a graduation two-fer

Lily looked bored, but on video she's singing.

But the water was fun.

Then we got donuts and chocolate milk and brought them to Dad's office. Lily wanted the pink heart.

Lily has grown so much this year...even so much this last month. I am so proud of this beautiful girl for all of her hard work this year in preschool.

On to Alex's Kindergarten graduation!

Alex was bored at times.

But he sang when it was time to sing.

and smiled when it was time to smile.

Here's his buddy Katelyn singing her heart out.

And now for the photo of the day...

Making it official.

Alex's awesome teacher Mrs. Massey!

Kindergarten water party

It's been a bitter-sweet day with Alex's graduation. He was so ready to start Kindergarten last year that I had no sadness with him heading off to school, but graduating means he's done. Already my Kindergartner is a first grader...just like that. I can't stand it. But I am so proud of this boy. He is an amazing son, student, and friend. We sure love him. Now he just needs to stop growing up. Just for a minute.

Tomorrow

Tonight he had two helpings of dinner.
He put himself to bed.
And he showed me how he can read Calvin and Hobbes to himself.
And I'm finding myself savoring every moment because
Tomorrow he will no longer be a Kindergartener.

scenes from May

Here are some small bits to remember.

We were visited by garden fairies

(ps this is the Tinkerbell costume. There, my responsibilities for posting Halloween are over.)

We star-gazed

My boy had him some wings

We watched scary movies (Harry and the Henderson's)

We chilled

We flew kites.

Found this little gem from the days of yore...as long as we're discussing kites.

From when the boy was this age.

Great, now I've opened the vault. I have so many pictures, especially of this time period so I'll stop now before I"m sucked into the vortex of baby pictures.

Trying to avoid bedbugs...or bedmice

I usually have Alex make his own bed. However, about once a week after he goes to school I have to go in and change the sheets and really make it. So that at least once a week it's fit to climb into and actually go to sleep. This is how it was after I took off the piles of lumped up blankets.

I thought it was kind of cute that he sleeps surrounded by books, even though I can't IMAGINE how he sleeps this way. Of course, even if I don't make my bed I'm the girl who has to make it before I can get in or else I can't sleep. So to me this is mind-boggling.

What you don't see are the motorcycle, car, plastic spider, and cereal crumbs.

CEREAL CRUMBS!! Even after keep explaining to him that mice LOVE cereal crumbs...and rumpled sheets. None of this seems to get through to him, however. And I can't get too mad because I specifically remember sneaking one of those wrapped up slices of American cheese into my bed when I was probably his age and my dad finding it under my pillow. Sometimes we just like to see what we can get away with.

On another note, I found this awesome encyclopedia set at my favorite place...The DI; for 75 cents a piece. I'm such a sucker for vintage books, clothes, furniture...houses. What can I say?

This is the one he's apparently reading right now.

Not only are the pictures ADORABLE, but the books themselves are so fun for Alex. They're written so that you feel like someone is explaining something in simple terms rather than just stating facts. And the topics are so cool and random. This one is on conservation, rivers, and chemistry. He really enjoys them.

I hope the mice enjoy them as well.

Good Morning

sshhhhhhh.....

About 2 years ago I decided to build Lily a doll house. However, seeing as how I had no previous woodworking experience, what I really meant by that was that Jake and I would build it. (AKA I would draw the plans and Jake would build it.) But since that didn't fit in to the thousand and one things he does in a day, I finally committed myself to doing it alone. And besides, I may not have a lot of experience, but I've watched Jake work with wood for a long time. Plus we used to watch Norm Abram on PBS a lot. And before that I used to go to the hardware store occasionally with my dad.

I'm good to work with power tools, right??

(BTW this line of reasoning works with anything. I'm watching a lot of House right now so if you've got an ailment come to me and I'll diagnose it. It's Lupus)

So without further adue...Lily's doll house so far...

The front will slide off and on when it's done, and the roof (which is leaning non-chalantly over there in the corner) will be on a hinge for attic access.

This has been so delightfully easy to build, thanks to a great set of easy plans from the library. This is only day 2...I brought a 4' x 8' sheet of plywood home yesterday, and I've done the whole thing by myself! Go me:)

However, this is what my workroom looks like. Covered in the carnage of the skirt I was making that I took apart because the seams weren't matching up. I haven't come back to it, and probably won't until I run into a problem with the house.

I guess we can't be everywhere.

Oh ya...the reason this is a secret is because it's for Lily's birthday. She's been watching me make it so far, but I'm not going to let her see me finish or paint/wallpaper/furnish it. Let's hope we can get all that done by July.

Building a house always takes longer than they say.