Kindergarten Celebration

Lexi's kindergarten had a celebration of education this morning.  I dropped Jordan off at the neighbor's house so that I could attend.  Her teacher called each student to the front of the class and gave them a certificate saying they passed kindergarten.  He also explained that this was an exceptionally great group of readers.  He had never had so many get to level 12 in AR.  I think he said 11 from his class, which is about half.  He talked about how good they were at breaking down sentences (nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, noun markers, etc).  He also gave each of us a packet.  

One of the most interesting things in the packet was the reading evaluation that was done for each child last week.  To my surprise, Lexi is reading like a beginning of the year 3rd grader.  Last time he evaluated her, he expected that she would be reading like a second grader at the end of the year, so this was a surprise. We were also given some booklets that were created by each student.  Perhaps, I’ll post pictures of those tomorrow.  

Present to the teacher from one of the moms - so creative!

Reading Evaluation

Lexi's classmates

Water Park Popularity & Mishap

We went to the water park today and Lexi bumped into several friends from her kindergarten class.  I guess she doesn't have to be sad this summer about not seeing any of them.  She had fun playing with them, going down the slides, and swimming to the cave.  

Unfortunately, she had a mishap on the way back from the cave.  The CTR ring that Grandma Margie gave her slipped off of her finger (that is the second one that has done that).  The pool is about 5 feet deep where that happened and Lexi tried repeatedly to dive down and get it.  In fact, she tried so hard that she had trouble coming back up.  She yelled out for help and a man/father that was nearby got to her right before I could.  She was a little shaken up.  I had to explain that everyone, including Grandma, would rather have her sacrifice the ring before doing that to herself.  Maybe the life guards will find it in the filter.  

  

Evening at the Park

Lately, emotions seem to be riding high.  I think it is a combination of exhaustion, spring fever, anticipation for summer, anxiety about the end of a school year, high temperatures, and probably more.  I realized that we just needed to get out of the house.  I took the kids to a nearby park and encouraged them to get it all out.  

Late Over Party

Last night, Lexi went to a birthday party for her dear friend, Avery, from church.  It was a perfect type of party called a Late Over.  It is where the kids get dressed up in the pjs and do lots of things that they would do at a sleep over, but it ends and they go home to sleep.  They even dropped the girls off after the party.  Lexi got home between 9:30 and 10 pm.  Of course, she was exhausted.  My kids rarely get to stay up late. By the way, I snagged these pictures off of her friend's mom's blog, all except for the last one.  That is a picture of the present Lexi gave.  I made skirts for Avery.  I don't have any money, so I am trying to put this new found interest (sewing) to use.  It turned out to be a cute pattern that I originally made another friend's birthday.  

Kindergarten Field Day

It was Field Day for the kindergartners.  Lexi picked out this outfit because it is both athletic and full of school spirit.  Parents were invited and I wanted to go, but her school doesn't allow younger siblings to attend.  I told Steve about it and he decided he wanted to go.  He called me after it was over and said they both had an amazing time.  Lexi even won an event  - the kicking your shoe the farthest contest.  Later, she told me that her class came in 3rd overall.  There are nine kindergarten classes, so that isn't bad.  

Mother's Day 2012

This morning, Lexi used her natural cheerleading talents to get Jordan all excited about Mother's Day.  They have both been working on creating presents/cards for me.  She asked me to go downstairs and sit on the couch so they could present their gifts to me.  She laid her creations out on the floor and I just had to get a picture.  As you can probably guess, the big orange card was made at school.  It is really sweet of her.  This is actually something she does quite often.  She is always drawing pictures, making cards, and leaving me sweet little notes to let me know she loves me.  What a fun girl!

While we were at church this morning, she paid close attention to what everyone said about mothers.  She noticed that quite a few of them mentioned that they had made breakfast for their mom.  She sadly apologized for not doing that for me this morning.  She asked if it would be ok for her to make lunch.  I was a little nervous thinking about the possible outcomes, but I agreed.  When we got home, she pulled out crackers, sliced cheese and turkey lunch meat.  She made up three plates for all of us.  It was such a fun little lunch.  We all enjoyed it.  

In the evening, we had a wonderful pot luck dinner with our good friends.  We are so lucky to be included with their family.  It truly makes holidays and events more special.  

