Summer vacation

Gosh, it's hard to belive my kids are on Summer Vacation. Thursday was Ryan's last day of school. There was a Graduation Celebration for the Kickstart class. It was SO cute, they wore litte caps and all walked in the next room together, and sat down, then they got diplomas, and then cake and punch after... It was really neat. When they were coming in the room, Tina that was sitting next to me said, just think in 12-13 more years, you will be watching this again, only they'll be bigger... how sad is that? Anyway, Ryan was all really excited! After school, Bradley even got a piece of cake. I should of pulled Brad out of class so he could watch too. He was bummed he missed it. Ryan also thought since he was done with Kickstart Kindergarten on Thursday, he would start Kindergarten on Friday, then I explained he'd have all summer off, and then he said that was good, because he likes to be home with me doing stuff. I also got Ryan's report card, which looked really good, pretty much all M's except. P+s on controling the volume of his voice and taking care of personal belongings. I also got his Allegan County Public Schools Literacy Initiative Emergent survey Student chart.... test thingie... I didn't totally understand it, But was told it was really REALLY good for a kid just going into Kindergarten. From what I understand, on this chart he needs to get 100% by the end of second grade, which will show he'll be a good reader... anyway, here's the results, give my input if you understand the chart!
Concepts of Print 75.00%
Beg Sounds 100.00%
Rhyme 75.00%
Blending Onsets 100.00%
Segment Onsets 0.00 %
Phoneme Blending 87.50%
Phoneme Segment 100.00%
Letter Names 100.00%
Letter Sounds 100.00%
K Sight words 50.00%
Sentence Dictation 10.45%

So those are the results.

Brad's last day of school was yesturday. I went to his awards ceremony. He got voted "most coopertive" in his class by his classmates... Wish he was like that at home! ha ha He also got on the A/B Honor roll... again. He was on that every time this year except once, when he was on the "B" average, ( he had gotton a C in Math). So anyway, his report card consisted of 3 A's and 3 B's . I'm VERY proud of him!
I got Mrs. Guidry (Brad's teacher) Mrs. VanderPloeg (Ryan's teacher) and Mrs. Wilken ( Camp Blackhawk teacher) New Guinea impatient hanging plants for the end of the year gift. Then I got Mrs. Dolphin a lily since Ryan is all done with Speech, she can plant it and remember him for years to come! and then I got the Principals and Secretary's and also Mrs. Hutchins ( Brad's reading teacher) a cool orange daisy plant. I appreciate all that they do for me and Bradley and Ryan.
I also had a talk with Mrs. Lanphear ( upper EL. principal) She told me who Bradley was going to have next year. He's going to have Mr. Andrews, the catch was, Mr. Andrews is going to be teaching a class that consists of 1/2 4th grade and 1/2 5th grade. Mrs. Lanphear says she thinks Bradley will do great in there. They are moving everyone around again. Trying to make the class sizes smaller. Good luck!! I think the closer we get to the new school being done, the more crowded it's going to be. I also know that Ryan is going to be in Cheri Schmidts class . I requested her, and Teri one of the other Kindergarten teachers, said she was glad Ryan was going to be in Cheri's class, because he's going to be really difficult to keep challanged. Teri's daughter is also going to be in Cheri's room, so she was going to work with her on reading so Cheri would have 2 smarties in her room... Mrs. Vander Ploeg said Ryan isn't a problem child at all, but he's got a lot of energy and it's tough to keep him occupied because he learns so quickly and gets his work done so fast. But Cheri says' she's up for the challenge.
I guess I've rambled enough, and have a TON of things to do around here and the boys are at eachother ... Have a great day!

Sad news

Well, I heard sad news yesturday at school . Mrs. Lancaster a long time Fennville resident and teacher for Many years, has stage 3 Leukemia. The sad thing is, she's already told people, who she wants to get the stuff in her cabinet at school. According to Bradley's teacher, she told the kids Mrs. Lancaster is really sick and there is no cure, and she will die.... I didn't really think this was a very tacticful.... Mrs. Lancaster also has a new grandchild, she hasn't even seen yet. She's loved the fact that her other son has been subing at the school. This is all so sad, she and her family are in our thoughts and prayers...

