Preschool Graduation!!!

We put Aiden in preschool so that he could build some social skills that would benifit him in kindergarten.  It has been a rough year between visits to see the principal and Mommy sleeping through her alarm making Aiden late for school, but we have almost made it to summer break.  I am still hopeful that Aiden's experience riding the bus and going to school will help to prepare him for the years to come that are going to be increasingly difficult academically. Aiden has made a lot of friends and has made a lot of progress learning how to behave and make good choices.  We have gone to numerous birthday parties and Dr visits.  There have been field trips and field days.  They hatched two ducklings (ducky and fluffy), cared for the school rabbit and even had hermit crabs to care for in the classroom. 

Aiden has officially graduated preschool and I am so happy that summer break is almost here.... I am so wishing the highschool kids went to school earlier than the elementary school so I could get an extra hour of sleep....but unless things change we have 6 more years to go of getting up with the birds... LoL....at least Aiden has and is using his own alarm clock now and he somes to get me up so we can get him ready for school each morning.

His class did a musical interpretation of "Pete the Cat - walking in my white shoes" and showed a video interview of the kids as well..... For the most part I did ok as a camera man, but the alarm on my phone did go off at one point and the camera totally panned with me as i moved to turn it off.....

Then they got to dress in their caps and gowns and get their certificate.  I loved all the different ways the kids choose to decorate their caps.... Aiden's was green of course....LoL.

The twins were a hit at graduation and got hugs from Lerone.....

....and said "hi" to Jenna....

Aiden was excited that his Grandma and Grandma Dee-Dee got to see him get his certificate and to know he was ready to move on to Kindergarten..... little did he know that there was still 2 more weeks of preschool to finish out, poor kid.

I am super proud of Aiden and how well behaved and independant he was during and after graduation... He really makes me smile from ear to ear when he shows just how grown-up and responsible he can be... I just hope that next year he has a teacher that appreciates having him in her classroom and does not choose to make an example out of him for a second year in a row. 

Aiden, baby, Mommy and Daddy love you more than the world and we are so proud of all the ways in which you have grown and matured over this school year!!!

Springtime 2013

 Spring has sprung, finally, maybe... LoL.... We have been riding the spring weather roller coaster.... One day its 80 next day its 50, Rain for two weeks followed by 1 day of sun..... then its time for a late frost warning... I am just glad that my allergies have finally gotten under control for the most part.

 Aiden and I have been working on transplanting Iris's and putting together a vegetable garden.  We tried to plant some flowers that should have sprouted by now, so I guess we are gonna have to try again with our last seed packet and see if we can get some new flowers to replace the Iris's we moved.

We have gotten more flowers out fo the Iris's we haven't transplanted yet, but surprisingly enough some of the ones that were moved bloomed as well.

 We have had lots of luck with tomato plants this year.... even after giving a couple away we still have 22 plants that need to go into the ground soon.  The birds are loving pulling apart the hanging basket that the catnip is growing in, I was able to catch this guy in a couple of pictures and will have to look to see what kind he is.

I love taking pictures of the coulds as storms roll in and here lately I have had ample opportunites to catch some great shots.....

....the ominous black clouds swallow the blue sky ......

 ....and then the wind and rain follow.....

 ...so far this year we have not had much thunder and lightening..... but wow the wind....

Aiden is graduating Pre-school!!!!

This year was Aiden's first year in public school.  He has gone for the full day 5 days a week and has been riding the school bus to the preschool class and everything!  It has been a long year with lots of learning and some fun here and there and it is almost over... finally!

Each week his preschool teacher sends out a newsletter and this week it made me tear up a little.... I can't believe the time has flown by like it has, but I will be grateful for summer break and not having to get Aiden up for a school bus for at least a month or so.  In the meantime, Aiden still has to graduate preschool and it sounds like his class has a fun ceremony planned for us.....

I plan on having my video camera ready so that we can share this event with everyone that won't be there, Aiden is excited that his Grandma's are going to be at his graduation ((and we are excited to have some help with the girls so that we can capture some of the excitement in pictures and videos)) I have seen Aiden grow and mature as he prepares to start formal education and I have seen him bring home influences of his school mates (much to my dismay sometimes).  At Kindergarten orientation I found it alarming that 2 of the 3 teachers were almost advocating holding children back in preschool because the Kindergarten cirriculum is so much more stringent than it used to be.  There is no more nap, the day is divided into academic sections as long as 45 mins or longer sometimes, and the kids are even given SOL's.   I think a lot of Aiden's issues in preschool may have stemmed from boredom and some I am hoping that Kindergarten being a challenge will help with that.  He has struggled with focusing on one thing at a time and learning about personal space, but he has also excelled in academics so I have faith that he can and will succeed in school, his teachers may just  need a little extra patience though.  I was comforted when the Vice Principal said she thought Aiden was ready for Kindergarten, he has seen her enough that I figure she should have a good perception of his abilities. 

