Field Day

Matthew's school had field day this past week.  The kids got to do a bunch of different events and had lots of fun.  Here are the kindergarteners doing a sack race.  Matthew is in the middle in a blue striped shirt.

 

 

 Here are John and Anna watching the field day events...

 ...and Grant

 Matthew and his classmate Lucas were partners for the three legged race.

 They had to go down, turn around and then head back.  Matthew and Lucas ended up winning!

 Matthew doing the limbo

 The kids got a little more creative when they had to limbo lower.  :)

And Matthew doing the tricycle relay.

After the kids did this race, the moms got to give it a try.  It was a lot harder than I thought...I ended up getting third.  It was a fun field day!

Computer Share Day

Matthew's computer teacher invited the parents to come for a computer share day this past week so we could see what the kids have been working on during their computer time.  They go to computers once every 10 school days.  Computers is one of their "specials," along with Art, Music, Spanish, P.E. and Library.  They go to one special for about 40 minutes each day but switch off between library and computers on that day.  The kids had made about 10 art projects throughout the year on one of their programs (Kid Pics) and they put together a slideshow, complete with music and transitions of their choosing, to show off their work.  Matthew got to show me his slideshow and he was very proud of it.

 Grant and Johnny came with me.  Grant wished he could use a computer too.

Soon enough buddy.

 One of his projects.  The MATTHEW letters were animated (they danced and wiggled).

While we were at share day I overheard one of the other students tell his mom how much Matthew LOVED computer time.  I thought that was funny.

I've been very happy with this school and this school district.  When we moved here we picked the neighborhood based on the school and we have not been disappointed.  It's a wonderful school with wonderful programs and teachers/staff and I'm sorry we have to leave.  I was especially sad when I learned this week that the school district we are probably moving into had to make huge cuts this year and cut out all of their extracurricular "special" classes, like art and computers.  Times are tough.  So I'm glad Matthew got to have that experience this year at least.  Wish we could take the good schools with us.

So, if you are moving to Colorado Springs, Academy District 20 is the best in the state.  Go there if you possibly can.  And Academy Endeavour is an AWESOME school.  We'll miss it a lot.

Last Day of Preschool

Anna's last day of preschool was last week.  She had a good year in preschool and I think it will be good preparation for kindergarten next year.  Kindergarten in Illinois is full day.  Here she is picking out some shoes for her last day.

 And loading up in the car.

Anna helped me push Johnny in the stroller up to her preschool class to sign her in...FOR THE LAST TIME!!!  Can you tell I'm happy about this?

 Hooray!!

 And pausing a moment before going into class for the last time

 Bye Anna!

And here she is when we picked her up after school on her last day.  We got her some preschool graduation flowers...and a preschool graduation peppermint pattie.  :)
So we survived the year of pick ups and drop offs (two kids, same time, different schools).  So glad it's over and Anna had a good time in preschool.  See some pictures from some of her school parties HERE and HERE.  Way to go Anna!!  On to kindergarten with you!

Go Sky Sox!!

 We went to see the Sky Sox play last weekend, local minor league baseball team.

It was military appreciation night so we got to get in for free, which was nice, and why we went.

The kids had so much fun!

 Watching the game!  I had a lot of fun too.

 Checking out the Sox the Fox (the Sky Sox mascot) go by.

Someone gave Anna one of the balls Sox threw into the crowd.  Matthew was also excited because one of the security guys gave him a real game ball.  Matthew has been taking the ball to bed and reports that he doesn't have bad dreams when he sleeps with his baseball.  So that's good.  It was a lot of fun.  We left the game in the 6th inning (the Sky Sox were way ahead by then) 'cause the kids were tired and it was starting to get cold.  Right after we left it started raining, so I think it worked out.

Rainy Day

 Spring is finally here!  And that means our snow precipitation has turned to rain.

Anna picked her outfit for school today.  Very colorful and rain appropriate...sort of.

 We did a little rain walk in the yard.

Matthew found some leaves growing on our trees.

 Looking for worms

 Finding dandelions

The kids wanted to see if it was rainy in our neighbors yard too.

Hooray for rain!

Tiny Town

A couple weeks ago we drove up into the mountains to visit Tiny Town.  It's a little town in the mountains made up of tiny houses and a tiny railroad.  Here's Matthew by the Tiny Town Library.

 Scott and Johnny on the Tiny Town railroad.

 And Grant and I

 The train drove up around to see some of the outlying parts of Tiny Town.  Here are some farms.

 The Air Force Academy Chapel

 A lighthouse

 Matthew and Anna got to ride in the caboose.

 A lot of the buildings had displays to see inside.

 Here's nursery and greenhouse (this one is for Grandma Keeler).

Grant found this windmill and decided he was the King of it.  He wouldn't let any other kids come in.  I finally had to depose him - pull him away screaming.  He was not a benevolent dictator.

 He felt better when we found the playground.

 Even Johnny got to swing on the swings.  See how much he loves it.

 Johnny had to terrorize a few buildings on the way out of Tiny Town.  King Kong style.

Goodbye Tiny Town!