Kindergarden Graduation

Luke was so excited the week of Kindergarden graduation.  He had been singing the grad songs at home, and I was excited to see if he would actually sing them during the program.  Graduation was the week before school got out.  I guess they did it early because the last week had many award ceremonies, especially for the fifth graders, and I think they just couldn't fit everything into the last week.  On the day of the graduation, when Luke woke up, he told me, "I feel like today will be a special day!"

The children were supposed to come in their Sunday best.  Luke wanted to wear a tie, so here he is!  The classes entered to "Pomp and Circumstance."

Luke was on the top row, 2nd from the end.

Luke scanned the room for awhile before he finally found me!

The boy Luke was standing next to was a bit silly during the waiting.  Luke kept telling him to be quiet.  If that isn't a case of the pot calling the kettle black, I'm not sure what is.  Although, to be honest, Luke did great up on the stage.  The kids sang a few songs, and then they filed back off the stage, and the students were called up one by one to receive their diplomas.  

The children were introduced with their name as well as their future occupation.  

This is Luke Wilkerson, future first grade teacher.

Our proud graduate!!!

After everyone received his or her diploma they sang one or two more songs about moving on to first grade.  That was so cute.  Luke got really into it.  He was pretty excited.

Luke was jumping up and down, so the picture is blurry.

Luke's wonderful teacher, Mrs. Lewis

Luke had a good year in kindergarden.  I was so nervous at the beginning!  To be honest, I worried through the whole year about how he was doing.  His teacher kept reassuring me that Luke was doing just fine.  He had his challenges, but he really did great.  He stayed in the top reading and math groups during the year.  And he made a LOT of progress socially.  He interacted with friends at school, and he seemed to be well liked by his peers.  His teacher had high but realistic expectations.  She was a great fit for Luke.  We are thankful that he had Mrs. Lewis, and so glad that Huggins was a wonderful fit for Luke.  We are very proud of our graduate!!!

Micah's Last Day of School

Micah started school in October.  We put him in primarily for the socialization and structure.  Micah struggled quite a bit.  He had a hard time following the rules and sitting still, but he still had a good experience.  

The aide-- Ms. Tina

Micah's teacher-- Ms. Laura

Ms. Laura was a great teacher for Micah.  She was firm but loving, and she set clear boundaries.  Most importantly she liked Micah and viewed him as a child that "had a harder time" instead of a "bad kid."  Perspective makes a HUGE difference, and I think Micah blossomed quite a bit.

Socially he made great progress!!!  His favorite friend was Mina (above), but he played pretty well with all the kids in his class.  Around Feb we started doing weekly play dates with Mina, and they played well outside of school too.  The first time I saw him grab a friend's hand and STAY TOGETHER while they played, I kind of teared up.  That was in January.  And since then he has continued to progress socially.  His teacher implemented a color system for Micah (and just Micah) per my request, and that helped his behavior quite a bit.  Micah was happy to go every school day.  So I'd say school was worth it!!!

Mother's Day

My family isn't very into surprises.  We know what we want, and we want what we want.  So this is how we do holidays-- we tell the person who will give a gift exactly what we want to be given.  I know that probably ruins the day for the gift giver (if they are someone that likes surprises,) but it is nice for the one on the receiving end.

This year I told Jared that I wanted to have a pool day as a family, and I wanted him to help me organize the garage.  So that's what we did, and it was great!  I love that we aren't tripping over things in the garage anymore.  And I love afternoon family dates.  Jared also took us all out for dinner, and it was pretty much a perfect day.

So glad that I get to be the mother of these 2 wonderful boys:

My Other Mother

This mother's day my family got to celebrate with my other mother.  I know many of you have heard me talk about Debbi Herrera, and I wanted you to see the beautiful woman I am talking about!  Jennifer and I have been best friends since 2nd grade.  So Debbi has known me for a long time.  Jennifer and I have given her grief for the past 22 years, but I think we made her laugh enough to make up for it.

She has been an important person in my life for many, many years.  One of my favorite memories of her was when she came with me to the big Mother/Daughter dance team event my senior year.  My sister had just had her first baby, and my mom had to be with Megan (of course!)  I was glad that I had a wonderful woman to step in and fill my mom's shoes for the afternoon.  As part of the event the seniors modeled formal dresses and exchanged letters with their mom.  I was happy to exchange letters with Debbi and thankful that she was so happy to do that for me.  I have many memories of Debbi, and there are many things I admire about her.  But the thing I admire most is also the thing I remember and cherish most-- she notices people.  She listens with her whole attention, and always looks for ways to serve and uplift.  More than just 1 event or day I will always remember how she made me feel: special. I love you, Mom H!

21st Century First World Blessings

A few weeks ago now, both my boys got sick.  Luke woke up screaming in the night with an ear ache, and Micah was running a fever (AGAIN!) for three days.  Usually on day three I go to the doctor.  This time I took both boys.  Luke had an ear infection, and Micah had a throat infection.

