Pre-K Musical Performance

Last night was Kenna's first school "performance" and it was so much fun!  They have been practicing at school for a while now and we have gotten a little preview of the songs as Kenna would also sing them at home.  But put all of these kids together and it was adorable!!  Kenna has been counting down for several days and could not wait for all of us to come watch her perform.  I didn't start recording in time to hear the lead teacher give her introduction, but it was a good warning.  She talked about how everything that the pre-k does is with music.  They practice numbers, alphabets, rhyming, calendars, etc. with songs.  She said they sing a lot and they sing LOUD....and they do!  So here is a 10 min video of the 4 songs that they sang.  I don't expect everyone to want to watch it all (except for maybe some family members) but it is pretty funny. Daniel and I think it gets funnier every time that we watch it, but it is probably only funny to us. :) Don't ask me what Kenna is doing in the middle of the crocodile song.....I don't know.  And sorry for some movement here and there.  I was trying to be as still as possible but sometimes you just have to laugh!  I am so excited that this is just the beginning of these types of activities!  As we were leaving last night, Kenna looked at me and said "Mommy, I think I want to be a music teacher when I grow up."  I asked why and she replied "Because I am so good at school and so good at music, silly!"

Kenna is 5!!!

How in the world is my baby girl 5!!!

I cannot believe that this tiny baby girl is growing into such a fun little lady.

Daniel has to work today so we did a small family celebration last night.

 She was SO EXCITED!!

She is going to have a Cinderella cake at her real party in a few weeks and had a Cinderella cake at Easter (more pics from that later....had to pause for a bday celebration!) so we decided to do something a little different for last night. 

Modeling one of her presents - a new Cinderella dress up gown.

 Poor Kam...too young for bday cake.  But she loved her cheese puffs instead!

 Dane picked the piece that had the most icing of course....and then ran around like a mad man for a few hours after all that sugar!

I am so proud of the young lady that Kenna is becoming.  She has such a fun-loving spirit and is an excellent big sister!  I can't wait to see what the next year brings.

Family Fun Day

I know it is almost a week later, but I still want to post about all of the fun that we had on Saturday!  For Christmas, my Aunt and Uncle gave us a membership to the Perot Museum of Nature and Science....with the understanding that they would get to keep Kamryn when we went.  So, this past weekend, we were finally able to make our first trip.

As soon as Daniel made it home from work on Saturday morning, we loaded the family up and headed south!  We dropped Kam off with my aunt and uncle, and then took the older kids over to the museum.  The kids had an ABSOLUTE blast!  They were very impressed with all of the interactive things to do and play.  There were obviously some things that were a little above their age/maturity level, but the museum does a wonderful job of having things for all ages.

Kenna arranging her flowers.  This picture was actually taken when she was taking the flowers down from their previous arrangement.  My oldest child takes after me and likes things to be in a more specific order!

Another flower arranging picture

She also had to try out the art supplies they provided.  They had a table set up where you could make turtles out of the construction paper, etc, but Kenna said there were too many other things to do.

Dane loved going grocery shopping!  Once you filled your shopping bag, you were supposed to climb into the back of the "truck" so you could reload the bins.

He LOVED getting to drive!

Taking the groceries to Market

We took a little time out to watch a 3D movie about Sea Monsters/Dinosaurs.  I was very surprised about how much both of the kids enjoyed this.  Kenna kept reaching out and trying to grab the fish that were swimming by.  Dane had his glasses on just like Kenna, but took them off right before I snapped the picture.  

The new improved way to wear 3D glasses!

On the bird floor, they had a place where you can be a bird.  You wear 3D glasses, stand on the specific spot, and then the bird on the screen moves as you do.  The bird flies over and around mountains, etc.

If you lean back, the bird climbs up higher into the sky....

Bending over makes the bird dive.....

And then you can make it turn!  Kenna thought this was a lot of fun.

Dane tried it as well but needed some help from Daddy (not sure why the picture is so blurry...must be operator error)

Dane really liked listening to all of the bird sounds.

He also like looking at the cars....he just wasn't too happy that he wasn't allowed to drive!

Construction with magnetic balls and rods....so glad Daddy was there to help....Mommy is not that great at this sort of stuff!

