Paige's First Day of Kindergarten

Paige had her first official day of Kindergarten on the 11th of September. That day she got to ride the bus to and from school. She was so excited to go and see her friends and to get "homework." When it came time to get on the bus she pretty much ran and jumped on the bus as she casually waved goodbye to me. She didn't even hesitate or even look back. I felt a little emotion as my little girl is now old enough to go to school, but no tears were shed by either of us. I for sure thought that little Paxten would start crying when he realized that Paige was leaving and he couldn't go with her, but he did amazingly well too. He waved goodbye and then followed me home. Know he has freedom when is comes to the TV station, and all the toys in the house, he couldn't be happier!

At the bus stop....waiting

As the bus pulled up, Paige threw her arm out as a wave as she was running to get on.

After school, she had a great first day!

Paige Meets Her Teacher

Paige got to go to her new school on September 10th to take in her school supplies and meet her teacher. She will be in Mrs. Green's class and she is super excited about it. I have been talking to her all summer long about going to kindergarten to prepare her for it and she has seemed a bit nervous about leaving home for a few hours every day and about leaving me. After Pieper was born, I was talking to her about it one night and she started crying. I felt so bad that she was having a hard time with the fact that she will be leaving me. Then I found out a few days after this incident that she really is excited about kindergarten, she just was making me think she was sad and nervous, because she didn't wan ME to feel bad. Silly girl! I am glad she is so excited, I know she will have a great year in Kindergarten. She is so smart and so much fun, she will be a rockstar in her class

Parker 2nd Grade

Our oldest started 2nd grade this year!! What??!! I can't believe he is that big, having a little newborn in the home again brings back all the memories of each other child and when they were that age. It doesn't seem like that long ago we were bringing Parker home from the hospital, so excited and clueless as to what was in store for us. And here we are almost 8 years later!! Parker was very excited to be starting 2nd grade. He has Mrs. Taylor this year, and we are thrilled about that. She has been quite a while and I know she is a wonderful teacher, so Parker is in good hands this year. We are hoping that he really excels this year and that he grasps some of the concepts that were hard for him last year. He has come a long way and it almost to the point that he enjoys some of the parts of school. He was really excited when he learned that a bunch of kids from his 1st grade class have Mrs. Taylor as well so he had friends in the class with him. When we woke him up in the morning for his first day, he just got right back into the routine we had last year and was ready to go in record time. I think he was pretty excited. When he came home from school he was so excited that there would be no homework for the first week because it was also fair week. This kids hates homework, and so does this mother, so I was a little excited as well that there wouldn't be homework to worry about. I am still adjusting to life as a mom of 4!

Parker's Award

Parker received an award on the last day of school for the most improved stufent in his class. This award was given out by the Blackfoot Elks Club and he recieved a cool medal and I was so proud and pleased with him and how much he has advanced this year. He has had some struggles, but has worked hard to overcome them and to do his very best and that is what makes me so proud. He had completed the 50 in a minute challenge for the first grade and has excelled in math. He has also worked super hard, especially the last few weeks of school on his reading so that he could get to 100 AR points before the end of the year. I was about in years one morning when Mrs. Hunt called me to tell me Parker had good news, when he told me that he reached 100 AR points I about started crying! Yay!! He was thrilled to finally accomplish this goal as well. So I felt like this award that he received at the end of the school year summed it up pretty well. Parker has improved so much and I hope that he continues to work hard and have successes in school! I love this kid!

