Kindergarten...DONE!

Well..she did it! Caitlin finished kindergarten. Man...time flies so fast I can NOT even believe it!!! It seems like just yesterday she was starting and I was walking up the steps from taking her to her classroom bawling like a little baby. And it pretty much was just yesterday that I watched her 'graduate' from kindergarten...bawling like a little baby again. I'm so proud of her, she's growing up much too fast. Her teacher said that all the 1st grade teachers have 'dibs' on Caitlin...and her chubby cheeks too. :o)

1st Day of Kindergarten

Last Day of Kindergarten.

1st Day Nerves

Last Day Excitement!

1st Day getting off the bus...when she was actually excited to see me after.

Last day geting on the bus...not so much excitement about Mom watching over the fence.

Survived the 1st day...

Survived the 1st year!

Caitlin's sweet teacher Mrs. Giffin.
We'll always remember her...she was amazing. Besides...who doesn't remember their kindergarten teacher?
Ok..this was so cute! They laid out the red carpet and the kindergarteners walked the red carpet and the principal sprinkled them with '1st Grade Dust'. It was so darling!

Things I will remember about Caitlin's kindergarten year:

• The 1st day she rode the bus...and I was SO nervous about it. Then about 15 minutes later I get a call from a number I didn't know...and it's Caitlin on the other line. I asked her who's phone she was on, and she said it was someone's mom from her class. I started panicking wondering what the HECK was going on. We had a little miscommunication. I told her when she got ON the bus...that I'd be waiting there for her after school at the bus stop too. She thought I meant that I'd be waiting for her AT her school as soon as she got off the bus, to take her to her class. So apparently she got off the bus and stood there and waited for a while for me...in the meantime all the buses had left and she was still waiting for me. (sad!! This is where my motherly insticts kick in and say, "Why on EARTH didn't the bus driver or any other teacher outside show this poor new kindergartner where the playground was they were supposed to go to? C'MON!!) Luckily the other sweet mom took her to the playground with her daughter.
• The many visits to the nurses office. Between bonks and stomachaches, and anything else you can imagine....they should've given her a frequent flyer card!!
• Going in to her class every other week to help with centers. I really enjoyed spending time with Caitlin in her school setting. You see kids in a different light in that setting and it was really enjoyable.
• Eating lunch at school together. All the kids think you are THE BOMB if your mom comes to school to eat with you. Until about the 2nd grade. ;o) But it was fun to make Caitlin feel like the big man on campus and eat lunch with her once in a while.
• The report cards. Caitlin did great and excelled in all the different areas. But every note..every report card..everything always said she gets distracted easily and is always the last to finish her work. In her defense...the work wasn't super challenging for her, and she DOES get distracted easily. But we worked on it and by the last week (finally) she was turning on the turbos and finishing her work faster than the others. I know I'm terrible..but it's kindergarten!!! So most of the time I would just smile to myself when I'd get those notes...and picture in my mind her watching everyone else and getting so distracted. Bad mom..but still funny. :oD

We are so proud of you Caitlin!! GREAT JOB THIS YEAR!!!!!

Life, Family, and Water Balloons

Here we go again with another catch-up post (with mostly pictures)! Sorry..it's gonna happen a lot I have a feeling. Not enough time for everything, so sometimes the blog gets neglected. I'll try to summarize before the pictures:

My uncle Bob and my Grandma Mary came out to visit and to find her a house in Sun City. The girls LOVED it...Bob and Grandma played with them until they were completely worn out. It was fun to see them and to spend time together.

Emma and Grandma Mary
Reading to Grandma Mary

Uncle Bob!!

I just have to jot a little bit down about how proud I am of Caitlin this past week. After many stomaches which led to bloodwork which let to an endoscopy/biopsies...we found that she has Celiac Disease. In long...Celiac is where your body's immune system attacks gluten that you eat, and in the process it trashes your small intestine...causing a LOT of pain. In short: she's allergic to gluten. She's been a trooper through all of the doctor appointments and testing. I was so worried about talking to her about the results, and breaking the news that she can't eat anything that has gluten in it anymore...which means huge changes for her diet. I have been praying for strength for myself, and that she would understand and take the change in stride. She has now been gluten-free for 4 days, and she hasn't ONCE complained about it. She hasn't begged for food she can no longer have, or asked why others can and she can't have things. She has been AMAZING...so much stronger than I have been. She is so amazing...and I am so grateful for such a strong daughter!!

