End of Kindergarten program

Free scrapbooking design made with Smilebox

Sorry, but these Smilebox things are addictive. Wade saw Rhiannon's Decade slideshow and requested one for himself, too...so here are some cute pictures from today's kindergarten program and a few from Open House, too. The kids have less than 1200 minutes left of school...but who's counting?

Getting ready to PARTY this weekend!

This free digital scrapbook customized with Smilebox

Oops...another reason why Wade is Superman

Conversation at doctor's office today for Wade's follow-up after surgery:

Doctor: So, how has Wade done with the antibiotics and pain medication?

Me: Um, what pain meds? I asked a couple times at the surgery center if he had any prescriptions that needed filled, but I was told he just needed to take Children's Tylenol every 4 hours. That's all I've given him, plus some nasal rinses.

Doctor: Well, I always prescribe Tylenol with codeine and some antibiotics. Getting your adenoids taken out is very painful!

So.............I did some investigating and found that, sure enough, Wade had a whole bag of prescriptions waiting for him at WalMart since the weekend. It might have been there for eternity if I hadn't called around, because usually we get ours filled at WalGREENS. That's what I told Dr. Campano's nurse at our very first visit.

In spite of all the horrible miscommunication, I'm relieved that Wade did okay without all those helpful drugs. I didn't second guess the surgery center instructions because he did fine on the regular, over-the-counter Tylenol! I'm going to give him the antibiotics, dr's orders, a bit late, but she said that's okay. Sorry, buddy!!!

One-liner

Rhiannon made me laugh this morning. We peeked in on Wade to see if he was awake yet and saw this:

Pretty cute, but Rhiannon's comment was even better: "He looks like he has a green Snuggie on!"

In case you live on another planet...



This commercial used to give me the heebie-jeebies for some reason, but now it makes me laugh so hard that I cry, especially the part where the family is wearing them at the sporting event on the bleachers! HAHAHAHAHA! Thanks for the great start to my morning, Rhiannon!

What's up, Doc?

This morning Wade had his adenoids removed. He was a champ and a charmer with all the nurses at the outpatient surgery center in Lancaster. My favorite conversation was the first visit of the day with one of the nurses before he got his IV in:

Nurse Cathy: So, Wade, do you smoke or drink?
Wade: (looks at Jason and me, pauses, then says) No, I just drink.

It was hard to keep a straight face on that one! Next he got ready for surgery. He got to keep this little bear that was sitting on the hospital bed for him. He had absolutely no problem holding still for the IV, even when it took the nurse a little while to adjust it. He was so, so good. We gave him a hug, told him to do what the doctors asked him to do, and then we went out to the waiting room.

In less than an hour, the doctor came out and informed us of the successful surgery. A few minutes later, a nurse called us back. She said, "He's not a very happy camper." As we walked into the recovery room, we heard some kid screaming bloody murder. I asked, "Is THAT Wade?" The nurse nodded her head yes! Apparently he'd woken up for a second, not knowing where he was, and was kicking around and screaming. I never would have believed it unless I'd heard it, because as soon as we got to his bed, he went back to sleep. It took him a while to wake up, but once he was fully alert you could hardly tell he'd just had surgery! I need to make a note of that reaction if he ever has surgery in the future!

We've been home now for an hour and a half. Wade has eaten Jell-o, chocolate pudding, a popsicle, and a frozen Go-gurt. He says his throat hurts a little, and he seems a little jumpy one minute, then a little spaced out the next. So...we're taking it easy the rest of the weekend. Wade should be able to go back to school on Monday, though. He's a survivor and gets major bonus points for bravery in our books!

Pics from our busy week!

TERRIFIC teachers

How do you thank the best teachers in the universe? Seriously, that's my dilemma right now as the school year starts to wind down. We can't thank these good people enough for their kindness, talented teaching, and caring.

When people learn that I actually WANTED Wade to be in a kindergarten classroom with almost 40 other kids, they think I've gone mental. But it was great for Wade! Mrs. Van Nevel and her team created an incredibly fun and safe learning environment for the whole class, which included many children with special needs. There are lots of things that I love about Mrs. Van Nevel, but I especially appreciate her sense of humor, her big smile, and her careful attention to Wade's needs. He could have easily gotten "lost" in that huge group, but that didn't happen. That didn't happen with ANY of the kids under her care. When I asked Wade what he liked best about Mrs. Van Nevel he said, "She's really nice."

I didn't volunteer much in her room, besides helping with class parties and field trips. But every Thursday, after I'd helped 4th graders with math for 2.5 hours, I would go into Wade's classroom and join him on the carpet with the other kids and watch the end-of-the-day "movie" for a few minutes. It always surprised me that I could find peace and quiet in a room with so many kids!!!

Mr. McKinney stepped in to help Wade's class the second half of the year, when Mrs. Reid-Brimlow left to have her baby. He has extreme amounts of patience, and I admired how well he fit in the classroom, not just with all the kids, but with the 4 women who already worked there. He has a very calming influence--when I asked Wade what he liked best about Mr. McKinney, he stretched his arms wide and said something about how nice he was even when he was surrounded by a big group of kids.

