Those first couple pictures are the kids on Valentine's Day this year. I remember my parents always giving us a little Valentine's Day gift, so I've done the same for my kids. They also had a party at daycare and exchanged Valetine's with their little friends. They loved it!
Caleb lost his 2nd tooth on February 17th! It had been loose for quite awhile and finally he let Marshall help pull it out. His top two middle teeth are also loose now...the Tooth Fairy will be making a lot of trips to our house coming up I guess!
Other exciting news for Caleb...we had Kindergarten Registration in February. We got to tour the school, which included checking out the library and a couple of the Kindergarten classrooms. We also got to ride on a school bus. That was probably Caleb's favorite part. He was so excited the whole time and his enthusiasm was just fun to watch. In the classrooms, the teachers did some activities with the kids and he just could hardly contain himself, jumping and yelling out the answers. He is going to love school. We just recently found out that he was accepted into the Kindergarten Plus program, which is all day long. We choose to open enroll in District 16, so Caleb could either go to school with my mom or take the bus from daycare. Going to the all day program, he'll go with my mom and attend the same elementary school I did. I'm so happy about this..it will be nice to have him at school with Grandma and it also makes me quite reminiscent for my elementary years. I loved Park Terrace and remember being so sad when it was time to move to middle school. We also registered Caleb for a summer preschool class, Kindergarten Readiness. It will be for two mornings each week mid June through mid August. We are so glad Caleb will be able to do this program, I know he's ready for school but without being in a school setting before I worry about the social aspect of it all. I think this will help. Since my mom and sister will be out of school for the summer, they'll be able to help transport him to class and back to daycare. It's such a relief to have this work out! We weren't able to have Caleb attend any traditional preschool because of work schedules during the year.
Ella just loves her baby dolls...she's been really into being a little "Mommy" lately. She likes to pretend to change them, rock them, feed them, push them around in her little stroller, put them to sleep in their crib..she even has a baby that goes in the bath with her. It's so cute to watch her play like this! I remember being amazed when Caleb first started to play pretend like this, too. It's just one of many fun things about being a parent.
Ready for rain! Both kids love to wear rain boots (or farm boots, as they often wear these at the farm too). We were up at the farm for the first time this year in March and the kids had a great time playing outside, we were lucky to have a really mild winter and some crazy warm temperatures in March. It was in the 80s many days, which is just unheard of!
I'm sad to share that we lost my Grandma Waldvogel in March this year. She had been in good health, her normal busy bee self, living on her own and doing all kind of volunteer work in town. However, on March 5 she had a stress test scheduled to check out her heart, she had been complaining of pain when she exerted herself, like bringing the garbage down to the curb and stuff like that. She was so nervous for this test. The test itself went fine but after her friend Betty brought her home, my Grandma collapsed and had a heart attack. Luckily Betty was still at the house and was able to call 911 and start CPR. The paramedics arrived and took Grandma to the hospital in Alexandria, where she was then taken by helicopter to St. Cloud Hospital. Things were very touch and go for days. The huge Waldvogel family surrounded Grandma at the hospital, taking turns staying through the night and praying for her. For a few days, Grandma was alert enough to speak to us. It was so comforting to hear her voice, to tell her how much she meant to us and how we loved her so. And to hear her tell us the same. Those moments are ones we will all cherish. On March 15, surrounded by many loved ones, Grandma passed away. It's been hard for us all to accept losing her so suddenly, but we know she's with Grandpa now and she's not in pain. The heart attack and several other episodes at the hospital had been so hard on her body, she likely would not have made a full recovery anyway. It was hard for me to explain this loss to my kids, Caleb especially, who has spent more time with Great Grandma. He did very well with it all, though, he asked questions but I think he understood for the most part. She will be greatly missed.
