Awards and Such

BRAG ALERT, BRAG ALERT...get ready because this post is dedicated to my incredibly brilliant children.  Thursday (the last day of school) was awards day at Plano.  The school tries their best to scatter the ceremonies so that parents can attend multiple ones for their multiple kids.  This year was a bit different for me because our last day of preschool fell on the last day of school.  I have taught at EEP for 8 years, and this has NEVER happened.  There are ALWAYS make up days at the end of the school year, but it didn't happen this year.  SO, my last day of preschool was a bit rushed.  We always have a luncheon after school to celebrate another year's accomplishments.  BUT, I knew lunch would be shortened for me because I needed to high-tail it out to Plano for the kids awards which began at 12:30 and 1:00 p.m.  I made it to Plano in record time and caught most of Isaac's classes slideshow before the awards were handed out--whew.

 Here is what Isaac's teacher had to say about my precious child.  Isaac is pretty amazing.  I cannot wait to see how his story unfolds.  He recently told Matt that all he thinks about is numbers.  Look out Gatton Academy, I've got a future student heading your way.  Isaac's GRADE and GMADE scores were insanely high as well as his Lexia, Fast Math Fluency and AR scores.  He's brilliant people!  Isaac's score on the GRADE was a 455 with above average score at 415.  His GMADE was 508 with above average score at 491.  Crazy smart!

Because the slideshow lasted a bit longer than expected.  Karson's class was already in the middle of their awards when I arrived.  Karson was given a Governor's Cup award for her participation in the academic team.  She also received awards for marvelous mathematician and star student.  Her test scores were converted into actual grades this year.  Her teacher wanted us to see of how everything will be converted next year (when the kids receive letter grades). Karson received a 96% in reading, 110% in word study/spelling, 97% in math, 98% in social studies and 94% in science.

 I attribute both of my children's success to their awesome teachers.  Plano is blessed with a wonderful faculty.  Karson has been with Ms. Tinsley for two years.  I have NO IDEA how we will cope next year without her.  She has been one of those teachers who goes ABOVE and BEYOND.  We were very blessed.  I sure hope Isaac will be lucky enough to get her in future years.

These three kids have been with Ms. Tinsley for two years.  Fortunately, they are both Karson's very best friends, Nathan and Jamison.  Karson and Jamison have been together since kindergarten.  Karson and Nathan have been together all but one year.  Part of me wishes Karson would connect with more girls, but quite honestly, this three-pack is pretty inseparable at this point.

When Science is Sweet

There's a first time for everything, especially when you're at a newer school.  Plano Elementary held their first SCIENCE FAIR this year. I IMMEDIATELY knew which of my kids would want to participate.  Yep, you guessed it, Karson.  She did her study on growing rock candy.  Isaac did his study on, well never mind, he didn't participate =).  It's hard enough to keep him interested in doing his homework, much less, something EXTRA outside of school and NOT graded.  Karson, on the other hand, jumps at the opportunity to do any and everything outside of school.  I guess it all balances out, but I would've loved to have done two projects--science is so neat. 

  HOW DO YOU GROW ROCK CANDY, you ask?  Well, we didn't just grow it, we needed an actual experiment so we compared two different strands for growing.  We did a non seeded strand (plain piece of yarn) and a seeded strand (a piece of yarn dipped in water and rolled in sugar crystals) to do our comparison.  The entire process took us a little over a week. We actually finished it weeks ago to allow for time to work on her MAGNIFICENT poster.  The project required quite a few elements, and we wanted to make sure nothing was left out.  Little did I realize, that it would be judged.  I thought the projects were simply for fun and education, but an actual rubric came home with instructions for grading/judging. 

After you develop you sugar strands, you make a sugar solution and divide it evenly among two clear glasses.  You attach your sugar strings to skewers on one end and a paper clip on the other.  And, after lowering the strands into the solution, you observe the changes for 7 days.

 Our solution on Day 7.  Our biggest observation: it's nearly impossible to grow rock candy on a string that doesn't start with a sugar coating.  We didn't see any change on that strand.  However, the sugar seeded strand grew and actually looked like the rock candy you see in store.

The finished product.

I tasted the rock candy, but it was really sticky and kind of a mess.  I decided it would probably be best not to hang onto it since the project wasn't due for another week or two.  We took pictures of all the stages of the process for her poster.

Here is her finished project.  I loved the hot pink poster--gives it something extra! 

 I purchased actual rock candy from Candy Craze in the mall.  

 Stages of the growth explained

We took her poster to school on Monday.  I helped her carry everything in that morning.  However, when we got to her classroom, there was a substitute teacher.  I was almost leery about leaving it in there because I knew it would be hard for Karson to carry it all single-handedly.  And, we had rock candy taped to the poster board which I knew could pose a problem.  I asked the sub if I could take the project to where it needed to go, but she told me they would make sure it got to the right place.  When Karson got home that afternoon, I could tell something was wrong.  She told me when she took her poster to the gym for set-up, her rock candy fell off the poster.  Our curriculum coordinator told her she would fix it, but I could tell Karson was bummed about it.  Fortunately, the next day (yesterday), we were out of school for election day.  We went to Plano to vote that morning, and I decided to go into the gym where the projects were set up and grabbed her poster and candy.  I took it back home and hot glued all the pieces onto the poster--those suckers weren't going ANYWHERE now.  Then, I took it back--worked out perfectly.

