First Swim of the Year

I took these pictures back in June, when we went down to my sister's for our first swim of the summer in the "big pool" (as the kids call it).

Piper LOVED the water!

She was so cute in her little tutu swimsuit :)

And she had fun filling and emptying the watering can toys.

Lila enjoyed the pool -- and the safety of the inflatable turtle :)

Fun times.

A week after we were here, the kids started swim lessons. After that, Wyatt had very little interest in the shallow part of the pool. He put on an inflatable ring and was jumping into the 3 ft section!

But before the swim lessons, this was how he spent most of his time. Of course, the times we went swimming after the lessons, I didn't take my camera... too busy trying to keep three little kids who wanted to be in the deep end safe!

End of School

On the last day of school, the Kindergarten class had a special awards ceremony followed by a class party.

Here all the kids are sitting and waiting for things to begin.

Lila found me (right in the middle of the picture).

Each child received an award. Lila got the Creative Thinker Award. When we got home, she asked me what that meant, and after I explained, she said, "Oh! That IS a good award for me!" :)

The party was a luau theme. All four Kindergarten classes had the same theme. We had the party in the gym, each class took a different corner.

I volunteered to make the Sun cupcakes.

Everyone in the class got a "goodie bucket" and a lei.

The room mom made each of them a little photo book with pictures of all the kids in the class.

Wyatt was very concerned that he wouldn't get a chocolate cupcake (I had made two flavors), but fortunately enough kids wanted the other flavor that he could have a chocolate. 

They played one game: the limbo. The kids didn't seem to care whether you touched the floor or not, though - just get under the stick! :)

We went to the party bearing gifts. Going along with the beach/summer theme, I put together this little gift for Lila's teacher. The tag said, "Now that the year's all wrapped up and done... may you relax and have some fun in the sun!" Gum, sunscreen, a crossword puzzle book (you could also do a magazine if you knew the teacher's interests), and flip flops were wrapped up in a beach towel.

For Lila's classmates, I made these treats. They were a big hit. Some kids didn't even wait till they got home to eat them! I put two graham crackers, a mini hershey's bar, and a large marshmallow in a clear treat bag. I just folded my tag over the bag and stapled it shut.

A few weeks before school ended was Teacher Appreciation Week. I had seen on Pinterest this idea of doing a class basket. Each child was supposed to contribute an item for the basket that corresponded to a letter of the alphabet. Our tag said, "You've sure got the ABC's of teaching down! Thanks for making our Kindergarten year so special! Love, Your Students". I had to fill in the gaps a little bit, but we got pretty good participation. There were 24 students in the class, so I didn't assign anyone the X or Z. I bundled up some letters submitted by parents & students and labeled them "Xpressions of Gratitude" for the letter X. Q was a Quik Trip gift card, and Z was a box of Ziploc bags (which the teachers are always needing). Lila's teacher LOVED this basket. It really was a great way for the whole class to participate, but each family could contribute whatever and how much they wanted.

Class Trip to the Arboretum

In the fall, Ben went to the Dallas Zoo with Lila's class. This spring he stayed home with Wyatt and Piper, so I could go with Lila to the Dallas Arboretum.

We rode on the bus together and played the Alphabet game on the drive down.

Here she is with a large group of kids from her school (not all of them are from her class though).

The Arboretum was installing a new exhibit - these strange but pretty glass sculptures everywhere. I thought they were neat.

As a chaperone, I was in charge of three kids. Just to clarify, the kid on the left is a boy (who got a haircut right after this trip).

Lila is good friends with the girl on the left. Her mom and little sister joined us for the outing. I was the only one who had been to the Arboretum before so I took them to this fish pond which they thought was neat.

Because they were in the process of installing all the glass sculptures, a lot of the Arboretum was taped off. This was one area where they could still get close to the water. We ate our picnic lunch really early because the kids were hungry. I think it was 10:30 (which at school they eat at 10:45). I didn't think to take any pictures of us eating though.

Lila posing for me.

The school shirts were incredibly long, so I had to be creative (safety pins on the sides).

The Arboretum also had five little houses that were each based on a different artist. This bridge was in front of the Monet house.

And here they are "inside" the house (it was really more a wall with a short roof).

This was "inside" the Georgia O'Keefe house.

And then we found the jackpot! This was a stone structure that had a fountain bubbling in the middle and the water spilled over the grooves. They loved putting their hands in this! (You can see the Georgia O'Keefe house in the background.)

