Meridian Dairy Days Parade

Also happening on the last day of school was the annual Meridian dairy days parade! My friend Candice called and told me that a print shop had advertised coming in and getting free Dairy days t-shirts before the parade started, normally they throw them out to the parade watchers and it is not a guarantee to get one, so I took the kids and went to get some shirts. The only size they had was adult large and only those who came in got to leave with a shirt, so that meant no shirt for Kefford...too bad. Kenedy had one of her friends call her from Linder Elementary asking her to walk in the parade with her for Autism awareness. Kenedy quickly agreed and we were told to just cut out holes in a white pillowcase and put cow spots on it with "Autism Awareness" on the back. I did not have any spare pillowcases lying around that I was wanting to cut up and I did not want to go and buy a brand new one to cut up so I went the the local goodwill and bought a used one for $.99. I felt very clever and thrifty when I thought of that. So Kenedy got picked up by her friends, I fed us all dinner at home because I was not in the mood to cart and carry and we were off to the parade.

I almost missed Kenedy as she was passing by. I kept looking for her and waiting for her to appear and then suddenly there she was. She looked super cute in her pillowcase and it looked like she was having lots of fun. In the picture with her is her good friend Lauryn Warner.

The three kiddos watching the parade had great seats and were able to collect lots of candy, string cheese and chocolate milk. No ice-cream was handed out this year..:o(

just a little note to all the Moms out there who might find themselves stuck watching parades with their kids...I have found and perfected the secret to getting parade swag. The trick is to be a girl first and foremost. Girls get way more swag then boys. All you have to do is look the people in the eye and smile, that's it, maybe wave your arm around a little, but really that is it. It is so simple and it works every single time...swear it! Oh and if you have a baby, keep that baby in your arms and people with be rushing and fighting to hand stuff directly to you..no kidding. I got a t-shirt, food, spray cleaners, water bottles just by using my simple tricks. Yup being a girl is GREAT!

Last Day of School!

I got a little behind in my blog postings and then when I did blog I went with what was current and new. So in the interest of trying to catch up here is what has happened the previous months.

We had the last day of school and for Kenedy it was the last day of Elementary School! I cannot believe that my little girl is going to middle school. Where has the time gone!? I was a little disappointed that the school did not have a big fifth grade celebration but I was able to go to the assembly honoring the fifth graders. Avynlea, Rylee and I got to the school a little early, OK an hour early for the assembly and we were still stuck in the third row back! Serious early birds at this school. I am going to have to step up my early bird game for next year.

All of the fifth graders came in and took seats on the stage. Kenedy was excited to see us there and I got close to take pictures before all the other kids came in. I am such a trendsetter that as soon as I was done with my picture taking lots of other parents copied me and got up close to take pictures of their little darlings. Way to be original guys! Just kidding it didn't bother me, of course, why should it. :o)

The kids all got certificates of advancement

and a small group of kids got special certificates from the President, either for achievement or excellence. Kenedy was one of them! Her award was for Achievement in getting top scores on her ISATS all year. I think it was that she got advanced on all the Idaho standardized tests. I was a little surprised that she didn't also get an award for straight A's all year. But I am very proud of her for her accomplishments, all of them. She has always been an excellent student and I really hope this tradition of doing her best continues with her. 

While I waited for the Kindergarten celebration I got a picture with Ryker and his teacher Mrs. Pitchford, whom I loved as Rykers teacher. She was the perfect teacher for Ryker and I know he learned a lot in her class and grew as a student and person.

Time for the Kindergarten Graduation. I found it interesting that they made more of a big deal about the Kindergartners going into First grade then they did the Fifth graders going into middle school.

Anyways, the Kids had cute little graduation caps and they marched into the library to the pomp and circumstance song. It was pretty cute.

After they all sat down they sang two cute little songs about growing up and then Miss Clements spoke a few words about the class and how she tried talking them all into repeating Kindergarten so she could have them again but none of the kids were going for that.

They were called up one by one and received their certificates of advancement, Avynleas teacher really tried to get the kids to pose for the cameras while they were receiving the awards but none of them really cooperated. They were all anxious to sit down and get out of the limelight I suppose.

After the little ceremony it was back to the classroom for treats and goodbyes. I love cupcakes and when I saw cupcakes floating around in peoples hands I tried to get all of my kids to go and get me one. Finally Avynlea stepped up to the plate and went to get me one but by the time she got up there they were all gone. Seriously? My kids are too slow.

Avynlea and Miss Clements.

Miss Clement was a great teacher for Avynleas first year of school. Avynlea absolutely loved her and she helped her to have a fun and knowledge filled year!

Here is Kenedy with her teacher Mr. Ceniga. At the start of the year Kenedy kept talking about how she wanted a male teacher, so she was pretty excited when she found out she got one. Mr. Ceniga was another amazing teacher and Kenedy loved being in his class and she really learned a lot. I was really happy with all of my kids teachers, we lucked out with getting three good ones. I hope that next year is just as lucky for us.

