Last Day of Pre-K

To celebrate the last day of school yesterday, Katie's class had a day of fun and a picnic lunch. They blew colorful bubbles and got out all of the playground equipment to play with/on. It was a sad time when it all came to an end and Katie gave her teachers hugs and kisses goodbye.. she had some amazing teachers! Thankfully, Tys is already enrolled there for next year so I knew we'd be back :) Katie is now looking forward to Kindergarten and wondering what her new classroom will be like.

One last Pre-K picture with Taylor and Katie!

School year

Katie's last day of Pre-K is tomorrow. I can't believe how fast this last school year flew by and am sure I'll be saying that in the next 12 years to come!
Katie has spent the last 9 months learning not only her ABC's and 123's but, also things like cutting and pasting, memorizing songs and Bible verses, improving on her drawing and writing skills, making new friends, learning Bible stories during Chapel, writing letters & numbers and so much more! Singing is one of Katie's favorite things to do and I've often gotten comments from her teacher, Mrs Brannan, on how well Katie sings and learns the songs. The class also got to go on fieldtrips to their future Kindergarten classroom, bring goodies to the elderly at the local nursing home and, have hands on experiences with the fire department and dentist office.

Another favorite part of school for Katie was when it was her turn for Show N Tell or to bring snacks. Two very big and important parts of Pre-K! Having to get up in front of the whole class helped Katie overcome a little bit of her shyness... her being shy in class was a surprise to me but something her teacher and I talked about it. I think she has some shyness in her but, mainly she's just happy to sit back and contently watch as everyone else is jumping in for attention or to answer a question etc. Like her daddy, she is an observer and a learner... unlike me who is more "obnoxious" and the loud one at a party! lol Katie is also very caring and spent the schoolyear watching out for her friend, Taylor. With Katie being the tallest girl in class and Taylor being the shortest, they made quite the cute pair of friends!

The teachers at the school do a fabulous job of making learning fun for the kids but, also keeping the classroom under control and structured. Katie has learned how to participate and take turns and raising her hand to be called upon. I know she has the whole hand-raising thing down because at home she'll raise her hand high and say "pick me, pick me" whenever I ask a question to her and her brothers.

Over the course of this last spring, we parents were assigned the task of teaching our children their home addresses and phone numbers. In the very beginning, out of curiousity to see what she'd say, I asked Katie what she thought her address was. Her reply was www.radiatorsprings.com She now knows her real address but, we had a good laugh about that one!
Katie and Lauren ~ Lauren's dad works with Casey at Atlas

Katie's Spring Program

Carnival

On Saturday evening Casey and I met our friends, Becky & Tony and their kids, at the carnival. At first Casey and I had debated about taking them since we're not huge "carnie" fans but, it ended up being a fun filled evening and of course, the kids had a blast! Tys chose this car because of it's "big motor"! lol He's such a little Haveman :)

Katie in her girlie car....

Our future firefighter...

At one point a light rain shower came through and we headed over to the park for shelter. It didn't last too long but, long enough we could take in the view of a beautiful rainbow!

Backhoe

Everynight after work this last week, Casey has been working hard at getting the rest of the sprinkler system put in the ground. I'm proud of how hard he works and that he has the ability to do things that, otherwise, we'd have to pay lots of money to have someone else do!

Wednesday and Thursday evening brought all sorts of excitement for the kids when Casey borrowed our friend's backhoe and began filling in the trenches. The kids love anything that has to do with big machinery and had so much fun taking turns riding with their daddy! Casey had to keep a close eye on Trenton since he thought that he was old enough to run the backhoe by himself :)

Tys hasn't been a big fan of getting his picture taken lately.. but he was there too!

Katie talks non-stop while we're driving in the car... asking questions and wanting to know why this does that or, giving me long winded ideas... I love to hear her jibber jabber but must admit that sometimes I have to tune her out to concentrate on driving. So, I do the typical mommy "uh-huh" answers.
Well this morning, after a while of her chatter and my "uh-huh's" she exclaims "WOW MOMMY! YOU'RE SMART!!!"

Not sure what it is that I'm smart about but, I'll take whatever I can get :)

Katie

Casey and I have been realizing more and more lately how much Katie has grown this last winter/spring. Not only has her long legs grown out of her jeans but, her questions and comments have been putting our thinking and training at a whole different level! I realized today just how much she's grown when she asked me to tie her apron on for her. Katie commented on how she thought it was getting too small for her and that she was going to ask Oma for a new one (hint, hint Oma! lol) I immediately thought back to the time when that "too little apron" was a "very big apron" for her....

