We're DONE!

Yesterday marked the last day of school for the girls!  They are SOOOO (can not emphasize that enough) excited to be done!!  I guess, if I were to be truly honest, I'm pretty excited too.  It has definitely been a year of challenges, no one expected to have to do school in my bedroom!  But, I think we all met each challenge head-on and found a way to make the best out of a not-so-easy situation!  

The girls had a GREAT year and each of them grew by leaps and bounds in different ways. Yesterday we had Ms. Nason, Hannah's kindergarten teacher come and do our portfolio review. Bascially, she comes and looks over all the things we did all year and determines whether or not the girls made adequate progress.  Then, she writes a letter to that affect and it gets sent to the school department for their files...that's it.  She was SO impressed with how much the girls learned this year.  She was especially impressed with Hannah's progress.  Now, remember, she had Hannah in kindergarten last year, which was not necessarily an easy year for her...she did well, but if you know Hannah, you know they faced some issues.  So, the first thing Ms. Nason asked to see was Hannah's handwriting (she struggled with it last year).  Her jaw dropped!! Hannah has the most beautiful cursive handwriting, especially when you consider the fact that she's only in first grade!  Ms. Nason spent some time congratulating the girls on a job well done and told them they graduated to the next grade...the girls' faces were priceless!

All of Ms. Nason's positive comments and the fact that she was so impressed with what we accomplished really made us ALL feel good!

So now, we have a 2nd grader and a 5th grader in our house!  Hard to believe!!  And, for those that may be curious, and even for those who could care less, we ARE homeschooling again next year.  We have just seen far too many improvements academically and emotionally in both of the girls to stop now!  We are definitely looking forward to the summer and the list of fun activities the girls came up with, but we are also looking forward to next year and the possibilities that are ahead with a mom who is not flat on her back!!!

I do just want to take a moment and thank those of you who have been SO amazingly supportive of our decision to homeschool, you know who you are!  If it wasn't for your constant support, I don't think we would have made it through this year with the progress and success we had...especially when you consider all of the obstacles we encountered.  I am truly grateful for your prayers and support, it meant/means the world to me!!!

Mother's Day

Well, I got a special Mother's Day treat.  I got to sing with my girls!!

I was quite amazed...the last time Kaitlyn was asked to sing, she said 'NO'.  Which shocked us all...she usually LOVES to sing.  We didn't want to make her do something, at the same time trying to teach her that she's right, you shouldn't sing in church, if you don't want to, it's about honoring God.  So, we were asked to sing yet again.  This time Kaitlyn said, 'YES' and Hannah said, 'NO WAY.'  Well, once Kaitlyn and I started practicing, Hannah changed her mind.  That was fine with me..but, not only did she change her mind, she wanted a solo!!  I again, was shocked!  The girls did a GREAT job!  I was very proud!!  Here is the video of our song:

The Tuesday after Mother's Day our favorite sitter came over so Jeff and I could go out to dinner and a movie.  It was the first time I had been away from my kids since February!!  That is a LONG time and I really needed the time out!!  It was also nice to go out and see and 'adult' movie...the last movie I had seen in the theatre was BOLT!  Yeah, time for a grown-up movie.  So, we went to see 'Star Trek.'  What a GREAT movie!!  It was definitely a nice night out with my best friend!  So, all in all, not a bad Mother's Day!

The Drama Queen's Debut!

Kaitlyn's performance in 'Linus and Lucy' -- I think she liked the fist part, don't you!  :)

Kaitlyn's performance in 'There's No Such Thing As Monsters' -- her first time as the 'little' sister!

The Drama Queen...