The science fair projects were displayed for parent and student viewing on Wednesday.  There were some really neat studies.

And guess who came home with a 3rd place finish for her grades, KARSON!

She couldn't stop talking about how excited she was about her 3rd place win.  I was proud of her!!!

Graduate Deaton

 There aren't many things cuter than a preschool graduation.  We celebrated Miles's accomplishment (graduation) tonight at Greenwood Park.  Miles has come so far this year, and I was pleased with his Learning Accomplishment Profile (aka progress report) which I received this morning after dropping him off.  Miles enjoys school and rarely complains about having to go, but he's definitely been more stubborn about learning compared to Karson and Isaac. If he doesn't know how to do something or has trouble, he simply WON'T DO IT or requires a lot of extra nudging. Really, I am just thankful that he finally learned all his numbers, letters and can write his name.  That was A HUGE accomplishment in my book.  I'm hoping all the other stuff will fall into place. 

 Miles's school photo album is FULL of pictures of him and his best buddy this year--LAYNE DRAKE.  These two are inseparable.  Love it!  They performed the nursery rhyme "Hey Diddle, Diddle" together with Miles as the cow and Layne as the dog.

The cutest lil' cow in the world...

...jumping over the moon.

The program begins with a sampling of Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes.  Each class acts out different ones.  Miles's class acted out:  Three Little Kittens, Little Bo Peep, Hey Diddle, Diddle and Old Woman in a Shoe.  After all the nursery rhymes are complete, the classes dismiss and there is a slide show of all the pictures taken throughout the school year.  Once the slide presentation is over, the kids return and do a small variety program of all the things they've learned over the year.  

And then, the BIG PRESENTATION OF DIPLOMAS begins.

 Waiting for his diploma.

 Getting his diploma.

 Smiling with his diploma.

And the traditional finale "Kindergarten Here We Come"

Isaac took off with Pap right after the ceremony so our family picture is short one person, but I sure thought this was a great shot of us four.

BFF's.

 Goofing around with Karson.  We ended the night with a trip to Toys R Us for his graduation gift.  He picked out a Nintedo 3DS game--Mario Kart.  I'm super proud of my lil' guy!  Kindergarten here HE comes!

 His orange graduation bear joins the other two graduation bears Karson (blue) and Isaac (brown) received when they graduated from EEP.  Sweet lil' bears for three sweet little graduates.

Holy CATS. It's Mother's Day

I don't even know WHERE to begin.  My life has been turned COMPLETELY UPSIDE DOWN in about a week's time.  It's hard to tell which way is up these days.  I am the wife of an amazing man who took a couple of sick days last week and ended up with a new truck.  I've joked with Matt about his major financial decision making on SICK days.  The last time he was out sick, he refinanced our house.  I've gotta keep him exercising and on vitamins--no more sick days. We may go broke, j/k.  Actually, he really wrestled with the idea of getting the truck (although I know he's wanted a new vehicle for some time).  Matt has been so self-sacrificial when it comes to taking care of our family--he is not a SPLURGER at all.  He's driven the older/used cars as long as I can remember, so I could have the nicer vehicle.  He started with an Escort, moved to an old Acura, a Honda Accord, a Mitsubishi Galant, a Ford Taurus and his most recent my mom's old Toyota Camry.  All the cars were nice, but like I said, they were older with higher miles and the check engine lights all a'glaring.  SO, when he asked me what I thought about him getting a new truck, a Honda Ridgeline, I told him it didn't matter to me at all.  I think it's about time he has SOMETHING NEW.  I am so happy for him, and the kids LOVE the truck.  In fact, they no longer want me to pick them up from school in the van =).

  In other news, I have recently accepted a NEW job at SkyPAC (short for Southern Kentucky Performing Arts Center) which is Bowling Green's new visual and performing arts center.  My new journey there has been nothing short of unusual.  Let me start from the beginning...our Ladies Bible Class at church has been doing a Beth Moore

This is what I spent my Mother's Day watching.

