Shane's Preschool Celebration

Shane had a great year at preschool.  He loved going and I saw him grow in so many ways during the year.  It was so fun to see him embrace learning, explore and have tons of excitement about new things he was learning. 

On his last day he had to dress up in his beach gear for a beach party! He pulled out his shorts, hat and sunglasses on a chilly May day for some beach fun!

He requested McDonalds for his lunch.  We laid out beach towels and enjoyed our McDonalds on the beach.

It was then time for a little music and dancing.  Do Re Mi Let's Play were there to do a fun little program with singing and dancing.

All my pictures of Shane and his buddy Max dancing look like this.  They didn't stop moving and were having way too much fun.

What a great way to end the year.

Shane loved his teacher Miss Molly.  She is also the director of the preschool and has done such an amazing job and has developed an amazing preschool program.  She will be the first to say it is the good teachers that makes her job easy.  It is truly a special place.  I was a little sad as this preschool has been a huge part of our life the last 4 years.  It is a little crazy thinking we will not be there a couple times a week.

Miss Tracy was Shane's other teacher.  He loved Miss Tracy and she has such a gentle, loving spirit.  Shane has been in her class the last 2 years.  We are both going to miss her next year.

It is hard to believe my little boy is on his way to kindergarten next year.

Preschool Save the Earth night

Shane has been learning about taking care of his body and the earth at preschool.  I have learned there are some units that kids just connect with for what ever reason.  Well this was the one for Shane.  He was so into taking care of the earth and educating us at home.  You could almost say he was obsessed with what you could and couldn't throw away.  We would get busted if we threw something in the trash that should be recycled.  He would dig it out and tell us to take care of the earth.  He saved any box or plastic item he could and made a grocery store down in our play room.  He would take boxes and make them into cars, houses, trains or whatever else he could come up with.  He also asked if he could go ask our neighbors for their recyclable stuff so he could save the earth.  Like I said .... he embraced the unit.  

After the unit was complete they had a fun night at preschool.  The kids got to plant flowers.

The carefully dug little holes with pencils, dropped their seeds in, covered them up and sprayed them with water.

Max thought he was hot stuff and sat by the table and took it all in!

The girls decided to make some ladybugs out of egg cartons.

While Shane decided it would be more fun to head outside.

Alexa joined him on the Natural Playground when she was done.  Time to show off her balancing skills.

Max spent his time pushing the truck around.

Emma playing tag but taking a break to tie a shoe.

Alexa also spent some time building some things.

Max and Alexa shared a healthy smoothie made with all kids of vegetables to finish off the night.

Shane loved taking all of us to preschool for an evening of fun!

Shane's Art Show

I know I have said it before but I love the kids preschool. One of their main focuses is helping the kids "discover their creative genius inside!" I love how they focus on helping to encourage their creativity and the use of their little mind verses putting their minds in a little box and telling them what to cut, where to glue and what to trace. It has been so much fun to see each of my kids grow and discover a love for learning. I love seeing their creativity fostered and encouraged during these precious years of their life. Shane was so excited for all of us to go this his Art Show. I was excited to see Shane' Art.

I loved this picture as we came in the building. One of the 4/5 year old classes did this for the Art Show. Isn't it amazing!

In Shane's class they had been talking about self portraits. This is Shane's self portrait of himself. I love the hair! It is definitely the do he has when daddy gels it up.

Shane and his friends also explored with photography. Shane and his friend James took pictures of each other. The picture of James is the one Shane took!

We then moved over to his next painting of his Starfish. He was so proud of all his work.

One of Shane's units was on Healthy Eating and a Healthy Body. I loved this unit because he would come home and say things like "My teacher says we need to run to stay healthy!" He was pretty sure that meant the the rule "no running in the house" went out the window. All the kids created their own healthy food with clay and then painted it. Shane's bowl was full of apples, blueberries and cherries.

The girls had fun participating in some of the art activities set up through out the preschool. Shane on the other hand was more into playing in some of the classrooms after he showed us his art work.

Max had fun checking everyone and everything out. He loved these little decorations hanging from the ceiling.

