Making a lawn mower like Daddy's (Home Depot Saturday)

Saturday, we made a family trip to The Home Depot (again) but this time, it was Home Depot Saturday project day for the kids!  Ella and Jay built a riding lawnmower "just like Daddy's"  :)

Painting is complete, just need to add those wheels and the sticker decals!

Whoo hoo!

Ella's 5th Birthday!

To top off the emotional ride of the past few weeks, Ella turned 5 on June 2, which happened to be her final day of Kinder Kollege preschool.  I thought I had it together.  We bought a giant cookie "cake" from Sam's Club to share with the kids (and I forgot to get a picture - boo).  We walked into class and all of the kids were so excited for Ella and wishing her happy birthday!  I, well, was crying.  How in the world is she 5 already?!  How is she already graduated from preschool??  Ms. Taylor was so sweet in the midst of my complete breakdown.  HA!  I purchased a special book for these graduating moments:  Yay, You!:  Moving Up and Moving On by Sandra Boynton (link here), and Ms. Taylor and Mr. Numen (Ella's other teacher) each wrote a little note to her.  I hope to continue this "tradition" each year.  A few pictures from the big day!

First and last day of Kinder Kollege 2013/2014

 

Ella with Ms. Taylor

After Kinder Kollege, we headed out for birthday lunch at Suzie's Kitchen in Rosemount (delicious!)  We may have ran out of time in purchasing proper birthday gifts for Ms. Ella this year, so I wrapped up what I had so far (a pink Frozen t-shirt featuring Anna and Elsa) and Ella can pick out what she wants for the remaining portion of her gift...

 

 Had to snap a picture of her with the t-shirt.  She was so excited!

To make it a bit more "festive" in our mess of a house, we picked up some balloons for Ella 

and took the annual birthday balloon picture!! 

 Happy 5th Birthday Peanut!  We love you so much!

A Doc McStuffins birthday bash is this weekend, and it's also Dance Recital weekend!

We Moved!

We moved.  We did it.  Moving is no joke.  I think I've said that a million times since this process all started.  It is a LOT of work.  We are not done.  We are moved in, but things are not in its place and not everything has been cleaned yet.  Believe it or not, we are having everyone over this weekend! (aaahhh!)  We will celebrate Ella's 5th Birthday on Saturday and it's also dance recital weekend with performances on Friday and Saturday night.  It will be INSANE! 

So, at some point I will take pictures of this new house to share.  For now, a few painting pictures.  Thanks to my Dad and Dianne, we can check 2 rooms off the "to be painted" list - they handled that for us last weekend.  HUGE relief!  See this room in its BEFORE state:

Someone spent a LOT of time and energy hand-painting this mural garden-like scene, but it is SO not us, so it had to go.  It has been repainted a muted shade of yellow.  In fact, it is the same shade of yellow that we used in Ella's room at the townhome.  So, we brought a little bit of the townhome with us. :)

 AFTER:

  MUCH BETTER!

Now we just need to get this ceiling fan replaced...

Officially, for now, this is the "toy room"

Here's Ella posing in her newly painted pink bedroom!  She was super excited!

Now if I can just get the rest of the house organized....

One day at a time...I keep repeating this to myself!!

Graduation Pictures!

 The graduation ceremony started with a processional of all of the graduates.  

Song:  Somewhere Over the Rainbow.  

Cue: Sara's tears.  I cried the whole time.  Even for kids that I don't know.  :)

 Ella rocked her Hawaiian outfit for the performance and I love her ukelele!!

 

 All 96 graduates performed a routine called "Sticks", which was really cool!  

Ella was ALL smiles all night

 Officially a Kindergartener!

With Grandma Deb and Randy

With Grandma Jolyn and Grandpa Paul

Kinder Kollege Graduation Performance

This my friends, it a bit long.  BUT, the kids practiced so hard and did awesome at their graduation performance to Hawaiian Roller coaster Ride (from Lilo and Stitch).  :)  My favorite parts:  at about 2:32, Ella starts waving to us in the crowd HA! and then the booty shakin' at 2:45 (hilarious!!!)  And please disregard my sound effects during the video.  :)  I've watched this a few times now, and I still get teary eyed.  It has been an EMOTIONAL roller coaster ride for me these past few weeks!  

And now we have a kindergartener!

Graduation!

Last Thursday we celebrated with Ella as she graduated from pre-school!  

More pictures will have to come later (along with a sweet video).  In our haste to pack, the camera cords were left behind in the drawer of a hutch now sitting somewhere in the metro area in a storage container.  :)  Big week this week with the move and everything that includes! 
And then Monday is Ms. Ella's 5th birthday - CRAZY!  We are EXCITED!

So Long Willow Trail

So....we did it.  We have finally sold our townhome!  When I say finally, it's not that we've had it on the market forever or anything, but we have waited SO LONG to recover from the housing market crash and this Spring it was finally time!  So long Willow Trail....

 

We will not miss the new-ish backyard neighbor or his million disgusting outdoor cats.  We will not miss the loud muffler cars, trucks, SUVs and/or motorcycles that seem to converge on the neighborhood.  We will not miss dealing with an Association to maintain the exterior and the lawn (although, I am NOT going to mow - no thanks).  We will not miss all of the giant dogs that live in the neighborhood.

But, I will miss some things.  This is the home that we brought Ella home to, where we enjoyed (survived!) those first newborn days and nights, where a lot of "firsts" happened.  I will miss the convenience of the trail system (although I think we'll have a similar trail system right down the street at the new house).  And if I think of anything else I will miss, I will let you know.  :)

To say we learned a lot in this entire packing and moving experience is an understatement.  I am blown away at how much work it has been to pack up a family (living in a townhome) and get it all in storage (or in Jay's parents' basement - ha!).  No idea where we kept all of our stuff - seriously....no idea.  You would think we had 3000 square feet of living space or something!!   But, it's done (temporarily)...housed in 3 different locations, which makes me laugh because clearly we did not anticipate the amount of space we'd need to keep everything stored until we move.  Oh well, live and learn, right?!

Thursday is Ella's graduation from Kinder Kollege!

Can't wait - with all of the emotions of the past week, I anticipate I'll be a hot mess.  

Good times.   But check back for pictures!