Arabelle's Kindergarten Graduation

My girl is a graduate! She worked hard this year and learned SO much!

When I looked at the curriculum at the beginning of the year, it seems like a lot and I couldn't imagine progressing to the end, but we're almost there!

Her graduation with our homeschool group was last Thursday (we had it a little earlier than normal due to scheduling issues). 

There were 4 kindergarten graduates this year!

Each child recited a Bible verse. Arabelle said Proverbs 3:5-6. She practiced in the car the entire drive to graduation, just to be sure. :) She spoke very clearly, but wasn't quite confident enough to stand up straight. So proud of her!

 She was so proud to have a lot of her favorite people at her graduation. It was such a special time to her!

Her Sunday School teachers, Aunt Jane and Mrs. Tammie, came to support her.

After the Graduation and Honor's Night ceremony, we had a delicious dinner. Here's Arabelle with our sweet baby sitter, Alyssa, who is also a homeschool student.

The yummy graduation cake:

The balloons they decorated with were a BIG hit with all the kids! We've still got a few in action at the house.

Family picture with 3 kids and 3 balloons? Nice try! ha!

Thank you all who came! 

*I know I haven't done a homeschool update in a while....I got behind on the updates and haven't tried to catch up. I'll do one more when we're done in a couple of weeks. :)

Muddy Mae

We all know Arabelle and Bo love a good mud puddle. It looks like Mae enjoys getting dirty as well!

There was no keeping her out of the puddles once she saw Bo playing.

Mae loves the mud! 

Bo got a little muddy on Friday also. :)

State Park Day

We had a Spring co-op at the State Park last week with the homeschool group. Arabelle and Bo went around to the stations some of the moms set up and learned about ladybugs, caterpillars, butterflies, and more. Then each kid got to take home a caterpillar in a special cup to observe metamorphosis. Ours are doing great!

We went a little early to feed the animals some apples and carrots and to play on the playground that we rarely go to.

Mae figured out that she could go up the steps and slide with just a little help from her great big sister! 

The co-op was at 2, in the middle of Mae's usual nap time, so she took a little nap on me. I loved the cuddles, but she's getting HEAVY! ;)

Mae is 11 months old!!

Our baby girl is almost a year old! Mae was 11 months old on Easter Sunday!

• Mae is still on the same predictable schedule as last month. She wakes around 6:30, naps around 9 for 1.5 h, then again around 1:30 for 1.5 h, and goes to bed at 7-7:30. 
• Our biggest change is that she SLEEPS ALL NIGHT!!! At the beginning of the month she was still waking and crying some, but she has only woken a handful of times in the last month to whine/cry. It's been amazing!
• I'm dropping her mid-morning nursing session this month, so she's going down to 3 feeds/day. 
• She continues to be a great eater. She will eat nearly anything. Favorites are cheese, grapes, blueberries, bananas, spaghetti squash with cheese, beans, chicken, yogurt, and much more! She has 3 meals and one snack right now. When she drops the mid-morning nursing, we will add a snack. 

• Mae walks all the time now and tries to RUN to keep up with Arabelle and Bo. She's getting fast!
• Mae cut her bottom 2 teeth a couple of weeks ago and they are coming on in. I think she's working on her top ones now, considering she's been doing some biting. 

•  Mae has several new words: Bo, Drake, and thank you. Despite saying only a few words, she understands a bunch and can follow simple directions, like "get the ball", etc. 
• Here she is saying Bo's name:

•  She can still wear her 9 mo. onesies, but the pants are too short. She's in mostly 12 mo. stuff, which works because all of Arabelle's Spring/Summer clothes are 12 mo (even though she was only 8 mo. this time of year!)

• She is such a loving girl! She will give hugs and kisses most of the time we ask and she will go up to Bo when he's having a whining moment (um, those happen a lot) and pat his back and lay her head on his shoulder. He hates it, but I love it! Haha! 
• Mae loves music! 

• She loves to put things, like balls or plastic easter eggs, into buckets. She also LOVES Drake. 

• I'm afraid Mae's going to be a climber. I know......She likes to go in A & B's room and climb up on Bo's bed. I'm trying to teach her how to get down. She also loves stairs and we're working on getting down those too. 

Happy 11 mo. baby Mae!

Spring Art

I printed a paper with lines and circles on top, so basically a template for Spring flowers. The 'instructions' were to create a Spring flower painting. 

Here's what Bo created. Ha! 

He did have fun and that was the point anyway. 

Arabelle took it a bit more seriously. 

Of course, I forgot to take a picture of the final product. Oops.

Bo's School Egg Hunt

Bo had his Easter Egg Hunt last week with his pre-school class. We hosted an egg hunt at our house the day before for the homeschool kids, so we had a busy week with parties and egg hunting!

On the way to the party, we got caught up in the police chase for the bank robber, which may have been the highlight of the morning for Arabelle and Bo. Bo was sure that Spider-Man would help the police catch the guy.

They made matching Easter shirts for all the kids. Bo and his best buddy Kyle are in the middle there comparing their shirts. :)

Bo's class: 

Snack time!

They are always so sweet to fix Arabelle a plate too. :)

Best friends!

 GO!!!

We ran in to Harvey's before going home and Arabelle and Bo were really happy to get the race car buggy.

*Mae was at home with the babysitter, that's why there's no pictures of her. :)