Preschool Graduation

Jack is officially ready for Kindergarten. He made it through his last year of preschool with flying colors. He has really grown up over the last year, and he is so excited to start Kindergarten next year (and ride the big bus with Kate). Jack with his preschool teachers Mrs. Clem and Mrs. Rosenberg.
During the ceremony Jack said his favorite part of preschool was going outside to play tag and playing with the little legos.
High five during the grand march! He is so proud!

And a little shot of the smiley little sister:)

More Birthday Fun!

One more birthday celebration at the Moch house. Mike had a meeting the night of Jack's birthday so he played a little hooky over the lunch hour and we celebrated over lunch...even Kate got out of school over her lunch period. No birthday is complete without ice cream! We had to make a 2nd stop just to get ice cream after we found out the first stop had a broken ice cream machine!
We had lunch at the Drive-In per Jack's request. It was a chilly day so we had a picnic in the back of the Trailblazer. Jack opened his presents while we waited for our food.

His favorite...I spy computer games from Grandma. He was so excited!
Birthday kisses before Mike went back to work.

Big Birthday Bash!

Kate and Jack had their birthday party this weekend at the North Shore Gym. They each invited friends from school and fun was had by all...This is the whole crew sitting on one of the inflatables as it was filling. You can see Jack airborne way in the back:) Bryn loved the gym...she may be a future gymnast. She was all smiles the whole afternoon.

Like I said...fun was had by all. Mike liked the rope swing the best:)

Kate on the trampoline.

And the beam...

Jack spent a lot of time in the foam pit. He was trying to get to the bottom to find treasure. I don't think he ever made it, though.

Bryn, after a ride down the giant, inflatable slide with Dad.

After playing hard, everyone had cake. Kate picked out a flower this year, she even helped decorate it.

Jack picked out a checker board. It took a couple tries to get 5 candles blown out!

Of course, we ended with presents. Jack's look is priceless, as he opened up a skateboard from one of his friends. He has been trying it out in the house all weekend, waiting for the rain to stop.

Kate is 8!

Kate is 8! We celebrated Kate's birthday after school. She opened presents in the sunshine on the deck, went to get her ears pierced, and the ended with a dinner out t0 McDonald's to eat and play in the playland. Modeling her new outfit and lawn chair.

Bryn, enjoying the sun and present opening.

And here is the ear piercing. It took 3 attempts before she actually went through with it. She was confident going in, but then got worried when she found out they couldn't do both ears at the same time. We left the store, but Dad talked her back in to it. She said, "I'll give it the gusto!" This time we got through the paperwork, then the earrings came out in the piercer and she said "let's get outta here." This also took a good talking to by Dad to realize she was always going to be nervous no matter how old she was. She decided to give a 3rd try...only if she could hold my hands and sit in my lap. When all was said and done she said "that's it?" She is very proud of those earrings!

2nd ear...not quite so many tears.

Piano Recital

Last weekend Kate had her first piano recital. It was very informal adn small. She did a great job, even through in a last minute duet with her teacher. She's got a ways to go before she can reach those pedals!

This is the duet with her teacher, Miss Emily. Kate heard another student play her song as a duet so when she got up front she whispered a request to her teacher to do the same:)

Preschool Concert

Jack recently performed at his final preschool concert. Last year he didn't even get up on stage, so he redeemed himself this year. The concert was very cute and ended even better with rootbeer floats! Big surprise...Bryn loved the floats:)
Jack couldn't tear away from the rootbeer float to get a picture. At least he can smile while sipping!

Here is an action shot, it's kind of blurry, but he has a very serious look of concentration on his face. The night before he told me he was "nervous" for his concert. Such a sweet boy.

Here is Bryn in the bleachers trying to be on her best behavior...which eventually took her on a trip to the sidelines because of her chattiness.

I don't know if everyone knows how much Bryn LOVES her blanket. This night...it ended up in the bathtub with her. I'm not quite sure how it happened. I left the bathroom to grab something in the kitchen and when I return it was completely submerged. She thought she was pretty smart (especially since I couldn't help but laugh out loud when I found her).

Spring has Sprung!!!

Spring has finally arrived! We have been taking full advantage of the nice weather, everyone comes in each night full of dirt and ready for the tub, but it is so worth it! This is a picture of the three trouble makers ...I almost got all of them to look!

Jack's favorite park is Minnetonka Regional Park near our house. It is huge and so much to do. Bryn is starting to get in to it, too. You can see, here, that she spends a lot of time on her knees, exploring the tunnels and slides. Her clothes never resemble the ones she came in by the time we leave. Here she is mastering one of the tunnels, thinking she is pretty smart!

This was a suprise Mother's Day picture they put together while I was gone on Saturday. It was a series that said "love you Mom". It was pretty darn cute! We spent Mother's Day at Como Zoo with the neighbors and had a great time! We fit everything in just before it started to rain. Only had to get wet on the way to the car.

Kate is a great big sister. She will almost always drop what she is doing to help Bryn out. They are riding this car together around the driveway, and Bryn was LOVING it! She had quite the grin!

Bryn is also mastering the rocking horse. We have the baby gate up on the stairs and she enjoys the sun on the deck whenever she can...mostly to check out the neighbors dogs. Needless to say, we are trying to soak in as much sun as we can because it took such a LONG time to show up at our house!

First Communion

Kate's big day was yesterday. First Communion finally arrived. Here she is, all ready to head to church.

Another pose, this one with her crucifix she got as a gift.

She read one of the responses during mass. You can almost see her head over the microphone:)

This is after mass, up on the alter.

Family photo with the big girl after church.

NERD! Silly pose!

Had to get a view of the back of the dress and the veil. Beautiful girl.

Kate with Father Abraham after church. She loves him and he goes to Kate when no one else knows the answers:) She was the one answering most of his questions during the homily.

This is the best family picture we could get. Not doing so good at everyone looking in the same direction at the same time. Bryn was having a hard time focusing because she was ready for brunch after that long mass!

Kate, opening presents after church. Reading her card from Grandma and Grandpa. All in all, it was a great day. She enjoyed all of the festivities.