Ella's Star of the Week

This week is a big week for Ella ---

she's the Star of the Week in her preschool class!!

She is SO excited.

She is excited to sit on the Star of the Week mat

and be her teacher's special helper ....

.... and when she left for school this morning she was very eager to share her Star of the Week poster.  She worked on it for quite a few days, and knew exactly what colors and what photos she was going to use.  She even told me after I offered a suggestion, 'no mom, I know how I'm going to color this all by myself.'.  And that she did : )

I am so proud of Ella.

This girl is a SHINING STAR both at home and at school!

First Bus Ride, First Field Trip

The girls' preschool went on a field trip today to the Children's Museum.  I'm not sure what was more exciting, the bus ride or the museum, but when we pulled into the parking lot at school both girls actually squealed with delight when they saw the bus : )

When I asked what their favorite part about the day was riding the bus was at the top of their list ....

But exploring the museum with all of their classmates was terrific too ....

So was making bubbles ....

And playing with friends ....

And doing construction ....

And listening to the storyteller ....

And driving the giant rooster ....

.... it was ALL a lot of fun, but riding the bus was truly at the top of their list ....

FUN times!!

art

The Artists ~

Their Bedroom ~

Their Art ~

  They Make Me Very Happy ~

YouTube: Mosquito Burrito

This winter has been a long one, and it isn't even the end of January yet.  We have a ton of snow, but it's really fluffy on the top and really hard on the bottom, so building anything hasn't been happening, and it's even hard to slide or walk around in it.

So we've been daydreaming of warmer weather -- and even of those pesky mosquitoes we see a lot of in Minnesota, when we see a lot of green, rather than white.  This song always makes us laugh, and then I hear 'play it again' over and over again ....  which I've been doing a lot of lately : )

Speech Class and Gymnastics

After being in some sort of a speech program since she was less than a year old, and after working with the Amazing Julie since she was about three -- Zoe graduated from Speech Class last week!  We are so proud of her hard work and perseverance, and her sweet little voice is as cute as ever, just more clear : )  To celebrate we had dinner at Snuffy's (both Zoe and Ella's favorite restaurant), and the girls started GYMNASTICS!!

This is something they've been wanting to do for quite a while so they are THRILLED!

Jumping like a pencil on the mini-tramp ....

rolling like a pencil down the 'cheese' mat .....

walking on the balance beam ....

and swinging from the top bar .....

.... made this little speech graduate .....

.... and her sister ....

.... very happy girls!!

Their new sparkly gymnastics outfits (Christmas gifts from little buddies Julia and Irene), also make them very happy -- they LOVE them, and seeing them in their outfits makes me smile, a lot : )

Busy

Life has been busy (good busy).

My blog has been somewhat neglected.

We've had a TON of snow and it's been really cold, but the girls (and the snowmen) love the weather ......

And these two goof balls:

They're starting KINDERGARTEN next Fall, so that means Tom and I have been busy learning all about the schools in our area, touring them and making some big school decisions.  We live in a great district so we can't go wrong with our final choice, but it's a big process and has been time-consuming.

I'm also having a hard time moving past the fact that Kindergarten truly is just around the corner.  It really seems like my two mask-making, snowmen-building big girls were just my teensy-tiny-snuggle-babies not too long ago.  Sigh.

And as for me, my leave is up this spring so I'll be heading back into the classroom this fall too.  I'm not sure what school I'll be at or what grade-level I'll teach, but I am so excited about all the changes, for all of us : )

The adventures do indeed continue ....