Field Day - Field Trips - End of School

I started this post a month ago. That's really sad. I guess I've been otherwise occupied around here. So the words will be brief.
We had AWANA awards night. Maggie and Bennett both finished their books and got the ribbons and plaques to hang on the walls. Ruth and Lydia also finished their Cubbie book... but with a little less fanfare and hanging stuff.


Soccer season ended mid-May. As brief as it is, it's nice to be finished. B&M were the Strykers... these are the kids and coaches. A good year. B will graduate up to the next level in the fall so they won't play together again for a year... if ever. :( This is Jaelen trying to escape having her green face captured for all to see. :) Ha! I won.
I'll have to check and see what other pictures I intended to post and never did.
Argh... my mind....

Enter to Win Edy's Ice Cream!

This is a link to win Edy's Ice Cream. Everyone needs ice cream... but especially the people who live near me in the hot Georgia summertime heat and would invite me to their party. Those are the people who need to click this link and add their name! Then... I'm watching the winners list to make sure I don't miss out on anyone's block party! I'm watching!

Countdown is on!

The kids are bringing home lots of goodies from school. We're down to 7 days. They do very little work this time of year... what with field trips and parties and celebrations for accomplishments and field day. But they do bring home the work they've done during the year that the teacher keeps until now. I don't know if they hide it away so it'll be more special by the time we see it or if it gets lots in the piles on their desks. Or maybe they keep a pile of the "I've got to keep this one" stories (like me) and then when they go through it the last 2 weeks of school they realize it really wasn't worth keeping after all. Of course, I haven't come to that realization yet on any of my stories yet. So, with that in mind... here's Bennett's recount of Christmas at Grandma's house. I like how he gives the play by play of almost everything he did. :) But the ending seems a little abrupt... maybe he ran out of time. Maybe it was the last thing he remembered from the trip. Maybe he was awed by his mother's card shark like playing abilities and forgot everything else. Yea, that must have been it!

Jan. 21, 2009
I went to Grandma's house in December for Christmas in '08. I was happy to be able to go. We got there by car. When we got there I saw Grandma on the porch with Grandpa. I went up to the porch and huged them. I went inside and talked. Then I went back outside and rode bikes with Maggie. After I rode bikes I went and played with some toys. After a while we ate dinner. After dinner we wanted to open presents. What I got was a telescope, some oddesy dics, a book, a gun shooting thing-a-mi-jig, an oniment and a bunch of candy. That night we wacthed a movie when we were in bed. After I woke up and Grandpa was makeing breakfast I went to play and when breakfast was ready we all ate. After we ate I went and got dressed. Later in the day when Grandma and mommy were not busey we all went and flew kites. After that me and Maggie rode on the tire swing. Then we sat on the porch and played. After that I went inside and Mommy and G-ma were playing cards.

See... surely he was awed! So, before I head off to bed to ready myself for Field Day in the morning... I shall post a few of the most recent Bennett pics.

This is from the park... he had a field trip with his fellow 2nd graders for those who read and tested on more than 150 books this year.

Here's Bennett with his 2 best soccer coaches! Sami and Katie. I hope they come back in the fall.

Here he is during the last soccer game where he rocked the goal! Defense!

And here he is doing some crazy Bennett dance. :)

Kid's Musical Production - CBC 2009

The school aged kids had their musical performance this past weekend. They've practiced for several months for the big day. A ton of work went into it... by the kids, the teachers, and the artistry team. I'm pretty sure that team was mostly my friend Anne. She's an amazing painter girl.


In the group shots... Maggie is front row to the right. Bennett is almost directly behind the microphone. The thing about these kid's plays... the production of it all is good, but the production of it all also takes away from capturing the moments on film. The lighting is always difficult for good camera shots (too much spotlight, not enough good light) and there are microphones in front of all their little faces. It's important to hear them... but difficult to see them. But I digress...

Maggie is the performer and is the whole reason we take them to Wednesday night practice. It ends up being a late night in the middle of the school week, but she loves to sing too much to squelch that joy. So, we go. And by default, Bennett goes as well. He isn't much for the class or the singing or the attention. In fact, it took many weeks to even get him to go into the class. Our friend, Brian, encouraged him to participate and pretty soon he was willing to go. He ended up enjoying the time and belted out every song. He even learned the parts that weren't his... along with many of the other kids. Now he likes singing in the choir and thinks he may do it forever. :) We'll see!

This is one of our friends, Jaelen. (See previous post) She had a solo while the boys were surfin'... and did a great job. Isn't she beautiful?!?! I'm trying to keep her in our friend loop until Bennett gets old enough to care about girls and all. Then he better keep her in the friend loop! :) Not that I'm trying to set him up or anything...

This is Jaelen's brother, Thomas - far left. He and the oldest choir boys were the marimba players. It was all for looks... and they looked good.

This is my favorite Carruth, Carrie - well, right after her Mom! We played some sort of broom hockey in AWANA a few years back. It was wicked! We'll keep Carrie in our friend loop too... just in case! :)

I'm not trying to set anyone up here! Just so you know. This is my girl Anna. She's in my S.S. class each week. She comes from a stellar family too.

Here's the crab of the show. Or maybe she was a lobster? Nicole - singing her solo. I remember when she was 3 or 4 and sang "Happy Birthday Jesus" at one of our Christmas productions. It was fantastic. She's still fantastic... and has a beautiful inside to match this outside.

These are the main characters... Destini (whose Mom works with me), Anna, Courtney, Mr Woody, Blake, Austin, and Nicole.

This is Blake at the end of the play. He really did a great job. His dad is the Brian who encouraged Bennett so much at the beginning. This year, Blake was one of the stars of the show. So, maybe Bennett will be in front of a crowd one day without too much anxiety.

A Blog Post

A = Alexander


It's funny what the kids can come up with to entertain themselves.

The Alexander's came over Saturday for dinner and some playtime for the kids. We haven't had dinner together in probably 2 years. It's crazy. But the kids had a great time and managed to come up with some fun bike games. Here are a couple shots. Diedre promises next time she's jumping the ramp too!

Thomas

Jaelen.




Leah... also known as the AWANA Grand Prix Champion, previously mentioned in earlier posts.

Jaelen had a solo in the children's musical today. Her Momma was a little proud (and teary) but her Dad is on a firefighting trip in Texas and had to miss the show. Hopefully, he'll have internet access at some point and be able to hear his girl sing. :) Maybe?