Lillian's Preschool

 Last week Lillian and I finished up preschool until after the New Year.  I admit, when we started in the fall I was nervous about how well I'd be able to consistently hold preschool with all the unpredictable change between remote and hybrid schooling as well as all of Kyron's unpredictable antics!  Thank goodness for naptime and all the materials I filed away from Hylie and Eliana's preschool days because that's what brought us success!

Recently Lillian's been trying to fly.  You'll find her jumping as high as she can and trying to figure out how to keep her feet off the ground for longer periods of time--it's adorable.  One day she came up to me and said, "Can I have some wings?"  So I cut her out her own pair of paper wings, she relished the time coloring them to perfection, and then when she was about to put them on she was actually nervous because her little imagination believed they would lift her off the ground.  I was worried how she would handle the disappointment, but she ended up being thrilled with having wings to run around with and not worry about how to maneuver them in mid-air.  

Lillian LOVES preschool and it has been wonderful having that one-on-one time with her.

Eliana's Kindergarten Picture

 

Hylie's 3rd Grade Picture

 

Eliana's Zoom Birthday Party

The Saturday after Eliana's birthday we held a virtual birthday party with some friends from school.  That morning, we dropped off goodie bags and cupcakes to her party guests.

Claire and Eliana

Eliana and Joey

I had so much fun planning this party with Eliana.  She picked the "SNOW" theme, designed the BINGO board, selected which crafts we would make, and helped assemble the goodie bags.  During the party, Eliana had a blast and I was in stitches watching the whole thing unfold.  When each kid got five in a row for BINGO, you would have thought they won the lottery, but it only got better when Eliana told her friends that a prize was waiting for them at their front door (which she had left after their door was closed when we delivered the goodie bags)!

All the kids enjoyed the games and crafts and just loved visiting and chatting with each other over the computer.

Eliana's 6th Birthday

 Eliana was quite excited to celebrate her 6th trip around the sun and we sure loved celebrating with her!

Eliana was loving all the Pokemon surprises

Even though school was remote during Eliana's birthday, her sweet teacher was completely on the ball and made sure Eliana received her special birthday note and crown.

The light-up gloves from Great-Grandma and Pap Pap received the reaction I thought they would!

Fall Leaves

 November proved to be a very pleasant month (including some 70+ degree days!) with hybrid schooling going smoothly.  The downside was that COVID-19 cases began to spike again, so we made the hard decision to stay in Illinois for Thanksgiving.  We just had a quiet dinner at home and set up Christmas decor while the kids were off school.

Lots of raking took place as well which always thrilled the kids!

Halloween 2020

 2020 finally did something right and gave us a fantastic Halloween night!  It was a beautiful (and windy) day and the kids were beside themselves with excitement for trick-or-treating!

Our ward held a Halloween Parade for the primary kiddos.  It was wonderful to be able to see so many friends and visit for a little while.

Hylie as Yamper

Initially, Kyron's costume was intended to be a dinosaur,

but when it was all finished I felt it looked more like a dragon.

At first, Kyron wasn't so sure about his costume--I think it was a little scary for him!  But he warmed up to it pretty quick and whenever he'd walk by where it was hanging, he would let out a cute little "roar!"

Lillian as Pikachu Pokemon

Eliana as Raichu Pokemon

I really enjoyed making their costumes--adding some fleece to hoodies works well for me, easy results and super happy kids.  Honestly, I wish I took pictures of their initial reactions when I showed each of them their finished costumes.  They loved them and to me, that's all that matters.

Halloween Pumpkins

 For Family Home Evening we put our carving skills to work and created our Jack-O-Lanterns.  All the kids had fun and were pretty excited about how their pumpkins turned out!

Kyron LOVED carving his pumpkin.  I drew different options for his eye shape and he pointed to what he wanted and he even pulled the pumpkin pieces out.  By the time he was supposed to pick what mouth shape he wanted, he was too busy playing with his pumpkin pieces, so Eliana stepped up and helped finish his design.

Hylie picked a small pumpkin to carve and was so excited to design and cut out a silhouette of a cat.  However, I am convinced her pumpkin was petrified.  It was almost impossible to cut.  I cleaned out the pumpkins earlier that day and had the hardest time cutting the lid--I let her know she may have to paint her pumpkin instead, but she and Dad worked extremely hard on it and were actually able to carve everything out!

Not surprisingly, Eliana opted to paint her pumpkin...

However, after watching everyone busily carving, we were all surprised when Eliana asked if she could carve one, too!  She has always been absolutely disgusted by pumpkin 'guts' and touching any part of the inside of the pumpkin.  Luckily, I had picked up an extra pumpkin just in case and Eliana designed and helped carve it!