Savannah's 5th Birthday Party

We went to Savannah's 5th birthday party this evening. She had a picnic theme, which was quite cute.  The party started off with the kids making a sticker picture and then having story time.  After that, each kid got a basket to fill with picnic food.  We walked them all to a little neighborhood park.  We sat on a blanket to eat.  Later, the kids played fun games like sack races and red rover. 

When we were packing up to head back to the house, Lexi announced that her tummy was hurting.  I think the Red Rover was partly to blame.  She leaned on me and moaned the whole way back clutching her stomach.  When we got back, the other kids played games and she sat out.  She had a little ice cream, but skipped the cupcakes.  Once the party was wrapping up, she seemed quite a bit better.  I was still surprised to hear her BEGGING Uncle Stephen (my friend's brother) to wind her up and spin her in the swing.  I told her it would make her puke, but she didn't listen.  Fortunately for the hosts, she didn't puke at their house.  As I drove off, she started complaining again.  I rolled down the window and told her to breathe deeply.  About 2 miles from our house, I heard & smelled her puking.  It was all over her, the inside of the door, the carpet, her booster seat, outside of the door, and trailing the side of my car.  I just hope she didn't get it on someone else's car too. 

What a fun reminder that tomorrow is mother's day & cleaning up this kind of stuff is what being a mother is all about...

 Story Time

 Games at the Park

 Red Rover

Cards for Granny Lou & Grandma Margie

I had the kids create Mother's Day cards for their Grandmothers tonight.  Unfortunately, we did not get an early start. I had to divide up the assignment between Lexi & Jordan.  Lexi started with Granny Lou.  She drew a picture of herself with Granny Lou and Granddad in Granny's garden.  Next, she worked on a picture for my mom.  It was getting late, so I was trying to rush her.  We quickly talked about what Grandma would like.  I mentioned a drawing of her 5 five kids.  Lexi got right to work and had no other input from me.  I was completely amazed at the accurate details that she added especially since she hasn't seen my brothers in a few years.  She asked me if it was ok that Paul (labeled Poll) had his hands in his pocket.  That is exactly what my dad & Paul do quite often.  Then, I noticed that Alma (labeled Allmo) had bare feet.  He is a legend for his bare feet.  People around here still comment on them.  Yes - he even has bare feet in the snowy cold weather of Wyoming/Montana/Colorado & all those cold places he has lived.  Then there is Clayton doing bunny ears on Paige.  Of course, that is what he'd do in a real picture.  This is quite a realistic depiction of a crazy group of siblings.  I’m sure my mom will love it.  

Waterpark is Open Again

It is that time of year again when the weather is getting quite hot here in Texas.  It hit the 90s several times (if not every day) this week.  Fortunately, our community has opened the water park on the weekends.  We definitely took advantage of it today.  The kids picked up where they left off last year.  She even got to race down the blue slides with Samantha, a friend from church.  Soon, school will be out and we'll be spending LOTS of time there.  Hopefully, Lexi will be able to learn proper swimming techniques.  She has the doggy paddle down pat.   

AR Level 12

Today was tie dye day at Lexi's school, but more important than that she was able to reach a great reading milestone.  Her school uses the Accelerated Reader (AR) program.  In kindergarten, they start the year off with 50 sight words.  To move on to first grade, they have to pass those off - meaning they have 3 seconds to read each word on the list.  Once that has been completed, they move on to an additional 100 sight words.  If those are passed off, they can start the AR program. 

The program reading books (mostly typical library books for this age) and taking a comprehension test on each one.  They get points based on their scores.  There are levels in the program and when they hit the last three levels they get rewards.  For level 10, they get a teddy bear.  For level 11, they get to take a movie to school and watch it in the library with a friend they choose.  Lexi is showing off her level 11 ticket in the above picture.  She has also completed level 12 this week, which means that she gets to go on Destinations (a special field trip) with the librarian.  Where they are going is a big secret.  I guess I'll find out when I sign the permission slip. 

Lexi is very excited about it.  This year, they have had more kids reach level 12 than ever before.  There are 72 kids out of all of the 9 kindergarten classes.  Usually, they are happy to have a few kids from each class.