Holly (May)

So here we go trying to get caught up with all our goings on this past summer.
We start, somewhat where we left off, with the end of May.  Our little Holly graduated preschool on the 25th of May, just two days before her 5th birthday.  She was so excited not only to be graduating but to be finished with preschool so she could move onto bigger and better things like Kindergarten.
Holly had received a new outfit from her Grandma Granquist  for her birthday two days before at our Big Family Birthday Bash.  We have six people on Ryan's side of the family who have birthdays in May so we just had one big party and yes, I forgot my camera so I don't have any pictures of that party (sorry).  But Holly loved the new outfit so much that she wore it for her graduation program/ceremony.  She was so cute, if I do say so my self.  She loves to sing and so she was right in her element up there on stage.  All the kids did such a great job.  Here is just one clip of her program....

After all the singing they had all the kids graduating walk across the stage with their graduation hats on to receive their diploma.  The preschool where Holly went really does a great job with their programs, and the kids love to show off all the songs they have learned during the year.  When Mason is ready for preschool (still potty training) we will be sending him there too. 
Holly's program was on a Tuesday and then they had one more field trip before she was all through.  The preschool had arranged for all the students in her class to take a trip on the Front Runner train, down to visit the Children's Treehouse Museum at the Gateway Mall in Salt Lake City.  They had to be accompanied by a parent so Ryan took the day off to spend with Holly.  She loved having her Daddy all to her self and even talked him into buying her a pink Build a Bear, she named "Flower", while they were there because her field trip was on her Birthday day.
She also got to open presents from Mom, Dad and her brothers that morning before they left on her field trip.  She got a Fairy table and chairs for her room from Mom & Dad so she could have those all too important tea parties.  Then she got Fairy PJ's from Mason and jeans, jewelry and a Fairy hat from Ethan.  Can you tell she likes fairies?  She loved it all and even wore some of her new stuff from Ethan.
Latter that night we made spaghetti for dinner as it is Holly's favorite and then had cake and ice cream.  Holly loved all the attention, gifts and sweets.  If she could it would be her birthday everyday.
At the age of 5 Holly not only loves fairies, she loves anything pink, singing, dancing, playing dress up, drawing and playing with her brothers & friends (social butterfly). She is a caring, sweet, and bubbly little girl who is also somewhat of a drama queen.  We love her and are so blessed to have such a wonderful daughter.

Forever...I know

 My life has been SO crazy the past few months I haven't known which way is up.  Thus the lack of writing on my part.  I know I have a lot to get caught up on so I will be trying to do that over the next week or so and will just title each with the month that it happened.
Things seem to be getting back to a routine at least, it's just fitting into it.  Ethan and Holly are both in school everyday and Mason is not ready to go to preschool just yet as we are still potty training.  So it's me and Mason for half of everyday.  He is a smart little boy as it didn't take him long to figure out that with just the 2 of us he could get into more things while my back is turned and in turn getting more attention from Mom.  He LOVES attention and cuddle time...boy does he get it because I'm afraid to turn my back for more than 2 minutes.
Holly is LOVING school and really loves the fact that she gets to go to school every day and get all afternoon to play with her friend Riley, who just lives down the street.  At least after her homework is done.  I know homework in Kindergarten...things have sure changed since I was in school.  She has Mrs. Larabee, the same teacher that Ethan had so it's nice to know what to expect ahead of time.  She is such a great teacher, we are really luck that Holly gets to have her as a teacher too. 
Ethan is doing really well in 2nd grade and we both LOVE his teacher.  Mrs. Fry is just was Ethan needs to keep him engaged and progressing.  Ethan gets board with some of his school work, because he is such a great reader (4th grade reading level) that he thinks it's too easy for him, but Mrs. Fry is good to help challenge him with new things as well as new ways of looking at things.
I, of course continue to bite off more than I can chew and so I'm am constantly running to catch up.  I'm just having trouble staying on task and not getting distracted, which is hard with 3 kids that know that Mom is easily distracted.  I'm working on it and trying to accept the fact that I can't do everything, be everything, get the sleep I need to be a cheerful person, all at the same time.
That's it for now...stay tuned for further updates of our summer, coming soon.
Oh, and you will notice a new button on my blog.  My sister-in-law and her husband are hoping to expand their family through the miracle of adoption so please check out their new adoption website by clicking on that button.