Time Flies

Last week Hayley had her Preschool Graduation. I may have gone a little overboard getting there earlier than anyone else to ensure we got a good seat this year. Hayley was happy to have some time to play with Little Marlie before the program got started. An appropriate nickname, I think, for Marlie.



She was very happy to see Miss Margene too.



I tried to get a picture of it when the first filed up front, but I was too slow. Hayley and that cute boy in the yellow polo were totally holding hands. Like fingers interlocked and "I like you" kind of holding hands. Hayley has been telling us about boys that she thinks are cute in her class, but I didn't realize how serious she was.

No wonder Jeremy and I are both going gray.



Here are some snippets of the program. Hayley was very excited to get picked as the Flag Girl for the Pledge and Flag Song. I was happy I got the pledge on video this time. It's always my favorite part of their programs.





And really, what Preschool Program is complete without a rendition of Five Little Ducks? Plus, you can see Hayley's "boyfriend" (for real, that's what she calls him) and Jackson having a ton of fun with Grandpa's hat. Sure wish Hayley would come waddling back as fast as she sings the last line of the song.



Here's the last half of Hayley's favorite, the "H" song, Hannah Had the Hiccups. I love Hayley's giggle at the end.



I didn't get the whole thing recorded at the program, so I had her sing a solo when we got home.



As much as I don't want it to, time just continues to fly. I'm sure we'll be worrying about this in what feels like no time:

In the meantime, we'll just work on getting through the Summer and then on to Kindergarten!

Outtakes

Memo to the Kids:
Step 1: Look at the camera. At the same time.
Step 2: Smile. Preferably, at the same time.
:)

Blast From the Past

When Hayley jumped up and posed on that wall by the tulips, I thought that location and photo looked so familiar...

So I checked our other pictures from the Tulip Festival and found the one on the left from 2009 when Hayley was three.

What a difference two years makes. She looks so different!

She also sounds and acts so different. I found this video in the same folder.



In case you didn't catch that:

"I love purple."
"I got two purples!"
"I'm gonna say thank you to the Easter... For these."
"Hey, they are candies. They are gummies."
"These are mine. My stuff."

So cute. Love you Hayley. Then and now.

Kick It! Kick It Good!

We signed up Hayley for soccer though the Fitness Center. She was pretty excited on Meet the Coach Day. She got her uniform, met her coach and teammates, played with her friend Sydney who is also on her team, and smiled nice and cute for pictures.

Funny side note on the picture pose: one of the girls on Hayley's team showed up with her black dressy church shoes on for pictures. From that little girl on, this seemed to be the go-to pose for the team. I would have liked to see the cute soccer shorts and shin guards she had on. Oh well... :)

The next week was supposed to be the team's first game, but Hayley woke up at 6:00 a.m. to throw up, and continued to wake up and throw up just about every hour on the hour (seriously, it was weird how punctual she was) until about 2:00 Saturday afternoon, and then she was fine after that. I'm pretty sure she had food poisoning, but I'm not sure from what. I'm really so glad that we've got her bowl-trained though. The whole day I only had to wash one comforter one time due to vomit.

The week after that their game was snowed out. Because at least one canceled game is to be expected when playing soccer in the months of April and May, right? At least, it is if you live in Utah.

Apparently the third week's the charm, because Hayley made it to her game, healthy, and with perfect weather. And for never having played soccer before, she sure jumped right in.

This video is pretty par for the course of how she plays. Part playing with Sydney, part getting to the ball pretty agressively, and part posing and grinning for the camera.

I also love how she keep track of how many times she kicks the ball, and get just as excited when she kicks it as when she makes a goal. (She's made one!) And when she sees someone watching her, she give them a "thumbs up" from across the field. She also had to ask after the game was done, "Mom, did my team win?" To which my answer was, "Well, did you have fun?" and her reply was, "Yes!" So I asked her, "Then what do you think?" I figure no sense in making her be any more competitive than she needs to be this young. For her the most important thing is playing and having fun.

On second thought, the most important thing according to her may be the snack at the end of the game. :)

April Faves

Favorite Food: Pancakes
Favorite Treat: Gummies
Favorite Friend(s): Molly, who lives one street over. This is a big deal because it's the first friend we've let Hayley play with that we can't see her house from our front door.
Favorite Toy: Littlest Pet Shops
Favorite Book: Mortimer's Christmas
Favorite Movie/Show: iCarly
Favorite Song: MJ's Thriller
Favorite Things to Do Inside: Watch iCarly.
Favorite Thing to Do Outside: Catch Rolly Pollies. (Potato Bugs.)
Favorite Thing About Jackson: When he lets her hold his hand.
Least Favorite Thing to Do: Get hurt. Physically or emotionally. Which is hard considering how hard she plays, and how tender her feelings are.
Funny Things She Says: "How 'bout... Oh, right. I don't get to make the deals."
"Sorry Baby, but you're just going to have to deal with it."

Favorite Food: String Cheese
Favorite Treat: Gummies
Favorite Friend: Mom
(I don't know where this Momma's boy came from all the sudden, but I like it. Most days.)
Favorite Toy(s): Legos and blocks
Favorite Book: The Elmo Bath Books from the dollar aisle at Target.
Favorite Movie/Show: Barney ("Arney") and Baby Bop ("Bop")
Favorite Things to do Inside: Sit at Hayley's little desk in her room and play.
Favorite Things to Do Outside: Explore! Pick up rocks, grass, and whatever else.
Favorite Thing about Hayley: When she picks up his stuff that he chucks while in the car.
Least Favorite Thing to Do: Go to bed. At all. Period.

New Things He Says: "Naughty", (When I'm saying it to Hayley, and oh, does it make her mad!) "Knock, knock" (Grandma Bachman taught him that one), "Stack, stack" (with blocks), "Help" (but only when he's really frustrated) and "No, no" while shaking his head "no" and already doing something naughty.
New Things he Does: Cry when Hayley leaves the house. He'll try to put on his own shoes and socks, but is very particular and only likes his one pair of sneakers. We're going to be in trouble when they get too small!

Spring has Sprung

Today was the last day of the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point. (So if you were planning on going, sorry, you're out of luck.) We usually go every year, and Hayley, knowing that the festival would soon be over, convinced me to take her and Jackson today. We almost didn't make it there, when traffic was backed up on the freeway because of two pretty bad accidents. I told Hayley that if we were going this slowly, it would take us two hours to get there. She replied with, "I'm okay with that. Sometimes you just have to be patient, Mom." Nice. It's kind of funny when your own lessons that you taught your child kind of backfire on you.



It was a beautiful evening when we got there. The tulips were pretty, but some of Hayley's favorite things have nothing to do with the flowers. She played in the sand and in the creek, but when we got to the climby bugs in the Children's Garden, disaster struck. As she was going down the ladder, she caught her feet in the ladder, and smacked down hard on the sand with her knees, palms, and head. I could tell it really, really hurt, yet still she was really tough about it.



The picture below was taken about five minutes after she was wounded. As for Jackson after feeding him his favorite dinner of a corn dog and apple juice, he was fairly content to just hang out in the stroller and observe and smile for most of the outing.

Love Spring, love these kids!