First Tooth!

When I took Ben to the dentist for a check up last week they found an abscessed tooth! He'd had work on that tooth before and it wasn't bugging him at all, but we were told the tooth had to be pulled.  Thankfully, it was a baby tooth!  So, today was the day.  I was more nervous than Ben was!

He had a couple other cavities that had to be filled first and they were worse than the tooth being pulled. Once the tooth was pulled they had to put in a spacer too so that the other teeth wouldn't move into the space.

 He was excited to see the tooth, but then was totally freaked out by it.  He wouldn't touch it!  He's just anxious to see what the tooth fairy will bring!

Update:  The tooth fairy remembered to come and brought him 20 dimes!  We know because Emma got up nice and early, snuck in to Ben's room to look and then sat and counted them out!  She then woke Ben up so that he could see!  Ha! Ha!  The more coins the more money... right?!

Plant a Tree

There was a free event tonight at the community garden where they were planting 150 trees for Canada's 150th.  The kids each got to plant a tree and label a stick with their name by their tree.  As the trees grow, they will eventually be transplanted all around the Town.

 They gave us hot dogs, chips and water for supper and even had prizes that were pulled from a coloring contest the kids entered.  Ben was so excited when he won this light-up ball.  Emma was very unhappy that she didn't win anything, but it was a good teaching moment... right?!

It was an easy FHE!

Last Day of Grade One

Emma was SO excited for her last day of school.  Ben and I walked her to school so that I could get a picture with her and her teacher.

 She started the year off with Mrs. Allred and then has had Mrs. Aipperspach for the last few months.  I was worried about Emma making a transition like that, but she did great and Traci has been wonderful.

 Since everything had already been sent home, the kids just got to play games all morning!  Ben was having such a fun time with the class that we just stayed.

 'Telephone' is always entertaining... and it got them quieted down for a few minutes!

 Half way through the morning they got divided up into their new classes and got to meet their new teacher for Grade Two!  Emma was assigned to the 'new' Mrs. Vornbrock.  She's a brand new hire for this year, so it will be fun to get to know her.  Ben and I popped in just to see who was in her class and then we headed home after this.

It's so nice for the kids to see who will be in their class and have a few minutes with their new teacher.  It helps so much with Emma's questions!

It's so hard to believe that she's going in to Grade 2 already.  She is so incredibly smart and I love seeing her love for learning.  We already have plans for 'homework' all summer!

Carnival

The school had their huge end-of-school carnival today.  Since I've volunteered at the school all year, I was invited to attend the Volunteer lunch at noon.  We came a little early so that Ben could have a chance to try out some of the carnival stuff too!  He loved the bumper balls especially!

 I managed to catch a few pictures of Emma while we were there too!

 Anything involving water guns is fun, right?

 Emma was a little frustrated that she didn't get to come with us to the Volunteer lunch, but I finally convinced her to just go with her class.  Ben and I had a good lunch and each of the volunteers got a T-shirt for helping.  The older grades had their carnival after lunch, but our kids had about half an hour to play on anything before they came out.  Ben pretty much stayed in the bumper balls the whole time.

 After school, Emma had her swim meet at Swim Club.  I haven't been as impressed with Swim Club this year.  She's had a younger instructor that hasn't pushed her at all.  Last year she was actually swimming strokes and getting somewhere (with a lot of encouragement), but this year it looked like she was half drowning!  She attempt a few strokes and then grab the wall or the instructor.  Oh well, at least she tried and we didn't have as many meltdowns as last year.

Also - Happy Birthday to my mom in Nauvoo!

Happy Father's Day

The kids were so excited to give Lennard his Father's Day gifts that they woke up early to make sure he got them before he left for his church meetings.  

Ben was pretty proud of his coloring.

 Emma was thrilled to tell him that they got to watch a movie together!

 I love these questionnaires.

With church and Lennard's meetings we didn't end up even getting a picture of him with the kids!  Oops!  We sure love you, Lennard.  You are an amazing daddy to our kids.

Track & Field Day

Emma was so excited to have her Track & Field day today.  We had one last smoothie day that I volunteer for at the school, so the kids and I were there at 7:30am.  Thankfully it went really smoothly (no pun intended) and I was able to get down to the track in plenty of time to watch her first event.

She ran the 50m race and got 1st place!  Perfect way to start the day out!

 Then, they had them run the 100m race... and she came in first again!

 She tried ball throw.

 And long jump (but she kept jumping too early.)

 High jump... or dive over and try not to hit the bar!

Then all of the Grade 1 girls competed in a 200m race.  She was upset that she didn't come in first again, but she came in about 7th out of about 50 girls, so I think she did great!

