Last Days of Kindergarten!

I can't believe I actually just typed "Last Days of Kindergarten."  Is it really already over??  Leading up to the last day of school, the kindergarteners had a special program complete with song performances and each student being called up to receive a certificate of completion from his/her teacher.  It was such a special night!  We love you and are so proud of you sweet Katelyn!  You learned and grew (inside and outside) so much this year.

 Katelyn and her teacher, Mrs. Stanton

 Katelyn and Anna celebrating the end of a successful Kindergarten year!

And then came the actual last day of school...it was 0nly a half day, but it was the funnest half day ever!  The school has an event called "Rock and Run" where all the kids (in every grade) collect donations and run a certain number of laps to raise money for pediatric cancer research.  They actually have an awards ceremony, and Katelyn's class won for the most money raised!  Families are encouraged to participate in the run and the closing ceremony along with their kids, so we got to share quite a bit in the excitement of Katelyn's last day which was very special for us (and her too!)!  We celebrated with dinner at Market Street (Katelyn's choice!).

First day of Kindergarten

Last day of Kindergarten

 Katelyn and Mrs. Stanton on the last day of school

 Yes, Katelyn's shirt says "Class of 2026."  It was a gift from the school on her first day. :)

 

 Katelyn's graduation balloon flying from the mailbox upon her arrival home from school (an owl saying "Look Whoooo graduated!")

 Fun cookie from Market Street!

  Fun graduation treats for Katelyn (and her encouraging sister Anna!)

Memorial Day with the Conquests!

Running a little behind on the blog posts, but that is just an indication of how much fun we've been having creating memories to post!  One of those was having my sister Jessica, and her husband Evan and their 1-year-old daughter Sloane here to visit over Memorial day weekend!  Y'all come back and see us!

Happy Others Day!

No. I did not forget the "M" in Mother's Day.  I intentionally wrote Other's Day.  The idea for Other's Day came last Saturday when I realized that all the things we planned to do that day had something in common...they were all benefiting other people. 

1)  Buy food to donate to the "Stamp Out Hunger" campaign organized by the US Postal Service.  You buy non-perishable items, put them in a bag, set it by your mailbox on May 10, and the postal service picks it up when they deliver your mail that day and then takes it to a local food bank.

No, this isn't us, but since I didn't take any pictures, I just pulled this off the webpage. :)

2) Make banana bread for the mom of a new student in Katelyn's class....she just had knee surgery and is laid up in bed for two weeks.

3) Make butterfly craft to deliver to ladies at local nursing home on Mother's Day.

Chop Chop

Katelyn and I have been consistently following the story of two girls (both a little older than her) who were diagnosed with cancer.  One goes to our church and the other is someone we heard about through our church, and she lives in California.  Katelyn had mentioned the idea of donating her hair some time ago, and with the summer quickly approaching and Great Clips having their week-long $6.99 Haircut Sale, we decided it was time to to take the plunge.  By "we" I mean, "we."  I told Katelyn that if she got her hair cut, then I would get mine cut with her.  So we did.  And it was awesome.  Short, but awesome.  Katelyn had to have a minimum of 10 inches to donate, but when I got home and took her ponytail out of the bag, it measured a foot!  I love her new look....

 Our favorite stylist at our favorite Great Clips

Miss Patty Cake Concert

If you have (or know of someone who has) toddlers or preschoolers, and you don't know Miss Patty Cake, you are missing out!  Miss Patty Cake is a brightly costumed character who uses music to teach kids about God, Jesus, and the Bible.  We were given her DVD set from some friends on our team in China before Katelyn was even born, and we are still using and loving them with Anna!  So...Anna and I went on a mommy-daughter date to see Miss Patty Cake live in a special Easter concert last month.  She wasn't quite sure what to think about Miss Patty Cake not being on a screen, but overall, I think she enjoyed the performance.  Here are a few pics from the night!

Disney on Ice

Katelyn and I had an unexpected date night gifted to us at Disney on Ice last month!  A dear friend of mine had two extra tickets and generously offered them to our family.  Since it was going to be a late night, we figured Katelyn could muster up the extra energy and take one for the team! :)  Our seats were awesome, and we enjoyed some special mother-daughter time!  I will say that she fell asleep about five minutes into our trip home!  So thankful for God's goodness in little treats like this....love you Katelyn!

It's Time....

....for another big girl bed!!  That's right.  Anna just graduated from her crib to a big girl bed.  Although it was a little sooner than we were planning, I don't think it could have happened soon enough for her!  Here's the story...The family who sold us Katelyn's bed lives in our neighborhood, and the bed was actually part of a bunk set, but they were just wanting to get rid of one bed, not both.  No problem for us at the time, since we were only needing one bed.  A few months after buying it though, I decided to call the sellers just to request that they call us if/when they got ready to sell the other one, so we could at least have the opportunity to buy the matching bed before they sold it to someone else.  I left a message, and that was three years ago.  Last week I got a call from the husband saying that they were ready to sell it and were wondering if we were interested!!  Dave went to pick it up a few days later, put it together, and now the girls are sleeping happily ever after (literally....they are really sleeping right now!).  The Lord is good....in both the small and big things!