I scream, you scream...

We all scream for ICE CREAM!

Today was officially our first day of summer vacation since Layla would normally be in school on a Monday so I had some fun stuff planed for us to do. Everything was ice cream themed and we had a lot of fun. Such a good start to the day doing fun activities with Layla, definitely turned my frown upside down (I was having a bad morning). We started out the day with a little nature walk with our colored ice cream cones. I had painted the bottom of each ice cream cone with a different color and as we walked around outside we found different things that matched the color of the cone. Our little ice cream cone garden. After that it was time for some sight word building, ice cream style. I had gotten a piece of paper, glued on an ice cream cone, added a sight word at the top and had ice cream "scoop" stickers with letters on them. Layla and I would sound out the word together and then she would build the ice cream cone, matching the sight word at the top of the page. I like ice cream. Yes I do!
One scoop for me?
No! Make it two!
Hmmm two scoops of ice cream,
I want more
How about three?
No, make that four!
1, 2, 3, 4,
Splat! "oh no! It's on the floor!"

Next up was our craft for the day, making banana splits! I had pre cut out bananas, strawberry ice cream scoops, orange sherbert scoops, chocolate scoops, used cotton balls as whipped cream, sequins for cherries, and beads for sprinkles. Then Layla was free to make whatever kind of banana split she wanted. She ended up making 3 different ones, I'm sure we'll be handing them out to family members. LOL And lastly was our ice cream number building. Same concept as the sight word building but this time Layla had to build the ice cream cone up in numerical order. You can't have an ice cream themed day and not get an ice cream cone. Layla happily munched on her favorite, Rocky Road ice cream as she relaxed and watched some TV. So funny how one little ice cream cone can make such a huge mess!

Garden Update

Layla and I have had so much fun with our first garden and we've been getting awesome results! I am looking forward to (hopefully) planting another garden when we move to Colorado. Fresh veggies are the best! Since it is already getting so hot here, having to water our plants twice a day really gives me something to look forward to. I feel like I've turned into one of those crazy people that talk to their plants just to get them to grow, but seriously, I just love them.

We haven't had to buy tomatoes for months. Even though our peppers are small, they have so much flavor and grow so fast. We actually have more than we can eat. After about 3 months of having our strawberry plants, they are finally starting to produce. I don't know what took them so long but I am so excited to finally see some strawberries! I think I am most proud of my sunflower. I got a sunflower seed for Layla for like $1 when we bought all of our other plants so she could grow it inside and watch it's progress. 3 months later and it is a beautiful, healthy, growing taller every day sunflower. I cannot wait for it to bloom, it's going to be gorgeous! I actually just planted another two because I am so happy with the way this one has turned out.

As far as our other new additions (pumpkin, cucumbers, zucchini, and watermelons) they are doing wonderfully too. They've about doubled (if not tripled) in size since we first planted them. We'll be seeing results very soon as we have tons of blossoms on them all. Who knew that gardening could be so fun?

Chloe's graduation and the museum

What a busy, busy day we had today. My niece Chloe is finished with kindergarten and had her graduation today at 745 this morning. Talk about getting big, I cannot believe she is going to be in 1st grade next year! She is one smart little cookie too, she'll do great in 1st grade, so proud of her. So like I said, we had to be there at 745am and since we were so busy last night with Layla's graduation, we basically rolled out of bed and headed on over to Chloe's school. They had such a cute little ceremony, Chloe's teacher is so great with the kids. She had an aisle with chairs on each side of it, so the kids could walk down the aisle. As they walked down, one by one, the kids would yell out positive attributes about that person, to make them feel good about themselves. Then when they reached the end, where the teacher was sitting, she talked to them and handed them their report card. It was really cute and such a cute way to promote them to 1st grade. After the kids all got home from school, Glen and I took them to the La Quinta library where they were having a free event (circus themed for their new exhibit) with free games, prizes, popcorn, balloon animals, a clown, etc. We only stayed for about 45 minutes but it was so worth going to and checking out. They each got about 3 balloon animals and Jaydan had a blast (and was really good at) with all the games. The popcorn was yummy too!

It's graduation time!

I cannot believe that my BABY girl has graduated preschool and next year she'll be off to kindergarten prep. I seriously don't know where the last 4 years have gone, I cannot believe what a little lady Layla is growing into. I was an emotional mess all day today knowing that she was done with preschool and tomorrow is her last day of school at the Learning Tree, we're going to miss it so much. I couldn't have asked for a better school for Layla to go to, she has learned so, so much this past year. Her graduation was the perfect end to such a great year (and it wasn't 110 degrees outside for it either, so double yay). It started at 7pm but Layla had to be there at 6:30 to sit with her class and get ready. As soon as she got there she went wild, she wanted lots of pictures with her friends and with her teacher. They'll be good memories for her to look back on. While the classes were getting ready, I headed on out to the front lawn where the graduation was being held and reserved a row for Ed's parents and my parents (Layla has such awesome grandparents that support her in everything she does, she is one lucky little girl). As soon as I saw the way the field was set up, tears started coming. I think it was a mixture of my baby girl not being a baby anymore and the fact that Ed wasn't there to be with us (we're on month 16 of missing Daddy, it's getting harder and harder). When 7pm arrived the kids all got in a line and walked out, one by one, to music. So, not only did looking at the field make me cry but this put me over the edge. Layla did such a good job (she is pretty shy around people so I didn't know how she would do) and looked so beautiful, I was one proud mama. At the end of the aisle was her principle, Mr. Robert, shaking each kid's hand. They made their way to their seats where they waited until it was time for them to sing their song and go up on stage to get their certificate. Layla and her best school friend, Charlotte, kept getting in trouble for talking (surprise, surprise) and dancing and being silly. It made me laugh and even though she was getting in trouble, it made me happy to see that she has made such a good friend. After the kids performed their graduation song, it was time to be called up to accept their certificate. One at a time the kids would walk up on stage, get their certificate, shake Mr. Robert's hand, pose for a picture, and walk back to their seat. Doesn't it remind you of high school graduation? LOL And that was that! The graduation lasted about an hour and at the very end all the kids were given a flower to give to their parents to say thank you. Then it was time for cake, juice, and taking some more pictures. It was such a neat experience. Not only did I really enjoy it but so did Layla. She's really going to miss that school and all the friends she made there. Here's to hoping we'll find a great school for her in Colorado!

What we've been up to

Well, I have been a slacker about updating my blog. I feel like we've been so busy lately, always doing something, and I just never have time. This is Layla's last week of school and she has her preschool promotion ceremony Thursday evening. She is getting promoted from preschool to kindergarten prep so that's exciting. She knows that next year she'll be with all the big kids (although she'll be moving to a different school since we'll be moving to Colorado) and I am just so proud of all she's accomplished and learned this year. It's truly amazing. Although she won't have school, I still feel like we'll be on the go a lot. Between story times, cooking classes, movie days, performances, tons of swimming time, and the crafts and learning we'll be doing at home, we'll still be busy bees. This is a good thing though, I need the next 3 months to fly by, I want my family back!

But anyway, on to what this post was really supposed to be about, updating you on what we've been doing the last week. We've sure had a lot of fun! :)

Going to the movies... Going out to dinner with family... Shopping and stopping for ICEE's on the way home... Swimming at friend's houses and BBQing... Getting our nails done... Swimming some more... Going to the Children's Discovery Museum... And did I mention swimming?