Last Day of Preschool

This...

...feels like it was just yesterday.

Coming Soon!

May's a busy time for all families, I know.  

On Wednesday this week, I registered *this guy* for KINDERGARTEN.

And next week, our big kid tours the MIDDLE SCHOOL!  (In Brenham, Elementary ends at 4th, Middle School is 5th and 6th, Junior High is 7th and 8th, and then there's High School...I feel like I'll blink and then it will be here.  :/)

Back to May...tonight is Jr. Maifest.  Kayci's a Ring of Fire girl (4th from the left in this pic), and we're going to do our best to keep her warm while she's waiting to dance.  :)  Say a little prayer for all of the kids in costume and the families in the stands tonight.  Maifest is such a great tradition, and I'm so grateful to live in a community that keeps traditions alive.  Tomorrow morning the Maifest parade is at 10, if you're interested.  Kayci will be on float #34.  Not that they're reading, but we so appreciate the royal families and all that they do for the kids of the community.  Maifest is tons of fun!

On May 16th, Kayci's in her last program at Krause:  "Science Rocks!"  Yes, she and her nerdy smart friends are STOKED.  That's also my last PTO meeting as President.  Woo hoo!  :)

May 18th is Kayci's Piano Recital @ 10 AM at the Presbyterian Church.  If you want to come and enjoy the music of some awesome kids, let us know and we'll give you more info.  

And fingers crossed, the Krause Talent Show is May 24th, probably at 1:30 or 2.  Hopefully Kayci and Kate will be in it this year, singing a Taylor Swift song.  Kayci's got new boots and she's ready to go!

 Oh, and those feet on the right?  Noble's Chucks are getting too small, so we told him we'd buy him new shoes.  He *sniff* told me he didn't WANT Converse, he needed Skechers so he could run faster and play harder.  Stinkin' commercials.  But he's super proud of his new shoes!

Reading Blankie

Last night we got home late after Maifest practice and dinner at Grandma's. On nights like that I read really short books to Noble at bedtime. Last night I chose one of his favorite books of all time - Blankie, which is a board book that is really meant for babies but which he still loves.

On one page, there is a picture of a family that looks remarkably like our family and I've always pointed to the characters and asked him "who is this?"

"Daddy."

"Who is this?"

"Mommy."

"Who is this?"

"Kayci."

"Who is this?"

"Noble." (but last night he said "me.")

And last night I pointed to the other little boy on the page and asked "who is this?" This question usually doesn't yield an answer or he'll tell me "I don't know."

"Randell" was the answer last night.

Randell is one of Noble's best friends at school, and I don't know why but his answer made me so happy. But when he answered, he just sounded so happy.

Later in the book there is a page that contains the words "birthday cake." As you might've seen, Noble has been learning to read and write and "brfday" is one of his favorite words to write out. As I read it and turned the page, he stopped me and asked me to go back.

"That doesn't say "birfday. That says Birt day."

Then I explained to him about the th sound and how it sounds.

So that, unfortunately, might be the end of "birfday," but it shows me that he's taking a lot of pride and delight in his newfound ability to read and sound things out. And especially important - he's asking questions about it.

I just love that boy more and more every day. It's so fun watching him grow.

Write Stuff

It's so much fun when kids are just learning to read and write. I saved reams and reams of paper that Kayci wrote on during her PreK year, because everything just seemed so amazing!

Noble's at that stage now...the other night, I was reading the menu to him and I left off "Mac & Cheese" and "Pizza" because I really didn't want him ordering those at a Mexican restaurant. He listened closely as I read, then asked me to read it again. This time he pointed and said, "What about these two?" I think that's when the balance of power shifted slightly in our little universe!

Tomorrow is Uncle Timmy's birthday, and Noble was SET on being the first one to write on his card. It seems somebody has been learning some new sounding-out skills that are pretty cool when combined with his memory. Oh, that kid!




If you don't speak preliteracy, that's "happy birthday from Noble & Kayci." I almost hate to put this one in the mail...thinking this pic makes the Project Life cut this week!

Happy Thursday!

Vote for Mrs. K!

You guys know I'm a big fan of Kayci's school (hopefully Noble's school, next year!) and Kayci has been blessed with wonderful teachers all 5 years so far.  I'm hard to impress, but her 4th grade teachers have really knocked my socks off...they work HARD, y'all.  I was worried about 4th grade being tough, but while they're working on some pretty hard concepts, the teachers are putting in time behind the scenes to create hands-on experiences and finding ways to present things in more than one way so the kids really get it.  And they do it all without complaining--you know I'd know.  :)

4th grade is different (for parents, anyway) because the teachers never ask for ANYTHING.  No snacks, no extra supplies, nothing.  The kids get special snacks every Friday, but the teachers do it all themselves and don't make a big deal of it.  This sounds like a little thing, but my teacher friends know what a big thing it is.  I'm telling y'all, these ladies are wonderful, wonderful teachers who are obviously passionate about what they're doing.

One of Kayci's teachers, the famous Mrs. K. (well, she's famous at our house because she loves Texas as much as we do!), is in the running to go on a Toms giving trip.  You know Kayci is a big fan of Toms, and she'd love to help Mrs. K make her dream come true.  The voting ends in 10 days, and Mrs. K is a good 2000 votes behind the winner.  Could you guys please take some time and go vote for her? She's a wonderful lady and teacher, and we'd love to see her win this awesome experience!  Thanks!

https://www.toms.com/ticket-to-give/flags/2282

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter (a day late!) from our family to yours!  He is Risen, indeed!

