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.

Building on the Plane

Saturday was packed full of 'fun'!  We worked on the plane and got one skin riveted on and the seatbelt anchors installed. Lennard had to climb into the tail a few different times, but it was great to see progress being made. 

 Emma had fun 'building' on some scrap metal and played with the clecos.  Our kids are definitely getting inventive with the hours we spend at the hangar.

We had our ward Youth Days today.  They put on a great lunch for everyone and the kids had fun playing with their friends.

Emptying the Garage

The weather closed in this evening and so soccer was cancelled.  I called my mom for something and she told us we should come out and see what they were doing... so we headed out!

When we got there, the garage was almost empty!  Uncle Barry and Curtis pulled out the last hoist while we were there and the kids had fun helping clean up.

It's so strange to see the garage empty after over 41 years of business there.  We have so many memories linked with this building, but I'm very grateful that my parents are finally going to be able to retire.

Field Trip

A few days ago I got a phone call from Emma's teacher at school.  She said that she didn't know what my schedule was like, but wondered if I would be able to come help at their field trip to the Remington Carriage Museum on Wednesday.  She then said, "Emma said that you're just bored during the day and that you just sit around on the computer waiting for her and Ben to come home."  Ha! Ha!  We both got a good laugh out of our kid's perceptions of what we do when they aren't around.  I agreed to come, and Emma was thrilled to find out that I would be a helper.

There were two Grade 1 classes that went in the morning, so they split the classes up and then each class got split into four groups.  I took Emma's group.  Our first activity was getting to 'build' wagons.  There were four different wagons that we took turns building and trying to beat our times.  Some were quite tricky.  This one was the easiest by far!  

Once we had them built, we had to go into the museum and find 'our' wagon that we'd just built.  Thankfully, ours was an easy one to find!

They then took all of us to each wagon and explained what they were used for.  The kids got some time to just explore after that.

Our next activity was going on a carriage ride.  They took us for quite the ride and the kids loved it.

Then we got to go into the stables and meet one of the horses.  Emma had a bit of a meltdown (only because I was there...) when she didn't get a turn to brush the horse.  I didn't handle it as well as I should have and got very frustrated that she had to put on a show for her entire class.

Unfortunately, they wanted to do a group picture right after that and she didn't want to be in the picture because her 'eyes were red'... She made it into the picture, but only because her teacher went to stand beside her.

Within minutes after this picture she was smiling and happy again.  Oh the drama!  She was still very happy that I'd come with her and was excited that we got to sit together on the bus.

Big Changes

My parents have (finally) sold their garage... we hope.  It's not official yet, but it's in the works. Because of this, they decided to buy 5 acres of land from my Uncle Barry that is the original homestead of my Great-Great Grandparents when they came to Mountain View in 1894.

After Lennard finally got home from church and had something to eat, we decided to go out for a drive and see the land that they will be buying.  (It won't be finalized until after they get back from Nauvoo.)

This is the view looking towards the mountains from the edge of their property.

As you turn around, this is the land they will get.  

 The original well outline can be seen just inside these rocks.  Uncle Barry located it and filled it so that he didn't have to be worried about kids exploring and possibly falling down it.

The kids loved exploring and climbing in and out of all the trees.  It's so cool to think about my great-great grandparents planting these trees so many years ago and then seeing my kids playing in them now.  What an incredible legacy.