Jeremy's Daycare Graduation

Today was an important day for Jeremy- it was his preschool's graduation. Well, except that we have considered this past year to be "daycare" since we are sending him to preschool in August.  So, it was actually more like his "daycare" graduation.   More on our family's new transitions in a later post...

Even though this wasn't the "real" preschool graduation, I actually got emotional during his program.  Jeremy was asked to lead the Flag Salute with 2 other kids (I don't know about you, but to know the Pledge of Allegiance at age 4 is impressive to me!).  There was a Flower Ceremony in which each student comes up to the front and presents one of his parents with a rose.  In the background they played the song, Child of Mine.  I got very teary eyed when Jeremy presented me with his rose!

Finally, at the end, each student's name was called for them to go and receive their (fake) diploma.  It was very cute, but more importantly, triggered for me the realization that my baby is truly growing up!

Happy Birthday to Me!

It's summer time and for our family, that means we will soon be heading north to visit my family in the Great White North. This will be the first time that we will be driving as opposed to flying. Despite the many hours in the car, the bottom line is that we hope it'll be a wonderful adventure, a memorable and special time for our family.
Knowing that we'd be on the road for my birthday, we celebrated tonight. We were fortunate to have Jason's mom watch the kids so that we could go out to a lovely dinner at Max's Bistro. Here's to my 36th year!

Seared Halibut with Seafood & Spinach Risotto

Topping off a Wonderful Year!

PROUD OF OUR GIRL!!! End of Year Awards: Principal's Award (4.0 GPA all year), Math Award, Reading Achievement pin, Perfect Attendance for the semester & year, Top 5 A.R. Reader for 2nd grade (earned 42 points, 3rd highest). YAY, Grace!

In addition to ending a school year, Grace is also ending her time at Kratt Elementary School. She qualified for Manchester GATE School and will be going there next year. From a Bulldog to a GATEr... More information about that in a future post! 

Daddy-Daughter Day

Every year, Jason's school rewards its Honor Roll students with a free field trip to an amusement park out of town.  It's always on a Saturday and so to get teacher chaperones to come, his principal pays for teachers and their children's admissions.  It has become an annual trip for Jason and Grace.  This year's trip to Six Flags almost didn't happen...

The Thursday before the field trip, I discovered a homework packet while going through a pile of papers that Grace was supposed to submit the previous Friday.  Even though it was 10:45pm, we woke Grace up to get an explanation.  It turns out that not only did she forget to turn in her homework, she had lost recess on Monday as a consequence.  These were details that she conveniently kept to herself all week, despite the fact that we talk about the happenings in our day when we sit down to dinner every night.  We consider her "selective sharing" to be a form of dishonesty.  There have been a few other times when Grace has been irresponsible, but she has always been honest about it.  We were so upset and disappointed with her and we wanted to maximize this teachable moment.  Jason told her, "This special trip on Saturday is for kids who have earned it with their hard work and the good choices they made all year.  Based on your actions this past week, we don't feel like you deserve to go."  She got emotional and we sent her to bed. 

The next day, we talked to a lot of people who all said that we should still let her go to Six Flags (one even said that we'd be the meanest parents ever to let a few mistakes ruin this wonderful day for daddy-daughter bonding).  Well, we talked to her on Friday night and the conversation basically went like this:  "Grace, your actions this past week were dishonest and irresponsible and we don't feel that you earned or deserve to go on the field trip.  So many times in life, we get things that we don't deserve.  Daddy has been looking forward to this trip for a really long time and he really wants to spend time with you.  So, we're going to let you go even though this trip wasn't earned, simply because it's a great opportunity for us to spend together."  

Bright and early Saturday morning, Jason and Grace left for Six Flags and had a wonderful, fun, and memorable Daddy-Daughter Day. 

At Six Flags, Grace and Jason enjoyed watching some of the animal shows.  Have you ever seen a tiger in the water?! I thought this picture was so cool!

In addition to the shows, they enjoyed some of the roller coasters. 

I'm so glad that Grace loves roller coasters- Jason has someone other than me to go on rides with (I don't do rides).

Interestingly, some students had to learn some life lessons on this trip.  Two girls got caught stealing from the park's gift shop and had lengthy dealings with security and the police.  The buses got delayed as a result and rolled in to Fresno several hours late.  Yikes!  And so it is with life- I wonder what lessons will be learned from this particular day?

Memorable Moments with Jeremy

Here are 2 more: 

On Friday nights we go out to dinner, then when we get home, we usually let the kids stay up a little past their bedtime to watch something on Netflix.  Most of the time, it's Cake Boss (that in itself is kind of funny, especially since the kids now mimic Buddy's accent... We're constantly having to explain the poor language use! Anyway, I love all those baking shows but Cake Boss is the only one we can get on Netflix).   There was an episode that was shot in Italy. Grace said, "They sure drink a lot of wine. Why are they drinking so much?"  Jason said, "In Italy, people drink wine with all of their meals, and sometimes even more than water."   Jeremy then asked, "Is Grandma from Italy?"

