5 Years Old!!

 It's hard to believe that Karmindy is 5 years old! I know all mom's express how much time is flying by but it really is passing by quickly. I have often felt like the days as a mom are long but the years pass by so very quickly. I am finding this to be true as the kids keep growing and as each year passes. 

Karmindy was super excited for her birthday this year! She can use one whole hand to tell everyone how old she is! Days before her birthday, she expressed how excited she was! When the day finally came, she was thrilled. I woke up early to make Karmindy's favorite breakfast- Chocolate Chip pancakes. Both the kids had school on Karmindy's birthday so it was a rushed morning but Karmindy was thrilled to eat her pancakes, dress in a new outfit and necklace and bracelet and head to Preschool.

At Preschool she said that her classmates sang to her and she came home with a new pencil from her Pre School teacher, Ms. Gaylene.

After Preschool, we hung around all afternoon waiting for Kaleb and Dad to get home from school and get off work. When that time finally came, we headed to dinner at Mc Donalds (birthday girls choice!) and then we tried out our "Pass of All Passes" and headed to Planet play to play Mini Bowling and ride Go Karts. It was a really fun evening spent as a family.

After we got home we ate some French Silk Chocolate Pie and opened presents. Karmindy was super spoiled and got many nice gifts from Mom and Dad, Kaleb, and both sets of Grandparents. She got a lot of Lalaloopsy Dolls and was pretty excited about that. She also got a new book and got a couple outfits from grandma's, bath set/nail polish pampering kit, and money. So spoiled!!

 Happy Birthday to such a sweet little lady! We love you Dee Dee Rose Bud!

Little Miss V.I.P

 This past week Karmindy was the VIP in her preschool class. Her teacher invited me in to come and talk for a few minutes and share a few special things about Karmindy with her class. Karmindy was so excited and we worked together and made a poster that was all about her! She was so excited to share it with her class. We also made little goodie bags for each one of her classmates that had a Ring Pop and a Ice Cream Cone Shaped bottle of Bubbles.

On the Day of her VIP she was super excited and was so excited that Mom could be there in class with her. I was excited to come into her class too!

Karmindy helped talk about her poster and was a big helper!

Some special things about our Little Miss V.I.P.:

1. Karmindy is very tender- hearted when it comes to people, especially, Animals. She loves our puppy Kozette and is always very sweet with her. I, often times will find her holding her in her arms and she is lovingly singing to her or petting her. 

2. Karmindy has the biggest sweet tooth like her mom. She loves Chocolate Chip Pancakes, cookies, and cupcakes. If you are eating a dessert, she will come over and say "yummy!" and beg for a bite!

3. Karmindy loves to travel with her family. Our last big trip was to Disney World. She constantly asks when we can go again! :)

4. Karmindy's favorite foods are of course, anything sweet. She also loves Mac n' Cheese, Chicken Nuggets from Mc Donalds, Chocolate Milk, and Chocolate Chip Pancakes.

5. Karmindy's  favorite toys right now are her Princess Legos and Her LalaLoopsy Dolls, she also loves to read books.

6. Karmindy loves to watch Movies. When she finds ones she likes she will watch it over and over and then will get sick of it and move on and watch something else and the vicious cycle continues.

7. Her favorite colors are Pink, Purple and Gold.

8. Karmindy is a friend to everyone. She tries really hard to be kind to everyone and hates when others are mistreated and hates when people mistreat her. She will often times ask why people are so mean.

9. Karmindy loves to help cook when I am in the kitchen. When I am making dinner she will always pull up a chair to the counter and beg to help out. She loves to stir and crack eggs into the bowl for me. She is a big helper!

10. Karmindy loves to spend time with her big brother and emulate him. Karmindy is very daring and loves an adventure. I think that having such a fun older brother, has helped her to develop these traits. She often tells me that he is her best friend and Kaleb often tells me that Karmindy is his best friend. Melt my heart....

I am so grateful for my two beautiful kids; especially this little sweetie!

Karmindy we love you and are so proud of the wonderful little girl that you are! What a special little spirit you bring into our home. We are so grateful to have you apart of our family.

Chick-fil-A Track Breakfast & Movie!

Kaleb went off track just after Easter for a few weeks. It was a welcomed break for both the kids and myself. It is always nice to sleep in and not have much of a schedule. Karmindy still had preschool on Monday, Wednesday and Friday in the mornings but it was still nice to have some low key days.

We didn't end up doing a whole lot while Kaleb was off track, which I felt kind of bad we didn't do more. Recovering from my Gallbladder surgery has been pretty difficult for me and I haven't had much energy or felt very well. Food doesn't sound great and it's hard to stay motivated and get much accomplished when you don't feel well.

