Last Day of School and Birthday Party

Today was a big day. Katherine went to school for her last day of Kindergarten this morning. We went to the closing chapel and enjoyed seeing her class up front with their part in the chapel. Each was to say what they want to be when they grow up, how they will serve the Lord, then recite their favorite bible verse and say why it's their favorite. Katherine's bit went like this - "I want to be an interior designer because I like designing and seeing people happy" and her favorte verse is John 3:16. After she recited it, she said she likes it because it makes her happy and reminds her of her Grandma. Sweet.

After chapel, there was a picnic. It was fun to see her hang out with some of her friends. She's really blossomed this year, especially socially, and it's really great to see.

After the picnic, we held her birthday party - a princess party. We took 5 of her friends from school to our house for the party. I think they all had a good time. They decorated flower pots and planted flowers, got candy from a pinata, opened presents, and ate cupcakes and ice cream. FUN!!

Happy Birthday Katherine!!!

Today, Katherine is 6 years old - how is this possible? She's looking forward to a party with her friends after school today (it's also the last day of school!) It's a busy day for us all, so I'll post pictures later, but just wanted to celebrate with her :).

1 week old...

6 years old...

where did the time go!

A Different Mother's Day

It's a different kind of Mother's Day this year - one that has followed quickly on the heels of Mom's death. It is weird to think about how tomorrow will go - without her with us. I always tried to make Mother's Day somewhat special for Mom, with varying degrees of success. I know that she always gave so much for me, and I am thankful for all of her love and giving throughout the years. With that being said, and with the memories of Mom's death relatively fresh in our hearts and minds, I am thankful that I have someone else to celebrate with on Mother's Day - my wife. This year, Katherine and Elizabeth both have a real sense of Mother's Day approaching and are excited to share their gifts with her. We are all thankful for the Mom that we have in our house - a Mom who loves her kids, and who loves the Lord. Sure, there are times that she gets frustrated and probably isn't the Mom she wishes she could always be, but she is a great Mom just the same. As we see our kids grow, I am thankful for the time that she spends with them, and for the ways, unbeknownst to even her, she instills a love for God in their hearts. So, Happy Mother's Day Mom - we miss you and wish you were here. We pray that you are celebrating like never before, and thank you for the ways you loved your job as a Mom while you were with us. And, Happy Mother's Day Julie - we love you for the Mom you are to all of us every day! We hope that you know we love you, and hope that we can convey that every day - not just on Mother's Day!

Zoo Gallery

Elinor (Ellie) the ???? Can you guess?

Last week the focus in school has been animals. Along with the trip to the zoo (see previous post) they studied animals in the classroom. One of the projects in the class was to pick an animal, collect boxes and tubes (toilet paper, paper towel, etc) and make a replica of that animal. This is "Elinor" (or Ellie for sort) the...can you guess what it is??? It's a cheetah! Katherine really enjoyed making this and learning about cheetahs. She also had to write a fact sheet with a few facts about cheetahs. All of the kids in the class made animals (some others were a bee, flamingo, elephant, butterfly) and the other kids in the school came to visit their "zoo gallery". It was really neat. They also have in their classroom eggs (hatching into chicks), caterpillers (which have made cocoons and are turning into butterflies every day), ants, and ladybugs. Katherine is REALLY enjoying this unit on animals and learning about all of God's creation!

Springtime and the Zoo!

I think spring has FINALLY sprung for good now - can I do my clothes switch? It seems everytime I think about it when we have a 70+ degree day, the next day is in the 40s, but I think that might finally be past us. John planted some flowers in boxes for our new deck (I'll try to get some pictures posted) and they look beautiful!!! Katherine's school class took a field trip to the zoo on Wed this week and we decided to tag along. It was a BEAUTIFUL day and we got there right when the zoo opened, so things were quiet (although that also meant that some of the animals weren't out yet, either) and we enjoyed the morning. Here's her class at their meeting place... And here's daddy and the younger kids sitting on some kind of insect outside the insectarium - the same thing that the kids are sitting on in the above picture. Christopher on daddy's shoulders (he much prefered this to the stroller)

Various other zoo pictures... Elizabeth's favorite was the giraffe, so I'm glad we got to see them. Katherine wanted to see the cheetahs, but they were still sleeping when we saw them. We did see them in the distance across a field and that seemed to be enough. Thanks goodness.

Earthquake!!!

I was awakened this morning about 4:35 to my bed and the house shaking!!! At first, for a second, I thought it was wind, as it's been very windy here the last few days, but once I got my wits about me, I realized very quickly that it was an earthquake. The next think I heard after waking John up was "I'm shaking" from the girls' room. It had woken them up and Katherine was a little scared. They got out of bed and joined me in a group hug in their doorway. After the shaking stopped, they promptly went back to bed. After watching some news, I tried, but dont think I slept much more. Definitely a rude awakening and lots of trying to explain to Katherine this morning what an earthquake was. I'm afraid that I didn't do a good job, but told her to ask her teacher - that's what they are for, right???

Sad Times

It's been a while since I've blogged. It's been crazy here. Many of you know that John's mom was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer right after Thanksgiving 2006 - 16 months ago. She beat the odds that they gave her, but she finally lost her battle with the dreaded disease and died last week. The last week has been a whirlwind of emotions and stress, but we've made it to the other side and are now trying to resume "normal" activities following the funeral on Monday, April 7. We know that "normal" will be different now with her gone, but are doing our best to adjust and explain it to the kids. While we knew it was coming, the end was VERY FAST, which blindsided us a bit, but really was an answer to prayer. She went from her "normal self", albeit on pain medication and growing weaker every day, to gone in 9 days. A blessing for all those involved that she didn't suffer and and we and John's dad did not grow as weary being the caregivers. The hospice workers that we had for the last 5 days were fabulous and she died at home. She was 82 and lived a full life. We'll miss you, Hazel Mae, Grandma Bauer, and Mom.