Jessica turns 5!

My baby girl is 5 years old now and will be going to Kindergarten next month. It's surreal to me. This journey with her has been so amazing so far. She is such a special girl. I love Jess so much and admire her in so many ways. These are the 5 things I love most about Jess:

1. She loves to dress up every day. Looking pretty is very important to her and it's not unusual for her to sleep in her princess dresses. One night she even slept in her princess shoes, she just couldn't bear to take them off!

2. Jess is very helpful and loves to make people happy. If ever she makes her sister or brother sad, it doesn't take long before she is sacrificing something to make they happy again.

3. Jess knows how to make things fun. She has always been good at making me laugh, even in the times when nobody else could. She used to try to make me laugh during the sacrament when she was just 2. She is very silly.

4. She has her own personality and style, and she doesn't conform to what others think she should do. She know what she wants and doesn't let others push her around.

5. She comes up to me and gives me hugs all the time. She hasn't ever really been too cuddly or affectionate, but lately she just wants to be close to me all the time. I am eating it up while it lasts!

We celebrated her birthday tonight with friends and family with games, pizza, gifts, cupcakes, and a pinata. She was very excited about all her gifts and loved having so many people there to celebrate with her. She got some of her favorite things! Barbies, polly pockets, clothes, shoes, a movie, princess shoes, nail polish, etc...

The pinata was a hit! (he he) Each of the kids got a chance to hit it a few times.
It was Kayman who actually broke it down! What a little stud!

Next came the cupcakes, which was much easier than cake and ice cream might I add. The kids loved it. It was too windy for Jess to blow out her candles, we are in Herriman, but I'm sure she made a wish anyway.
Kayman and his friends chowing their cupcakes. These kids are all a month apart and are Kayman's best friends!
All but one of the kids who came to the party. One little girl didn't want her picture taken, but these are Jessica's closest friends. She had a great time with them!

Happy Birthday sweetie! We love you! Thanks for being such a light in our lives!

More BEES! AHH!

How disgusting is this?!

I came home from a night out and Andy was with the kids outside about an hour after bedtime just looking at the peach tree. I was a little confused, until I walked outside and saw this. It's hard to tell from the picture, but this swarm of bees was about the size of a soccer ball. They were mellow since it was night time, but still very creepy to me.

Luckily I have a good friend who is a beekeeper! I called her up and she came over a short time later in her bee suit with an empty hive in hand.
She got the bees for us and now has them at her house making sweet honey! I'm glad to have them gone from my house, and she is glad to have them at hers. Vweegudna! (That's the pronunciation of a Russian word that means good for you and good for me.) Andy and I were outside watching while she was capturing the bees and they started flying all around. It was a little scary, but nobody got stung, well not until the next day when Andy got stung on his knee.

Bees Game

On July 5th we went with Andy's parents to the Bees game! It was so fun! The kids had a wonderful time. You can tell in the picture that the girls are just a little hyper, and Kayman just about drove the guy in front of us nuts. Kayman doesn't hold still too long, but he had a fun time watching the game. The fireworks at the end scared him for the first few minutes, but he got used to them and we all really enjoyed the show.

Thanks Nana and Papa for such a fun 4th of July celebration! We love you!

Harvest day!

I just LOVE summer and the fresh produce that comes with it. I have had great success this year so far with the garden! We have had peas, strawberries, lettuce and cilantro. We have had about 10 bowls of that lettuce and I've made a batch of strawberry jam from our strawberries, and frozen everything we didn't eat while picking them! I've used the cilantro in lots of guacamole and burritos.

Now the raspberries are coming on and the peaches, apples, beans, corn, zucchini, squash, tomatoes, carrots, tomatillos, potatoes, brocolli, cucumbers, onions, dill and basil are on their way!

Graduations

The girls have both graduated. It's been a while since Jess had her preschool graduation but I'm just getting around to posting it. I know.

Jess had a speaking part and did wonderful! She memorized it in about 10 minutes.

"Capitol letters begin our names

which we have learned to write

lowercase complete the rest

we'll show you here tonight"

She did so great! She sang some fun songs and even got to wear a graduation cap and gown and walk down the isle to accept her diploma. So cute!

Here she is with her teacher, Mrs. Teresa (the most wonderful teacher ever!!!)
Jess with her friend Rebecca
And the family. Don't mind Kayman stuffing the cookie into his face.
Syd had her Kindergarten "graduation" program. She sang about 12 songs and the kids recited a few poems about the seasons. We were sitting so far back I didn't get a great picture of them singing, but here is a picture of most of her class. Her teacher Mrs. Black was great. Syd liked her. She met a lot of fun friends in her class and loved kindergarten! Syd is definitely excited for first grade! She is in the back row, second from the left in the red dress.
I can't believe I will have 2 kids in school. Kayman and I will have to find things to do while the girls are in school. Should be interesting! He'll definitely keep me busy!