Swimming Lessons!

The first week school was out for Kendall, she and Cooper took swimming lessons from Mrs. Carol! Kendall was looking forward to this from having done it in years past, and Cooper was looking forward to it because it was her first year, and because she gets excited about whatever Kendall gets excited about.

Instead of going to Mrs. Carol's house, this year she came to Lake Jackson and taught in Mary's pool in the mornings. It helped a lot not having to drive the 30 minutes to her house, so that was nice. Each girl got a 30 minute time slot all to themselves. We are so thankful for how Mrs. Carol does private lessons - the girls make so much progress and are really able to learn a lot! Calli did jump in with them a couple times in between their lessons and practice kicking and putting her face in. Next year she can have her own lesson!

Kendall is such a strong swimmer and did such a great job in her lessons. She learned a new stroke this year - the breast stroke. And she's learning better how to turn her face to get air every three strokes when she is swimming. She's naturally such a good swimmer! 

Calli sat on the side and watched, and even pretended like she was the teacher sometimes, showing Cooper what to do.  

"Airplane, soldier, chicken wings!" Learning to float and to swim on her back.  

Calli taking a shot at swimming with Mrs. Carol. She did great putting her face in and kicking! 

This was from the first day. Cooper let Kendall go first and then got a little nervous when it got closer to being her turn. She got in the water, though, and was immediately better! She loved her first year of lessons and we are so proud of her! 

Funny Calli

Calli is saying so much lately and (most of the time) we understand it. She's said a couple things lately I want to remember:

The other day we were driving down Plantation, where the old church office was. Before we moved out to 332, our offices were separate from the church. Once we moved out there, though, we built an office building on the property so that they are right there together. We moved out to the property last July, but the office building wasn't finished until September. So Randy's office hasn't been on Plantation since September - just 4 months after we brought Calli home. Well, when we passed the old office the other day, Calli said, "Daddy" and pointed to the office! I thought maybe I didn't hear her right, so I said, "Calli, what did you say?" and she said, "Daddy!" again! I said, "Was that Daddy's office?" and she said, "Yeah!" Isn't that crazy! He hasn't been there in 9 months, and she remembered that that was his office! And she had only been here four months when he moved! Crazy.

Next funny story: Calli has started to have some opinions about where we go in the car. A lot of times, when we're headed home, I exit the hwy at Oyster Creek, turn right, but then immediately turn left on Any Way to go to our house. Lately, when I do this, Calli shakes her head no and says, "Way," pointing the other direction down Oyster Creek. I'll say, "Calli, do you not want to go this way?" and she says "No. Way" pointing back the other way. We just think it's funny - no clue why she is against going down Any Way. She's done it probably a dozen times now, though.
Last night we figured it out. We went to dinner and had Michelle with us. So this time when we exited Oyster Creek, instead of turning left on Any Way, we kept going down Oyster Creek towards her apartment. We were all talking, but then I realized Calli was saying something. When I looked back and listened to her, she was smiling so big, and saying, "Not ome!" which is, Not Home! Ha! She was smiling and happy because we didn't turn left and go home - we went the way she always wants to go! Silly girl. She really does love our home, but I guess sometimes she just isn't ready to go home yet! Ha!

 

This crazy girl loves smoothies! Love that smoothie mustache!

Kendall's Last Day of Kindergarten

Friday, June 6th, was Kendall's last day of Kindergarten. It was crazy to me that they went two weeks after Memorial Day! Friday was a half day, so after school I took her to a swim party that Mary and Sarah had for some friends from school. It was a super fun day!

I made her pose for last day of school pictures before we left that morning. She was feeling pretty sad about leaving Ms. Woodward, so she wasn't really that excited about the last day of school. All week I would say, "Three more days of school!" "Two more days of school!" and she would say, "No! 100 more days!" She was not ready to leave yet. So when I was taking her pictures, I kept saying, "Smile big!" and she totally wouldn't. She was pretty sad. I joked that her first day of school pictures and her last day of school pictures would look similar - but for different reasons. We could hardly get her in the door the first day and then on the last day she didn't want to leave!

These shoes. This picture doesn't show it too well, but they are worn out. We bought them to start school with and she wore them literally every single day of school this year. They aren't allowed to wear sandals to PE, so I just figured it was easiest for her to wear her tennis shoes every day. I think next year we'll start with two pair - these hardly made it! She did learn to tie her shoes with these, though, so that's a good memory! Ha!

I got to school a few minutes early to pick her up so I could go hug Ms. Woodward one more time, and also so that in case Kendall was upset, I would be there. She was totally great! They had had a fun morning all together and she was doing fine with leaving. Ms. Woodward loves to pull teeth. One of Kendall's top teeth is loose, so I told her to give Ms. Woodward one last try with it. She tried pretty hard (check out those faces!) but it's not ready yet. She said we could call her when it got looser and she'd come pull it. :)

 

 

Sweet buddies. We are so thankful for Ms. Woodward and how perfect she was for Kendall this year. She made her feel so comfortable, but also pushed her when she knew she was ready to be pushed. She taught her how to read. She gave her opportunities to be brave. She was patient with her many requests to go see Nurse Cooper. And she loved her. We love her!

This is a great comparison picture - meet the teacher day, and then the last day. Very nervous, and then very confident and happy. Success!!

