The Parade

***Picture Overload***

We survived our first "All Schools Day"..... sort of.

We had an absolute, gorgeous week of weather.

That is, until today..... Friday the 13th. Forecast was 65*..... we dressed for 65*. Oops! The parade temps were only 47*! BRRRR!!!

Here's my boys, ready to see the town! And it was after this picture, we should have turned around and dressed much warmer..... maybe even have grabbed our KU Snuggie! But, we didn't....

Roosevelt Elementary Kindergarten Float

***Washington Elementary Kindergarten Float***

(This is the school I work at.)

"My" Kindergarten Students.

MacKenzie, Mikayla, Blaine, Zoe.

Myles, Loghan, Josiah.

Joel, Grayson, Kindric, Deanna.

Dalton, Makayla, Logan.

And the WONDERFUL Mrs. Koehn!! And her adorable grandson, Tytan!

*******

Unfortunately, things went down hill. The boys were way too cold to stay for the entire parade, and a few hours later we found Reece with a fever. Blah!

Hopefully, next year will be much better!!

Happy Friday the 13th.... I mean All Schools Day!

Old Cowtown

I feel so lucky I was able to take off work to chaperon Riley to Wichita's Old Cowtown Museum. Here we are, first thing in the morning..... Riley was VERY excited, and I seem to be tired in this picture. Riley's cuteness makes up for that!

Reece and Dad, feeling left out!

Our class started out in the One Room Schoolhouse.

We then learned about the start of a new town. We had to pretend that we were going to take a 3 month trip in a covered wagon to a new town in Kansas. Our wagon only held 2,000 pounds so we had to choose which belongings we felt most necessary. Riley's group chose bacon.

This was my 6 kids that I got to be in charge of..... my only goal was to not let any of them get attacked by a leopard. (Haha!! This is a jab at the mom who couldn't handle her own son last week at the Sedgwick County Zoo, for their field trip..... and he DID get injured from the leopard.) Thankfully, my goal was reached by the end of the day.

Riley, Zac, Silas, Manuel, Belle and Stephany.

So happy to be on the wagon ride.

"I've (We've) been working on the railroad..."

Love the concentration here... Riley trying to get the ball in the cup. Old fashion toys aren't too shabby!

Riley being the man of the house in his cool vest.

Getting a little church in, before we head home!

Belle and Silas were just a little excited over the horses...

The End. What a fun day!!

Riley said this is the 2nd best place he's ever been to..... World's of Fun being #1!

Mr. Eggman....

...needs a haircut, by Reece.

A Mother's Day Poem

By Reece

My Mom can cook.

My Mom can run.

My Mom can hug.

My Mom can love.

(And apparently Mom can have big hips!! haha!)

Happy Mother's Day.....

....take 27!

It took a long time to get a decent picture of me and MY boys!!

It doesn't help when I NEVER like my pics, and then we add in the fact that my boys really dislike how bright the flash is on our camera, so they flinch before it even goes off! It can be quite funny!

Happy Mother's Day!! I feel so lucky to have 2 of the best boys ever!!

Pre-"All Schools Day"

Something they don't share with you, when you decide to move to the city of McPherson, is that for one day in the month of May, the entire city shuts down for something they call "All Schools Day."

I've heard it described as "the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade of the Midwest."

It's a big deal. Period.

Well, guess how I've been welcomed!?

That's right! It's tradition to have all schools make a "Kindergarten Float."

I was the responsible and involved parent that showed up to the float meeting. There was a time I had wished I had ran the other way!! I wasn't a big help during the planning period, because I honestly had zero mental image of what a float looked like for this special day! I even dreaded much of the construction of it, but I made it through, and I know that I can always be proud that I helped Reece (who has been excited for the float for at least 10 weeks, now) be a part of this day!

So, during construction I continuously forgot my camera.... I wish I could've gotten some shots of just the trailer, but I didn't. We finished 2 weeks early, and I went back up to the warehouse while I knew others were working on their floats, and got some shots. The lights were off, so this is the best I could do, before the big day, when 65 little "campers" were on it, with a crowd of close to 30,000 are crowding the streets.

The theme was "Life's Shining Moments."

We spun it around, made a night time camping float, and the kids will all have flashlights as their shining lights.

The truck will be pulling it from here.

This log cabin used to be a big red barn.

Our Kindergarten teachers are the "Directors."

Mrs. Olander

Mrs. Stewart

Mrs. Pressnall

"Our Lights Shine Bright At Roosevelt"

Reece pointing to his flashlight with his name on it!

Too Funny!

The Website is here.

Meet Rylee and Reece.

Not to be confused with my Riley and Reece.

A few years ago (after I had named my 2 boys) my sister had told me that she had come across a boutique in Wichita, with no other name than.... Rylee and Reece! How cool! Tonight, I finally looked up the adorable website, and I have to say, I was shocked to find out Reece was actually a BOY!!! That always makes me smile. Ever since we've named our boys, we've encountered girl after girl with their names. I often have to tell people that they are boys, if they just look at their names. Really?? AND he even spells it like our Reece! It is constantly being misspelled. It's really not that big of a deal, but I thought this was cool!!