Here they are again in one of the little houses in the Texas Town area.

 

And outside the house. We were only there a few hours before it was time to get back on the bus, but we managed to see several areas of the Arboretum. It was the perfect time to go -- before it got way too hot. I'm glad I got to enjoy the field trip with Lila! Thanks Ben :)

Warrior Dash 2012

It seems appropriate to post about this today, even though it happened back in April. Ben is currently doing a sprint triathlon this morning. (We didn't go along because he had to leave the house around 4 a.m. to get there.) He hasn't been able to participate in as many races as he'd like due to work travel and other commitments. But, back in April, he asked if any of his coworkers would want to join him for the Warrior Dash... and he got some takers!

Here are some of the TI participants (a few weren't in this picture). Notice how clean they all look before the race?

Entering the race area.

Everyone who ran the race got a viking hat that had a big fuzzy brim and plush horns. Some wore theirs while they raced. I think Ben's is currently in Lila's dress-up bin :)

At first when I saw these guys, I thought that is so cool! See, one big thing about the warrior dash is that many people dress up to run the race. I saw several Supermans and Wonder Womans. So when I saw a Stormtrooper? I was like "now THAT is a Star Wars fan!!" But then I realized that they were just there for anyone to have a photo op. Hmm. Not as cool. But, you see that mesh fence behind them? And all those people behind the fence? Those are racers about to begin the next heat! Ben's group was in the 2nd to last heat on Saturday. I think it was at 4:45. I asked him why he picked such a hot part of the day, and he said that was all that was available when he signed up! They had been running heats every fifteen minutes all day! Plus I think they also did the same thing the day before! I think there were maybe 100 people in each heat? That is a lot of people who want to run the Warrior Dash!!!

Here is the actual starting point of the race. Unfortunately I couldn't go anywhere beyond this point (the end was basically on the other side of that tree), so all the spectators could see was the beginning and the end.

Did I mention it was HOT? I wasn't sure what the viewing area would be like, so I had brought along a large quilt to sit on. Instead, I used it to create a small tent by draping it over Piper's stroller and the barrier fence that held the spectators off the race course. Bottles of water and a snack made the kids happy.

This guy ran the whole race as a banana. I can't even imagine how hot it must be in that costume.

The Warrior Dash is basically a 5K but with all kinds of obstacles along the way. Most of these we couldn't see from the viewing area, but I could get this rope wall with my zoom lens. Ben is the guy in red about to go over the top.

Coming around the final bend.

Jumping over the first fire pit.

And the second & last fire pit.

This was the last obstacle - the mud pit. You had to crawl through it to get under the barbed wire. Some people did try to walk around it, but then they got a lot of grief from the crowd. If the guy in the hat hadn't been there, you would be able to see the finish line.

And this Warrior is all done. Just a little dirty :)

They had a cleaning station set up -- two guys spraying fire hoses at the crowd basically. 

Most people didn't even attempt to clean - or keep - their shoes.

Waiting for Daddy to get clean.

Lila wanted to wear the medal.

Ben had a coworder who came to watch, so here they are checking out his pictures. It was hard finding people; luckily I knew Ben was wearing a red shirt and he is tall. He had a blast and said he'd even do it again. It did kind of look like fun :)

Time for a Change

We've had a swing set in our back yard for about three years now. It was starting to get in rough shape. First, the vinyl canopy started to tear. Then the wind and the kids helped it along till it reached the point that we just removed it. It used to have a wood bench and ledge (like half of a picnic table), but one of the boards broke, so Ben removed it. We were thinking about adding a wood roof, but then decided that the whole structure just wasn't sturdy enough. If you had more than two kids on it, it would move. And that was before the neighborhood kids started coming over to play. Suddenly, we had a 3 year old, 2 Kindergartners, a 1st grader, a 2nd grader, a 4th grader and a 5th grader who would sometimes play in our backyard together. When they were all there, I was really nervous about the safety of our play set.

 BEFORE

So we tore it down, and in its place, we put something sturdier. The kids (all 6+ of them!) have really enjoyed it. I breathe easier knowing it's not going to fall apart when they're playing on it.

 AFTER

The new set has some fun things the other one didn't: a "rock" wall, monkey bars, trapeze bar, rope ladder and disc swing, plus an upper deck. And a full size picnic table underneath (which we had enjoyed a few times before it got blazing hot.)