First/Last Day of First Grade

What a difference a year makes!!
My cup runneth over.  She is my HEART!

Last day of First Grade

 First Day of First Grade

The End of First Grade

It seems that Kamdyn has been in First Grade FOREVER!!  I know that our move has something to do with that, but, to be honest, she could just stay this age forever.  It would be fine by me!!  I'm already freaking out that there will only be one week between first and second grade.  My baby is growing WAY too quickly.

Her class put on a wonderful Biome play for the parents last Friday.  Luckily, Ruthie was here to watch, too.  Kamdyn was so excited to perform.  The parents Mom's had to make the costumes and they all turned out super cute!  Kamdyn was a starfish.  We jazzed hers up a bit complete with a monogrammed "K" and everything!!  They just don't do much of the monograms, bows, and ruffles around here...much to my dismay.  But, we still do!!  Her costume wouldn't have been "her" without the "K."  As Sydney says, "Kamdyn wouldn't be Kamdyn without her K!"  So true, Syd!

Sydney was the King Queen Snake in the play and her role was PERFECT for her little personality.  All of the children did great.  After the play, we went back to their classroom for a luau and got to watch a slideshow from the year.  We are so thankful for this perfect little school.  The children and teachers have been so great for Kamdyn!  They welcomed her with love from the start and for that we will forever be grateful!!

Little sis thought she was BIG stuff at school with Kamdyn sitting at her desk.

Sydney and Kamdyn....two peas in a pod!  Would spend every second together if we let them!

Awesome Mrs. Dunn!!  We will miss her so much!  She has been the perfect blend of structure, independence, and freedom.

Mrs. Anderson, the teaching assistant.  She is so great with the kids! 

Artapalooza

Kamdyn's school had a huge festival that revolved around Art.  It took a lot of work for them to put together and I thought it was great!  The walls of the school were transformed into a gallery of art work.  Each student had at least one piece of art work on the wall.  They had jumpy slides and castles.  There were tons of art projects to make, face painting, food, etc. It was a good family filled night.  We ran in to all of our neighbors.  Richard even surprised us by dropping by on his way to Lowe's.

Kamdyn's artwork with her name spelled "Camden."  :(

Mosaic Art

Waiting in line with Morgan to slide.

Morgan on the left and Kamdyn on the right!

Pausing for a photo with baby sister.

Who was looking mighty cute with her glasses, tattoo, and sippy cup!

Vegetable Sculptures from "TheProduce Box."

Dot Art

We ran into Sydney's family.  Landon's wasn't happy to be there, but Karcie cheered him up by sharing some of  her "fishies" with him.  :)

Kamdyn waited in line almost an hour to get this beautiful butterfly painted on her face.  She was determined!  We couldn't even wash it off at bedtime. 

Foil Sculptures

Baby sister was along for the ride and was AMAZING!  I never would have thought she would have done as well as she did in her stroller almost the entire.  I love little surprises!

Then we enjoyed some yummy BBQ for dinner.

Madame Butterfly and Sister Hungry!

Field Trip to the Pond in Raleigh

I was very thankful to be able to chaperone this trip with Kamdyn's class.  They have been studying living organisms.  On this trip, we had a clipboard of living organisms that we had to search for on our nature walk.  Then, we listened to a very informative lesson about aquatic animals.  Last, the children got to "dip" in the pond for living organisms.  Our group was the only group to scoop out a tadpole.  We were excited about that!  Check out the snake that is coiled up in the second picture.  It was right beside our group while we were "dipping."  I can't believe that I agreed to work so closely beside the snake.  YUCK!!

After having lunch at the park we got the children got to play on the enormous playground.  It was a great trip and the children really did learn a lot.

