Goodbye Kindergarten!

Last Friday Hannah had her kindergarten program at school. I first want to say that we are so proud of the little person she is becoming! She has worked well, obeyed her teacher well & befriended her classmates well. She's ready for 1st grade, whether I am or not!

The week prior to the performance, she informed us she would not be singing. Although, she has quite the personality around people she knows, she has never been one to enjoy being up in front of an audience. So, we tried to encourage her to sing, without success. Then, the day before the performance when I picked her up from school, she announced that she would be singing! I was happily surprised. And she did it! She sang and kazooed her little heart out - with eyes locked on me the entire time! I guess that was her way of blocking out the audience! We were so proud of her for overcoming her fear!


























After the program we went to her classroom to enjoy refreshments,which the kids eagerly served the parents. Hannah showed us some of her projects & we watched a picture presentation Hannah's teacher had put together of the entire school year. I had managed to hold in my tears until then!

























Hannah showing Kaitlyn what it was like to be "co-teacher", which she looked forward to every time it was her turn.













Hannah loves her teacher!

Miss Aweena!

As I mentioned in an earlier post, we have a friend living with us for the summer, and she has quickly stolen the hearts of my two little girls! Alanna is her name. Kaitlyn pronunciation: "Aweena" :) She is from Nashville, TN, and has never been to Seattle before moving here a few weeks ago. We have had a lot of fun showing her some of the sights of Seattle and just hanging out at home.

A couple of weeks ago we gave her the Downtown-in-a-Day tour. We began at Pike's Place and listened to the live entertainment outside of the first Starbucks. Check out that steel bass! They sounded really good.

















For lunch we had to introduce her to Ivar's. Ivar's fish & chips is one of our favorites, and feeding the seagulls a few leftovers is a tradition that must be upheld.













We took the Bainbridge Island ferry.













The one picture I talked Alanna into posing for. :)













The skyline & cruise ship














On Bainbridge Island we headed to a bakery some friends had told us about. The girls were very pleased with their cookies. And I tried a first - a lavender sugar cookie that was surprisingly yummy.













Couldn't resist this one! Kaitlyn discovered the rings at a playground we found.

















Alanna's main job this summer is intern for Connect Church. But in her free time, she loves to bake. It works out nicely, because I love to eat! :) Kaitlyn was super excited and felt like such a big girl to get to help Miss Aweena bake her famous brookies. Translation: chocolate chip cookie & brownie goodness

Enjoying the Present

This time last year Hannah couldn't wait to be 5. Her birthday is in 2 weeks, so she's spent the last few months longing to be 6. It's gotten really bad. Yesterday she came home from school and began to cry because one of the boys in her class announced that he was turning 6 today. "It's not fair!" she cried. I couldn't believe how hard she was taking this news! With a summer birthday, she is one of the youngest in her class, so I guess the months of watching others turn 6 had really gotten to her. Wow!

So, I sat with my daughter and tried to explain the importance of being happy in the moment we are in, at the age we are, wherever we are. I told her if we were always wishing for something in the future, we'd miss out on all the wonderful things about the present. Such deep discussions for an almost-6-yr-old!

In light of this, I was quite surprised tonight when she asked me to rock her before going to bed. We haven't rocked since the early days of 5. :) I didn't mind. I just enjoyed the present!