1st Grade Here We Come!!

Yesterday was Rachel's last day of kindergarten. It's so hard to believe that this school year is over already. Time certainly does fly! Rachel's class put together a little program for all the parents to see yesterday afternoon. They recited a poem using the letters of KINDERGARTEN. It was really cute. There are some pictures of this in the slideshow. They also sang a song called "The Kindergarten Class" which is set to the tune of "The Adamms Family." They did such a good job on this too. My personal favorite was when they sang the theme song from the TV show "Growing Pains." Do you remember it? It starts out "Show me that smile again. Don't waste another minute on your crying. We're nowhere near the end. The best is ready to begin..." Is it coming back to you? The kids sang this so sweetly and had motions and everything for it. It was so cute! Mrs. Kembel put together a slideshow of pictures throughout the year and set it to music for all of us to watch. The songs were so sweet. She made all of the parents a copy too! What a super nice thing to do!! Rachel got her diploma and her report card, so she's officially headed to 1st grade! The kids find out who their teacher is for next year on the last day of class, so Rachel found out she will have Mrs. Wilson for 1st grade and we even got to meet her on our way out. We saw the room and everything, so Rachel knows who her teacher is and where her room is. I think that was huge for Rachel. She doesn't like the unknown. Now she can rest easy all summer knowing where she'll be for 1st grade. Rachel is a little sad because so far she only knows one other person who is in her class, but I'm sure she'll know others once we get to talk to everyone. And we've talked to her about the fact that she'll meet new people and make new friends.

Rachel brought home a couple of workbooks they could work on over the summer to help them remember stuff they've learned. One of the books was phonics stuff, and the other one was math. Well, Rachel had to start working on the workbooks almost immediately after she brought them home earlier this week. She was so funny about it. She's say "Mom, I've got to get this done!" Well, last night she finished the phonics workbook! I wonder how long it'll take her to do the math one? Rachel loves that kind of stuff, so I'm sure we'll go through that workbook and many more this summer.

Kindergarten has been such a good year for us. It was hard back in August to let our 4 year old go off to school with the "big" kids for 5 days a week, but she did great! We were so fortunate to have such a wonderful teacher who made me feel at ease the first time I met her. She genuinely loves the kids. She always made me feel welcome to stop by the class anytime - even unannounced! She was so good with Rachel's asthma - she'd call and/or write a note to let me know everytime Rachel had to use her inhaler at school. That way I knew exactly how she was doing with her asthma.

All that to say that kindergarten was a wonderful experience for us! I'm excited about what Rachel will learn in 1st grade and the new friends she'll make.

Here's a slideshow from the program yesterday.

A Night at the Ball Field

Fun at the Zoo

A few weeks ago, all the kindergarten classes had a field trip scheduled to go to the zoo. It happened to be scheduled on a day that Katelyn did not have preschool, so she was going to get to go on the field trip too. Some of our friends were in the same situation. Catherine is in kindergarten and Virginia is in preschool. Virginia didn't have preschool the day of the scheduled field trip either, so she was going to get to go. Well, the forecast for the day of the field trip was for severe storms, so the teachers/staff made the decision to reschedule the field trip (a decision which I fully agreed with). The rescheduled date was on a day that Katelyn and Virginia had preschool. They were a little disappointed that they weren't going to get to go with the "big kids" on the field trip. Allison (the other mother) and I told Katelyn & Virginia (the little girls) that we would take them to the zoo one day while Rachel & Catherine (the big girls) were in school. We picked this past Monday as our zoo day and it was a gorgeous day!! We had a lot of fun and spent all day there until it was time to go pick up the big girls from school. Here are some pictures from our fun day at the zoo. Thanks Allison & Virginia for going with us!!

