Reagan's Spring Program

This week, Reagan had her Spring Program. Again, Rachel and Stockton joined Steve, Cole and I to make up the biggest fan base of any student in Reagan's class :)  They had such a cute program! They sang, they recited poems, they danced and they acted out little skits. I had to laugh that before their square dance, Reagan gave the "I'm watching you" look to her partner - just to make sure he was paying attention - silly girl! I think my favorite is The Aristocats song. The students each had sunglasses on and they were acting SO COOL!

After the program, we went to Reagan's classroom to see their Young Author projects - it was darling! We also saw Reagan's submission for the Art Fair (it was a bag that she decorated and colored - we took a picture of it) - she made the cut and hers was out in the hallway on the wall - yeah!!! We were also able to see Reagan's Golden Key - that means she learned and can apply all of the rules and drills related to irregular vowels, consonant blends, etc.  These rules will allow her to read 80% of the English language - pretty ok for a kindergartener! We chatted with her teachers, Miss Murray and Mrs. Hiner. We were also excited to see Mrs. Hone who left in March for maternity leave - she even brought her beautiful new baby!

Great job Reagan - she's been practicing her program songs for months. When we watched The Aristocats movie, she was shocked to hear the song from her class. Also, when she was practicing "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" at home one day and Steve piped in, she looked at him - shocked. "How do you know that song Daddy? That is a Kindergarten song." she demanded. He just laughed. I can't believe we're almost at the end of the school year. Reagan has learned so much and this Spring Program just shows some of it - cute!!!




 

Happy Mother's Day!

We had a wonderful Mother's Day weekend. Friday, we spent the evening together playing and having fun. On Saturday, we saw Shannon and had a picnic in the back yard after which Reagan and I accompanied Cole to a birthday party he was attending at Jungle Jim's. (Why does everyone choose that place?) Steve stayed home to finalize his lesson for Sunday. That night, we watched a show and just hung out.

Sunday morning, Reagan and Cole woke me up with presents they had made. We had a great breakfast. (Cole asked me the night before "Mama, Mother's Day is a very special day, right?" I told him he was right, it was. "Then, you should make pancakes!" he responded. Great idea Cole!) Steve also gave me the most beautiful card and letter and gifts.

We went to church and listened to the Primary children sing beautiful songs to their mothers, the ward gave us chocolates and Steve's lesson went great!

I spoke with my mom and made plans to see her and we were going to visit Steve's mother after church, but she wasn't feeling well (we later learned it was double pneumonia - Uggh!!!). So, we ended up staying home and having a wonderful evening just us.

Rachel and Kevin were in San Francisco so we weren't able to celebrate with them. April wasn't able to come either, but sent some beautiful flowers.

We were talking about the first Mother's Day I had as a mother of my own children and how we didn't expect to have Reagan here then. She came so early that she was in time for Mother's Day. That Mother's Day, also, Steve was asked to speak in his parents' ward (unbeknownst to his mother) and we were pretty emotional that day, having this baby, born early, in our home and talking about Steve's mom. Memories - light the corner of my mind. The bottom line is that I LOVE LOVE LOVE being a mother. I always knew I wanted to be a mom, but I had no idea the depth of love and emotion that you have for these little ones entrusted to your care. I thought I'd miss practicing law, but I don't. I love being with Reagan and Cole each day and am so glad that I have been able to stay at home with them (well, we really aren't home that much, but you get the idea ...). I love Reagan and Cole more than anything and I'm so blessed that I am privileged enough to be their mother.

I also love my Mother and my Mother in Law, those other mothers who have helped me through the years and those other mothers who have helped me learn to be a mom myself. Here's to mothers everywhere - Happy Mother's Day!!!!!

Cole's Spring Program

At Cole's preschool, every year, they have a Spring Program. Reagan's have been adorable. Well, Cole's did not disappoint. They were so cute. They sang songs, recited poems, showed their classroom skills and even danced. Rachel and Stockton joined us and Cole was thrilled to have such a fan base.

I know I'm biased, but Cole might have been the best little performer in the class. He paid attention, sang loud, knew all the words and followed directions. His teachers (Mr. Parker and Miss Janice) have told him for months that he is their best singer. After the program, one of the other moms told me "Cole was just the star of this show - he is so cute!". Yep - that's our Cole Cole. He was very animated in his actions and sang out strong. 

Reagan was SO sad to not be able to see Cole's program, especially since she was in Miss Janice's class two years ago. Well, Kindergarten is demanding. At least Cole will be able to see Reagan's program next week.

My favorite song might be "If All the Raindrops were Lemon Drops and Gum Drops" although "You are my Sunshine" is a close second!

