Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Kindergarten Graduation

Drew's kindergarten graduation was this past Thursday evening.  His class had been practicing a lot in the last few weeks, and we had heard a few little things about the program from Drew and some things about Drew's practice antics from Drew's teacher.  We were looking forward to an memorable night, and we were not disappointed!
They started with some patriotic songs and the pledge to the flag.
 The program was about all the subjects that the class studied during their year of kindergarten, and they sang songs and said poems that they had learned about each subject.  Drew had a couple of lines that he said all by himself.  He did a great job remembering his lines and all of the words to the songs, and he was quite a character on the stage!  He did some little dance moves and made a few faces between the songs and poems.  Jim kept getting texts from our friends during the program, commenting on Drew's performance.  We were so proud and totally mortified all at the same time!
 Maddie did a pretty good job of entertaining herself during the program by snacking and watching the program.
 One of our favorite parts was a song about music, where each child played an instrument.  Drew played the tambourine!
 After the program, the children all left the auditorium to change into the caps and gowns.  Then they all marched back in sedately - except for this crazy guy!
 The children sat on the front row and each went up on the stage to receive their diplomas individually.  The principal gave Drew his diploma.
 Then Drew got a handshake from his teacher (who had just had a baby eight days before the graduation!).
 Each child posed with his diploma as he walked back across the stage to his seat.  Here was Drew's pose!
 I was able to get a better picture of Drew with his diploma after the program.  He was so cute!  He really, really enjoyed his graduation, and he did a great job!
 Here is the whole group - our family, my parents, and Jim's mom.
 Drew was excited to get some cards after the graduation.
 Drew and his best friend, Joseph.
 Drew and some other buddies, Noah and James.
 Drew got to meet his teacher's new baby after the graduation.
 We stayed for cake and punch at the church after the graduation before we went home.  Drew had a few gifts to open when we got home.  My parents got him a light saber, and he was thrilled!
 We got him a Star Wars plane, some Skittles, and his first Bible.
 Drew asked me to take a picture of him with his light saber!
 Maddie had to check it out too.
We are very proud of our kindergarten graduate!  He worked hard and learned a lot this year.  We are excited to see him continue to grow and learn as he goes through school!

Friday, May 17, 2013

Project Life - Week 18

The children and I stayed home from church this Sunday because Maddie had a runny nose, and Jim was working.  Drew and Maddie played together pretty well that day, and Drew read to Maddie a little bit.
 Drew had swimming again this Monday, and Jim came to see Drew's lesson.  We had to wait for a changing room after the lesson, and Drew entertained himself by getting into some empty lockers.
 We went out for dinner at Qdoba after the swimming lesson, and Drew decided that it is his new favorite restaurant.  He loves quesadillas.  After dinner, the boys went back to the golf course to finish up a few things and play a little golf, and Maddie and I went to the grocery store.  Maddie liked looking at the fish.
 Drew's latest favorite is Star Wars.  He hasn't ever seen the movies, but he likes the little guys, and he and his friends play with the figures at school.
 Maddie and I did a little fabric shopping while Drew was at school one morning.  We were looking for some flannel to make a baby blanket for Drew's teacher, who is expecting her first baby.
 This Friday was Drew's teacher's last day of teaching, and I made cupcakes to send to school to celebrate her last day.  Maddie stole one from the table while they were cooling.
 We had some warm weather this week
 and some rainy weather.  Maddie was really strutting in her raincoat!
 The boys washed the cars one night after dinner.  Maddie loved playing in the soapy water!  She got soaked!
 Drew rinsed the cars with his squirt gun.  He is loving the warm weather and playing outside more!
 Here is my layout for this week.  I broke down and bought a Project Life mini kit this week!  Now that they are being sold at Hobby Lobby (and you can use coupons to make them cheaper!), I got one.  I am still loving Project Life, but some weeks I get bogged down in trying to find coordinating papers and journaling cards from my scraps.  I thought that a kit would be helpful for weeks when I don't have a lot of time to devote to Project Life.  I used my new Wellington mini kit this week.
I am linking up with The Mom Creative again this week.
We are looking forward to having my parents here next week.  They are coming for Drew's kindergarten graduation!  I'm sure I will have lots of fun pictures to share in the next few weeks!

