Flying Fish Preschool -A look back at the year...

This month we celebrated our last day of Preschool.

-In case you forgot, some friends and I did preschool for our 5 little pre-k kiddo's.
We had a lot of good times, it was fun as a Mom to teach them. And I really appreciated the other Mother's who worked so hard to make it happen.

TJ is excited to start Kindergarten in August. He learned a lot over the year, and made some great friends.

Gracie and Faith enjoy tagging along to the parties that always included the younger siblings.

Abraham and TJ were the only boys. They were good little buddies during the last year. Ab's getting ready to move next month, we're going to miss him.

Gracie & Faith loved playing with Ab's little sister Ziya. We'll miss getting to babysit her.


Emma and her sister Sarah. Emma is fun and outgoing. She'll be going to a different school than TJ, we're glad we got to spend so much time with her.

Syndey, Jason, and Katie.

TJ's excited to be going to the same school as Sydney next year. They're hoping they'll get to be in the same class.

Karah and Owen

Karah was the last to join our little group. She lives the farthest away, and we were really lucky to have her. She's smart and is reading early like TJ. She had the best writing in the class. She and Emma will be in the same school

The kids got to try out their hands at Valentines this year. They each made and envelope so the could collect their cards.

The kids were so excited to get to go to an extra Easter party. They got to try out their relay racing skills. They had a lot of fun.

It was great being in a preschool with like minded women. We started every day with prayer, and the national anthem. We also made sure to focus on the religious purpose for each of our Holidays.

Here are the kids dressed up for the Nativity scene.

Memmorable Words from Faith...

Faith is going through an awesome phase, where everything she says is either absolutely adorable, or flipping hilarious.
After we got home tonight, the kids were running around in various states of undress, waiting for dinner and a bath. I told Faith disapprovingly that she needed to go in and put her panties on. She dropped her head pouting, and stalked into her room.
Then I heard her in a quiet, pleading voice say, "Superman, I don't want to put panties on!" (Only she pronounces it Super-May-An.)
I didn't know he helped with that kind of emergency.
I laughed till I cried.

Hidden Lake Adventures...

Brent got home from work @ 7:30 A.m. and said... Let's go fishing!
It was a beautiful day. Only in the 50's here in Kenai, but up at Hidden Lake it was 71 degrees.We didn't think to bring the kids swim suits... they made due with life jackets and underpants. I don't know how they played in the water, it was painfully cold. They played in it for a really long time. They had such a good time!

You never would have guessed that Brent had been up all night. He was great with the kids, and fun to be around. We had a blast.

TJ didn't want to swim... He just wanted to take his pants off and fish. He tried so hard, but the fish just weren't biting.

Gracie tried and tried and tried to catch the little minnows swimming around her feet.

I don't know if this little guy died before or after she caught it... but she sure was excited when she caught a fish!

Yes, I let her keep it in a water bottle so she could show the McCormick kids tomorrow, then he's going down the drain.

We met a nice LDS couple from Anchorage. They told us the best time to fish is at dusk. (That's between 11:00 & 12:00 p.m. this time of year.) He said to go out and drop some leeches or eggs... I asked where to buy the leeches? At any bate shop in town. Then I asked if you boil the eggs or use them raw? ...He started laughing and told me to buy Salmon eggs and put them on a hook and drop them in the water.

OH!...that makes sense. I had a visual image of sitting out on the raft, cracking eggs and dropping leeches into the lake to chum the water or something... No wonder I never catch anything! ha ha

Mother's Day

I'm really late posting this, but I sure loved Mother's Day. Brent was really sweet and helped the kids make me breakfast in bed when he got home from work in the morning. I almost ruined it by waking up and starting to get ready for church; but he ordered me back to bed and the kids surprised me with a toasted bagel, sliced orange, milk and a flower. It was really cute, and the kids were so excited.
They sang with the primary during sacrament meeting during church. The girls hadn't done it before and were pretty shy. But TJ sang out loud and clear on all the parts that he knew. Elders Bedke and Eaton used to practice singing with him, now he says he super charges his batteries so he can sing. You can definitely hear him singing over all the other children... sometimes he even sings in tune. :)
I cried when they sang, I couldn't help thinking about how much I love and miss my own Mommy. She'll be here in July, and I can't wait. So many of the good things in my life, and good qualities that I might possess can be attributed directly to my mother. Plus many good qualities that I don't have, that I'd really like to possess. My mom is an angel, and I love her so much.

Angels in matching dresses...

I love to dress Gracie & Faith in matching dresses. I know they won't let me do it for very long, so I do it as much as possible right now. They're 15 mo's apart, but people ask me if they're twins all the time.
It was the same with me and my little sister Moriann... sometimes relatives still have to ask which one of us they're talking to. I always kind of liked it. I hope they'll be the best of friends like me and Moriann are too.

What sweet loving sisters they really are.

What a difference one month can make

5/1/09 We were so excited when the snow finally melted!

The kids have been dying to get out of the house!

It was very presumptuous to go outside without coats. We froze! But we had a blast.
The kids couldn't wait to go to the park again!

Compare to the pictures from last month at the beach, still covered in ice. 4/4/09

We were so excited to go out in the sunshine then too.

TJ found a nice ice chunk at the beach, and said he just wanted to lay down and relax in the sunshine.

I really can't describe how happy I am that the snow is finally gone. We're even starting to get a little bit of grass! It's still chilly, but I'm happy. Next winter can not come slow enough. :)