study on James.  One of the lessons is called Consider the Source.  The lesson starts with a series of questions such as:  What's the biggest battle you have going on inside of you right now?  Have you consistently asked God for this thing, situation, or relationship?  If so, name a couple of reasons why you think you haven't received it?  Has anything good or beneficial come to you or to others as a result of your lack?  As I answered all the questions and continued on into my study, I felt God's spirit at work.  Things jumped off the page like "All of us, no matter how much we have, desire something we don't." And, "Nobody has everything they've ever longed for."  And, this segment which knocked me over, "Nothing has the capacity to keep us out of trouble like the certainty of God's gaze piercing through all our pretense to the heart of our desires.  Only HE can sort our the blur of our motives.  Let's have the GUTS to ask Him what's in our hearts and, when he reveals it die to the self-gratification and live for the greater glory.  That's when the attic door to the throne room of God will fall open and answered prayers will tumble out like boxed-up treasures." When I was doing this particular study, I was in limbo with SkyPAC.  I had talked to the Ticket Office Manager the week before Spring Break about a part time job in the ticket office. The timing couldn't have come more perfectly for me.  My last year of preschool is winding down, I'm ready for a new opportunity, etc., etc.  I felt really good after the meeting and was hoping to hear something within the week.  Well, that week turned into FOUR weeks.  I hadn't heard much from the manager besides 1-2 short emails asking about availability and such.  I was beginning to think it was hopeless and then did this lesson on James.  I sat at my kitchen table and PLEADED WITH GOD for his guidance and to take away all the anxiety I had over this situation.  I really just wanted an answer PERIOD.  Wouldn't ya know, God showed up and answered.  I received an email a day or two later stating that I had the job.  I couldn't have been more excited.  The manager asked me to call or email for more details.  I figured calling would be best since our email spanned across the course of FOUR weeks.  I called, he asked me to come work the next show (Golden Dragon Acrobats) that Friday.  I worked an 8-hour shift my first day.  When I got to work and looked at the calendar he'd set up for the week, I was working WELL over the 20-hour-a-week job I signed up for.  It immediately made me nervous.  I wanted the job but not at the expense of missing out on EVERYTHING in the lives of my family.  However, I wanted to give it a chance and not complain.  The other gals told me he is really easy to work for and incredibly flexible.  My schedule last week was as follows:  Monday 1-6, Tuesday 1-6, Wednesday 1-6, Friday 1-6 and Saturday 1-8.  YIKES, right!?!?!  When I came in on Monday, the schedule had already changed again.  My new schedule was Monday 1-5, Tuesday 1-6, Wednesday 2:30-6, Friday 1-6, no work on Saturday and Sunday noon-11 p.m.  DOUBLE YIKES!?!?!  However, when I got to work on Monday, my manager was out sick.  And, the drama begins...he was out sick everyday last week.  When I got to work on Friday, I was told he QUIT.  What in the world?  Needless to say, it's been interesting and UNUSUAL working in that environment.  Everyone is incredibly friendly and helpful, I just feel divided inside.  On the one hand, I'm excited about this new opportunity and working in a fast paced, environment with a thousand things going on at once.  But on the other hand, I am torn about how much "potential" time this is going to take from my family especially now that the manager has LEFT.  There are only four of us on the ticket staff--three part time gals and one full time. What to do, what to do?  Pray, that's always the best solution--well that, and plain common sense sometimes =).

SO, how did I spend the one day we celebrate M-O-M? I spent it working at SkyPAC. We featured two CATS performances--one at 3 p.m. an done at 7:30 p.m.  It was a madhouse.   I didn't get to spend Mother's Day with my kids =( or with my own Mom.  BUT, I did get to spend Friday afternoon and evening with my Mom.  And, I got to go to Waffle House Saturday morning with my kids--it's kind of become our new Saturday morning tradition, and I LOVE IT!  I also scored some nifty gifties from my crew.

My Isaac made me this booklet for Mother's Day.  It talks all about my puzzle working skills.  I love working puzzles--give me a puzzle any day.  I get this trait from my family.  We were always working giant puzzles that covered our entire dining room table when I was a kid.  I'm glad to pass this on to Isaac who seems as equally interested as I am.

I especially love the line that says, She looks pretty when she has a pony tail.  Good thing, because that's my default hair these days.

Isaac also gave me this sweet print and a packet of Sunflower seeds.

 I cannot tell you how PROUD I am of this Mother's Day bag from my lil' Miles.  Ms. Teresa told me he did it all by himself.  He has come SO FAR this year.  I'm hoping his fine motor skills continue to get better and he develops more of an interest in coloring, creating and drawing (like Karson and Isaac).  This bag is definitely a good start.

 The sweet little presents inside my bag.

 Karson made me a booklet about all the hats I wear as her mom.  On the last page, she wrote "You're the best mom in the universe.  I love with all my heart".

 She also got me this balloon.

 Matt and I went to Heartstrings on Saturday afternoon, and I picked up my Mother's Day gift.  I got a new Pandora woven leather bracelet and new QUEEN BEE charm.  I love it!

I think this charm represents my role in the family well =).

 My mom gave me one of my favorite gifts--ANYTHING from Bath and Body Works.  She got me one of the foam hand soaps--love these!  She also wrote me the sweetest note (that I COMPLETELY disagree with on my behalf).  It says "You and Shannon are much better mothers than I ever was.  Thanks for making me look so good."  My mother is awesome, and I think she did the best she could which is what I hope my kids say about me.  I don't know everything and certainly don't pretend to.  I'm going to make all kinds of mistakes, I'm human.  But, like my mom, I will love and protect them ALWAYS and that's the most important thing I can give them.  BECAUSE, it's what our Lord provide for us as his children.  Happy Mother's Day all!