Emily, Noelle and Georgia made Play-Doh cupcakes and ice cream cones after their field trip last week! 

 

Mrs. Paula has asked us to save all our bottle lids to bring to school, and has researched and gotten the kids really excited about bottle cap art!

 

A couple of weeks ago, the weather was awful and the kids had to stay inside for most of the week.  Mrs. Paula got creative and did junk art with all the kids, letting them create art with all her junk… the kids argued with her that it was not junk, but treasures!!!  All in the eye of the beholder!

The kids spotted a lizard (on a good weather day), and Mrs. Paula being the scientist that she is, let the kids catch it and play up close with this spiny friends.  Glad Anna Kate has Mrs. Paula to help out with this part of learning, lol!

 

More junk “treasure” art!

 

Mrs. Paula let’s the kids help grow the fruits and vegetables that they eat for lunch and snack time!  Right now the bean plants are growing (left), along with the plums (right)…

And the peaches too!  I’m telling you guys, I don’t know how Mrs. Paula does it.  Her life is all about teaching.  She IS a teacher… she doesn’t do it for any other reason than that is the way God made her.  She’s a continual learner and a continual teacher with leaps and bounds of energy beyond anyone I’ve ever met.  I LOVE having Anna Kate around such an energetic and happy person during school!

Yeah, I’m not going near that thing, but it was the first thing Anna Kate told me when she got home from school.  She loved catching the big lizard, so good for her!

Volcano time!

 

Another indoor day, Mrs. Paula got a huge box full of beans, and let the kids work on their fine motor skills!  The activities and imaginary play at her house are endless!

 

 

See how they are all sitting in the box!?!  I would have loved this as a four year old!  So cool… such a fun and easy idea too!

 

More bean experiments and Emily rummaging through the pile of “treasure!”

Mrs. Paula’s sweet assistant Mrs. Julie, is always smiling and loving on the kids, helping with lunches, and being available to kiss a scratched knee or give extra cuddles to someone having a bad day.  Her sweet spirit is contagious, and we love her very much too!

This is the kids’ lunch room!  Mrs. Paula only accepts 10 kids into her program at a time, so the kids get lots of attention.  Patriot, the class (and family) dog, doesn’t count in her numbers, lol!  Anna Kate’s classmates are all respectful and sweet children.  We have not had one cross word at school… not one little mean thing said, and for pre-k, that’s huge!  Mrs. Paula works very hard selecting a class that compliments each other.  Anna Kate is part of a team at school, and she definitely feels valued and part of something very special.  We have been blown away this year by such an awesome pre-k experience for Anna Kate.  She will definitely be here next year, starting pre-kindergarten curriculum with Mrs. Paula.  She is already leaps and bounds ahead of where I thought she would be at four, so next year will just be icing on the cake.  She’s reading easy words, and is counting up a storm, along with simple math.  She loves to listen to books I read to Noelle, and remembers facts that I don’t even remember (like the name of the elementary school a kid went to in one book, the name of a random bird in another).  Her brain amazes me, and the associations she is making are honestly sometimes beyond me.  She saw a tapestry in a magazine and told me Rara had the same one in her house on top of her stairs.  I had no clue.  Sure enough, the tapestry in the magazine was the same tapestry in Rara’s house at the top of her stairs, just like Anna Kate said.  I know all kids do these crazy cool things from time to time, but I just had to share a few of my thoughts on our special little girl and how her brain works.  We are so proud of all of our children beyond words, but in this moment, I’m celebrating Anna Kate, her wonderful teachers and school.

Noelle, Emily and Anna Kate had a blast at their elementary school carnival last weekend, especially with Radio Disney there to entertain!

 

Emily got picked to answer a question and won a cool poster… Lesleigh did a great job jump roping and Anna Kate couldn’t wait to say hi!

 

The two things the girls wanted to do were get their hair painted and run in the hamster ball, so that’s what we did!  It was lots of fun, and I don’t blame them.  I want a turn!

 

The big girls danced and danced at the Radio Disney booth and Anna Kate hung out with her buddy Caden.  They all wanted to wear their wings from the party, and that was a big hit! 

 

Jillian is one of Lesleigh’s friends, and Anna Kate is crazy about her too!  I got one quick pic of Emily and Noelle in the hamster ball before it collapsed!  

Out they come!

