Carter's Last Day of Kindergarten

Jericho, Jackson, Carter, Jada and Robbie
John and Carter

The 3 Amigos - Tucker, Carter and Lawson

Thank you, Mrs. Michelle, for a wonderful year!

Colorful Kindergarteners . . . . .

Carter and his classmates celebrated the end of a wonderful year with a program called "A World of Color." They made a rainbow by wearing different colored shirts and sang songs about all the colors of the rainbow. They did a great job!

Carter coming in . . . .
Getting ready to sing songs with some of his best friends

What he wants to be when he REALLY grows up . . . .

after he plays ball.

Not my best picture by any means but here is Mrs. Kim

giving Carter the "Remarkable Reader" award

for his class.

Great Papa Whittle came to see

the awards ceremony

Carter and Lawson have been together since

birth - practically!

Grandad and Gran Willis

celebrate Carter's wonderful year!

One VERY proud daddy!

Kindergarten Field Day

Field Day is one of my favorite days of the year! This year was crazy running between 2 different classes, but it was so much fun!

The fire truck came and sprayed the hose so the kids could cool off.

It was a HUGE hit on this wet day!

Cecily even got to run through it!

Carter running the 50 yard dash for his class.

He won so he got to race against the other Kindergarten boys

who won in their classes . . .

Carter and Tyricus racing to the very end!

John and Carter - 2 completely different kids

but such good friends.

Kindergarten Field Trip to the Farm

I was blessed to be able to go on Carter's field trip with him this year. We revisited Donnell Century Farm outside of Jackson. The kids had a great time being outside and seeing the animals.

Carter feeding the goats

Part of the experience of this farm is to show the kids where we get our food from. Each child goes through a series of farm jobs and collects goods from each job. At the end, they take the food to the farmer's market to sell for a job well done!

Carter gathers eggs from the hen house
Carter milks the cow

Tucker and Carter wait to go to the Farmer's Market

Mrs. Michelle's Kindergarten Class

Lawson and Carter on the tire playground

Going down the slide

Momma and Son on the wagon ride

Carter's First Kite Day

Carter was so excited about his first kite day at school. However, bless his heart, he had some MAJOR problems getting his kite into the air. Luckily for us, Damon was able to come and help during his part of the day. I was able to run around helping other kids and taking pictures. He was not very happy about his kite not flying.

When asked if he enjoyed kite day, he said, "No!" However, he did enjoy playing on the playground afterwards - especially the monkey bars which are his favorite!

Oh well, maybe next year!

Luck of the Irish Snack

For St. Patrick's Day, Carter was suppose to take snacks for his class to share. I found this wonderful idea (and peanut free!) snack that was gobbled up by the Kindergarten class. I got the idea from Family Fun magazine. The rainbow was made from RED strawberries, ORANGE cantaloupe, YELLOW pineapple, GREEN pears, BLUEberries and PURPLE pears (the store was out of grapes). We had clouds of marshmallows to go with them.

Carter was so excited to take this special treat to share with his friends.

This is America to Me

East Chester Elementary School celebrated America with a wonderful patriotic program the March 2. Carter was chosen to hold our country's flag as we all said the pledge and sang the national anthem.

Here is Carter and Laura Beth's friend, Madlyn, getting ready to lead everyone.

Laura Beth and Evan ready to sing

Blake, Carter and Mason sing, "This is America to me!"

Some of the 3rd graders dressed as famous Americans and told us a bit about their life. All the kids did a great job celebrating America!

100th Day of School

Cecily and I enjoyed spending the 100th day of school with Carter on Friday. The school had celebrated earlier by having a blood drive. They collected over 100 cups of blood from parents, teachers and volunteers. We enjoyed going to Mrs. Michelle's class for centers full of the number 100! Carter and Cecily color a number 100 with 100 squares
One of the mothers in Carter's class made 100 cupcakes for the whole Kindergarten.
Melissa and I put them in the shape of the number 100.
Everyone enjoyed the 100th day!

A Kindergarten Thanksgiving

Damon and I were blessed to be able to go to Carter's Thanksgiving feast at school and what a feast it was! There was so much food for all the students, teachers and family members. We loved being with the kids and seeing our little Indian interact with the other members of his class.

