Kindergarten Graduation

Farewell to Kindergarten! It has definitely been fun, but now we're on to 1st grade (and all day!!!). Unfortunately, this means that I have a 4th grader too. How did that happen?

The Kindergarteners put on an awesome show with songs like:  "I'm a V.I.P in my Family" and "My teacher taught me how to read..."  and "Hit the Road Jack"  It was very cute and Sienna sat there copying their hand actions and just clapping her hands the whole time.   They had each kid walk across the stage, and the teacher told what they wanted to be when they grow up. Tanner said he wanted to be a fireman! 

Tanner at his Table, picking up all his papers.

Tanner & Miss White. Tanner loved her this year.

As Teacher "Thank You's" we gave some plants that said "Thanks for helping me GROW this year"

Biography Report

Meet: Ulysses S. Grant

Civil War General and 18th President of 
The United States of America.

He's kindof cute too:)

Did you know that Ulysses S. Grant's actual name is Hirum Ulysses Grant, but he was embarrassed by that because his initials spelt H.U.G. So when an admissions director at WestPoint messed up and entered his name as Ulysses S Grant, he kept it.   There you go, your history lesson for the day.

This is the 1/2 of the class that presented this day.

Mothers Day

**I don't even remember why I had nicknames for my kids, and it's starting to annoy me, and since I'm posting pictures with their names in them, I'm officially stopping with this post. Hope you don't mind:)  ***

Back in 2009, When Chase was in Kindergarten, I got a letter sent home saying I had to send in $12 for my mothers day gift. I was beyond perturbed, it was a constant stream of letters like that. Please send in store bought treats, please send in $5 for this, $3 for that, please send in a new book to exchange, please send in $32 because your son spilled a bottle of water on a National Geographic Hardbound library book and it is beyond salvageable (true story),  etc...  Well, I sent in the $12 and then didn't think about it again. I remember Chase was sick the whole week before Mothers Day. His teacher actually hand delivered the gift to us the friday before Mothers Day, because she didn't want me to miss out. When I opened it I was so in love with it:

 

Isn't it awesome??!  The ladybugs, bee's and butterflies are his fingerprints.

So this year, I got the same letter and I was so excited.   (And then I had to calm a friend down cause she was starting to go into the same rant I did 3 years ago!!  It's her first child & I promised her she'd LOVE it)

So Tanner walked in the door and handed his mothers day gift to me and was more excited than I was to show it to me. Chasetin's hand print has been on display for 3 years, and now we get to add his to it. (I'm officially on the hunt for a plate rack)  His is more of a green color, which is just SO Tanner. 

 I LOVE LOVE LOVE it, and hope that in 4 more years Sienna will give me one too:)

 

It came accompanied by this cute card. That's me and Tanner and an oddly shaped Sienna.  I love it:) 

Happy Mother's Day out there to all the Momma's in my life. Love you all:)

Ladybug is now specializing in Pedicures. Call me if you'd like to book an appointment with her. 

They're filling up fast people.

My garden :)

I have kindof a semi-green thumb, kindof brownish- green. But this year I was determined to change all of that.   Thanks to Pinterest I had gardening ideas/tips coming out my ears, I have a "board" dedicated to it called "Garden Awesomeness". So back in December I got seeds and planted them in little bio-degradable cups. I watered them, tucked them in at night when it got cold, fed them plant food. These little seedlings got more love than my kids do on some days (kidding, kidding.... well kindof!)  Come march we prepped the ground with all kinds of mulch/compost. I dug holes and put in some drainage pipes scattered thru-out the garden. The thinking here was that it will water the roots deeper, encouraging them to grow. So far it seems to be working. I found the idea here.  Of course I water up top too.

Thanks to all of the HELP I have around here, most of my little seedlings got trampled. Cucumbers got stepped on while Squirt was helping dig a hole for the tomatoes: "oops!".   Bell peppers got stepped on while Hubbie was watering the Zucchini:  "what, there was a plant there?"   Canteloupe has been stepped on twice by Ladybug. We are now on our 3rd try.... It's about 3 inches tall, if it had been able to grow from the beginning, I'd probably have fruit by now!    Jalepeno's were there one day and gone the next... that one is still a mystery. So anyway, I've replenished everything with some help from the nursery.

This is a pic of my zucchini in the back left (I could loose a small child in that plant, by the way!)  and several cages of Roma Tomatoes. The one in the middle refuses to grow up, it just keeps getting wider for some reason. It's full of green tomatoes though!!

This is Heirloom tomatoes on the left (huge plants, not a single flower on them:(  Cucumbers growing up a trellis I made! (found here) Lettuce and spinach underneath, and Green beans growing in the back, I have some poles for them to grow up but so far they are not cooperating! (found here)

I've been using this book as a guide, since it specializes in "hostile deserts."  He's got me using all kinds of crazy things like liquid seaweed and fish emulsion, they both leave by back yard smelling like a fish hatchery, and the flies around here are insane, but I swear to you, my lettuce doubled in size overnight!

So here's what I'm growing:

Zucchini,  Cherry Tomatoes, Roma Tomatoes, Tomatillo's,
Prudent Purple Heirloom tomatoes,  Green Beans, Cucumbers,
Summer Squash, Lettuce, Spinach, Red Bell Peppers, Anaheim Chiles,
Jalapeno's, Parsley, Cilantro, Dill, Green Onions, Basil and Cantaloupe.

Can't wait till I'm drowning in veggies, If you live nearby I'll definitely be sharing!