Taylor finishes Kindergarten

Taylor finished Kindergarten today.  He's a cutie! He's also had a great year, and his teacher, Mrs. Godfrey has taken some great pictures of him throughout the year. He's been a good student and a nice friend to others. 

On a side note, can we talk for a second about overkill at kindergarten graduations?  There were parents there today for the 20 minute singing program that had flowers, plants, and huge balloon bouquets for their kindergartners.  Lots of candy leis, and money leis, and all sorts of other things.  I felt a little sheepish to give Taylor nothing.  He finished a grade in school people.  And it was half day kindergarten.  Sheesh.  I guess I'll make him cookies or something.

Anyway, here are some pictures from him program today...and some taken by his teacher this year.

 Taylor & his teacher, Mrs. Godfrey

Taken at the beginning of Kindergarten on the playground. 

Taken in the fall for a rhyming project...

"Willowby, wallowby WAYLOR.  There's an elephant on TAYLOR!"

 

Made into a Christmas ornament with sticks & buttons.

 

Earning his Radiant Roadrunner award at the end of the school year.

 

Abby end of school

The end of school is always an insanely busy time with school programs, field trips, parties, soccer, fathers-n-sons, Zach's birthday, etc.  Whew.  I'm exhausted.  But Abby has had a great year in 1st Grade in Mrs. C. Webb's class.  This was Kason's first grade teacher too.  She has become a great reader this year and earned her Radiant Roadrunner Award.  Here are a few pictures from her program.

Abby's and her teacher, Mrs. Webb 

Abby and her friend Kaizlee.  Check out how tall Abby is!

Fathers and Sons

I went to California for my Grandma's Funeral, Abby slept at DeHaans house, and Tige took the 3 boys to father's and sons.  The details are always sketchy on these outings, but they snapped a few pictures and looked like they had fun.  Tige was a good sport to take Zach.  When I asked him how he slept he said "well, Kason still grinds his teeth."  The Briggs boys came along too, so I'm sure it was even more fun to have cousins.  They caught frogs in the stream, which Zach was too  scared to touch.  Yay for finally using our new 10-man tent that we've had for a year. 

Tige sent this picture to me in California.  It always warms my heart to see these cute kids camping with their dad.

Taylor plays soccer too

This was Taylor's first year playing soccer too.  He loved it. He had games on Tuesdays, and Abby had games on Wednesdays for about 10 weeks. We loved watching both of them play, but took turns at the games so we didn't have to bring Zach along.  There was one game where Taylor scored SIX goals in one game.  (Tige said the other team was doing a lot of spinning and looking at the clouds).

Abby plays soccer

This was Abby's first season of playing soccer, and boy was it fun watching her!  She's a natural, and with her long legs she looked like a gazelle bounding up and down the field.  When the other team stole the ball and started for a breakaway down the field, Abby was the only player who could tear off down the field and catch them.  She stopped several near breakaway goals this season with her fast, long legs. 

 

Coach Payton, (standing)  Kambria, Abby, Shay,

(kneeling) Carlie, Baylee, Maddy, &

Klara

 

 

There were two girls on Abby's team (Carlie & Maddy) that I saw pushing and shoving their own teammates multiple times during the season.  I was grateful I didn't see any of that kind of behavior from Abby.  I guess there are "mean girls" even at this early age. 

 

Baylee Beckstrand & Abby

Zach's THIRD birthday

Can't believe my baby just turned 3.  He is not a baby anymore. Is growing quickly and has big feet. He's talking up a storm, says whole paragraphs and can easily tell me what he wants.  When my parents left for China last August, he was barely saying "momma, dadda, baby, bye...etc."  I can't believe how different he is now in just 9 months. 

He is sweet and happy.  But is fiercely independent and doesn't like holding my hand to walk or cross a street.  Loves to play outside with his siblings.  Loves suckers, fruit snacks and other treats.  Enjoys Mickey Mouse Clubhouse & Little Einsteins.  Here are some pictures from his birthday we celebrated with Aunt "Keina". 

 

Zach  got a few presents, just little things from the dollar store. He was easily please with everything he got.  His favorite was this $1.00 Mickey Mouse balloon, that liked to get caught up in our ceiling fan. After the third time in the fan, the balloon went away.

 

Miscellaneous Happenings

Here are a few pictures snapped on my phone the past few months. 

Abby's animal report at school on the Penguin.

Kids just chillin on the couch

A pre-school wrestle.  "Knock it off, I need to do Abby's hair.  Wait, do it again so I can take a picture.  Ok, stop before somebody gets hurt!"

Taylor lost his first tooth.  We saw a video on facebook of someone who tied their tooth to the bullet/arrow of a nerf gun, then shot the gun and the tooth game out, so we tried it.  It didn't work.  We shot it 3 times, and the bullet just kept flying in a circle still attached to the tooth.  So Tige said, I guess it doesn't work, and just pulled on the arrow still attached to the string, and it popped right out before Taylor had any idea. 

Every day Taylor walks home from Kindergarten, and brings me this "wheat" so I can make some cookies. 

Zach styling with Abby's sunglasses.

In February, while Tige was in Monticello for the weekend working, Zach had a little pee-pee incident at church.  The nursery leaders came and found me, and this is how Zach looked.  She said "We didn't realize he wasn't wearing a diaper." I said "he IS wearing a diaper."  When I peeked down his pants, his penis was poking right up out of the top.  I think he'd been reaching down there with his hands and actually pulled it up.  He was crying and said "I peed too much!"

 

We went home to change clothes and I texted Tige this picture and said "this is why we need you" and he cracked me up with his response... "We need to have a FHE and teach proper penis positioning and etiquette."

Conference

Kason attended his very first priesthood session with Grandpa Hazleton and dad.  He came home and said "I actually listened to conference and learned a whole bunch of new things."  Amazing what you can learn when you listen.  :) 

Conference morning breakfast, orange rolls & egg sausage casserole.

The kids ready to play the candy game on Sunday morning.  When they hear the key word, they get a candy from the cup.  It's amazing how attentively they listen!