They did some video clips for Radio Disney to video… Anna Kate looks so cute in this picture.  Apparently, she didn’t want everyone to run!  I didn’t even notice she was unhappy until I saw this picture.  She’s so easy; go-with-the flow Cutie Kate.  And Noelle always has a blast participating in activities and trying her best to do a great job!  They had a blast at the Spring Fling this year!

 

Berkley (above) and Hudson had the cutest Pixies and Pirates party on Saturday.  Rose and Berkley are a month apart, and they are big buds.  Hudson just turned 1 (on Berkley’s second birthday week), so it was tons of fun celebrating both babies today!

 

Holly turned their dining room into Pixie Hollow with a big pirate ship in the middle where the kids sat to have cake!  It was amazing!  Here’s Malia and Noelle, so proud of their new fairy wings!

Here’s the 3-4 year olds of the bunch!  Julia, Anna Kate, Malia, and Christian are having so much fun growing up together!  It’s so cool!

 

Such cute décor and beautiful birthday cake (delicious too)!

 

 

Rose, Malia, and Berkley were having a super snuggly group hug, lol!

 

The fairy juice boxes were a huge hit with Anna Kate and Julia as were the gold fish with Rose, lol!

This is the cutest little sis/bro birthday cake pic I’ve ever seen… they were both so excited and just couldn’t wait… it was an adorable sight to see!

 

Anna Kate with Malia and Noelle with Emily… friends of the heart right here!  Love these kids and are so blessed my girls have friends that are as sweet and kind as these two. 

 

Rose goes crazy over cupcakes and desserts because parties and holidays are about the only times she gets them.  She was in sugar heaven right here and was showing off her icing!  I caught Noelle and Anna Kate just standing here hugging each other.  I think they were getting tired.  Noelle had been at the carnival already, and Anna Kate got to skip her nap today.  They did great, but I could tell they weren’t as energetic as usual!

 

Here’s another sweet picture of the fairies, and someone else found her wings as well!  Look how proud Rose is.  OMG!  This child is precious and sneaky and lovely and always up to something.  We would be lost without her!!!

I love this on guard fairy.  She may be a fairy, but if a pirate is needed, she can protect her crew!  This was one of my favorite pics of the day!  So perfectly Malia.  She’s AWESOME!!!

This was another favorite of the fairies flying away!  Today was so carefree!

  

Check out these happy girls… they couldn’t be any more precious and each one is so crazy cute!

 

This adorable little fairy wasn’t ready to go home yet!

 

Talk about a face that melts my heart… Anna Kate’s got it down!  Little did she know, we were off to finish out our tickets at spring fling at sissy’s school!  Here’s Mike and Rose telling us goodbye.  So, while we went to the end of the carnival, Rose got to take her nap, and Mike got to get some work done.  This was such a beautiful day!  We were so happy to be back into the swing of things.  We love being busy and enjoying our happy life, and are thankful most of the sickness has passed us by!

The highlight of our week last week was Noelle’s 1st grade musical entitled “Nuts!”  It was the cutest, most entertaining little sing-along kid’s show we’ve ever seen!  The kids had a blast and all week Noelle couldn’t wait until it was show time!  Here are some of Noelle’s friends, left to right: Emily, Ava, Noelle, Georgia, Emerson, and Claire

 

Jacob and Noelle were in the same class last year and this year and are fun little friends!  Jacob is like the class clown, and Noelle loves to laugh, so they get along great!  And here’s a little pic of the sister stair step, but they are all growing so fast, I know they won’t be stair-stepped forever!

Here’s Carson, Noelle and Ava after the play!  They were all so giddy and cute!

Before the play, we got to go to the library and check out their “art show!”  Noelle did a great job with her design, and I knew it was hers right when I saw it… full of life and color! 

 

Here is Lesleigh trying to keep the littles entertained before the show began!

Noelle’s house color is yellow.  Rose got this yellow jewelry from the Easter bunny in her Easter basket and was happy to let Noelle borrow it for her special night, lol!  It turned out super cute.  Wish I could say I planned it, but I just thought yellow would be a pretty color for Rose to have, and Noelle found it in Rose’s bow drawer and asked if she could wear it.  Perfect idea and taste, as always.  She was really disappointed they couldn’t get all dressed up for their program like they did last year, so she accessorized to make up for it… always designing and getting her fancy on.  I wish I could be more like her.  She’s so brave and bold… I love her style!  She’s helped me come out of my shell a lot.  We were in a store today, and she told me she liked a flowy sheer top that went off the shoulder on one side.  I told her I liked it too and she said, “Someday I’m going to make you a top just like that one.”  She’s always thinking like that.  Those comments really stick with me because I have never heard another 6 year old talk or dream like that.   

