Kindergarten, Second Grade, Twins!

It has happened. It is official. My kids are now ELEMENTARY age. No more "preschoolers" at our house. The formative years, by definition, are now complete. On to the next amazing phase that God has planned for our lives as a family. As I woke the kids up this morning, they were both excited. Mackenzie jumped right out of bed (unusual for her) and Josiah tried to stay in bed (unusual for him)! Once up and dressed for this first day of school, we headed downstairs for a special confetti pancake breakfast, courtesy of Aunt Jemima. Last night, as we laid clothes out for the week, the kids decided they wanted to match! Twins. I love it. I was happy to accommodate them by laying out khaki shorts and white polos for them both. How fun that they can match since the school uniforms are the same for both genders!

Mackenzie eagerly ate both of her pancakes.

Josiah was so excited (or perhaps a bit nervous); he ate only a few bites of his pancakes.

My baby boy, ready for his first day of Kindergarten!!! Where, oh where, has the time gone?! I am so proud of him. He is so smart and ready for this step. He is already reading, and I am confident that he will do just fine in Mrs. Haluska's Kindergarten class.

Posing for the camera. I had to take lots of pictures for the first day of school. Even more so since it is his first day of Kindergarten! Today is only a half day. 0745 to 1130 today. They stagger the Kindergartners this first week, so his next day of school will be Friday. Friday will be a full day, 7:45 am to 2:45 pm. What a big week for my handsome little man!

My beautiful baby girl. All ready for Second Grade! It is truly hard to believe she is in second grade already. She is smart, and she is ready. She has 11 of the kids in her class that she already knows. I am sure she will get to know the other 7 or so kids pretty quickly. Mrs. Scott is her teacher, and Mackenzie is excited about that, too.

Isn't she beautiful?! I love how you can see her two permanent teeth coming in already. She has lost the two front bottom teeth. Classic second grade look! I am so proud of her.

My "twins," all dressed alike and ready to head to school!

This picture captures their personalities quite well. Mackenzie, standing all proper-like; Josiah, standing all crazy-like. She is a rule keeper; He is an entertainer. Great combination for our family. Would not trade either one of them for anything! I am so thankful that God has blessed me with these two precious children. I am so thankful for the school they get to attend. Humbled by it all, and grateful for God's blessings. To Him be the Glory. Always.

My precious babies!!!! (Who cares if they are starting Second grade and Kindergarten...they will always be my babies!) We read the books, "Kindergarten, Here I Come," and "Love You Forever," last night at bedtime. Fun and sweet. Mrs. Haluska will read, "The Kissing Hand," to Josiah's class today. That is also a good book, but we don't have that one!

They sure where good to pose for pictures today! I love it.

One last picture on the door step before loading into the van.

This is the first time I have taken them BOTH to school at the same time and for the same amount of hours. Wowwie. Changes things on the home front. I am grateful for my job and the flexibility it allows me to have with the kids schedules. I have been able to stay home with them, for the most part, and I will continue to do so. I will be able to drop them off and pick them up every day. I will be able to work while they are in school, and be home with them when they are home. What a gift. I will still be able to use my nursing license in home care, too. Best of both worlds. Praise the Lord!!!

All buckled in and ready to roll! And, David is on call this week. Another blessing. When he is on call, he does not have to go in to work until 0930. He was able to be with us for our entire morning routine. How special is that on the first day of school?! All four of us laughed and talked on the way. I am so thankful that David got to be a part of that. He mentioned that he will not soon forget this day.

(We even had a date to McDonald's for coffee together, just the two of us, after getting the kids situated at school!) ;)

My two babies. Ready to enter the school. I was impressed that the Head Master was holding the door for everyone. I love the visibility of the administration.

I held Josiah's hand while walking down the first part of the hallway. I turned loose of it so that I could snap some pictures of the two of them heading towards the Kindergarten room! Can you believe that I did not even cry? I kinda surprised myself. I feel a peace about it all.

Mackenzie leading the way around the corner into Mrs. Haluska's room with Josiah right on her heels.

The sign above the door.

Josiah followed the directions, put his backpack in his cubby, and got his supply box out of his cubby. He was very intent on doing everything the right way. He got really quiet and serious when we entered the classroom. I could not get him to smile for the pictures after that! Very reminiscent of his first day of preschool. Too funny. He will warm up very quickly. He is familiar with the room and the teacher from Mackenzie's time in Kindergarten. That is a gift for him, indeed.