And what better way to end the trip then with a race!  This is Dane racing against Felix Jones.  Kenna raced a gymnast and then a T Rex.  

This is just a few of the things we did at the museum.  The kids also loved the simulated earthquakes and the glass elevators.  So much to see and do....we will definitely be back! 

When we left the museum, we made the very short drive to Klyde Warren Park.  It is a park that is built over the freeway and was really cool.  They had several different play structures for the kids to climb all over.

The park also has tons of tables/chairs, food trucks, games, and even books!  I wish we could have spent more time there but we had more on the agenda.  We made a quick stop to pick up Kamryn - who seemed to do just fine without us - and then drove back to Allen.

By this point, neither of the older two kids had had a nap and had just spent 4 hrs exploring the museum (running all through it) and then 30-40 min at the park....once we hit the car, they didn't last long!

We made it to Allen just in time to watch the Annual Police v. Fire hockey game the City of Allen puts on.  We had 3 uncles we had to cheer for!!

Dane was more than happy to change into his fire truck shirt and yell for the fire department

And Daddy took the opportunity to teach Kamryn how to bang on the glass :)

I don't have a picture of Kenna but she was the most into the game.  She made posters to support the team and yelled the E.N.T.I.R.E. game.  She thinks that whole reason the fire team won was because of her yelling. :)

Once we ate with the fam, I took my exhausted children home and poured them into bed while Daniel stayed to watch the Allen Americans play.  What a fun filled day with kids!  I loved watching them have fun and we can't wait to do it again!!!

Punta Cana

One of the many things that I love about Daniel is that he loves for the two of us to go on vacation together.  We get to enjoy the new scenery as well as spend some quality time together.  We decided to use our anniversary from January as a reason to take a little getaway.  My parents kept the kids and Daniel and I took off to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.

The airport was so cool!  Everyone deplaned by stairs and then walked across the tarmac into the open air arrival area.  It definitely made you aware that you were in the Caribbean!

After a 45-50 minute ride from the airport on some pretty sketchy roads (there are absolutely no stop lights...it is every man for himself), we pulled up to our resort, Excellence Punta Cana.

 We were welcomed into an open air lobby by a bell man with wet cloths for your face, a glass of champagne, and a "Welcome Home."

 Because we had mentioned that it was an anniversary trip, we had a banner on our door, swans with roses on our bed, and a bottle of champagne and fruit on the table.  Not a bad way to be welcomed to paradise! :)

 The room itself was very nice and spacious.  It had a jacuzzi tub in the room and a rain head shower....complete with a window into the bedroom. Definitely made me glad that I was staying with my husband and not a friend! ;)

 They had several covered beds next to the pool.  They were the perfect place to take a nap every afternoon!

 It was very wavy on this side of the island.  Boogie boards were provided by the hotel and we got a lot of use out of them....Daniel was MUCH better at it than I was!! 

 We would start every day by spending some time at the beach.  We would find a palapa and some chairs and stake a claim.  We would usually move to the pool in the afternoon, just because the winds would pick up a little.

 This was the view from our patio.  We could walk off the patio to the hammock or the beds by the pool.  That is why we took a nap there every afternoon...too convenient!

 These were the palapas by the pool.  They were definitely prime real estate!

 A picture to prove that I was actually there! :)  This was the walkway from our part of the resort to the lobby and main theater area.  They had some pretty entertaining shows every night.  The resort had some really good dancers that performed 2 nights, a singer one night, and a beach party one night.  Lots of fun.  They also had a casino but we didn't spend much time there.  We only went once to check it out.

 The last two days that we were there, the wind and waves had really picked up.  Because it was so wavy and had a pretty good undertow, the resort would not allow you to take out the boogie boards.  They had lifeguards on the beach that would let you body surf some but they would not hesitate to call you back in if they thought you were getting out a little too far.

 Of course, Daniel had to try it out!

 This is how I spent A LOT of the time that we were there.....on a bed on the beach (or under the palapa if I needed some shade) with a book.  I mean, really, what is not to love about this!!!

We had a really, really good time.  It was hard to jump back into work the next day, but it was so nice to see our kiddos again.  We are so thankful that they had a great time at Mimiz's and Poppy's (some of the pictures in the previous post are from them).  It was an amazing vacation!!!!