preparing for kindergarten

is so much fun...not! well, i guess i shouldn't say that. its just something we work on in spurts. lacey's attention span is very short, so when she wants to work on school stuff we do it right then and there knowing that it won't take us more that 10minutes if we're lucky.

a few weeks ago we got an email from lacey's kindergarten teacher in regards to things we could be working on during the summer to help prepare the kids for the upcoming school year. the list contained such things as writing upper and lower case letters, writing their names(which i'm happy to say she is pretty good at), and then of course, sight words.

its so funny working with her on these because she gets so excited and just yells out whatever she feels like. i'm happy to say that about 99% of the time its the wrong word. she does know two of the many which is - "a" and "i" (but half of the time she refers to "i" as a "l".) oh well, she'll get it one day, right? i will say to be the youngest one in her class and not even five yet, she is doing just great!!!

i love...

lacey's swimming teacher! she is just awesome! i feel truly blessed that we have found such a caring and wonderful woman to teach lacey how to swim not to mention she comes over to our pool. we love rhonda, plain and simple and we'll probably be using her again later in the summer for lela. if it wasn't for my neighbor jenn who told us about rhonda i honestly don't think i would found such a fabulous teacher to teach swimming lessons. last week lacey didn't even want to put her head in the water now just look at her...(i've tried turning the video but for some reason it doesn't want to flip? oh, well you get the idea.)

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trying to get creative

one of the many things i have discovered about summer is i end up having to keep the girls entertained. yesterday i came up with the brilliant idea of giving the girls pedicures. it at least entertained them for a bit and saved me some money. the pedicures came complete with a foot scrub, massage and toes painted all done by moi, of course. talk about personalized service.

swimming lessons

this summer i have vowed that the girls will take swimming lessons, well at least one of them anyways. lacey started this morning with a few other kids in the neighborhood. our teacher, ms. rhonda is wonderful!!! lacey seems to really like her and not to mention she is getting to swim with her buddies - ben, spencer and valerie. what is so cool is they are basically the same age, which works out great! it was a bit chilly this morning so i was pleased that i didn't have to get in. poor lace was shaking and her lips were turning blue because she got so cold. i hope the weather warms up this week, so i can get in the water and work with her on what she has learned. i'm just hoping that by lacey learning to swim it will spur lela on. i honestly hate the fact that lela is so scared of the water. during the whole class this morning i had to keep reassuring lela that ms. rhonda wasn't going to let anything happen to her sister. every few minutes lela would say, "i don't think that is good idea." oh lela, please! does she look like she is scared and gonna drowned?

our young graduate

well, lacey finally made it to preschool graduation. we are all so proud her. she was so cute with her class singing songs and getting their diplomas. gosh, it's hard for me to believe that she will be in kindergarten in the fall. where has the time gone with her? it just seems like yesterday she was starting preschool and now look at her. here are few pictures from her big day.

lacey's gymnastics performance

this morning lacey had her gymnastics "recital." she did really well as we walked through the apparatus with her. she hung from rings, flipped over bars, walked on balance beams and even jumped down the trumble track into the foam pit. lela's teacher was there and made the comment about how both of the girls had a natural ability for the sport. really? are you kidding? i was totally taken off guard by such a comment. i have no athleleitc ability in my bones, so this really surprised me. kev said that she probably tells everybody that. gee, thanks honey.

well, when we got to the end of the "obstacle course" the gentleman who owns the gym and assessed lela last night gave lacey her trophy. he remembered exactly who lela was making the comment that both the girls looked just alike. of course, after he made the comment about lela i got all excited thinking she must had made some sort of impression upon him if out of twelve girls her remember exactly who our daughter was, but then again when you have super dark hair and bright blue eyes and an unusual name that too might have something to do with it. oh well...we just have to wait.

no it's a bird, no it's a plane, no it's.....

hurricane lacey.

yesterday, lacey was in rare form. she totally destroyed her room as well as a few other rooms throughout the house. she was so busy and basically out of control. you can totally see where hurricane lacey had been when you walked into the house. she left a path of destruction a mile long and kept on going. to be such a sweet child, she definitely has a rebellious streak in her and really likes to push your buttons. honestly i almost dread thinking about what she will be like when we hit the teenage years.

we were in the garden yesterday and our squash is doing great! in fact we probably have about five of them that are not quite ready to be harvested. lacey said she was gonna pick some. i said no that they needed to get just a little bigger and just give them a few more days. i turn my back for a second and what had she done...picked the squash! why? because she proceeds to tell me she loves squash bread? no, lacey that would be zucchini bread and you say you don't like it. why do i even bother?