Paige's Preschool Graduation

Paige had her Smartie Pants Preschool Graduation on the 23rd of May. She was in the morning session this time so her program was at 5:00. She has learned the song Zippity Do Da in school sings it so cute that she was asked to sing a solo at the graduation. I wasn't quite sure that would happen. She did it during their practice the Tuesday before and she was confident that she could do it during the graduation. As the program started and Paige realized how many people were in the audience she began to get worried and scared and started to have "stage freight" as she called it. She barely made it through the opening song before she burst out in tears! I felt so bad for her up there on the stage in front of all those people crying and there wasn't much I could do to help her out. She managed to get her emotions under control enought to say her part, "When I grow up I want to be a dentist and a mom" Then when the next song came on she started crying really hard. I think she realized that her solo was coming up and she was extremely nervous about it. I went up to the stage and offered to sing it with her in hopes that would help her out. It turned out that I sang a solo of Zippity Do-Da by myself and it was extremely off key as I sang, trying to keep my emotions in check as well. I just wanted to cry with my sweet little girl. There were well over 100 people there that night, so I could see how she was so overwhelemed and nervous. After the "solo" she seemed to recover and feel better. She sang the last song really well and received her diploma with a half smile. As soon as the whole program was over she was laughing and running around and acting like her usual self. She had to get a picture with her bestest friends from preschool Sloan Gibbs, and Tessa Beck. And she had to get a picture with Miss Mandy, of her her favorite people. For the teacher gift this year, we gave each of the teachers a pot of flowers with a note attached that said. "thanks for helping me grow this year!" I can't believe my little girl with be in Kindergarten in the Fall! Where does the time go?

Math Award

Parker recieved an award at school for completing the 50 in a minute for first grade. He has accomplished sums to 5, differences from 5, sums to 10, differences from 10 and sums to 18. He passed off the first and moved on to the next until he had completed all that was required for 1st grade. He got a medal at a school assembly (Which also happened to by crazy hair day, the wig). I am so proud of him for working so hard and being such a great mathematician. He really is good at math, now if we can just get him better at his reading.....

Leprachaun Trap

Parker's first grade teacher is amazing. She is always doing fun projects and activities with the kids that really get their minds going in a fun way. One of the projects that we had to recently was to build a Leprachaun trap for St. Patrick's Day. I had no idea what to do, so we looked through the amazing world wide web and found some pictures and went from there. We built our trap using an oatmeal container, tissue paper, easter grass, marchmallows, toothpicks, lucky charms, and gold coins. It turned out awseome and the whole family participated, so it became a fun family activity. Parker took it to school and even caught a Leprachaun!! WOW!! He was thrilled.

Parker's Science Project

Parker participated in his first science project this year. I had a hard time coming up with something that I felt like he could explain all on his own in his classroom. We tried one project that had to do with density of liquids and the different liquids were supposed to stay separated in a jar displaying the different density of each, well we must have done something wrong because they all mixed making one big jar of mud looking liquids. So we went with plan "B" and inflated a ballon by mixing baking soda and vinegar. Parker liked it and it fascinated him, so I guess it passed the first grader test. He was prestty excited to present it to his class, when I got there to help him one of the balloons got a hole in it and didn't inflate properly, luckily I brought a back up, but I must not have rinsed the bottle out well enough because it didn't inflate like it should have either. So it was kinda bummer, but the kids in his class got the idea, and had even seen it earlier because another student did the same project. I think Parker had a fun time with science and now I know what to expect and can be thinking of something really cool for next year.

Parker's Award

On the 4th of January Parker received an award at school and I was able to attend to see him get his award. Each month the school has an assembly and 3-4 students from each class are acknowledged for their achievements in their classes. I think this is wonderful for the other students to see what they peers are accomplishing and it sure makes the honored student feel great. Parker was so excited to finally be one of the kids that got an award. His teacher, Mrs Hunt, is wonderful and I think she looks for the best in each of her students. Parker is really lucky to have her. She picked Parker for the month to receive the "Personal Successs Award" for spending extra time practicing his reading and for being a magnificent mathematician. He received a "star" necklace, a gift certificate to Wingers, and the certificate with his picture on it. I was really proud of him and his hard work to get his award. He really is good at math and it seems like the numbers come to him pretty naturally. I hope he continues to enjoy math adn excell at it as he gets older.

