me, Jessica, Meggan and Kimmy. After an afternoon of shopping we thought we ran into a celebrity but we were too afraid to ask her. Finally after mustering up the courage we found it was indeed Melissa Peterman (from Reba or The Singing Bee).

The rest of the weekend was enjoyed watching movies, visiting, laughing hard, and enjoying time together without our other responsibilities. Sure am grateful for marrying into an amazing family!

My little dude.

Oh my handsome little dude! I took Tyce into the doctors in May so that I could get all his paperwork in for him to attend preschool this fall. When we went in the doctor noticed that he had fallen off his own growth curve which was well below the lowest curve on the chart. He's topping out at .2 and .8 percents. Not really the biggest kid on the block.

The doctor referred me to a number of doctors to get some tests run. An allergist (to see if there is anything in his diet that is hindering his growth), the blood lab (to see if he has Celiac, or Cystic Fibrosis or other things), a endocrinologist (to see how his hormone levels are) and last but not least a Cardiologist (because at this same appointment for the first time the pediatrician heard a slight heart murmur and coupled with everything else wants to play it safe). We'll see how it goes from here.

Playgroup Galore

The kids and I went to our weekly play date at the Clark Planetarium in Salt Lake City. We got down there a bit before it opened and across the street was TRAX so we jumped over and took the kids for a ride. They adored it.
There wasn't a ton of stuff for my little kids to do (it was mostly for elementary age and up) but luckily it was free. We walked around in the lobby and looked at a few fun presentations. The kids got to play on Mars, the Moon and the news.

The kids were so funny about posing for this picture. Tyce really likes to keep his hood on and Makayla doesn't like anyone directing attention at her.

Also I saw this nasty bug from several feet away as we were waiting for TRAX. I had to zoom in with my camera to see what it was. Luckily it was just decoration as we were in SLC and it was a "Mormon cricket".


Since our playgroup didnt last terribly long, and we were literally right across from the Childrens Museum we decided to run over and play for a while (it also helped that my sister has a season pass--that we're on so we got to go for free!)

There are so many things for the kids to do. And since we have a pass I'm not terribly concerned that we stay there for a long time or that sometimes the kids play with one section for 5 minutes or 45 minutes.


Although with that said one of Tyce's most favorite things is this air tunnel. They have coffee filters, cups and paper that you can let fly up in the air.

It just makes me laugh to see such tiny little things played with by such tiny little people.






Afterwards we realized it was lunch time so we went to the Gateway mall for lunch where Tyce tried to ride the horse, but apparently didn't know how. Just kidding, he's just cute. Then the kids got ice cream and everyone that walked past us marveled at how cute my kids were. :) (Oh yah and Kalyana was at school.)