Kaleidoscope Field Trip

On the very first day of walking Grant to his classroom for Meet the Teacher night, I signed up for the Kaleidoscope field trip. They have a rule that parents can only attend one field trip, so I knew that THIS was the one I had to go to, even if I did have to wait all the way til May!! I went to Kaleidoscope as a kindergartner, but had no recollection of what was there, other then the puzzle maker! So I was so happy to tag along! But this field trip was much more than just Kaleidoscope! The entire kindergarten class left first thing in the morning and went to see If You Give a Cat a Cupcake at the Theatre for Young America. There were 4 of us parent volunteers who met them at Union Station when the play got over. I would have loved to see the play, Grant said it was funny!! Anyway, we all headed over to the Science City area to eat lunch. 

 I took all the boys to wash hands- look at this ornery bunch. I think one looks more ornery than the rest....

 Grant loved sitting by his buddies and having lunch together. They had never had lunch together before, so this felt like First Grade to them!! Pretty exciting stuff! Grant hardly ate, which probably foreshadows how lunch will go for him next year. He said he was just ready to get to Kaleidoscope!

 So after everyone was done eating, we made the loooooooong walk across the Skywalk and through Union Station and Crown Center to finally arrive at Kaleidoscope! It certainly was nothing like I remembered it being!  I didn't see Grant or any of the kids in our group for quite a while, they were just spread all over everywhere, plus there was another large school group there. After manning my "station" for a while, I was ready to find my kiddo and explore! There certainly was alot to see and do and they had SOOO much fun!! Grant came home with some paintings, a puzzle, a bear he made out of felt paper, and some Lego Star Wars stickers!

 They all headed back on the bus and us moms were left with 1.5 whole hours before we got to pick them up from school, since they were staying full day. So we did what any group of moms would do after spending an afternoon on a kindergarten field trip- we got foot massages!!! A perfect end to a perfect field trip! I may not have been able to go on any other field trip this year, but I got to to go on the BEST one!!!!

Date Night with Grant

Grant and I had a very special opportunity to go in a fun date! Wyatt was spending the night at Mimi and PawPaw's, because the next day, I would be attending an all day field trip with Grant, so Wyatt was going to go to work with Mimi. So we took the chance to go do something special once we dropped him off. We headed to the movie theater and bought two tickets to Monkey Kingdom and a big bag of popcorn and candy!! We were so excited when the movie began and we were the ONLY two people in the theater!!! We were able to talk, laugh, be silly, and do whatever we pleased!!! The movie was adorable and was made just for Grant, I think! I mean, a movie about monkeys doing silly things?? That's pretty much Grant in a nutshell!! Special times with my special boy!!!

Kids Against Hunger

Morse did an all-school service project with Kids Against Hunger. I had never heard of this program before, but as information trickled home in the days beforehand, I learned quite a bit and was so thankful they were participating in such a great organization. Not only that, but I've been looking for more ways to help my kids serve others, so I was happy to have this opportunity! Grant's class did their volunteer time at the very beginning of the day. I was able to help set up and get the kids situated in their job before I had to leave to take Wyatt to school. Grant came prepared with his hat because he definitely did NOT want to wear a hair net! Thank goodness I paid close attention to the info sent home!! 

Together, as a school, they prepared 27,500 meals for kids in need, not only in our community, but the meals are sent throughout the entire US, and even world wide! What a cool experience!!

Swinging, Sliding, and Flipping

The clubhouse Levi built is probably the best thing we could've ever given the boys!! It got so much use in Oklahoma, and just as much use here in Kansas! As they get older, its funny to see them use it in different ways!!!  And the addition of the trampoline just makes the backyard even more of a hit!! They spend quite a bit of time swinging, sliding, and their newest favorite- flipping!!! I have a feeling once Levi gets home, they were will be new additions made to the clubhouse that includes more gymnastics activities!!

Grant's Author's Tea

During that last two months of school, Grant and his classmates worked SO hard on a class book! Because I was working in the classroom quite frequently, I got to see all their hard work in action! Sloppy copy, rough draft, rough draft illustration. They really worked!! During this time, Grant also mentioned he was writing a book. I didn't know if this was just something he was doing for fun, or in his spare time at school during Daily Dose time. But he seemed pretty excited about it! One day, when I was there helping, I got to help kids work on rough draft of their books. It was this day that I realized they were going through the whole writing process and putting out their very own book!! I couldn't believe this class full of kindergartners was doing all this! My second graders (when I taught) didn't even get that advanced!!! So after another week or two, their class held an Author's Tea so they could share their books with the class and parents. They had stations set up around their classroom and pod and paired the children together. The adults rotated stations to hear all the kids read their books! I was so proud of Grant! He was the only kid who made up a fictional story. Many of the stories the kids wrote were about their families, hobbies, favorites, etc. But Grant wrote a story all his own- and it was SO him!!! Silly, goofy, didn't quite make perfect sense. It was exactly what I would've expected Grant to write!! And I loved every word of it! Grant was so excited to read it to us, and he was even more excited knowing Mimi was coming!! He did such a fantastic job reading aloud, showing us the pictures, like a true author!!!!! 

