First Day of Summer Camp

Ally started a 5 week summer camp on Monday. It is an arts based camp with classes in dance, music and art. The camp will culminate in a performance at the end of the 5 weeks. So far Ally is having a blast.

All ready for Day 1

Ally’s friend Stella is attending the same camp – that is Stella next to Ally in the picture above. We’re really happy to have them together for the summer – they get along so well and have fun together. There are a few other kids Ally know who are going as well, and she’s already made a few new friends.

Last week of school

The last week of Kindergarten was crazy:

Monday was the Lake Field Trip, Becky took the day off to chaperone. In addition my cousin Kimn and her two sons, Justin 16 and Jesse 9 came to visit from Hawaii and they are here until July 5.

Tuesday was a half day of school and a Kindergarten picnic at our local park. I took the morning off to attend. Lauren babysat the rest of the day.

Wednesday was Field Day at school. Lauren went to Field Day for us. It was also the start of summer gymnastics which is a 2 hour class for Ally. In addition Ally had a special doctor appointment.

Thursday nothing planned

Friday was the last day of school for Ally and Becky. I took Ally and Jesse to the pool after school.

It was also hot all week long.

The week in pictures:

 

Before and after swimming in the lake.

Parents were invited on Tuesday to kindergarten for their usual morning meeting and then it was off to the picnic.

 

Its not an Amigos School event with out some Latin Dancing!

Reading before bed with Mama. Ally had been really interested in her Bible story book. Gruncle and Aunt Suzie gave it to her last August and lately it is what she chooses to read every night before bed.

Lauren took these pictures of Field Day. The 3-legged race, wheel barrel races and parachute games.

Ally is sitting in the exam chair at the Ear Nose and Throat doctor. She has a mucocele inside her mouth. Its basically a blocked salivary gland, in her case its ruptured and she has a big sore inside her bottom lip. We’ve been to the pediatrician who referred us to the ENT and she has surgery scheduled for July 12 to take it off. It needs to be stitched up so that the salivary duct can heal properly. It means Ally has to go under general anesthesia, but the procedure is very quick, we’ll have it done at Mass Eye and Ear which is a world class hospital and the doctor said it takes less than 30 minutes, and we can be there for the procedure. We went to Children’s Hospital where Ally goes to the dental clinic for Ally’s teeth cleaning and the dentist there gave us a second opinion on the mucocele and she agreed it had to come out.  Ally seems ok about it, she knows she’ll go to the hospital with us, go to sleep and the doctor will take care of it while she is asleep. Its just outpatient surgery so we’ll be home the same day.

This week we saw a rainbow this was the view right outside out front porch. It was about 8pm at night, and Becky came and got Ally and I our of bed to go see it. We joked that our cousins from Hawaii (the rainbow state) brought it with them! ts really hard to see in pictures – but it was a double rainbow if you look closely at the picture on the right you can see it.

 

Swimming and hanging out on the pool deck with cousin Jesse.

Ally being silly before bed!

It was very busy week!

Happy Birthday Becky

Becky turned 35 on June 23! We spent the day together as a family and had a great time. It started with a breakfast buffet courtesy of Whole Foods – bacon and Ally put together the muffin display with the candle on top.  There were also some eggs and fried plantains.

Sometimes I wonder if I could possibly love her any more.

We went to see Monsters U in 3-D.

We love the movies!

 

After the movies we did a little shopping at REI and then went out to L.egal Seafood for a late lunch. I was being silly putting the fish net over my head!

This is a Becky birthday tradition and as usual we had a good meal and fun time.

But when we got home it was time for gifts and cake. Becky received a lot of cards and some generous gifts from our parents – Thank you. Ally colored Becky a picture and gave Becky an Amazon gift card. When I asked Ally a while back what we should get Mama for her birthday she said “books for her kindle” I was quite impressed and made sure that happened. I continued that theme and got Becky an iTunes card.

The series above just makes my heart melt.

This year Becky also got a card from her “special friends” aka Carl and Nali our cats.

I made a yellow cake with brown sugar frosting, Becky’s request.

Last Day of Kindergarten

 

The last day of school. The last day of kindergarten. I came home before Ally and Lauren left for school to take some pictures. If you go  here you can see the same poses on the first day of school on September 6, 2012.

 

But in case you don’t go look – above is Ally in September in purple sneakers and short hair, and on the right is Ally with long hair – its all the way to her shoulders! and turquoise sneakers.

In fact her hair is long we usually pull it back in a pony tail. She still prefers to have her hair down, but even Ally agrees that in the heat and humidity having it pulled back and up is good. Wow – she looks all ready for first grade!

 

I snapped these as Ally and Lauren walked to school – hand in hand.

Lauren is moving to Hawaii next week for many months – she got a job working on the TV show Hawaii Five O as a Production Assistant. We are so thrilled for her, and sad to see her go. She has been such an important part of our lives for the past 3 years.

Ally’s teacher Jim wore a tuxedo for his last day of teaching. Big hug!

Ally was so excited to tell me she “won” the rock paper scissors with her project partner and  that meant we got to take home the giant purple octopus she made this year. Good sport that I am we brought it home and hung it up in Ally’s room. It really is 3’ tall and about 3’ wide with its legs stretched out.

Sing A Long

We won a sing a long with Ally’s kindergarten teacher, Jim, in a silent auction at school. It was a fundraiser for the 8th grade field trip and Ally loves to sing and thought it would be lots of fun to have friends over for a sing a long. We’re always up for a party!

It was a long invite list – We let Ally make the guest list and when she reached 20 friends we told that was all. We were a little concerned that 20 friends with siblings and parents would be WAY to many people for our house. But it all worked out.  Becky and I thought it was interesting who Ally had on the list. The Guat Girls (none of whom could come) neighborhood friends and school friends and of course Stella who is a preschool friend. 12 friends came along with 7 siblings and 16 parents. It was a nice mix of people and Jim sang for an hour! He had told us 30-40 minutes depending on the crowd. But the kids were amazing and sang along with him and listened and it was a fantastic party. Afterwards we had ice cream and headed over to the nearby splash park to cool off.

Ally and Jim. Jim has almost all of his songs on large paper and a child always points along to the words. It’s a great way for kids to see the words and help with reading and for parents to sing a long too.

Stella, Violet and Maya were the 3 little birds accompanying Jim. And yes we all packed in to watch and listen.

It was fun for Becky and I to see Ally having so much fun.

Ally’s favorite song to sing at school is Barquito de Papel.

This is Jim’s last year of teaching and so it was even more special to have him over for this fun event.

At the park with Stella and Violet. The girls and other friends had fun cooling off in the fountain.