April and May
I no longer have any idea what happened in early April. We didn’t seem to take any photos!
April 16
Phoebe was helping me cook. Then she started making one of those concoctions children put together in the kitchen. It seemed harmless, so I handed over whatever ingredients she requested.
April 17
We were supposed to go camping in Moab with some friends and their friends, who organized the trip. However, there were weather reports of a huge storm in the mountains, which we’d have to pass through to get to Utah. We deliberated endlessly and finally decided not to go. Good choice, since they closed I-70 right around when we would’ve arrived there! It turned into a fairly normal weekend, though we had a bit of snow down here too.
I can’t remember this tower or rocket ship being built. It’s cool!
Dave played some video games while Benjamin watched.
Because the kids didn’t get to go camping, we let them camp on the floor of their room for a couple of nights.
April 24
Dave and Phoebe went shopping at Play It Again Sports and found a set of girls’ golf clubs with pink shafts! Phoebe is going to take golf lessons in June, but here she and Benjamin were practicing taking some swings off the back deck. Dave was at band, so he missed the fun.
I guess it’s no surprise that all the playing together turned into an argument.
April 28
Phoebe took this photo of me reading to Benjamin as he sits on the potty. He loves books, so he’ll happily sit on the potty all day if you keep reading to him.
Phoebe was doing something to make Benjamin laugh hysterically, but by the time I got the camera, I had missed most of the action.
May 2
The kids are actually starting to play together—well, Benjamin follows Phoebe around and either laughs crazily or gets upset and tries to push her. Here they’re sort of playing hide and seek until Phoebe gets fed up.
May 7
We often get high winds, rain, and hail in the spring. This year was no different!
May 14
The kids had a carnival at school for which I believed I had signed up to make cookies. (In the end, no one seemed to know what to do with them.) Here Benjamin is helping me.
May 20
Ta-da! The big event. At Sanchez, the kindergartners celebrate the completion of the year with a graduation of sorts. (That doesn’t happen again until the end of fifth grade.) Dave and I attended Phoebe’s celebration. Someone should’ve told me to bring Kleenex! I sobbed through the slide show, songs, and awarding of certificates. (I made it through the picnic much better.) Phoebe’s kindergarten teacher was Mrs. Moore, and Miss Cheryl played an important part too (though I never understood what, exactly). Mrs. Connelly created a curriculum to teach the kids some Spanish. They came to love her puppets, Gita and Mr. Crow, and at the end of the year, they graduated from caterpillars into first-grade Monarch butterflies!
The day before graduation, Phoebe asked me specially if Benjamin could come to her event. I was flabbergasted, but said of course, so we picked him up from preschool and brought him to the picnic.
May 25
Benjamin’s preschool class had an end-of-the year celebration. I almost didn’t go, figuring he’d be in preschool another year. At the last minute, I changed my mind, and I was glad I did—it was heart-warming to see his excitement as his class sang songs, got certificates, and played outdoors at a potluck picnic.
Now the kids will spend another summer at Take-A-Break before school starts again on August 18. Phoebe will start first grade at Lafayette Elementary, where we believe they can better handle her precociousness, and Benjamin will stay in preschool at Sanchez with his beloved Ms. Max, where he’ll still get speech, physical, occupational, and hard-of-hearing therapy. Phoebe will go on lots of field trips this summer; Benjamin can’t participate until he’s potty trained, but he’s working on that with eagerness. We have a full summer planned, as always! Stay tuned.
