Candy Land Fun in Preschool

On Friday night, my Preschool classroom was transformed into a life sized Candy Land game board.

My 34 families all contributed projects to the game and they were so awesome.

The Preschoolers worked for two weeks on projects for our classroom to help decorate.

Everyone who came through on Friday night seemed to thoroughly enjoy our game.

The last time we did a life sized Candy Land was about nine years ago, before digital cameras, so I had no photos to help me remember what we did back then.

This time I took many, many photos to document the event.

When I checked on Pinterest there was very little for life sized Candy Land.  I hope to put my photos on Pinterest so others can benefit from my parents' creativity.

Now all I need to do is figure out how to post things on there.

Here are some photos of our room:

This is cupcake canyon which is not actually a part of the Candy Land board, but I added it since cupcakes are so popular now and they were fun to create.

Our Lollipop Woods were wonderful and filled with big lollipops.

 Here are the Gumdrops Mountains, so many creative ways to make gumdrops.

 Our ice cream island had a bowl of Dippin dots, a big ice cream bar, a banana split, and some huge ice cream cones.

 I also added Skittle Stream just because who doesn't like a skittle.
One of my parents made this roll of smarties which were very cool

We also added Teddy Bear Lane instead of Plumpy's Plum tree.

Here is the Peppermint Forest.
At each of eight areas we had a basket of candy that the players could help themselves to as they moved around the board.
There were Teddy Grahams, Starlight Mints, Skittles, Gumdrops, Lollipops, Circus peanuts, Resse's peanut butter cups (for cupcakes), and ice cream cones that I made out of bugels with a white cheddar cheese ball attached to the bugel with some frosting.

As each family came to the starting line, they picked up a brown lunch bag and a stack of candy land cards.
There were about ten cards in each stack.
Then they played the game just like you would do on a regular board except you are the mover.

Judging by the smiles, I think everyone had a great time!

Tiz and Grandma spend a few fun days together

Since Tizita was on her spring break after Easter, she stayed on in Watertown to spend a few extra days with us.

I had the Monday off after Easter, too, so we had planned to do ride our bikes to the Dollar Tree for some shopping and then to McDonald's for lunch, but just as we were planning to leave the rains started and boy, did it ever pour!

We moved to plan number two which was to take the car on our shopping trip.

We started at Walmart, moved on to the Dollar Tree, and then enjoyed a yummy lunch at McDonald's.

One of the first graders from St. John's was there and Tiz had a great time playing with Audrey in the play area.

When we got home, we had fun looking at all of our purchases.

We decided that since the rains had stopped we would ride our bikes to St. Vinney's.

The sky looked a bit dark as we left, but we were optimistic until the skies opened again and it poured.

Luckily we were in St. Vinney's and not on our bikes.

We each bought a some new rain gear to protect us on the way home.

We both had such wet pants, right down to our underwear because of  the wet bike seats, but we also laughed pretty hard on the ride home and we know this memorable bike ride will be talked about for years to come.

When we got home, we mixed up some industrial bubbles and had so much fun playing with them.

We ended our day with a yummy supper, some TV, and an early bedtime since Tiz was coming to school with me early the next morning.

 Sorry, I look like a giant in this picture, must be the angle!
This is the new parka that I got at St. Vinney's to protect me from the rain.
Not bad for a dollar, heh?

These bubbles were awesome!

We will definitely be making them again.

On Tuesday, Tiz and I headed to school.

She was such a big help to me.

She even came up with an art project to do with the kids and they loved doing it with her.

I think she would make a wonderful teacher but she still wants to drive a snowplow and work in a beauty shop.

After school I had an appointment to get my hair colored and cut so I scheduled a pedicure for Tiz at the same time.

She was so pampered at Domani, everyone absolutely loved her.

She not only got a pedicure, but a manicure, too.

It was an exciting day for her.

I know she enjoyed it.

After our pampering session, Gigi, John, Tiz and I tried a new restaurant called The Driftwood.

Although a bit pricey, the food was good and we all enjoyed it.

Some TV and an early bedtime followed because Tiz would be helping me again in school.

Courtney brought Soli to school on Wednesday and Soli was so excited to see Tiz.  I know she had missed her. 

They left to have lunch with Gigi and then go home to Oshkosh.

The house is quiet tonight and I am enjoying that.

I am also looking forward to an early bedtime tonight.

I will miss my helper in school tomorrow though.

This is what being a grandma is all about!

Easter Sunday

One final Easter post.

On Easter Sunday, we all enjoyed a wonderful church service filled with old, familiar hymns and great words of encouragement in the sermon.

After church we enjoyed a lunch of Kraemer' hot dogs, cheese, chocolate milk and ice cream.

Alissa and Nathan headed home to Illinois shortly after lunch while the Van Auken family, John, and I took a walk to the cemetery and to the park.

It was a great day.

Best part is, it seems that spring has arrived at last.

 Before church

Grandpa and Soli walking to the cemetery

 Visiting Granny and Gramps

Visiting Ohma and Ohpa

 Visiting Grandpa Ken

 Fun with Papa at the park

And finally, driving off into a new adventure together!

Easter hunt and Easter Bowling

The girls went on their Easter Basket hunt.

For years, I have had clues that first, my girls, and now the granddaughters follow to find where their baskets are hidden.

This year Tizita did all the reading and she helped Soli find the baskets.  It was fun to watch them get so excited about everything.

After the successful hunt, we had lunch of egg salad sandwichs.

Then it was time for our annual bowling party with Kev, Vikki, Nic and Mallory.

It was so much fun to be together and have fun doing something we don't do very often.

After bowling Courtney, Lissa, Mal, Paul, and Nathan went on a bar crawl hunt.  That is what they wanted to do instead of hunting for eggs.  I guess they got too old for the egg  hunt!

It was a fun day all around.