Last Day of Preschool

May 27, 2016

The last day of Preschool. 

We started out the day with our obligatory "Last Day of Preschool" Photo. 

And once I felt I got enough on the camera, I went inside to grab my phone for a few snapshots in case any of those turned out better. 

Once I took Lily to preschool, Marco wanted me to take his photo too. However, I didn't have to take a million pictures in order to get Marco to smile. He did so on the first shot! He is just a naturally happy, mellow kid. 

When we went to go pick up Lily, she didn't quite understand the whole concept of leaving her teachers and not coming back to preschool during the summer. But had she known this was the last day with Mrs. Tiddy and Mrs. D, she would have been crushed. 

They were great teachers. My only requirement, in finding a preschool, is that the teachers love my little girl as much as I did and made her feel special while away from home. And these two exemplified that love that I was looking for. They loved Lily so much and she knew it. She prayed for them each night when saying her prayers before bedtime, she would jump up and down when she recognized them at a nearby grocery store, and sometimes when I'd ask Lily who she'd like to have a play-date with she'd respond: "Mrs. Tiddy or Mrs. D." They were great teachers, who were full of patience, love, and understanding. I feel like it was a little tender mercy to have these two enrich Lily's life this year! Because of them, she has grown so much and it has helped Lily develop and learn things that she couldn't at home. Preschool was such a positive, lovely experience that I cannot wait to enroll her next year. 

On a side note: It also ended up being the last day I straightened Lily's hair. She went to preschool that morning with straight hair, and when I went to go pick her up a few hours later - her hair was nice and beautiful and curly. 

Lily, Lily, Quite Contrary - How Does Your Garden Grow?

To continue our garden story...

Lily has absolutely loved planting seeds and watching them grow. 

^^ Both Lily and Marco are pointing to their favorite plants. 

^^ And Lily has been my extra special helper and is always giving the plants a drink of water for me.

^^ When the plants get large enough, we have decided to take the egg carton and plant it directly into the soil. Lily helped me dig up my dirt and plant all of our super large zucchini and squash plants in various places in the yard. I let her pick where they got to go. Most of the places she chose the plants won't live because they won't get adequate sunlight, or they will get too much water. But it's no big deal because she has so many seeds growing that if I planted all of them my whole backyard could turn into a garden!

^^ Lily was the first one to point out our vegetables growing in our garden. she helped me with my first harvest. And while she wasn't too keen on eating the squash - she chowed down all the green beans! On the other hand, I thoroughly enjoyed the squash!

With how many times we had been going to Home Depot to get tomato cages, extra soil, seeds, or more plants - Lily's favorite place to run off to was the mister. She loved it so much that we ended up buying her one for her very own. 

And Michal's heart was full when he noticed our very first tomatoes starting to grow! He couldn't believe our garden was working! And not only was it working - but it was going to give him some of his very favorite vegetables to snack on!

And, to be quite honest, I've never been much of a tomato-person... so I'm grateful that Michal is!

With each new vegetable that grows, that Lily gets to cut off - she gets so excited. This garden has really been a good tool for her - teaching her to take care of something, helping it grow, and harvesting it when it's done. She might not be excited to eat it, but this garden has been so worth it to see the excitement on her face each time we gather new vegetables that have grown!

I can't wait to see how we can expand this and keep her excited about her small garden!

Our Bunnies

In the process of deciding to expand our garden and put pumpkins along our back fence, we came across this furry creature. Michal was pulling out a root, and as he was pulling it out - it flung this animal into the air. We immediately got a shoebox and captured it and went next door to ask our neighbor what it was.

We woke up our neighbor (oops), a biologist, and asked him what kind of an animal this was. He said it was a mole or a vole and to immediately kill it. The best way would be to just put a string around the shoebox and throw it in the garbage. So we did.

But then I came home and something just didn't sit right. After looking at pictures through Google, and showing my dad the creature, we deduced that this wasn't a mole or vole - but a bunny! And this poor baby bunny was away from it's nest and needed to be reintegrated into it's nest if it wanted any chance of survival.

I put the bunny back where we originally found the bunny, in hopes that the mother would take the bunny back to the other babies in the nest. But the following morning, the bunny was still in the same place and shivering from the rain. My heart hurt for this bunny, I was the one who ripped him from his home and I wanted him to be happy and safe. I'd feel terrible if my baby bunny died due to my negligence.

So I watched the mother bunny carefully. I watched her day and night to see where she went, and once she disappeared, I went to where she was to see if it was near a nest. I got lucky and I found the nest. 

The next thing do to was place the baby with its siblings. So I picked up a towel and wrapped the baby bunny inside and gently placed the bunny with its siblings. As soon as the bunny found its brothers and sisters, the whole nest appeared to rearrange itself to snuggle the cold, shivering bunny. 

I continued to watch this bunny to make sure that it was doing okay. And one day I noticed that there weren't three bunnies in the nest (one being our baby bunny we kidnapped and rescued), but that there were four bunnies!

Lily was concerned about the bunnies and wanted to leave them some snacks. (They did not eat them).

As soon as the bunnies grew it was so fun to go outside and watch them hop around our back yard. The Mommy bunny was teaching the bunnies how to integrate into the space beyond their home. We had to be careful where we walked because they would hide in our tall grass, or jump out near our flower bushes. After the Mommy bunny felt like they were ready for the outside world she filled in the nest with mud so that they couldn't return.

But the bunnies found a new home! My garden. Almost every time I went to water, collect vegetables, or check on my garden the bunnies darted out from under my bushes. They were the culprits of all my beans being eaten, several of my pepper plants being eaten, and all my cucumber and watermelon plants didn't live past several days because the bunnies found them tasty to eat.

Eventually they went away. Lily and Marco still ask what happened to the baby bunnies or where they went. The Mommy bunny still hangs around my back yard (she is easy to distinguish because her right ear is split - probably by a cat or another animal trying to get her). 

Who knows? Maybe there will be a round two later this year - or another fun surprise of baby bunnies next year!

Michal's Birthday

Michal turned "33" again this year. Each "33" birthday we have made our best effort at trying to make the day extra special for Daddy. 

This handsome fella is such a good daddy and our children adore him. Marco is NOT a momma's boy and most definitely a daddy's boy. He refuses to sit on my lap and let me cuddle him - but not daddy's. He won't sit still for me to read him a story - but the story's not the same when Daddy reads to him. This boy wakes up in the morning and cries out for Daddy to get him from his crib - he wants Daddy to change his diapers (YAY!), and he wants Daddy to put him to bed. This little boy is Daddy's sidekick and wants to be just like him when he grows up. And I'm so grateful that Michal spends time teaching him, spending time with him, and loving him. We are so lucky that he's home more now so that the kids can capitalize on his attention. When all is said and done - Michal is one pretty super human being. He is great to have around and anyone who gets to spend time with him feels special and lucky.  

Thanks for having another birthday Michal! We love you!

Love - Mommy, Lily and Marco