The Last Days of Kindergarten

In an effort to cope with the impending loss of Christa's Kindergarten class, I decided to do a last minute slide show to capture the year.  I know I sound so dramatic about this "huge change" even though it's one of many that will come in my parenting journey.  In fact, I never thought I would be the mom that would have a hard time letting her baby grow up and go to "real school."  But I never anticipated how much we would grow to love our friends there, and how much it would sting when we all chose different schools/classes for our kids.  So, I mourned it a little.... OK, a lot.... maybe even an excessive amount :)  I'm better now, but the days leading up to Kindergarten graduation were hard, and I did everything I could to re-live our wonderful year.  Once I got started on the slide show, I realized that I didn't have certain pictures that really captivated their school year.  So, I photographed some art work that represented the year, and went to the school the day before graduation to get some more shots.

 Christa has several little best friends in her class, but she and Adeline are two peas in a pod.  All throughout the year, I found treasures and notes in her backpack, mostly from Adeline, telling Christa what a good friend she was or how much she loved her.  It was sooooo sweet!

 Notes like this one!

 Jack and Jilly were a series of reading booklets that we worked on throughout the year.

 Girl fun!

 Fun in the play room!

 Shhhhh.... a staged picture for our slide show that turned out really cute!

 Learning time with Mrs. Holdbrooks.

 Fun on the playground!

 The whole class, minus Henry, who had Strep throat that day.

 We spent hours playing on this playground after school with our friends this year!  I hope to continue the tradition next year with Abby Kate!

All ready for First grade!

Strawberry Patch

The morning after the slumber party, I have no doubt I could have taken Christa home to rest for the day!  Strawberry season doesn't last long, though, and it was such a rainy Spring that I wanted to make sure we squeezed that activity in before it was too late.  We met up with Christa's friend, Taylor, and picked ourselves some juicy red berries!

 Sweet little girls ready to get some tasty fruit!

 Elizabeth had a great time looking at the different berries to pick.

 If only Christa would eat these things!  She's very picky when it comes to fruit, and even picking the goods herself doesn't motivate her to try new things.

 Abby Kate enjoyed picking them, too!

Having fun playing hand-clap games while Mommy paid for the loot.  She's getting so big!

Wrapping Up the School Year

Part 2

This year, having 2 kids in "school," it was much more challenging to be at every function/party for every holiday/event.  Many of the parties ended up falling on Thursday mornings, which happens to be my MOPS day nearly every week.  Since I'd already committed to be a leader for the year, I couldn't just skip out for everything that was going on at school.  Luckily, Cline just so happened to be off work and available to go to field trips with Christa or to Abby Kate's class functions every time I couldn't make it.  That was really special time for them, even though I was sad to miss out on a few things this year.  I was able to make it to the tail end of Abby Kate's water fun day for her end of the year party.  Her teachers, Mrs. Allison and Mrs. Mandy were awesome, just as they were with Christa when she was in their class!!  

 Abby Kate enjoyed the water balloons!

 Abby Kate and her "best friend" Molly!

 Fun with soapy water and other, fun outdoor things!

 Enjoying popsicles after a pizza lunch!

Christa's class had an end of the year slumber party!!  I'd heard rumors that the Kinderkid class did this every year long before we got the invitation to it.  When I first heard about the idea, I wasn't sure how I felt about sending my 5 year old to a co-ed slumber party!  By the time the information came to us, though, I had no qualms about it.  They made smores and ate hot dogs by a campfire at a neighborhood clubhouse, and there was plenty of supervision.  Plus, I knew all the moms of the kids well enough that I had no reservations at all about letting her go.  She had such a sweet class, and was sooooo excited about this party!

 A few of her girl friends - Taylor, Molly, and August!

 Three great Kindergarten teachers ready for a long night!  Apparently, Christa was the last one to fall asleep around midnight.  She worked for weeks to stop sucking her thumb leading up to this!  I was so excited and proud that she made the decision all on her own.  I wondered if it was because she was embarrassed to suck her thumb in front of her class, but was just grateful she'd decided to take that step.  My suspicions were confirmed, however, when she begged to suck her thumb again the very day after the slumber party was over!  So funny!  I think some other little girls went through the same thing - if only they'd all known that they're all still sucking their thumbs at night!

 After-party breakfast at Chick-Fil-A!

