The last day of school 2013

Another school year is over.

I never in my dreams imagined how emotional and attached to each teacher and grade and age that I would be.

I just want to keep hanging on because it all goes too fast.

Now, when I look at their toddler pictures I just can't believe they are the same kid!

They change SO MUCH from how they were at 2, 3, & 4 to what they are at 5, 6, & 7.  

I'm sure I will be saying the same thing for 8, 9, & 10 and up.

During this school year, Tim has changed jobs, we have moved into a new house, both kids are reading amazingly, and have both learned and accomplished so very much.

I wish I could accurately portray how much my C Girlie has matured this year.

I can tell you, she is going to do some great things.

And she is SO FUNNY!

She loves making her teacher and friends laugh.

Everything academically has improved by leaps and bounds since the beginning of the year.

She never missed one spelling word, her handwriting is so neat now, and she is loving reading chapter books even at home now!

At the talent show this week, the 1st graders performed a couple of songs.  C was sitting on the front of the stage with some of her friends and she was not nervous about being in front of the entire school and she just sang her heart out!

I am so, so proud of her!

 B Boy had a wonderful kindergarten year.

He is a little smartypants.

He is already not too far behind C in his reading level.

Everything has just come so easy for him this year.

I hope it always stays that way.

He is a great friend too.

He had 7 BFF's this year in his class.

He even numbered them, like BFF1, BFF2, etc!

He loves teeball and playing basketball.

He loves to write pages out of books onto notebook paper.

He loves to write his own stories and illustrate.

He is sad about leaving his friends, but I know he will make lots of new ones!

He has grown up a lot this year too!

And gotten so tall!

 Please don't think I'm bragging on my kids (well, maybe I am a little, but don't we all?).

I'm a proud momma trying to preserve memories of them.

Just to balance everything out, I give you this-

That's how taking a picture of her really went this morning!

And yes, I'm one of those moms that takes pictures of their kids crying or mad!

C Girl really doesn't look a whole lot different to me, but B Boy does!  

He grew so much this year!

This week has been busy with all the usual end of school things- awards assemblies, Spirit Night, talent show, field day, tee ball game, and a tornado threat for good measure.

I sure am going to miss having a kindergartner and 1st grader.

a showcase, an anniversary, and a play

The end of the school year is coming to a close.

It does make me sad in the fact that my babies are getting older.

BUT.

Hot dog, I'm looking forward to summer!!!

To have days without stuff on the calendar makes me ridiculously happy.

So, this is another long post.  #sorry #notsorry

I've probably mentioned it before, but our district started a 21st century classroom program last year.  It is a grant that teachers could apply for and if they were chosen, they would receive a classroom set of technology.

Last year, C's teacher applied and was a recipient!

We already had planned for B Boy to be in her class, so it was neat that he would get to be a  part of this great new thing!

Grades K-2 receive iPads and all grades above receive laptops. 

The recipients for this year's grant are actually being awarded this morning!

With last year's and this year's recipients, our district will have 47 21st century classrooms next year!

This past Tuesday evening, our district had a Technology Showcase to let these classes show off what they have used the technology for this year.

B Boy participated in his class's station.

Using his iPad that he used all year

Presenting his weather book that he wrote and illustrated online to our assistant principal

The class project was based on learning about weather.  They blogged, had a meteorologist visit, wrote books online and lots more!

Yesterday was our 10 year anniversary, so we actually got to spend the day together kid free!

We finally got the opportunity to visit the Norman Rockwell exhibit that is at Crystal Bridges Museum until May 27th.

I didn't know what to expect, but I loved every minute of it!

 It took us almost two hours to look through the entire exhibit.  I could have easily stayed longer.

First of all, his paintings are wonderful.  

Secondly, to me, it is almost insane to be able to stand right in front of the actual paintings that he painted.

Thirdly, I was shocked at how many covers of the Saturday Evening Post that he had painted for.  They had every single issue that he had done in the exhibit.  It was 362 of them or something.

Fourth, his broad range of styles is very impressive. 

The paintings that he is most known for are the iconic Norman Rockwell style from the covers of the Saturday Evening Post.

But, he also did portraits of presidents, portraits of actors/actresses for movies, true historical paintings, and paintings for propaganda poster or advertisements.

His paintings are so detailed and some are so life like.

I love how a lot of the paintings depict a small moment during regular life.

He used models for his paintings, did lots of research, and did sketches and drawings before he even started a painting!

So, there is your history lesson for the day!

This was one of my favorites-

A Christmas Homecoming -Norman Rockwell, 1948

Last night, B Boy had his end of the year kindergarten Bugz play. 

C Girl had the same one last year.

and now I've watched the videos from last year and am boo hooing!

Sweet little army ant

Such a cute play yet again!

Can I please bottle him up and keep him at this age?!!!

A big ole crying mess

I remember a day when the kiddos were very little and I thought, it is 3 more years until B Boy goes to school.  That seemed like FOREVER to me.  

