Last splash of Summer!

Before I start posting photos of the pretty Fall colors that are just around the corner I thought I should post the very last of the Summer 2014 memories.  Kerry had pretty much outgrown last years little wading pool so she got a new, bigger one this summer.  She has had so much fun with this pool, which is now stored away in our little shed until next year.  I took these pictures a few weeks ago and wanted to get them on here to remember later.  I have really been neglecting our little "digital scrapbook" lately and I'm feeling a little bit guilty about it, I guess.  Anyway, I love these fun photos of my girl!

 

 

 

 

Summer re-cap

Hello, First Grade!

 Oh my, how do I slow time down...just a bit?!  The summer flew by way to quickly and it seems I blinked and this sweet girl became a big First Grader!  School started three weeks ago, actually, I'm just that far behind.  Anyway, I did manage to get a couple of photos on the first day of school but she was restless and eager to go so a couple of quick blurry photos is all I could manage. 

 

 

 

She is loving First Grade...her teacher is super sweet and four of her favorite friends from Kindergarten in class with her this year, BUT she's only three weeks in and already says she's "bored with all of the easy work".  What are we going to do with this girl?!

 

This girl of mine is still busy lighting up our world.  We've been busy enjoying our summer and Kerry has been growing and changing at what some days seems like warp speed!  She seems to be getting very lean and muscular as she gets taller.  I'm sure this has a lot to do with the once weekly three hour pre-team gymnastics practices she's been taking part in all Summer. 

 



 



She's maturing in other ways, too.  She's always been a sweet, sweet girl with a definite "spicy" side.  You know, the normal bits of sass and poutiness you can expect from a young child..especially when they're overtired, overstimulated...or whatever. And, she she's had periods of moodiness and she just seems a bit more "emotional" than usual at times. She always seems to do this around our "gotcha day" anniversary but she always seems to have come out on the other end a bit more mature somehow.  Lately she seems to be really demonstrating so much more patience, self discipline, and she seems to really be gaining the capability to see things not just from her point of view, you know?  It's becoming clear, though, that this growth is leaving her a bit more vulnerable at times. Just today, before lunch, she was telling me how to do something and I didn't like her tone of voice so I just have her the "Mommy" look and said, "Excuse me?"... that's it.  But that's all it took for her to end up in my lap in tears.  Broke my heart. I just held her and assured her that Mommy always loves her, even when she makes mistakes, and that mistakes are okay and that even Mommy makes mistakes...a lot of them.  She was fine after a few minutes but , wow, did I ever feel horrible.  She seems to be the kind of girl who holds things in and then they end up bubbling over at unusual times...like outside of Famous Dave's Barbeque restaurant.  It's amazing, sometimes, how much she's like me! 

 I'm noticing she's becoming more and more interested in spiritual matters, too.  We have the "Bible app for Kids" on our iPad and she spends a lot of time reading and listening to the stories and answering the questions.  At our Church she recently graduated from the preschool-Kindergarten class to the elementary age classroom downstairs and is loving it.  She talks about God and Jesus a lot more, lately, and I absolutely love it!  She seems to be at a very "teachable" stage now, spiritually,  so I'm trying to do my best to take good advantage of this. 

This little girl means the world do me, and I want to be the best Mama possible for her =).

 

How can it be?!  My sweet girl has graduated Kindergarten and is eager to move on to First Grade!  Mommy had to choke back the tears during her graduation program..apparently she's more ready than I am.  



Kerry adored her Kindergarten teacher and is really going to miss her.  We couldn't have asked for a more perfect teacher for Kerry.

 





One last photo in front of her first ever locker.  

 

Of course Kerry and Nathaniel had to say their goodbyes for the summer.  And, yes, we still hear the occasional mention of marriage from these two.  Kerry still plans to "congraduate" and get a job first. Oh boy.

 

Kerry had an absolutely amazing Kindergarten year, as evidenced by her stack of end-of-year awards. She received awards for Art and French, top Success Maker in math and reading, Principals list for the entire year, and a JCPS Elementary Certificate of Academic Excellence.  Her favorite is her Accelerated Reading medal.   I am so proud of her academic achievements, but I'm just as proud of the other things that Mrs. Pfister has said about my girl through the year; like that she is inquisitive and enthusiastic, hard working, helpful, demonstrates leadership, and is a thoughtful friend.  I know I'm bragging on my girl, but this is her scrapbook and  I want her to be able look back and know how special she is and that Mommy and Daddy are so proud of her.  And as much as I say that I wish she didn't have to grow so fast, I have so enjoyed watching her grow in so many ways during her Kindergarten year.  She's learned so much about how the world around her works, she's become such a sweet friend to anyone and everyone, physically she's grown close to three inches, and I am in absolute awe of her confidence and self-assuredness.  I love watching her grow, but I'm still putting in writing that, just this week, she said "Don't worry, I'll be your baby girl forever."  I'm holding her to it.  =)

      

Time to play catch up...I've neglected our little acre of bloggy-land for weeks!  I'll start with pictures from Mothers Day.  What a sweet day with my sweet girl =)  

  

And how cute this little tile she made at school!

Later in May Kerry was in a wedding.  This was her first flower girl experience and she was pretty excited about te whole thing,..especially the dress since it was "the same color as Elsa's dress".  Oh

my goodness is she ever into the Frozen movie!  

This was taken after she'd danced and twirled at the reception 'til she was ready to drop.  

Well, my laptop is wrecked so if I want to post I have to do it on my iPad...not as easy.  But I wanted to get Kerry's Easter on here so     here goes.  She started off her Easter with an egg hunt at church.  Fun!  She even won the " guess how many jelly beans" game.  Her guess was 600...there were 596.  Amazing! 

My sleepy-head and her basket on Easter morning.

And in the amazing dress our friend made for her two Christmases ago.  She had to grow into it and I was so excited to see it fit her 

nicely just in time for Easter this year!  After church she got to have a fun cousins egg hunt =)

Oh my, how I have been waiting for Spring.  And it's finally here!!  I swear it seemed like the longest Winter we've had in years.  We usually have a lot of temperature fluctuations to break up the monotony but this year it just got cold...and stayed cold.  And we got more snow than normal, too, which means lots of snow days (an unprecedented amount in our state) to make up for my girls first year in school.  The good news is our state legislature passed a "snow days bill" that allowed for a few days to be shaved off. 

But now the birds are back in droves,  and the trees are budding and the daffodils are blooming so I am happy, happy, happy.



And so is this girl.  Doesn't it show?! 

She still loves her penguin, and that makes me pretty happy too.  What can I say, I'm in no big rush for her to grow up any faster than it already seems she is.

Happy Spring!