Wrapping Up the School Year

Part One

The end of school was tough this year.  We managed the increased activity fairly well, as I wrapped up my obligations as a MOPS leader and young mom's bible study leader.  We got through the end of Kindermusik, the ballet recital, the many end of the year parties, graduations, gifts to send for various weddings, high school graduations, etc. just fine.  But this year was Christa's last year in her precious, little, safe, wonderful, church pre-school setting.  This was the last year I had to be late dropping the kids off without a black mark on our record, to pick Christa up right after lunch every day, to have Fridays to do whatever we want, to not have to be anywhere until 9am, and to be able to take a family vacation during school hours without guilt or make-up work.  Next year, we'll have to be up and out of the house by 7:45am.  (I sure hope the new baby is a good sleeper and a fast eater)!  Christa will be in school all day long, 5 days a week.  My life will revolve around dropping kids off at different places, at different times, and then picking them up in the middle of nap time for the little ones.  There are a lot of things that I am not looking forward to about the changes that will come in just over a month.  But I know it's time for Christa to start "real" school, and I've exhausted every delay tactic I can think of!  She is excited and ready, and if I have to drag us all out of the house before sunrise to send my sweet baby girl away for the day, I can't think of a better place than the safe and relatively small school we have chosen for her where we know our values will be reinforced for her.  Plus, it's located right next to a Bojangle's, where I can get a large coke in a styrofoam cup every morning, if that's what I need to cope :)
Still, I've known all year long that it will be a big change and adjustment.  The thing I've struggled the most with is the changes that are going to come with our friends from our beloved pre-school.  Christa's closest little friends are all scattering to different elementary schools and even different grades.  Their moms have become some of my closest friends, and I know that even though we might stay in touch and have the kids play together once in a while, it probably won't be the same.  I have found that it is sooooo much harder to have the same friends year after year in my adult life.  I remember hanging out with the same "best friends" for years as I was going through school.  As an adult, things are always changing.  We're always naturally spending more time with completely different groups of people, and while it's fun to be constantly getting to know new friends, I sort of miss the days of having one or two "best friends" for 5 or 10 years at a time!
So, with all of these thoughts and emotions increasing as each week of the Spring semester went by, the kids and I soaked up every opportunity to thoroughly enjoy each end-of-the-year play date and activity that we could squeeze in!  We made some great memories, and couldn't have finished out the year any better.  Enjoy the pictures!

 Elizabeth's last Kindermusik for the Spring.  She loved every second of it.... so much that I signed all 3 kids up for a summer session that we can do together!

 Elizabeth loves her Kindermusik teacher, Mrs. Wendy!  Her favorite part of the class is to "rock with Mrs. Wendy" during quiet music time.  She talks about it at home a lot, and says "Mrs. Wendy is bootiful (beautiful)."

 Christa's class took a field trip to our local, minor-league baseball game, and even scored some box seats for everyone!  Here she is with 2 of her closest friends, Adeline and Taylor.

 The sweet girls all doing the "Tomahawk Chop."

 I so wish I could listen to them talk without them knowing I was there.  They just chatter away about.... who knows what??

 During one of the last days of the school year, our friends all got together and walked to the candy store after school.  The girls loved posing in front of their school sign.

 Elizabeth didn't want to be left out, so she posed, too :)

Enjoying some Sugar!!

Seagrove/Sandestin 2013

Hello again!  My parents celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary in May of this year.  Since they were all partied out from their 60th birthdays last year, we decided to take an extended family vacation to the Destin area.  It was great, and quite possibly my new favorite vacation spot!  We stayed in some condos just a mile or two from the Seaside community, and the"emerald coast" was gorgeous!  The beach was not hard to get to from our condos, and there was plenty of entertainment on days that we were worn out from the beach!

 Family dinner at a delicious, beach side restaurant!

 Christa is pretty much obsessed with all things Aunt Alicia when she's around, and the big girls are pretty crazy about Uncle Brandon, too!

 The girls loved stopping by the ice cream shop in Seaside!  Mommy enjoyed a delicious Symphony brownie sundae.

 Elizabeth was a little shy around Aunt Alicia at first, but warmed up quickly.  Alicia requested this picture of Elizabeth not crying in Alicia's arms.

 Fun at the playground!

 Christa flew a kite for the first time ever...

 .... which was incredibly easy with the sea breeze!  I don't remember the last time any of us flew a kite, but it went right up with no effort!

 Mimi enjoying the sand and sun.

 The girls making "trees" out of soaking wet sand.  This was Elizabeth's favorite activity!

 More proof that Elizabeth loves Aunt Alicia!!

We went to the gulf-quarium in Destin one day which was really neat!  We saw a dolphin and sea lion show.  It was right on the beach, so there was beautiful scenery all around.

 Three sweet girls!

 I don't remember the name of this area, but it had lots of shopping, dining, and carousel/zip-line rides.  It was great fun!

 Another family picture at sunset.

 What a great trip!

Night at the Rodeo

Hello again everyone!!  Another attempt to catch up on the blog underway, here :)  I've made progress some weeks, but still haven't "caught up."  So, in April, Cline decided to take the big girls to the Rodeo in Athens.  Uncle Cleve is very active in the Block and Bridle Club there, and was the chair person of the big annual rodeo this year!  Elizabeth and I reluctantly stayed home.  Elizabeth is not at the best age to enjoy these things, and we didn't know Cline would be off work and able to go in time to coordinate a babysitter.  The kids had a blast, though!

 Christa wanted to wear her cowgirl dance costume from last year!  I heard that random people thought she looked so cute, they wanted to have their pictures made with her.

 Abby Kate is my brave child so far!  Christa is incredibly timid around animals, big and small, so my guess is that Abby Kate got on the pony first!

 Well, I guess Christa got up the nerve to try it out, too....

 ... as long as Daddy was right there next to her!

 Abby Kate was thrilled to hold a baby chick.  Christa was not, so there is no picture of Christa holding any kind of animal!

 Great Rodeo, Uncle Cleve!!

Two Southern Girls!