Where has time gone!

Where has the time gone! I kinda had a slow start to the summer, with the bad weather and really not much planned at the start of the summer. But things have slowly gotten busier and busier and now I'm looking at the rest of the summer and wondering how I'll get everything in. Here are just some of the highlights...so far!

Cassidy was involved with Arise a Youth Spectacular! (or something like that) It was AMAZING! Of course I only had my phone and I don't even know if a camera could have captured the magnitude of the event. 3500 youth, 500 adults, and lots of money went into this project. It was a chills up the spine moment to see so many teenagers make a good choice and participate in this event.

Everyone came to support Cassidy at her event. Grandma and Grandpa Thomas, Grandma Smith, her aunts, uncle, cousins, and family. Even Sharla and Jeramiah came from Boise. The twins are getting so big and I love any moment we get to spend with them. Logan and I (at 6:00am in the morning) had a 20 minute argument about seeing Cassidy in the show. Because there was so many youth on the field it was really hard to spot Cassidy. So the twins never really "saw" her perform. They both kept on asking "where's Cassidy?" We would answer "she is coming, or she is in the dressing room, or she is over there." So when I said to Logan "did you like seeing Cassidy in the show?" he said "No, Cassidy wasn't in the show!" I said "Yes, she was! She was the angel!" He said, "No she wasn't, she was in the dressing room, and wouldn't come out!" Oh well, I know Cassidy was glad they came!

I went with my parents to Boise for a little vacation to start the summer. Sharla and her crew ran in a race and so we came to help out with the kids. We were happy that Taelor decided to come at the last minute. She is such a good kid! We ate at Rocky's in Boise. It was part of the show Man vs Food. I love that show! We didn't take the challenge like they did on the show, but the food was still really good!

Even Taelor ran in the race with the team. Logan and Lauren ran in the 1/2 mile race. It was so cute. They had an ice cream truck and all the kids chased it around the block. Lauren made it around the corner and something told me I should go check on Lauren. So I ran to meet them around the corner. There was Sharla holding Lauren as she cried! I took her so Sharla could go join the rest of the crew. I asked Lauren why she was crying and she said she didn't want to chase the truck, she just wanted to stay with her Kiki (that's me)! I love that girl! Logan and Taelor were amazing! They finished the 1/2 mile and then went right after to run the mile. Logan loved that people were cheering the little guy on!

I went to Logan with the crew to celebrate Rachel's birthday. We went up to USU to look around. It had been a VERY long time since I had been up there. Funny, it still looks the same. I don't have very good memories as a student at USU. But I still love it! We went in the Bookstore and found a killer deal on backpacks so I bought the lot of them new backpacks for school. It was so much fun to have Payson with us for the weekend. When I moved to Rexburg, Payson and I spent a lot of time together at Grandma Ree's house. We would have Carrie and Payson days and go do whatever he would choose. He has gotten so big and I don't get to see him as often but he is still the same old lovable Payson!

Karen and Ron took on the huge task of being a Ma and Pa for Trek this year. They had a lot of preparation to do and planning! Grandma LaRee and I stayed with the kids while they played Pioneer for the weekend. They hiked 28 miles in 2 days! They were pretty miserable when they came home. Blisters and dirt EVERYWHERE! But they had good stories to tell and you could tell they were proud they did it. I've read some of the emails and notes from the kids in their "family" and I was touched! They really made a difference in those kids lives and the made memories that they will have forever! Cassidy made it! I thought she was going to be a MESS but she did it! She didn't have the amazing experience that her parent had with her family, but she learned that she can do and deal with situations and things that she didn't think she could before.
The rest of the kids and I had a blast! Grandma cooked, and we played!

Ron, Lex, Regan, Haden, Greg, Kade, and I traveled to Pocatello to watch Garrett at the State High School Rodeo Finals. Garrett made it to state in EVERY event so he was a busy guy and I didn't get a picture of him. But Wyatt came up for a little bit and visited. I LOVE watching Haden with the Smith boys. He loves them so much and just wants to be just like them. It doesn't matter where or why but you can always find him next to Payson, Kade, Greg, Garrett or Wyatt. The poor thing just doesn't get a chance to be around "boys"!

Well, that is it for now! I can't believe I'm already thinking about back to school ideas! The way I've been going with this blog my next post will probably be about my new class! Wish me luck!

Happy Mother's Day!

I know...totally out of order and very late. But what can you do! We had a very interesting Mother's Day this year. We were all very excited about making gifts this year. But...my kids decided it would be a good week to fall apart! I have such a GOOD class but we were ALL having a off week. But we made it and the outcome was so cute! Each leaf had a word the kids would use to describe their mothers. They put words like owsm, kut, wundrfl, kind, and nis. Can you read kindergarten?

