May Moments (Part One)

We are halfway to July & I haven't even posted May pictures...oh well, maybe my blog title should be "Better Late Than Never!"  Let's start with a FUN day for Jones...Kindergarten graduation! 

The theme was "Wild About Kindergarten."  The classes sang a few songs together, had their names announced, posed for many pictures, played with their friends on the playground & had a cookout at school all before noon!  He was a busy boy, but did stop long enough for Mom to snap a few pictures. 

One with the stage decor... 

One with Dad & Momma... 

One with Grandma & Poppa... 

One with his teacher, Mrs. Davidson... 

One with Laynie... 

One with his best buddy... 

Well, OK two with his best buddy!

Great job Jones~he was so happy (& kind of shocked) he's going to first grade! Ha/Ha He's a character!

Jones First Day Pictures

Jones actually started Pre-K 2 days a week at First Place Academy in VB when he was 3--Ms. Amy was his teacher and we LOVED her!He began his 4 year Pre-K in VB and then shortly after our move we enrolled him in Conway Christian Learning Academy. I can't tell you how much he learned there and how much we LOVED it! Mrs. Pinkett was the BEST! :)Jones' first day of Kindergarten! Look how much older he looks...I LOVE this little boy so much...I have been telling him how lucky his Kindergarten teacher is to have him in her class! :)

I didn't cry today because I'm just thankful I get to watch him go to school and grow up...now that's NOT to say it wasn't eerily quiet around here today...but I'll survive!

Laynie First Day Pictures...

Her first day at First Place Academy in Van Buren shortly after our move in October of 2007--look how young she looks!Oh how I LOVED City Heights--Mrs. Turner was the best K teacher! :) Our first day of Kindergarten in August of 2008We began our 1st grade year in VB for a few short weeks before our move--Laynie changed (grew up) a lot this year.Today is the first day of 2nd grade! She keeps growing up on me; before I know it--she'll be driving herself to school! :( I couldn't cry for her starting school today...if you only knew how excited she was to get back to learning, you would understand why! She's currently a sponge soaking EVERYTHING up!

First Day of School

It's currently 9:08 pm, and I am one pooped Mommy! The first day of school is tiring for everyone involved! :)

We started our morning with pancakes for breakfast, packing lunchboxes & backpacks, pictures before we left, Daddy driving us all to school, walking the kiddos to class, more pictures and then they were ready for their new school year!

Laynie has been, and more than likely will continue to be, EXCITED about school--her teacher seems wonderful! :) Jones said he was a tad bit nervous, but I think all went well for him today too; however, he did tell Laynie he didn't think he wanted to go back tomorrow because it was a little boring--oh brother! :) His teacher just had a baby so he has a substitute for the first couple of weeks.

Laynie's favorite thing today was EVERYTHING according to her & Jones' favorite was recess of course!Our Kindergarten Boy--so big! Jones really has grown quite a bit over the summer.I can't believe she's already in 2nd grade! It's gonna be a fun year!Our traditional 'backpack pose.'Waiting for school to begin--I wonder what he will learn this year? He's already pretty smart! :)Laynie LOVES her classroom--check out the cool reading station in the back!

Arkansas Frontier

It was our first field trip with our new elementary school. They were scheduled to go to the Arkansas Frontier (a pumpkin patch with some pilgrim and indian things thrown in) during the Monsoon Season of Arkansas :), so it had to be rescheduled for a day that turned out to be fabulous! Laynie enjoyed every second and I got to meet some of her new school friends--Molly, Julia, Caitlin. It wasn't quite the same as hanging out with Conner, Kamden, Jackson, Dreyden or Jasmine from last year, but she had fun. Check out the slide show below!

Our First Day

Laynie and Jones both started school today. It was Laynie's 1st day of 1st grade, and Jones began 3 days of pre-k!!! They were both very excited to get to school!




