Memorial Day Weekend

 We made our usual trek to PA for the Memorial Day weekend.  Thankfully, all the kids were out of school before the weekend, so we were able to spend more time there than last year.  Unfortunately, I had accompany them!  In the past, I have used this weekend to clean out the house before summer - tossing toys, cleaning carpets - stuff I can't do when the kids are around.  But this year, Kris went out the weekend before to get some more work done on the farmhouse renovations, which left me to bring all the kids with me (and entertain them).

 So the entertaining began with a trip to the grocery store (my first alone there) and bowling alley.  They all had fun and were so excited for ice cream afterwards.

We joined Kris's mom on Friday night to visit the Three Springs Carnival.  But unfortunately, it was too darn cold and we froze our butts off (totally not prepared for that cold).  The kids rode 2 rides and played a few games.  But we had to cut it short.

 Saturday, we worked more on the farm house.  The kids - thankfully - have learned how to entertain themselves at the farm.  So I cleaned the new toy room (formally Kelli's room).  Sunday we cleaned out the back porch and made a great dent in the clean out process.  I even got a few things from the attic thrown out - more will come over July 4th.

We went back to the Carnival on Saturday night.  Getting wristbands to ride all night.  All 3 kids even rode the ride that goes upside down!  Even Kris didn't ride that one!

 We listened and danced to some great music, even with cranky Nick throwing some temper tantrums over not getting his way.  Twice people found him thinking he was lost, yet I knew where he was.  The funny part was when they went to take him to the 'authorities' - the authority was always Kris's Uncle Harold!

All 3 kids made it through church services both on Sunday and Memorial Day.  Although not without a few problems.

 Tuesday we headed home (needed to make it home in time for Ryan's last Cub Scout meeting).  Thankfully for me, Kris took all the kids in the van leaving me alone in the car.  He even let me off the hook of stopping with them.  I enjoyed a peaceful few hours before getting back into all the craziness that is my family!

End of School and All That

 This post will cover almost all of the end of year things we did.

First, we had Emma's class picnic.  The kids were all excited to see each other outside of school and get to play and have lunch together.  Emma spent a lot of time climbing in the trees.  Nick spent a lot of time complaining about wanting to be pushed on the swings.  Unfortunately for Nick, his class picnic was the same time at a different park.  But, about half his class was at Emma's since they had siblings in Emma's class.

It was a nice day and although it ended up fine, it wasn't without hiccups.   Nick left my lights on in the van and we ended up needing to have the battery jumped.  Thankfully, I keep a blanket in the trunk.  The kids hunkered down and relaxed for a while before speeding off to a meeting at Ryan's school.

 Below are pictures from Emma's dance picture day (she's such a ham) and Ryan's rise day at Cub Scouts.  He is now a Bear.  We are very proud of both of them for sticking with their activities for the whole year and enjoying them!

 These pictures are from Emma's graduation from preschool.  It's hard to imagine that she is going to Kindergarten next year.  She has made tremendous progress in her social skills as well as reading and math.  She had wonderful caring teachers this year that really helped push her to move outside her comfort zone and accommodate her advanced skills.  Thankfully, we have been told she has been moved to a morning Kindergarten class to allow her to participate in a 1st grade reading program.  More work for mom picking her up each day - but totally worth it to not have her bored in school.

 Below are pictures from Ryan's field day.  He was a  little shy about participating, but liked having his little brother play along.  They golfed, had tug of war and bean bag toss as well as water balloons.  They even had their faces painted!

Ryan has some great teachers this year who really cared about helping him progress at his level and helping him to get along with others.  He's really progressed and had a good year.

 These are our last day of school pictures.  Each one of them has grown so much over the year.  Nick ended up loving school (especially if he got to stay late).  Emma made some great friends and learned to do more than the academic part of school.  Ryan made great strides in his standardized tests, coming to just below normal from a very below average in Kindergarten.  He made some friends and is really understanding how school works.

Another Trip

 Right after we came home from Boston, we made a beeline to PA for Kris's cousin Doug and his wife Sheri's baby shower.  Tammy did a wonderful job on the shower.  My mom came down to come with Emma and I.  It was a quick trip, but fun to be girls only!  We even got some cleaning done at the farm.

Boston

 Kris and I took Emma to Boston at the beginning of May.  He had his annual MIT conference and Emma got to come since it's her last year before Kindergarten.  She loved having us to herself, although we still had the normal Emma moodiness!  We spent our days at the Children's Museum and Aquarium.  We had some great food at Quincy Market.  She loved Boston Common and Boston Gardens - smelling flowers and chasing birds and ducks.  We took her to see Blue Man Group - which she loved!  She was wonderful at all the MIT events - even telling her 1 knock knock joke.  It was so nice to spend time with her alone.  She is a wonderful child!

And a big thanks to my mom who spent the week with the boys at home.  I'm pretty sure she didn't have as much fun as we did!