Way to go Cole - we love you and we loved your spring program. Here's a little movie of parts of his program:

A Tea Party

Reagan and I had been talking about her birthday for several weeks. She was thinking Dora, then maybe a cowgirl party or a Tangled party. We jumped online and came up with several ideas that we quickly narrowed down to a Tea Party. Since we don't drink tea, we improvised with other drinks and since we don't own a teapot, we needed to shop. I found the most darling ribbon at Tai Pan - it was thick ribbon with light green, light blue and white stripes and then blue ribbon made up of a string of light blue daisies - perfect!!!! Our color scheme was set. Luckily, I was able to buy several teapots at Tai Pan as well.




We started planning around Easter time and I found pink and white bonnets, white and pink gloves and pink purses in the dollar bins at Target. Get some little favors to put in the purses and we are set! We decided to use our "not so nice" china, rather than try to buy tea cups and saucers. A friend in our book club - Jan -used to put on tea parties for hire. She retired a few years ago and would not be talked into doing "just one more". Luckily, she graciously offered to let me borrow all of her things and even came to help me prepare the food and put on the party (she really just should have let me hire her to do the party :) It was a lot of work). She had the most darling tea pots, so, I returned all of my Tai Pan ones. We were also able to borrow a couple from our friend Cheryl in the ward.

Reagan invited 14 friends and we had the cutest invitations printed up. Cole was really concerned that he wasn't going to be part of the tea party. In Jan's costume trunk were two "knight" costumes with helmets and breastplates. Cole was thrilled - he declared himself the protector of the princesses and enlisted Stockton to help. It turned out that a couple of girls couldn't make it, so, there was room for Cole and Stockton to join the girls at the table - we wound up with 13 children. We had anticipated going outside, but it was pretty cool and very windy that day, so, we opted to stay inside. We asked the girls to come in their "tea party best". They were all dressed up before they even arrived - so cute!! Next, we let them decorate their purse with their name and put on their bonnet, gloves and all sorts of costumes and accessories that Jan had lent us. We had a big mirror to let them see themselves and Reagan even broke out her makeup for them to use. Once the girls were all dressed up and accessorized, we started the tea party.



Who knew there were so many tea party rules? Jan informed me that you have 3 level stands and that you must start with the bottom level which has scones on it. I asked where I could buy the scones and Jan informed me that you don't buy scones for a tea party - you make them. So, she came over the day before and we made strawberry scones and lemon poppyseed scones and a strawberry sweet cream to put on them. We also cut out the bread for the sandwiches. We made hearts, flowers and triangles - so cute! Finally, we made the brownies and the lemon bars and cut all the fixings for the sandwiches.

Once the girls had eaten scones, they ate from the middle level, which had open faced tea sandwiches on them. We made cucumber and cream cheese, strawberry and cream cheese, bacon and tomato, and a yummy peanut butter concoction that was delicious! Finally, the girls hit the top level which contained mint brownies, lemon bars and cupcakes. My dear friend Kathy (whom I adore) was kind enough to make the cupcakes as a present for Reagan. It is too bad that she decided to close up her cupcakery because people were RAVING about these cupcakes. She made mini ones for the girls and regular sized ones for the adults. Best of all, she matched my ribbon and had adorable fondant daisies on the cupcakes. YUM!

Oh - and we also served three types of "tea": hot cocoa, mint julep, and a cambric tea which had gingerbread flavoring. It was so good! Jan was so kind to tell the girls about some of the etiquette associated with tea parties and the girls just loved it. I put ribbons around each of the chairs and on the serving trays. I found blue and green daisy place mats and we had blue, green and white balloons everywhere. I left my Easter decorations on the chandeliers as they were pastel colored, metal balls with daisies on them. It was all adorable!




We put a candle in a cupcake and sang to Reagan. After the girls were done eating, we opened presents and then they played. They went downstairs to Reagan and Cole's rooms, they went outside in the yard and they jumped on the trampoline. Reagan had a blast and so did we. It was definitely our most "labor intensive" party yet, but it was great. Shannon and Rachel helped out so much - I couldn't have done it without them. As a favor (in addition to the hats, gloves and purses), I ordered little ceramic tea sets for the girls to take home - they were super cute.

My parents came by during the party and Steve's parents came over later. What a fun party and what a great day! Reagan had a wonderful time and so did we.

A big shout out of thanks to everyone who helped with this party - Stacey for helping me decorate, Jenn for culinary support, Kathy for the amazing cupcakes, Shannon for helping prepare and serve, Rachel for making the favor tea sets look so darling and for help cleaning up, Jan for letting me borrow all of her gear and for helping me learn to put on a tea party and Steve for, well, doing everything! It was a lot of work, but it was a fabulous tea party!

Happy Birthday Reagan!!

I can't believe it - I can't believe it!! How in the world can my little Reagan be turning 6? No way! I swear, we were just teaching her how to walk, watching her climb the stairs and trying to understand all of what she was saying to us. I truly can't believe how fast she is growing (and Cole too). Well, it is true and she is 6!

