Art & Wind Festival 2010

Every Memorial Day weekend San Ramon has its annual Art and Wind Festival and every Memorial weekend we are sitting there on the lawn picnicking, watching the kite flyers and enjoying the sites. This year we packed our lunch, found a spot on the lawn and kicked back for an hour or so (mainly waiting for the candy drop), went searching for an art project, rode a ride and enjoyed the day. Oh Daddy also picked up a cotton candy and kettle corn somewhere in the middle there.

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SWIMMING!

Earlier this week we were jumping in rain puddles and today we were SWIMMING! We went to visit Grandpa and Grandma in Stockton and today it happened to be close to 90 degrees! The pool water was FREEZING, but we had a blast!

Goodbye Ladybugs

Sunday we were sitting at the table looking at our ladybugs crawling around it's cage and noticed they couldn't fly. How sad...So, we decided to release them outside. The kids had butterflies and silkworms in their classroom so they know it's best for the critters to be outside. We took them out and the kids set each ladybug on a flower - one still was working on getting out of its pupae, but we put her out too. (They also go ladybug hunting at school - the teachers release 100s of ladybugs in the yard - so they knew how to carefully pick up each bug) We actually didn't see any of them fly away, but we know they are much happier outside.

Congratulations Kyle!

This afternoon we went to Arco Arena in Sacramento to watch Kyle graduate from Sacramento State! Whoo Hoo Kyle. Congratulations!

(Just a side note for those of you who live in/near Sacramento - Go eat at Taro's by Mikuni! Oh my gosh - yumola! Also, the kids meals are just perfect and they even serve them with a box of Botan candy - and it's allergy free for Bailey! Oh, and say "hi" to Kyle. He works there.)

Ladybugs!

Yesterday Bailey was taking a peek at our pupae and look what we found! A ladybug! Oh this is just so exciting. Two more popped out today so we fed them a raisin and a few aphids from our garden. This is just the neatest thing ever!

Goodbye Miss Amy

Today Bailey "graduated" from occupational therapy. She has met all her goals and has tested within the range where she no longer qualifies for services through the school district. We are happy she has met her goals for the year and Bailey will miss her fun times with Miss Amy.

Painting Lizards and Some Updates

This afternoon Gregory was very tired (he is usually tired on his school days and today we also had to go to a meeting where he had to sit quietly for an hour so it made him even more tired!) and since he doesn't take a snoozer when he's tired I need to keep his extra busy so he doesn't just fall apart. (He did anyways) So on the verge of a breakdown I pulled out these lizards we picked up at Michaels a while back and we painted. (Oh...He tucked himself into bed at 6pm telling me he was just too tired to stay up any longer)

Today Bailey passed all her Beginner 1 skills and got her first ribbon! Whoo hoo!

I thought our larva died on a cold day we had the other day, but they were changing into their pupae stage! Can't wait to see the ladybugs! :)

Happy Mother's Day!

Hope all the Moms out there had a Happy Mother's Day! My kiddies came home from school last week with their Mother's Days gifts and cards they each made, Saturday we all went out to dinner (sadly my camera stayed home with Uncle Ryan! Uncle Ryan actually was at work, but we missed him too), and today Bailey and Gregory gave me lots of hugs and kisses and more handmade cards. What a way to celebrate!

This morning Bailey asks if I can take a picture of her for Mother's Day, I say sure and Gregory jumps in and looks at the camera too! :) Awww

Mother's Day gift Bailey made at school. She said she especially picked this one because of the white outline on the flower. She thought that was so pretty.

Here's Gregory's. He tells me Gracyn's mommy had to help him plant it, but he picked out the flower. And he made his handprint too!

Bailey wanted me to take a picture of her and Hello Kitty too :)

The Critter Package

For Christmas the kids got a Ladybug Land from one of their Aunties and since we had the whole Sea Monkey fiasco we decided not to order our larvae until Spring. Well, we placed the order last week and today our mailman knocked on our door and handed us a tube! Whoo hoo!

Here are our new pets!

Can you see them?

Gregory not looking on purpose again - Bailey is SO EXCITED! Ladybugs are one of her absolute favorites! :)

Here's their new home

Can you see them? The sandy looking stuff is their food. I probably shouldn't have added those paper strips, but I didn't want to scrape the bugs off. This is just so neat. Next they'll turn to pupae and then to ladybugs! And the kids are learning about insects this month so it is just perfect.

Teacher Appreciation Cards

Last year we spent hours making one elaborate card for Teacher Appreciation Day and it just took ever ounce of patience I had so this year I decided we were going to simplify things a bit - Mainly because this year we had to make EIGHT cards instead of one! (Each of them have four teachers and instead of giving one to all the teachers the class decided - one parent decided - to make cards for each teacher) Anyways, we tried drawing each of them a picture, but Gregory didn't have the patience, so we tried coloring a picture for each of them - didn't fly either, so today I laid out some watercolor paper and gave them a plate with real watercolor paint and had them paint just one piece of paper! They wet their paper down and went at it. We cut them into four pieces and glued them onto card stock. Bailey's cards also have a nice drawing inside with a little note she wrote and Gregory's has a nice watercolor picture on the front. Now we need to start working on the Last Day of School projects!

Bailey's painting

Gregory's

Gregory's cards

Bailey's

Pot Painting

Today the kids and I decided to paint terra cotta pots. We went to Michaels to get some patio paint and another stop to Lowes to get our pots. I've never used patio paint before, but it is the neatest thing! Great coverage and it really doesn't get all sucked into the terra cotta pot at all. (I do recommend using a regular brush rather than those sponge "brushes" though - not those thing suck up a lot of paint!) The kids had a great time and they really turned out quite nice.