Hanging Out With Daisylyn

When Amber had to go back to work, to finish off the school year, Abree and I got to hang out with Daisylyn. We had so much fun feeding, playing with, and dressing her up.

She did a lot of growing and changing in those 2 weeks. She went from eating 1-2 oz. to about 4 oz. She also started smiling and making cute noises.

We love you Daisylyn!

How Does Your Garden Grow?

So far, so good.

Our garden plants are getting BIG. We've even harvested a few things; spinach, lettuce, a few strawberries and a few pea pods. Two of our 3 tomato plants, got a little frost a few weeks back and are struggling. We think one may pull out, but the other one looks quite haggard. After we harvest all of the lettuce, we will have more room for more tomato plants and more strawberries. Our kids have loved having our little garden and fight over the ripe produce. Hopefully we will have enough to go around once everything reaches harvest season.

Red Riding Hood

The Missoula Children's Theatre company was here!

If you haven't heard of these guys, let me tell you a little about them. They are a non-profit play tour company, based out of Missoula, MT. They have 36 teams of two, touring and directing plays, all over the United States, Canada and 14 other countries. They meet the kids on Monday for auditions, intensely practice all week (like 4 1/2 hours every day!) and by Saturday the kids put on a full-blown play; costumes, sets, memorized lines, etc. It's actually quite amazing!

Taylee had the opportunity of being in "Red Riding Hood", loosely based on "Little Red Riding Hood", but much more humorous. She played a "Forest Shadow -Thistle". She had 2 speaking parts and was a part of 3 songs, with dance moves. I was glad she was picked to be in the play (a few did not make the cut) and that she had a small part to begin with. (A bigger, more lines to memorize part, may have turned her off and made her frustrated.) She says next time she'll be ready for more lines and a bigger part.

It was so interesting to me, (I absolutely LOVE behind-the-scenes stuff) that I hung out the WHOLE week at practice. I was a "stage mom". It was so cool the way the directors taught the kids, learned each one of their names (60+ kids!) and put the whole thing together. Even by the night before the performance, a few kids with big speaking parts didn't know their lines, didn't know their blocking and many kids weren't speaking loud enough to be heard. One of the directors turned to me and another mom and said, "Will you think it's a miracle if this all goes as planned?" We had to admit, yes. Then she said, "Me too."

The performance DID go well and the kids did great! I plan on letting any of my kids that want to, participate in the future. It's free, it's intense for ONLY a week and it's a really neat opportunity. I'm so glad that we took part. I would highly recommend it to anyone. Check to see if they are coming to your area www.mctinc.org.

The whole cast; Forest Shadows(Taylee far left, in front, with purple/green hat and gloves) Ranger Rooney, Raccoons, The 3 Little Pigs, Mama Hood, Sister Hood, Brother Hood, Baby Hood and their cousin Robin Hood, Locksmith, Woodsman, The Wolf Gang, Little Lovable Wolf, The Big Bad Wolf, Granny, Red Riding Hood and her Girlfriends.

The Forest Shadows- Fire and Poisonous Plants (Taylee is on the bottom row, 5th over, with purple and green hat.)

Behind the scenes, turning in costumes and saying good-bye.

Director Jen with her Big Bad Wolf make-up still on.

Congratulations Thistle Taylee!

Speech..speech..speech!

There were a lot of candidates running for student offices.

Six students ran for the same office as Rylee.

"Hi Huskies!

My name is Rylee Smullin and I am running for 7th grade secretary.

When I first considered running, all I knew about a secretary was that they write things down at meetings. I thought that if I wanted the job, I better figure out what it is all about. I looked secretary up in the dictionary and this is what it said: "Secretary; noun, one who keeps records, handles correspondence, etc. for an organization or person."

This is exactly what I thought it meant!

Seriously, I do know that the secretary has great responsibilities in helping the student board organize and plan activities and events for the Heritage Huskies.

Let me tell you why I am qualified for the job;

1. I LOVE to be organized.

Looking at my bedroom, you would never know it. But I share with 2 sisters that DON'T love to be organized.

2. I LOVE to have a plan.

When my mom went on a trip for a week, she left an outline of everything that needed to be done. My job was to make sure my dad followed the schedule. That was a REALLY hard job. HE DIDN'T EVEN READ IT!

