Grace's first swim meet

Grace had her first swim meet today. She waited for almost two hours before she got to swim in one race- the 6 and under freestyle. She placed 3rd in her heat and did great. It was really fun to watch. She could have waited another 45 minutes to do backstroke but decided that going home to play with the neighborhood would be much more fun. She did get an orange participatory ribbon and that was the hi-lite of the event for her.
Here she is right before her heat.
Below is the exciting, up-close, full-throttle video of her race.

Kindergarten is over and remembering on Memorial Day

Grace "graduated" from Kindergarten last Friday. Her teacher chose her as "most creative" which I have to say she gets from her mama! I am not a big fan of Kindergarten graduation since she just graduated from preschool last year. Grace now thinks that she graduates after the completion of every grade. Anyway, we made the best of the ordeal and attended with happy hearts and then a trip to KMart to pick out a toy. (Grace chose wedding Barbie. great.) Anyway, the graduation was a reminder of how far we have come this year. In September, the school year began with a very young 5-year-old, a busy 3-yr-old and a 7-month-old. Now I have a reading, writing machine, a busy 3-year-old and a 16-month-old who makes the 3-yr-old look easy. Grace got all "A's" (Above grade level) and one "P" (Progressing at grade level- in telling time) on her report card. We are very proud of her and so is her teacher. Her teacher confessed a while back that she was initially concerned about Grace being so young entering Kindergarten, but she underestimated Grace and her mother. :-) I was determined to help Grace reach her highest levels of abilities in a fun and encouraging way. Everyday after school we worked on skills for about 45 minutes. We loved the time together and the progress was noticeable. She is reading well beyond a first grade level. It is so neat when your child begins to read. I am so thankful that we did not send her to pre-K. Phew. She would have lost an entire year of reading! And I am also so grateful that I have the ability be with her and teach her- I do not take that for granted.

Here she is walking down the aisle...

And now, tassel turned (kind of) and diploma in hand- she is a graduate and on to 1st grade!

Grace and Addie have been in school together since they were 1! Addie went to pre-K this year, so they were not in the same class but they did play on the same soccer team. Addie is wearing her hair in pigtails because she cut her own hair just two days before this...her mother was thrilled.

Leah just basically ran around in the pews throughout the entire program. Isaac was in his preschool class. He joined us for the reception afterwards.

And on to Memorial Day. Of course we thought about our fallen hero Greg Wright all day and are so glad that we named Isaac Gregory for him. We miss Greg so much and are so thankful for people like him. We live in an amazing country and I hope that it stays this way for generations to come. Freedom comes at a very high price.

Here is Nana with the grandkids. She came up for Grace's graduation.


We have a small forest in our back yard...and in one of our trees there has always been this big hole- and now we have a raccoon mommy and little baby who have moved in! So cute.