Preschool Graduation

Lil' man is ready for Kindergarten. 

Actually, he can not wait for kindergarten. 

He graduated from preschool on Friday morning. 

 Story time in class. 

 Waiting to sing their two songs and then graduate. 

 Getting his diploma from Mrs. Dole

 And congratulated by Mrs. Gleason

 He was very proud. We got him a small graduation gift. Legos of course. 

 He is official he has a diploma now. 

 We HAD to make a trip to frozen yogurt and get extra toppings of course! 

This was a bit hard for me. I've realized the last few weeks I won't be able to peek in on him as I pass by his class at work. I will miss that. I got to see how he acted in a different environment and loved it. I will miss driving to work with him and his hugs before class as he walks down the hall saying "the hands on the two!" which meant it was 9:10 and time for him to go to class to start his table job. I knew it was special but still think I took seeing him at school each day for granted. I will miss him reading the board to me in the morning, waving at me down the hall and helping me setup class. Not seeing him on the playground will be strange. I won't be able to see him at school much next year but I guess having him so close this year should make up for that. 

Your journey is just beginning buddy. You are so smart and responsible. I can't wait to see you karate chop kindergarten. :) 

Goodbye Grandma Violet

One rarely meets a person in their lives that they know from the very moment they meet them that they are one/or going to be one of the most favorite people they will ever know. That was Grandma Violet. Jeff and I loved her in different ways but we both loved her so very much. The kids of course followed suite and loved her very much too, how could they not when she gave them wonderful hugs and was so kind. 

Tonight I read through 16 years of letters from Violet. 

The letters started when Jeff and I got engaged. I couldn't have asked for a better pen pal all these years. 

The letters made me laugh, brought tears to my eyes and I respected her openness about life in her letters. 

She wore her heart on her sleeve.

She was honest. 

She was witty.

I loved her dearly. 

She and Jeff had a very special bond. 

She will be missed. 

Thank you for the gift of those wonderful letters and love Violet. 

Strawberry Fields

The little guy really wanted to pick strawberries. 

We didn't really need anymore but they seem to disappear quickly in our house, either stowed away in the freezer or gone into small tummies. So we picked a few more, maybe one can never have too many strawberries. 

 it took a little while to find a good spot but when we did it was golden. 

Greta was the winner for finding the biggest and nicest strawberries. Even the farmer was impressed. 

 headed in with the load. So glad the kids enjoy going to the farm. We are looking forward to a summer of berry picking! 

PIE

Greta's favorite book is about pie and it is appropriately named Pie..

She's been wanting me to read it for a while and I finally did and fell in love with it. 

In honor of this book we are going to recreate the pies the main character made. We are going to work on them during the summer using fresh ingredients as they are in season. I will try to add pictures of her pies and link them here as she goes. We were finally able to make a very good homemade gluten free pie dough.(excited about this). 

 Her first pie is rhubarb(we added in strawberries because it is u-pick strawberry time here and had alot of them) She learned how to string rhubarb and then she cut it into 3/4" pieces. She is pretty good with a knife these days. 

 she made her sugar flour mixture and rolled out the dough. 

 She had major attention to detail with this pie and the butter had to be placed perfectly. She cut it into small cubes so every part was covered. 

 making her vents after pinching the edges. 

 a little cream on top with a dusting of cinnamon and sugar and she was done. 

 here is what it looked like before the oven. It was then bedtime half way through baking so Jeff and I are monitoring the pie while it finishes. I just peaked and it is golden and pretty. Fieldin is quite excited about this whole pie making idea. 

I am very impressed. I've never been good at making pies. After watching Greta I am starting to believe it is a talent you must be given because it seems pretty easy to her. She put alot of time and love into the pie so maybe the secret is patience. I'm really looking forward to a summer full of pies.

More Lego Time For The Youngest

Little bubsy has been sick this last week and we are happy to see his fever is gone. It is nice to hear him giggle again. He still isn't back completely to himself(he gets tired easy) but we are closer. Today he had a scheduled Lego event to go to in Portland and really wanted to go. 

