the elementary art fair

Another catch up post from last week.  The elementary school had their art fair and book fair.  The boys actually like it when we go to see their art on the walls and I owed Cale a book from the fair, so we loaded up the van and went over.  I can't remember, but I think this was the night that I loaded finger-y foods in the tote for the kids to eat after the fair.  Because, you see, we had at least 2 soccer games to get to.  

mask by Marcus

Oh yes, I made him pose.  Then I sent him running over to the soccer fields so he wouldn't be late for his game.

mask by Cale

guess who else had a game that night?

Cale's ice cream

and Cale's owl

We also went to the book fair where Cale had to come to terms with the fact that I would buy him a book to read and not a diary, or a lego kit or any kind of trinket.  I encouraged him to purchase those with his own money.  (guess what didn't happen?)  He  came out of the fair with the book of world records and a sulky attitude. *sigh We can't always have a great time.  :-)

Kella is three years old!

from this...

..to this..

Happy Birthday Kella! 

Nicknames

Thinking about my kids nicknames today and how they each got theirs. For the sake of remembering, here I go.

Marcus: "bug" I think Andy started this ne when Marcus was a baby. We also called him "bug-a-boo". 

Cale: "Cale-Cale" I don't remember where this name came from. Admittedly, it is not very imaginative. Cale had recently told me he does not want me to call me by his nickname. Too bad.

Ewan: "ew-bear" I think a lady from church started this nickname. 

Liam: "coco" or "cocoa bean" I do believe that Ewan gave Liam these nicknames. Liam sometimes would only answer to these names. Also, for a long time, the kids at the preschool thought Liam's name was "cocoa bean". Can't imagine what their parents thought.

Kella: "Kella bells" I call Kella this. A shortened form of older nicknames: Kella Bella, and Kella Bella dumpling. I also call Kella "Merida" which is the name of the girl from the movie Brave.

Kinley: "Kinners" I take credit for this name, too. 

There we go.  Imortalized on the internet. 

You're welcome.

preschool ends, there was a program, Liam graduates! (lots of pictures)

It's been almost two weeks since preschool finished for the year.  I'm glad for the break.  It was challenging to get the littles dressed and ready to go in a timely manner.  At least for me it was.  I'm thankful that Andy did the preschool run most of the time. 

Liam on his last preschool day!

Kella, Sage and Jeremy.  These three played together and fought together in the nursery every morning before Kella and Sage went to their class.

And then, the preschool graduation program.  The theme this year was an ocean/fish theme-one of the three spring program themes the preschool does.  Send enough kids through preschool and you begin to notice patterns.

Liam, looking awesome in shades and a towel.

Kella's class, needing lots to guidance to make it to the stage.

All the preschoolers.

Liam did great singing.  He was super excited.  You could tell he was having fun.

Liam's class got to tell jokes in between their songs.  After every joke, Liam laughed so loud! ("Ha, ha, ha!") This made the audience laugh, too.  That boy loved those jokes.  He's still telling them around the house.

Kella's class sang.  Or, really, her teachers sang.  

Kella got her certificate.

Time for graduation!

Kinley chilled in the lobby, being watch by a friend.

Mrs. Bonny, talking to Liam.

Everyone got a Bible with their name on the front.  Liam could probably read some of it right now without help.

I love how they look like little scholars, with everyone looking at their Bibles.

Moving the tassel.

New graduates!

Liam and Kayleigh, his best friend.

Liam and us!  We are holding Liam up.  He was trying to sit down on our arms, that silly boy.

On to kindergarten!

art and poetry

The primary school art show/young authors books display/book fair was a few weeks ago.  We managed to get there in time to see Ewan's picture, check out his poetry anthology, and shop at the book fair for Kella and Liam.  A simple trip that made my boy happy.

I made Ewan point to where his picture is, all the way at the top.

Time to check out some poetry.  I think its a cool assortment of lots of different types of poetry.  I liked seeing what Ewan had written.  I took pics of a couple examples.  

That's my boy.

We're pulling teeth around here

Ewan earned himself a trip to the dentist Wednesday for having two teeth in one space in his mouth. The adult tooth was growing in behind the baby tooth and the baby tooth was in no hurry to get out. In fact, it wasn't loose at all. X-rays confirmed that the two teeth wanted to live together and share space. The dentist thought this was a bad idea, so Ewan got some pain medication, some happy gas and got his tooth pulled out. Andy said he handled it great and was able to go to school afterwards. 

You can see the space where the baby tooth was. The dentist thinks Ewan's adult tooth will move into place over time.

Of course, Ewan got to being his tooth home. You can see that the root of the tooth was still nice and long. Clearly, wasn't going to come out on its own anytime soon.  Ewan thought it was so cool because it had the root on it and that made it look like a saber tooth. Ewan got a dollar and a cool coin for his "ordeal". And, the tooth fairy wrote a note mentioning how sharp the tooth was.

He did it!

It's been a long few years for Andy. Many late nights, group projects and papers. Trying to coordinate work, kid stuff and class work. Happy to say, that Andy did it! He graduated with his MBA and we are so very proud of him! Andy worked very hard to get this degree while still being a terrific husband and father. What an achievement! And, he got great grades in his classes and had an awesome graduating GPA. Way to go!

(Andy was even sweet enough to take a picture of this page for me so I could put it on the blog.)

what we did while Daddy was away

Andy was gone for his last of 5 weekend football camps this weekend.  We managed to keep ourselves busy...

Kinley played with the Anna Kitty

Ewan had a soccer game

Kinley got to watch

Liam had a soccer game-and scored a goal!

Cale (#10) had a soccer game.  Marcus got to watch.

Marcus had a soccer game.

We also went to our babysitter's wedding.  The kids, even Kinley, were surprisingly good.  Marcus wanted to sit in the car instead of going into the wedding.  I think it was residual grumpiness from not being allowed to bring his tablet.  

And then there was Mother's Day.  I loved getting the little art project the boys made for me in school.  I also got a few petunias that the kids planted in Childrens' Worship at church.  One of the things I love most is getting to be mom to my six kids.

Kinley modeled her new onesie

Kinley screamed and hollered at the nursery ladies at church and then finally fell asleep in the swing.

We went out for ice cream.  We stood in line for a good 20 minutes before we got out treat.  Liam entertained some strangers by singing "The Wise Man Built His House Upon the Rock" several times.  They were waiting, too, and enjoyed the performance.

That's all. (and that's enough!) This weekend kept up very busy.  I can assure you that the kiddos fell asleep quickly tonight.