The Garden

Our garden is beginning to take shape!

Love these calla lilies!

The one good thing about all the rain we've been getting is that everything is so green!  Including the wasp trap! Ha!

Family Photo Shoot

We had family pictures taken on Natalie's birthday.  A Co-op friend referred us to Seattle Flashing Lights Photography.  It was a quick 30 minute shoot, and Stephanie really worked her magic.  We are so pleased with the results.  David grumbled about getting the pictures taken, but already mentioned getting another shoot set up in the fall!  We did learn that we need to arrive a bit early to get the kids warmed up before the shoot begins.  Their somber faces in a few of them shows why.

I love so many of them, but this is my favorite!

Preschool Graduate

Ryan graduated from Preschool last Friday.  He's growing up so fast.

He had an awesome year making new friends, learning new things and realizing that he can make his own decisions, especially about his behavior.  We are really proud of him.

They filled their final class time with their favorite things.  When I got there they were busy "sculpting".  One of the kids is the clay and the other is the sculptor.  The sculptor tells the clay how he/she needs to pose and when they are done the other kids take pretend photos.  It's such a cute activity, and the kids LOVED it.

Ryan "sculpting" his pal Oliver.

After circle time they were able to do whatever they wanted, and show their families around the classroom.  Teacher Sarah had her niece come in to do face painting.  Ryan had absolutely no interest in this, but finally decided it might not be so bad.  Especially since all his friends were getting "superheros" painted on their faces.

The final product.  Spiderman!

After some outside time, it was time for the graduation ceremony.  Teacher Sarah read the kid's interviews of "When I Was Five".  The children had fun guessing who she was talking about.  Here is Ryan's:

Ass you can see, 3 of the 8 questions are answered with a baseball answer.  It wasn't hard to pick out who Teacher Sarah was talking about!

Teacher Sarah had the kids come up after she read their interview to receive their Certificate of Pre-School Completion and cross over the bridge to kindergarten.

Ryan receiving his certificate.

Crossing the bridge.

Ryan with Teacher Sarah. 

It was so fun to be a part of his final day.  I got a little emotional watching him with his friends one last time.  Since we may be making the leap to Issaquah soon, it's likely we won't see many of the new friends we've made during the year for a very long time.  It was very bittersweet.

Ryan had an awesome year, and loved going to school.  Teacher Sarah did a great job helping the kids to really think about things.  The Co-op experience with Ryan was so wonderful for David and I, too.  I think we got as much out of it as he did.  It's sad to close this chapter in our lives, but know there are many more wonderful things to come!

The One Party

We had Natalie's 1st birthday party on Saturday.  About 30 family and friends joined us for a fun day!

The birthday girl handled all the excitement like a champ!  She loved watching all the big kids run and jump and play, and joined them in the bouncy house too.  And she really loved her cupcake...until she smeared it in her eye.

I had way too much fun decorating for the party!

The birthday girl with Auntie Jenn.

The bouncy house was a big hit!

Joining in the bouncy house fun.

Miss Kendall

Grillmaster!

Natalie with Miss Hanni, our nanny.

All smiles!

Surrounded by family.

Daddy's girl.

Mom and the birthday girl.

Gifts!  Ryan and Kendall had such fun "helping" Natalie open her gifts. 

CAKE!  Happy Birthday, Natalie Susan!!

Giggle Monster

I think I found where Natalie is ticklish!  Oh, how I love that giggle!!

Co-op Olympics

Ryan's teacher, Teacher Sarah, arranged an Olympics Day at school last Tuesday.  Each of the kids made their own flag, and they did an opening ceremony around the school grounds.  The kids participated in events such as tumbling jump rope, toss the bean bag and standing jump.  The kids had so much fun being wild and crazy together.  I took half a day off work so I could be there to watch the festivities. So much fun!

All the kids and their flags.  Love the hula hoop "Olympic rings".  

Tumbling!

Getting crazy!

Ryan loves being at school with his friends.

Ryan and his flag.

My favorite part was watching Ryan learn to jump rope.  His first try he could not do it at all.  A few of the kids get out the jump ropes at recess and go to town, but Ryan has never had any interest in this and I'd never seen him jump.  So, it didn't really surprise me that he struggled with it.  The line was quite long, so after his turn I moved on to watch something else and when I peaked back in the jump rope room he was a jumping fool.  He had figured out the rhythm and was doing such an awesome job!  I was so proud of him.

The Star Spangled Banner lead by Miss Ravenna was also a huge highlight of the day.