It doesn't seem right to share the "after" without the "before," lest you think things are always easy around here.  :)  Turns out, photographers' kids can sometimes be the WORST at posing for pictures...which totally explains why most of our favorite pictures of our kids are the candids.  Sigh.

Happy birthday, DaddyBoy!

Happy birthday, DaddyBoy! We had fun decorating on the sly, until I realized that Kayci was slyly pumping me for information-"what time do you decorate for our birthdays?" I caught on fairly quickly, since her letters to Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny usually include a request to sign the letter and put down what time they were at our house. Back to the decorating...Kayci made a banner,


and so did Noble.


They're hard to read in these phone pics; Kayci's is a collection of things we love about Daddy. Noble's reads: we (heart) goofy Daddy. He drew a picture of each of us--I wonder what his future psychologist will make of the fact that Noble drew himself much larger than Daddy? We had our usual morning birthday celebration, although we were running too late for Daddy's favorite, Big Daddy's tacos, and he had to settle for birthday donuts (which not-so-secretly thrilled the kids & Mommy).














We actually ordered this camera lens mug months ago, and Noble's been trying to tell Daddy about it ever since. Grr. You won't be surprised that I kept Daddy's "big" present under wraps, then. :)


Enjoy them, Boy-I'm just sorry you had to wait so long!

Enchanted Rock

Noble asked me a few weeks ago when we were going to go hiking again. That gave us the idea to give him his own hiking backpack and some hiking supplies (water bottle, compass, magnifying glass, etc...) for his birthday. And if you give a Noble a backpack, he's gonna wanna try it out...

So with the weather absolutely AMAZING during spring break, we headed out Wednesday to hike Enchanted Rock as a family.

We woke the kids up early that morning and hit the road around 6:00am to make sure that we got there before it got too crowded. But we spent a lot of time at Buccee's, so we ended up getting to Enchanted Rock around 10:00am and had to wait in a short line to get into the park. (hint: the line that comes up from Fredericksburg is waaaaaaay longer than the one that comes in from the north from Llano.  Save yourself a couple of hours in line and take the north route.  You're welcome.)

This was the kids' first trip to Enchanted Rock and Kristi's second, although it was her first time to hike it. And it was the first time I got to hike it when I wasn't in a hurry. So everyone was excited.

We hiked up the giant rock, and we were so proud of the kids. Neither of them complained about being tired or that hey were hungry or thirsty or wanted to go or anything.  They were having such a great time!

We finally made it to the top after about 45 minutes of walking.  By that time our breakfast had pretty much worn off, so we found a shady spot and had a nice picnic lunch. The kids had a great time looking at all the cactus and different rocks and bugs.

Then we began to explore and make our way over to the hill next to Enchanted Rock called Little Rock. Along the way, we stopped to examine some large boulders and caves formed by boulders that had broken loose.

When we finally got to the top of Little Rock, we were all a little tired from all the hiking, so we sat down for a snack. And we took a nap right there on top of Little Rock! Noble took the best nap - about an hour and a half - before we finally woke him up to head down the hill.

Once we had hiked down, we headed to Fredericksburg, where we treated ourselves for a fun day with ice cream!

It was a perfect day - perfect weather, time outside, exercise and time together!

Happy spring break, everyone.  We hope that yours was as awesome as our was!

Bluebonnicator: March 7, 2013

It's the return of the Bluebonnicator!

This year is shaping up to be a very good year for bluebonnets in Brenham! Just one week into March and there are already bluebonnets in full bloom in and around town. That's perfect if you're coming into town on Saturday for Noble's birthday party. Bring a camera, take a drive in the country and see some bluebonnets while you're here!

I've had reports (and photos) of bluebonnets popping up all over. It's not peak season yet, but they're starting out great!

This week's Bluebonnicator is at 30% - the highest start of Bluebonnet season in Bluebonnicator history!

This would be a good time to remind everyone about some general guidelines:

1. Don't trample the bluebonnets. Try to step only in the areas between the bluebonnet plants. It might require you to what I call "the bluebonnet hop", butit will keep the plants looking great for everyone.

2. Don't pick the bluebonnets. Period. Get some seeds off the bottom of the plant instead and grow your own! Besides, it's against the law to pick the bloom.

3. Don't go romping through people's yards and fields to take pictures without permission. It really, really makes the locals mad when "city folks" come up and go on quarter mile hikes into their pastures to take their family's picture in the bluebonnets. It's private property, and it's just rude. Most times, if you'll just ask permission it will be okay, but there are plenty of great photo opportunities on public land. The state makes sure of that.

4. Watch out for fire ants! The same kind of soil that is great for growing bluebonnets is also prime for fire ants. Watch out! [and watch out for snakes, too!]

5. Ask a local. As I said before, there a lot of great photo places to take your family's photo in bluebonnets. And a lot of them are very easily accessible, but might not be able to be seen from the highway. Ask a local where some great shots can be had as you buy some Blue Bell ice cream or a sandwich or an antique from their shop.

6. Don't cross a fence. I've heard a lot of stories since we moved up here about tourists crossing fences. Some stories involve getting chased by bulls, some involve broken fences and some involve animals getting loose. But every one of the stories involved trespassing and ticked off the land owner. I've been guilty of this in the past - I admit it - but now I know better, and I'm letting you all know, as well.

7. Have a great time, outdoors. Get outside and enjoy the spring air and the sunshine. You can't see the bluebonets from your living room couch, folks. Unless you live in Brenham, that is. ;)

Sending love your way...

...and big hugs to all of you who sent love our way, too!