Ribbert came back!!!

 Last year in the fall we emptied our terrarium and let all of our critters go to hibernate for the winter....

 About a week or so ago Aiden and I were outside and saw a lizard run into the rocks around the front garden.... So we went looking for it .....

 ....first we found a baby snake, that I was in fact ready to catch.... but it got away before I could....

... but while I was trying I heard a loud rustling coming from under a different rock... Upon further investigation we discovered that "Ribbert" must have missed us and decided to come back.... LoL... So we set-up the terrarium and bought him some crickets and made him right at home.... Now we have also found "Squirmy Super Frog" and he has been fairly determined to just get free, hopefully now that we finally got him to eat some crickets he will be happier to stay.... Stay tuned for udates on the terrarium throughtout the spring and summer.

New pics of the Girls!!!

 Yeah, yeah, yeah... I got my finger in the shot a little, buy hey I didn't block out the best part at least. ;)  I love how green everything is getting and the girls love the little flowers blooming in the yard....

 ...the girls love to be outside and I was greatful to have a couple of minutes to let them play in the yard, before they had to be shuffled into the car....

 The girls also got to put on their sunglasses.....too cute!!!

 They were so proud of finding the flowers.....

 and of course Miss Dramatic got all upset over being told to turn around.... LoL

and no Aunt Birdie they still don't both go in the same direction on their own! LoL

Congrats to Momma!!!

 Congratulations Momma!!! I want to give a shout out and tell you how proud we are of you!

 It took J's mom a lot of hard work and many hours doing work for free to complete the necessary clinicals for her program of study, but she finally made it and is now a Graduate from Virginia Western Community College!

 It was great to see everyone in the family that was able to make it for the ceremony, though it was longer than expected, Momma deserved every moment of our time.

 The pictures on my phone turned out kinda so-so....

 .... Who can spot Ricky? (he's the one in yellow...LoL)

 Now Momma just has to pass her State Board test and she has set herself up for success and promotion!

 Thanks again Mom for watching the girls for us, there is no way we would have made it all the way through the ceremony with them in tow.

I am playing catch-up.... watch for more than one post today!

Happy Birthday Chloe!!! Things have been so busy over the past couple of weeks that somewhere along the lines I got a day ahead of myself.... and last Satruday Aiden and I scrambled to get a present and get to the party on time.....  

 ... just to find out that we were a day and 10 minutes early....Aiden told me on the way home on Saturday "Mommy if we go back again tomorrow and it's still not time for the party, I am not coming back a third time." very matter-of-factly... it was too funny....

 This is Grace from Aiden's Pre-School class.....

 ... Silly Treshon ....

 and the Birthday Girl Chloe!!!

 I love that she dipped her chin in the cake trying to blow out all the candles!!!

Community Service Day #1 for 2013

J and I are waiting for the new season of "Moonshiners" on the Discovery Channel.  Until then we were able to get our fix a different way.  This year I decided to do my first paid community service day participating in the Moonshine Express tour held in Rocky Mount.  Since J loves the history of the event and the subject matter so much he even joined me.

Melissa and I had done the  "Ghosts and More" tour last fall and had a lot of fun.  It was great that she was able to come back again and we got to be at the same stop, so we got to hang out all day!

At the Historical Society Some of the locals brought out pieces from stills and created a mock still to display....

There was even a former officer onsite that has written books about some of the raids he participated in giving a unique perspective to the days of prohibition....

It was so neat to see all of the equiptment up close....

...When we told Melissa that there was a worm in the box, she didn't get it at first.... We're gonna have to get her to watchin' Moonshiners and learning a thing or two.... LoL

They had old cars on display.....

...and the other tour participants walked around to visit with the guests after the tour....Pictured here is "Booty and the Rum Runner Queen" ((Randall Meadows and Carlene Deal))

We were just one stop away from Carlene for our part and I hope I get to have that much fun when I retire....

She told us some of the greatest stories and it was a blast to be in her company!

It was a nice crisp spring day and the Sun shown down to warm us in the afternoon while music filled the air.

J was disappointed that "Tim" was not able to ocme to the Moonshine Express the weekend we choose to go, but he was happy that it was a nice day and not raining.

After we had spent the day at the Moonshine festival, Melissa, Randall, J and I went out to dinner before heading home.

Once again we appreciated the time Mom spent with the kids, though she was tired and ready for a break when we got back she enjoyed spending some time with the Grandbabies.