Leaving Discovery School

The last week of school went by quickly this year.  It's all a blur!

First, Eli had his End-of-the-Year party at a friend's house.  They brought in a petting zoo and a pony for the kids to ride on, so it was lots of fun!

Then Elina had graduation on Thursday.  (Look at these cute graduation shirts that one of the moms made for all the kids!  Amazing!)

J and I actually won the front-row seats for graduation at Benefit this year, so I didn't even have to worry about saving seats.  It was awesome!  (Although it was sad that J couldn't make it to the graduation this year...boo!)  I spent the morning taking pictures of Elina and just hanging out in her classroom.  She requested that I stay with her since it was her "last" Discovery School graduation.  Ha!

Doesn't Elina look so grown up?  *sniff sniff*

The ceremony was wonderful.  I shed a few tears, but for the most part, I enjoyed myself.

Here is Elina getting her diploma on stage--

The kids also performed 3 songs..."So Long, Farewell" from The Sound of Music--

"Think Positive"--

and the school anthem.  For the anthem, B actually accompanied them with his guitar (along with A's dad).  Nice touch!

After graduation, there was cake and punch on the patio. Here's Elina showing off her diploma--

That night Elina picked her new favorite restaurant, Sushihana, for her graduation dinner.  I didn't know if she'd still pick Luby's, but now her tastes have changed...instead of mac n cheese, she wants tempura udon.  Can you believe that?  

This year, Elina gave each of her classmates and her teachers drawings of things they like.  She spent a lot of time drawing and coloring these pictures.  Then we framed them to hand out to everyone.  All the kids know Elina as the artist, so they loved her drawings.  They all came out great and some of them are so detailed. I don't know how she does it!

The next day was Elina's End-of-the-Year party at a splashpad...actually the same splashpad we had it at last year!  It was an awesome day and the kids had tons of fun in the water.  Well, Evie screamed and cried when the water splashed her in the face, so she didn't enjoy the splashpad as much.  She really enjoyed the raspas (snocones) though!  The kids loved squirting each other with water guns, running around in the water, and playing with water balloons.  I also made cute flip flop Nutter Butters for the party...neat, right?  

It's funny because I've been anticipating the end of they year since the first day of school.  I knew I would be so sad that Elina was leaving her school and her wonderful teachers.  I knew I would just cry and cry about it...and I totally did.  But this final week of school was so busy that I didn't mind that school was ending.  I mean, I was still sad, but I also felt relieved...relieved that I don't have to drive back and forth to school every day for a few months....relieved that I won't have any school obligations for a while...relieved that we can just sit back and relax now.

We don't really have exciting plans to go anywhere this summer.  I signed the kids up for some camps, but other than that we're just going to hang out by the pool and enjoy these last few months with the 3 kids before the baby arrives and everything is CRAZY.  I have a feeling it's going to be a good summer.

Spartans!

Last Sunday, B participated in the Spartan Race while Elina and Eli participated in the Jr. Spartan Race.  Boy, was it a fun time!

B's heat started at 11:35am and the kids didn't start until 12:30, so while we waited for the kids to begin, we watched some of the events...and, of course, the kids found a stick bug...

It took B about an hour and a half to complete the 4 mile course.  B said that since he wasn't in very good shape, it just took him longer.  He said that the Tough Mudder was WAY more difficult (since it was a 9-10 mile course) and way more miserable, so he preferred the Spartan Race.  The toughest obstacle was crawling through a narrow, 40 foot long pipe.  He said the pipe was really narrow, about the same thickness as his body, so it was really hard to shimmy through it.  You could only use your shoulders, elbows, and toes.  B definitely got a lot of scrapes and scratches all over his elbows and shoulders because of this one.  Other than that one, he said it wasn't all that bad.  Towards the end, they had to roll under barbed wire for a pretty long distance and some racers complained about getting dizzy.  B was ok under there, but his face got scratched by a barbed wire.  Yikes!

Here are some shots of B.  In the picture of people climbing over the wall, he's the one towards the right side that is almost over the wall.  He was so quick on that one that I barely got a picture!  The rest of the collage has pics of him under the barbed wire since that obstacle was SO long.

Right after the barbed wire, B had to face the guys at the very end with the pugil sticks.  These 3 guys were there just to knock you over...although I think they would go easy on some people if they just felt bad for them.