On top of having the Kaleb home for a few weeks, I was trying to prepare for Teacher Appreciation weeks since I agreed to help out with that this year. I also found out that I would be having a Primary Auxiliary training meeting fall right smack dab at the end of the two weeks of Teacher Appreciation. So most of the kids off track time I spent getting ready for these two commitments. It was very stressful!

I did try and do a few things with the kids while they were off track and one was take them to the Chick-Fil-A off track Breakfast that they have for each track that goes off. We had never been to the off track breakfast before, and I though it sounded like something fun for the kids and I to do one morning.The kids ended up having a ton of fun; especially since they go to make a free craft and got to get 3 free mini chicken nugget breakfast sandwiches. The kids also made owl book marks and colored owl pictures. They also had fun playing on the play place equipment! It was a fun morning spent just the three of us. The only thing that would have been better is if Mark could have come with us!

That afternoon, we also went and saw the new Movie, "The Croods." The kids really enjoyed the movie and so did I. It was cute! I am so grateful for my two kids and I truly look forward to when my kids are off track so we can spend quality time with each other.

Easter Weekend

For the past several years we have headed to Southern Utah for Easter. It is always a welcomed break to head south and thaw out after the long winters up here in Northern Utah. This Winter seemed especially long since I had my gallbladder out and I didn't feel well and Kaleb was off track for most of January. It was nice to have something to look forward too!

We took off on Thursday afternoon and arrived in Hurricane by dinner time. We did stop in Beaver to stretch our legs and took a couple of pictures at the Gas Station for fun.

The kids like to sit in the big Rocking Chair in Beaver. They also like to check out all the fun little souvenirs that they have there at the gas station. Everyone needs a coon skin hat! 

To thank my sister and brother in law for letting us stay with them we decided to take them out to dinner. So Thursday night, after we got into town, we decided to head to the Pizza/Pasta Factory Express in Washington, Utah. The Pizza/Pasta Factory is always a favorite. The kids had the Breadsticks there and couldn't get enough. Mark and I indulged in our favorites, Creamy Pesto with Chicken and Mushrooms and Pesto with Chicken. It had been a long time since we had been able to enjoy our favorites since we don't make it to Southern Utah often enough!

The next couple of days we hung out with family. 

On Friday afternoon, we met up with Grandpa and Grandma Frisbey for lunch at the Pizza/ Pasta Factory again. This time we went to the one on the Blvd in St. George. The kids enjoyed the bread sticks again and seriously couldn't get enough. Kaleb and Karmindy got spoiled by Bob & Laurie with Easter Baskets and Money-filled eggs. After lunch we headed back to the car to head back to my sisters place. Karmindy saw this little chef outside of the "Painted Pony," another local restaurant and begged to get her picture taken by him. I don't know what the fascination was but I am guessing she liked that he was about her size!

She also wanted to have her picture taken in the cool old telephone booth too. Funny girl!

Also, another photo op Outside of the Painted Pony is a piece of art that is a pony that is created out of old metal scraps of gears, pans, etc. The kids thought it was so cool and enjoyed looking at it and seeing all the scrap metal and what the horse was made of.

On Saturday, we headed to my parents for our annual Easter Picnic/Easter Egg Hunt. The kids have been so excited this year and have been talking about how they were going to "score" Grandma & Grandpa DeMilles golden egg. It is a competition to see who can find it because it is filled with money. Kaleb was especially competitive this year and I swear that is all he talked about for weeks in advance.

Here are some pictures of our day....

The kids eating lunch with their cousins outside at the "kid table."

All the cousins have so much fun together! After lunch, I got the kids together and we made a Bunny Headband craft that I brought for the kids to make and wear during the Egg Hunt. The kids all loved the craft and really enjoyed their headbands.

Here are all the cousins minus 3 of them. LtR: Karev, Kennadee, Kenley, Karmindy and Kaleb.

 Traeson and Ryker were at Kami's house and sweet little Bronson was back up at Primary Children's because his heart isn't doing well.

The Egg Hunt was awesome. This year, my mom and sisters packed 120 plastic eggs with candy and money before we had gotten there.

 The kids all had a blast looking for the eggs in Grandpa and Grandma's Orchard. I love this Tradition!

After the Egg Hunt, the kids all love when Grandpa DeMille gets out his two four wheelers and get to take rides in the pasture. It's so fun!

 My parents are too cute. They are always so thoughtful and give the kids some sort of small gift each year at Easter. This year it was bubble wand machines and a toothbrush set with toothbrush,cup and holder. Kaleb and Karmindy where thrilled with their gifts.

