No More School, No More Books...

NOTE: I found a post from 5/27/008 that didn't get published.

WOW - Where did the time go? Jake is done with 1st grade. The last day was memorable to say the least. He spent Thursday in the bathrooms and hallways waiting for the tornado and storm warnings to pass. He was upset that he didn't get to have his beach party and say goodbye to his friends - "a little hail and wind were no big deal..." It must be so wonderful to be a kid and be so worry free!

He had a great year regardless of how it ended. They are having a ice cream social Friday at the school so the kids can come back and get their things out of the classrooms and say goodbyes.


We had a pretty mellow weekend. Instead of going camping, we just brought the trailer home and cleaned it. I took drinks and helped the Relief Society make sandwiches lunches for the volunteers who were out and about helping clean up Windsor. On Monday the ward continued the tradition of a pancake breakfast in Windsor at Park. I took stuff down, but didn't stay to long - it was early and cold! I will say how nice it was to help out, even though it was in small ways. I'm so grateful for the safety my family and home was kept in. I can't imagine what folks are going through.

Tornado... We are all OK

Today is crazy - I can't really concentrate. I just wanted to post a little about the Tornado that came through yesterday. Here is what the news says (I will post our story another time):

The powerful tornadoes touched down at least six times in Colorado and once in Laramie, Wyoming between 11:25 a.m. and 1:35 p.m. The National Weather Service says it went through the towns of Windsor, Platteville, Gilcrest, Milliken and also through western Greeley. The storm brought heavy hail with winds up to 165 miles an hour. The largest of the tornadoes extended at one point to about a mile wide, cutting a path 35 miles long. It left 60,000 people without power at one point and forced evacuations.

Spring has sprung...

Well, it is definitely spring time in Colorado. The mornings are bright, the afternoons are warm, and the evenings bring storms. Below is a picture of our roof after last Friday afternoon's big storm. We didn't get a bunch of rain and it wasn't like a "storm" you would see in Oregon. It was mostly just wind. We have lost shingles before - several times actually, but nothing like this.

Steve and I are both so ready to go camping. I can’t wait! We went for a drive last Sunday afternoon and went up in the hills to look for some property. I was pretty excited about what we found – trees, views, flat spots for the trailer, trails to ride on, and open fields for the kids to play in. There were a few things that Steve didn’t like, so I guess we’ll keep looking. I think we’ll go for another drive this weekend. Here is a picture of the kids when we were out hiking around looking at property.

Birthdays - Flash and Bunny

Well, last week out of the blue Jake decided that it was his stuffed animal Flash’ birthday. This of course means that we have to have a party. We made what Jake wanted for dinner and got a puppy cake for dessert. The cake doesn’t look like flash, but at least it was a dog. MaKenna couldn’t be left out, so it was Bunny’s birthday. Steve bought pink cupcakes for Bunny. I’d have to say it was quite interesting.


Steve, with Kyler’s help has been working on his dozer putting new brake pads in. Kyler loves to help dad and tinker on stuff. He love tools and equipment just like Steve. We’ll have to see where this leads us… more “toys”, lost tools, or both.

Baseball and Cheerleading

This is Jake’s 2nd week of Baseball. He’s starting to like it (I think). It isn’t really practice with games – it’s more of a clinic or camp on how to play. We’ll see as they start learning more if he likes it. I don’t want to push it if he doesn’t like it – but he won’t like it unless he’s good at it. Jake has learned to ride his bike without training wheels. He’s really good and starting and stopping n the small bike, but his knees go to his chest when he’s riding. The big bike feels better when he pedals, but he can’t stop and start very well.

MaKenna has had two Saturday’s of Cheerleading. She is having a good time. I am trying to find a evening gymnastics class that fits our schedule for her. She needs something that is special for her and not the boys.

Kyler loves going for walks and rides his little bike. His favorite thing to say these days seems to be “I do it – you walk away mom”. He is getting very independent. He tells everyone to “walk away”. I think he hears that a lot at daycare. This week daycare is having a special “Week of the young child” program. Buster the Bus was there yesterday and tomorrow is a special music day. He is having a good time playing outside, painting, and learning lots.

Where did March go?

SPRING BREAK
Well last week was Jake’s Spring Break. I took the week off and had big spring cleaning plans. I wanted to take everything out of the “junk” room and organize what we decided to keep. I think we’ve kept more then I wanted, but it is looking a lot nicer in that room. I made space for the big craft/computer table.

PUPPIES
Saturday 3/22 we picked up the puppies… Jake does pretty well with them, Kyler likes to tell them “NO”, and MaKenna freaks out if they are around her. They actually don’t even have to be around here – if they are out of their kennel she is on the couch, chair, bed, anything higher than the ground and the puppies. Going along with the Dukes of Hazzard theme – we have named them Dipstick and Moonshine. These names are better the Now and Later or Cletus and Enos. MaKenna wanted to name one Princess Pork Chop, but got out voted since they are both boys. Kyler wanted to call them E-I-O and Cow.

EASTER
Our Easter was pretty quiet – Kyler was sick with a virus going around daycare. We did let the kids dye eggs on Saturday. They all used their favorite colors:
Jake used different colors, mostly Blue, MaKenna used pink and purple, and Kyler used Green and Yellow.

Jake's Dinosaur Diorama

Jake had a school assignment - Create a Dinosaur Diorama and write a report... He picked the Ankylasaurus. He wrote his report and build his model out of Legos. He built the dinosaurs, trees, plants, and volcano all by himself. He did an excellent job and even got an award for it (free pizza from Dominos).