Letters to Aurora's Dad

After learning that Josh was a prominent amateur astronomer at the same time the first graders were studying space, Aurora's teacher was excited to have Josh come and talk to the class.   In fact, she arranged for him to present to ALL of the first grade classes!  Aurora was so proud to have her Dad come and talk to her friends!

Josh put together a simple presentation to tell the kids some basic space facts and also to explain the difference between an Astronomer and an Astronaut, since Aurora said that all her friends thought he was an astronaut!  He also brought both telescopes with him (his and Aurora's), and some old pieces for the kids to handle.  At the end, he asked a pop quiz and gave out some of his old issues of Astronomy magazine.  It was a big hit with the kids, teachers, and especially Aurora. 

Two weeks later, Josh was given a couple of books with thank-you letters and drawings from the kids!  They are the cutest things I have ever seen!  I thought I would share some of my favorite ones.

Easter!

We've been doing lots of activities this month to celebrate Easter!  At the beginning of the month we did some Easter crafts.  We painted suncatchers and decorated paper eggs to put around the house.

Notice how the Transformers are never far away...

The kids had a great time going through the Easter bin and putting decorations around the house.  Their favorite is putting spring themed ornaments on the Easter tree.

The weekend before Easter, Grandma S came over and we colored Easter eggs and made sugar cookies!  At first, Alex didn't want to use his hands to handle the eggs, but he quickly got over it.

This year we showed the kids how to use the white crayons to write words or drawings before coloring them!

Alex's Eggs

Aurora's Eggs

We used Megan's cookie dough, which is the best EVER.  Usually Megan rolls it out and does the cookies with the kids.  This year she couldn't make it.  When I went to roll out the dough, Aurora asked me, "Are you sure you know how to do this?"

Yummy cookies!

Finally the big day came!  The Easter bunny filled their baskets with lots of loot!

Aurora's favorite item was this little Ty bunny, named "Carrots"

Alex was all about the chocolate!

Then they raced around the house to find all of the plastic eggs he had hidden!

In the afternoon, we got dressed in our Easter best and headed to Grandma and Grandpa K's house.

Where the kids hid their plastic eggs and even convinced Uncle Joe and Auntie to hunt for them!

It was a fun day!

Little Models

A good friend of mine has recently started a photography business, and offered to do a photo session of the kids for free in exchange for using them as models on her website and marketing material!  So we went down to the University of New Mexico duck pond and had some pictures taken!  The kids enjoyed checking out the ducks and turtles in the pond, and were pretty cooperative with the shoot.  Here are my favorites...

Aurora's Musical

On the 19th, Aurora participated in her first school musical!  It was mandatory and part of her music grade for this year.  They've been practicing for months!  The musical was 'Dr. Suessical the Musical'.   Each first grade class had a part and then they all sang together during the certain parts.  Aurora's class wore all green and sang "Green Eggs and Ham."  The grandparents, Uncle Joe, and Megan and Sean all came to support her.

She sang and performed and did a great job!  I have video but my camcorder is not cooperating right now.  Here are some photos:

Waiting to surprise Grandpa K before the performance

Alex was completely into the performance and clapped for her when she was done!

Crazy April!

Wow I can't believe I haven't updated the blog since March!  April has been a whirlwind of activity!  I'll do a little run down of the smaller things we've been up to this month and then I'll do a couple of separate posts on the bigger stuff!  Some things we've been doing....



Taking care of and playing with our pets



Aurora got a new telescope (her old one was damaged during a sudden sand storm at White Sands in October)

Aurora's new scope

Having dinner with friends

Watching the bunny families living in our yard

Went to see 'Hop'

Doing artwork (I asked Alex why his bunny had 5 legs and he matter-of-factly said because it was a boy)



Went to see 'Rio'



Visited the zoo

Alex would have sat there watching the crocodiles all day

And that's just SOME of the things we've been up to!