More of May, Preschool Graduation, + a Weekend Hike!

Everything seems to come to such a quick close in May. All the school and extracurricular activities, and then school itself, and in just 3 more days we'll officially be on summer break for 2 months.

Next year cousin Isaac will attend a different PreK class than Leah, so we will miss him being dropped off early on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. It was so fun having him help himself to a second breakfast, ride around with us for school drop-off, and watch the funny shenanigans these little cousins would get themselves into!  

Lucy had her final FVE choir concert, and she just loved it. She is always singing to herself wherever she goes, and choir was so much fun for her-- even if it meant lots of early mornings for me (it started at 7:15 a.m.). I loved watching her perform and get a kick out of having an audience.

A few weeks ago the kids had the opportunity to go plant flowers at the Denver temple with their Primary classes. The temple grounds crew provided everything for them, and my kids are pro-gardeners now with everything we've planted at home. Despite the windy, chilly weather they had such a good time doing some service for the temple!

Zach totally took his job seriously. He is becoming such a little "mans," it makes me sentimental at times. He really tries so hard to be a good kid-- and he was just pumping those flowers out as fast as he could!

Lucy of course was a huge help too, and planted half a bed herself. We will definitely have to go back sometime this summer and show them how much their beautiful flowers have grown, and what a great job they did beautifying the temple grounds for people!

After they planted flowers in the upper beds, they needed us to pull out all of the bulbs in the lower gardens, with the tulips that had already blown. The cub scouts seriously enjoyed the demolition part of this, and it was a little harder to keep them reverent, ha ha. Jon was also at the temple that night for baptisms with the youth, so he met us for dinner right there in Littleton. Perfect timing!

The next day, despite it being May 18th it started snowing and blowing, and Miss Leah had her preschool graduation that morning. Wohoo!! Jon was working, so it was just me and Elizabeth to celebrate her accomplishment, but it was so fun to see all those little 4 year olds get to move onwards and upwards.

Her class of friends: Ashton, Isaac, Marshall, Evie, Leah, Tyler (back row)

Colter, Jackson, Emma, Brynn (front row)

That's one happy camper!

They performed a few songs for us, and then Miss Ashley handed out their certificates and said something nice about each student. She said Leah was the ultimate helper. Whenever they needed someone to do a job, or help pick up, or volunteer for something-- Leah was the first to want to help. Way to go, Leah!

Leah with cute Miss Ashley. She sure loved preschool this year, and I sure loved only having one child for 2 1/2 hours twice a week!

The theme was "Oh the Places You'll Go" from Dr. Seuss, and the food was all themes or characters from Dr. Seuss books. Super cute!

Mom with her very cute preschool grad! Here's to the future Class of 2031!

And future Class of 2034! Lizzie just HAD to sit in the "big kids" chairs before we left.

We celebrated by getting lunch at Chick fil A, and then driving home in a total blizzard. These are our "HOORAY" faces!

Here's my lush little garden trying to survive the cold and snow. It got down to 26 degrees that night, so we covered everything with bowls or buckets, and then put blankets on top of that. I think they came through okay.... but time will tell.

Things just kept coming to an end, including Lucy and Zach's piano lessons with Miss Heather, at an end of the year recital on Saturday. I can't honestly say either one liked them-- in fact, they both pretty much hated them, but at least nobody quit and Zach for his first year is quite good! Phew! Lucy played her festival pieces (both memorized) and did great. She really has a knack for music, so I'm hoping this one yucky year won't change her mind about going forward with a new teacher next fall....

Little Zach-O played his heart out and was SO nervous beforehand! I honestly have no idea what song he played for the first one, because it certainly wasn't the sheet music (ha ha), but his teacher insisted it be memorized so he took the plunge and just and sat played whatever came to mind. Atta boy, Zach!

We hurried home to change clothes and eat lunch, and headed out to enjoy the schizophrenic weather. It decided to be spring again! Yay! Long gone was the snow of the day before.  

We checked out the Red Rocks Trading Post loop trail, which was just perfect for our family, and SO beautiful! Tons of scenic views of Denver and the Rockies, and blue skies galore.

Zach brought his remote controlled truck and had a blast running it along all the trails.

Super hiker girls and Lizzie loving it from her backpack! Such cool rock formations everywhere, it reminded me of Southern Utah.

Me and my little Buckaroo, with Denver off in the distance. It was a much needed break from city living and a super BUSY month of activities and goodbyes, and so good to see Mr. Sunshine back from his little 2-day hiatus. It just whetted our appetite for more hikes, and more sunshine once school is out and it is officially summer!