Preschool Graduation

Zuri completed her preschool class and is ready for kindergarten in the fall.  Wow, hard to believe that she is getting so big already.  Zuri's teacher wrote me a sweet card and I know that Zuri will miss her.

I tried to get a picture with Zuri and her teachers, but it was facing the sun and Zuri wouldn't look up. 

It was fun watching Zuri interact with her class on the last day.  All the kids were outside for lunch, and they had a blanket spread out for the kids to sit on, which was really nice, but it was in the sun.  Zuri didn't like being in the sun, so she grabbed her lunch and sat in the shade next to a shed.  Less than five minutes later almost a third of her class had followed her.

She is really going to miss her friends from school.  She talks about them all the time.  I am proud of this little miss!

Party Time

We were planning on just doing one birthday party for Zuri and Kai this year, but it ended up turning into three.  We had one party with my mom, aunt, cousin, two of my sisters, and my brother.  The second party we had with J's parents, siblings, Shin and Heather, and HK and her family.  The last party we had with the Lucero side of my family.  We ended up having three parties because not everyone could come on the original day, and it ended up just migrating into three different parties, but it all worked out.  Zuri got to blow out candles on the cake three different times, so she was happy about that (and she had three different cakes).

Next year, I don't care who can make it--one party.  We did have fun, though--it was just a lot of work.

Zuri's big present this year was a trampoline.  We unveiled it at the second party (it was actually a last minute idea--we were toying with the idea of a big pool, a swing set, or a trampoline, and we found a good deal on a trampoline, so we got it), and we actually wanted it to be a surprise, but she and the other kids came out while we were setting it up.  


The first cake.  She actually chose it.

The pony puzzle book her Aunt Breanna gave her.

Mom rocked Kai to sleep.  Poor little guy was tuckered out.  He fights sleep so much.

Party #2, and cake #2 (and #3).  The store manager's daughter was taking a baking class and offered to do the cakes for Zuri.  Luckily she did two, and we saved the barbie one for the last party.  They turned out so wonderful!

Excited for her presents

Enjoying her new trampoline with her cousins

Cake #3.  This was the one she was looking forward to the most.


Kai's new shades.  These will be really handy when we go out so the sun doesn't bother him so much.

Aviary

Zuri's preschool gave out free family tickets for the Tracy Aviary in Salt Lake.  We had an extra family pass, so my sister and her family came along with us.  She had never been to the aviary before, so it was fun for all!  We ran into one of Zuri's classmates, and they were both so excited to see each other.  This age can be so fun. 

After the looking at all the birds, we took a ride on the carousel, then the kids played around in Liberty Park for a while. 






Kai was content as long as we were moving

The peacocks wandered all over the place.  It was pretty amazing how close they wandered to the kids, who of course wanted to touch them.

Scooter Time

 A few weeks ago my sister and I went garage sale shopping in Daybreak, and I picked up this scooter for Zuri for only $1.50.  Score!  She loves it!  I guess Daybreak only allows its residents two garage sales per year--once in the spring and once in the fall, so there were lots of families looking to get rid of their stuff.  Wow, strict, but it was fun for us to go!  We were there by seven am and I couldn't believe how many people were already there!  I am not normally much of a garage sale shopper, but it was fun to look around, and I was able to pick up a few things for the kids. 

Playing Catch

Some father-daughter time in the backyard, back when our apple tree still had pretty blossoms on it.  Now all the trees are nice and green, but the wind has stripped away all the flowers.  When you look into our backyard, all you can see is a sea of green.  We have the grass, the trees, and along the top of the fence, a green vine (unfortunately it hadn't bloomed yet in the picture), and the green from the park and gully.  It is so pretty. 

Mother's Day

Look what my grandparents sent me for Mother's Day!  I have the best grandparents in the world--I am so blessed!

Eye of Red

This was a conversation between J and Zuri one day:
Z: Daddy, what color are your eyes?  (She loves to quiz people, especially when she knows the answer)
J: My eyes are blue
Z: Right.  What color are mommy's eyes?
J: Mommy has green eyes.
Z: Right.  What color are my eyes?
J: Blue.
Z: Good job, Daddy!  What color are Kai's eyes?
J: Blue.
Z: No...Kai has one blue eye and one red eye!

Well, who can argue with that!  The truth is, Kai's eye draws a lot of attention.  I would think that all the tubes and the loud machines would be the first thing people notice or comment about, but nope, it is Kai's eye, which is actually really funny because most of the time when we are out in public with him, he has his arm over his eyes because he doesn't like the bright light.