Kendall and Naila! Loved that they were in the same class this year!

Then we were off to Sarah's pool party! That was a great thing because Kendall was looking forward to it, so it helped leaving school. Her friend Anna was there. We love Anna.

 

Trying on Sarah's hat. Cutie bug.

Sarah - bear!

When we got home, Randy, Cooper, and Calli had made a banner for Kendall telling her Welcome to Summer! So sweet. We are excited about having her home for the summer. Cooper, especially, is already loving having her big sister home non-stop. It's going to be fun!

Fun In The Sun Day!

Wednesday of the last week of school was "Fun in the Sun" day! The kids all wore their swim suits under their clothes and got to have a fun water day all day. Kindergarten also had to wear white shirts, so we sent those in and one of the grandmas printed a class picture on iron-on transfer paper, and then some of the moms ironed them on their shirts. They were super cute!

They rotated to several stations throughout the day. I wasn't able to be there the whole day, but I came up in the afternoon to help with sno-cones and the water slide. I love this picture I got from Emily's mom of Kendall with her sweet friends, Emily, Anna, and Alivia!

She loved the water slides! I wasn't sure, because she only recently started getting in bounce houses and we were surprised when she tried the water slide at her preschool splash day last year. She did them, though, and she had so much fun!  

Jase and Naila. Sweet friends! They are SO into the bunny ears thing these days and just think it is hilarious!

It was such a fun day! 

Kindergarten Awards Day

The last week of Kindergarten for Kendall was filled with all sorts of fun activities! Tuesday was Kindergarten Awards Day, and also the school talent show. Randy is part of a group at Kendall's school called Watch Dogs (Dads of Great Students). These dads volunteer a day to come up to the school and help out in the classrooms, the cafeteria, at P.E., Music, drop-off and pick-up. The coordinator of the Watch Dogs emailed them a couple weeks ago about being in an act in the school talent show. Randy agreed to be part of it, but we didn't tell Kendall so that it would be a surprise. He even had a rehearsal for it one afternoon! They did a funny synchronized swimming routine, and they had the kids rolling. I brought the little girls up to watch, but I couldn't see Kendall where she was sitting. Randy said that when he walked up on stage and she realized it was him, she just buried her face in her hands and shook her head back and forth. So funny! Later he asked her if she was embarrassed and she said yes, but then he asked her if she would want him to do it again and she said yes!! She loved it. He's such a fun dad! Here the Watch Dogs are posing with the principal after the show.

She's so proud/embarrassed of her Daddy! Get ready, Kendall - there's more where that came from!

I came back that afternoon for her awards ceremony. We are so proud of how much Kendall has grown this year. Even just watching her sit in the group, walk up by herself when her name was called, and be so brave, was a reminder to me of how far she has come from the beginning of school. She is so much more independent and brave now. We have loved Kindergarten!  

She got an award for participating in Accelerated Reading, she got the Principal's Award for making all A's, she got a REACH conduct award, a participation award for the Mother Goose Olympics, and an Imagination Station award (computer program).

Kendall and Emily. Emily is moving at the end of June and Kendall is going to really miss her! They have become good buddies this year.  

Sweet Ms. Woodward. We love her!

That afternoon, we had Emily over for a play date! After a snack, we blew up the water slide and they had a blast.

May Miscellaneous

May is done and June is here! Except it doesn't really feel like it, because Kendall is still in school until Friday (the 6th!) and it doesn't feel like school should be happening in June - past Memorial Day! Good grief!

So here's a May wrap-up, with pictures off my phone.

We had live butterflies for awhile! Granny gave Kendall a butterfly habitat awhile back, so we sent off for the caterpillars several weeks ago. The girls were very excited when the arrived. They stayed in their little cup with food on the bottom, got fatter and fatter, and eventually made their way to the top, where they started forming their chrysalis! Once they were all in their chrysalis, I removed the paper they were all connected to and pinned it inside the habitat. After a few days, they started emerging! It was very exciting and super educational for the girls. They put fruit in there to feed them and we were able to watch them for a couple weeks. So fun!

Kendall went with me to watch our friend Shelby in the Belle Spring Show. Shelby is a Senior, and is going to A&M next year! The girls love her so much and she's so sweet to them.

 

A trip to the park one afternoon to see the ducks!

Calli has started going to speech two days a week. She is getting private articulation therapy and we are hopeful that it will help teach her about placement of her tongue since her cleft surgery. One day it was raining so hard and so fast that the street to her speech therapist's office was flooded! So we had to cancel our session and Randy suggested I swing them through the drive-thru at Shipley's for donut holes. Happy girls!

Another morning before speech. Look how big she looks with her homework folder! We are working hard at home to reinforce what they are teaching at speech. First sounds: /t/, /d/, and /n/.

Granny sent the girls new bathing suits! Kendall's was a little small, but Cooper's and Calli's fit great! So precious!

Matching on a Sunday, courtesy of Mrs. Carol!

My Mother's Day art from Kendall. Sweet girl!

Funny Easter suckers Cooper and Calli got! They're like ring pops, but they make the girls look like bunnies!

And finally, more nights on the plaza! We love the summer concert series. And we're especially loving them now, since the sno-cone truck started showing up!

 

Welcome to summer!!