Jeremy and I were driving home from his daycare when the song called, "Call Me Maybe" came on.  It's on the radio constantly these days.  Jeremy asks, "What is this girl's name?"  "Carly Rae Jepsen."  "Why does she say her name is Maybe?"  "She doesn't say that."  "Yes she does.  In the song, it says call me Maybe."   I started laughing- he's just so cute and doesn't even realize it. 

Jason's Babies

Three years ago, Jason and I decided to plant some blueberry bushes. Neither one of us has green thumbs, so we knew there was a good chance the bushes could die.  I think knowing this made Jason all the more determined to do whatever he could to make sure they survive.  These bushes have been his "babies" and he has worked hard for 3 years to try and get fruit from them.  The first year, we only got a few berries.  Last year, the squirrels and birds got to all of them and we only got a few berries.  This year, Jason outsmarted them and used PVC pipe to put up a net around the bushes.  The result?  We've gotten to enjoy a lot of blueberries this year!  Every few days, Jason will take the kids out to the bushes to pick blueberries.  We've eaten them as is and have also added them to ice cream.  I haven't gotten around to using any for baking, but I imagine that would taste wonderful!

Carnival Season

It was carnival season just a few weeks ago.  We had my school's carnival in May, followed the next week by Grace's school carnival. 

Guess what Grace won at Plinko? She won the top prize- a free goldfish from Whitie's.  She was thrilled, but Jason and I are not.  We haven't been to "claim" it yet!

Oh the inflatables... Every teacher at my school had to sign up for either the ticket booth or to supervise an inflatable.  Well, since I suck at math and would not do well handling money, I ended up at an inflatable.  Unfortunately, the teacher who had the shift after me didn't show up, so I was there for almost 2 hours!!!! Yikes- that was super tiring.

At Grace's school carnival, both Jason and I signed up to help out at her class' booth.  It's the one I dread the most- the HairSpray booth, where people come and get their hair sprayed with colors.  ICK- so messy! Luckily, all I ended up having to do was collect the tickets! Of course the kiddos had to have their hair sprayed, too.   

Grace's Open House

Jeremy's t-ball and Grace's Open House ended up being on the same night.  Jason went with Jeremy and I got to go with Grace.  This year has been a phenomenal year for Grace.  We were very hesitant at the beginning of the year.  She was put into a 2/3 combo class with a male teacher, and we had our reservations about how she would do.  Despite the complications of a combo class, her teacher has done an outstanding job this year.  Grace did pretty well in kindergarten and first grade, however, neither of those years can come close to comparing to how she has LOVED this year.  I'm not even talking academically because she has always excelled at that.  Mr. Pineda truly ignited Grace's passion for learning this past year.  She has learned so much and has been excited to learn everything.  Every night at dinner, she shares some of her knowledge and I am amazed at how much she knows.  She truly adores her teacher and I know that she will greatly miss him when this year ends. More about next year in a different post... Here are some pictures from this year's Open House:

3rd graders in Fresno area learn about Fresno County.  Since Grace was in a 2/3 combo, she also got to learn about Fresno County this year.  Have you ever heard of Zapp's Park?  I had no idea this used to exist here in Fresno.  It was an amusement park off of Blackstone and Olive from between 1912-1916.  Apparently, it was a huge draw to the area since it had zoo animals and amusement rides.  Grace had to do research and then use the information to create a triorama.  (She says she has no idea why her Z is backwards in the sign).

Several science experiments were set up around the classroom for kids to do with their parents.

A funny story about this poster... She was supposed to list her favorites.  For "T.V. Show," Grace answered, "101 Dalmations."  I told her that 101 Dalmations was a movie, not a t.v. show.  She answered with, "Well, you don't let me watch t.v.!"  I started laughing because that is certainly not the case.  However, we don't have Dish or cable, just the regular networks, and there isn't a lot that the kids can watch on there.  We watch a ton of shows on Netflix, but she didn't consider that to be t.v.  I guess we're really depriving our kids, lol.

Pink Thunder and the Yankees

Phew... We made it through a very, very busy few months!  Basically, in addition to both of us working full-time, I was coaching Odyssey of the Mind, Jason was coaching volleyball, Grace had piano and softball, and Jeremy had t-ball... Cram all of that into 5 nights, and it made for a hectic season!  As busy as we were, we don't regret it- we really loved watching our kids play their sports.  Here are some pictures from the season:

Grace got to play with some of her teammates from last year, as well as with the same coach.  Whereas it took both us and Grace a while to get to know her teammates and their families last year, this year, it took no time at all, which made for a fun evening (twice a week).

Coach let Grace try pitching in several games. This was probably her favorite position.

She also got to play catcher in numerous games.  She loved being a part of every play.

One area that she will need to focus on is improving her batting.  She and Jason have already talked about practicing months before next year's season begins.