Reagan's birthday fell on a school day and she was elated to be going to school on her birthday (not me - I always take my birthday off!). Of course we had pancakes for breakfast. Of course I made a special lunch and put a card in her lunch. She half way suggested I decorate the car for when I came to pick her up from school, but I put the kibosh on that one. Steve, Cole and I went to her school to Spotlight her. We brought along pictures of when she was a baby and filled out a form with all her "favorites" on it. 

Then, the children in her class were able to ask her questions or tell why they thought she was special. It was darling! One of her classmates asked her which irregular vowel was her "favorite". Another said she was special because she is so friendly. Finally, they sang Happy Birthday to her and she chose the "Cha Cha Cha" version, which includes a little twist which she is really good at :)

After her Spotlight, we checked her out of school and headed to Toys R Us. She had received a couple of gift cards for there and she was achin' to spend them. Once we were done shopping, we hit McDonalds - her favorite! We played and played (and ate a bit) and finally returned home to open some of her presents. 

Amongst other things, she received an Easy Bake Oven. (Not so easy for Mom - I thought it would come with the necessary light bulb. Oh no - you have to provide your own and the "soft light" or "energy saving" ones won't work. It needs to be an old school, 100 watt light bulb. Good luck - Can you even buy those now? Certainly we didn't have any in our supply closet. Reagan and I checked every light bulb in the house. Finally, we found one in the storage room - probably here for over a decade. Anyway, I'll have to try to find some more and stock up.) 

She also received two new umbrellas as her old one was broken at school. (I found these adorable umbrellas at Cookie Cutters where the kids get their hair cuts. Reagan received a ballerina one with a pointe shoe as the handle. She also received a fairy one with little wings and a curly cue handle. Since I was there, I had to get one for Cole - a knight one with dragon wings on it and a sword handle - DARLING!!!!) 

She received clothes and dress up stuff and Cole actually took one of his favorite books, wrapped it up and gave it to Reagan. Now that's a present! She was so appreciative, but graciously returned it to him at the end of the night. 

Yep - she's 6. Her "friend" party is tomorrow and Mom's got lots to do still. So, until then ........

Gettin' it

So, after a couple of months of karate, we're getting it. Reagan and Cole like it (most of the time), but we haven't yet pulled the trigger to go twice a week like our other classmates. Mostly, that is my fault. Between swim class, dance class, piano, and karate, I just don't want to tie up yet another night by going to karate again each week. Perhaps I'll want to in the summer, when school is out and we have more time. For now, we'll keep going once a week. Reagan and Cole have had 3 tip tests and received 3 tips for their belts. Next, they should qualify for their next belt (white with orange?). Anyway, their form is getting better (check out Cole's kicks) and Cole was even called up to lead the class in some punches. (Sorry about the fuzzy video - I didn't realize it was blurry, but you'll get the idea!).

Yep - we're gettin' it, slowly but surely.

Classic Skating Baby!!!

Our combined YM/YW activity this week was skating at Classic Skating. We've only been here a couple of times, but 210 of our stake youth joined Reagan, Cole and I as we tried to get around the rink. Reagan was pretty frustrated until we realized that we could rent this "walker" on wheels that would allow her to push it and keep herself standing. Yeah!!!!

Cole used his scooter at first, but then wanted to give skating a try. Same story - he was really frustrated until we rented "toddler skates" for him as well as the "walker". Then, we were all good. I rented skates but didn't end up putting them on - I figured I needed to be as stable as possible (on my high heels) in order to keep them upright. Good thing too - we needed all the help we could get. Bishop skated with Reagan for a while and our YW were kind to check in on us and to wait for us to get around the rink. Reagan and Cole had a blast and said that we definitely need to bring Daddy back here for some more skating. Can't wait - I hear Daddy's got the moves!!!! Here's a few pics of our night. (Sorry for the blurry pics - I was using my phone and it was dark with weird lights and effects - this was the best I could do.)

Speech Festival

At Reagan's school, they have a speech festival. Each class competes to find the 3 best speech givers, then, those three compete against others in their grade level. For Kindergarteners, the "speech" is a poem. They send home a packet and the children get to choose which speech they would like to give. There was a super cute one about shoes that I loved, but Reagan had chosen The Monkey and the Crocodile. That was the longest poem, by far. No matter, if she wanted to do that one, great. She set out to memorize her poem and then to give it to a panel.
The day after the Speech Festival, her teacher called and told me that Reagan had been selected as one of the top three in their class and that she would be going on to compete against the top three from the other Kindergarten classes. Apparently, she did great, but didn't make it past that level. That didn't matter because she had a great time. She told me that she wasn't nervous and that she enjoyed saying her poem.

So, since this is our own, family scrapbook, here's a video of Reagan reciting her poem. Way to go Reagan!!!