Standing by his cubby for me to take a picture.

Posing with Mrs. Haluska. We love her and are so thankful that Josiah gets to be in her class this year, too! I believe he will have a wonderful year.

I think he was ready to get the day started. There were just going to be a few other children there today, due to the staggered schedule, to allow the kindergartners more one-on-one time to adjust this first week. On Friday, all 16 kids will be there together. We are so happy that he has Mrs. Haluska! :)

One last picture of Josiah sitting at his desk before David and I headed upstairs with Mackenzie to the second grade classroom! I think Josiah was happy to have Mackenzie help drop him off on the first day of school. :) I love knowing they are there together, even if they are not in the same classroom lol.

My big girl. She is now upstairs! Second grade. That's a big deal, ya know?!
She led the way. David and I followed her up to her room.

Mrs. Scott is the new second grade teacher this year. She has 8 or so years of teaching experience. About half of that was in Florida. The other half here at a different Christian school. I think she will be great. Mackenzie seemed pleased with her after we met her at the Open House. I am thankful that Mackenzie is with several other children that she already knows!

My beautiful girl, at her desk, ready to begin her first day of second grade. It is a half day for her, too. Full days begin tomorrow. Second grade hangs backpacks on hooks instead of using cubbies!

Here is Mackenzie with Mrs. Scott, her second grade teacher.

Mrs. Scott has four children. Her oldest, a boy, is in 10th grade. Her youngest are in 4th grade. They are twin girls. She seems excited about the school year, so that is good.

I guess that completes this post. Major milestones at our house. It is a good day. I hope you all have a blessed day, too!

Catching Up

The summer seems to be gone already. Back in June (12th through 18th) we spent the week in Maui with my momma, my brother, and my brother's wife. We all had so much fun. I was going to post LOTS of pictures from the trip, but somehow that just hasn't happened, lol. I figure I better type some of the highlights here while they are still fresh on my mind...and before another busy school year begins! :)

We stayed at Aston's Kaanapali Shores on Maui. It was fabulous! We had two bedrooms, a full kitchen and living areas, and two full bathrooms. We enjoyed a view of the pool, gardens, and Pacific ocean! Amazing. Maui is windy most all of the time. The rain forests on Maui are among the wettest on earth, receiving tons of rain per year. We drove part of the Road to Hana and stopped at Twin Falls for a hike, complete with splashing underneath the falls themselves! That made for some great pictures.

Another highlight of the trip was getting to eat at Mama's Fish House. Thanks to my mom, we enjoyed a meal that is beyond description. It was THAT good, folks. Extremely expensive, but totally wonderful! What a neat memory. We loved walking around the grounds at Mama's Fish House, too. Maui is simply gorgeous. Love the tropical beach areas!

Josiah loved hunting for hermit crabs, catching them, storing him in his bucket, and then releasing them. He still says, at least once per day, that we will be moving to Maui someday. He LOVED it, and he bawled when we loaded our luggage to head home on the last day of our trip. He could not stand to leave. He also loved getting to drink Coconut Milk from a real Coconut!

Mackenzie enjoyed all the swimming, and seeing a real Sea Turtle. She is a fish herself, and enjoyed the ocean with boogie boards, the pool with goggles, and our snorkeling tour to Molokini and Turtle Town. She says going on the boat ride was her favorite thing. A giant Sea Turtle swam up to the shore during our professional portrait session. It was amazing! We all loved seeing the turtle. Mackenzie also enjoyed the shopping in Lahaina and playing in the Banyon tree in Lahaina. Josiah loved climbing on the Banyon tree and all the swimming, too! He has learned to swim without floaties this summer.

Thanks to Evan (my brother) and Mia (his wife), we all enjoyed the Old Lahaina Luau and a professional photo shoot. The photographer was Mariah Milan, and she was amazing. Mia did a fabulous job of researching photographers on Maui and choosing the perfect one for our family. This was Mia and Evan's gift to my mom for completion of her doctorate in nursing this past December. They surprised my mom with the photo session. We got such great pics! What a neat gift for us all. Thanks, Evan and Mia! And the Luau was neat, too. Great food!

I am sure there is much more that I could type about the Maui trip, but for now, this will do! Maui is 6 hours behind us in time zones, so we all had quite the adjustment to make going and coming from that trip! Totally worth it, though. Thanks to my grandparents and my mom for making this trip happen, from airline tickets to lodging, for all of us. Wow. What a gift.