I thought about the miracles of this modern age.  First, before we ever went to the doctor, I controlled Micah's temperature for 3 days with Tylenol and Motrin.  He was a bear when the medicine wore off.  I am soooo glad I didn't have to suffer through 3+ days of whining.  I suffered through an hour of it until the next dose kicked in.  Not too bad.  

Second, we went to the doctor.  She emailed or faxed a prescription to CVS which I picked up on the way home.  Within 24 hours all symptoms were gone!  Aren't antibiotics amazing?!  I am so glad that I live when they exist.

Third, while my kids were sick and cranky we had TELEVISION to keep them happy, as well as lots and lots of BOOKS.  I don't even want to speculate about how those sick days would have gone without Peppa Pig.

Fourth,  we had a stash of cool craft supplies from Grandma Debbi, Grandpa Terry, and Aunt Jennifer.  

Luke and his butterfly

Micah's lobster

I am so glad that I live now and that I live in America.  I think in an earlier time or a different place Micah probably wouldn't still be alive right now.  And Luke sure wouldn't be the boy he is either.  Counting my blessings!!!

Baseball

This spring Luke played baseball.  It was his idea, and since he's NEVER expressed any interest in sports before I felt like we had to say yes.  Micah didn't want to be left out, so I signed him up too.  That was a bad idea.  Three years old may be too young to start sports.  In any case, Micah wasn't even close to ready.  He hated it.  After suffering through two games, we just gave it up.

Luke, however, played the whole season.  He whined a lot about outfield, but he liked batting and running.

Luke was lucky to have a great coach, Coach RC.  At the first game Luke played first base.  He didn't understand his job at all.  He followed the runner, and tagged home at least 8 times during outfield.  It was pretty funny.  The second game he wandered all over the field.  The third game he stood at first and ran to tag the base every time a runner was coming, even though he never had the ball.  I thought the best thing for him would be to stand near the coach, so during most of his turns in outfield he stood with Coach RC.  

But not always.

Luke had some special visitors for his last game.  Michael, Grandma Debbi, and Aunt Jennifer came to see him play.  Luke was very excited about that.  There was a rough patch in that game when Luke got hit with a ball, but he did bat one more time after "the incident" and was excited that so many people he cares about were there to see him hit the ball and run.  My camera was on the wrong setting during the game, so my pictures didn't turn out well.  Hopefully I'll be able to post the pics that Jenn and Michael took soon.  Theirs turned out much better.

Overall I think it was a good experience for Luke, but he says he doesn't want to play again.  I guess we'll just have to see how he feels next spring.  

Dress Code

This is Luke working at his "office."

Apparently "Business Casual" has reached a whole new level.

Easter Eggs!

The boys were very excited to dye Easter Eggs this year.  We've done it every year since Luke was 2, so he remembered doing it before.  I don't think Micah did, but he saw Disney Collector dye Easter eggs in one of her videos.  He was very excited to be like Disney collector.  She kept using the words she used.  "This is the coloring tablet!" (as he dropped it into the vinegar.)  "This is the egg rappits!"  (which is the way Disney Collector said egg wrappers.)

And it was even more exciting that Libby Rae got to dye eggs too!  

After we finished dyeing the eggs Jared and Michael hid some in the back yard.  The kids-- and Griffin!-- liked finding the eggs.  While the kids wouldn't eat them, Griffin loved them.

On Easter Sunday we had dinner at Michael and Cara's, and then we had a platic egg hunt in their front yard.  I love seeing little kids hunt for eggs.  My kids were cute, but Libby and Beckett were the best!  And the older kids were so good to help the younger ones find eggs.  We ran out of time for a special Family Lesson on the meaning of Easter.  I know the kids all had lessons about it at church on Sunday, but on Monday night, cousins came to our house for dinner and then to do a special Family Home Evening.  We read "The Sparkle Egg" and then made our own sparkle egg to remember that because Jesus was resurrected the tomb is empty.  And because of his Atonement our sins can be forgiven.

Stephen F. Austin State Park

The week after spring break we tried camping again-- this time in our tent and with our dog.  We had so much fun that BOTH Jared and I ended up writing to our families about the trip.  So this post will have portions of Jared's emails because there were some things that I just couldn't say any better than he did.  You will recognize his words by the different font.

Griffin stayed tied up while we set up the tent and started the fire.

Micah (and Luke, but mostly Micah) loved the "camping fire" and was pretty impressed when I couldn't get the stupid thing lit and resorted to hosing it down with lighter fluid.  He thought that since I "turned on" the fire with my lighter, I could turn it off by pushing the lighter button again.  When that didn't work, we decided to dump water on it.  

Both boys enjoyed cooking hot dogs over the fire even though they both refused to eat theirs and dragged their food in the dirt instead.  Griffin appreciated the dirt coated hot dogs, though.

I tried to get a good view of the inside of the tent but it didn't work so well.  I like camping but just can't seem to tone it down.  Jared thinks a sleeping bag and pillow are all we need.  I am not so much of a minimalist.  I brought air mattresses for Jared and I and for Luke.  Micah slept in a portable crib.  Griffin had his crate and cushy bed.  We also had toothbrushes.

