PreK gradution

by Heather | 0 comments

Cassidy graduated from PreK (and is officially registered for Kindergarten!) The ceremony the teachers and kids put together was super sweet. It was a really nice morning of songs, skits and snacks!

My mom, Andy’s parents and even Leslie (who is back from Hawaii) were able to join us. I snuck Ben out of school for the day too! He’d gone to St. John’s so he knew the teachers and staff and was excited to be a part of Cassidy’s big day.

Forever grateful for the impact this place had on both my kids. Starting their school years out right!

Popsicles

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I have so many pictures to get through from the past few weeks, but in the mean time, we enjoyed popsicles on the porch.

Things went downhill quickly :)

Mother’s Day

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Today we met my mom, Paul, Kate, Brielle and Elloree at Kelkenberg Farm in Clarence. I was doing updates on their website and saw they hosted a Mother’s Day event. I told Andy *that’s* what I wanted to do for Mother’s Day :)

We met Charlene the owner for the first time too (we had never met her in person before).

Our first activity was the wagon hay ride.

We rode around the farm, through the woods and even past a cemetery. It was here Cassidy exclaimed “That’s where zombies live!”

Handsome fellas!

Next, the kids picked their favorite colors and got to make jump ropes.

Ben took his job very seriously.

Then there were the ducky races!

The gentlemen (minus Justin who had to work).

Brielle and Nonna watched the kids make their jump ropes.

Elloree snuggled with Kate for a bit.

Cutest matching ladies!

We headed into the barn to meet some of the animals. Kelkenberg farm makes their own honey and these were some of their bees. I’m so fascinated by the intricacies of bees, but it’s definitely too time consuming a hobby for me right now.

Bunnies!

Cute little baby.

Fuzzy poof.

Baby whose mama is a dairy cow on the farm.

These two farm dogs were the sweetest. The white one had flopped over to get belly rubs from kids and the black one trotted over to say hello too.

Surprise, Ben found a cat…

Love my little beasties :)

We saw some turkeys in the next barn.

The tom enjoyed strutting about.

Elloree kept saying “Turkey!” It was really cute.

There was a huge sandbox the kids could play in too.

And then they each got a pony ride.

Ben was a little unsure (his equine interactions can be counted on one hand).

Thanks for the photo, Paul!

We had a delicious picnic lunch including “Kelkenburgers” made from their own angus beef.

Kids exploring the cracked corn after lunch.

And then lawn games before we headed home.

Fun with Poppy.

I’m so glad Paul got this photo too, I didn’t get any others with myself and the kids. It was such a fun morning spent with my people, I’m so happy it worked out!

Happy Mother’s Day. Humbled I get to be called “mama” by Ben and Cassidy. Thankful I could share the day with my mom! Missing my step mom Leslie and mother in law Judy this year. Overall it was such a lovely day :)

Planetarium

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Cassidy had a field trip to the Strasenburgh Planetarium this week.

“Cassidy turn around. Cassidy, mommy’s trying to take a picture. Cassidy. Cassidy…” Both my mom and Paul and Andy’s mom and dad were able to come on the field trip! So much fun to have grandparents along for the day.

We enjoyed a 25 minute show in the planetarium’s dome. Animals in the Sky was about animal constellations during the different seasons. It was really neat, although my mom and I were giggling through the whole thing…some of the star groupings turning into seriously intricate animals was a bit of a stretch. “Somebody” really used their imaginations there.

Afterwards Cassidy got to play with some of her school friends in a few exhibits. I was a bit disappointed though, when Ben had his planetarium field trip there were lots of hands on, sensory and mechanical toys and stations for the kids to explore. I think most of them got moved over to the Science Museum next door (to encourage you to get a ticket there). So we didn’t get to play with a ton afterwards.

We headed to Chipotle for lunch! And then I got a coffee (and Cassidy a giant cookie) at Finger Lakes Coffee Roasters. We ended the afternoon bumming around Barnes & Noble.

Cassidy was telling me a very important story as we pulled in the driveway. She talks with her hands (so do I). It’s adorable. Gosh, she’s just the cutest :) So hard to realize she has just 6 weeks of Pre-K left. Summer vacation and then Kindergarten in the fall. It’s the end of an era. Beginning of another one, but ending of this one.

Family

by Heather | 0 comments

Several years ago Andy came across a 70″ LCD TV in the garbage, by far his biggest find. He figured out what was wrong with it, replaced some boards and we had a swanky new TV! After a couple of days messing around with it, he really felt like he was supposed to give it to his dad as a gift. So we did, and went back to using our 46″ TV he’d also garbage picked :)

Andy’s dad had the chance to treat himself to a 75″ QLED TV a few months ago! So guess what we got to bring home? That 70″ TV!