Kindergarten

Benjamin is going to be in kindergarten now!! How did he get old enough for that?!?! We decided that we are going to homeschool him for a variety of reasons. Both Benjamin and his Daddy thought we should start right away, so we had our first few days of school this week. Benjamin did excellent and it has been a lot of fun for all of us! Here he is getting ready to start his first school work as a kindergartner.

We had some very bad weather on Wednesday. Several funnel clouds were fairly close to our house and there was a lot of damage to trees in our town and even some houses. The first storm of the day knocked out our power and we don't have internet on our cell phones or anything, so we could only go by the sirens that went off over and over again. We (thankfully) made the decision to put the kids to bed in the basement for the night. They were REALLY excited to "camp out" in the basement.

During one of the more scarier storms, I was thankful for a little smile that was brought to my face when I looked over and saw Benjamin fast asleep with his kitty, Max, snuggled up next to him......

Collin has been sleeping a ton (something he doesn't usually do....at all!). He's had a runny nose since that yucky bug that struck him and Anna and he started to cough again. So we headed back to the doctor (for the fourth time!) and the doctor thinks he's really worn out from dealing with a sinus infection. So she started him on some medicine. On this day it was only 11:30, we were eating lunch and Collin decided he could no longer join us.....

The poor guy was just so wiped out! Benjamin used to do this on almost a daily basis when he was one, but Collin has never even come close to sleeping in a place like his highchair. You can tell how out of the ordinary it is by Benjamin and Anna's expressions. :)

Thankfully, the antibiotic is working fantastically! :)

Cousin Time

We had fun last weekend hanging out with my sister and niece. We took the kids to the petting zoo near their house and had a great time.....

Collin really loved this little turtle and didn't want to get off!

Wonder what the little guy is looking at?

He's watching a goat walk over his head.....

Benjamin enjoyed feeding this Momma pony (see the baby laying on the ground in front of her)...

and so did Katie and Katrina....

We all really loved feeding the deer!

This little guy LOVES his Daddy!

They liked looking at the chickens (we actually got to see a couple lay eggs). I liked Anna's reaction to the rooster who just kept crowing over and over again!

While we played on the playground and watched the birds, Benjamin and Daddy were off doing a bamboo maze. Benjamin really enjoyed all the mazes. Here, Collin is so happy to be off to join his Daddy and brother to do the rope maze.....

Benjamin was very proud of his maze skills!

All the kids loved the huge slides! They went up a big hill over and over again so they could enjoy zipping down....

Our little wild girl was an especially big fan!!

Collin got to go down by himself once.....

Cousins!!!

This Daddy has his hands FULL!

We enjoyed some fun time at Grandma and Grandpa's house too. Here Collin and I are exploring their beautiful waterfall....

Anna came down to join us. I love how both her feet are off the ground in this picture!

End of School Fun, Sickies, & A New Playground

*I made this post a while back but forgot to publish it, blah! Life just gets so full and crazy!

Benjamin had a lot of fun days to end his preschool year. One day last week was crazy hair day. He talked about crazy hair for weeks and was so excited for the day to finally come! His hair is kind of short right now, so we can only do so much. But we was still pleased!

Another day was opposite day, where he got to where mismatched clothes. He had two different shoes and two different socks and wore his shirt, shorts, and (per his insistence) underwear backwards. He was pretty tickled by this as you can see!

When I was taking the above picture, Collin started calling out to me, "Momma, cheese. Momma, cheese!" This was the result.....

Collin got the nasty virus mentioned in the post before this one and ran a fever for about 5 days and then got a yucky cough and snotty nose and was sick for about two weeks. Anna then took a turn with this evil bug and ran a really high fever for about 9 days. She ended up getting the cough and runny nose with the added bonus of an ear infection. She felt really bad, the poor girl. Dave came home a few times early to help out when they were both really sick at the same time and this was always the job he picked......

Look how bad she looks. Her fever would spike and she would get cold hands and feet while the rest of her was burning up and her skin would get all splotchy and purple looking and her face was so pale. She lost about 2 pounds because she didn't really feel up to eating anything for about a week. She was a pretty miserable little girl!

Collin continued to do some major "cheesing"!

Benjamin and Anna are fairly wild sleepers (they wiggle and kick and go crazy in their beds). So I check on them before I go to sleep and usually rearrange them in their beds. The other night, this is what I found: a little boy soundly asleep on the floor.....

...while all of his favorite stuffed animals were laid out nicely on his bed......

There is a new indoor playground in town that they just opened. Anna has been going crazy waiting for it to be completed (we pass it on a daily basis). So the kids were so excited when it was finally time to check it out. Collin loved this little slide and enjoyed it over and over again.

Three happy kiddos..... (more pictures of this crazy playground in a bit)

Benjamin's last day of school was a pajama day. He picked out some of his favorite jammies, stuffed animal, and blanket and headed off for one more day of fun with his teachers and friends.

Posing in front of his school and playground. He's such a cute five year-old that is growing up so fast!!!

Anna said goodbye to school too.

And of course our little cheeser (waffle and all) had to get in on the action too.

I have so enjoyed watching them run in together like this.....

Getting ready for one more Circle Time.

Anna happily off to explore the new playground some more.

Collin's excited too! On a side note, a few days earlier when Anna was still feeling crummy she was rather upset in the car. Collin shocked me with his newly discovered ability to put 4-5 words in a sentence. He is also using adjectives (big truck!) and verbs all of a sudden now too. He tells me, "Momma, Nana crying, tissue!" After telling him that he's right and good job I hear in the sweetest little voice him trying to soothe his big sister singing, "Roh-a-bye baby."

While Benjamin was enjoying his pajama party, we headed off to the playground to meet some friends. The day before Anna tried going up in the climbing thing but there were so many big kids that she was intimidated and came back out. That was not the case this morning. She spent about an hour in there and had no fear!

Anna is in the center of the climbing contraption.

And now she's all the way to the top!

Pretty cool, huh? (She's in the middle again)

This is Anna and her little friend that she made. They followed each other around for about 30 minutes. After he left, I kept finding her sitting still with a sad face.

Collin and I had fun on the ground.

Then we went to pick up our preschool graduate. Sadly, he had to say goodbye to his great teachers.

Time to get his backpack from his cubby on last time.

Benjamin with his two favorite friends from school.

It was a great class for him to be in this year, but we are really enjoying him being home each morning!