High School Friends

Last Tuesday night was a sort of high school reunion for me and 3 of my friends. Three of us (me, Amy, and Lisa) live here within 20 minutes of each other, but the 4th (Michelle) lives in Florida, so she's not in very often. We managed to work it out last week to where the 4 of us, along with Michelle's husband Jimmy, were able to meet for dinner. It was so much fun! I can't remember exactly when we became the Fab 4, but I do know that by middle school, we were best buds and all playing on the middle school basketball team together! Don't get me wrong - we had other friends that we did stuff with too, but when it came to really good, close friends, it was the 4 of us throughout middle school and high school. Throughout those years, there are lots of memories - some good and some maybe not so good! And there were times when it was almost a love-hate relationship. We might have a disagreement and it might be 2 against 2 or even 3 ganging up on the other one. But we'd soon make up and everything would be fine again. When it came time for college, we ended up going in different directions, but we still managed to keep in touch. It was such a treat to get to spend time together again! Lisa and I ended up living in the same city, attending the same church, and even are in the same Sunday School class! Amy just lives about 20 minutes away and her husband is the youth minister at my parents' church. A couple of years ago I even played on her church's softball team with her!! Michelle has lived in Florida now for like 10 years, so it's not very often that I get to see her. I think the last time all four of us were together were at a baby shower for Lisa when she was expecting twins - and the twins will be 2 in a couple of months!!! But even though a lot of time may pass in between visits, when we get together it seems like old times!! I didn't have my camera with me for our visit last week, but Lisa and Michelle did, so I'm hoping they'll share their pictures with me.

Thanks Amy, Lisa, and Michelle for being my friends through the years. I love you guys and greatly enjoyed our dinner last week!!

Mother's Day Pictures

Pictures from Dollywood

School is Almost Out!

It's hard to believe that Rachel has almost completed her kindergarten year! Time has flown by this year! These last two weeks of school have been filled with quite a bit of fun! Two Fridays ago, she was out of school because if was Kindergarten Round-Up, which is when the upcoming kindergarteners come in, register for school, see the school, meet the teachers, do some simple testing, etc. Since she was out of school, I took the girls to Dollywood. We had a really good time and they were very well behaved! The forecast was for rain, but we managed to get in almost all day before the rain came. We came out of a show and got the surprise of a nice spring shower! It was raining pretty hard, and of course I had to leave the stroller outside because they won't let you bring them indoors for a show. So the stroller was soaked! We were very far from the entrance, so I knew we had pretty much no chance of staying dry!!! Luckily, I had brought extra clothes for everyone, so I went ahead and let Katelyn ride in the stroller, even though it was like sitting in a puddle of water!! By the time we made the hike to our van, the rain had stopped and Rachel & I were pretty much dry. Katelyn, however, was soaked! So she changed clothes and we headed back home.

Now fast forward to this past Thursday. The entire kindergarten had a field trip to the local park. Katelyn & I went too and everyone seemed to have a good time. It sure was a lot of kids, but I don't think there were any major problems, injuries, etc. We got there around 9:00, played a while, had a picnic lunch, played more, then headed home around 1:30. Katelyn was exhausted and took a 3 hour nap!!! Both girls had a fun time and Katelyn thought she was a BIG girl playing with the kindergarteners!!!!

The next day (last Friday) Rachel was once again out of school for teacher training. So guess where we headed? Dollywood again!!! We had some "bring a friend free passes" so we took advantage of the day off from school to take some friends to Dollywood. Mamaw & Papaw (my parents) went with the four of us, and we met a family (Bill, Allison, Catherine, & Virginia) from here that me & the girls have become friends with. They have 2 girls - one is Rachel's age and the other one is a year younger than Katelyn. We had great weather and a great time there!!! It was extra special because it was Catherine's 6th birthday that day too! Allison had called ahead and the bakery there inside Dollywood made a birthday cake! I think Catherine had a good birthday - at least I hope she did!!! We all had a good time!! I'll post pictures later.