My favorite was Shane's Love Poem. I can't wait to frame this one.

The Museum Of Visual Arts

I was able to go with Shane's class on his field trip to the Museum of Visual Material.  Have you ever been somewhere and wondered how in the world did I miss this place?  Well this was one of those places.  I feel like I have been to or heard of the kid friendly, fun places in Sioux Falls but somehow I missed this fun little place. 

They had a variety of activities set up for the kids to do when we arrived.  Everything they use is recyclable products.  First on the agenda was making a Christmas card.  

There were so many fun items for the kids to pick from as they let their creativity run wild.  

I loved watching Shane at work creating his cute little card. 

Next up was beads thread on a pipe cleaner to make a candy cane.

A highlight of the afternoon was the cookie decorating station. 

Especially when they got to eat their masterpiece! 

I love Shane's face as he is concentrating so hard on getting his snowman finished.  The snowman was a recycled CD painted white. 

Shane was proud of his finished product.

The last station was making a snowflake.

They finished with a little playtime.  Shane thought the tee pee was pretty cool! The place was amazing and they did such an amazing job making us feel welcome and provide fun activities for the kids to participate again! We can't wait to go back. 

Preschool Feast

Shane's preschool had a little feast. Some of the classes were the pilgrims and some were the Native Americans. Shane was so excited about finishing the week of learning with a feast.

His favorite part of the story that he told me over and over again was how they were on this really big boat called the Mayflower and they probably got sea sick!

Shane waiting to eat with his friends.

Shane made his placemat that he ate off of.

Shane had a great time at his feast. I love how he embraces learning and life! I am thankful for how he has grown and matured this year.

He is having a wonderful year at preschool!

Pajama Night At Preschool

Shane's preschool has a couple fun family events through out the year. This time it was pajama night. Shane was excited to take his sisters to his preschool in their pajamas for a evening of fun.

There were tables set up with different activities and it was also a time for the kids to show their parents their favorite things to play with or do in their classroom.

Pajama night just happened to be on the night that we have an extra little one at our house. This is sweet little Harper. Harper's mommy is a dear friend of ours and is a hair dresser. We help her out on Thursday evenings so she can work late. So Harper has come to our house almost every Thursday and some Saturday's since she was 5 weeks old. She just fits right in and goes where we go. The kids love having her around. They fight over who gets to play with her, hold her and feed her. I often have to give the kids a time-out from Harper so Harper can catch her breathe a little with out someone coming at her from every direction with a different toy. It is so fun to see Harper squeal with delight when she sees the kids.

Shane was pretty excited that Harper got to be part of his fun night.

There was also a doctor that spoke to the parents about the importance of sleep and sleep patterns. I listened to the first part and it sounded so interested. Harper was getting tired so was either fussing a little or was talking so loud just so others knew she was in the room. The doctor presenting was going over a sleep study that was done over a year ago. She was taping it and hoping to put in on web so others can watch it. I am excited that I will be able to hear the presentation since it didn't work out with my 4 little munchkins.

Shane's 2nd Trip To The Apple Orchard

It seems as though you can never get enough of the Apple Orchard when you are a little boy. Shane was so excited to head to the orchard on his field trip for preschool. You would have thought that he had never been there. This time it was fun to go with friends though.

This trip to the orchard they got to hear a story how the bees help the apples grow and how they take care of the trees and apples at the orchard.

They watched the apple peeler and corer at work.

They got to snack on some apples and drink some apple juice.

Then it was time to visit the animals .....

and climb on the hay!

We then hopped on the tractor for a ride out to the orchard.

Shane was watching intently for the apple trees.

It was time to find the biggest and juiciest apples. I have to say it is so funny watching little preschoolers look for perfect apples. Each one they picked and put in their bag was the biggest and the juiciest apple they every saw.

They were very proud of their very own bags of apples they got to take home.

The hopped back on the trailer with their apples and then it was time to head back to school!

What a great day at the Apple Orchard!

You better believe that Shane and his sisters had the juiciest and biggest apple ever after school and of course dipped it in some peanut butter!