Last Day of Preschool

Today was the last day of preschool for Garrett and Paige at Our Redeemer.  The school put on a fabulous little show to celebrate their "graduation", complete with songs.  It was made extra special because Daddy AND Nani & Papa were able to be there for the celebration!

Then they received their diplomas.  I have to say that I was super impressed with this little school and will miss their fabulous teachers.  It's hard to believe that my little twinsies are soon going to be in kindergarten!

Preschool Jog-a-thon

This afternoon was the big fundraiser for Garrett and Paige's preschool.  They hold this Jog-a-thon every year and earn over $10,000 that goes towards running the school to help keep tuition down.  It's such a great school, and the kids were so excited about running. Both of them did amazing!  Garrett was so fast, and even though Paige fell at one point and skinned her knee, she got up and kept on going without a tear.

 You can see here how many laps they completed.  It was impressive.

Afterwards there was a big luncheon and the kids were each awarded a medal for their efforts.  Getting that medal was definitely the highlight for them both!

Garrett and his buddy Greyson give the event a thumbs up!

Joyful Noise Sunday

A few times a year, Garrett and Paige's preschool has a "Joyful Noise Sunday" where the classes prepare some songs for the parents and sing them during the church service.  The last one we were able to attend was their Christmas pageant, and it didn't go off too well with Garrett who basically frowned through the whole thing and refused to sing.  So we were a little worried about yesterday's show.  He got very angry on the way there and said he would refuse to sing, which definitely wasn't a good sign.  When we got there he asked where his costume was and I told them they wouldn't be wearing costumes today, just their normal clothes.  He was SO happy, because apparently the reason he was so upset last time was because of the "itchy costume".  Needless to say, both of them did a fabulous job smiling, singing and doing their actions.  I was a proud Mama!

And here's a little video of their performance!

Hawk

Well... it happened.  We are officially dog owners.  Actually, let me be more specific... we are dog caretakers until he is three years old and then we are dog owners.  Let me explain.  This is Hawk the Australian labradoodle and we are his new guardian family!  We got Hawk from Ladd Hill Labradoodles, a local breeder that uses guardian families to care for their dogs.  Instead of a "puppy kennel" business model, this breeder gives a dog to guardian families to love and care for it.  During the three year breeding contract, we need to make him available for the occasional "date" and in return we get full ownership after that time.  It was a way we can get a dog that is otherwise really expensive ($2850) for pretty much nothing.  We wanted this breed because the are non-shedding, less allergenic, and great with kids.  He's almost 4 months old now and is really smart.  He's getting the potty training really easily, although we learned yesterday that we can't be overly confident in his abilities yet.  And he has adjusted extremely well to being a part of our family.

This is the first time that I've ever owned a dog (although Steve grew up with dogs).  I did a LOT of research before we made this decision, so nothing has really surprised me about him.  He is definitely a puppy and loves chewing EVERYTHING.  But we've figured out ways to mitigate and prevent most of that.  The part that was MOST surprising to me, was that I had to train my kids how to act around the dog.  They wanted to install bad habits in him right away... things like jumping up and chasing.  So we've had to not only train the puppy, but train the kids about how to act around him.  We are definitely looking forward to many adventures with Hawk and are in love with him already!