Hugo Farm

Each year the Kindergarten classes at Liberty Ridge go to a farm up in Hugo, MN for their final field trip. My name didn't get picked to be a chaperone on the bus (I drove separate), so one of the moms of Sadie's classmates texted me this picture of the girls! (Sammy is on the left, Delaney is in the pink and Caitlin is on the right)

I had to post this picture because earlier in the week Sadie got some pink clip-in hair and she had been wearing it daily. She had been wanting it for quite some time and we finally found some that you didn't have to spray on your own hair but could easily take it out.

Jumping off the hay bales with farmer John

Let me also take a moment to point out two things....(1) Sadie was in heaven getting to feed, hold and touch all these little creatures. (2)My colorful, confident, creative girl has been wearing two different earrings almost daily. People continually ask her, thinking she may not realize that she has different earrings in, but when she tells people it's intentional, they seem taken aback. It hasn't stopped her from doing it, though!

Delaney and Sadie, arm in arm, on their way to the wagon ride

Me and my girl

The piglets get me every time--so stinkin' cute!

Holding the kittens and puppies

Even I liked this one...he was pretty cute!

Sadie and I had a great time together. The boys left for Stormy Lake the night before, so it was just Sadie and I at home. We made dinner and then went to get ice cream together, stayed up late and watched a little TV and then she got to sleep in my bed with me. We had so much fun and then we left for Stormy later the next day after her class trip. The boys also had a great time without us girls--I'm thinking we'll have to do this again in the future!

Field Day

Sadie's field day earlier this spring....

Her favorite part was definitely cheering her teammates on and celebrating each win!

How cute are these mini-hurdles?!

Blake was so excited to congratulate Sadie and his enthusiasm brought smiles to everyone who saw him give Sadie a full monkey hug!

The girls getting ready for their tug-of-war against the boys

Guess who won?! (Of course the fact that they had 12 girls to 7 boys doesn't help the boys out!)

Again, Blake's excitement for Sadie was so awesome!

The way that girls celebrate is so different from the way that boys do!

All the girls in Sadie's class

Cheering a few teammates on

And one of the boys' teams didn't have an even number of players so they recruited Blake to join them and he was thrilled!

One more tug-of-war but this time they evened the teams out a bit....so Blake joined in!

And they won again, so they had to celebrate with a group hug!

Sadie's entire Kindergarten class with their teacher, Ms. Eull

And although it was a bit chilly for field day, we were just happy to have sunshine and be outside!!

Saying goodbye

I've mentioned a few times on the blog that this summer is going to be tough one as my two closest friends are moving. After I found out they'd both be moving, our next door neighbor came over one night and told us he was taking a new job promotion and his family would be moving to Indiana. Seriously, what is going on? Is it us? Just kidding about that second part, but this summer is going to be a tough one and I am not looking forward to it. I'm sure the Lord has great plans for other friends for me and teaching me to trust Him with these things, but it's just not fun. 

Our next door neighbors have become more than neighbors, but true friends. The Park family moved in the same week we did and had a little girl about Sadie's age. However, when they moved in, KeeJoo (the father) was the only who spoke english. His wife and daughter were so sweet and always smiled when we talked to them, but the language barrier made things pretty tough. Their daughter, Cheeun, enrolled in a Montessori preschool and quickly picked up English. Once she did, her and Sadie became great friends and we'd often find them giggling and playing together in the yard. Cheeun even came to AWANA with Sadie for awhile and we've loved having them as neighbors. KeeJoo is very talkative and once we got to know him, quickly came to appreciate his dry sense of humor and endless stories. Since this was their time owning a home in the states, Matt would help KeeJoo out around their yard/house and remind him of maintenance-type things that needed to be done and KeeJoo was always so appreciative. Then last year when baby Alex (their son) was born, we were their on-call people to watch Cheeun when they went into labor and we ended up having Cheeun for quite awhile since there were some complications. Everything turned out great but there were a few moments when they didn't know if Sunjean was going to make it. And knowing that Cheeun was safe with us meant so much to them. We of course were happy to help and loved having her here, but after that day it seemed our relationship with them was on a different level and right up until the day they left, they continued to thank us for that day with tears in their eyes. We've had them join us for Thanksgiving, barbecues, Halloween festivities and the like. So seeing them leave was pretty tough.

One last meal with the Park family

A few pictures of Cheeun and Sadie

Think these girls are gonna miss each other?

We were so sad to see them leave and I don't think it will really sink in until tomorrow when our new neighbors move in--who, coincidentally, have a 9,6,and 3 year old!