Last Day of School

Monday was Penelope and Scarlett's last day of school.  Tucker officially ended school last week.  Wohoo I'm so happy it is summer!  I'm pretty sure everyone in my family was really excited for school to end.  The kids had a great year, I'm just ready for a schedule break.

I wanted to get some pictures of their last walk to school... kind of.  We actually are planning on walking to the school a lot this summer to use their playground/library/free lunches.  But this felt different.  We usually drove to school in the mornings but it was nice out so I wanted to walk them on their last day.  I always walk to pick them up after school, rain or shine.

Over all it is a pretty nice break to get out of the house every day and get some fresh air.  I wanted to get a picture of my walking buddies.  Tucker usually comes too.

The girls both really liked their teacher.  Scarlett had Mrs. Chinnock, who was a lot of fun.  Scarlett said she was going to miss her.

Penelope had Mrs. Sherry who she really liked.  Mrs. Sherry was a little more strict but I could tell she cared a lot about her class.  She is actually going to China to teach a bilingual class for the next two years.

I'm grateful for all the school teachers!  That has got to be one hard job!

School Fun

The end of the school year has been lots of fun for the kids.  Penelope's first grade class went on an all day field trip to the Seattle Art Museum.  I even had to drop her off at school and hour early and pick her up two hours after school regularly gets out.  She said she had sooo much fun.  I could tell that she was worn out.

They also had a whole week of dress up days.  The first picture is of job day.  Both girls just picked something they wanted to dress up as and made it clear to me that they probably don't actually want to be that when they grow up.  Penelope is a dancer and Scarlett a teacher.

Hawaiian day was fun.  Penelope first wanted to wear a grass skirt too but she changed her mind.

I was excited for twin day because they get asked constantly if they are twins anyway.

And lastly crazy hair day.  Penelope did not want to participate.

On crazy hair day Scarlett's class went on a field trip to the park.  The boys and I decided to meet her class there and hang out with them for a bit.

Frontier Girls Party

Penelope and Scarlett had their last frontier girls meeting/party the other day.  Bob took the boys camping that weekend so we had some fun girl time.  Over the past few years the girls have learned so much with their troop.  The've done lots of outings and learned about so many different things.  Some days were hard  because it can be scary for them to do things with a big group of people they aren't really close with.  I'm proud of them for getting out and doing it anyway.

 Here they are earning their last buttons.

 Scarlett's face is a mess in this next picture because she had been eating watermelon.

 After they ceremony the kids went and played at the waterfront.  They spent a while looking for crabs.

 Bothe girls surprised me by saying they wanted to go on the kayak.  Only the singles were available so they had to go out alone.  They each still wanted to do it and Scarlett wanted to go first.  I was holding Calista so another dad was nice enough to walk out into the water and lift Scarlett onto the kayak.  I was a little nervous because their was a small current and neither of them really know how to use a paddle.  Once he pushed her out she started floating away and shouting, "I wanna come back!"  I could tell she was panicking.  Some brothers from a different girls family were swimming and they swam over and turned Scarlett around and pushed her back to shore.

Penelope still wanted to try, but she didn't get as far.  The second she sat on the kayak she changed her mind and said she wanted to be done.  It was a big step for them to even be willing to try it!

I am really grateful for their leaders!  They've put in lots of work over the years and we appreciate it!

Baby Baluga

Penelope and Scarlett had their end of year music performance called "Baby Baluga".  Normally I don't like how they combine kindergarten and first grade for performances because there are too many kids and too many parents to see.  This year it worked out in our favor because things are busy with a newborn and it was nice to just go to  one performance.

They did great!  Both girls were excited and seemed to really enjoy it.  Tucker had done the same exact songs a few years ago so the night before all three of them were singing the songs together around the house.  It was cute.

Both girls got to be in the front so I could see them.  Penelope just had the music stand in front of her most of the time, it didn't block her face though.

I had a relief society activity that night so Calista, Leon and I went to the day performance and Bob and the kids went to the night one.  Leon got a little difficult toward the end.  I think he was having a hard time paying attention, but it wasn't too bad.  Calista slept the whole time.

This video is of the song that has been stuck in everyone's head since the performance.  Scarlett thinks it is funny. 

Muffins With Moms

Last week the girls school had their annual Muffins with Moms day where we got to come and read with them while eating muffins.  I was thinking of how easy it was for me to go because I don't have work to take off from or a napping baby to worry about... yet.  I was kind of excited, when in the past I haven't looked forward to these things because I usually disrupts nap time.  I just brought Tucker and Leon with me and they did great!  Tucker sat and read a book that he brought from home and Leon was quiet also and sat with me.

 We first went to Scarlett's classroom because it was the first one we walked by.  She showed me her desk and classroom.  All of which I've seen before but she was very excited that I was there and she got to show me.  Then I signed her out and we went and hung out in Penelope's classroom.  She read a few books to us and then we did a little Easter project on the computer.  Both girls have laptops in their classroom that they are expected to use and they almost have enough where they barely even have to share.  Pretty different than my kindergarten experience.

 It only lasted about 45 minutes but it was a nice way to end the school week.

