Sisters & Picnik.com

Alayna and I tend to do a lot of those "sisterly close-up pictures" whenever we are together and feeling bored. :-) On Saturday, we were at a park near my grandparents' house, when the desire to take some pictures came over us.

This was one of our favorites...

Alayna told me later on that we should "picnik" the picture. I wasn't completely unaware of what that term meant. I knew that there was a website where you can edit photos, add effects etc. Alayna had done that with a lot of her pictures already. So this afternoon I thought I would give it a try.

I love the result!

Picnik.com is now a new friend of mine. You should definitely check it out if you want to edit any of your pictures for free!

Sweet 16...Almost

We had a surprise 16th birthday party for my sister, Alayna, in the middle of June. Her actual birthday is not until August, but for a number of reasons, we decided to have the party a bit early! Of course, it totally threw her off track and she wasn't suspecting a thing. :-)

I had the fun task of entertaining/detaining her the day of the party while her friends arrived at the house. We went shopping and hung out at Dunkin Donuts. All the while, I was trying to be cool, calm and collected, while glancing nervously at the clock every 5 minutes.

After the initial shock of the surprise was over, the girls played a game. Everyone was given a piece of paper. They each had to write a sentence about Alayna - not necessarily a factual one either! They then each passed their paper to the next person. That person would then have to draw a picture of the sentence the previous person had written. When they were done drawing, they would fold over the first sentence, and hand the paper to the next person. That person would only see the drawing, and would have to come up with a sentence to match that drawing. It was kind of like "Whisper Down the Alley" with pictures, in a way. It got quite comical at the end to see how far off the beginning and ending sentences were!

After the game was over, Alayna opened her presents.

One of the presents was a new volleyball, so the girls went outside to try it out. Our clothesline worked as a substitute net! :-)

Then it was time to eat!!

The only boy allowed at Alayna's party was baby Robby! :-)

Alayna's two favorite colors are pink and lime green, so that was definitely incorporated in the party's theme. My Mom made her a birthday cake (of course!). It was a strawberry cake with cream cheese icing...mmmmm!

It was fun to celebrate Alayna's birthday early with friends. You only turn 16 once, so I am sure she will enjoy celebrating it again in another month! :-)

Summer Happenings (so far!)

I can't believe the month of June is almost over! It feels like it has zoomed by, but when I think how this month started with Kindergarten graduation, it feels like the month has been sooo long!

Many people have been asking me how I am enjoying my summer, and I usually tell them that I am keeping busy, which is definitely true! Right now, my main job is working in my church's bookstore. I already was working in the accounting department, but now I am also doing the customer service end of things for my friend, Jackie, while she is on maternity leave. For the first week or so, I was rather stressed as it was a lot to take in, but now I am really enjoying it! There are always the mini "crises" to solve when you are trying to fill a customer's order, but all together it has been a great learning experience!

I am discovering a lot about the world of business between working in the bookstore, being a secretary for a general contractor, and doing some bookkeeping for a guy at church. The neat thing about all 3 of these jobs is that I didn't seek any of them out. They were all basically dropped in my lap, so to speak. Years ago if you would have asked me if I envisioned myself doing this type of work, I would have probably laughed and said, Nooooo! I had teaching on the brain for as long as I can remember. However, this next year, there are no Kindergarten students enrolling in our school, so I am just so thankful that the Lord has given me these other jobs! I still enjoy teaching, but I am finding that I enjoy secretarial/accounting work even more at times! It appeals to the organizer in me, I guess. :-) You aren't always allowed to be OCD when you are working with 5 year olds!

This month has also been a month FILLED with picnics and parties. Between high school graduation parties, Bible Institute parties, and a very special SURPRISE 16th birthday party for my sister, almost every weekend has been filled with food, fun, fellowship, and volleyball! :-)

I am looking forward to the month of July now. Alayna and I are busily making plans for our vacation to New York to visit our friend, Elizabeth! Of course, before all that happens we still have Andy's 21st birthday and July 4th to celebrate!!

Whoever said that summer is supposed to be a relaxing time??

Beautiful Flowers

I was one blessed teacher on graduation night! I received 2 beautiful bouquets of flowers from my kiddos and their families.

Well, I stretched out these blog posts as much as I could! First, I didn't want an overwhelmingly long post about graduation, and then second, I wanted to savor that special night as long as I could! Now that I am on my last post, I am feeling a bit sad. I enjoy blogging about my kiddos, and now I am not going to have any more fun Kindergarten activities to blog about! :-(

Well, I am sure I will find more things to blog about soon. Such as a certain road trip I will be going on with my sister next month....yay! :-)

Receiving their Diplomas

After our program was over, we went to the classroom, so I could get the kiddos into their caps and gowns. While we were away, my Dad gave a devotional to the family members and friends in the audience.

Soon it was time to march in! My sister, Alayna, was playing Pomp and Circumstance on the piano as they marched in, so it sounded official. :-)

They lined up in the front of the platform. Mr. Anger called their names one by one, and they would each walk up the steps to the platform, shake his hand, receive their diploma, pause and smile for the cameras. They were so cute up there with their little caps and tassels that kept getting in their faces. :-)

While we were waiting for snack time to begin, we did a quick photo shoot of the graduates by their cake. They were good little troopers as they patiently smiled for multiple cameras!

*The* Program

I was SO proud of my kiddos as they did their program on Thursday night! They did such a great job, remembering all the things they were supposed to do. They stood like little soldiers with their hands at their side, and sat like little angels with their hands folded - oh, yes, this teacher was quite proud of them :D

The program was broken down into the 4 quarters of the school year. We would highlight some of the things that were learned in calendar, Bible, phonics and numbers class during that particular quarter. At the end of each quarter, one of the kiddos would get to write an A+ on the board. If there was one thing that motivated my kiddos this year, it was doing their best work so they could get an A+ on their paper. So I decided to incorporate it into the graduation program! :-)

One of the best parts was seeing each child have their "shining moment" as they got to read a story all by themselves in front of everyone!

Marching In!

We started our Kindergarten program by marching in while everyone sang "Onward Christian Soldiers."

*The* Decorations

It was so much fun getting the room ready for Kindergarten graduation!!

*The* Cake

I was so happy with how the graduation cake turned out! This was seriously the part of the evening my kiddos were looking forward to the most. They kept asking me when we would be eating cake at graduation. Oh, yes, the priorities of a 6 year old! :-)

My First Graders!!

This is the poem they quoted last night at the end of their graduation program!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8mWX4225zo


More graduation pictures to follow soon!!