Last year I began a tradition--making a "back to school brownie". Last year it was the shape of a pencil, and this year Laynie wanted it to be an apple with a worm coming out of it. Why couldn't she just pick a book or ruler--something simple?!? Well we attempted it, and this is the final product--very tasty.
Back to School Brownie 2008
Back to School Brownie 2009

Fall Party

Jones had a "Fall Party" at his preschool on Thursday. I got to enjoy the morning with him and his class. He was also the special helper that day so he got to be first (which is always good for him) and he got to sit at a special desk, use Mr. Pointer during calendar time and dress the Weather Bear--FUN STUFF All the classes had a special snack, craft, tractor/wagon ride, and games in the gym. It was a jam packed morning of fun!

Elementary School STUFF

Let me start by saying, "I had NO IDEA how much stuff went on during Elementary School! Was it like this when we were kids? I honestly don't remember!"

Last week at school was Literacy Week, activities included: Pajama Day, Dress as Your Favorite Book Character, and a Mash Bash for books complete with a hot dog snack on the playground Friday afternoon, not to mention face painting and the book fair was all last week along with parent teacher conferences.

This week is Red Ribbon Week--Be Drug Free, activities include: Don't Get MIXED up in Drugs-wear mix matched clothes; TEAM up against drugs-wear favorite team jersey; Put a CAP on Drugs-wear your favorite hat/cap; Wear Red Day.

So Laynie is loving all the STUFF that goes on at Elementary School, but I think it's beginning to wear her Mommy out! :-) FUN DAYS!
She was so proud of her Mixed Up Outfit! She's a hoot!

Wild Things Farm--Day Two

Friday was Laynie's first Kindergarten field trip--she had a really good time, but I think her favorite part may have been the bus ride! :-) She hung out with her classmates, Conner & Jackson, for the most part. Today was definitely different than on Thursday with Jones. Laynie liked the horse, but WAS NOT into feeding the goats! She was the only one I saw that made her corn cob fly into the swimming pool target (which made her day)! The Kindergarten children got a more in depth explanation of how a pumpkin grows, but other than that it was about the same. Guess we'll be going back next fall ya'll!

Wild Things Farm--Day One

It was a full morning at the Wild Things Farm--Jones loved every minute of it. Enjoy the pictures--the captions should tell most of the story!

City Heights 5K

The White girls ran a 5K this weekend! Well, Laynie technically ran a Mini 5K at her school on Friday, and I ran the real 5K on Saturday morning. I'm not sure if Laynie loved running or not; when playing chase with her brother she's pretty fast, but maybe the crowd got to her because 'super fast' is NOT how I would have described her running on Friday! :-) She did run the whole time and she finished so that's the important thing right?Trey is usually the runner of the family, but he watched the kiddos for me on Saturday so I could run. I had hoped to run around 25 minutes, but my time ended up being 25:48--not two bad for an old PTA mom, huh?!?

Pumpkins, Pumpkins, Pumpkins

Last week was "The Pumpkin Unit" for Laynie's Kindergarten class. For as long as I have been in and around school systems, it seems like every K Teacher does a Pumpkin unit in the fall complete with a fieldtrip to a Pumpkin Patch (which we are going to take towards the end of the month). This year Laynie learned that pumpkins come in all shapes, sizes and some can even be white; pumpkins can float; and they counted the seeds in their class pumpkin! Well Friday was Pumpkin Decorating Day so a few of us Moms got to help out the children while they decorated. Check out a few of these pumpkins decorated by Laynie's classmates!

Student of the Month

Our Yard Sign
Students being called on stage
Kindergarten September Students of the Month
They were all girls!
Laynie smiling in the group photo
September Students of the Month

We got an e-mail this week from the counselor at City Heights saying Mrs. Turner, Laynie's Kindergarten teacher, had selected her as the September Student of the Month but to keep it a secret! The school had its usual Rise N Shine assembly this morning and they recognized all the students that were chosen by calling out their names and having them come on stage. She got a certificate, a free kid's meal at Chili's and $1.00 coupon to the school store! We even got a yard sign for our house!Trey, Jones and I were all there to cheer for Laynie! She was very excited! :-)