 It was a great day to be outside and see our little runner!  I definitely can't keep up to her!

Last Day of Kindergarten and a Car Parade

 Thankfully, Ben woke up feeling 100% better and excited to go to his very last day of Kindergarten!  He wanted me to come with him... so I did!

 They had a super relaxed morning and watched a couple movies (lol) and then they got to go outside to do track and field.

I helped in Ben's group. They got to race each other.

 Try out the high jump... without a bar...

 Long jump... where Ben couldn't figure out where he needed to jump and ended up jumping early every time.

 And then ball throw... which he loved.

 Ben has absolutely loved Mrs. Bennett as a teacher.  She has been great to push him to try new things.  It's hard to believe both of my 'babies' will be in full time school in the Fall.

 Ben wanted one last picture of himself in the classroom.

 Before we left the school, I pulled Emma out of music so that she could show me her finished 'car' for their Drive-in movie this afternoon.  They are doing a parade with their cars, but I didn't know about it when I agreed to go to lunch with friends, so I had to miss it. (Lennard surprised us both and ended up going and getting video of her in the parade!)

Ben and I went to lunch at Lindsey's house with Dina and Shannon.  It was a nice break to sit and visit for a few hours.  Then we were off and running again to pick Emma up from school (with her car) and take her to Swim Club.  Then after dinner we had soccer.  I had to leave a bit early from soccer and switched off with Lennard so that I could get to my book club in time!  Whew!  

I always love going to book club.  We have such a good group of ladies that I just love.  We've been meeting together for about 8 or so years now (give or take a few members).  It's amazing the wonderful books we've read... and all the great conversations we've had (whether they were about books or not!).

Busy, Busy, Busy

This morning as I was busy cutting out FHE kits for tonight's RS activity, I got a phone call from the school saying that Ben had a bad headache and could I bring him something for it.  Thankfully, I was ready for the day, so I popped down to the school with some Advil.  He was quite warm and not feeling very well, but after some Advil he perked right up!  He was still really clingy and not wanting me to leave, so I ended up spending the rest of the morning with him in class.  They were having their Alphabet party, so I was able to help a bit with that.  

 Ben was invited to attend a special lunch at 11:45 for those who'd got 100% attendance at school, so we just hung out at the school after he got out of kindergarten at 11:30.  Lennard was able to join us for the lunch too.  Ben had fun playing with the other kids and sort of ate in between playing too.
(Emma missed the lunch by a 1/2 day when she came home sick.)

Once we got home, Ben ended up crashing.  The Advil wore off and he immediately spiked a fever again.  Poor boy was freezing, but burning up!  He ended up falling asleep (totally not like him) and I was able to finish cutting out all the FHE kits that I'd been working on earlier!  Emma had Swim Club and Ben had to come with us.  He just sat on my lap, wrapped in a towel, and shivered.  When Lennard came to  pick him up so that he could go to his last baseball game, he was miserable.  He ended up putting on his baseball shirt long enough to get a picture with some of his team and then going home to sleep again. (Unfortunately they are all in shadow - but Ben is the 3rd from the right.)

We had a large Hangi at Clarke's home for our Relief Society activity this month.  I went to help prep food yesterday (which is a good thing since today was so crazy!).  I had to go over early to help get everything set up.  They cooked everything in a large pit from about noon until we ate at 6:00.  I was busy helping serve all the RS sisters, but when I did get a chance to eat - it was delicious!  We had carrots, sweet potatoes, potatoes, chicken, pork and beef.  Then there was a steamed pudding with a custard sauce.  Yum!

The weather was a bit crazy, so we ended up all congregating in Clarke's garage, but it worked out so nice for all the older sisters to be able to come too and be out of the chilly wind.  We had such a good turn out and everyone had a good time visiting.

Dinner Time

 We had a busy Sunday!  After church, I had to rush home to get some of the food I had at the house for the Ward potluck.  We got changed, grabbed the brownies we'd made to share and as soon as Lennard got home from church, we headed over to the Bond's house for lunch.  The forecast earlier this week was calling for rain, but it turned out to be a perfect day.  It was so nice sitting out in the backyard visiting with friends.  The kids all took off playing, I 'stole' Gwen and played with her for a while and then eventually I got in line and got something to eat.  The ward did roast beef and all of us brought salads and desserts to share.  It was delicious.

No sooner had we finished eating there, than we headed out to Mountain View for a dinner with my family!  Mom & Dad will be leaving this week for Nauvoo, so this was their last chance to see everyone.  We were so stuffed from our Ward potluck that we didn't eat much (which was good because the food pretty much disappeared!).  It was great to visit with those who were able to come.