1) On a serious note, on May 7th my Grandpa Gardner (Dad's Dad) passed away after battling multiple health issues these last few years. We had gone to see that side of the family on Easter and I was fortunate enough to catch my Grandpa on one of his more lucid days. I knew that his health was declining and was able to say my good-byes then. I feel so blessed to have had that final hug and "I love you", especially because in that moment, he knew who I was. He lived a good long life and if there is any reason to celebrate that, it was evident at his memorial when 8 out of 9 of his living children (my Dad and Aunt Beth had previously passed), all 19 of his grand-children and several of his great grandchildren were in attendance. I am hoping to be passed along some pictures that were taken of all of us together soon.
2)School is out for summer and Jake has officially been promoted from kindergarten to first grade (seriously, would the kids just stop growing up so fast?) At the final awards ceremony he recieved an another award for outstanding achievement in math as well as a few smaller awards for knowing all his letters and letter sounds. The parents were then invited to eat lunch with our children on the lawn one last time. I can't say I will miss driving him from our new house 30 minutes to school everyday. I can't even say I am going to miss THIS school but the end of the school year does carry mixed emotions for me because I will miss his teacher Ms. Bigelow and the fact that he will no longer be in school with his two besties, Evan and Sam.
3) In addition to the end of the preschool year, Jadyn also finished out the session of Toddler Time at the local library. Here she is during free play on the last day. Notice, we just had 3 inches trimmed off her hair and I think it looks super cute not to mention being tons easier to comb in the morning:
What I absolutely loved about toddler time was seeing Jadyn get into the singing and dancing and better yet, the instructor gave me a copy of the CD she used in class so now we can sing and dance in the comfort of our own home.
4) And even though I have yet to blog about opening ceremonies, the regular t-ball season has come to an end. I stress the word regular because Jake was selected to play All-Stars so we will be doing the tournament thing later this month. At the last game of the season, Jake single-handedly got the first 3 batters out at first base. Of course, I am sure he set out to accomplish this after seeing another teammate do the same in the game prior, but still, it was pretty neat. He was so proud.
5) Our local theater company was putting on a very kid-friendly production of Aesop's Oh So Slightly Updated Fables. I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to introduce the kids to plays and you know what, they both loved it. I kind of thought Jadyn would but Jake really surprised me because he liked it so much, he asked for days afterward if we could go again. They both laughed and clapped and were thoroughly engaged throughout the production. This makes me excited because I have a love for live theater and have fond memories of my Grandma taking me to plays when I was a little girl.
6) And finally two personal notes. One, I am on TV detox now that all of the regular season shows have aired their finales. Overall, I was happy with the conclusion of Lost, although I think I walked away with a slightly different interpretation than others. I was a little peeved to find out FlashForward was NOT being renewed for a second season as they didn't resolve much in the season finale and I personally thought it was a quality show that deserved more of a chance. Although on a weekly basis it is not nearly as good as it once was, the season finale of Grey's Anatomy had my heart pounding. Now it's time to catch up on movies and books! The second note is that I really need to find a way to get back to working out. It kind of fell to the wayside during the move but now that things are settling down, I am running out of excuses. I know getting on the treadmill is going to be hard that first couple of times but I am hoping that if I put it on here for everyone to see, it might make me accountable to really DO IT!
So that's that. I am looking forward to lots of pool time and play dates this summer, hopefully some river and beach trips and lots of relaxing time spent at home. It's been an eventful spring.
Glad you are back!
ReplyDeleteOn the working out front, you've got to average 15 miles a week to hit 500 for the year. (I think that math is right??) so get going! ha ha!
Sounds like you have been busy! Good to see you back.
ReplyDeleteSo sorry to hear about your Grandpa passing away.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking that Jadyn's hair looked different in the library picture, but I thought it looked longer than I remembered it! :)