I'm excited to serve you. I will do my best to be organized, keep records, and help plan activities and events.

And although I like order and like things in line...

3. I can also be flexible. (Then she got on the floor and did her infamous feet-behind-the-head trick.--I missed taking a picture of that, darn.)

Vote for Rylee Smullin, 7th Grade Secretary!!!"

Here is one, of the 2 campaign posters hung in the cafeteria.

Campaign results: Rylee didn't win the secretary position, but was told that it was a close race and that she came in second place. (I don't know how accurate that is, but that's what she was told.)

When we talked about how she felt that she didn't win, she said she was a little sad, but not that sad. I asked her if she was ready to run for another position. She said that she wanted to take a little break, to get over it. I said that she would have a whole 3 months of Summer. She said, "Oh yeah, that will be long enough." --I wonder if she'll choose to run again. I'm guessing, yes. She's just that way. When she puts her mind to something, she's usually successful.

I'm so proud of her. She's much more brave and confident, than I ever was at that age. Heck, more brave and confident than I am at this age! Way to go Rylee!

Pre-school Field Trip

For the last day of pre-school, we went on a field trip to the Zoo.

The lions came right up to the window. The kids were face-to-face with them. It was really cool. About 3-4 times the lion growled and pawed at the window. It made us all jump. One little girl said, "Daddy, the lion wants to eat me!" Maybe he did.

Isn't this a cool Africa hut? Wouldn't your kids just love one of these in the back yard?

The girls all lined up to see the giraffes. I couldn't resist this cute little "bum shot".
Here's Abree, modeling her cool hand print t-shirt, made at graduation. It was nice to be able to "look for pink", when gathering our group. I noticed that day, how much pink EVERYONE else was wearing too.

What a great year of pre-school. Can't wait for next year.

Pre-school Graduation

This was the last week of pre-school. We had a little graduation party for the girls...even though only 2 of them are actually graduating to kindergarten. The rest of them will be returning in the Fall.

They made name signs with stickers.

They each made a hand print t-shirt for all of their pre-school friends.

They played an ABC matching game.

Cupcakes, Goldfish crackers and chocolate milk were enjoyed by all.

Happy Pre-school Graduation Abree!

Running......AGAIN!

Rylee's been running again, but this time it was for 7th Grade Secretary. She was informed on Friday, that she would need 2 posters by Monday. Busy weekend, equalled doing it late Sunday night...of course.

I had the brilliant idea of taking pictures to illustrate the 3 main points of her speech and Jason stepped in with his artistic abilities and did the awesome lettering for the posters.

1. She is organized.

(Don't you think studious librarian-types are organized? I thought so.) 2. She is a Planner. And........


3. She is flexible... in more ways than one.

Vote Rylee Smullin for 7th Grade Secretary!!!!

Until we MEET again

Rylee's second, and final track meet was "regionals". She was in 2 events; the 100 meter dash and the long jump. She beat her "PB's" in both events.

(In track-talk that means "personal best", I was informed.)
As we were cheering Rylee on, Taylee tapped me on the shoulder and said, "Mom, look at Treyson....AND the sign." I couldn't resist taking a picture. Maybe it's Leno material. What do you think?

Way to go Rylee! I'm so proud of you!

Cooking Up Birthday Fun!

For Taylee's party, we decided to go with a cooking theme.

As the girls arrived,

they each made and

decorated their own Chef hat.

As official chefs,

they put on their chef hats and aprons,

washed their hands and got to work making dinner, mini pizzas.

For the dinner beverage, they blended up some Orange Julius.

Testing their pastry skills, they each decorated their own cake.

Courtney's Creation

Taylee's Trophy

Lauren's Lovliness

Brittany's Beauty

Kassidy's Confection

Alyssa's Adorableness

Sage's Sensation

Amber's Awesomeness

Kenzi's Mad Skills

The aftermath

Then Taylee opened gifts.

Meet Chicken Joe and Twilight (Webkins).

As the guests left, Taylee thanked them for coming and gave them a pastry mat and cookie cutter... to help them keep up their pastry chef skills, of course.