End of Kindergarten Activities

Maya's class had all sorts of fun end of the year activities and I was lucky enough to take some half days at work to help out and attend.  I'm thankful for a flexible job that does allow me to take part in these events.  I plan to continue to help out as long as she will let me!

We took a field trip to Seahurst park to look at all of the tidepools:

A first bus ride!

Starfish

My fun group - Maya, Jason, Addison

 A seasnail

Giant starfish!

And they had an end of year fun run... it was a SUPER hot day but the kids did great and had a blast!

A lost tooth!

She was wishing and hoping that her first tooth would fall out before school ended so she could get her name up on the wall.  Lucky for her it happened two days before school was out!

She claims she doesn't believe in the tooth fairy, there were a lot of questions about whether or not it was really me.  I evaded the question and we left her a coin, but I'm still not sure if she knows it was us.  I don't want to ask :-)

Sprinkler Fun!

One of the first summer days of the season, Aunt Jenny pulled out the sprinkler for the kids to run through after school.  She captured some great shots of Maya (thanks, Jen!) who was clearly having the time of her life.  I love it when Maya shows her goofball side.

A family birthday party

We had a joint birthday celebration for Maya and Clara this year.  I didn't manage to take too many pictures, but we had some really great family time on a hot summer day.

The birthday girls!

Laurel was a HUGE fan of the slip and slide - in fact, we went and bought one of our own and it has been used many, many times already.

Relaxing.

Cousins!

This series cracks me up - these two goofballs :-)

Six!!

Here she is, my big six year old.  We are coming towards the end of her kindergarten year and I really can't believe it.  She has grown into such a little lady, gained so much confidence in herself and is really starting to figure out who she is, it has been so great to watch.  

I thought I would start doing questionnaires for the girls:

1. How old are you?  6
2. Who is your best friend?  Ella
3. What is your favorite thing to do?  Sprinkler
4. What is your favorite color?  Turquoise and golden
5. What is your favorite food?  Mac & cheese
6. What do you like to do with your family?  Go to the park
7. What is your favorite toy?  Barbies
8. What do you want to be when you grow up?  Marine biologist and cheerleader
9. What makes you happy?  Making my wishes come true
10. What makes you sad?  When people are hurt
11. What is your favorite show to watch?  Miles from Tomorrowland, Winx, Odd Squad
12. What is your favorite book?  Jack and Annie (Magic Treehouse)
13. What do you love to learn about? Ocean animals
14. What was the best part of your birthday?  Tricking everybody with dirt cake
15. Where do you like to go?  Science Center  (interesting response as we have never been there)
16. Who was your teacher?  Ms. Hemick
17. What is your favorite treat?  Ding dong and Twinkie (her father's influence!)
18. What do you think about before you fall asleep?  What tomorrow would be like and when will my tooth fall out
19. What was your favorite birthday present?  Elsa makeover nail polish
20. What do you like most about your family? Daddy - he is silly, Laurel - she always does the shake your booty dance, Mommy - that she gives me lots of hugs.

A Birthday Tea Party

Maya chose to have a dress up tea party with her friends to celebrate turning six.  We invited a couple girls from her kindergarten class and a couple girls that she went to daycare with (who brought along some siblings) and ended up with 9 girls.  It was a great group of kids and I think they had a blast!

The girls and I got everything set up the night before - dollar store hats, tea cups and flowers.  What more do you need for a tea party?

Everyone wore their favorite princess dress (there were quite a few Elsa's) and sat at the table for tea and lunch.  Maya was SO excited to surprise everyone with dirt cake.  We put flowers in it and left it on the table during the meal so there was a bit of confusion when we told them they would be eating dirt for their dessert.  

Laurel has found her true partner in crime in Lyla.  Who else would show up to a tea party as a superhero and prefer to play light sabers to tea??  They go to school together and have known each other since they were born since Laney and Maya have also been friends since they were babies.  Maya spent the whole morning telling Laurel she couldn't wear Batgirl to the party because she had to be a princess, which Laurel wasn't happy with.  You can't imagine how excited she was to see Lyla show up as Supergirl - there was NO way she was going to put on a princess dress at that point.

We rented a big Cinderella bouncy house, which as a huge hit!  Nothing like bouncing away all your energy.  Two of Maya's new friends from kindergarten.  She did a great job playing with both old and new friends and making sure everyone felt included and got to know each other.

"The Siblings"  :-)  It is pretty fun to have friends that have two girls the same ages as Maya and Laurel.  Luckily they all get along great which makes get togethers so easy!

What to Wear

I'm pretty sure I have posted about Laurel's strong opinions on her attire before, but I just have to add these.  Nothing has changed and sometimes it makes it very difficult to get out of the house in the morning.

Her newest favorite outfit is what she has deemed "running clothes".  The outfits are made up with some sort of shockingly colorful/neon running capris and shirt and running shoes with no socks.  I'm trying to break the no sock habit though - now that it is summer sweaty feet and running shoes are not a good combination.  I caved and went to buy her a couple more of these outfits because the daily argument about not allowing her to wear the same outfit every day for a week was becoming very old.

And if she is not wearing running clothes, she accessorizes to the extreme.  Who else would pick bunny ears and a crown?  I let her wear them to the store and she received SO many compliments - apparently she knows more than I do :-)