Winding Down & Gearing Up

Well, earlier this month, we registered Cash for Kindergarten. Can't beleive it! He is certainly ready and proved this by passing the school's little tests with flying colors (scoring a 36 out of 39). They were surprised he could skip so well and commented on how well he writes his letters (nice, small size). This fall will certainly prove bitter-sweet for me as Cash will start Kindergarten and Vanna will start pre-school (which she is so thrilled about). I'm excited for the kids, of course, but I'm also a bit sad - as you can imagine - to see my babies growing so fast and 'leaving the nest' in a small way :). I think what helps with the sadness, is the excitement I have over being able to spend one on one time with Rosie for a couple hours several times a week while the 'big kids' are at school. It will be so nice, just me and the baby, awww.

Cash finished up his last week at pre-school this past week and it was a fun filled week at that. They had a field trip to the fire-station that was such a blast - Vanna even joined the group and got to enjoy the field trip too. Fireman Bob did such a great job at keeping the kids engaged as he taught them what to do in case of a fire (funny that of all the kids, Vanna was the one to answer most of his questions though). Then he piled all the class into the fire engine and took them all on a short ride around the block while showing of it's lights and sirens. After their adventurous ride, the kids practiced squirting water from miniature fire hoses onto a 'burning house'.

Cash's teacher also celebrated all the kids' summer birthdays this week which was exciting for him.

And to finish up the week, we watched Cash and his class perform their pre-school program. It was entitled Preschool Through the Year. Each kid has a part describing a particular time of year and then what they were learning about at pre-school at that time. Cash had his part down pat and the entire group just did such a cute job!

With all that accomplished, we are now gearing up for a fun summer of T-ball, swimming lessons, story time, family trips and reunions, camping, etc. Whew!

Double The Fun!

CASH & VANNA'S BIRTHDAY PARTY

Both the kids wanted birthday parties this year and since we hadn't done one with friends for a couple years, I decided to grant their wish :).  Although, since their birthdays are somewhat close together, they wanted to invite all the same friends, and because I only had the energy to do one party - we combined them.  Vanna's birthday is in April, Cash's in June, so we threw a party smack in the middle, in May.  It was a carnival theme so we decorated as such (which I forgot to get a picture of darn it - it really did turn out pretty cute), played a couple carnival-type games (bean bag toss and potato sack races, pinata, etc.) and had carnival food (hot dogs, chips, pop, popcorn and cupcakes for dessert). 

The kids' race.

And the big kids' race :).

Cash was first at bat for the pinata and broke it open.  He is a slugger but gosh we were hoping the pinata would last longer than that.  We actually ended up duct taping it back together (not al the candy had fallen out yet) for everyone else to have a turn at the fun.

Candy!

So many of our good friends were able to attend and we just had such a great time playing and visiting with them! The kids were so wound up that night, going through their gifts and treats over and over again and talking about it all so excitedly to one another - they had a hard time finally falling asleep and slept with much of their new treasures :).

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KIDS!!!

Rosie Posie

Our baby girl is four and a half months already! At her four month appointment she was 24 inches tall and weighed in at 12 lbs. 5 oz.

I was messing around the other day and put ponies all over in Rosie's hair for the first time. Doesn't she look funny? I was cracking up. I suppose it's just because I'm used to her hair down, but I think I like it down better for now :).

-Rosie has really started talking and blowing bubbles with her slobber

-still loves to chew on her hands and/or burp rags

-she is so smiley and often laughs (it's a one hard sigh type laugh or chuckle rather than a continuous laugh - we're still working on getting that out of her :)

-rubs her eyes when she starts getting tired

-while nursing, Rosie will pull away and look up to me to give me a big, beautiful smile - then get back down to business and start eating - another "stop to smell the roses" type of girl :), she also plays with her hair (even pulling it to what I'd consider a painfull point) to soothe herself and help put herself to sleep

-loves to get her diaper changed - I think Rosie just likes getting 'freshened up'

-has rolled from back to tummy (first baby to roll this way first, which is strange because she doesn't even like being on her tummy) and tummy to back but doesn't do it very often

-Rosie has seemed to want solid foods so badly so I started giving her rice cereal and she has loved it. I've never started my babies on cereral so soon but she would just watch my every move when I was eating and would seem to get so excited when she thought food was coming her way. A couple weeks ago, we had pizza for dinner and she would watch it go to and from me mouth and almost lurch towards it (I was holding her while I ate). Finally I decided it couldn't hurt if I just put it up to her mouth for her to kind of naw on it or get a little taste of it. I was surprised though by the way she just seemed to attack it - it was then I decided I'd start her on cereal. I was also surprised by how well she did with the cereal when I first gave it to her - she slicked down her little bowl full and has seemed to love it ever since. Now we're starting to introduce fruits and veggies with it too.