a blast from the past-Kinley's preschool Christmas program

Oh, about the 3rd week of December, it was time for Kinley's preschool Christmas program.  Kinley and I went shopping for an outfit for her to wear and she picked out a smashing Elsa number, complete with white tights with silver stars and red, sparkly shoes(ala the ruby slippers).  This girl knows what she wants.  Of course, the program was cute.  Kinley's class was reindeer and sang some cute songs.  From where I sat, it looked like she did a good job singing and doing the little movements.  It was sweet to watch the little ones on stage.

Ugh, blurry photo.  Still haven't mastered this new camera.  See if you can figure out which one Kinley is.  All the photos looked like this, so I stopped trying to take any and just enjoyed the program.

Of course I got a picture with my girl after the program was over.

Time for meeting Santa!  We don't make an effort to take the kids to see Santa anywhere else, so this is all they know.  I don't know if Kinley knew what to think at first, but she warmed up to Santa quickly.

Kella was pumped to sit on Santa's lap.  

Even Ewan took a turn. Pretty sure he still believes in the magic.

The real Santa was thankful that what the kids asked for while sitting on Santa's lap were things that were already coming to them for Christmas.  Some punch and cookies rounded out this last preschool Christmas program for our family.

Oh, the apple orchard, again

Kinley's last preschool field trip to the apple orchard was while ago.  I think I (along with any of the teachers, I'm sure) know the entire tour by heart.  The biggest reason I like going is to get some delicious Honeycrisp apples and homemade apple cider.  The kids all get to go on a tractor ride and pick an apple from the trees.  Super fun for the littles.  And, the local paper was out photographing the visit.  If you scroll down to the photo gallery in the article, you will see that Kinley was included.

http://www.kokomotribune.com/news/family-trees-farlow-s-has-borne-fruit-at-howard-county/article_a288ce6c-a899-11e7-8bdc-0b10419ce99c.html

Last year of preschool

This is it for Kinley-her last year of preschool.  She stared back at the end of August with much excitement.  She is in the "Pickles" class this year and loves it.  Preschool is 3 mornings a week, which keeps us busy.  If I drive Kinley up, I spend her class time going to the YMCA or running errands-or trying to squeeze in both.  If Andy drives Kinley, that's because I worked the night before and am getting a nap in before I have to come pick Kinley up.  It's a good arrangement, either way. You know, this is the 13th year we have sent a child to this preschool.  That's a lot of preschool.

Looking cute and ready to go!

Sporting her "pickles" shirt-the pre-Ks are the green class.

Here's to a great year for Kinley and her teachers!

First day, last day

Comparison pics are fun.  Hey, everyone's doing it.  So, for posterity's sake, I present you with the children's photos from the start and end of their school years.   

Kinley-Jumpstart class at Sonlight Station Preschool

Ewan (4th grade), Liam (2nd grade) and Kella (kindergarten) at Hamilton Heights Primary School

Marcus (8th grade) and Cale (6th grade) at Hamilton Heights Middle School

a little bit of Christmas program fun

Smack dab in the middle of December was Kinley's preschool Christmas program.  I forced everyone to come.  The promise of cookies afterward sweetened the deal.  Kinley did great.  It's always funny to hear her teachers talk about how much Kinley has improved through the year.  They have a great perspective, because they have known Kinley and her personality since she was born.  

Kinley's class dressed up like eskimos.  

The preschool sings. Kinley is in white, in front.

A close-up.  Kinley had her hair up in a bun for dance that morning, and she wanted it that way for the program. So cute!

more cute!

And, even more cute!

Santa came and just a couple of the kids wanted to see him.  Kella was excited to tell Santa she wanted a dog, a cat and a bunny for Christmas.  (pretend of course)

Liam wanted to smell test this Santa, ala the movie Elf.  I don't think this one smelled like beef and cheese.

the cutest bumblebee...