Parker's School Program

Parker had his 1st grade Christmas Program on Monday. He was so excited to be performing at the performing arts center for us. They had 2  programs, one at 1:00 in the afternoon and one at 6:00 in the evening. There weren't very many people at the afternoon one, but Grandma Yancey and I were able to make it to watch Parker and his class sing their songs. The evening performance was huge, there were close to 1000 people there to watch the 1-3 grades perform. They all did a great job, but the first grade was the best! (I can say that) Parker actually sang, which is a bug improvement from his Kindergarten program. He is loving being in 1st grade and loves his wonderful teacher.

Parker's Spook Parade

This is Parker's first year attending Stoddard Elementary and so it was also his first Spook Parade at the school. Paige, Paxten and I arrived a few minutes before the parade was to start and got one of the last seats in the gym. After waiting for 30 minutes and still no sign of the "spooky" kids, I was beginning to wonder if it was going to happen. Then in walked the Principal, Mr. Wilson. Follwed by Parker's wonderful teacher Mrs. Hunt. Parker is number 6 in his class so he was right at the front of the line. He was very excited to see us there and to be wearing his costume, a Clone Wars guys, complete with a light saber. (Can you tell I am not a Star Wars fan, I don't even really know what he was!) It was an easy costume for him to put on all by himself at school, because they did not allow the kids wo wear their costumes to school in the morning, they had to put them on after lunch before the Spook Parade and class parties. Parker also took as a treat to his class a bag of Pumpkin Poop (Cheese Balls) to share with his classmates. I think he had a fun day at school celebrating Halloween.

Shoe Tying

Parker came home with a note at the beginning of the month from his teacher. She said, please help your kids learn to tie their shoes, I cannot tie 24 kids shoes all day long. So we immediately started practicing. It seems so simple to me, but it can be quite a difficult thing to learn. Parker has been practicing and can pretty much do it by himself now, he just needs to work on getting it tighter so it will stay in longer. This is just another sigh if him growing up. He will be 7 in less than a week!! 7!! I can't believe I became a mother that long ago. The time just goes to quickly. I love this boy and love the person he is becoming. He loves school and loves his teacher and has improved significantly in his letters and numbers since school has started this year. He is still rambunctious and roudy, but I am beginning to understand that that is just how boys are

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Paige's 1st Day of Preschool

Somehow the month slips by before I know it and I am playing catch-up on the blog...better late than never I guess!
Paige had her first day of Preschool on the 11th. She could hardly stand waiting for her first day when Parker started school. She was so excited to go back and to see her teachers, Miss Joni & Miss Allyson. She was also excited to see if they had done anything new with the preschool, like paint the walls. (I didn't think they would have). Well Paige went the week before for open house day and the first thing she noticed was the new wall color. She is very obsevant! Paige loves school and making new friends. She is very smart and knows all of her letters and numbers up to 20. She can write he name and some other words with a little help. The teachers have told me more than once that she is the smartest one in her class, of course they tell me not to tell anyone else that! We hope you have a fantastic year in preschool Paige!!

Parker's 1st Day of 1st Grade

Parker started school on Wednesday, the 5th. It seems a little late this year, but here it is already. He was really excited about going and making new friends, he was really excited to know that he already knew a few kids in his class, which will make making new friends easier. He didn't seem to have any hesitation about riding the bus this year and we didn't have any bus drama on the ride home either this year. We are all hoping that Parker has a fantastic year, and is able to learn and grow and enjoy it in the process. Happy first day Parker!!

Parker's New Clothes

Parker wasn't quite as excited as Paige was about getting new clothes, but I made him try them each on and model for me as well. Parker will be in 1st grade this year and he is so excited about going. He was excited to have a few new things to wear, especially jeans that don't have holes in the knees!

Paige's New Clothes

I took the kids to Walmart the day before Parker started school to get some new clothes. Talk about procrastination! Here are the outfits Paige picked out and her beautiful modeling skills. She cracks me up!! I also love the fact that she is proud that she got ne clothes from Walmart. That won't last forever, gotta love it while I can!!