Spring 2007

Preparing

Some people call it "nesting", I prefer to call it "preparing"!
I put our past few days of rain to good use and stayed home to do a little "preparing" for the arrival of our little baby girl... The kids were happy to help as, they found it exciting and adventurous to see all of the new little pink things! Katie and I finished moving her room to the old office... I organized, cleaned and did some touch-up painting on the furniture. The baby's clothes and blankets have been washed and, Trenton and I cleaned and disinfected the 2 infant car carriers. Everyone is getting anxious to meet our baby girl and, Katie is more than ready to be the "best big sister ever"!! My little helper, Trenton

Testing out the car seat to make sure everything is ok :)

The girl's PINK room (aka. Pepto Bismol room) Katie requested that her Papa paint every wall pink... so I decided that 2 walls needed to be a light pink and the other two could be a more brighter pink. My dad was quite done with seeing PINK by the time he finished.. hee hee

With Katie's white furniture and the baby's oak furniture, that helps to off-set the pink a little bit. However, even the white ceiling radiates a pink color!

Boise Zoo

On our last day in Boise my mom and I took the kids to the Boise Zoo. It seems like each trip to the zoo gets funner and more enjoyable as the older the kids become! Katie is all about the "educational" side of the zoo and the boys are into each animals characteristics and looking for anything that is considered "ewwww" (ie. the cockroaches) They got to feed the giraffe and, for the first time, we got to see the Kamado Dragon actually get up and move! In all of our trips to the zoo he has always been asleep... apparently, eating a dead rat will give you a little energy :)

Katie LOVES the penguins!

Trent's new "cheese" face...

Katie and the cute little Groundhogs

feeding the goats at the Farm Zoo

31 weeks!

MK Nature Center

On Sunday afternoon my mom and I took the kids to the MK Nature Center where they got to see fish & birds in their natural habit. It was another beautiful day to be outside! After we walked around the nature center for a while they played at the playground a while, blew bubbles and practiced rollarskaing... then, we went out to eat for dinner and to Goodys, in Hyde Park, for our favorite ice cream!

Farmers Market

On Saturday the kids and I met Marie in downtown Boise for the Farmers Market. As always, it's fun to walk around the streets looking at the booths, drinking coffee and eating fresh homemade donuts!

Just like her Aunti Ri, Katie LOVES fresh cinnamon and sugar donuts!

Hyde Park

On the days that my mom and dad had to work, the kids and I did our own things like: see Gnomeo and Juliet at the dollar theater, go shopping, buy ice creams at Carl Jr and play in their kiddie land and, meet Lynette at Hyde Park for an afternoon of playing at the playground and climbing Camelsback mountain. It was such a beautiful day to be at the park and we topped off our adventure with ice cream from the yummy Fancy Freeze. I was impressed with how well the kids did climbing to the top of the mountain. However, I'm pretty sure we hold the record for the slowest amount of time it took to get there! Camelsback used to be one of my favorite places to go hiking and it was great to be taking my kids there :)

View of Boise from the top of the mtn.

The kids playing at Hyde Park

Briana, Katie and Lynette

Swimming

On Tuesday my mom and I took the kids swimming at the YMCA Aquatic Center... I had never been there before and was quite impressed with their kiddie pools! It was shallow enough that I didn't have to worry too much about them drowning and there was fountains and toys that they could play on... like a playground in water! I enjoyed relaxing in the kiddie pools with them and the feeling of being "weightless" from my ever growing belly :) Except for a 20 minute lunch, we spent a total of 5 hours there! They had a great time and were totally exhausted by the end. We finished off our fun day with a Blizzard from Dairy Queen!

Spring Break

The Monday after Easter began Katie's spring break from school so, the kids, my dad, Briana and I headed to Boise for some fun! The kids and I had 8 days filled with all sorts of activities, visiting friends and family and eating out at our favorite restaurants (I had lots of cravings to satisfy!) Upon our arrival on Monday, my mom took the kids shopping for their new summer toys. Katie got a new bike... Tys a new Spiderman scooter board and they all got rollarskates. I had brought the boy's bikes with me from home and they spent week practicing on their new "rides". With practice, Katie is getting the hang of riding her new bike. Of course, the new Barbie helmet helps :)

Cool Tys... everytime Tys puts on his helmet and pad and gets on his new scooterboard he asks me "mommy, am I a cool skateboarder?"

Trenton on his bike. He actually does really well on Tys skateboard too...

Katie rollarskating with a little help from Nana