A Graduate!

Sonnet graduated from Kindergarten today! This year has flown by and she has excelled. I am so proud of her. Seriously, Sonnet, if you read this some day, I hope you know that every time I look at you, I think “Wow, she is so amazing.”

We have loved her school! It’s a sacrifice to drive 30 minutes each way and pay the tuition, but having her in a good environment that compliments what we teach her at home, where she’s learning the things that really matter to me (like phonetic reading skills, leadership, manners, morality, and integrity, public speaking, faith in God, patriotism, and history), with other kids who share our standards, getting tons of one-on-one attention, and having a great time doing it… well, that’s worth just about anything. We all know it was a big decision for me to send her to school, but this has absolutely been the right fit for us.

 

Yesterday was the last day of school and today was the Kindergarten graduation, awards ceremony, and class party. Each year at AHA, the scholars compile a “portfolio” of their best work and then take it home at the end of the year as a record of their learning and achievements. So, today Sonnet got her binders to bring home (no need for me to scrapbook!) and it was so fun to spend time with her afterwards going through them together. The teacher also put together a DVD of pictures and video from the year, so we popped popcorn and watched that tonight.

 

 

 

Sonnet got a “kindergarten diploma” of course, but she also received the “straight A’s” award and the “Signature Scholar” award. She’s done great on all her school work this year. She loves math (they’ve learned double digit addition, measuring to the inch, money values and making change, telling time, counting by 2's, 5's, 10's, and 100's, even and odd numbers, story problems, congruent shapes, and simple fractions!) and she’s a great reader and speller (she read over 500 books during this school year!). So, the “straight A’s” award wasn’t really a surprise, though I am super proud of her for working so hard. The “Signature Scholar” award is a special award that they give to one student in each class who excelled all year in both academics and behavior. Her teacher said, "Sonnet follows the rules, shows compassion to others, exercises good self-government, and is a good example to everyone around her. She's just all around great!" I mean, seriously, my kid is just the best.

 

 

Sonnet was probably most excited about the flower and balloon that Daddy brought her and the fact that she can sleep in tomorrow (she is my kid, after all). After the ceremony we had a fun pizza party at Pump It Up where she got to have one last hurrah with her buddies. And now, it’s on to our first official summer…

 

 

We love you, Sonnet, and we are so proud of you!

 

 

 

 

 

Soccer Girl!

So, Sonnet's soccer season is over now. It was three months long, with games one night a week and practice one night a week.

 

It was the first time she has done a team sport and she had a lot of fun! I don't think she actually kicked the ball a whole lot, but she loved socializing with the other kids and she loved having Dad as her coach. Her best buddy was on the team too so it was an all-around success.

 

We conned the grandparents into coming to watch a few games and that made her feel special. In her age division, they don't keep score, but we were told later that our team was the "unofficial" best team in the league. Go us!

 

At the end of the season, we had a party at the park with pizza and awards and lots of playtime and I think that was Sonnet's favorite part of the whole season. We met some nice families and I'm glad Sonnet tried something new.

 

But I tell you what, being a soccer mom is time-consuming. By the time she got home from school, had a snack, changed her clothes, drove to the fields, played soccer, got home, scarfed dinner, and took a shower, it was time for bed. It totally wiped out our Tuesdays and Thursdays for 12 weeks. Those that have multiple kids in multiple sports must totally live in their cars. That's not really the family environment I want to create, so it was a challenge for me, but I suppose we can handle one sport per kid.

 

I'm all about kids trying lots of different things. I don't mean that they should start and then quit things, but just playing soccer for one season, for example, and then moving on to something else is totally fine with me. If they fall in love with one sport or hobby and have a lot of natural ability or really want to work hard on it, then I think it's ok to get kind of serious about it, but let's face it- chances are your gymnast is not going to go to the Olympics and your golfer will not become Tiger Woods, so extracurricular activities have to come second to the things that matter more in life. They should be available, fun, and teach your kids something new, but they shouldn't crowd out family time, school work, or church or service commitments. That's my spiel.

 

So, I asked Sonnet if she wanted to play soccer again and she said, "Actually, I think ballet is more my thing." True. So back to the pink tights we go. Here are some parting photos...

 

A Birthday!

My Baby Girl turned 6 today! SIX!!!

She woke up to a decorated house and six presents to open. We had a special breakfast and then played most of the day...

 

For a long time she's been talking about wanting a "jewelry table" in her room. I'm not sure where the idea came from, but she's requested it several times. So, for a birthday surprise, I bought a garment holder for 9 bucks at Target and Nate cut it to "Sonnet size." I hung her dress-up clothes on it. I raided my garage and came out with a mirror, a black shelf, a black ottoman, and a set of hooks and then arranged all her play jewelry, shoes, hats, bags, crowns, wands, etc. in the space. It's cute and she has put on several fashion shows for us already! :)

Nate was at the station today, but Sonnet really wanted to see him, so he made her a cake and told us to come visit. Right before we left the house, Sonnet started barfing. She threw up all over the floor. Her best friend had been sick the day before, so I figured she'd just picked up something from her or school. UGH! Being sick is the pits, but being sick on your birthday? That's just sad. After a while, she said she felt fine and she really wanted to go see dad, so we took a big bowl and headed out. She threw up again on the way there, but once we got there, she was fine. All the firefighters sang Happy Birthday to her and she loved the pink cake Daddy made for her!

We played at the station for a couple hours. The kids love playing on all the equipment and most of the crew is super friendly and the kids get lots of attention. Sonnet barfed again on the way home, but once she went to bed, she was fine. Thank goodness!

My little Sonnet is so sweet and fun and tender and creative and loving and smart! We are so thankful for her. I can't believe she's been around for 6 years already! She's been a joy and we love her!

Family Time!

Tomorrow is Sonnet's actual birthdate, but Nate will be at work, so we celebrated as a family today. We let her choose what she wanted to do...

 

First, Sonnet and I went off for some girl time. We got pedicures and then went to Target to pick out a new toy!

Then we all went to dinner. Sonnet chose Chili's and she loved when they all sang to her and brought her a vanilla shake!

After that, we went bowling. Sonnet had a great time and Stetson tried and tried to pick up every ball he saw. We let him push the ball down the lane a few times and loved it.

 We love our Girlie and we had a fun night!