muffins with mom and whatnot

yesterday i not only celebrated muffins with mom at one school, but both. as you can imagine by the time lunch rolled around if i had never seen another muffin in my life again i think i would have been ok.

lela's class also surprised me along with some other moms that had helped in the classroom this year with a book of drawings and sentences from each of the students. i absolutely started crying when i read it. i will never be able to explain how special this book is to me. as i read what the kids thought about me and how i helped them this year it made my heart fill with joy as tears started streaming down my face. let me tell you this is what life is about...helping one another! little does any of those kids realize how much they have given to me and how truly blessed i am to have had the opportunity to be there with them this year.

lacey's muffins with mom consisted of me receiving a cookbook, a list of questions and answers describing your mom (lacey did pretty good - now that's scary) and a terrarium with a watermelon in it. (i don't think lacey understands that at some point we have to take the plant out in order for a watermelon to actually grow on the vine.) here is her list of questions and answers per lacey daniell, herself:

all about mom

• i know my mom loves me when ... i clean up
• my mom looks pretty when ... we go to church
• my mom is happy when ... she doesn't get mad at me
• what makes my mom mad ... when i'm mean to her
• my mom's favorite place to go ... is shopping (that's my girl)
• mom's favorite food ... is vegetables
• if my mom could buy anything she would buy ... a purse (hit the money on the head)
• height ... 5 feet tall,
• weight ... 16 lbs,
• age ... 69 years old (thanks, lace. love you too)
  

also this week at lela's school we have been celebrating teacher appreciation week. i decided to do something a little different and actually just wait and give her teacher her "gift" the last week of school. the pta did something everyday for the teachers, so i was also at a loss as to what to do. i found this really cool website from a friend of mine who recommended it - no fuss fabulous. talk about neat ideas. well, i got on there and found a cute little inexpensive gift which was a bouquet of pencils. i decided to throw that together yesterday and give it to lela's teacher. what teacher couldn't use a bunch of pencils? it turned out so cute! just look!

here is lacey's recipe for pizza from her class cookbook she made me.

come and gone

is exactly how i'm describing the soccer season. yesterday lacey had her very last game. i'm proud to say that our daughter scored two goals including the last goal of the season. she was so excited and proud of herself. i have to say that i'm actually sorry to see it end. it has been a fun time for all. yesterday was very special because everyone got their trophies and then we took off to celebrate with an after game party at stevi b's. lacey really has enjoyed playing soccer and has even expressed interest in playing again. it's so funny to me because i was so not into sports as a child. in fact the thought of p.e. class gave me the hives and any excuse to not have to participate was something i always looked for. not our girls they love participating and competing! lela lives for gymnastics and now it seems that lacey is leaning toward soccer. where did we get these kids from?

hunting for eggs

lacey had her class easter egg hunt this morning at the park. talk about fun, and the weather you couldn't have asked for a more beautiful spring day than today. in fact, i was getting hot just standing out in the sun. the kids all had a blast hunting for eggs with their names on them and then getting to play on the playground. definitely what we need - running around outside to burn off that extra sugar we got from eating cupcakes and easter chocolate and not to mention juice boxes. honestly, i'm surprised i got lacey to leave.

it's about having fun

and that is exactly what happened today. lacey's soccer game didn't go as well as we had hoped, but everyone had a good time. lacey got out there and kicked the ball, scoring one goal this game. the team we played today was a little more aggressive than last week's but the sharks kept up with them nevertheless. good job, sharks...keep with it!

on another note: don't forget tonight at 8:30pm is earth hour. all that is required if for you is to turn off your lights for an hour. by doing just that simple action, you are impacting the earth for the better. it will be occurring all over the world, so please join us along with millions of others as we try to help this beautiful planet we have been so blessed to live on.

it's a tea party!

well, sort of.

today, lacey and i took mom out to lunch for her birthday at this quaint little tearoom in newnan called holly cottage tearoom. we had a really good time not to mention the food was really good. when we entered this lovely british lady greeted us at the door and escorted us to a table in the back where we dined on sandwiches, soup and of course drank tea. i must say that my favorite part of lunch was the hats we adorned ourselves with. lacey absolutely loved hers so much that she hopped off the chair and proceeded to get gloves and a fan to complete her ensemble. talk about too cute! my only regret was the fact lela couldn't be there due to the fact she had school. i've decided that that during spring break we will definitely be making a trip back and i'm so looking forward to it.

go sharks!!!

i must say our first day of spring started off with a bang. lacey had her very first soccer game ever this afternoon. we had so much fun watching her run from one end of the field to the other, not mention she scored three goals but who's counting. we are so proud of her. she definitely gets in there and goes for it. she might be little but that doesn't deter her at all. great job lace! keep it up! go sharks, fins up!