"Queen of Kindergarten"

The title is a direct quote that Allison said as I was taking her picture.  She has been ready for Kindergarten for some time now.  I'm not even sure EXCITED captures her feelings.

On "Meet the Teacher" night, she had been given a homework assignment.  She had to complete an "ALL ABOUT ME TEE".  I thought she captured the essence of her.  :)

I took this pic in the car waiting for drop-off time. 

 Me and my baby

She found her name tag!

Her teacher had a goodie bag for the parents to take after dropping the kids off.  I was bending down to kiss Allie goodbye, when my eyes watered up a little.  She looked at me and pulled out a Kleenex from the bag and said, "You might need this." 

Must have been a good day.  This was the pic I took of them walking out.

Third Grade, Meet Owen!

Yep!!!  He's off to THIRD GRADE!!!  Boy, was it the perfect day.  Everyone in the family was up around 7:00 am.  We were dressed and daddy was making breakfast.  The weather was cool enough for the windows to be open.  After breakfast we took our "traditional" First Day Of School pic and decided to walk the dog.  There were some classmates we ran into and visited with at the bus stop.  The energy was getting high.  So when we got back home, we decided to go ahead and take Owen to school.  We got there EARLY!  School starts at 8:35, we dropped him off at 8:20.  Yep, I said "DROPPED OFF".  He didn't want us to walk him in.  Everything was smooth, until we got back home and found Owen's sack lunch sitting on the couch!  I was that mom!  Running into the school office at 8:40 to drop off a Batman lunch box.  Luckily, that was the ONLY glitch in his first day.

Meet The Teacher Night

Last night was "Meet the Teacher" night at Wheatland Elementary.  Both kids were excited!  Allison knew who her teacher was (Mrs. McEwen, Owen's kindergarten teacher) but she couldn't wait to take her school supplies and play in the classroom.  Owen's teacher, Mrs. Udell, is new this year.  I was excited to see what she was like.  She's young and has only taught a few years.  We also got to see who some of Owen's classmates are going to be.  He's excited!!!!  Here are a few pics I took.

Allie with her school supplies. 

 Owen with his school supplies.

Allison found her spot! 

Owen found his desk. 

These are the kids in Allie's class. 

We left feeling good about school starting this year!!!!

Glow Run Wichita-2012

Last night was the Glow Run 5K, here in Wichita.  I made a team up of the most amazing women.  They ranged from novice to expert in fitness and they ALL had a BLAST!!!  Here are just a few of the pics from it.

My car load of eager runners. 

Jen and Tayrn, this was their FIRST 5K. 

Most of the runners from RHSC. 

Jolyn and I, our post-run photo!

Laser Quest, ANYONE?

Today was the day.  My son turned 8 years old.  I can tell you all that this was a BIG day.  He woke up at 2:30 this morning ready for the party to begin (it started at 12:40).  Luckily, he crawled into bed with me and slept for a little bit more.  (My heart was warm knowing my little man wasn't too big to cuddle.)  So at 12:40, we showed up at Laser Quest (the location for the party) and as Sendak so stated, "Let the Wild Rumpus start!"  Did I mention I was the ONLY adult?  It was a blast and to quote my son, "This has been the BEST DAY EVER!"  I'll alert VH1.  :)

The "boys"

The party room 

The birthday boy

I hope his wish comes true!

Crazy 8!!!

This wonderfully amazing little man is my soon-to-be 8 year old.  It seems hard to believe that he'll be in third grade this year!  Time sure flies!!!  No child is perfect...but he's the perfect son for me.  I look at him and I see everything that makes him, HIM.  He loves video games (and can talk about them for HOURS).  He will read a book from cover to cover (unless the story gets a little too scary).  He protects and plays with his little sister (even hold her hand in public).

He's smart and determined, like his father.  He's social and sensitive, like his mother.

I can't wait to see what the world will have in store for him.  But for now, I'll just cuddle on the couch with my boy and be content.

She was BORN to swim!

Many of you readers know that Allison has ALWAYS loved to swim.  We've just done the bar minimum in swim lessons... until this summer.  Several of our friends have their kids go to Wichita Swim Club, so we decided to give it a try.  There were several sessions, 2 weeks (Monday-Thursday) long with lessons 30 minutes long.  I signed both kids up for 3 of the 4 sessions.

Today was the last day of summer sessions, but based on the results both kids will be continuing these lessons during the school year.  Allie finished ready to start level 5!!!!  These are the skills she completed to reach this goal.
     streamline
     ready position from walls to streamline
     swim Freestyle 50 yards
     swim Backstroke 50 yards
     Freestyle Catch Up drill
     Breaststroke Separation drill/timing
     Butterfly body-dolphin
     Front somersaults
     Long shallow dive with correct streamline position
     Know Individual Medley (IM):  Butterfly, Backstroke, Breaststroke, Freestyle

I'm not saying she's heading for the Olympics... but if someone starts drowning I'm betting she can save us!