Happy Memorial Day!

We have had a very busy weekend.
It made JD a little tired to keep up with all the activities.

The end of the school year celebration at JD's school was a water day. Everyone had tons of fun and was very tired when they got home from school.

I stopped by during lunch to take a picture and got a very wet hug from my little boy.

I'm not sure how JD come up with the idea that we needed to make a dinosaur cake. I went online and looked up a pattern. It may not have looked exactly dinosaur like but it sure did taste good.

We visited Grandpa where JD played with his cousin Justin.

We visited Grandma where JD played with his cousin Sheila.

On Monday dad fired up the pit. JD was very excited to cook on the "train" and see all the smoke that a wood fire created. I would have taken a picture of the meat but I didn't want to make any of you jealous.

Monday was the first day of summer gymnastics. There was a very small class of TWO!! It made the class extra fun to get the gym practically to ourselves.

Coach Pablo helped teach roll ups. It's never too early to start working on your six pack.

Graduation

Blog disclaimer -- George was out of town for JD's graduation so I was trying to watch AND video AND take a few still pictures. I did the best I could but these are not by best photos.
All of the graduates were announced and then lined up for a song.

This picture is kind of fuzzy but JD was singing with gusto.

The graduates all marched out of the chapel together.

JD with one of his best fiends Alexander.

Everyone celebrated and ate cake. All the graduates have learned many important lessons. They know not to hit and how to share and most importantly of all they learned how to use the potty.

Noticings and Wonderings

I've been in a professional development workshop for a couple of days where we were supposed to have "noticings" and "wonderings." (Yes, I know those aren't real words!) Here are a few of my noticings and wonderings about the end of the school year clean up.
I notice that these posters have been hanging on my walls for more than 20 years now. They were actually put up by the teacher who had the room before me and this is my 20th year in room B-219.

I wonder why THIS YEAR I have to take them down. Is cleaning the walls on a 20 year rotation? If I put up new posters when school starts can I count on leaving them up for the next 20 years when wall cleaning happens again?

I notice that this poster was up to date and accurate when I first hung it on the wall.

I wonder if I should keep it or throw it out?

I notice that this brand new poster is VERY HIGH.

I wonder how I got it up there and how I am going to get it down without tearing it?

I notice that Trey in my 2nd period class is VERY TALL. (He's actually going to play basketball at West Point next year.)

I wonder what elementary school teachers do without tall children to help them with things like this?

Our Day as Lutherans

The Pastor at the Lutheran church where JD attends day care was retiring today. The children from the children's center sang at his retirement service. We are sad to see Pastor Fetter go. JD brings home lots of interesting stories of things he has learned in chapel. This week's lesson was on the Good Samaritan. JD told us all about how Pastor Fetter hit someone with a stick and knocked her down and then nobody would help. It's funny what a 5 year old boy gets out of these things.

Cars Cars Cars

We went to the car show this weekend.
JD has a fascination with red cars. This is one of the MANY red cars we had to drive at the show.

Dad and JD races some little cars.

We were really excited to find Bumble Bee.

Iron Man also made an appearance.

The car show just wet Dad's appetite for a new vehicle. We went to a REAL car lot and JD was lucky enough to find a bouncy house there. Car salesmen aren't stupid. They know you can't shop for a car unless the little boys are busy.

SNAILS!!

Rainy days bring out the snails which fascinate JD. We collected all we could find this afternoon and watched them crawl around. Lulu doesn't get it. She just wants JD to play ball with her. Snips and Snail and Puppy dog tails. That's what little boys are made of.

Reunion

To celebrate the 42nd anniversary of the dedication of our church building they decided to have a reunion and invite all the "old timers" to come and reminisce. On the doors of the building was this picture of dad. Underneath it said, "Elmer Riding says come in and enjoy the building but keep it clean." To bad he couldn't be at the celebration. He would have enjoyed all the memories.

Happy Birthday Party

JD's actual birthday was Tuesday but we had a party with all his friends today.
We went to his favorite inflatable playground where there were tall slides.

And JD was extra silly in the BIG bouncy house.

All the children gathered for a picture.

All that jumping meant snacks were in order.

JD blew out the candles on his dinosaur cake.

He opened his presents.

WOW - a Transformer. It was a super fun party. Thanks to everyone who came.

Happy Birthday

I can't believe my baby is FIVE years old today. Where does the time go? To celebrate his birthday we went to Kindergarten round up and registered for school.
I have transferred him to be in the elementary nearest to my school. I feel better having him close by. My boy looks so little sitting on the steps of BIG SCHOOL.

After our tour of the school we went to Gatti Town for lunch and games. (Teachers eat free on Tuesday -- WOO HOO!)

This adorable little puppy smothered JD with birthday kisses. NO - we did not bring him home. It was tempting though.

We went to the playground where JD was on the look out for pirates.

All that play required a colorful popcorn snack.

Grandpa came by with this fabulous scooter. JD loves having wheels that go fast.

Another Fun Filled Saturday

Saturday has become JD's favorite day of the week. He wakes up on Saturday morning and says, "Is it Saturday?" When I say, "yes" he cheers. I guess it is easy to see why little boys like Saturday when you see what we've done. WARNING -- LOTS of pictures follow.
We started our Saturday at a Primary activity. We learned about Moses.

Then, the children played tug-o-war across the Red Sea.

Next was the parable of the 10 virgins and the children passed water from one person to the next to see who could fill their lamps with oil (or their buckets with water) the fastest.

Our second event was the state menudo cook-off. YUM!! (or in my case yuk) JD and I don't eat menudo but we enjoy the festivities.

Here's something my mother never would have allowed -- spending $3 on a carnival ride.

Make that $6 since we rode two.

I had a great picture of the Harley Any Menudo booth --- then this fat guy walked in front of the sign. He must have been discussing the menudo recipe because he would not move so I took the picture anyway.

Menudo no -- funnel cake - YES!!!! Now THAT is yummy.

Here we are in front of the booth where grandpa's friend Eva was cooking. Dad and grandpa are relaxing in the back.