Penelope 6 Video

Ok, so I know this is sort of random and it isn't anywhere near Penelope's birthday but I finished her last year's video.  The kids are on spring break right now and I have a whole list of things I want to get done.  I have a few extra hours a day this week to work on things because I'm not homeschooling.  It is a little challenging because the kids are all home and wanting to be entertained, but I really want to get things done before the baby is born.  Finishing up the last of these birthday videos is on the list.

St. Patrick's Parade

Penelope and Scarlett's Frontier Girls troop marched again in the annual St Patrick's Day parade.  I love this parade because it is so short and fun for the kids.  This time I decided not to walk with the girls and Leon and I sat on the street near the end of the parade and got tons of candy.  Most other parades I've been to the streets are packed.  You have to squeeze in between people, but this parade has whole blocks with barely anyone watching.  So we got a nice spot with plenty of space and Leon got lots of candy thrown to him.  He thought it was good fun :)

Pajama Day

The girls had a pajama day at school so we all dressed up.  Leon likes to wear his pajamas every day anyways and Tucker and I don't mind at all wearing pajamas during homeschool.

I put on my favorite onsie pajamas for the occasion.  They are so comfy and warm but I never actually sleep in them because I can't stand having my feet covered while sleeping.

Cupcake Fun

Penelope and Scarlett went with their troop to make cupcakes.  It was so fun for them!  I accidentally got the day wrong so we went a week early.  After getting there and realizing we were a week early we decided to just get some cupcakes.  They were delicious!  When we came on the right day they got to make their own.

The whole place was very cute and fancy inside.   The girls loved it!

Birthday Fun

I asked Penelope what she wanted to do for her birthday and listed off a few ideas, the zoo, the safari park, Sea World, the beach.  But she knew exactly what she wanted and it wasn't any of those things.  She said she didn't want to do school work or nap time.  She wanted to eat donuts for breakfast, macaroni and cheese that she helped make for lunch, and pizza for dinner.  She wanted her friend Quincey to come over.  And she also wanted to watch lots and lots of tv and movies.  Needless to say it was pretty easy for me to help accomplish all her birthday wishes!

Sorry I didn't take pictures of all the tv watching that went on here.  After Bob got home from work we opened presents.  Then Quincey came over for pizza, cake and ice cream.

I let her pick any way for me to do her hair and she choose heart pigtails.

She has been talking about this flamingo purse ever since she saw it in the zoo gift shop.

She wanted me to take a picture of her with her birthday presents.  You can't see them in this but she also got flamingo pajamas and a pink digital camera.  Oh, and she got several small princess dolls from Quincey, which she loved.

We don't really have baking supplies right now so I took her to the grocery store and let her pick out her cake.  We ordered it a week ahead and planned it out.  When we went to pick it up it wasn't what we asked for and I was almost going to just get it anyway, but they ran out of the right size boxes to keep it in.  We have absolutely nothing at our place to save the cake in (it was tall) so I had to tell them that we can't buy it.  They understood and just put it for sale with their other cakes, I felt bad though.  I let Penelope pick a different pre-made cake. She didn't seem to mind and was happy to pick out a different cake.

This birthday seemed very low key that is just fine with me.  Penelope loved it and had a great time and that is what we were going for :)

Penelope Photography

Today this amazing girl is turning seven!  We went out and took pictures to commemorate the day.

Although she still seems so little and cute to me she really has grown.  It is hard for me to believe that she is 7-years-old!

She lost quit a bit of teeth over the summer and the front ones are now starting to grow back in.

Penelope loves to dress up and accessorize.  She almost always has on a headband and these sunglasses are her new favorite thing.  She even told me very thoughtfully, "This is my fravrite because I just got it.  If I get another one that will be my fravrite."  She likes presents and new things.

She thinks a lot about things and sometimes it cracks me up.  One day she said, "Mom what is a servant?" I'm like, "Someone who has to do everything another person wants without getting paid.  They don't have a choice and they have to do everything for that person."  Then she pauses for a moment and says, "I wish you were my servant."   Haha, the kids all think I'm their servant but at least she is honest about it.

Penelope still loves her blanket and I'm kind of waiting for the day when she grows out of it.  She tells me, "Mom, if I have an owie I hug my blankie and it makes me feel better."

Sometimes Penelope can be very kind and nice to me and sometimes not.  For example, we were doing freewriting for our homeschool.  I set the timer and the kids had 6 minutes to write anything they wanted.  She first complained and threw a huge fit about not wanting to do it.  She silently stonewalled me, made mean faces and everything.  After a while when she calmed down we all sat down and wrote.  When she was done she read her paper.  It was something like.  "I love mom, she is the best mom."  This wasn't any sort of apology she was completely over the earlier tantrum and just likes to write nice notes about me. :)

Penelope is fun to have around the house.  She plays a lot with Scarlett and it seems like they fight a lot too.  I guess that is sisterly love.  We are working on more nice talking and less needing to have it our way.

Penelope really wants to continue homeschooling but when she is in school she does great there.  New people and situations are just really scary for her.

Eight is a big turning point for kids in our family.  It is the age when they start to act and seem older.  They also get more responsibilities and more is expected of them.  In my mind she has one more year of being a little kid and I want to savor it.

I love Penelope and am so happy she is in our family!