Little Miss wears this costume at least once every week-it's what she wore to her Miss 

Spider's Tea Party at preschool way back in October.  I try and string out the days by leaving it hanging up to "to dry" in the laundry room for a few days.  I actually just took it off the hanger in the laundry room to put back into circulation.  I wouldn't be surprised if she's wearing it by tomorrow.

Sweet Bumblebee.

Kinley was so happy to go and pick out her costume.

another preschool field trip-pumpkin patch edition

What October would be complete without a field trip to a pumpkin patch.  I know Kella's kindergarten class took one.  Kinley's preschool took one, too.  This is always one of my favorite trips because the pumpkin patches are close to our house and we don't have to get ready quite as early those mornings.  This day was no exception.  Kinley and I took our time getting to the patch, and still made it there a good 20 minutes before everyone else.  Plenty of time to take pictures.

It was a windy day.  The sky was clear, but it was cool, jacket weather. 

We found a stick. It was awesome.

The kids got to play in an area with a tunnel slide that started at the top of a hill.  Kinley loves slides.

She also loves to drive stationary, wooden tractors...

She does not like to help her mom take selfies.

And, we even got to picnic lunch it at the golden arches-our favorite restaurant.

Kinley goes to preschool

Kinley started preschool at the beginning of September.  This year she is in the Jumpstart class, also known as as the "blue" class.  She goes twice a week for a little over two hours.  Kinley loves going to preschool and loves being done with preschool and coming home.  So far, she has only been in the director's office once for having a Kinley temper tantrum (because she wanted to paint some more).  No one that knows her was surprised that this happened.

First day of preschool.  Sleeping in.  The one day we need to get moving, the child does not want to wake up. 

But, we made it with time to still play in centers.  And, to get a first day pic.

First day went great!  Kinley was a little confused at first and tried to go in her class from last year.  She really loved her yellow class.  

Also in September, the annual field trip to the apple orchard happened.  Andy and I have been on this trip more times than we can count.  And that day was a rough start for Kinley.  She didn't want to go to school.  She didn't want to ride with me to the orchard.  She didn't want her picture taken with her class.  It took a little bit for her to be happy.

Then, she had a apple cider slushie and everything was better.

We got to go on a tractor wagon ride and pick a couple apples.  Kinley is a big apple fan and we ate our apples on the way home from the orchard.

Everyone's last day of school!

We are at the beginning of our summer break.  The ladies finished preschool a few weeks ago and the boys just finished up on Thursday the 2nd.  What can I say?  The kids all had amazing teachers that they loved.  What a blessing it is to have teachers who love our kids.

Good-bye Pre-K and Bumblebee classes!  Hello Kindergarten and Jumpstart!

Goodbye 7th, 5th, 3rd and 1st grade!  Hello 8th, 6th, 4th and 2nd grade!

Getting crafty for Valentine's Day-thank you Pinterest!

I was tired. 

Tired of our collection of leftover valentines.

Tired of seeing all the valentine ideas I pinned on Pinterest.

Time for some change.  

Now, before I could figure out exactly what kinds of valentines to do, Liam got motivated and filled out his using the random collection of valentines we had accumulated.  

So, then I went searching, and found these two valentines.

For the girls....

http://www.popsugar.com/moms/DIY-Noncandy-Printable-Valentine-Day-Cards-Kids-13791428#photo-27420908

Cute.  Simple,  Pink. And, glowsticks.

And, for Ewan...

http://www.stitchcraftcreations.com/2012/01/30/forceful-valentines/

Glowsticks!  Who doesn't love glowsticks?  And Star Wars to boot! 

Our printer totally came through and printed the valentines out on some cardstock.  I used purple and pink for the girls and plain white for Ewan.

Ewan was excited to do something different.  He likes Star Wars and glow sticks.  And, his teacher had decided on no candy valentines.  So this was something fun to give out in place of candy.

The finished products.  They turned out pretty well and I will be searching my pins again next year for more ideas.