Wyatt's Preschool Field Trip

Wyatt had been counting the days for WEEKS leading up to his field trip!! His field trip to the pumpkin patch got rained out back in October, which was a HUGE bummer! So when word of a spring field trip came about, he was checking the calendar every day, literally counting the days! He was so excited to go to the park just down the street from our house. How we haven't been there yet since we moved here is astonishing to me, as we drive past it about everyday. So he said, "We FINALLY get to go to that park instead of just drive by it!" It had rained for about 5 straight days leading up to the field trip, but the morning of as sunny and dry- but it was 50 degrees!!! So we had to bundle up for our spring field trip!! But the kids didn't seem to mind- they had so much fun running and playing!! Wyatt likes the kids in his class, but his two favorite friends, Clara and Leo, were in a different class. He was so happy to get the chance to run and play for a long time with those two! After a good hour and a half of playtime, they had a picnic lunch, and then we were free to leave. We stayed for a little while longer, as Wyatt just couldn't leave his friends quite yet!!  It was quite a fun morning!!

Mother's Day

 Celebrating Mother's Day is a little different with Levi not around- no sleeping in, or breakfast in bed, or anything like that. But I still got morning snuggles with these sweet boys, followed with lots of treasured school-made gifts!! So thankful both their schools did something special to celebrate!! I love a good homemade gift!! I actually opened Grant's gift on Friday as soon as he got home from school, because he has zero patience when it comes to gift giving! But Wyatt patiently waited til Sunday morning. So many goodies, I was overjoyed!!! The cards, the little handprints, the signatures! I love it all!

 I love Grant's card that he wrote: I Love you mommy. You're the greatest mom! His gift was his painting, made with watercolors and glue, and a personalize notepad. Wyatt made a card and his flowers in a vase canvas. Such adorable gifts I'll treasure forever!

 That evening, we celebrated with my mom and sister with dinner at Bo Lings. Grant gifted me with another nice gift- he wore a collared shirt and real shorts- not athletic shorts!!! It was a Mother's Day miracle!!

It was a fabulous day being celebrated by my boys and celebrating my mom and my sister!!

Mile Fun Run

I will always remember the end of the school year being marked by a carnival on the last day of school. Man, what fun that was!! But at Morse, the carnival comes a few weeks before school is out, and its a family affair, on a Friday evening. We are so lucky to live right across from school, and they include our neighborhood into some of the fun!! 

Before the carnival began, the school had a mile fun run around the neighborhood. I didn't sign us up for that because I knew Wyatt couldn't make it (heck, I probably wouldn't have been able too either). Grant kept saying he wanted to do it, but I didn't want him running alone. So when our friends parked in our driveway said they had an extra runner jersey, Grant jumped at the chance to run with his buddies! As we waited at the starting line, he found more and more buddies to run with. They are just so adorable! I love watching Grant and his friends! I know they won't always stay so sweet and innocent, but that is my prayer!!

Anyway, Grant and three friends and two dads took of running, the rest of us made our way to the sidelines to watch them come in across the finish line. Dom and Luca made it in record time, followed by Jalen and Eli, and pulling up the rear was Grant and Jalen's dad. He was so tired and was a little bummed his friends crossed the finish line before him, but he said he loved it and can't wait to run another race. I'll leave that to Levi when he gets home!

 Grant and Jalen ready to race!

 These four and pretty darn good buddies! So thankful we get to go through our Morse years with them by our side!

And then they found Eli!! Everyone loves Eli!

 And then they found Luca, just in time for Wyatt to give them a pep talk!

 Rex and Wyatt (who will be in the same Kindie class) are two peas in a pod!

Luca and Dom heading to the finish line! Wyatt, always the encourager!

 Here come Grant and Jeremy!

And what else do you need after a mile run? Cotton Candy the size of your head of course!!! The rest of the evening, we enjoyed games, tickets, bouncy houses, prizes, and junk food!! If that's not fun, I don't know what is!!