Happy Days

My oldest ( not as in age) and dearest friend Amy has left for Korea with her husband to pick up thier new son Asher. This is so exciting! They adopted thier first son from Korea too, almost 3-1/2 yrs ago. While I am so excited and happy for her, since there is no better gift to give your child than a sibling, it stirs up lots of emotions for me. #1- I can't afford to go out there to meet Asher and congratulate Tru on being a big brother! So that's a bummer! The other is, the day Amy and Brendon brought Tru home from Korea, was the day my Mom died. How wierd is that? Mom was so excited about Truman, Every time she saw Amy's Mom she said she highly recommended grandchildren and she should get herself some. ( Mom loved my boys) , So mom was thrilled Amy was becoming a Mom. I know Mom and Dad are watching.
Last night was a loooooooong night for us. For the last few days Ryan hasn't been himself. First it was angry intestines, I'm thinking from some Ice Tea his dad thought he should have , once I cut him off of it, he's been fine, and he never felt sick. Then his allergies seem to have really kicked in. Unfortunatly there isn't too much in the way of medications for him to take to help control them, he's allergic to most Antihistimines. Benedryl is about all he can take. Wierd huh?! So I've been doing breathing treatments around the clock. I got him all hooked up once last night and he slept through most of it, but when he was almost done, I sat down on his bed and he woke up and was sort of freaked out, until he really woke up and realized what was happening. Then he was okay. Poor kiddo. He handles it all so well.
It's hard to belive Ryan only has 4 days of school left. Thursday is his last day. This is also bitter sweet for me. He's excited that he'll be going to Kindergarten in the fall. I wish he'd stay my baby forever. Next year school will also be all day everyday, that will be hard for me, especially with him being so sickly, at least with this year, he could sleep in when he wasn't feeling well, or up late coughing ( just like right now he's still sleeping) and then he'd be doing fine in time to go to school, he'd only be there for a few hours and then he could come home and rest... What will next year be like?? He's reading 1st grade books now, so that's fun. I was at Barnes and Noble yesturday and found tons of books I could get for him that are early readers, I wish I had more $$. I did get some flash cards for addition that we started working on. I don't push him, but he loves to learn, so I thought, why not. I got Bradley some multiplication flash cards, so I knew Ryan would want some too. And while Brad was multiplying, Ryan was adding. They have some sight word flash cards too, so I may go back and get those this weekend. They also had some reading and math workbooks, for the summer before Kindergarten and the summer before 4th grade , so I think I will get those too. They say kids brains really relax during the summer, and they forget a lot or regress?? So I am going to try my best to not let that happen. Third grade hasn't been to difficult in the way of homework and what they've done ( WAY too many movies watched ) So 4th grade is going to be a rude awakening for Bradley, I"ve also requested a teacher that requires a lot from the kids, but does a lot of really neat projects. So it's going to be really tough for awhile. Brad has 4-1/2 days of school left. It sure isn't summer break weather yet!! Brrrrrr The pool is open, just needs to get warm now!
My thoughts and prayers go out to Amy and her family for a smooth transition and VERY safe trip home!! I am so happy for you!!

Another year older and deeper in debt.....