Unfortunately, because of B's starting time, he missed the kids' race.  It was really too bad because they did a great job.  I wished I had known ahead of time that parents could run alongside their kids because I totally would've followed Eli along the race.  He slowed down at the very first obstacle, climbing over 2 wooden walls.  I felt so helpless because by the time I realized I could have gone with him, he was very far away and couldn't hear me yelling for him.  Plus, I was bogged down with a bag and with Evie, so I couldn't run over there quick enough to help him.  And where was Elina during all this?  She had already left Eli in the dust and was working on obstacle number 3 at this point.  I couldn't really blame her though...the adrenaline and all...I didn't really expect her to wait for Eli at each obstacle.  SOOOOO, I also couldn't blame Eli for accidentally skipping a few obstacles on the course.  He was so confused that he thought this one mesh net (that you were supposed to climb over) was a tunnel.  So instead of climbing over it, he ran through it and ended up missing 3 obstacles--one of which was jumping into muddy water and climbing over muddy, slippery hills afterwards.  This is how he finished the obstacle course faster than A and Elina...AND he wasn't half as muddy as they were!  But who could blame him?  No one guided him or anything, so he just did his own thing.  He still did a lot of the obstacles....just not the muddiest one!  (I was also sad that I wasn't able to get as many pictures of Eli since he was so far away and then he cut through some of the course.  Oh well.  Live and learn.)

Elina, on the other hand, did an amazing job!  She completed the whole entire course and didn't shy away from the dirt and mud at all.  I was impressed.  Although at the end, when she saw Eli, she said, "Hey, how come Eli isn't as muddy as I am??"  It was hilarious!

Here are our racers before and after the race...

It was cute because right after the race, Evie didn't even care that B was super muddy, she was about to give him a huge hug!  But B felt bad so he just asked for a little kiss.  The older kids, on the other hand, did not want to touch B at all!  It was hilarious!

Here are the muddy legs and sneakers...then they all jumped into the lake to rinse off!

I definitely need to write a letter to the Spartan Race people because I felt like the kids' race wasn't handled really well.  I feel like if you're going to have a race for kids, you need to have official Spartan Race people at each station to give instructions, help kids who need it, and tell them where to go next.  It was just kind of a free-for-all.  Even so, the kids had fun racing and I had lots of fun watching them.

This race was also not setup as well as the Tough Mudder.  At the Tough Mudder, I could watch a lot of the events, but for this one, you couldn't see anything at the beginning and could only catch the tail end of it all.  That's why most of my shots of B are while he's under the barbed wire, which was the 2nd to last event.

It was also hard to get around at the Spartan Race.  You always had to wind around booths and other things in order to watch an event.  I think the Tough Mudder covered more area, so it was easier to get around to watch things.  RM and I felt like we were wandering around a lot just trying to find things.  By the end of it all, even I was tired from all the walking!

Overall, we had a great time!  But here is what Elina said...
Me: Did you have fun?
Elina: Yea!  It was SO much fun!
Me: Would you want to do it again?
Elina: No, I don't think so.

So there you have it!  (Although I'm still going to secretly try to find another one for Elina and Eli to race in again.)  We'll have to try other mud-type races to see which B likes the best.  But I thought it was awesome that the kids could be included in this one.  I'm so proud of my Spartans!!

Open House 2012

Every year the kids in the 2, 3, and 4 year old classes perform at the school Open House.  It's a fun night and each class performs 2 songs on stage.

This year's Open House started with the 1st grade drum circle.  Usually 1st grade and kindergarten do not attend since they get to perform for graduation, but the director really wanted the 1st graders to show off their drum circle performance this year. Lucky Elina!

Here is Eli performing with his class.  First they sang "Mr. Sun."

Then they sang "Mi Cuerpo."

It was the cutest thing.  Eli was so into it...with the swaying and the dancing.  I loved every minute of it!

I was so excited to finally go to school to watch Eli do something for a change.  Usually we're off doing something for Elina, so it was nice to let Eli be the star this night.  What a wonderful little performer!

Bike Rodeo and Bike Hike

The 1st grade Bike Rodeo was so much fun!  The school had a police officer come to inspect everyone's bikes,

  then he had the kids do some maneuvers, and he finished up with some safety tips.

For the maneuvers, the kids had to ride in a straight line in between 2 narrow lines.

Then the kids had to ride on a yellow line in a circle formation.

Finally, the kids had to weave in between orange cones.