Other things to remember from this summer...Mackenzie lost her 2nd on July 24th, 2011. Our friend, Bill, pulled it just like he pulled the first one. Perfect!

On Tuesday, as in this coming Tuesday, August 16th, BOTH of my kids will start to school. Wow. Mackenzie will be in 2nd grade. How is that possible? And, Josiah will be in Kindergarten! I always thought it would be sad to see my "baby" start Kindergarten. Somehow, I think we are ready for this step! Mackenzie says she is a little nervous about starting back to school. Josiah says he is worried that no one will like him. I assured him that he will make lots of new friends and they will like him. He already knows one child, Lexi, in his class. He told Lexi yesterday, "You're gonna get to see me every day!" It was very funny. Mackenzie knows 11 of the 19 kids in her class this year already. Josiah has Mrs. Haluska and Mackenzie has Mrs. Scott. I am very pleased. School year, here we come!!!! :)

Just wanted to get those updates recorded before the school does start. I am sure there is much, much more that I should type, but for now, that will do.

David and I got to take a two night get-a-way, just the two of us, for the first time ever (since the kids were born) last week while his parents watched our kids. What a gift! Thank you, Zearl and Betty, for staying here with our kids while we enjoyed some one-on-one time.

Oh, and on June 11, 2011, Mackenzie was a flower girl and Josiah was a ring bearer in Aunt Mallory's wedding to Tom in Arkansas. What an honor for the two of them to be included in Mallory's wedding! How neat!!! We have some great pictures from the wedding, too, but for the sake of time I am just typing this post without pictures. Sorry.

Our Graduate!

It's official! Mackenzie is finished with her Kindergarten year. Sigh. It went too fast. Sigh again. Actually, her whole first 5 3/4 years of life have zoomed by so quickly. We are very proud of her, and we enjoyed celebrating her most recent accomplishment last night. Here's our little graduate walking toward the school hand in hand with her Z-pa. (Granna and Josiah are just ahead to the right.)
This was our attempt at a picture of all four of us. Ha. Graduation was at 6:30pm. We had to be there at 6:00pm. Our kids usually go to bed at 7:00pm or slightly thereafter. Needless to say, they were exhausted by the end of the evening!

I love this one of David, Mackenzie, and me together. Zearl took it for us. Thanks, Zearl!

I like this one, too, so I posted them both!

Excited and ready for graduation to begin!

Mackenzie and Avery.

Audrianna, Bonnie, Mackenzie, and Avery.

David and his dad sat in a different section of the auditorium so they could get a good angle on the video. The rest of us sat in the middle area. The above picture is of our group. From left to right: Betty (Granna), Geri (our wonderful neighbor who is originally from Bulgaria and has "adopted" us as family here in the States), Metodi (He's visiting from Bulgaria for the first time this week and enjoyed seeing the school.), and Trifon (Geri's husband who lives across the street from us.) I was so glad they could come with us to the graduation. I do believe they all enjoyed it!

Mackenzie lined up with her class, ready to receive her diploma.

Mrs. Haluska on the left, Mackenzie in the middle, and the elementary principle on the right.

A proud Mackenzie standing center stage with her diploma! I just love this picture!

After receiving diplomas, all four kindergarten classes lined up on stage to perform. They counted to 100 by 5's. Quoted scriptures in Spanish and using Sign Language. Stated several math equations, both addition and subtration. Talked about how they like to read, and sang two wonderful songs (Counting on God and I am Yours) with sign language. GREAT performance! Yep, we're proud parents. ;)

Afterwards, we were able to snap a picture of Mackenzie with Geri and Trifon before she decided she was too tired for any more pictures! :)

Kindergarten Turkeys! (Update)

Update: My friend, Tracy, who also has a daughter in Mackenzie's class, took this picture of the two of us during the craft time. I am so excited about how it turned out! So, even though I posted this several days ago, I'm updating it to include the above picture of Mackenzie and me!

Yesterday I was blessed to be able to attend (and plan and coordinate) a Fun Friday Craft time for Mackenzie's Kindergarten Class! I had another Mom plan and prepare the pine cone turkeys, and I was responsible for the handprint turkeys. I love the above picture of Mackenzie at her desk with her two crafts!
Here is part of Mackenzie's class, all listening intently to the instructions being provided for the pine cone turkeys made from pine cones, pipe cleaner, pompoms, and googly eyes. Very cute!

