the annual sunrise shoot

Seems each spring my camera club buddies plan a sunrise photo shoot.  (if you are interested in remembering, here are  2011 and 2010.)   You need the perfect combination of a Saturday and low tide coinciding with sunrise.  If the tide is in, these gorgeous moss covered rocks are under water and then your shots just look like any other sunrise on a beach.  With the rocks, you get something a little more unique.

So, I got up at 4:21 this morning to get down there for that first light before the sun comes up.  There were 7 of us total, but one guy left before the rest of us decided to skip walking the tidal basin trail and head directly to breakfast.  I was so happy they picked the same diner we went to 2 years ago.  mmm... country ham on a homemade biscuit is divine!!!  I should have photographed that!

So, I have been up since 4:21, yet it is Lew (who was just getting up at 8:30 when I got home) who is asleep on the couch right now.  Figures.

let's compare... first day and last day

remember... click on the photos to make them bigger and much crisper

Today was the last day of kindergarten!  We got up early, made a couple retirement cards.  Just yesterday we learned that one of the wonderful custodians, Harry, was retiring.  Carl has been buddies with him most of the year, so when we learned that he immediately asked me, "Can I make a card for Harry?"  and Gretchen was not going to be left out of a craft project.

We got to speak to Harry this morning as we were handing out cards and all those stepping stones.  I am going to miss knowing I had someone in the cafeteria and the halls looking out for my kids.  He is a sweet guy!

But, before we headed out to school on the last day of kindergarten we took some pictures to preserve the Last Day of Kindergarten on film just as we had done on the First Day of Kindergarten last August.  I wanted to have them stand in the same exact spot, but the sunlight this morning was too hard, so I had to turn them around and go for some shade.

At school, I got to say 'goodbye' to their classmates as well as their teachers and all the others we ran into this morning.  We found almost all the teachers in person and gave them their stepping stones.  Either they sincerely liked them or they are all very polite people.  Everyone is in agreement....  this year was way too fast!!!

I left them at school as long as possible because on Thursdays they get to be Door Holders for Parent Pick-Up and they love helping Mrs Williams with that!  I even got a picture of her with the kids at pick-up!  We all love her... she is an aide who floats between classrooms for 1-2 and 3-4 classes throughout the week.  I hope she is in whichever class they twins get assigned to!!

After picking them up, we headed home for a snack of warm pumpkin muffins.  Then, we decided that it was too nice to stay home.  So, we grabbed some towels, shovels and pails and headed to the beach.  We didn't bring a camera or a watch!!!  We ended up staying over 2 hours.  It was a fun mix of building sand piles castles and playing in the surf.  It was rough today.  The "no swimming" and yellow caution flags were flying, but the lifeguards were there.  Besides, we don't go in beyond their knees really.  They just didn't want people actually going out to swim farther out.  Gretchen & Carl quickly figured out that if they simply sat down, the waves would seem huge even though none of them even hit my upper legs.  They had a ball!!!  I believe there is some biological urge that forces kids to sprint straight into the ocean.  You never see Carl run as fast as you do when he is at the beach.   Today, he'd bring some water up to the sand castles and then return to the surf at top speed.  Gretchen, too.  At one point, Gretchen yelled to me, "I am SO glad we decided to do this!"

Then, we came home and took a much needed bath.  By that time, Lew was on his way home.  We always go to a local chicken place for dinner on Thursdays because kids eat free on Thursdays and they always have something fun planned.   All summer long, every other week there are a couple bouncy houses in the parking lot to play on.  One Thursday per month they have a magician who roams around while you eat and entertains everyone.  Man, is he fun!!  Then, on the other Thursday they play BINGO, I think.  We have missed that one so far this season due to t-ball.  That has ended (another post, I'm sure) so hopefully we'll get to play BINGO soon.

We got home after 7:00.  They wanted watermelon and popcorn for dessert.  Oh-kay... if you say so.  Then, we got them in bed and all took turns reading 2 of our favorite books:  Don't Let the Pigeon Drive The Bus and The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog, both my Mo Willems.  They are very cute!  And a riot to hear the kids read!!

Lights out about 8:50 (Volvo time for those of you who know Carl and his love of cars and remember my/Shelly's station wagon).  Tomorrow we are going to the children's museum for a water fun day... it's a Kick Off to Summer Vacation party!  They are excited.  I'm sure they won't sleep in even with ocean play and bouncy house time.

So, all in all... it was a perfect Last Day of Kindergarten!!!   (shhh... we had a small present for each of them... girl Legos for Gretchen and a set of Spongebob Matchbox cars for Carl.....  and I forgot to give them to them today.  So, we'll have an extended celebration tomorrow night!)  Time for summer vacation and then First Grade, here we come!!!!

the last day of kindergarten

Tomorrow is the twins' very last day of kindergarten.  It is only a half day, so by noon they will be mine for the entire summer.

They are more than ready for 1st grade.  Actually, Carl says he wants to "sail on up to first grade next week".   I am not trying to keep them little and hold them back from learning, growing and thriving in school.  But, it is very sad to think that they will no longer be in the kindergarten class.  Right now, for one more half day, they are the babies in this school.  The kindergartners always look so little when they are mixed with the upper grades.  But then, when I see my own kids and their friends I think they all seem so big to me.  They are mostly all 6.  That is not exactly an age you can call "babies".  Still, they look so little in the cafeteria or in events with the other grades.  The kindergarten classes share one playground that is designated only for kindergarten classes.  Each kindergarten class has a bathroom within the classroom.  Those little luxuries keep the kindergartners pretty sheltered.  I will say, this school is very small and the kids do not have much contact with the older grades.  There is a big division between K-2 and 3-5.