After school was out on this last day of school we went with our friends, the Nichols, to a self serve frozen yogurt place. This shop features a big variety of self serving Frozen yogurt with lots and lots of yummy toppings. It sells its goodies by the ounce and since I neglected to give my kids a limit to what they could do it got a little spendy for me. I tried to keep my eye on what was going on and tried to make my kids hold back a little but it was fun and I was not too worried, I still was able to buy groceries for the rest of the month. :o)

Lindsey, Avynlea and Rylee

Katherine, Kenedy and Ryker

Elizabeth and Candice

Snuggle Buddies

Rylee is definitely my best smuggler. It drives me crazy sometimes when I am trying to take a nap to have her crawling on top of me, literally, so she can take a nap also. Luckily she found that her Grandma Alison is a willing snuggle buddy while napping.

I found Rylee asleep in Kenedy's bed one night and I thought the way she was sleeping was so cute!

Pretty Pretty Haircuts

Last weekend I decided my two little girls needed a haircut. Ryker was at cub scout day camp and Kefford took Kenedy shooting with him so I took my girls to the salon. I discovered a cute little kids haircut place right here in Meridian so on Saturday morning that is where we headed.

First off the girls got to get their hair washed. 

Then they got to choose which animal to sit on. Both of the girls chose the frog. Rylee went first in all of this and Avynlea second.

Rylee got more of a haircut while Avynlea got a trim. I had them do a shorter tapered in the back type of cut for Rylee with some bangs. Avynlea just had a little bit of a trim but then she also got some bangs cut. I think they both look super cute with their new hairstyles. After the cuts they had their hair blown dry, styled and then had glitter spray added in. So much fun!

After the cuts they each got their fingernails shaped and then got to pick some polish to have applied. Rylee chose a purpleish red color with white flowers and Avynlea picked dark blue with alternating stripes and stars in silver.

Thee girls had so much fun being pampered like little princesses. We definitely will be coming back here again!

Kenedy and Ryker Perform

Another year of piano lessons had to come to an end. With that end comes the end of year piano recital! This time around Kenedys teacher, Darcie Dille, told Kenedy to go to the music store and pick out some music that she wanted to learn and perform. Kenedy told me that she wanted to do a song from Pirates of the Caribbean and so one day while she was in school I went to get her music. Of course the store did not have any of the Pirates sheet music, in her level, in stock. She needed to start practicing her music right away in order to be ready for her recital so I looked at the selections they did have. When I saw Taylor Swifts "Love Story" in her level I knew she would love it. So I bought the music and brought it home to Kenedy. She was super excited about the song selection and worked really hard to learn her song. At the recital Kenedy did a perfect job. She looked really pretty and played the song beautifully.

I am really proud of her for how well she has been learning the piano and I am excited for her to have this skill in her life.

Ryker was also given the opportunity to select his own song for the recital. Ryker though, had to pick a song from the book he has been working in. Ryker has almost completed his book this year and instead of choosing one of the harder songs in the back of the book, Ryker chose "Jack and the Beanstalk" from the front of the book. Now although I would have rather him do something a little more difficult I understand his choice because this is a song that he really enjoyed playing. At the recital Ryker also did a really good job and I am happy that he is willing to learn how to play the piano although it is not without a lot of fights. :o/

He will thank me when he is older for sure!

The sad thing about this recital is it is Darcie's last year of teaching piano. She is our Relief Society president and with her boys all in school, one going into High School, she has a need to be more available for her family. I get it, I don't like it, but I get it. She was a great teacher and the kids really liked her so we will miss her a lot. Hopefully we can find someone else just as good for a good price. :o)

Kenedy in Concert

This pasy school year Kenedy has been involved in Bell Choir. Every tuesday and thursday she and her two best friends Hannah and Natalia would arrive at school 45 minutes early so that they could practice. I mention her two friends being a part of it because I am so glad they were. For many reasons was I glad she had her friends with her but mostly because the three of us Moms were able to switch off driving the kiddos to school each week. Made for a nice car pooling arrangement. So the Bell Choir kids would perform little songs at assemblys and they also performed at the schools All grade christmas concert. That concert was not the best place to see and listen to the bell choir because they had them on the floor way over on the side and nobody could really see them. So was I ever happy to find out that they were having an end of the year Bell Choir Concert. Kefford and Ryker could not attend because they had Fathers and Son Campout that night but Kenedy called her Grandma Alison a couple of nights before to tell her about it and she came with Trista! Yay!

I was very interested in how the bells looked, not like typical bells, and very impressed with how good the kids were.

Overall they did a really good job and I am proud of Kenedy for sticking with this and learning a new skill