We had so much fun spending time with family over Easter Break. On Sunday, Mark and I headed to Vegas for a couple of days but ended up coming home sooner than we wanted. Both Kaleb and Karmindy and myself all came down with the stomach flu. It was horrible. What was even worse is that Mark and I had spent some good money on our room and for a Cirque du soile Show and ended up not being able to get our money back because I was so sick and came home early. It was a bust of a getaway for us. We are glad that we were able to feel good enough to spend time with family for a couple of days before coming down with such a horrible flu. We look forward to being able to going down for Easter next year.

Fairy Tale Theatre

Kaleb has really enjoyed having Mrs. Goodman for his 2nd Grade teacher this year. Mrs. Goodman is invested in the ARTS Programs and has done many fun art projects in her class this year. Two of Kaleb's favorite subjects are Art and Math.Kaleb has really enjoyed all the fun Art Projects that they have done in class this year and always comes home so excited from school to show us what he has been working on! One of the things that Mrs. Goodman does besides Art Projects in class are putting on plays for the Parents and other grades at school. This is the first play that they have practiced for: FAIRY TALE THEATRE. Fairy Tale Theatre is a collection of small plays that are intertwined with other fairy tales.

For Fairy Tale Theatre, Kaleb was assigned the part as the 3rd Little Pig in the mini play, "The 3 Little Pigs." We have been practicing with Kaleb for the past 3 weeks and he has been pretty excited to perform. Yesterday, he performed for some of the 1st Grade classes and I was able to go and help out as they ran through their parts. I had such a fun time being able to help out with the kids and help que them if they needed help remembering their parts.

Today, the parents were invited to the school to watch the performance. It was a darling play and all the kids did really well for how old they are. Kaleb did an amazing job as well too. We are so proud of him for trying something different and rising to the occasion and doing such a great job! We are so proud of you Kaleb and the effort you put into making your part a success! What a great kid and performer you are!!

Kaleb's friend Zach Edwards played the BIG BAD WOLF. Here is Kaleb and Zach after the performance. They are such cute boys!

The 3 Little Pigs Cast-  LtR: Momma Pig- Macie Taylor, 1st little pig- Macy Smith, Man/ Seller Toby Atkinson, 2nd Little Pig- Emma Horn, 3rd Little Pig- Kaleb Frisbey, Big Bad Wolf-Zach Edwards.

Leaping, Lucky Leprechauns

I love Holidays, even if they are just little ones. Almost four years ago, I had a friend who told me about a tradition that they have in their home were the Leprechauns come and visit them on the eve before St. Patty's Day. The family left their shoes by the front door and during the night the Leprechauns came to their house to visit them. The Leprechauns would leave little trinkets and candy in the shoes for them to find in the morning. I thought that this was such a cute tradition and started it for our family four years ago. The kids have loved it and look forward to the Leprechauns coming to cause mischief. This year, Kaleb reminded me that the Leprechauns were coming and that we needed to remember to put our shoes by the front door. Kaleb grabbed his and Karmindy's shoes and  placed them by the front door. He was so excited to see what they would do this year and both him and Karmindy went to bed early.

This year St. Patricks day landed on a Sunday which was nice. The kids woke up and found their treasures that the Leprechauns left behind. The Leprechauns also left a trail of shamrocks to the kids shoes. Those Leprechauns are such rascals! This year the leprechauns left Kaleb and Karmindy new shirts to wear(green shirts of course), a huge pencil and some skittles. After church, we got together with Uncle Kevin, Aunt Kayla and cousin Alice for Sunday dinner. We had Chicken Fettucine Alfredo with Broccoli, Shamrock Shakes (sprite and lime sherbet), Garlic bread, asparagus and Mint Chocolate chip Ice cream pie for dessert. It was so fun to spend the evening together as a family.

Leprechaun Fun at Preschool

I truly LOVE Karmindy's Preschool that she has been attending this year. What a great preschool they have been for our daughter. Kaleb attended Small Wonders Preschool as well and I just have really felt they go above and beyond for a preschool. They always have the cutest Art Projects, Songs and curriculum for the kids. Karmindy has truly grown so much this past year and it has been so much fun to see the growth in her. Every month, Karmindy's class learns a new poem that pertains to something that they talk about in class. This months poem talked about a Shamrock since we celebrate St. Patricks Day this month. The poem says: "I found a Shamrock on the floor. It had three leaves but no more!

When you find a Shamrock, you may say, "This will be my LUCKY DAY!!"

It is always so fun to listen to Karmindy at the end of the month recite the poem she has been learning. It so cute to hear her say it with her gruff little voice.

Also, along with the poem they have been working on, they have also done some really cute art projects. The kids made their own Leprechauns and then the Friday before St. Patricks Day they had a party and made Leprechaun hats and looked for gold that the Leprechauns left behind. March has truly been a fun month at Preschool For Karmindy!