My Little Medal Winner

A short video of Allison getting her dance medallion.  The teacher gave a small speech beforehand and told everyone how Allison was the littlest dance member, but always the most excited to come to class.

First Dance Recital

Allison's dance class for the year has come to an end, so the studio had a small recital (nothing fancy) that all the parents and family of the kids could attend.  I'm over the moon that Allison is in a dance class in the first place.  I danced for a long time and loved it so much.  I think she loves it too because every time we even drive close to the studio she says "Dance class?"  A lot of the time she also insists on wearing a tutu.  We arrived at the studio and all her friends screamed "Allison!"  They were so happy to see her so we started to get ready and put her dancing shoes on.

For some reason, I think the camera on my phone is better than Mark's actual camera.  He didn't end up getting any good pictures of the actual performance, but here is a group picture of most of the class and the three dance instructors in the back.  They danced to Michael Jackson's Thriller.

 I had a matching shirt because I'm her biggest fan.

She got her first dance medal!  Then she got a celebratory cupcake, which I think was actually her favorite part.

And then she ate the cupcake....

Of course we invited grandma and grandpa to share this special occasion with us.  They were both very proud of Allison.

Allison posed for a picture with Ms. Shelli

For some reason there was a snake in the building, so she had to take a look.  My child has no fear and was trying to get it out of the box.  *shudder*

Learning About Nature

Over the past few weeks, we have been learning about nature.  I bought Allison an early reading Lorax book because she really loves the movie The Lorax.  It has a great message about being good to the trees and taking care of nature.  We decided to do a craft associated with the movie and make some Lorax trees, or truffula trees, and also turn it into a matching activity.  She matched the colors of the pom poms to the pipe cleaners and the beads, and then she stuck them all in a foam base to create her own little truffula grove.  She was very happy with her creation.

We also learned about what animals eat, with a little help from Sesame Street.  (Next we will be learning about all the different things Allison can eat.  *crossing fingers*).  We made some bird seed hanging feeders with a little help from this website.  The recipe made enough to fill at least 4 cookie cutters and make 4 hangers, so we gave one to grandma.  Allison enjoyed hanging her heart-shaped feeder on the tree.  It wasn't there for long!

 

Fourth of July Weekend

 Allison's firework art, made with paint and pipe cleaners

She loves to sit on grandpa's tractor

 Fun in the pool with grandma.

There was a small carnival in Belton that we decided to try.  Allison liked the ferris wheel at first, but then she decided it was scary and time to get off.

She enjoyed the big slide with daddy.

Rides were just not her thing.  The alligator ride was bumpy and extremely noisy.  After about 2 minutes on the alligator, she wanted to get off of that too.   

Keeping Cool

Summer is here and it's already miserably hot in Texas, so we've been looking for activities to do indoors.  There's not a lot to choose from around here, but Allison does enjoy trips to the mall where she can run around and enjoy the few small rides that they have available.

She really enjoys when great-grandpa buys her ice cream.

And takes her for a ride on the train.

She tried the sky jump for the first time and loved it, even though she didn't go very high.

Learning About the Ocean

For the past few weeks, we have been learning about the ocean, so we decided to read the book "The Pout Pout Fish."  Allison loves the book and likes to watch the video of the story on YouTube.  She already has it memorized and asks for it all the time.  Each time we read the book, we talk about the creatures that live in the ocean.  She seems to really like jellyfish.  We did a colorful starfish craft using foam confetti and a Pout Pout fish craft with construction paper.  She put a great big smile on her Pout Pout fish instead of a pout.  She is very proud of her artwork.

Last Day of School

  

We're sad that school is over, but lucky to know that Allison will get one more year of preschool and she can have the same teacher.  She loves her teacher.  Summer starts today!