Mother's Day Tea Party 2010!

I love and greatly appreciate how much effort the boys' teachers go to to make Mother's day a special celebration for all of us! Last year in first grade their teacher (yup, in the same class) read them "Love you Forever" by Robert Munsch, which I have read at a few Mother's Day storytimes myself. I don't think I've ever made it through that book with dry eyes. They created their own version, but changed it to read, "I love you forever, I like you for always, As long as I'm living, My mommy you'll be." Makes me teary just thinking about it, and the boys still like to pull out their books they made last year to read to me. The year before that, we went for a Mother's Day hike up Galena Creek. :) What a happy lucky mommy!

This year they wrote another book, but this one was much less structured and they wrote whatever they were feeling and felt like creating. But since they are in different classes this year, I had to split my time between the two. Sean went first. He was so sweet, and basically told me over and over how much he loves his mommy. :) Here he is reading his book to me (with his teacher in the background, with the dark hair):

Then I skipped over to Ashton's class, where he put his book up on the overhead for everyone to see. He was a little flustered with his reading.

Here is one of his face- he looks so serious! :)

After school I took a photo of them together,

And then Sean's teacher took one of the three of us together. I feel so lucky and can't express enough how much I appreciate the length all the teachers go to for the moms to show how much we are loved- they even put together class recipe books! Each student made up a recipe for their favorite food. Ashton's was Hawaiian Pizza, and Sean's was for chocolate chip cookies. Here the recipes in their entirety (which they even typed themselves!)- take notes:

Choklitchip Cookies by Sean S.

Vinila
Flour
Choklitchips
Brown shrgr
1 egg

Mixing evrything

~~~~~~~~~~~

Hhiwin pizza

First we got to make the dough then we have to rise the dough.
Then we spred the saus .
Then there is the food ingredets.
Next we put on ham all over it.
Then we put on the cheese.
And last but not least you put the pin aple on it.
Bake it for 9 have an hor and you got a pizza.

By Ashton

(I hope you enjoyed that as much as I did!)



On Sunday, the boys and I went with my mom to the Clay Canvas on Plumb Lane to paint pottery! We spent a good hour and a half picking dishes we thought we could use, washing them, picking the colors we liked best, and of course painting! Sean chose a covered butter dish (since the "butta" dish Kevin painted like 8 or 9 years ago is starting to crack), Ashton chose a rectangular hors d'oeuvre plate, and I chose a tall mug, which I tried to paint with ocean colors, but turned out to be a rather stripy conglomerate of blues and purples on the outside and greens on the inside. Here is a picture of the finished product~

Mother's Day Tea Party

I have only been working at my new job in Carson City for a week and a half, so I told my boys that I wouldn't be able to make their special Mother's Day Tea Party at their school. I felt really bad about taking a half day so soon. BUT! I worked it out with the other staff members at the Carson City Library, and they were super nice about it. They all said it's something that I can't miss! So I surprised them! I got there early, only to be surprised myself at how lovely their classroom had been decorated. They had even drawn pictures for the bulletin board, written the most important part about Moms on a banner at the front of the room, and planted flowers in pots they decorated, and painted special Mother's Day letters.







Then the tears began. Each student had created a book they called "A Walk Through 1st Grade," and on the front cover were their footprints from the beginning of the year! Each page had a different piece of art or writing sample added as the year progressed. There was a self portrait, their Presidential speeches, a Leprechaun poem, and at the very end, a picture of their mom and a special story they wrote just for us. It was based on the book "Love Your Forever" by Robert Munsch. If you have never read it, this is one of those picture books you need to go buy. And buy for every new mother out there, along with a box of Kleenex. Of my two boys, Ashton invited me to the front to sit in the cushy Mother's Day chair, and he read me my story.

It started out, "Do you remember when we were reading a book..., and then came the verse:

I'll love you forever,
I'll like you for always,
As long as I'm living,
My Mommy you'll be."

He continued on to say, "Even when I'm in high school, I'll still want to go on hikes with you (verse), and in college we can ride bikes together (verse), and when I get married we can still paint pictures and drink hot chocolate together (verse)." His whole story was five full pages! I managed not to cry, but only because I had already cried through the first 3 students' stories.

Here is my baby and my portrait he painted~

Sean called me up towards the end to read to me.

He read, "Mommy, remember when we did art together and we sat by the fire together? It felt like so much fun! (verse) When I go to high school, I still want to read books with you and I'm glad you like when I read to you. (verse) When I go to college, I still want to go to the park with you because I like to run around, and I love how you teach me how to be a better runner. (verse) When I get married I still want to play with you because it is so much fun. (verse) As we grow old together, I still want to spend time with you, and if you can't come to my house I'll come to yours. (verse)"

His story was also a full five pages. Then we got to eat cake and drink iced tea. I am SO happy I made the decision to leave work to be here for this~ my co-workers were right: this is not something I should miss, and I could never make up this special time together with them. I would have been the only mom NOT there- and I have two kids in the class! I am truly blessed to have two such wonderful smart and loving children who want nothing more than to please me and make me happy. They have grown so tall this year. Their footprints on the covers of their books no longer fit their feet. My prayer is for them to keep growing and growing and learning and loving~

Happy Mother's Day and some Hiking!

What a day! I had considered doing a 10k Mom's on the Run this morning sponsored by Pinocchio's, but Wednesday I decided that my knees still need to heal and so accepted an invitation to go to breakfast early with my parents early at the new Squeeze In in NW Reno instead. I had the "Happy Hoppin Heidi Ho," an omelet with fried bananas and honey and cinnamon. Yipee skippy! as the menu says. :) Very tasty! And they gave all the mothers a HUGE chocolate dipped strawberry, striped with white chocolate and in its very own little cylindrical box. An especially nice touch on their part.

I would have been just fine running a 10k this morning (knees are doing much better, thanks for your concern!)- so my boys and I went for a hike up at Galena Creek Park instead. We headed up towards the Jones Creek-White's Creek Trail Loop- it's just over 9 miles all the way around.


It was nicely hilly so the boys complained consistently for the first 5 minutes or so. But after that, we managed to turn the hike into a geography lesson for the boys, and they were happy not thinking about their tired legs, but the wilderness around them. We talked about the difference between evergreens and deciduous trees, and pulled some pine nuts out of pine cone so they would know where their seeds come from. We talked about Manzanita bushes with their tiny pink flowers that are just appearing, and how creek beds are made (while fording a few, both dry and flowing).


Plus with the aid of a walking stick and some nice fresh Nevada forest air, they were pretty happy! Here is another picture of all 4 boys just heading out...


We hiked about a mile up (we turned around about a quarter mile after this sign here- which means that you can camp anywhere you want past that, with a permit! Pretty cool, eh? Might just do that this summer- backpacking!), and a mile back down.


The boys were pretty tired on the way back down, but they were troopers, and now are having a nice LONG nap as I type this... Then we are having special marinated BBQ steaks and veggies for dinner at my request this evening. Like I said, a Great Day for me!


(Aren't camera timers great?)