Construction Zone Party!

A celebration of Benjamin turning 2!

What a fun evening celebrating our little guy turning 2 years old! You bring such joy to our hearts - your bubbly spirit (although strong-willed at times!) and contagious smile are wonderful! We love you, buddy! For the record your 2 yr stats: weight 29 lbs (70%), height 35 inches (78%).

pedicures

Jaelyn got her first "pedicure" (aka: her toes painted) today! I wasn't planning on taking her with me to my pedicure appointment, but it was a rainy day today and I thought it would be fun to have some mommy/daughter time! She sure LOVED every minute of it! She picked out her color because it was sparkly! The gals at "Sweet Feet" even painted a flower on her toes! What fun!

The finished product!

Preschool Graduation!

I can't believe Jaelyn's 1st year of preschool has come and gone The year went by so fast!! Jaelyn has really grown up this year & it's been neat to see all the things she has learned and the friends she has made!!

First day of preschool/Last day of preschool
Definitely a more confident girl by the end of the school year!!

The class sang a few songs for us to start off the program - Jaelyn sure does LOVE to sing!

Then each kid delivered their father's day gift to their daddies (which they made at school)!

Mrs. Pitts put a wonderful video together of all the pictures taken over the course of the year. They sure did a lot of cool things this year! It was so neat to "watch" Jaelyn grow over the school year. I thought this picture was adorable of them watching the video.

Jaelyn receiving her certificate for graduating! Another fun thing Mrs Pitts did was have each classmate say what they enjoyed about one another. Here is what Jaelyn's classmates said about her:

Lara: She has curly hair and she's good at puzzles
Ellie: I like to play with her because she is nice
Kira: I like to play dolls with her
Gloria: I like to play outside with her
Paige: She brings good snacks and sits next to me
Sasha: I like her curly hair
Amanda: I like to play with her
Mrs. Pitts: Jaelyn is courteous, helpful, and has a great smile!

Last time walking down the hall - with all her projects in hand from the year!

Ellie & Jaelyn - good friends during the year!

Her teachers had an end of year bbq with everyone on Saturday - this picture of Mrs. Pitts & Jaelyn was taken there. We are very excited to have Mrs. Pitts again next year! She is so special to Jaelyn.

And I can't forget about Benjamin.....

Ben goofing off during Jaelyn's end-of-year program

Ben would totally go to school if I would let him! When we drop Jaelyn off at school he runs into the classroom and immediately sits on a chair and begins doing whatever craft she has laid out! A couple more years buddy and then it will be your turn!!

After we said our goodbyes to our teachers and classmates for the summer, we headed to Red Robin for lunch to celebrate Jaelyn completing her 1st year of school! Both kids were super duper excited!!

take 2

This has been Ben's viewpoint of Jaelyn taking her swimming lessons...until today! After "jumping" into the pool unexpectedly back in December, I haven't really pushed going into the pool during Jaelyn's play time. But last week Ms. Angela and I decided that we were going to give it a "take 2".

Ben was VERY excited to get into the water - he couldn't wait until Jaelyn was done with her lesson so that he could get in. He dangled his feet & splashed them in the water during the whole lesson and wouldn't let me put my hands on him - he kept swatting my hands away and saying NO! I didn't want a repeat from last time! Thankfully we didn't have any early entries into the pool this time!

Seems to be enjoying the water!

Showing Angela that he can blow bubbles too!

Big sister thought it was awesome to have him in the pool during play time. She was precious - bringing him different toys to play with...she was very excited for him!

Gymnastics

Learning how to do a back bend.

Monkey jumps

Sticky bugs

Her favorite part - doing all the different jumps on the trampoline

Ben "playing" while Jaelyn was in her class. He iis such a trooper - going to all of Jaelyn's activities. I'm thinking I need to enroll him in something of his own soon.

Sock Puppets!

On a few occasions this is how we've found Benjamin after he's woken up from his nap - sock puppets! I had to capture a picture of it...Ben sure loves to play in his crib!! :)

Freedom!!!

Jaelyn can swing all by herself! Hip hip hooray!! Now she has the freedom to swing whenever she wants without waiting for mommy!! We actually never really worked on Jaelyn learning how to pump her legs - she just sort of did it herself. So happy for you kid! :)

Jaelyn goes swimming! (per Jaelyn's request for a title to her blog post!)

Another swim lesson come and gone...it's fun to watch her improve each week!



LOVES to dive off the diving board!

a day at the zoo

We headed to Woodland Park Zoo last week Friday with our friends Amanda, Dylan, & Laurel. We had a blast, although us mommies were sweating just keeping up with the kids! Never a dull moment with 4 kids under the age of 4! :)

the best kids shot I got!! Laurel had other ideas of what she wanted to do...and picture taking was not on the top of that list!!

Figuring out our game plan with what animals to see!

The girls checking out the penguins while....


the boys did the "boy thing" and climb on the rocks!

After we ate our picnic lunch, we headed to the zoomazium for some playtime.

yep...going head first down the slide!

We had a great morning at the zoo with the Van Heukelums and were fast asleep when our heads hit our car seats for the ride home!