Our little Indian, Carter
Part of our family

Lawson and his momma and daddy

What are we thankful for? Good friends like Robbie,

Lawson and Tucker!

First Edition: "Baseball and Peanuts"

Carter has enjoyed his first week or so of Kindergarten. He loves his teacher and has some of his dearest friends in there with him. One of his friends, Robbie, that is in his class has brittle bone disease. Carter was in preschool with Robbie and has been a good friend to him as Robbie has endured surgeries and sicknesses. He came home from school on Thursday telling me they read a special book about Robbie and his bones. He came home Friday and declared, "I am going to write a book about me to read in school."

Let me take a second to explain why Carter would say this for those of you who don't know about Carter. I have not mentioned it a lot on here because it is something that has been second nature to us for the last 5 years. Carter is DEATHLY allergic to peanuts and peanut products. He is very aware of this and can usually tell you what he can or cannot eat. Starting Kindergarten, we have had quite a few meetings to discuss what is safe and unsafe for Carter and how to handle him should there be an attack. I wrote a note as well as a safe snack list, to all the parents explaining things. It is life threatening and very serious - which not everyone understands.

So, Carter comes home and begins to write his book. This is Carter's first edition of the story. We are working on illustrating it now but hope to have it ready this week for him to take to school this week. I will keep it in his words (and punctuation or lack there of - they have not studied that in Kindergarten yet!!).

Hi My name is Carter

My favorite baseball player is Brian McCann catcher and Albert Pujols fustin base and Matt Holliday leftfield. and thes is about my peanut allery and I have allergy shot and they willy hurt

In baseball favorite position in outfielder

I am a Christian

and my best friend are everyone at my school

and also about my book

I want you to no

I have a dog His name is Chip

He is funny

The English minor in me has helped him edit it and add some more information about his allergy. He helped me complete it and is very proud of his work. Check back later for a glimpse of the future New York Times bestseller!

My Babies are all Grown Up

Today is the first day of school for BOTH of my kids!! Laura Beth begins her 2nd grade year. Carter begins Kindergarten. Cecily (the little girl I babysit) even begins preschool 3 mornings a week. I can't believe how fast they are all growing. Time is "slipping through my fingers" but I am trying to hold on to what I have got. I can honestly say I have enjoyed every stage of their lives. I am looking forward to the "all in school" stage that begins now. Laura Beth was blessed with Mrs. Dee as a teacher this year. I was blessed to do my student teaching across the hall from Mrs. Dee and we have remained friends since that time. Mrs. Dee will give Laura Beth a lot of love and will motivate her to do and be her very best this year. Laura Beth also has a bunch of friends in her class - Madlyn, Shelby S., Evan, Kate, Eli, John Nic and Lane.

Carter has been blessed to get Mrs. Michelle for his teacher this year. Mrs. Michelle just had a baby girl so she will be out for a few weeks but we look forward to her being back soon. Mrs. Michelle has the biggest smile and will show Carter so much love this year. We know Carter is going to enjoy his classmates as well - friends Lawson, Tucker, Samuel, Gary, Robbie and Jada are in there with him.

We are praying that God blesses the teachers with the wisdom, patience and love they need to make this year go as smoothly as possible. We are also praying that God blesses the students in these classes with the desire and attitude to learn all they can and succeed!

That's What Friends are For

I am so thankful for all of my friends. There are some that I can call on no matter what and I appreciate that so much. Today was one of those days where I needed a friend and I knew who to call - Arika. Our boys, Carter and Lawson, are one month and one day apart. They really do not know life without the other one and could almost be brothers instead of friends. So, I knew exactly who was going to be by my side today when we had to register our babies for KINDERGARTEN!!!!! Her first and my last . . . . where has time gone? We were not ready for this day at all but we made with no tears! Aren't you proud of us? I am so glad we have each other for days like this.

Carter's "Welcome to Kindergarten" bag.
Lawson's "Welcome to Kindergarten" bag

Two very sad mommas!

Thank you, Arika, for being my friend today and every day!