End of the Year Celebration and a Visit to the Splash Pad

Today was Brianna's First Grade celebration. She will soon be a second grader.... How did she get so old!

She got several awards and she was very excited. She has had a very good year and has learned so much!

After school I decided to take Brianna, Jacob and Brianna's friend to the splash pad. I suppose I am CRAZY... I deal with kids all day everyday and I decide it is a great idea to go to a busy place and once again deal with kids..... It was tons of fun. Jacob takes a while to get used to the water but once he decides he likes it he has the best time.

The best part of the day is tomorrow school is out and we can really begin our SUMMER!!!!

Dance Recital 2011

Last night Brianna danced in her 4th dance recital. It is amazing to see good she has gotten since that very first dance recital. She dance in Jazz (which she says is her favorite because this is the first year for Jazz) Tap and Ballet (which I think she is the best at). I have decided that no matter how many sports we put her in..... She will never love those like dance.

Brianna's First Recital- Mr. Ed's School of Dance


Brianna's Second Dance Recital- Sonshine Academy














Brianna's 3rd Recital- Sonshine Academy













Brianna's 4th Recital- Sonshine Academy



Brianna we love watching you dance!!!

Hello World...

Finally the school year is coming to an end. My first year at a different school and it has been a year. I think I have become more of a grief counselor than anything for these kids. We have dealt with three different deaths including a death of a classmate. I can only believe that next year will be so much better.

I can say that this school has been a blessing for Brianna. She has not had any close friends at her old school because she was so different than the other kids but this year she has plenty of kids that she likes and is allowed to do things with outside of school.

I wake each morning knowing we are less than 20 days until summer.........

A day at the zoo

We took the kids to the zoo on Saturday with Brianna's friend from school. I have to admit the LR Zoo is getting better. This is the first time I went to the zoo and actually felt like we saw enough animals that we did not waste our money getting into the zoo.

The highlight of the day was Mary the Elephant painted a picture that was too be raffled off after she was done. Brian bought a few chances to win the painting. I never actually thought that he would win that I did not take any pictures of Mary painting. Luckily Savanna's mom did and she sent them to me!!

I had no idea of how much people want these paintings but a guy asked Brian if he would sell it to him. Brian declined and I am thinking a framed painting to go in the newly redecorated black and white kids bath is in order!!!

Book Character Dress-Up Day 2011

Brianna has a very strong love of the book A Bad Case of the Stripes. It is about Camilla Cream who wanted so badly to be liked at school and on the first day of school she wakes up with the stripes. Her parents try to find a cure and everyone has an opinion and they stripes keep getting worse until finally they find out the cure is actually lima beans.

She developed the love of the this book from her kindergarten teacher and she has never lost it. She was hoping to dress up as Camilla last year at her old school but they did not have a dress-up day and she probably would not have been able to since she had a little boy in her class that was afraid of the book and all things stripes.... Surely I would have talked her out of it.

This was her year to get to dress up as Camilla and there was no talking her out of it. We got her up really early and Brian painted her stripes on. She was so excited!!!

She won the character dress-up for her class and ALL of the first and kindergarten classes!!! She got a bunch of goodies and a gift card to Barnes and Noble! My only concern is what can she do to one up herself next year!!!

Christmas Round 1- JuJu's House

With the exception of a few gifts for Brian and I those are all for Brianna and Jacob!!

This year we are having to change the traditions we have had since Brian and I got married. We are going to spend Christmas in Texas at his parents house. This is a big change for everyone because the last few years we have hosted Christmas. Some days I am sad and other days I am glad that I did not have to fully decorate and worry about having everything perfect.

Jacob was so excited to finally get a John Deere.... I guess he must be a country boy at heart!!

Last Saturday, we celebrated Christmas with my mom and brother. My mom cooked a huge lunch for us and it was good eating. We opened gifts and the kids got to spend the day in the country playing at JuJu's house.

Brianna is really hoping Santa gets her that DS she is wanting!!

I think this is going to work out much better for the kids because they are not going to be so overwhelmed opening all of those gifts in one day. They actually get to enjoy their new toys before getting more.

Round 2 comes on Tuesday night with the Mayfield family and then it is a waiting game for the big day.......

First Day of First Grade

So really we just finished the third day of first grade but I did not get a chance to load the pictures until today.... Not only was this the first day of school it was also Brianna's first day at her new school.. Carver Magnet... which I am hoping will be her last move for many years......

Brianna is enjoying her new teacher but I am pretty sure that no one will fill the shoes of Mrs. Hart in her mind..... She reminds me everyday how much she loves her.......