Goodbye Pusch Ridge Preschool and Kindergarten

Thank you to all of the Pusch Ridge Teachers and staff who have cared for our kids over the years. Every single one of you will hold a special place in our hearts but I must give a personal thanks to all of the lead teachers our kids have had over the years. I'm so glad that the majority of you have stayed and remain a constant in our kid's lives. They love coming back to see you and it's comforting knowing that familiar faces are still at the school as our kids have moved to different schools. All of the staff helped us 1000% by creating an environment where our kids were safe, loved to learn and best of all...had fun each and every day! You made our work/parenting/life balancing act a lot easier. I never once had that "mommy guilt" while I worked and the kids were in school. Nothing can ever replace that!

Dolphin teachers: Ms. Patty, Ms. Lucy, and Ms. Melinda. Words cannot express how instrumental you were in getting Jackson and Taylor potty trained. I can't believe that our time with you is coming to an end. Both kids loved your classroom and loved being with you. Jackson grew up sooo much in your classroom and he broke out of his babyness and shyness while he was with you.. Congratulations on your first child Lucy and I hope to see pictures once she is born! Taylor will have some major adjustment issues without seeing you ladies everyday.

Clownfish teacher: Ms. Laura who taught Jackson and Taylor. You are so loving and kind. Everyday when we arrived at class you would always stop what you were doing and welcome our kids into class everyday. Even when they pulled the "koala and cling-on" stunts, you knew how to take them from us and settle them down and make them feel loved! I never had any worry that about the kids after morning drop off because I knew that their crying bit would last only as long as I was standing by the door. Thank you for teaching Taylor how great it is to put "pretties" into her hair and make her a little more girlie. :-)

Stingray teacher: Ms. Tammie. You helped Jackson become so independent! He learned so much in your classroom and became a "little man" almost overnight. He loved coming to school and he loved learning every single day. We were always impressed with how much he knew and retained at the end of a school day. And were even more impressed with how responsible he became. I think under your care, he became our rules enforcer with Anthony and Taylor. :-)

Seahorse teachers: Ms. Cathy (morning) and Ms. Cathy (afternoon) and Ms. Stacy who taught both Anthony and Jackson. Ms. Cathy (morning) and Ms. Stacy are no longer teaching at Pusch Ridge but you ladies were awesome helping to mold the boy's character and ensuring that they learned and had fun at school. Ms. Cathy you are an inspiration to us because of your patience, firmness and kindness with the boys. You really know how to get 4 year olds to do exactly what you say without raising your voice! Just amazing!!!!

Kindergarten teachers: Ms. Sue and Ms. Marilyn. Thank you so much for teaching Anthony to read and how to tie his shoes! These are 2 major life skills that he will use for the rest of his life!!! Both of you reinforce the joy of learning in fun and positive ways. Anthony loves school and I think it's because he's had such a great foundation.

Starfish teachers: Ms. Lidia and Ms. Leilani. You helped make Taylor's initial experience at Pusch Ridge very welcoming. She always felt loved and came out of your classroom understanding more Spanish than her big brothers! Your classroom is a great starting point for a long term school career at Pusch Ridge. Keep up the great work!

Cakes for Taylor

Tomorrow is Taylor's last day at Pusch Ridge Preschool & Kindergarten. It's a bit bittersweet because our family has sent at least one child there since we moved back to Tucson in 2005. I feel a sad that our time at Pusch Ridge is coming to an end. Anthony was the first of our kids to attend there in the Seahorse room and ending with Kindergarten. Jackson started in the Clownfish room, moved up to Dolphin, then Stingray and finally ending with Seahorse. Taylor started in the Starfish room, moved to Clownfish, and is now ending in the Dolphin room. Our kids learned so much and the lead teachers have remained a constant source of support and they cared a lot for our kids. Taylor will be spending the summer with me and Nana and Papa and then she will start at Immaculate Heart Preschool in the Fall. All 3 kids will now be a part of the Immaculate Heart Family and hopefully be able to have long school careers there.

