Waaaay back in May

Back in May, Teresita learned to do this:

 

She was super proud of herself.  So was her physical therapist.  "Climbing is great for her!  That will help strengthen her hip muscles in no time!"  Her mama?  She hasn't fallen yet, so I'm thanking her guardian angels for that.  Though given that at any moment she seems to be just seconds away from an ER trip I'm kind of surprised I haven't had a heart attack yet.

I also took the kids to the zoo.  As always, they enjoyed pretending to be baby birds:

I'm pretty sure I have the cutest baby birds in the world.

I think Teresita's favorite part of the zoo was walking through the bridge that connects one side to the other.  There's always music playing so of course she had to dance like a crazy person.

 We finished up our school year at the end of May.  The kids were so proud and excited to be in First Grade (Juan Pablo) and "Level Two of Preschool" (Ana Luisa).  We had to make up some kind of name that made another year of preschool sound awesome because when Ana Luisa asked if she was going to be in Kindgergarten next and I said no, she still had one more year of preschool, that made no sense to her.  So "Level Two of Preschool" it is. We planned a big celebration with Papa the school principal, an entire day at Kensington Metropark.  We left first thing in the morning and ate donuts and played on the playground.  Then we visited the Nature Center and looked for turtles, frogs, snakes, blue herons, sandhill cranes, ducks, geese, swans and more...

 Juan Pablo caught a tadpole.  I wasn't there, but he told me about it later.
"I caught a tadpole, but it died."
"Oh no!  How did it die?"
"I was holding it and its skin fell off."

You live and learn, I guess.

We had a picnic lunch and sent Teresita to dispose of our hot coals.

Ok, just kidding.  There was no one around and no hot coals in the bin, we just thought it was a funny picture.

We finished up our big day by checking out the baby animals at the farm, then an ice cream stop on the way home.  I'm so proud of my two big kids- they both learned so much in school this year!

Because they were so excited about moving on to First Grade/Level Two of Preschool, the kids couldn't fathom having to wait until the fall to get started.  I, however, was not ready and definitely hadn't planned on continuing school through the summer.  But they're very convincing, so I got a couple workbooks and planned a few things and we did a few weeks of "summer school".  From our Pentecost celebration...

And finally, on Memorial Day we enjoyed exploring the Potowatomi Trail together. Or, as the kids call it, the "Potomiwatomi Trail".  Juan Pablo is our little nature lover and whenever we're in the woods he is in his own little world.  He spots the tiniest bugs from far away, is always stopping to point out plants or animals that I would have never noticed, and comes out of the woods with his pockets full of bugs, rocks, leaves, whatever.  I love it.

Ana Luisa insists that she would rather be at the mall, but I think she really does enjoy our little hikes...

Silly girl.  She is so sweet.

 And Teresita...her mission in life is to be just like her big brother AND her big sister all at the same time...I think maybe it gets a little confusing.