Our Star Always

This was Ben's week to be Star of the Week at school.  Ben took pictures to share with his class.  He was able to share three items from home:  an acrylic painted Japanese mon (family crest), his shirt and name tag from the Youth Tech Academy, and his Mindstorm.  Ben shared one of his favorite books and Sho and I wrote a letter to Ben that was read to his class.

We joined Ben for lunch and there was no debate on what he'd have for his Star of the Week lunch.  Carne asada enchiladas from Los Pepes.  Yum!  I think the teachers that monitored lunch were jealous.

To cap off the week, he came home from school and pulled out his tooth and now will enjoy a visit from the tooth fairy as well.

This week we've been reflecting on how much Ben has grown up, how he is a hard worker, a creative mind and a tender heart.  He truly is always our star.

Twinkle Award

Jason has been taking piano lessons along with Kara and Ben.  He started with just a 5 minute lesson and now his lessons are just about as long as Kara and Ben's.  Like the older kids, if he plays a song perfectly, with no mistakes, he earns a polished rock because the it's a "polished" piece that he has "rocked."

Jason got his four polished rocks when he learned the four Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star variations.  Next was playing all four of them in a row, with no mistakes.

Each lesson he had one chance to play the four variations perfectly... and week by week he got closer and closer... There was some pouting.  There were some tears.  But Jason earned his Twinkle Award!

When he got his trophy, you would have thought he was Steph Curry with a unanimous MVP award.  He kissed the trophy, many times.  He held it up high in the air.  He rubbed it on his cheek.  He said, "I love it.  This is what I've been wanting my whole life." 

It's that time...

The weather is warming up, which means the kids have been wanting to spend as much time as they can in the pool.  The kids also informed me that grades for school are due at the end of the week... so now I really feel like summer is here. 

Kara is getting ready to finish 3rd grade, which means next year she'll be on the "other" side of the school with all of the older kids and have different recess time and lunch time.  Ben already says he's going to miss her next year.

Ben is finishing up 1st grade and this week he is Star of the Week, so he's had the chance to have some special things at school... and Game 1 wasn't so great, but we're all cheering for the Warriors and Ben (like Sho) goes around the house practicing his shot.

Because he's an August baby, we decided to have Jason spend one more year in preschool.  When I asked Jason if he'd stay with me for one more year, he replied, "I'll stay with you for a hundred years."  

With Jason now  more independent with his swimming, it's going to be a fun summer in the pool for these little fishies!

4.13 = 3.14

Before I realized that there is a national Pi(e) Day on 3.14, we had already started a silly (but wonderful) tradition of having pie for breakfast on April 13th.  This started a few years ago when we had some left over pie and decided (on a Sunday morning) that we should just have it for breakfast.  I remember writing down "Pie for Breakfast" on the calendar and just like that, the tradition was born.

After dinner on Monday, Grandma was nice enough to help the kids make the sour cream apple pie.  Kara and Jason both learned different techniques with the pie crust.  Ben learned about leveling off a measuring spoon with a knife.

Everyone enjoyed Grandma's baking lesson and everyone LOVED the yummy pie this morning!  When Jason woke up this morning, his first words, literally, were "pie for breakfast!"  I love this kid!

So you can plan for next year... 4.13... Join us and enjoy pie for breakfast!

Hair today... and gone.. to a good cause

Kara has always had long, beautiful, silky hair.  In preschool, one of her teachers said, "Kara, I wish I had hair like you."  Kara's innocent reply was, "Miss Sarah, all you have to do is use conditioner."

Over the last year, we talked about her growing it long enough to donate and today was the day!  Though she was initially a little nervous because she could not remember ever having shorter hair (nor can we), she understood that giving this gift to another child would make a difference and we could not be more proud.

History in the Making

For the first time that I can remember, the annual Parlier Picnic was moved from a park to the church because of predicted rain.

On the way to the church, the kids were asking if the picnic would be different and they seemed disappointed that it had to be moved.

As always, they enjoyed all of the races...

And their competitive juices were flowing.

They came home with lots of fun prizes...

And they enjoyed spending time with their friends.

It's not a Parlier Picnic without Bingo where everyone wins... again... and again... and yes, again!  The kids had a GREAT time and some of us even talked about all of the conveniences and pluses to the change in venue. 

On the way home, we reminisced about how we used to leave the picnic early, then endure the 3+ hour drive back to LA... ugh.  So when we moved, we thought the 30 minute drive from Fresno to Kingsburg was so nice... but the less than 10 minute drive home today was fantastic, especially when you come home and watch the Warriors win their 72nd game this season...  it doesn't get much better than this!

A Two Bucket Easter

Everyone loves an Easter egg hunt.  For the past week, I've joked with the kids that, like at school, when they have their egg hunt, they can each find 5 eggs. 

Well... that's not the way we do it.  The kids hunted for so many eggs that they had to use two buckets to hold their loot!

Kara has always loved hunting for eggs.  I still remember when she was little, we had to bribe her with an egg hunt when she woke up from her nap to get her to take a nap.  So we hunted plastic eggs in the living room for a month after Easter.

Jason was super excited to get a new stuffed animal as part of a special surprise.  Our Leo got his own Leo to love.

In fact, all of the kids got new friends to love... but still had plenty of love for the oldies but goodies. (Ross, you know I don't mean old in age!) 

My favorite Easter memory might go down in history as one of my favorite memories ever... I don't know how he comes up with this stuff, but Ben said to me, "Mom, you're the golden egg."  When I asked him what they meant, he replied, "that everyone wants you."