put a fork in us... we're done!

our last week of school was a doozie!  monday was a holiday.  tuesday we had neely's pre-k graduation.    

   

neely had such a sweet pre-k teacher.  she will surely be missed.  i can't believe that kid will be in kindergarten next year!  

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wednesday kevyn had a field trip followed by an ice cream party and then the schools end-of-year pep rally (or pepper rally if your kevyn).

funny story...  i had no idea where we were headed for kevyn's field trip until we were loading up!  i knew the name, but i thought we were headed to one town and was corrected by another mom as to which town we were actually going to.  and here's the kicker...  i thought i had never been there before until we were pulling up and it all started to look familiar.  i need a nap.

thursday we had kelby & nat's flat stanley party and then kevyn's kindergarten graduation that evening.

kelby & nat did such a great job on their flat stanley projects. ok, who am i kidding...  darren and i did great!  parents were invited to attend the presentations and we all high-fived and commented on how well we all did as parents.  it was really quite comical.  i was, however, really impressed at how well all the kids did with getting up in front of the entire class to present their project.  it was like they had no idea public speaking could even be considered scary.  to them it was no big deal.  i love that!  

at our school, kindergarten and 8th grade do a joint graduation ceremony.  while lengthy, the ceremony really got me excited for my girls and all they will get to do and become while at our school.  i REALLY like our school if you can't tell. 

another funny story...  (i can only say it is funny now.  it was NOT funny at the time.)  we had mexican food (kevyn's pick) prior to kevyn's graduation ceremony and although i knew before hand that enchilada's would be risky, i gave in and we went for it.  all throughout dinner jeff and i repeatedly reminded kevyn to lean over her plate, don't take big bites, keep her napkin on her lap, etc.  towards the end of dinner i thought we made it with only a few tiny and barely noticeable spots.  yay!  until we coached her again to be sure to lean over her plate to take a bite and she leaned right into her plate!  yep.  brown enchilada sauce all the way across the front of her dress.  crap.  i took one last BIG drink of my margarita, loaded up the girls, and raced to the house to change.   

we are really going to miss mrs. z.  we joke that she can teach kindergarten one more year (for neely) and then she is going to have to move up to a higher grade so we can double-dip.  thankfully we don't really have have to say goodbye to our teachers since we still see them every sunday in church and at sunday school.

and friday we had closing chapel, end-of-year awards ceremony, and then class parties.

see all those cute signs???  the ones my brain was determined to forget to send to the printer, pick up from the printer, and cutout and paste to a stick until 11 pm the night before?!?  yah, those.  welp, they are the same signs that my youngest accidentally dropped in a big puddle right before taking those pictures.  i wanted to cry, but all i could do was laugh.  so if they look droopy, its because they were.  and wet.  and i'm really thankful these pictures are taken at a distance and you can't see the watermarks.  geez, these kids...

and when the school bell rang for release at 11:15 AM we loaded up and hooked it to dallas for our cousins high school graduations.  whew!

~becky

kindergarten & 2nd grade

am i the only momma that goes full blown crazy person on the first day of school?  i mean as soon as i drop them off i begin counting down the minutes until school is out.  and it's not because i'm worried about how they did...  i know they will be fine and are in great hands.  i just want to hear about how much they loved their first day, and tell me about their teacher and any new friends they made.  it's probably the ONLY day out of the entire school year that they (and I) will be excited about doing their homework.

thankfully we all made it out of bed in time to snap a few pictures before heading to school.  now before you think oh look at becky trying to get all artistic with her wonky angled shot...  let me just clarify that wasn't what was happening.  the above mentioned crazy person had apparently already set in and i had no idea i was holding my camera wonky until i reviewed my pictures.  #momfail

kevyn is trying her hardest not to laugh while the cat is going up her dress... lol!

polka dot dress// floral dress// backpacks

i'm so excited for these girls as they both have amazing teachers.  they like won the teacher lottery!  i say that, but in all honesty we knew who we were getting...  their small school only has one class per grade!

and in case you saw my instagram post from kindergarten orientation...  don't worry.  kevyn managed to "get her act together" in time and was not "in a mood."  geez this kid...  