Before the endoscopy. She smiled her way into getting 2 stuffed animals AND a heart pillow. This hospital was SO great to us.

After coming out of anesthesia...still smiling. Again..such a strong spirit she has.

Water balloon fun with Daddy.

What green balloon on my forehead Mom?

Right before the water balloon hit me. Thanks Caitlin. Oh...and the camera said thanks too.

Before the water balloon hit Nate (of COURSE I told her to throw it at him ;o)

Emma LOVES water...she could live in it all day.

All begging for the next balloon. To throw at me of course.

The girls making Mother's Day dinner for me!

The head chef for Mother's day dinner. Yeah..he gets a little crazy when he peels potatoes.

Haircut numero dos for Emma.

Looks..well...same as last time.

Birthday fun for momma!

Ok...story time! So I had opened the presents the girls had gotten me for my birthday. The last one was this blender top in this picture. Nate was trying to tell me that since the top half of our blender is old and cracking...he ordered this new one online...because they are universal. So of course I thanked him and looked all excited (and looked at the bottom of it to see if it would fit and thought, "he has NO idea what he's talking about!"). Nate then disappeared and came back with a huge wrapped box. Totally confused (I hadn't asked for anything other than shorts for my birthday) I opened it and he got me a new mixer!!!!! The blender goes WITH the mixer..he is such a stinker! I was almost in shock...I've never had a nice mixer...but with Caitlin's new diet and trying to make bread with rice flour..he thought this would be a good addition to the kitchen. I am SO thrilled...thank you Nate!

Abby had her last day of 'princess ballet' class this week. She did SO GREAT for the performance...she remembered the whole thing!!!

Our little jailbird Lily...also known as Emma's BFF

Cute Allie and Abby after dance. What would they do without each other?

Mother of the Year Award ;o)

Well, what can I say? I'm flattered!! ;o)

http://news.cnnbcvideo.com/?nid=cOA9nu1iL7CecfKdBJOrsTE0NjIyOTEw&referred_by=16953716-8Gr.bqx

My sweet Aunt Pauline sent me this link...I thought it was so cute! Make sure you wait for the last line...pretty funny. Thanks Pauline!!!

Cabins and Carnivals

I've been meaning to post pictures from our cabin trip but I just haven't gotten around to it....but Katie's post gave me a little umph to get these on here.

Katie and Trever invited us to her parent's cabin for a couple days last week. It was a much needed escape, and we had a lot of fun. The only downside? Of course now Nate is SET on having a cabin someday in life, and of COURSE it must entail having 'four-lillers', 'tractors', or whatever else these crazy kids call them.

We had fun fishing, 4-lilling, walking, and the girls played played PLAYED! Trever got them all nice and settled down before we left for the long drive home. Ha....but the girls loved every minute of it. ;o) Thanks for the invite guys, it really was a ton of fun!

Caitlin and Libbs touching the poor fish!

Liberty had just woken up when Trever reeled the 1st fish in...wanted to keep a safe distance. Emma went fishing too. Looks like she caught one. (or a few)

The girls and fish #1 or #2 from Trever. Did the Nielsons catch any fish you ask? That's classified...ok?

This was when I caught a 40-foot great white freshwater shark. But it got away..unfortunately.

REALLY excited about fishing?

Yeah..chick on a bike. And YES that's Katie..not me.

And she can even wail on it! Ok...so here's the thing about Katie. She has more talents than you could ever guess. Every time I'm around her I find out another musical instrument that she plays, or another thing she can do. So I shouldn't have been surprised that she rides a dirt bike...but I was. I thought it was pretty cool though...AND blog-worthy. :o)

On the 'tractor' or '4-liller' with Daddy.

This was one of the 3 million pictures Caitlin took when I didn't know she had my camera. Thought it was a cute picture of the Hadster though. No...Trever doesn't usually look that annoyed...but I think this was probably the 10th picture Caitlin took of them in that position. :oD

The guys makin' some yummy grub for breakfast.

Chow time

The early birds. C'MON girls! It's a cabin..you're supposed to sleep in!!

All 4 munchkins getting ready for the movie.

Caitlin's school had their annual carnival last week, and it was a lot of fun as well. It started at 4 and ended at 8:30...and we were there playing from 4 until 8:40pm. They had so much fun stuff for the girls to do-I was impressed...for an elem. carnival.

Look close...it's a huge bubble that they pull up and around you. Ok, so you get a little sticky. But it was only one ticket...what a deal!

Yeah, I pretty much OWN this ball bit.