Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Isn't he handsome?

John is starting to give some sweet, sweet smiles. He is winning my heart all over again. Love you, Johnny!


Saturday, June 12, 2010

Preschool Graduation

June 7th was Spencer's preschool graduation. We attended the ceremony as a family. We're so proud of our graduate!


Here is a photo of the graduating class.


And the graduate himself: a 5-year-old in full regalia.


As we pulled out of our street, Emma pointed to a book that we have entitled "It's Graduation Day!" In the book, a big brother graduates, and the little sister insists that she needs a hat too. The brother finds her some bunny ears to wear. Emma was holding the book and said, "Let me read you the instructions," which indicated she, too, needed to wear bunny ears if she was going to fulfill her role in the day. We did a quick U-turn to comply with the request since we had some extra time and since she was modeling a fantastic reading strategy. What a great text-to-self connection!

Here's a picture of the pages Emma showed us.


Here's our Emma, making the story come to life.


We were very fortunate to have a carpool of GREAT kids from our ward. Here they are, all dressed up for the big day.


Mrs. Corwine was the lead teacher. She had classes of "student teachers" (high school students) that she mentored as they planned lessons and activities for the preschoolers. Spencer really came to love Mrs. Corwine; I did too. She is a fantastic educator.


Here is Allie, one of Spencer's favorite student teachers. He talked her into many a private drawing session through the course of the year. Thank you, Allie, for drawing Easter eggs, cars, airplanes, and boats upon request. We definitely see why Spencer liked preschool with so many cute student teachers to hang out with.


Finally, here is Spencer with his buddy Luke on their first day of preschool.


This photo is of them on graduation day.

The photo can hardly do justice to the amount of growth these boys have had through the course of the year. They entered the preschool door the first day clutching hands, a bit anxious about what they were getting themselves into. By the end of the year, the darted forward along the sidewalk on the way to school. I was hard pressed to keep up with them. Spencer has become a more independent, confident kid. He has shown some definite math smarts and can decipher many words. I know he will be hugely successful in kindergarten; he's ready for it. The question is...am I ready for my little boy to be in kindergarten? The time is passing all too quickly...

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Photo Shoot!

Okay VA folk...my sister-in-law is coming to town. At least, she is coming if she gets bookings for 12 photo shoots to help bankroll the trip. So, if it's been a while since your last family portrait, go to this link to see her stuff and book a session.