The Fire Station

Ashlyn got to go to the fire station for a preschool field trip and loved it...all but the hat. She wore it just long enough for this picture and then gave it to me. Emma tried it on too and was all smiles for all of about 10 seconds. I guess firefighter hats aren't any fun for girls. At least Ashlyn loved the fire station. Every time we've driven by it since the field trip, she has made sure that I know we are about to drive by her fire station.

Snow + Walking

Ashlyn has been watching some family videos of the older girls sledding and playing in the snow when they were little and now she is dying to go out and tromp through the snow and make snowballs. I don't like the cold at all and avoid being outside as much as possible. However, she has somehow convinced me to walk to and from preschool in the snow. So here we are, walking home from preschool in the freezing cold. It's far from my favorite thing to do, but I've done it a couple of times now because I know she's in heaven. I only wish it didn't take twice as long to get home. Pushing Emma in the stroller in the snow is a little tricky when the walks aren't shoveled, and Ashlyn spends the majority of her time playing in all the yards along the way.

Turkey Hat

Ashlyn made a turkey hat in preschool today. Each feather has a picture of something she's thankful for. She informed me that the blue feather was a picture of me and that I'm yelling at someone because my mouth is open. I'm glad to know she's thankful to have a mom who yells at people.

Letters

Ever since Ashlyn started preschool, she has been obsessed with letters. She's always sounding out words and trying to figure out what they start with. She usually says it wrong and says something like, "'m' starts with your name", but she's getting the idea and I love it. Today I asked her to unload the silverware and when I walked in the kitchen, this is what I found instead...an "A" out of knives. Super cute!

Walking

Since Ashlyn is attending a preschool that is close to our home, we have the pleasure of walking there most days and this is the view I get--a little girl with a big backpack! She begs to walk even though half the time she changes her mind half way through the walk. I think I probably enjoy the walks more than she does. I don't feel like I get out of the house much these days unless I'm shopping which is near the bottom on my list of enjoyable activities. Emma also likes to get out but doesn't like to walk. I have to push her in the stroller or else I'm carrying her the entire walk. Ashlyn insists that she'll even want to walk during the winter. I told her that I won't want to but I promised her at least one walk in the snow so that we can make snowballs on the way. She can hardly wait.

Preschool

Ashlyn started preschool today. She was so excited that last night she asked me if she got to do her chores and then go to school. I said, "Yes!" and she grinned from ear to ear. I just hope she stays that excited about doing chores, although, I suspect that's not what she was so excited about. She's really lucky this year with preschool. The two older girls took preschool from my mom, but she and my dad have decided to turn in mission papers here soon. Because of that, my mom will only be teaching preschool through the end of the year and only for the grandkids. So once a week, Ashlyn will be headed to Grandma Bohman's house. I also signed her up for a preschool in my ward so that she would get a full year of preschool. So twice a week, she is going there. School, school and more school. The more the merrier, right!?!

Preschool Graduation

Sadie is officially a preschool graduate!

She and three of her cousins will be moving on to kindergarten and she's so ready for it. She aced her end of the year test. My mom was so impressed with how well she did that she called me up to tell me. She said Sadie was the only one that knew her address and phone number. And not only did she know her phone number, she asked which one my mom wanted to know, Mom's or Dad's. Then she proceeded to recite them both.

She was so excited for the graduation performance that she was hyper. She got to play Baby Bear in Goldilocks and the Three Bears and Little Miss Muffet in Little Miss Muffet.

Wheeler Farm

Today Sadie got to go on a field trip to Wheeler Farm for preschool. This year was kind of fun because we went on a guided tour and this little lamb puppet was the tour guide's helper. The kids loved it.

I found the cow milking station pretty funny. The kids thought it was great to be able to put their heads in the stalls like they were going to be milked.

But like every year, the tractor ride is the favorite.

And the fact that the majority of the kids in the class are cousins and that Grandma is the teacher. Check out how many of the cousins were able to go.

The Fire Station

Sadie's preschool class took a field trip to the fire station and had so much fun. They got to see an engine up close and a man fully dressed in his uniform. Then they learned about fire safety. It obviously made an impact. Sadie seemed excited to know what to do in case of a fire and promptly told me all the steps. Then the next time we saw a fire engine, she swore the guy that taught us about fire safety was the guy driving the truck.

Preschool

Preschool finally started. Sadie has been counting down the days ever since Kali started back in school. I think it has been a little hard on her having that much time in the day without Kali at home. But now she's back in the swing of things and already making some good progress. We've been working on writing her name for the past month and today she did such a good job writing it on her first assignment. It was very legible.

Preschool Graduation

Although she still has another year of preschool ahead of her, Sadie did graduate from this year of preschool. In this picture the kids are singing "You're a Grand Old Flag".

Then she got to participate in a few plays. She got to be Little Red Riding Hood.

And the cow in The Little Red Hen.

She has really come a long way since the beginning of the year. She does such an excellent job at recognizing letters and loves to tell me what they are on signs and papers. And her ability to count is incredible.

Wheeler Farm

Sadie has been asking to go to the Zoo for quite some time now. It's never on my calendar or in my budget, so I recently reminded her that she would be going to Wheeler Farm for a preschool field trip soon. That seemed to be more than acceptable to her. She began counting down the days and could hardly even wait the twenty minute drive on the day of. She seemed to enjoy our visit, but the best part is always feeding the geese. I think it's hilarious that the kids enjoy that part so much because the geese are so over fed that they don't even care that you're dumping gobs of seed in front of them. I really enjoyed this time because we got to see some newborn animals, a goat was licking Kali's hand, the turkies were gobbling like crazy and we got to see a blacksmith at work. What fun.

Goldie

Today the kids were learning about pets at preschool. Grandma asked Sadie if she would bring Goldie, our goldfish, to show. Sadie was really excited and even got to feed her (the girls insist it's a girl).

We got Goldie about a year ago when someone at Josh's work was giving away free goldfish. Josh thought it would be fun for the girls. I grew up with enough fish that I knew how much work was involved in keeping their tanks clean. Yuck! I insisted that if we were to keep it, Goldie was his responsibility. Needless to say, we kept the fish. And here we are a year later and can't believe how big the fish has gotten and that it hasn't died. Goldfish are a tough breed. Josh was right, though, the girls do love that we have a pet, even if it is just a goldfish.