And here we are, the end of kindergarten.

I'll be honest.  I'm a crying mess. 

Last year, I still had a preschooler that was coming to kindergarten.

Watching him graduate preK was hard, but oh, this is SO much harder.

After the volunteer breakfast this morning, I got to go to the Mother's Day program that his class had for the mommas.

Everything was good and fine through the songs.  I was happy.  The singing was sweet.

Then.

Then they showed the end of the year slideshow.

And this is what happened. 

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And please don't get me started on the fact that C Girl will be a 2nd grader next year.

2nd Grade????!!!

It just seems so old! And it goes too fast!

They are just not babies anymore.

I'm holding on to just a few words that they still say incorrectly.

I just can't bear to correct them.

They'll figure it out eventually right?!

 these little guys are SUCH good buddies. I pray he always has wonderful friends.

 And his teacher.  Oh, how I will miss her.  She was C's kindergarten teacher as well.  I've been around her weekly for 2 years!  It just won't be the same!

 And I LOVE that our new art teacher this year was a mister.  The kids all ADORE him.  He's been a great addition to our school.

 Oh my sweet boy, I love you too.

(excuse me while I go cry in the corner. NOTHING beats a writing like that.)

 Please, oh please, still look at me like that when you are 25.

And yes, as a matter of fact, I AM 50 lbs!!!

These things kill me.

And I really die when he says I'm pretty as a diamond. 

Ladies, this boy is definitely going to be a keeper.

Waaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!!!!

A field trip and a date night

It is a GORGEOUS sunny Sunday and I am about to head outside and enjoy it, but I wanted to do a post really quick!

I love watching them do homework. They always do it on Thursday afternoons since it is due on Fridays.

This past Friday, the kindergartners had a field trip to the fire station!

We were supposed to go to the park too, but it rained and was cold.

It rained last year when C Girl went and they missed out on the park part as well.

Sad.

 BUT, they had a blast checking out the fire station!

They asked SO many questions.

B's teacher said that she has never had a class that asked the firemen so many questions!

There is a group of about 7 or so boys in B's class that are great little friends!  They always want to sit by each other and B talks about them non-stop when he comes home!

I'm so thankful for our firemen and all other service members for what they do.

 We got to watch them leave out on a call.

It was a great trip!

Last night, Tim and I got to go out!  

We were going to check out the Norman Rockwell exhibit at Crystal Bridges, but the line was insanely long.  

Instead, we hopped in a few stores and then went to dinner at Doe's Eat Place.  It was so, so yummy.  I ate almost the entire basket of drop biscuits all by myself.

We also got donuts at Krispy Kreme and watched a movie at home after the kids went to bed. 

It was the first funny movie we had watched in a while.  We have picked some deeper movies lately.  I was thankful for the laughs!

This week, I will be very busy getting ready for teacher appreciation week, May 6-10.

May is just SUCH a busy month.

And seriously, HOW is it almost May?!!!!

This year is going by waaaay too fast.

Things I don't want to forget

My little buddy has been sick the past couple of days.  I've gotten to stay home with yesterday and today and C Girl is home today as well. It makes me miss the days I was home with them before they were in school!

I just wanted to share some things that I do not want to forget.

Last Friday, B was King of the day in his class.

He got this crown and all the kids in his class wrote about him and made it into a book for him to keep.

This kids have also started getting an allowance every week.

On Friday night, Tim took them to Walmart so they could spend a little of their money!

B Boy finished his first Sparks book on Wednesday night!  

We are so proud of him for finishing! 

He will start the next book in the fall.

I'm SO proud of all the scripture he has memorized, C Girlie too!

Tim took B to his tee ball practice on Saturday since I wasn't home from my girl's weekend yet.  

He said that B had a couple of plays where he looked like a major leaguer! 

Of course, there were also plays where he absolutely did NOT look like one! Ha!

After practice, I caught up with them and we went to the school near us (the school the kids will go to next year) to shoot hoops and play on the playground.

It was a gorgeous day, but extremely windy!

B Boy is obsessed with basketball right now.

He is also obsessed with country music.  

As soon as a song comes on, he knows what it is and he can LITERALLY sing every word.

Some of his favorites are Jason Aldean, Blake Shelton, Eric Church, Carrie Underwood, Kenny Chesney, Taylor Swift and Brad Paisley. 

C Girl had her first standardized test at school last week and she did great!

She is growing up so much lately.

Her true colors, lol.

She told us that a boy was picking on her during class the other day.

Tim asked her what she did about it.

She said that she didn't tell her teacher because it was something she could handle on her own.

gah, growing up I tell ya!

I adore the relationship between her and her daddy.

Big news- the training wheels have came off.

I repeat- the training wheels have came off.

However, we have a loooong way to go! Ha!

Flat billed caps are "in." Sigh. (obviously momma has tried to bend it...)

And please don't mind our grass. We are in the process of killing the weeds!

Spring!  Trees are flowering!!!

There is so much beauty in this world if you stop and look around.