 

Oh, and these littles are just waiting for their turn up on that big stage!  They’ve already got personality plus!

Noelle is to the right of the microphone on the bottom row.  She was still in her ending pose because she saw me taking a picture. 

 

This is Mrs. Baker’s last year of teaching.  She’s been the music teacher for 14 years at Noelle’s school.  Noelle was dying to get her picture with Mrs. Baker and loves her very much.  After we congratulated Mrs. Baker, Noelle showed Anna Kate how it felt to be on the risers.  They were so happy and proud to be up there!

  

After a quick picture with Momma, we headed to Yogurt Zone for a treat!  This was such a fun night that comes once a year now.  I can’t wait for many more of the special nights to come!

Great job, Noelle!!!  We are always so proud of you!  You are happy, confident, graceful, energetic and sweet and anyone who was watching couldn’t miss that snaggletooth cutie on the front row shining brighter than her shirt!  Lots of love always, Mom and Dad

Anna Kate and her friends Jacob, Livy, and Ella are the luckiest kids in the world to have such an awesome school and teacher that takes them on Field Trips almost every week.  Anna Kate’s little life is getting off to such a great, healthy, happy start!  We are blessed!

Anna Kate was holding her ears because the train whistle was so loud.  She hates loud noises, like fireworks too, lol!

Stagecoach picture!

This is the cutest zoo picture of an animal I’ve ever seen!!!

And this one is the most menacing…

 

Anna Kate is always precautious of new things at first…

But it didn’t take long to realize this gator wasn’t real and actually a whole lot of fun!

But not this one!

 

As Anna Kate and I were looking through her school pictures tonight, she told me, “That kangaroo and her little joey weren’t real, but her little joey was so cute!”  That cracked me up!  Mrs. Paula is from Australia, so she’s getting the low-down on lots of cool lingo!

 

Anna Kate told me this is the tank that had Finding Nemo and Dory in it, and she spotted them both!  Cool! 

Jacob was helping Anna Kate stay on the turtle!

 

Anna Kate, Livy, and Ella had a blast posing on the turtle together.  Anna Kate wanted me to make sure you guys know that it’s not a real turtle either.  Good to know!

Mrs. Paula’s pics are awesome!  I love them each and every week. 

Here the kids go, off to another adventure with Mrs. Paula! 

Noelle had her 1st grade performance last week called “Nuts!”  Here’s some of her buddies before the show; Chloe, Emerson, Georgia and Noelle.  They did such a great job; It was super cute!  I have lots more pictures to post, so I’ll have those up this week, along with pictures of her school carnival!  Just wanted to post some Instagram pics on our blog to give our blog readers captions to the pictures if you don’t have Instagram on your phone.  At least you can see our more up-to-date pics on the sidebar!  Hope everyone has a great week!

 

We’re enjoying our blankets so much!!!  Thanks again!

Mike recorded Noelle’s favorite song from her school musical “Nuts!” for you guys get to see!  It’s soooo cute and adorable!  They say, “We’re big bad squirrels!  We know you think we’re precious, we know we think were sweet, but we do the heavy lifting, yeah, we rock there’s no dispute, yeah, we rock there’s no dispute.  We’re big bad squirrels!”  Hope it brings a smile to your day like it did ours!

There are no words to describe how much joy this little ball of energy brings to our family.  She’s all out, all the time, and we love her for it!  Her cute little smile is contagious, no matter how much trouble she’s in!  As soon as I’m done, she’ll pat my cheek and give me her cute scrunchy-nosed smile, and I’m smitten all over again!

I don’t know how Rose unraveled all of our foil without me hearing her do it while I was doing the big girls’ hair one day last week.  She did this along with 3 other crazy things that I’ll spare you the details of… suffice it to say, she can demolish this place in a matter of minutes.  The other two would have never thought to do this, or countless other things Rose just can’t help getting herself into.  Her favorite show is Curious George, and he is always getting into trouble by trying to help; I think he may be her role model, lol!  She’s pretty much the most adorable Tasmanian devil you’ve ever seen, but we love her with all we’ve got!