This week was Katelyn's last week of school, so yesterday was her last day. They were supposed to have water day, with an inflatable water slide, sprinklers, baby pool, etc., but the weather wasn't very cooperative. It was cool & rainy most of the day. I think Katelyn did go down the slide once, but that was enough for her!! Her end of the year program is tonight and she's so excited about singing on stage!!!

Next week Rachel will have Field Day on Tuesday, an ice cream party on Wednesday, and then her end of the year program on Friday afternoon. Sounds like a lot of end of the year partying to me!!!

Rachel has really loved kindergarten this year and she has a WONDERFUL teacher!! We've been blessed with such a great teacher for Rachel! I'm hoping Katelyn will have her the year after next when she starts school!!!

Both girls are sad that school is coming to an end! I hope they don't get too bored at home with me this summer!!! Thank goodness for VBS, worship camp, the zoo, Dollywood, Mamaw & Papaw's pool, etc.!!!

I've Been Tagged!

My friend Becca tagged me in an online game of tag. Here are the rules: each player starts with seven random facts about themselves. People who are tagged need to write on their own blog about the seven things and the rules. You then "tag" seven people by listing their names and leaving them a comment on their blog that they have been tagged and to read your blog. So here goes my attempt at listing seven random facts about me.

1. I got thrown out of a softball game in high school for questioning a call (I WAS SAFE!!!) and then proceeded to toss my helmet across the field back to the dugout! That umpire and I didn't particularly care for each other!!!

2. I ran track my junior year in college - 100 meters. Before you're too impressed, let me say that this was the first year for having a track team after many years of not having one, and they posted signs around campus for people to come out and try it. If you stuck with it, you were on the team! I never won a race, but I did come in 2nd in one heat! So now I can say I'm a former OVC (Ohio Valley Conference) athlete!!

3. Speaking of OVC athlete, I went to college with the intention of playing softball. They didn't have a scholarship to offer, and since I was on full academic scholarship, it didn't matter. The coach came to my high school and asked me and my catcher (I was the pitcher) to come and play softball for him. Once I showed up at college, I decided I'd rather play intramural sports and have more time for other things than to play college softball. Plus, I didn't really like pitching!!! So I never even attended a softball practice or anything. BUT, each semester I was always listed on the academic honor roll for the college athletes!!!!

4. Robert & I dressed up as Sonny & Cher one year for Halloween. The twist was that I was Sonny and Robert was Cher!!! Actually, Robert ended up looking more like Howard Stern!!! It was pretty funny!!

5. When I entered graduate school, I had the highest score ever at that university on the GMAT (Graduate Management Admission Test). Not sure if that record still holds or not! Probably not, but I'll act like it does!!

6. I puked all over the Grand Canyon!! We were on a family vacation - we took a month and drove out to the west coast. We went out the northern route and came back the southern route. We saw lots of National Parks and other tourist places (Yellowstone, Yosemite, Painted Desert, Petrified Forest, the Badlands, Mt. Rushmore, Grand Canyon, Mesa Verde, Pike's Peak, the London Bridge, the Big Well, etc.). It was a neat vacation. But evidently I had an allergic reaction to something. Not sure if it was the blue dye in a t-shirt I bought in California or the bushes in a maze, but I broke out in hives all over my body - inside & out. I stood on the edge of the Grand Canyon and puked all over it! I even ended up going to the clinic at the Grand Canyon and ended up with a prescription and everything. At one time I still had the medicine bottle as a souvenir since it was filled at the Grand Canyon pharmacy. Not sure where it is now!!

7. I was valedictorian of my high school class and two years later my brother was valedictorian of his class too!

Okay, so now I'm supposed to tag 7 more folks. Problem is, I don't have many blogging friends, and the ones I do have already been tagged. So here are the ones I would tag if they hadn't been tagged already:

1. Gwen
2. Amanda
3. Laura K.
4. Alison
5. Ashley Z.
6. Michale
7. Christy - looks like you're the only one who hasn't been tagged yet!!