Blackberry Farm!

Today was such a beautiful day so we headed to Blackberry Farm!

 

The kids were so excited.  They all needed maps to help us find our way around.

 

We visited the one-room schoolhouse.

 

The kids sat in the desks and listened to the teacher.

 

But from the windows of the school, we could see the ponies.  So we left school early and went to ride them.

 

Riding the ponies made us want to ride some boats. 

 

Riding the boats around the lake made us want to ride around the merry-go-round.

 

All that riding around made us want to go down slides.

 

Going down the slides made us want to play at this cool park.

 

All the running around on the park made us want to zoom down the zip line.

 

And we wanted to zoom some more.

 

The zooming made us want to climb bridges.

 

And cross rivers.

 

Being by the water made us cold so we needed to snuggle.

 

And put our arms around each other.

 

And make silly faces.

 

And snuggle some more.

 

After we snuggled, it was time to buy train tickets!

 

Then go on a hay ride.

 

On the hayride, we enjoyed the beauty of nature.

 

Being pulled on wagon, made us want to ride the ponies again.

 

And again.

 

Being on the ponies, made us want to check out the other animals.

 

Including the 6 week old piggies.

 

And our Thanksgiving turkey.

 

Seeing all the animals made us want to play farm so we drove our own tractors.

 

And all that fun made us tired so we headed home.  But it was great day!

Last Day of First Grade!

Well summer is here and I'm already slacking. Last Friday was the last day of school for Gracie and me.  Gracie's last day of first grade hit me a little hard.

 

She grew SO much in this past year.  She learned so much and is always stating facts that she learned especially in science about the sun, the moon, the planets, and caterpillers and butterflies.  She went from being barely being able to read to reading chapter books her own.  She loves the Puppy Place series. She suceeded in math knowing all her addition and subtraction facts.  I even had her write her own board this time.  Yes, we need a little help with handwriting (she gets that from me) and we will work on it this summer.

 

She made lots of new friends this year and even grew socially. She even got on yellow once for talking!

 

She had a great teacher.  Her love for the kids and passion to teach them was incedible.

 

She even made a new BFF this year, Miss Jackie.  The girls had so much fun together.

 

Thank you for a great first grade year Miss Stewart!  You will be missed.  You have done more than prepare my daughter for first grade, you gave her a love of school and learning.  I can't believe I have a second grader already!  How is that possible?

Last Day of Preschool!

Today my little Evie and Presley finished up their first year of preschool! I seriously don't know where the time went but here we are. They had a fabulous time at Bonnie McBeth and I was very happy with the program that they were in.  I'm glad I decided to split them up back in November.  They had wonderful teachers and made new friends.  I have seen them grow so much over this school year.  I am so proud of them. One more year of preschool to go. 

Family Picnic!

Yesterday was beautiful day! Gracie had a family picnic at school. She was so excited that she invited Grandma and Grandpa.  She even wanted Evie and Presley there too.  It also fell during my lunch so I got to eat with her too!   

 

Grandma and Grandpa brought Culver's. Yum!

 

Even some of our friends from Miss Rose's were there. Here is Evie with her buddies Piper and Fiona.

 

This is Grace with her friend Meryn.

 

And of course....her BFF Jackie.

It was  fun time!

Dance Recital!

A couple of weeks ago, Gracie and Evie had their dance recital! This was Gracie's 4th recital and Evie's 2nd.  They looked so cute! Both girls did ballet and Gracie danced to "For the first time in forever" from Frozen and Evie danced to "Bye Bye Love."

 

We had rehearsal on Saturday and that's when the parents could take as many pictures and videos as they want.  During the actual recital, you could not.  

 

This is Evie's friend Bella from her dance class.

 

Is it me or does she look so grown up?

 

Because the girls had a 2 hour differnce in rehearsal times, I took Evie first and then my mom brought Gracie.  

 

My two ballerina beauties.

 

She is so beautiful!

 

Here's Grace with some of her ballet buddies.

 

They had to practice their ending a couple of times.

 

Here is the big day!  

 

I love this picture!

 

The recital was held at the Rialto.

 

And because both girl did so good and danced their little hearts out, they got flowers after the show.