Jeremy and his buddies, Luke and Levi, joined the City of Fresno's t-ball league for 3-4 year olds.  It was so much fun to meet with our good friends every week to watch our boys "play" baseball.  I give a lot of credit to those coaches- what patience they had to work with so many little kids and try to teach them the basics of baseball.  Jeremy did pretty well, probably because this was his second year.  He was definitely a go-getter and knew what to do at bat.  (Though we're going to have to work with him about not hogging the ball every time the ball is hit!)

I am so grateful that we have many close friends who have sons the same age. It's going to be so great to see our boys grow up together, and what a gift to have this amazing core of support!  (Thank you to Christa for sharing these pictures of Jeremy with me.  I treasure them- they are just so, so cute!)

Jeremy Loves Jesus!

It has come up several times over this past year- "Jeremy, would you like to tell Jesus that you love Him?  Would you like Jesus to be in your heart?"  The answer has always been, "No."  Not even a maybe, or any questions about what that means, his answer has always been a definite no...
Well, today is a special day.  Jason and Grace are having a Daddy-Daughter Day out of town with his school today, and Jeremy and I are getting some Mama-Son time together.  We started our morning by going out to breakfast.  This part of our conversation was life-changing:

J: Why do we go to church?
Me: We go to learn more about Jesus, learn how to live how Jesus wants us to, and to be with other people who love Jesus like we do. 
J:  I love Jesus, too.
M: Would you like to tell Jesus that you love Him?
J: I already did.  I asked Jesus to come in my heart last night.
M: You did?  (me getting teary)  What did you say?
J:  I said, "Jesus, I love you.  Can you come into my heart?"
M: (now on the verge of bursting) Really?  Do you think Jesus knows you love Him? (Jeremy nods).  Do you know that Jesus loves you? (Jeremy continues to nod).  Can I pray with you this time? 
J: But I'm eating right now.  When I'm done, you can pray with me. 

And so we ate our chocolate chip pancakes and chatted about other things...   As I was buckling him back into his carseat, I brought up the subject again, and this time, he said that we could pray together.  So we did!   I am overjoyed!  I didn't have anything special planned for our day together- just hanging out and taking it easy, and yet it has turned into a very significant day indeed!  Praise God!

Open House

A huge part of my life is my work... Our school's Open House was just this past Thursday, and even though it has been the hardest teaching year of my career, I must say that the Open House was a highlight of my year!   

My room's "theme" this year was a States Fair.  We've been learning about the 50 states and each student was assigned a specific state to focus on.  We researched and completed different projects that were showcased during our Open House.  Here's a glimpse of my room:

(No, my desks aren't normally arranged like this!)

For the first time ever, I asked students to dress up for Open House.  They had an option of dressing up as a Famous American from their state or as a state symbol.  It was FANTASTIC what the kids came up with for their costumes.  Here's one example:

When the kids arrived at our classroom, they picked up their "Special Guest Pass" (nametags) and wore them in case people couldn't tell who they were.  They had to find an adult to give them a "V.I.P. Interview."  The students had to answer the questions based on their character/symbol, and the interviewer had to rate the students' answers.

After the interview, the students guided their parents/guests around the classroom to show off all of their learning.

Students created 3-D Flag Art inspired by Jasper Johns' "Three Flags" and wrote descriptive paragraphs about the flag's symbols.

Students learned how to read and create timelines by researching important events in their state's history, including its statehood.

The students researched about famous people from their state.  They used the information to write biography poems from that person's perspective.  Then, they got to create a visual of their famous person.

One thing that I'm proud of this year is how I've taught across the curriculum.  I've definitely worked at "killing more birds with fewer stones."  This particular project tied together ELA, Science, and S.S. standards.  We read about animal and plant cells, compared them using a Venn diagram, then researched State Birds (animal cells) and State Flowers (plant cells).

A popular project that I've assigned over the years is for students to create a State Float.  Students spent a lot of time researching about their state, and then designed a float to represent their state.  Three awards were handed out- this particular float won "Judges' Award."  All Open House visitors got to vote for their favorite float, and I also had the class choose their favorite float.

This past year, we learned how to read physical and political maps.  We also learned about the different landforms across America.  Students used this knowledge to make 3-D relief maps of their state using salt dough and when it was dry, they painted them.

I forgot to take a picture of our Road Trip Scrapbooks.  Every day for the past few months, we've pretended to jump on a bus to take a road trip around the U.S.  Students pretended to take a picture (drew and colored) and write an entry describing something they might have seen while visiting that particular state.

Particularly since I'm Canadian, I always find it interesting to teach about the different states.  It has involved a lot of research on my part and boy, I've learned a lot!  Anyway, I just wanted to share a glimpse of my teaching world!  The end of the school year is almost here!

Angel Babies Walk

Earlier this month, we participated in the Hinds Hospice's annual "Walk to Remember" in memory of our close friends' son, Caleb Wiens.  Our family walked 2 miles with the "Caleb Cruisers," and then the kids ran in the kids' races.  We consider this a special time for our family to be able to share in this with the Wiens family every year...