~ becky

natalie the knight!

our local rotary club in conjunction with the first knight program held its first knighting ceremony in early october.  natalie was chosen from her class to be knighted.  yay nat!

her school recently sent home a letter stating that all knights could wear either their medal or make a tabard to wear to future knighting ceremonies.  you know we couldn't just let her go to school with just her medal, so granny sewed up a tabard for her to wear.  how cute is she?!?

can you believe that there will be a year that all four of these girls will be in high school together?!?

corn mazin'

mid october kelby's class took a field trip to brazos valley maize.  it was questionable if the trip would actually happen since we had quite a bit of rain the days prior.  the maze was a sloppy mess, but it really just added to the fun (for the kids at least).  i, being the wise one that i am, opted for my rainboots.  i tried talking kelby into wearing hers, but she was insistent that they all had to wear "running" shoes.  i'm sure this was stated so no one would show up in sandals.  many of the kids would run right out of their shoes that got stuck in the mud.  it was really very comical.

our group consisted of four girls and three moms.  i think we were the second group to enter the maze.  do you want to guess where we ranked coming out???  dead last.  like they were about to come looking for us because we had been gone so long.  AND we didn't even come out of the exit.  we got so lost and tired of going in circles that when we could see a clearing through the corn stalks we climbed our way out.  as the three momma's were helping the four girls climb out, we see the cow train (see below) round the corner.  the driver just shook his head at us.  of course it did not help the situation that all seven of us happen to be blonde.  we might have heard a comment or five.  :)

i really love kelby's little group of friends (and their moms!).  

~ becky 

first day of school 2013

and just like that i am now the mother of a first grader and a pre-kindergartner!

we all survived the first day of school.  i even made it to work on time... that never happens!

the following picture cracks me up...  kevyn wanted to put her arm around kelby too and kelby wouldn't let her.  she's not good at hiding her emotions.

this picture is when mom said she could and now kelby isn't too happy.  geez...  i should also point out that they both decided to buckle their backpacks on and have since vowed to never do that again.  they both might have had small panic attacks as they were trying to pull those things off over their heads when they couldn't unbuckle them.  

kevyn decided on wednesday morning that she wanted to improve on her 100 m dash time and took off running down the hall as soon as i turned my back to talk to her teacher.  not cool kid.  i got a few looks as i was chasing my four year old down the halls of the school.  (pre-k is in the same building as K-8.)  of course she had to do this on a day and time that all the kids were being dropped off by their parents for the first day. 

kelby did great going to her classroom.  i stayed long enough for her to hang up her backpack and get settled at her desk.  she does have this thing where she uses me as a decoy by giving me lots of goodbye hugs and kisses while she scopes out the room.  i got lots of love as she observed everyone walking in.  

hope all you other momma's and kiddos have (or have had) a great first day!

to view last years first day pics, click here.

~ becky

say it ain't so...

where did summer go?!?  

i swear it was yesterday that we were walking out of kindergarten graduation and i looked at the first grade teacher and said "see ya next year."

this week it all changes.  this week i will become the mom of a first grader and a pre-k'er.

this week we start the twice a week cheer practices and twice a week soccer practices.

(we also have two orientations and one parent-teacher conference. and its jeff's birthday.)

this week i will miss our evening bike rides and late bedtimes.

i'm also practicing my "excited face" for when kelby shows me the mandatory reading she must complete when in reality i will be longing for the fun chapter books we've been reading this summer.

but as sad as i might be to see summer go, i am also excited to see what this year holds for the kids.  kevyn is very excited about starting pre-k.  pre-k is across the street at the "big school."  major cool points in her book.  they also get to go on field trips.  she's certain they are going somewhere this week already.  either the zoo or the jersey barnyard.  i hope she's not too disappointed.  she is however worried she might have to do P.E. since she is at the big school now.  silly girl!

kelby starts first grade.  she already knows her first grade teacher pretty well since first grade and kindergarten do a lot together.  (their school is really small.  only one class in each grade.)  she's excited about seeing her old friends and can't wait to meet the four kids that she's heard are transferring into her class.  she is also looking forward to the many field trips first grade gets to go on.

so on wednesday when i take my girls to their new classrooms, i'll try to hold back my tears and not focus on yet another year that has slipped by.  i'll focus on how excited the girls are.  nothing makes this momma's heart happier than seeing smiles on her girls faces.

here's to a great 2013-2014 school year!