Today I made 2 cakes for Taylor's class to enjoy tomorrow. Since it will be her last day there, she will be able to say her good-byes to her classmates "in style".

Easter Weekend

So Easter has come and gone. Nothing too exciting happened.

The boys are currently on Spring Break from school and on Good Friday we went to Pump It Up with my moms group and later in the day had a break for Gelato. On Saturday, I did a "Mom's Morning In" and learned how to make and work with Fondant. I was pretty pleased with the results of my cakes and now I'm trying to think of everyone who has a birthday coming up so I can make them their own cake. Hee hee, this is just so I can play with the Fondant some more. :-) Easter Sunday I had to work (no surprise there) and the kids got to open their movies we bought them as Easter presents. Tony and I did buy eggs and an basket with goodies for each kid but we didn't break it out for any egg hunts and the kids didn't ask for it either. So maybe that'll be a "day after Easter" thing. The boys are off of school until Friday. Both daddy and I have to work but I think with the warmer temps I should be able to take the boys swimming before I have to log in.

Here are some pictures and video for everyone to enjoy:

Daddy had the day off and came with us to Pump It Up. Here he takes a turn on the slide with Anthony. I can't tell who the bigger kid is sometimes. :-)

Anthony and Taylor went down the slide together. It's so nice to have an extra set of hands and eyes to watch over her so daddy and I aren't the only ones sliding with her.

She even got to slide with Jackson. She would take turns sliding and running through the obstacle course with each of her big brothers. It was great because I got a chance to socialize w/my mom friends.

I also got in on some sliding action with my kiddos. Overall we all had a great time and were super hungry by the time the event was over.

L-R: Cathy, Laura (she taught us), me and Tina. Laura pre-made 14 6" round cakes and Fondant for us to play with. Then she showed us how to make purple Fondant. We got to play and be creative and take our cakes home to show our families. It was unbelievably easy and so much fun!
These are the 2 cake designs I came up with. I had a great time and now I want to cover cakes all the time. Fondant is "playdoh for adults"!

Updates...

Wow, it's been a while since I last posted. So here are the highlights...

At the beginning of March we celebrated 3 years of Meetup Moms of Tucson existance. We had a family picnic at Brandi Fenton park. I was kidless this year because Taylor and Anthony had activities that led them right into picnic time. But since I'm an Assistant Orgainzer, I felt as though I had to be there to help out. I did have a fun time though (guilty pleasure) of not having to chase or yelling at the kids to behave. We had a jumping castle and train for the kiddos to enjoy and it was a huge hit! It was cool too because I won the grand prize of a mini-classic party to Pump It Up. It was fate!

In the middle of March Tony and I took the boys to Las Vegas for TaeKwonDo Spring Nationals. It was Anthony's 3rd trip and Jackson's 1st...competing that is. The boys did GREAT!!!! Both of them won 2 medals. One for Traditional Songham Forms and One-Steps and the other for Weapons. Taylor stayed behind with Nana and Papa. We stayed in Las Vegas at Nana and Papa's vacation house. We took the boys to the Mandalay Bay to see the Shark Reef Aquarium. That was AMAZING! The kids were so enthusiastic about it. Plus Anthony made a Stingray go CRAZY after touching it. We took them to the M&M store where they saw the movie and of course got M&Ms. We ate a TON of food. Mirage buffet, Mandalay Bay buffet, Green Valley Ranch Buffet. Are you catching onto our theme of the trip yet?

The boys and I sat together on the plane while Tony sat in the row behind us. They were entertained by Tony's DS.

Anthony and his medals. The boys competed at the same time but were in 2 different rings (due to size, age and belt ranks) so Tony took movies of Anthony competing while I was with Jackson.

