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Found her sleeping like this:  

Which is funny because it's not even all of her stuffed animals!  I have tried to pare them down but they are all so special to her for one reason or another… and she obviously needs them all to go to sleep.

Her teacher is also funny.  And her funny teacher had the class make these crazy faces after she planned to make Native American face masks and then found out from a Native American friend that that wasn't really respectful.  She told the kids to make something that would make them laugh, and then put it somewhere they could see it whenever they needed to laugh.  Of course it is proudly displayed in Emma's bedroom.  Bonus:  it also makes me laugh.  

    

Here she is documenting a variety of too-big-to-save-but-too-special-to-recycle projects (fraction pizza, Native American totem pole, pueblo, and teepee, and Thomas Edison book report mobile that she did entirely by herself.)  

And this:  a dance party schedule.  Love this creative girl!  

At the end of the year we had a couple of Zach's things to visit the school for – both of which he was dressed as a baseball player.  (Go figure.  :)

He did a great job on a famous person speech on Justin Morneau:  

 And made an awesome Minnesota float (on skis) for the Parade of States.  He was Joe Mauer, and his blueberry muffins (the state muffin) that he brought were a hit… with everyone except the teachers who had to clean up all the muffin wrappers that the kids decided to throw around instead of put in the trash. 

  

I always love listening to Zach explain stuff to the people that pass by.  He obviously enjoys it too:  

  

And – bonus – we got to check out Carter's contribution to the school mural (he did the red background on the boy he's pointing to!)  

The primary passed out a thing to learn the articles of faith this summer, and Carter absolutely loves it.  He carries it around with him everywhere.  (Seriously, I am looking for this all the time because he takes it places and forgets it.)  He even takes it to bed with him.  They get one card at a time and when they pass it off they get the next card to put on their ring… he practices religiously and we have had to reinforce the holes with tape since they are so well-used they are ripping.  :)  I sure love this kid! (And he is going to be one great missionary!)   

 

I will spare you the picture of the wounded morning dove but here are the details of the rescue written by Emma for the kids' UIEA Magazine (Utah International Explorers Association):   

The Adams kids were walking home from school one day, and found an injured bird lying on the side of the road.  They went home, got a cardboard box, and put a towel in it.  Then they quickly took the box back to where the bird was, placed the bird inside, closed the top of the box, and carried it home.  Later that night, they took the box that contained the bird to the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Ogden, UT.

All of that is true.  While I was not thrilled about the long drive to Ogden on a school night, the rescue center told us the bird would likely not make it till the morning unless we got it there.  So, since Zach's baseball practice was cancelled and Nate was working late, (and Zach was crying "we can't let it die when we could do something about it!")  the kids threw on jammies, we picked Emma up from piano, ate hot dogs in the car, and off we went, while I prayed like mad that the bird would live at least till Ogden.  Thankfully, it did – and after a week or so was even upgraded from "critical" to "doing much better" when Zach called to check on it.  And that is how the explorers saved the bird.  

Since kindergarten got out a week earlier than the rest of the school, we used those last few days to do some things the big kids are less excited about than the littles…

  

  

 One day we spent a morning at the splashpad… there were few enough kids there that Meg got pretty brave about getting wet, and I cracked up at these funny kids trying to get warm after soaking themselves:  

We also stopped at Target one morning and picked out floaty things to race down the canyons at Liberty Park.  They would have stayed there till dark doing this if we hadn't eventually had to go home to pick up the big kids.  The biggest thrill was when Meg's "dolphy" got stuck under the bridges and Carter's boat (or Carter's big stick) would rescue it.  

  
It is sad to think that next year it will be just Meg and I on these daytime school day adventures!  At least we have a whole summer of fun to look forward to before it gets to that point!  

I can't believe that Kindergarten is already over!  That (like most things these days) went by way too fast.  