But, it does make me a little sad to think that now there will be a new batch of kindergarten students that will be the new babies in the school.  I know that their moms will be sad, maybe even cry, when they drop them off in August.  I know that their moms will have no clue about certain big-kid-school things like... don't send a snack to school with your child on a half day.  No one told me that.  I learned it the hard way on the first half day during the year.  Maybe there should be a handbook for first time school moms.  Or maybe that is all part of the rite of passage.  Those moms will have the babies.  They will have the small, cute kids at all the events and assemblies.

And I will have the kids with one year of public school under their belts.  They will have even more confidence than they do now.  They will still be cute and fun to watch at assemblies and events, but so will those new babies coming into the school.

We finished the last of our gifts for all the teachers yesterday and packed them up today.  They are ready to bring in tomorrow morning.  I hope everyone appreciates them and enjoys them out in their gardens or other outside areas.

I've been in school volunteering in a couple fun capacities this week.  I'll have to update you on Ladybug Day as well as the Boys' Water Balloon Reward in a few days when I get a chance to get up some photos and write up some stories.  I also have some Last Day of School pictures planned for tomorrow morning before we head to school to distribute our stepping stones.

Stay tuned for those events and more.......  right now, I have to go make the very last school lunch I will have to make until late August!  The final lunch for a kindergarten girl!

five years

If you are following Ashley's blog on my right hand side list there...  you know she posted an entry today about celebrating their five year wedding anniversary.  Well, I have my own 5 year post.

We have lived in this house for 5 years now and my husband still does not know where the baking pans go.  I have not rearranged the kitchen at all in five years.  And, I do a decent amount of baking.  I mean, I might not expect him to know where the blender is kept.  We rarely blend things. ("I don't always blend things, but when I do... I prefer Pioneer Woman's Pumpkin Smoothies.")

Dude, it is not that big a kitchen.  Learn where the pots and pans go!

day 31... something beautiful

Rainbows are beautiful.  The cool thing about summer is that you can see them so much more often.  It was 90* today so after school, we played out back in the hose.  We also spent some time and elbow grease cleaning our plastic baby pool to bring to the kids' class picnic tomorrow (the teacher asked for 2 - I think she has a game in mind).  So, all you have to do is stand in the right spot and you can create a rainbow with your hose!  Beautiful!

Running through the rainbow

These pretzels are their "teacher pointers" that they play with outside with the chalk board in their slide house.

and, back to the theme.....  isn't she beautiful???  That's my baby!

day 30... your personality

I was going to take a picture of an blanket that Nanny crocheted... one with those black bordered flowers she made and then forgot how to make!...  because it would embody both creativity and family, but then today I had to run out and buy 36 small gifts to drop off at school.  Each child was asked to bring in something little for each of the 18 kids in class.  I forgot all about this and had to scramble around this morning buying items.  So, there is part of my personality...  I work better under pressure.  bwahhahaha!!  How is that for a spin on "I procrastinate"???  I know 99% of you are nodding in agreement with me.  Y'all work better under pressure, too, don't y'all? (pronounced:  dough-chall)

We love going into Old Navy to spend only 1 quarter on a big bouncy ball.  We have been known to make a special trip to buy only 1 of those.  I knew that would make a fun gift for each child so I grabbed a roll of quarters at the credit union before hitting Old Navy this morning.  I did actually end up buying a couple sale items, too... including a pair of Minnie Mouse pants for myself and some cute flag leggings as well as an Angry Birds tee shirt for Gretchen.  If you know me, I rarely buy clothes off a real rack in a real store.  Ah ha - more of my personality:  thrifty.  I love our Goodwill and ebay for clothing!

But, I had so much fun plunking 20 quarters into that big gumball machine and turning the crank each time to see what ball popped out!  (I bought 20 so I could keep the cool yellow one for Carl at home... and then, I needed to buy 20, not 19.  I don't know what that says about my personality:  compulsive?  At least I was able to stop at 20 ... I had a whole roll of quarters, remember...  and I didn't feel the need to keep going until I got the pink ball even though I really wanted that one for Gretchen.  Ah, add restraint or limited will power to my list of traits.)

As a gift from Carl, I bought 18 Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars.  You think you can just waltz up to the rack of Hot Wheels and pick the first 18 they have?  Well, not me.  I had to wade through the rows.  Then move over and check out the Matchbox cars, too.  I finally filled my cart with a combo of the 2 brands and a mix of classic hot rods, community helper vehicles and beachy looking jeeps.  While I was still deciding if I had picked the perfect 18 (well, 19... I bought one 73 Firebird for us to keep because it was too cool)  a guy walked by my cart and did a double take.  In his awesome surfer dude voice he asked, "That is so cool!  Are you having a birthday party?  That is so cool!"   He even pointed it out to his friend who had walked by already.  I told him I was buying them for my son's classmates for the end of the year and he approved.  I think I made his day.

So, the picture above of the brightly colored balls shows a good deal of my personality.  I only wish I had a big coffee can and an enclosed sun porch so I could shake the can and release the balls to bounce all over the place!  I may or may not have bounced the group on the table and watched them roll off and bounce on the floor before bagging them up to bring to school to give the teacher.   And, one may or may not still be missing.  Good thing I bought 20, eh?  I kept the yellow one up front there for Carl and the lost one as well.

Add this final trait to my list:  plans ahead well sometimes just plain lucky!

day 29... a number

a number... 2012

We are making these for all the kids' teachers for the end of the year.  We need 18!  We've got 4 molds and keep buying the cement mix at AC Moore using 40% off coupons.  So, each homemade gift truly costs about $2.  The kids are really great at making them, too.  By the time they graduate from elementary school, their principal and the other teachers they'll have each year (music, art, PE, computer, library) will have a regular sidewalk made by us.