Kaitlyn spent her weeks at the Master's Academy of Fine Arts learning the art of drama.  She was in a class that focused on scenes and monolgues.  She had a fabulous time! Her big end-of-the-year thing was a night of theater when all of the drama classes got to perform the things they had been working on.  Kaitlyn was in 2 different scenes.  In the first, she played Lucy, from peanuts, in 'Lucy and Linus'.  In the second, she played the 'little sister' (she's never been the little sister before :) ) in 'There's No Such Thing As Monsters'.  She did a great job in both performances.  I am working on getting the videos up so you can see them.  I do have some pictures to show, though.  The best part was Kaitlyn won an award at her cast party.  Not best actress or best supporting actress, no, she won the MOST AMAZING COME-BACK PERFORMANCE AFTER DRESS REHEARSAL award!  Apparently, she could not remember any of her lines the night of dress rehearsal and her director was VERY worried.  But, once she stepped out onto the stage, she delivered her lines flawlessly...well, close enough, she was really nervous!  Enjoy the pictures!  I promise, the video will be up soon!

Hannah's Art Show

Here are some pictures of Hannah's art work done this year at MAFA - Master's Academy of Fine Arts. She did a GREAT job!! (Kaitlyn took an acting class, her dinner theatre performance is on May 2nd.)

He is Risen!!

What an exciting day, I love Easter. Without Easter this whole Christanity thing would be pointless, but the fact that Christ went to the cross and died for me changes EVERYTHING!
HE IS RISEN, HE IS RISEN INDEED!!!

While it was an exciting day, being a part of the music ministry at church meant it was a CRAZY day! Our service went well, we had the service at one of the local high schools so all services could be together to celebrate Easter. We normally run 3 services on Sunday morning and you would be amazed at the fact that people that attend one service DON'T KNOW the people that attend another. So, having one big service on Easter is a great time to not only be together for worship, but actually meet new people who have been attending the church. Now, Jeff and I are a part of all 3 services, so we 'know' most of the people that attend, but it was nice being up front and seeing NEW faces at the Easter service! We had over 800 people together celebrating the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!

Here are some pictures from the day:

The kids opened their Easter baskets the day before, we knew Sunday would be crazy. First we had to be at the school early, then we had the service, then lunch, then I headed to NY to help Heather and Dave for a few days. So, here are some pictures of them opening their baskets:

(the kids knew we were heading to Florida for General Assembly and our Scott Family Reunion, but they did NOT know we would also be heading to Disney for a day...as you can see, they were VERY excited! Let the countdown begin!)

Pastel Colors

Well, this April we have seen some very pretty and interesting colors.

The first set of colors we saw were on Caleb's face. His sisters had a brilliant idea to put him in a plastic shopping cart and run around a room to see how fast they could go. The only thing they learned was how far Caleb could fly and what his face would look like when met with a rocking chair at a high speed. We've been on color watch the last few days as we watch his face turn all sorts of pretty colors! Here's hoping they have learned their lesson! (and yes, I realize one day HE will be bigger than them and can get them back, I just don't think THEY have thought of that yet!)

The second set of colors came when we made some Easter egg cookies. The kids had a great time making shortbread cookies and then decorating them with tubes of pastel icing. Thanks to Nene (my sister, Heather) even Caleb gets to enjoy shortbread cookies. She found a fabulous recipe for gluten-free/milk-free shortbread. Caleb not only enjoys making his cookies, but he also enjoys EATING his cookies. I ran out of white flour while making the girls shortbread, but I happened to have some whole-wheat flour in the cupboard, so I used that to finish off the amount I needed. They turned out REALLY good. The girls don't even know there is a healthy aspect to them and you honestly can't even taste it. Yes, I did have one, my FIRST sugary substance in 9 weeks!! (I wanted to make sure they didn't taste like dirt :) )

This last picture is of the kids and their 'shrink wrapped' eggs, for lack of a better word. They had fun making these the other day. I hard boiled the eggs, then the kids put the wrappers on and we dipped them in boiling water and TADA - shrink wrapped eggs. I found these wrappers on the Big Idea website, so Caleb went nuts when he saw the eggs had Bob and Larry on them. They are really cute! I even bought enough so we can do them again next year!

The next blog will have pictures of the kids in their Easter best, if it is EVER warm enough to take them outside to do them...would love an outdoor photo, if not, you'll see my living room floor, again!