Bye! Bye! Butterfly!

At the end of April we became the proud parents of 13 caterpillars! We watched them grow and eat, and grow and eat some more! It was crazy how big they got and how quickly it all happened. We named some of the caterpillars. We had Dolf, Fuzzy, Caterfly, Creepy, Goldie, and some that I can't remember. It was an exciting day when all the caterpillars formed into a chrysalis. Then the real waiting began. It seemed like forever but suddenly one day they came out! They were so pretty and fun to watch. But I learned from experience (not a very pleasant one) that we can't keep them very long or they would die. So, we quickly released them out into the wild/playground! We are all sure they are flying to Mexico in hopes of some warmer weather!

Miss Rodeo Utah

It's not a secret that I LOVE rodeo! So my last unit in Kindergarten each year has been about cowboys/cowgirls and rodeo. The kids love it and so do I. This year I was lucky enough to come in contact with Miss Rodeo Utah Chris Wade. She agreed to come and talk to the kids about rodeo. She was fantastic. It is not a small task to entertain 150 kindergarten kids but she handled it like a pro. She brought a saddle, spurs, chaps, and a roping dummy for the kids to see. It was a fun day and hopefully she will help us get the next Miss Rodeo Utah to come next year!

Wild West Performance

You know when you get behind with your blog and so much has happened it seems way to overwhelming to try and catch up! But I'm going to attempt!

We have been having so much fun in kindergarten lately! We have been busy, busy, trying to get EVERYTHING in before the end of the year. On May 5th we had our kindergarten Wild West Review. I was so proud of my kiddos. They did such a good job. I was so happy that my sister, her crew, and my parents were able to come and see it. My mom and dad haven't missed a performance sense I've started teaching. They were even in Vegas for one! I of course do not have any great pictures because I was busy running around and freaking out. But here are a few to share!

When I grow up I want to be...a PENGUIN!

So this year I have really been battling the winter blues. The best way for me to get through them is to take on a fun new project for my kiddos. I came up with the idea of having a penguin day at school. I encouraged the kids to dress up in black and white and to get ready to be mommy and daddy penguins for the day. Then I bought plastic Easter eggs and put a beak and googly eyes on them and turned them into baby penguins. I gave each kid their baby and told them it was their job to take care of them all day. It was so much fun! They were so careful with their babies and always kept their eye on them. Some of the kids were putting their eggs in their socks, hats, pockets, pencil boxes just to keep them safe. The best part of the day is when I pulled out the snack. I told them we would eat what penguins eat. I opened a can of sardines. The kids about died! We smelled them and poked them and even pulled one out but decided they didn't look very yummy. So we went with Goldfish crackers and washed them down with Arctic water (blue cool-aid) It was such a fun day and it covered what we needed to learn about arctic animals and Antarctica!

Don't you LOVE this picture!

We practiced waddling with our babies on our feet. We decided that was not an easy thing to do!

How do those penguins do it?

What good mommy and daddy penguins I have!

We even pretended that we could slide on our tummies just like they do.

Where has the time gone?!?!

Here we are already heading into March and I never got a chance to blog about Valentine's day! We had a great time in kindergarten. I had two very different experiences that day. Usually on Valentine's Day we don't do a huge party. I keep it pretty low key because the end of year party is a BIG one. Plus we were celebrating Valentine's Day on a Friday and that is our short day so we didn't have a lot of time. So in my morning class I had a couple of moms come in. They totally helped me get things ready and then we decorated cookies and passed out Valentines. Everything went so smoothly we ended up with enough time for the kids to go through their boxes. It was so much fun to see the excitement on their faces as they looked through everything. We even had enough time to go outside for a short recess and get all that sugar out. I usually don't get a chance to "play" with the kids and it was really fun to do that.

My afternoon class was a huge success. I had a fabulous mom who asked to come in and do a craft. They made the cutest love bug hats and then they played bingo. I felt really bad because we had a TON of parents come in to help. I LOVE the parent support at my school. I must admit I'm so use to doing everything myself that it is still a little hard to delegate. The kids had a great time. I hope they know how much I appreciate them!

It was interesting as I compared the two different classes and just how different they are. They all had so much fun even with one class being very chill and the other class being busy, busy.

I'm so thankful for the parent support I have at my school! I tell the kids daily that we wouldn't be able to do any fun things if it wasn't for them! I appreciate you all so much! I loved going through my Valentine box. My nieces and nephews were more than happy to help me go through all the cards and treats!

Afternoon class decorating cookies

Morning class checking out their loot!

Getting ready to pass out cards and treats!