Here is Elina with her certificate--

Elina did such a great job considering she just learned to ride on 2 wheels!  Here was Elina's cheering section--

After the rodeo, we loaded up the kids and took them to a park to ride on a trail.  The kids thought this was the most fun they've ever had.  I think it was just fun for them to ride around with their friends.

I really wanted to ride with Elina, but since I'm pregnant, no one would allow me to join.  Elina was so sad about it...."Mommy, it's my last bike hike and you're not coming!"  I explained to her that since my belly is big, my balance is off and that I might fall off the bike and hurt the baby.  She retorted, "But, Mommy, you're the shell that protects the baby so if you fall, the baby will be just fine."  What about me??  In the end, she got to ride with all her friends so she didn't seem too sad.

Then we all had lunch at the park and the kids played together on the playground.  It was a loooooong and tiring field trip, but it was so much fun for everyone! Even Evie wanted to participate!

Mother's Day 2012

Mother's Day this year was quiet, but still wonderful.

First Elina and Eli both had Muffins for Moms at school.  I really enjoy Muffins for Moms mostly because I don't have to feed the kids breakfast.  But I also like that it takes place before school actually starts, so it's a quieter time of day that I can enjoy with the kids.

As class projects, Eli painted flowers and decorated a flower pot.

Elina gave me a necklace with her thumbprint in it and she also drew a portrait of me.  She wasn't satisfied with the portrait though because she said the eyes weren't drawn correctly.  I told her that it still looked great and that she got my hair right and my necklace looked exactly like my real one.  She said, "But, Mommy, the eyes are the most important part of a face because it shows who you really are."  Wow.  Obviously I couldn't win this argument.

Regardless, I still loved all my gifts!

For Mother's Day, my sisters were both in town.  I got a massage and a pedicure on Saturday.  Then I told everyone that all I wanted for Mother's Day was just time to catch up on my blog.  (Isn't it sad that this is what I wanted?)  My sisters helped me organize my craft closet, swept and mopped the floors for me, and watched the kids, so I had time to myself.  It was nice to finally catch up!

Then for dinner we all went to Roaring Fork together.  It was a loooooong 2 hour dinner (with kids), but still yummy and fun.

What a great Mother's Day!  I always enjoy getting lots of love on this wonderful day!

Spartan Training

B is being crazy again and he's signed up to run the Spartan Race this weekend with A's dad.  The Spartan Race is reminiscent of the Tough Mudder that B did last year.  The Tough Mudder was a longer course with less obstacles, but the Spartan Race is a shorter course (4 miles) with way more obstacles.  Both still involve a lot of mud though.

What's even crazier is that they have a Junior Spartan Adventure Race for ages 4 and up and we signed Elina, Eli, and A up for it!  For their age group it's only going to be a 1/2 mile course with obstacles in it.  I figured a 1/2 mile course won't be too awful for them.

With that said, I still thought it was a good idea to have the kids train for the race.  They've been really great and working out almost every other day.  The workouts are simple, but they definitely have things that my kids aren't accustomed to doing.  Each workout starts with running, then includes a combination of sit-ups, push ups, burpees, planks, wall sits, bicep curls, tricep dips, lunges, squats, high knees, butt kicks, etc.

This is serious stuff when you do it all back-to-back.  I love watching the kids do these things because sometimes (especially Eli) they are so awful at it.  They still don't have that full-body-awareness thing and it just makes me chuckle to watch them.  But I just like that they're trying it at all and keeping their bodies in motion.  I also like how Evie wants to participate in all the exercises.  Go, girl!  All of this exercise has definitely helped her counting ability!

For the most part, the kids have been pretty good sports about doing the workouts.  I reward them with Gatorade at the end if the complaints are kept to a minimum and that seems to keep them going.  Although we had a problem with Elina a few workouts back where she just outright didn't want to do it anymore.  After that I told her that I wasn't going to force her, so the next time she was too tired and wanted to complain, I'd just take her out of the race and she could just cheer on the sidelines with me on the day of the race.  That made her re-think her strategy and now she works hard and doesn't say a negative thing.  Phew!

I've also seen lots of improvement because we've been doing it all consistently.  Eli started the workouts not even being able to do ONE single sit-up and now he can do about 4 on his own.  That was a huge deal!  They're also running better and I can tell their stamina has improved too.

It's been fun doing these workouts and I almost feel like I want to keep it up even after the race this weekend.  The kids are sleeping better at night and I know they're getting a good workout.  It's definitely been fun training for this race.  Can't wait to see how they do this weekend!  Wish us luck!