Thursday, May 9, 2013

Project Life - Week 17

This week started with church on Sunday.  Jim's mom and aunt came to our church that morning, and then they came over for lunch at our house after church.
 On our way home from school one day, Drew asked if we could go out to the golf course to see Jim at work.  We called him to see if he was busy, and he told us to come on out.  We had lunch with him, and then we went out to the driving range so Drew could hit a few balls.  Maddie watched from the cart.
 Drew loves to hit golf balls, and he is looking forward to taking golf lessons again this summer.
 I let Maddie try to feed herself with a spoon this week.  She had a great time eating her applesauce.
 The pool where Drew has his swimming lessons is very hot, and we stopped at McDonald's for smoothies after Drew's lesson to help us cool off.
 I bought "Crocs" for each of the kids this week.  I love Maddie's tiny pink ones.
 Maddie got this little pink push car for Christmas from Jim's sister and brother-in-law.  Jim put it together, and he and Drew took Maddie for her first ride.
 She likes her little car!
 Jim and I went to the Tigers/Braves game on Saturday.  Jim is a Tigers fan, but the Braves are his second-favorite team, and since they don't often play each other, Jim really wanted to make it to a game while the Braves were in town.  We had a nice time at the game, and the weather was beautiful - 66 degrees and sunny.
 Here's what I did for Project Life this week.  I kept all the photos 3x4 inches, except the photo collage of the baseball game at the bottom.  We took a self-portrait at the game that I didn't love, but I decided to add it anyway (and cropped so small, it didn't seem quite so bad).
I am linking up again with The Mom Creative.
I haven't had a lot of extra projects or activities to blog about lately (I've been doing some Spring cleaning/organizing - not very exciting to anyone but me!), but we have some fun stuff coming up in the next few weeks, so I hope to have some non-Project Life posts again soon.

Thursday, May 2, 2013

Project Life - Week 16

Maddie is into EVERYTHING these days!  Loading and unloading the dishwasher takes forever if she is around because she wants to reach in and take things.
 She loves to get into Drew's dresser drawers and pull out his clothes.  We found his bedroom floor covered with shorts and pajamas one day after she emptied the drawers.  We have started keeping the bedroom and bathroom doors closed.  Thankfully, our kitchen garbage can has a locking lid, so she can't get into that!  Jim and Drew have started calling her, "Wreck-It Ralph."
 Drew had another swimming lesson on Monday.  We switched to a new time/teacher due to a glitch in the computer system.  He is enjoying his lessons.
 Maddie and I played Peek-a-Boo behind her stroller canopy.
 After the lesson, we met Jim and his mom for dinner.  The kids ate pizza.
 Maddie looked very stern as she ate her pizza, but she really did enjoy it. :)
 We have been transitioning away from Maddie's morning nap, and she gets pretty sleepy by the afternoon.  She fell asleep at lunch one day.
 Drew and I had a little Mother/Son date night on Thursday night.  We started with dinner at McDonalds - Drew's choice.
 Then we went to Drew's school's elementary play.  It was a Patch the Pirate play.  The students did a very nice job, and Drew enjoyed watching some of his friends from church and school perform in the play.  I borrowed this picture from Facebook since I was sitting too far back to get a good shot.
 Jim and I were supposed to meet some friends for dinner Saturday evening.  They had to cancel at the last minute, but since we had a babysitter, we decided to still go out on our own.  We tried a new (to us) barbecue restaurant near Jim's work.  It was very good!  It was nice to have a night out with just the two of us.  We hadn't had a date night in a while!
Here is what I did for Project Life this week.
A lot of my photos kind of came in groups of two this week, so I kept them paired up and moved my journaling up to the top with the title.
I am linking up with The Mom Creative again this week.
I hope you are having a great week.  It finally feels like spring here, and we are enjoying the nice weather!