This picture of Mrs. Keehan with Rhiannon makes me so happy and a little emotional, too. Rhiannon says, "She has been my favorite so far." That's saying a lot, since all of her teachers from kindergarten on have been AMAZING! From Day One, Mrs. Keehan has been especially attentive to Rhiannon. She has challenged her academically, spoiled her with fun activities, and encouraged good friendships with other kids, too. I got to watch her in action each week when I came in to help with Accelerated Math. Mrs. Keehan sure knows how to whip the kids into shape, and she sure knows how to have fun. I adore her and would like to be like her when I grow up! :)

What a week!

Jason was supposed to be gone this week, but he cancelled his trip and we're sure glad he did! A lot went on--here's an outline of the week we've had, with pictures coming soon:

--Mother's Day fun
--Open House at the school; art show, science fair, thanked current teachers and checked out next grade's classrooms
--Final two t-ball games (Wade was awesome!!!)
--Trout Release field trip with Rhiannon's class up in Lone Pine (very fun!)
--Wade had his pre-op visit for next week's surgery
--Boys camped in the backyard while...
--Rhiannon and I stayed up late painting our nails and goofing around!
--Jason and I enjoyed a FABULOUS 13th anniversary date with dinner at Miso's and then a 7:30 showing of Iron Man 2! XOXOXO

13 more school days left...but who's counting? :) This coming week will be a little calmer. Wade gets his adenoids removed on Friday, so stay tuned.

Polar Bear Club

For family members who've been wondering, YES, our pool is "open!" Jason was a very busy guy on Friday. I'm impressed that he remembered how to get it started up again!

"And there was much rejoicing!" Rhiannon has been longing for this day for "forever!"

Yep, it's cold. The kids were pleading to get in, so we let them try it for 10 minutes.

Wade dabbled on the edge of the pool...

Rhiannon didn't want to get out, even though she was ICY!

Footage of our brave Polar Bear Club members:

I'm in Wade's camp. I've only been able to dip my feet in so far!

Pool thermometer at time of jump: about 65 degrees! YIKES!

Worth watching

This was on a friend's blog. It is amazing.

On fire!

Tonight was a good baseball night for Wade. He got to be the last batter on the line-up, and his hitting was off the charts! He hit the ball long and hard all 3 times up to bat. The really awesome thing was that he was hitting balls thrown to him from his coach and never had to use the tee.

I think he got tagged out going to second base on one of the innings, but the other two hits were "home runs" and he was able to get himself and the other boys on base back to home. He was running like lightning! I was yelling and cheering so loud that my voice started to hurt!!! WAY TO GO, WADE!

You'll have to take my word for it, though. No pictures, no video. :(

Night out, night in

After a short stop at home, Daddy went to DC yesterday for a business trip. Tonight he went out to a Nationals/Braves game--lucky!!! I'm glad he got to do something fun, though! We took advantage of a "free night" and stayed in to finish up science fair projects.


Rhiannon studied the rock cycle and tried to classify some rocks from her own collection as igneous, sedimentary, or metamorphic (a lot harder than it sounds!) She was a little grumpy that Wade finished up before her, but her project was more complicated! She did a great job arranging all the information and making her best "educated guess" on her rocks!

Wade enjoyed learning about evaporation. He filled two jars with water and left one of them uncovered. After about a month, the uncovered jar had "lost" all of its water, but the water amount in the covered jar stayed the same. I loved how responsible he was about remembering to measure the water levels every day! (Notice the big bag of jelly beans on the bed--"brain food" really helped us stay motivated!)

8:25pm--FINISHED! HALLELUJAH!

I helped the kids out a lot by finding and printing out images and charts from the Internet. They were grateful! As much as I D-R-E-A-D science fair projects, I've got to admit it was pretty easy for us to put these together. Did anyone else use a stencil to put all their info on their boards back in the day? I did, and it was torture! Tonight all we needed were a few key ingredients--a computer, a printer, colored cardstock, and GLUE DOTS! Heaven! :)

Party animals

I could barely stay awake at church today and wondered what my problem was. Then I remembered our weekend:

Friday:
Jason flies to Texas for Mark's wedding
Mom goes to kids' school assembly
Mom does 100 other things to prepare for bridal shower
Mom helps host a bridal shower
Mom and kids are KEYED up after party; so we put our feet up and stay up way too late finishing Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Saturday:
Clean up aftermath of shower
Go to Wade's t-ball game
Water plants at friend's house
Get Happy Meal's
Stop by library's book sale
Get van washed
Do laundry
Mom still manages to take a long nap
Mom and kids eat dinner way late and watch another movie

Jason was partying just as hard in Texas. He called me this morning while he was sitting in the airport waiting to come home. He said, "I was a party animal. I think I got back to the hotel around 2 and slept for an hour before I had to wake up again to catch a flight!"

It's a tough contest, but I think Jason wins the weekend Party Animal award!!! At least we got some sleep on our end. :)