Here's a better overview of the class with their crafts in front of them. They are some sweet kids, and some busy kids!!! I think they all enjoyed our craft time. I know I sure did!


Here's the children, very focused on the instructions being given and the craft in front of them. Mackenzie's in the bright blue shirt watching the demonstration about how to fold the pipe cleaners.

The handprint turkeys were made using washable paints in brown, green, yellow, orange, and red. The palm and hand are brown. Each finger is a different color. Then you draw a gobbler on the turkey and feet on the turkey, too. Then glue a googly eye on the thumb/head. Using tacky glue, attach 1x1 in squares of felt in fall colors to the plate perimeter. You're finished! Oh yeah, don't forget to have the kids write their names and date on the back of the plate before you start. Makes a great keepsake! David typed the poem in a rainbow pattern for the kids to attach to the top of the plate, just under the felt squares. The poem is:

This isn't just a turkey, as anyone can see.

I made it with my hand, which is a part of me.

It comes with lots of love, especially to say,

I hope you have a very Happy Thanksgiving Day.

Disclaimer: I did not create any of these ideas. I found them via a google search for turkey crafts. I did not write the poem, we simply found in on the Internet!!!

These are easy enough to do and lots of fun, too!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Kindergarten! (Updated)

My Big Girl! I had to wake both kids up extra early today in order to get Mackenzie to school on time. We made it with 4 minutes to spare!
She wears uniforms to school, and she decided to wear her plaid jumper on her first day. (She can choose from jumpers, dresses, polos, shorts, jeans, khakis, etc.) She told me that she wanted her hair in a plain pony tail for her first day of school. How funny! I thought I might braid it, or at least put a bow in it...but, nope. She had a plain pony tail today! :)

Here she is with her backpack... all set to go!

More pictures in front of our house on this big day.

Enjoying a banana nut muffin on her way to school. She had requested muffins for her first day breakfast. David ended up making them last night as I was finishing the laundry! Thanks, David! :)

Walking down the hallway toward Mrs. Haluska's classroom.

Standing beside her cubby, ready to begin the day.

Mackenzie with Mrs. Haluska, the Kindergarten teacher that we prayed for all summer long! Out of four possible teachers, she was definitely my first pick. However, no one asks parental preference on that, (and I did not tell the school of my preference)...the school prays about it as they assign children to teachers. We prayed at home, and when we got the letter telling us that Mrs. Haluska would be Mackenzie's Kindergarten teacher, I cried tears of joy! What a blessing!

(I had observed in all four classrooms last Spring, and this lady is amazing! What stood out most to me during the observation time is that she speaks in the positive, such as telling a child to please sit down instead of saying it in the negative, such as don't stand up. Children hear and respond to the positive so much better than the negative. I was really pleased with the way she encouraged the children, even if they gave a wrong answer.)

Up close of Mrs. Haluska with Mackenzie. She loves to sing and she even teaches the kids sign language through the year.

Mackenzie at her desk, ready to begin the day.

The sign in the hallway near the classroom door.

As I dropped Mackenzie off this morning, Mrs. Haluska handed me a poem. I thought that was a neat thing to do! The poem, called "The First Day," is as follows:

I gave you a little wink and smile

As you entered my room today.

For I know how hard it is to leave

And know your child must stay.

You've been with him for five years now

And have been a loving guide.

But now, alas, the time has come

To leave him at my side.

Just know that as you drive away

And tears down your cheeks may flow

I'll love him as I would my own

And help him learn and grow.

For as a parent, I too know

How quickly the years do pass

And that one day soon it will be my turn

To take my child to class.

So please put your mind at ease

And cry those tears no more

For I will love him and take him in

When you leave him at my door.

Love,

Mrs. Haluska

A prayer has certainly been answered as we made the transition smoothly, though we'll have more adjusting to do as we get used to the early mornings and full days. I am thankful that Mackenzie's first day went so well. She has more new friends and enjoyed the day. Neither one of us cried at all today. Surprisingly, after my emotional evening last night! All went well, and I am thankful.

Update: As the day progressed, I heard more and more and more about what Mackenzie learned in Kindergarten today. She now knows at least five different things in sign language! She is able to say "I'm thirsty, I need to go to the bathroom, just a moment, yes, and no," all in sign language! I'm impressed. AND, Mrs. Haluska read, "The Kissing Hand," to the class today. Definitely a good first day.