School's Out For Summer!

I can't help but think of the Alice Cooper's song, "School's Out" when typing my title.  Yes, Katie is finally out of school for Summer vacation.  It seems like yesterday, she just started Kindergarten and now she's prepped and ready for the 1st grade in just a few short months.  It's hard to imagine, my baby girl going into the first grade.  I've had my tissues close at hand all day today, but not for the reason that you're thinking.  It's allergy season.  Ah ha!  You thought I was crying because my little girl is growing up.  Honestly, I don't think it's hit me yet.  I think it's because Colton has kept me so busy that I haven't had a chance to just meditate on the situation. 

You know like all other vacations, weekends and holidays, these next few weeks are going to sail by without warning.  I have a fun and educational filled Summer planned.  I've posted about my schedule, so I won't go into all that again.  As we go along in our studies, experiments and crafts, I would like to bring you along and share with you, our experiences.  I think it should be fun!  I've actually found a few 1st grade teachers that blog and they have given me such great ideas to keep the interaction going throughout the Summer.  Yay!  Have you ever heard of "Teacher Pay Teacher"?  It's a great little website that I stumbled upon where educators create study material and post them on this site.  A lot of the material is for sale, not too expensive, but there are a few pieces that are for free printables.  I printed quite a bit of themed worksheets for Katie regarding literacy and math.  It's free to create an account, which you'll have to have one if you purchase a free download printable. If you're interested, CLICK HERE . 

We're Moving On Up
As you know, Colton is two years old and is out growing his baby bed.  My niece and her husband are expecting their first child in late September or early October. The baby bed that Colton is sleeping in actually belonged to Whitney's older brother, Ryan.  My sister, Maryann and her Kevin bought this baby furniture some 28 years ago, when they were expecting their first child, Ryan.  This furniture has gone through several other babies within our family.  I had a feeling that Whitney and Zayne would want it with Maryann's blessing.  Actually, it all worked out perfectly.  Colton has almost outgrown the bed because I've seen him straddle the side bed railing.  Instead of us purchasing a new toddler bed, Millard and Peggy are giving us theirs that they bought for Katie at that age.  Katie never slept in it because she knew she could sleep with her grandma.  So the bed is brandnew.  It couldn't have worked out any better.  The next big problem is our old desktop is located in Colton's room.  I've asked Doug to just get rid of it, but it's not that simple I'm told.  Katie has agreed to move into Colton's room and he in hers.  Voila! Katie has been begging me to paint her room for the past year.  I was hoping to make it to her 6th or 7th birthday before having to remodel.  I think it's when girls are 6 or 7 when they transition to a different taste.  You see, Katie is still into the whole princess, castles and fairies thing.  I don't want to decorate her room in these themes, if she turns around and asks me to change it in the next couple of years.  I tried to explain to her the other day that I want to put something on her wall that should last for the next 5 years.  She mentioned painting the walls pink or purple, but she really wants a Rapunzel theme on the wall as well.  Ugh!  So, I put on my thinking cap.  I'd be alright if I could find a Rapunzel wall decal that I could just stick on and rip off when I want.  I haven't found it yet, but we are still looking.  I also thought of picking up a Rapunzel coloring book and just look at the background - flowers, vines, birds, animal figures in the movie.  If I could maximize the character on my copy machine, trace and cut out the figures on blank stencil plastic, I might have something to work with.  Needless to say, these are just plans.   Katie and I plan to visit a few places, get some painting ideas and come up with a plan.  Doug mentioned painting the first week of July, but we may start a little earlier than that.  I'll keep ya posted. ;) 

Monday starts Katie kindergym.  She is so excited!  I think we are only going to try out the month of June for the Summer.  If she still loves it, then when August gets here, her daddy, herself and I will have to sit down and talk about dance and gymnastics.  You see, Katie still loves dance.  She was real interested in taking jazz.  I recently found out that if she takes jazz, she'll still be required to take ballet as well.  That's two different classes at two different times, two different outfits and two different recitals.  Ugh!  Plus, if she wants to stay with gymnastics.  Wait a minute, I'm feeling a little quizzy.  I don't want to wreck her dream, but that's a lot of dough that this mama doesn't have in my back pocket.  Before dance starts again this fall, I'll call and confirm what I've heard just to make sure that it's so.  Oh, let's not forget, if Katie is still interested in trying out for the Swim Team next Spring.  I have a feeling that my life is going to get very interesting in the next few months.  This stay-at-home momma may have to get herself a JOB. 

Katie's first spend the night party with her new friend, S. Soon after school ended today, S was knocking on our door wanting to know if Katie could come out to play. Next thing I know, S and Katie are wanting to play in the water. It was very hot again today, I guess in the mid 90s. I packed all of Katie's fairly new water toys in the shop, so I had to go see what we had available. I should open a water park for all the stuff we had. LOL! Katie received a water sprinkler type toy last year for her birthday. We have 2 different types of Slip and Slides. Let's not forget, Colton received a water sprinkler type. It looks like a beach ball with water spraying out of it. We chose to try the Ariel Slip 'n Slide and the crazy spraying sprinkler. The kids were having a good time outside. Poor Colton, I had to take him inside because he was so cool that his teeth began to chatter. He didn't like me drying him off and taking him in the house. Oh my goodness! He threw such a fit. It was getting late, so I decided that it would be best to get the big kids in the house as well.

It didn't take the girls long at all before they came to me and asked if S could stay the night. S's mom was alright with the idea, so the girls gathered up S's things that she needed to stay with us. I'm surprised that she hasn't been nervous about staying in a strange house with us yet. The night's not over, so we'll see how it goes.

I planned to take the girls to DQ tonight for some late night ice cream, but Doug thought it would be a good idea to go ahead and hook up the gaming systems, since we got our system fixed from the April 27th storm. Guess who needed to help him? I was glad to help because I figured the girls might want to play tomorrow. By the time we finished, it was close to 8:30PM. I made hot dogs and pasta salad for supper, something cool and nothing to keep the kitchen hot. Yuck! So, it ended up that S didn't have supper yet. Luckily, she likes hot dogs. She was alright with a hot dog instead of ice cream. I fixed the girls a nice big pallet on the floor to sleep on. S brought her sleeping bag and Katie has hers in the closet. Since Katie has a twin bed, I thought it would be best to have both girls in the floor together. It worked out great! I've got them all tucked in with a sheet and light blanket.