Jared describes our night pretty well:

The campground was beautiful and right next to a swamp that had a bunch of vociferous critters in it--chirping, croaking, chortling, singing, caterwauling, cawing, and generally yakking at each other in hopes, no doubt, of passing on their genes this year.  The critters were not annoying for some reason.  The humans at the campground, however, were.  Until 1:00 a.m. (my best estimate), they were yelling, singing, shouting, tripping on our tent's guy lines, trying to pet our dog, running while screaming, and generally acting like drunken rednecks in hopes, no doubt, of passing on their genes this year.

Griffin did great until we had him in the tent and were ready to sleep.  Then he started barking and kept barking, so we locked him in the car.  Micah woke up around 4:00 a.m. and starting singing Frere Jacques.  We told him to be quiet and go to sleep.  He did.  Until Luke woke us all up at 6:00 a.m. after a bad dream.  At that point, we courteously took our kids and dog on a "hike" (I don't think a walk through the woods can be called a hike if there is no incline or decline involved, but we were definitely on a "trail"--said the sign).  Then we played on the swings, packed up the wet tent and muddy tarp (it rained a little during the night), and went home around10:00 a.m.  

Swing Time!

Griffin crashed out for the rest of the day.

As for the rest of us: After we came home, we got to mow, edge, ride bikes in the cul-de-sac, clean the house, wash the stinky dog, wash the stinky kids, and draft a response to a request for an Attorney General opinion.  Then we woke up the next day, got me packed, went to church (Luke cried when I told him I had to leave early to go to Virginia to review documents in a warehouse for two days--now I know he loves me), and I went to the airport, leaving Stacy to wrastle the young'ins.  Ahhhhhh, relaxing weekends.

Houston Children's Museum and the Rest of Spring Break

Another day during Spring Break we met a friend at the Houston Children's Museum.  In Jan we went to the zoo downtown and, while standing at the sea lion tank, I felt a tap on my shoulder.  I turned around and there was my friend Sherry from Williamsburg, VA!  Her twins were in Luke's preschool class and we used to do play dates often.  She lives in Sugarland now, a suburb south west of Houston. Anyway, we met up with her and her family at the Children's museum.  Unfortunately it seemed like everyone with kids in Houston had the same idea.  It was pretty crazy in there, so while I brought my camera, I didn't actually take too many pictures.

This was the boys' favorite thing.  It works like the drive through at a bank (sort of.)  The balls come down on the right-- blue-- side and then the boys would put them into a hole on the left-- red-- side and the balls would shoot up the pipe, wind around, and then fall back down to the blue.  They did it over and over and over.

The museum was very big, so we didn't see everything, but we went to the mini grocery store that had working scanners.  Luke loved being a checker.  We went to a room with emergency vehicles.  Micah loved the police car.  Then there was a building room with legos, paper, and more.  It's really pretty hard to describe the room, and I obviously didn't take pictures of it.  There was a big ramp race track.  The legos were for making cars to race on the track.  There were also some wooden block cars with a stick standing up on the back.  The paper was to make sails for the car.  There was a flat track running parallel to a row of fans.  The point was to make a wind powered car, but Luke was only interested in the fans.  He turned them on over and over and would then start shrieking in excitement.  Micah spent a lot of time fighting with Luke for a turn with the fans.  I spent a lot of time yelling at Luke to LET Micah have a turn with the fans.  The boys liked that room a lot, but it was not my favorite.  Let's see.  There was a room with lots of climbing equipment.  I can't remember much more about the inside.

But there was a big outside section too-- divided into 3 parts: a water section, a playground area with  sand, and a big grassy area where children could climb into these giant blow up balls.  Sherry's kids wanted to do it, and I was surprised when Luke wanted to go too.  The line was pretty long, but it moved quickly because each child got about 30 seconds inside the ball.  Anyway, while Micah played in the sand, Luke stood in line for his turn.  I was glad I could get some shots with my camera from the sand box.

We ended our spring break with a short trip to the Houston/ Conroe KOA campground with Jared.  It was not real camping at all.  We stayed in a "cabin" that was really more like a cheap hotel suite.  There was a small living/ kitchen area and then a bedroom and bath off of the living room.  I like that kind of camping every once in a while.  We got to the cabin late because Jared got delayed at work.  But we went to the camp playground because it was lit and we could go even though it was dark.  They had a big BLOB-- which is like a big rounded bounce house with no sides.  Micah liked walking around with Jared looking for camping fires.  I remembered to bring my camera to the cabin, but I never remembered to bring it with us when we left the cabin to do the fun stuff.  So no pics.

The next morning we went swimming and then headed back to pack up.  Jared got to have a quick run in the woods, and he loved that.  He definitely misses open spaces.

It was a very short trip, but we had so much fun that we vowed to be regular campers.  In a tent, so we could afford to go often.

We actually went tent camping the very next weekend, and I will post about that soon.