Miss Boykin's Wedding

One of the other main purposes of our visit to Georgia last weekend was to attend Miss Boykin's wedding.  Miss Boykin has been a friend of mine for several years.  We taught Pre-K together in our county and I recruited her to LFH when we had a Pre-K opening.  She and I endured being moved from our beloved Pre-K to other grades.  Neither of us were happy at the time, but were thankful that we got to stay at LFH.  We both ended up liking our new grades even better than Pre-K.  :)  After moving to 1st grade, she was my request for Kamdyn's teacher.  She was so great for Kamdyn.  She is strict, but in a fun way.  She allowed Kamdyn to be herself, while learning, AND enjoying school. We miss her tremendously.

We were thrilled to be able to make her wedding.  She was a beautiful bride and her reception was phenomenal.  Richard says it ranks up there with one of THE. BEST. RECEPTIONS. that he has been to.  Those are strong words coming from a man who doesn't really care for weddings.  :)

I also got to see former co-workers and friends.  It was a date night of sorts for Richard and me, too.  We stayed until around midnight because we knew that the kids were in bed and were well taken care of.  Thanks, Georgia!

It was a great night in Augusta, GA!

Introducing Anna-Susan Boykin Trulock!  LOVE HER!

Maggie (my Pre-K assistant), Mrs. Bailey (friend, my formal principal, and Jacob's Mom), and me!

Maggie was such an awesome assistant.  I love her and miss her so much!  I can't wait to hear all about her teaching career when it begins.  :)

Kamdyn's Art

When Kamdyn started 3K, I kept EVERYTHING that she ever brought home.  Before mid-year the 3K file folder was full.  I realized quickly that I couldn't keep every piece of paper that she wrote on.  Instead, I take a photo of them before they are lovingly deposited into File #13.  She made this at her new school.  I love that they write everyday.  I love that their writing is meaningful and that it is child centered.  Here is one of her newest projects.  It describes her to a tee.  Love our kind-hearted, caring, responsible, Kamdyn. Oh, and that she loves broccoli!  :) She's one-of-a-kind!

Sweet Kamdyn

As I've already mentioned, Kamdyn loves her new school.  Each day they participate in "Daily Cafe" for their reading/language arts time.  It's Kamdyn favorite part of the day.  One of the Daily 5 activities is writing.  They write for meaning and they get to choose what they write.  She made this card for me on the day that I ate lunch with her!  How sweet is my big girl?  Not enough words to describe, but I do know that I am blessed.

Boogie Babies and Pinkalicious

So, I signed Karcie and myself up for Boogie Babies at the Apex Community Center.  I knew it would be a hoot and would be a great way for Karcie and I to meet other babies and their Moms.  There was about 12 18-24 month old babies and Moms in this class.  There were toys to be shared, or not!  There were smiles to be had, or not.  Songs were sung and you get the picture!  It was loud, it was crazy.  Babies were playing tug-of-war with toys.  Moms were trying to referee nicely.  All of this was going on while trying to sing, dance, and keep our own rambunctious 2 year olds with us AND participating.  The class is on Thursdays and meets 6 times.  It should be fun and I think next week will be better because the children will know a little more of what to expect.  As for meeting Moms and babies......  We met Kylan and her Mommy.  We also met Livia and her Mommy.  We already have a play-date for the three sassy girls scheduled for next Wednesday.  I hope it goes better than Round 1 of Boogie Babies!!  :)  There will be photos of these Boogie Babies soon!

After Boogie Baby madness, Karcie and I scooted over to Kamdyn's school to have lunch with her.  It has been Read Across America this week in celebration of Dr. Seuss.  They have had various activties throughout the week....crazy sock day, favorite book character day, wear red/whte, PJ Day, etc.  You know Pinkalicious is still our favorite book and character after all of these years!  So, Pinkalicious dressed up and went to school.  She enjoyed sharing her new school with me and the lunchroom procedures.  It still feels so weird to me to be a guest in her school instead of a teacher.  I will always be a teacher at heart even though I am taking a break for now.  I sure do love my single job title for now though - MOMMY!