Well, it's my birthday, My husband didn't even say Happy Birthday when he left for work.... Brad is still in bed, home sick.... Guess his day of fishing was too much for him yesturday. Actually, I think he's caught the nasty cold I've had, and when it starts, you really feel miseable. Poor kid.
Mothers Day wasn't too bad, I've come to the conclusion, that I am the Mom... and that's how it should be celebrated. Which also surprised me, because that's how Doug treated it for the first time. Usually we have to go to the gun club for Mothers Day breakfast ( which I can't stand doing) then we spend the day sitting around starring at my inlaws, being critisised over everything I do wrong... according to my Mother in law... Apperantly it's wrong to play with the kids or read with the kids instead of keeping my house perfectly spotless.... And I hear about how she had 4 kids, 3 under 3 yrs old and how she didn't have a car to get anywhere and how she didn't spend a dime of her "husbands" money.... she only spends "her" money.... ect. ect. What she does'nt seem to understand is... it's 2005 times have changed. There is no his or my money... we have OUR money ( or don't have ha ha) . Sometimes I think she's jealous. I'll admit, the kitchen floor looks pretty nasty today. But I had a great day with my kids. we went fishing, we walked around the yard looking at the flowering trees, watching the bees collect pollen ( which is pretty cool to see ) and then we played basketball and Ryan made his first basket. ( the hoop is as low as it goes) We also started out the day for Breakfast at Bob Evans ( that I liked, much better food ) . We also got carni food downtown Holland. So all in all ( after my ranting ) I had a great day being ... Mom. The kids kept giving me hugs and kisses and said Happy Mothers Day, and I told them the best part of the whole day is being thier Mom... I'm the lucky one.
We uncovered the pool this weekend too. Surprisingly, it was clear, there are a bunch of leaves in the bottom of it, but you can see them clearly! I will try to scoop out as many as possible today. The neighbors were shocked, Charlie looked and said, it's already clean! and then he told his wife, we've got 20 minutes of work and it's done. We shocked it so in a day or 2 I'll check the water and get it balanced. Then I can call the pool heater repair man. We need our heater fixed but it had to be up and running to get it looked at, that's why we did it so early. Sure does look nice to see it open.
Wow, my husband just called me, and wished me a Happy Birthday.. I'm impressed.
Guess I'd better run and get on with my day!

Chilly start to May

May has begun, the flowers are shivering. It's a whopping 37 this morning. Baseball practice has been cold! As I recall, it was the same way last year. It's actually supposed to be a beautiful Mothers Day. 78 and sunny... rain late. Mothers Day is a tough day. Seems like that after 3 years of losing my Mom it would get easier. The pain isn't as intense, but the loss is huge. I will still go to the phone to call my Mom when the kids do somthing exciting or anything for that matter. This year is going to be extra tough on a good friend of mine. She lost her Mom last October. She has also found out that her step daughter who is about 3 months pregnant is unable to carry her baby, if she did, she would die. She had cancer when she was pregnant with her first daughter who is now around 3, and they did blood work and said the cancer is back and will be worse with this pregnancy because it's a hormone fed cancer. That is all confusing to me, but it's very sad for them all. She went to a specialist yesturday who gave her a pill to take, to terminate the pregnancy. What an awful thing to do. They said had it been 5 years since her last pregnancy, it would of been better. I feel for the family and my thoughts and prayers go out to them.
Yesterday I went to the Dr. to have a lump of scar tissue removed from my arm. It's just gotton bigger and bigger over the last year or so, it was time to go. It was amazing how fast the surgery went. It's pretty sore. I have to call the Dr.s office to get the biopsy results on Thursday. I was so nervous before I went. The best part, my friend who's going through all these hard times right now, went with me for support. Does'nt get any better than that! We went out for breakfast afterwards too! That was fun! I also woke up with sinus issues yesturday, as the day went on and I sat out in the cold for Baseball, it got worse, my night was awful. Doug started to not feel so well and had an upset stomach, So all I have to say.... Good thing we have 2 bathrooms in this house now!! Ryan is also not feeling very well. He's got a nasty cold and is on breathing treatments again too. Poor kid he didn't have the best night either , which didn't help my night! Will it ever be nice out?
Ryan played at the park yesturday during Baseball ( I know it didn't help his cold, but Doug was working at his 3rd job) this was the first time since he broke his arm that he's been to the park, I was a nervous wreck, He said he walked up to the pole , looked at it and walked away... it's too funny to hear him tell it. But luckly he didn't break any bones last night, hopefully we'll keep it that way.