Ellie lost her first tooth today. She is so very proud. Many of the kids in her class have lost teeth and she has been talking about it for over a month. Mom, when am I going to lose my tooth?? I have heard that at least 2x a day. I'm not sure how this tooth came out, it wasn't even loose. She was eating some lunch then started crying. I thought she bit her tongue or finger. I jokingly said maybe you lost a tooth to make her feel better. I am not sure if she yanked it out at that point or not but about a minute later she said mom, I lost my tooth! She showed me something and I thought it was a piece of food but when I came over to inspect it ws her tooth. A miracle!! She said she doesn't know how the tooth came out but she is super excited!!!

Ellie's class has been doing a farm theme this month. After spring break they got eggs in an incubator. The kids have been waiting pateintly for 21 days for the eggs to hatch. 4 of them hatched this week. Here is a picture of them just 2 days old. Their names are slowpoke, trickster, spot, and bully. Of course they all have stories that go with their names but I will let you figure that out. The kids will be able to hold them next week. There are still 2 eggs in the incubator and they are hopefull that one of them will still hatch.

 
 

I know it has been a while since I updated. I was busy with the school carnival, then all the Easter activites. My allergies also started up and are REALLY bad this year. I am on 3 different medications and by the afternoon I am just wiped out. So all my free blogging time (afternoon while Max is napping) has turned into my nap time. Then the more time has passed the more I realize I am going to have to write and the more overwhelming it seems so I haven't wanted to do it. Alas, I finally have some free time b/c our plans for tonight got cancelled and Ryan has a meeting so I have to wait to watch our shows until he gets home.

Now that the weather is warming up Ellie's school has started up Running Club. It is a program to encourage students to excercise. On Tuesday and Thursday they can participate by running around the field. Each lap is recorded and after each mile they earn a foot to put on their necklace. The goal is to run a half marathon and then they earn a t-shirt. Ellie loves this program. She makes sure she runs 4 laps each time so she can get a foot. She has run a total of 7 miles this month. (I think it got rained out once or twice). Go Ellie!!

Caden's class went on an earth day field trip to one of his classmates homes. They are big into composting, gardening, recycling etc. The mom made each of the kids Earth Day Superhero costumes complete with matching hat and bag. They got to see how a worm compost works and Caden even held a worm. They made a save the earth spinning wheel with all the different ways kids can help the environment. Caden had a great time and I was so impressed with all this mom did for the class.

Ellie also did special earth day activities at her school. Since she only goes to school every other Wednesday she actually had earth day off so they celebrated a week early. Her class learned about the environment, how to conserve and recycle (most everyone in Bend recycles so this is nothing new). They also went around the school and picked up trash. Her teacher brought in a special snack, dirt and worms. It was chocolate pudding with crushed up oreo's and a gummy worm. Ellie loved it so much she made it for us for our next FHE.

I am glad the kids are learning about the environment. It has been particularly helpful at home when I remind them they left the light on in the bathroom or are taking a too long a shower. Now they understand why we need to conserve. :)

We have had some beautiful warm days this spring and have been taking full advantage of the nice weather. The kids have enjoyed playing outside in the sandbox, jumping on the trampoline, and working in the yard. On Saturday we headed out to the High Desert museum. It was warm enough to play outside. Ellie and Caden had fun climbing on the spider web and the otter was even out playing in the water. We also took a moment to listen to the music and play along with some intruments.  
 
 
 

We had a great Easter. We kept it low key and stress free. We dyed eggs on Friday, went to an egg hunt on Saturday, and of course Church on Sunday. Afterward, we had a nice, quiet Easter dinner. I didn't feel up to a big fancy Easter dinner like we have done in the past but we still had a ham, potatoes and rolls.

Mawell isn't great at staying put so taking photos is quiet a challenge. Here is what we ended up with.
Note: You can click on the photos in the slideshow to see them larger.

April 3rd was Ellie's schools annual Bingo/Carnival night. I was in charge of the Carnival and thought it turned out great. I had 30 middle school volunteers come to help run the booths. We had over 4,000 prizes and 14 different booths. It was pretty stressful leading up to the night but everything ran smoothly. Another PTA mom that has done it in years past helped me set up and run the carnival that evening. The school raised over $5,000 that night. It was a lot of work but also a lot of fun. Caden helped me sort through and organize the 4,000 prizes. He thought that was so cool. And Ellie helped out that night but working the fishing booth with some of the girls that babysit her. After all that I din't get any pictures. Oh well, maybe next year.