February Festivities

A quick February update

We celebrated Jazmine's third birthday over at Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Paul's house. It was lots of fun.

Beth and Shayla came to visit. Caitlyn and Shayla had fun feeding the ducks over at Nana and Papa's house.

We hit the zoo one day. The girls had fun checking out all the animals.

Fairy tale dancer Caitlyn at dance class. She tells us that one of her friend's name in the class is "Peanut" ! hmmm, not too sure about that, they are all little cute girls

relaxing weekend= veggie pizza - mmmm

It snowed in Gilbert- well, it is really hail but it was cold and white

The girls had fun running around in it and making hail balls

An Emma update

We had the pleasure of meeting with Emma's Kindergarten teacher on Valentine's day for our third conference of the year. Emma has been reading "Sam" books since the beginning of the school year. She is currently on number 90 out of 100. Sam books have gone from pretty simple stories containing simple sentences to chapter books. Each book now has three chapters and each chapter takes about 15 minutes for Emma to read. Emma has worked so hard on a daily basis reading her Sam books in addition to keeping up with her Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons- lessons. Mrs. Lang explained to us that upon the completion of Sam books, a student is on a 2nd grade reading level. We are so proud of Emma and all of her hard work. Once she completes Sam books she will move into a different set of books. She will do a book report on each book to enhance her comprehension skills and then take a 10 question test on the book before being moved to the next book. When she starts first grade she will take off from where she left in Kindergarten. We were sooo happy to hear this. :)

In addition to her reading, Emma loves to write. We have seen her writing skills blossom in the writers workshop program at Edu-Prize. She enjoys writing stories and drawing pictures to go along with them.

Saxon Math is the Math curriculum used at Edu-Prize. It includes a number of manipulatives and every 10 lessons there is a test. So far Emma has passed all 9 tests with 100% accuracy. YAY.

Choosing a school was such a big decision for Bryan and me. We really feel like Edu-Prize has been a great fit for Emma. She is learning sooo much and having a ball doing it and that was our wish for her. Each week she also enjoys music, computer lab, P.E., and science lab.

Mrs. Lang told us that "Emma is an excellent student and that she always tries to do her best." She also told us that she would be an excellent TOPS candidate. We did decide to put Emma on the AM TOPS schedule next year. She will go to school from 7:30-12:30 (the same times she went this year) and we will still have time to do homework and work with Mom in addition to all of our fun activities in the afternoons.

It has been a great year and I can not believe that we are talking about 1st grade. :) I have loved volunteering in Em's classroom and I look forward to doing it again next year. Keep up the good work Emma. We are proud of you and we love ya girl. Hip hip hooray !!

Queen Creek Olive Mill

We joined the Stenhoff fam at the Queen Creek Olive Mill for some yummy food, fresh air and a little fun on a Saturday afternoon

It was a perfect day for an outing

3 little monkeys swinging in the trees

The girlies had fun drawing, playing with play dough and running around

yummmmm

The guys were being goofy...recalling the good ol days

C's HaPpY visit to the dentist

Sister bear took her first trip to the dentist this February.

It was her "Happy visit" ! She told the hygienist and Dr. Joy that she was 5, in the most serious voice.

She was soooo excited to go the "treasure box" afterwards ! Emma had been telling her all about it.

Caitlyn was called back first. She jumped up, walked right down the hallway and opened her mouth wide after I helped her into the chair. It was pretty funny.

Here she is practicing her brushing skills on the alligator.

She let Miss Chelsea (our favorite non-family member hygienist) polish her teeth and paint on fluoride varnish or teeth vitamins. She also let Chelsea use the water and suction. YAY for you sister bear. We are soooo proud of you and love your beautiful smile.

Miss E had a great visit to the dentist too. Chelsea told her that her two bottom teeth are a little loose. She was so happy to hear that since some of her friends at school have lost some teeth.

Miss Em, thank you for being such a good example for C bear. She looks up to you and loves you so much. You are teaching her so many important things.

Sweet Moments

Sweet Moments

Emma asked me in the car the other day if she would be a Mommy before Caitlyn. I told her it would be fun if they were Moms around the same time so their kids could be friends. She said "Mom, when I have kids and you are still Caitlyn's mom, we can be friends." My heart smiled and was joyful. I pray that I am close to Emma and Caitlyn when they grow up, like I am with my own Mom. So sweet Miss Em.

In the Starbucks line, Caitlyn said "Mom, when I grow up I can run with you." I said, "oh, I would love that." She followed up with "I can push you in the jogger." Hey, I am thinking that sounds even better. :)

Love you girlie girls.

February fun

We have enjoyed a few relaxing weeks after the holidays.

It has been just beautiful here. Caitlyn and Emma have been enjoying visits to our favorite parks and playing in the back yard.

An orange from our very own orange tree. MMMM

Miss Caitlyn is my side kick during the day. She loves being a helper.

Did you get them all baby girl?

Raspberry fingers (and the age C bear wishes so bad she was)

Lemons from our lemon tree

Move over MS, AD is in the house. Fresh squeezed lemonade (a bit tart) and ...

roasted veggies, lemons, thyme and shrimp

Yum yum

Miss Em for "tacky" day at school -

yes, note that it is pitch black outside when we eat breakfast making it very hard to get up and around each morning. :)

A little big girl, sitting in the chair, reading her highlights magazine - so very grown up and oh so cute. Don't worry she asked Ashley if she would get a sucker for being a good girl.

This is what Dad does while the girls get their hair trimmed. A little power nap.

Caitlyn came downstairs after changing her socks after she got water on them. She decided to add the new flip flops I got her. Don, maybe you can relate to this style choice, although she chose to avoid the flip part and hang her feet to the side.

An after school tea party with juice and heart cookies.