 The kids were told to make a ship for Anakin to fight off the dark side. 

 Here is the ship he came up with. Nice work buddy.

 He went up in front of the other 19 kids and their parents and talked about his ship and how it worked. He talked about the boosters and blasters it had. 

 The best part was that he was given a new Lego Star Wars T-shirt, a box of Star Wars legos(that he put together the minute he got home) and he could make a mini figure to take home. He created a "Junior Ranger" lego man(below). He likes being a Junior Ranger at National Parks. It is now one of my very favorite mini figures. He has a ranger hat, backpack, rope and a coffee cup. 

 This one is a Lego Machine. 

I know he will never read this but I have to put this out there anyway. A huge thank you to the man at the Lego store in Minnesota that sent us Lego hands from his own collection for Fieldin to have. We bought a big bin of Legos off of craigslist with a lot of missing hands (and I possibly may have vacuumed some up UNKOWINGLY may I add) and they can't be ordered/replaced. We need to get to work on a thank you card pronto. 

Minneapolis

 We visited the Zoo and Conservatories and the best part was we got to spend time with our friend Sara. 

 I can't remember what these were called but they were our favorites. 

 Fieldin also liked the zebras and giraffes. It was a great zoo. 

Below, wiped out at night. 

 Even away from home mornings and evenings have some lego building time built in. 

 The kids became very fond of Izzy's ice cream shoppe

 inside one of the conservatories. They were beautiful. 

 At mall of America in the afternoon at Nickelodeon Universe. The kids closed this place down. They rode on rides for hours. 

 This was a Teenage Mutant Turtle ride and was SO high. I didn't like seeing Greta up that high.. 

 A break was taken from rides for some time at the Lego store. 

 He LOVED it... 

 He liked creating new things with the Star Wars Legos. 

 Then Greta went looking for books and I thought we were done but Oh no, more and more rides. It was a late night. 

 The next morning we walked around town and learned some Minnesota history before heading back to Oregon. Very fun. You kids are awesome. 

Days Are Too Short For Sitting

 The morning starts in Minneapolis with hotel chair rides

 A morning at the science museum. We had alot of fun here!

 Greta is really into science this year so she took her time and checked everything out. 

 When they were done looking at dinosaurs and doing activities they decided to build 3D puzzle dinosaurs. Here is Fieldin with his T-Rex 

 and Gret with her pterodactyl both were hard to put together but Gret's was really hard since it couldn't "sit" I held it for her as she added pieces. 

 exploring dinosaurs. 

 We spent the bulk of the morning in the dinosaur exhibits but the kids also liked trying to build flying machines. 

 Greta and Fieldin(eventually) got theirs to fly in the wind tunnel. 

 After a morning of Science we took along walk around town for some history at the Mill museum. The kids loved the freight elevator tour and ride. 

 looking at the views on the 8th floor. Again we never took a break and they were troopers. We just kept going only to stop for an ice cream break.. 

 views of the Mississippi. 

 pictures outside the old mill

 We came at a good time to see the Falls. 

 Then later, on the other side of town we visited the sculpture garden and conservatory. 

 the kids liked the glass whale. 

 We aren't a fan of chain restaurants and when we travel we like finding good restaurants off the beaten path and we found some good ones in Minneapolis. This one had really good breakfast and amazing coffee. Above, taking their picture while we ordered. Does this show their personalities or what? 

 They hold hands when we go exploring. I will be sad one day when this ends. They look out for each other (especially at stop signs) and get so excited about what they see. They laugh. They chat. They yell. They run and giggle. We walk and take transit systems and they learn street smarts and they see how other people live. They realize we are all different yet all the same. They ask alot of questions. I love it. 

 We HAD to get a pic by the famous sculpture of course! 

 A very full day and then nummy dinner with open window breezes at Bad Waitress. We played some epic hangman games here. Also, lots of story telling to Jeff about their day since he was at a conference.