Jackson and Mr. Kim. This was taken right after Jackson received his medal for weapons. Mr. Kim had 3 competitors he was trying to watch at the same time so he was running all over the Las Vegas Convention Center trying to catch their competitions.

Jackson and his 2 medals. We had the medals mounted for each kid onto plaques and they will be proudly displayed in our hallway soon.

This is the boys listening to the audio tour of the aquarium. There is a sign on each wall by each exhibit that has a number on it. You type the number into the keypad and it begins playing recorded information about that animal. Jackson REALLY got into finding out what number he had to type in and listening to all of the information given. He was the first one finished with the tour and was ready to leave as soon as the last number and bit of info. was heard. Too funny!

This is the stingray (perhaps) that Anthony made go wild and crazy. The rules of the exhibit were that you could only touch them with 2 fingers and you couldn't touch their eyes or pull on them. Anthony laid on his stomach and reached over the ledge to touch it and I'm not sure if he caught the poor animal's eye or if that creature had ENOUGH of people touching it but it almost flew out of the water. It twisted and turned and splashed all around. Kind of scary to see for a parent and their child.

This is the wall where the Shark Reef sign is posted. If you touch the wall, it moves as if you were touching water. It's really neat to see all of the kids try and make it swoosh and move as if they were in the Ocean. Anthony wants to go back on either a Monday, Wednesday or Friday because that's when the feed the Piranha and of course he wants to be there to witness it. :-)

Outside the M&M store with "RED". Jackson loves characters. Hee hee, Anthony tries to be a bit "too cool" sometimes. Typical 7 year old.

They boys and "BLUE" statue while we were waiting for the movie to start. It's a cute 3-D movie and despite the moans and groans while we were waiting, Anthony wanted to go back and see the movie a few more times.

The boys looking cool by the M&M sponsored race car. :-)

At the end of March...guess who turned 3 and had a Pump It Up party with her friends??? We officially have 3 out of diapers, 3 who are aged 3+ and 3 who are the greatest kiddos we could ever hope for! Taylor has so many friends from my moms group and from outside of school, I didn't even have to invite the friends from her school to attend her party. But she did get to celebrate her birthday at school because I made mini cupcakes that we decorated and took to school to share with her friends and teachers. I'm all about making mini cupcakes for EVERY party now. SO EASY!!!

On the evening of the party we had Anthony's friend Rhett come over. He was supposed to spend the night but he got nervous so we took him home early. Anyway, he has 2 younger sisters and was really good with Taylor! She instantly attached herself to his hip and spent most of the night sliding down the slide with him and following him, Jackson and Anthony around Pump It Up.

All of Taylor's friends making silly faces at her 3 year old party. I think this group of kids played so well with one another. I think everyone had fun and it was easy for the parents because they didn't have to cook dinner for their family and as soon as the kids got home after the party they were sleepy enough to go to bed.

The Princess is now a 3 year old. Most of the time all of the kids fight over who gets to sit in the "birthday chair". Taylor only sat here at the beginning and to eat her cupcake. She moved to sit by Rhett when the kids were eating pizza. OH MY WORD!

Umm...this may be a preview of how Taylor will be when she is a Teenager and we have her big brother's friends come over to the house...Ut Oh!

And now we are into April. The countdown has begun for our Florida trip in May. Taylor has started swim lessons. We have started swimming again at Westward Look Resort. We have filed our taxes (little A. had to pay "kiddie tax" again this year) and the boys have Spring Break this month. Tony and I took the boys to see Monsters vs. Aliens and it was a great movie. I think Tony and I are going to sneak away for a date night and see the new The Fast and Furious movie soon. So yes, movie season has officially begun too. I've been walking with my moms group on Monday and Wednesday mornings and on April 19, Tony and I are participating the 5K Susan G. Komen Race For The Cure. I will also be starting a Krav Maga Self Defense class on Tuesday and Thursday mornings with Mr. Kim, the boy's Karate Instructor. Overall, I think this will be a GREAT summer for everyone in the family!