Dads and Dudes....Then Kindergarten Awards!

picture of Bennett with her daddy

The last week of school continued to be a busy one, with two events on Tuesday before noon!  Steve started his morning by going up to the school for Dads and Dudes Day with Bennett.  He enjoyed a light breakfast with her, and finished an art project that she had started. 

Bennett is definitely a daddy's girl, so the undivided attention is always treasured.  I know Steve was also happy to attend her program, and enjoyed the sweet 45 minutes together.

 



Following her program, I met Steve up at the school for Preston's awards ceremony.  Every kindergarten teacher holds a little ceremony at the end of the year, so Miss Taylor was no different.  She showed a slideshow of pictures of the kids throughout the year: on their various fieldtrips, hanging in the classroom and just growing up over the course of the year.  Then she handed out her awards.  Preston got "Best Boy Athlete."  Once again, it was another fun hour.  It is always neat to watch our children interact with their friends.  However, we see such a big difference in how Preston acts now, versus the beginning of the year, indicating he grew in more than just months.

 

We are so proud of both of our older children and all that they are accomplishing at school, home and with their extracurricular activities.  We have a fun summer planned, so I don't want to rush into the next year; but we are all looking forward to the new school year and what it will bring.  Just happy that we survived kindergarten and second grade.  

Spirit Day!

Pres with his classmates

As the school year wraps up, all of the kids get a little antsy.  Spirit Day couldn't come at a better time....during the last week of school.  Preston really enjoyed his first spirit day, and was able to participate all day (even though he had his hernia surgery three days before).  Of course I came with Walker to watch both kids do some of their events, and we all had fun.  Thankfully it was an overcast day, which kept the high temperatures away.

Pres pulling hard, hence the infamous tongue

3rd Spirit Day and still having fun!

Bennett and Katharine Fitts

Preston's First Surgery

about 45 minutes before his surgery...ready to go

Earlier this year, Steve noticed a slight hernia on Preston.  Since it wasn't painful, we decided it wasn't worth pursuing with a physician.  However, over the months it grew and protruded more.  Though it still didn't hurt, his pediatrician recommended that we have it repaired.  So a couple of weeks ago, we met with a general surgeon at Children's Hospital.  She too agreed that it needed to be repaired so we set a date.

final vitals pre-op

May 15th came quickly, but we were ready.  Bennett spent the night with the Criggers and Walker was with Steve's parents.  The rest of us woke up super early to make it to the hospital by 6:00am.  We completed paperwork, got Preston prepped for surgery and then waited.  His surgery time was 8:15, but he was ready to go back by 7:30 and wasn't nervous at all.  They finally came to get him a little before 8:00. 

relaxing on the way to the car

Preston was excited for the "ride" down the hall.  He got to see the bubble wall, get skittle flavored gas and popsicles following surgery....what more could a kid ask for, right?!  I, on the other hand, cried when they wheeled him out.  I knew deep down that everything would be okay (we had so many people praying for our sweet boy), but he was my first child to receive anesthesia, and that is just a nerve-racking feeling.

Around 8:45 his surgeon came out and said it all went well and he was in recovery.  By 9:30 he was back in our room.  He was still kind of out of it, but was crying and complaining of pain.  After a dose of Oxycodone, it didn't take long before he became a slug.  We wheeled him out in a wagon while he clutched onto a melting popsicle.  He slept on the short ride home, and took a three hour nap.  When he awoke, he was a new kid.



the oxy knocked him out!

Saturday morning he appeared to be like himself, but we laid low all morning so he didn't push it.  However, that afternoon we went to a crawfish boil and Preston played baseball, tortured crawfish and hung out with friends for hours....never once complaining about his incision.  We feel thankful that all went well, and hope the recovery continues to go smoothly.  He has to be out of the pool for a week, but he will be ready to jump in the waves this Friday at the beach!

Spring Baseball

Watching Preston play baseball is one of my favorite things!  The little boys in their tiny baseball uniforms are absolutely adorable, and Pres really enjoys it.  The fact that Steve played it all through high school, and understands how to coach him is icing on the cake. 

However, this spring started off bad.  It proved to be a VERY rainy season, much worse than ever before.  So much so that the boys just could never get cohesive and effective at playing well.  Since this was the first year for coach pitch, it came with new rules and the boys were playing so infrequently that they couldn't even recall them.

The season was supposed to have one practice a week, with 2-3 games per week.  However we went weeks with only one practice or game a week.  So as the end of the season neared, the weather got dry and then we had lots of make-up games.  The past couple of weeks, Preston has been playing baseball 4-5 times a week.  The Giants were finally starting to improve as the season wrapped up.  But sadly, they lost in the first round of the tournament last night.

"Baseball Ready"



Jonathan, Pres, Collier and Makai



wishing he could steal the base...



Love my handsome boy

Hayes, Jack and Jon David - Preston's classmates and their teacher

Preston had a great season though...improving greatly with his fielding.  He even found a new favorite position at second base.  Pres was asked to play on the All Stars A team, but we had to pass due to a conflict with Camp Winnataska.  Hopefully he will still practice with the team so he won't fall behind as a player. 

Though Preston didn't have any close friends on his team, he made new ones and it ended up being a fun season for all of us.  In addition, he had lots of support throughout the season, from both sets of grandparents, Uncle Dan, Goo, Sara and his awesome teacher.  And of course, you can't forget his brother and sister who attended almost every game and practice.

Miss Taylor

some of the Giant's cheerleaders

Who knows if he will play fall ball...so until next spring...

another trophy for his shelf

Steel City Pops after his last game!

My Little Brownie

Booth at Lowe's one cold morning in March

Bennett just concluded her third year of Girl Scouts.  This year she was a Brownie.  She has been with the same core group of girls from Shades Cahaba Elementary since kindergarten, so it has been a lot of fun.  I have been the "cookie mom" the past three years too, so I have had the opportunity to get to know all of the girls.  Most of them even went to preschool together, so there are definitely some good friendships.

Bennett has consistently been one of the best sellers in our troop, but this was the first year I allowed her to go door to door to some of our neighbors.  She also helped our troop sell the leftover cookies we ordered by setting up impromptu booths at the foot of our driveway with a neighbor friend who is also in our troop.

We break for the summer, but she is already looking forward to another year of Girl Scouts come fall.

Year-end Musicals

1st and last day of school

To say that Preston has thrived in kindergarten is an understatement.  He has really grown up....even his first and last day of school pictures prove that.  He had a fabulous teacher, Miss Taylor, who we all fell in love with.  She even volunteered to babysit for all of the kids this summer!

Preston continued to excel with his reading, finishing his year at a "K" reading level.  However, he prefers math and science (just like his Daddy).  He made several new friends throughout the year, and is anxious to return in the fall as a first grader.

However, before the year ended...both kids had their musicals to prepare for and perform.  At SCE, every other grade (K, 2nd and 4th) perform musicals.  Both kids practiced for a month, learning all of the words to their songs, in addition to any dance moves.  Preston's was the "Barnyard Moosical."  It was darling, as they always are.  His class dressed up as pigs.

P, Miss Taylor and Jon David Lowe

Bennett's musical was just as cute, but with more solos and dance moves.   It was called "Character Street," and had a great message about character and what it meant.  Bennett was lucky enough to be in the first row, and she had a small speaking part (which she did perfectly).  Since her program was at night, we got a sitter for Walker.  Following the program, we took Preston home too, and went out for a celebratory dinner with just Bennett another classmate and his parents.  The kids loved the individual attention.

 

 

 

Bennett and Grady after dinner