Dressing Up

If I don't have a future diva, I will be very surprised.

Here she has on the lovely purple cowgirl hat purchased while shopping with Aunt Amy, a new blue shirt with her pink shirt underneath, white swimmy jacket on the top, gold beads, white sunglasses that belonged to Carlie, khaki pants, with her new pink ruffly skirt from her birthday and a pink polka dot skirt on the top of that.

Finishing her outfit later was a light blue dog cape, and a green flower purse.

Preschool Graduation

Ashley finished her last day of preschool on Friday May 13th. Her teacher was Beth Peterson, who lives across the street from us. Beth taught the preschool class in a back room at the Buddy Bin daycare. Two neighbor kids, Brooke Lee and David Zobell also attended the same class and it was a carpool dream come true.

Preschool went for 3 days a week and there were 11-12 kids in the class. Each week they they learned about a new letter of the alphabet. They would practice writing it, learn the sign for it, have a show-and-tell object, and also color on a large cut-out letter and glue something on it (B- buttons, K-keys, Q- q-tips, W-wheat, etc) which we have all hung up in the homeschool room. Beth's main focus was to love kids and laugh with the 'wonderment' of learning. Ashley would come home come excited to share what she did. Beth is a great lady and a fun teacher and we were glad we got to have this preschool experience for Ashley.

For graduation the kids sang several fun songs and then put on a play of the 3 big, bad wolves and the 8 little pigs. Bryan, Aaron and I got to come watch her perform. Aaron really wanted to sit in the chairs and be a big boy too.

Cali trip in May

California trip commenced as we left our house Tuesday afternoon May 3rd; car packed and kids' loaded. First stop was a nice campground 20 miles west of Zions National Park in southern Utah. We had a good first day of driving (=no rain, minimal crying) and made it to the campground early enough to set up, check out the local caterpillar scene (it was intense), make a fire and cook smores. For the first time in his life Aaron slept well while camping. I am giving all thanks to Bryan's good ideas to get a noise maker and use his propane heater. I was skeptical of both but it worked out good. Wed morning we hiked for a couple hours in Zions, came back for swimming in the campground pool and were on the road again at 3pm headed to Grandma Judy's house in Los Angeles area.

Thursday was our beach day. We had a chill morning hanging out with Grandma and got to Sunset Beach around 12ish. We stayed a couple hours and had a great time. The wind was a little chilly but the sun was warm. Family activities included: lots of sunscreen, Aaron throwing sand all over the blanket, Ash crying because sand got on her legs mixed with sunscreen, Emily and Bry heading to the ocean to try it out for a while, Ashley crying from a lady bug on her shoulder, Aaron trying the water and deciding it was a little too cold, surfer watching, Ash and Em sea shell collecting, Bry and Em building a huge sand castle, me passing out snacks and hunting for shells with girls, Aaron deciding he loved the 4 ladybugs we found so he and I let them crawl around our arms, burying Bryan in the sand, and Aaron laying out full body on the sand for warmth.

Friday the 6th we said hello to lots of family and people arriving for the wedding weekend fun. Bryan and I enjoyed a run on flat roads and balmy weather. My mom drove in.

Saturday my uncles Bill and Jason and Bryan took a long intense bike ride. Some injuries sustained. 2:30 p.m. was my cousin Aaron Cassaro's wedding to Kelly. The couple and ceremony were both lovely. The reception dinner and party afterwards was a fun night with Bry and my fam. The kids enjoyed playing with their second cousins the Muldunes.

Sunday was church and Mother's Day. I got to sleep in, Bry bought me beautiful roses and made a yummy breakfast, picture frames and cards from my girls, and I got chocolate. Dinner that night was 30+ family members from my mom's side eating a really nice BBQ dinner together. Fun to see everyone and get to chat.

Monday was Disneyland with us, my mom, and Amy, Bill, Tiffany and Hannah Foster.

We started off the day with Emily tap dancing with Alice in Wonderland and the Mad Hatter. Followed by a chat with Mary Poppins and Bert. Ash wasn't so sure.

Where all your dreams come true. Notice Emily's big smile in all the pics. The weather was kind of chilly in the morning and evening, but warmed up nicely during the day.

All of us cuties. We spent most of the day all together.

Hannah, Tiffany, Ashley and Emily all got their faces painted and were very lovely.

Aaron and Holly spent a lot of time together so the rest of the gang could do some bigger rides. The little rascal with tons of energy and fun followed by his adoring Grammy. Thanks mom!

We had a great Disney day. We didn't lose anyone- hooray! Pouting was done by Emily after Space Mountain b/c it was too scary and by Ashley who didn't know she was too short for Indiana Jones until she got to the front of the line. Some favorite rides were: Small World, Buzz Light Year, Space Mountain (which was Ashley's first big roller coaster ever and she did great), Tikki Room, Dumbo Elephants, Winnie the Pooh and Indiana Jones Adventure. We all finished the night by grabbing some pizza.

We left California on Tuesday afternoon and stayed in Las Vegas. We went swimming that night and all had fun going between the hot tub and warmish pool. I tripped on the escalators and hurt my ankle. Wednesday morning Bry, Aaron and Ems took another turn in the pool while Ash cartooned and I packed. We got home safely Wednesday night around 8 p.m.

Driving Home

Yesterday on our way home from our trip to Cali Aaron was hungry. I took a few bites of a pear and then handed it to him. It kept him happy and busy for a while (also very messy). I later hear "eyeballs." He had eaten down to the seeds in the middle and had found the pears' eyeballs. Made me smile.