It has been fun to see Carter grow this year though… he was much more involved in the end-of-the-year program (although still pretty reserved) than he was at Discovery last year!  (also, I just loved the picture of him staring up at his balloon… it sure pays to be at the first of the alphabet and get your diploma first.  :)

   The cute room mom planned a fun graduation celebration for the kids and Meg loved the hot air balloon basket.  

  

Can't say I didn't shed a few nostalgic tears at this:  

  
(First day of school on the right, last day on the left!)  Kindergarten was full of adventures:  school every day for the first time, walking home with siblings, first broken bone, library and computer time, soccer and football at recess, new friends, reading like crazy, counting to 100 (and then some!), and rejoicing every time we'd make it to school and the yellow "slow" guy was still holding the door open (we have some work to do at getting to school earlier for first grade.  :)  

(I actually think it has a name more like "The mountain star hotel" due to the mountains on the name badges I picked up off the floor tonight…)

Anyways.  Our playroom has been leased by a hotel operation for coming up on 2 weeks now.  I have a love/hate relationship with this arrangement.  

What I love:  

1.  The hotel was created the day before mothers day, and on mothers day while Nate was at his meetings I checked into room 105 and was encouraged to hang out or nap in my room [corner of the room] by all the kids while they were respectful hotel employees and gave me my privacy.  I actually shut my eyes for almost 15 minutes!  

(my room in the back… Zach had already snagged the love sack for his room.)

2.  The creativity!  They divided it into "rooms", made numbers and room card keys, set up a cash register for check in, have division of labor (someone makes the beds, someone registers the guests, someone wipes down stuff at the hotel with a bucket of water in the basement…)

   

3.  The teamwork.  They came up with it together, they talk in the morning about how right when they get home from school they are heading to run the hotel, they come up with ideas together, and they lobby together to keep the hotel around when I am ready to close it.  

4.  It is downstairs.  

What I don't love so much:  

1.  pretty much every item from the playroom is out to create the dividers between rooms, Meg's blanket for her crib hasn't been in her room since the hotel's inception (nor have either of Emma's pillows), and if you forget you are in a hotel it just looks like chaos reigns supreme…

2.  The bucket of water in the basement that someone uses to wipe down stuff.  

3.  Arguments about who gets which hotel job.  And arguments about people being loud during "hotel nap time" (when no one was actually trying to nap and no one was being loud either.)

4.  The first Sunday it was around all the kids packed a suitcase and changed out of their church clothes at the hotel… and when we couldn't figure out where their church clothes were the next Sunday we found them wadded in their suitcases.  

Really, though, the negatives are funny and the positives are awesome and the hotel lives on to die another day.  (Although their ability to offer food (candy) was revoked due to wrappers in the lobby and any cleaning that requires water can be done with a baby wipe.)  I guarantee that this will be one of those things we all look back on and smile at.  

I found these pics tonight that must have been uploaded when Emma plugged her phone into the computer (an old phone of mine that she uses to take pictures.)  Apparently it was photo shoot day… I cannot get enough of these.  The group ones remind me of the "family photos" I made my mom take of me and my dolls when I was about Emma's age.  :)  Also love the crossed arms (kids just sat for spring pictures at the school…) and the stuffed animals wedged in the hole in the stool for their pic (there were about forty pics of animals like this!)   Oh, and the closet background.  Classic.  

Best surprise photos ever.  

   
   

After Meg fell asleep in church and my other kids were starting to change out of church clothes as they headed up the driveway, I figured we'd better take what we could get as far as an Easter pic.  :)   Nate was still at church (of course), so I took one and Zach took one.  At least they are realistic – this is what Meg does every Sunday now (after a complete sacrament meeting meltdown.)   Of all the kids she loved her easter clothes more than anyone – so it is funny that all we have documented is the back of her.  She was absolutely convinced she was a butterfly ballerina and spent the day twirling around in her dress to prove it.  

It is funny, given how involved I had been in the art stroll this year, that our attendance at the actual event lasted only about 15 minutes in between dropping Zach off at baseball and heading back for his game!  

  

 Van Goghs in the making, right?  :)