Ellie's charm bracelet

More jewelry posts! I just wanted to show you all how Ellie's James Avery charm bracelet is coming along. She's had it about 2 years now. Erica got the idea to get it started for her and she's gotten charms for every birthday and Christmas since. It's really beautiful now when she wears it!

The flower bouquet is her newest charm that Grace picked out for Ellie's birthday. So pretty! I showed it in the spot I want them to put it in the pictures above and below.

That's Ellie's new beanie baby kitty that Grandma gave her this weekend. Ellie wanted me to take it's picture with the bracelet. Silly girl! We had to go thru Uncle Garricks whole beanie baby collection (probably 30 or so). Remember how popular those were? Luckily we didn't wind up bringing them all back home with us. Just 1 for each of the kids!

I'll have more pics from this weekend coming soon!

My Mother's Day present

My Mother's Day present finally came!! I decided I wanted a Lisa Leonard necklace. I ordered it the Friday before Mother's Day. It took 3 1/2 weeks, but I finally got it!! It's the open circle necklace. I added a pearl. I thought that was so appropriate since it's both the kid's birthstones!
This is side is the side I'll be wearing facing out most of the time with the kid's names.

Then on the back I had them put Stu's name and my name. I love it!! It's bigger than I'm used to wearing, and heavier. I'm sure I'll grow accustomed to it's feel soon. It will be a nice reminder of the ones I love when I'm away from them.

I don't have a picture of it on me yet, but here is one from the website so you get an idea of how it will look.

Love it!!

My kids accomplishments

So, I try not to do this too often, but I have to brag a little. The kids just did such a good job this year.

Logan hasn't always had the easiest time. For a little while I regretted my decision to send him to school right after he turned 5 instead of letting him wait a year. Things would have only been easier for him if we'd waited. He's always done well, but it's taken work and hasn't always come easily. Even this year. At the beginning he had some trouble on a math test they gave him. So he went to tutoring with his teacher after school once a week for a about 6 weeks.

He's always gotten good grades on his report card (he ended up with an overall core average of 91), but those state tests were a different story.

I was nervous about 3rd grade since that's when they start taking the TAKS test. I'm so happy to say that not only did he pass, but he did really well. He only missed 3 ?s on the math and 4 ?s on the reading. His math score was actually commended!! (That just means that if you make a certain score they call it "commended") I'm so proud of him!!!

And Ellie! She's been amazing. She started reading in Pre-K and has grown leaps and bounds in Kindergarten. I never used to believe people when they said that their kid just started reading kind of on their own. Especially since that was NOT the experience I had with Logan. We worked really hard to learn to read. But Ellie's a natural at it! It amazes me on a daily basis.

Her teacher did some testing at the end of the year too and she did awesome as well, scoring way above the district passing score in everything! The reading level goal at the end of Kindergarten is a 3 and she scored an 8!! And the math assessment district goal is 35%, she scored 90%!!! I'm so happy that at least so far, things are going so smoothly for her.

So I just have to say, Way to Go Logan and Ellie!! Mom and Dad Love you and are soooo Proud of you!!!

Kindergarten Celebration!

Ellie's last day is today. This morning we went up to the high school (right next to our school) to see the Kindergarten Celebration. First they all sang 2 songs. So cute, yes I was crying. Then they called each child's name by class and the principal gave them a little necklace with a cap and 2010 written on it. (That's her in the front row with the blue and purple dress.)

Afterwards we walked back over to the school where they conveniently were letting everyone sign out their kids and take them home! I wasn't planning on taking Ellie home since I have to go pick Logan up at noon anyway. Also, I figured they'd just be playing and stuff. Ellie likes school.

We were standing there watching kid after kid be signed out and leave. I asked Ellie if she wanted to go home and I was about to take her so she wouldn't feel abandoned. Then I noticed that there were only going to be 2 other kids there and they were both her good friends. So I asked her if she wanted to stay and play with them and she said OK.

Then I asked one of the little girls left if she was staying and she said yes. Then started crying. It was soooo sad. I tried to comfort her and I told her Ellie would be staying too and they could play and have fun. I felt so sorry for her. I also couldn't believe how many parents took their kids home. What a scam!! How smart of the teachers!!

So Ellie's up there right now with the other 2 girls left. Her teacher said she was going to have them help her pack up her room. I'm sure she'll have fun. I hope it stops raining before I have to walk up there and get them!!

Congrats Ellie!! I can't believe her Kindergarten year is over! :-(

My Love and devotion to Twilight

OK, so I know I'm an (almost) 35 year old mom with 2 elementary age kids, but I can't help it... I'm a Twilight Junkie! Somehow I've gotten myself hooked (again) with a fresh new fervor. I've re-read all the books (except New Moon- not sure who has my copy). I just watched New Moon the movie again and will have Twilight soon. And I read online (since it's the only place you can get it, Midnight Sun- the unfinished book that is Twilight written from Edward's point of view.) Which is awesome. Even though you know the story, it's so different hearing it from Edward's side. It's unfinished and I wish she would start writing it again.

Also, I'd really like her to write the story of Renesme and Jacob. I think that would be a great book too!

Sometimes, well a lot of the time actually, I feel like I should be embarrassed to love it so. It brings me so much pleasure though. But when you have to go to the Young Adult section of the library to find it, it seems like that's an issue. The problem is though, that I don't care! Also, I personally know a lot of other mom's, some of whom are very smart, professional people, who love it as much as I do! It's not just me!

Did you all know that there is a new book coming out in a few days? It's called The short second life of Bree Tanner. Bree was one of the newborns from Eclipse. It's the story (or novella- short story) of her life after she became immortal and ending when she dies in the fight. I'm not sure how much Edward and Bella will be in it, but it's worth a read to me.

I wondered if I would like all of Stephenie Meyers writing, so I read her newest book, The Host. It was good, but it just didn't have the allure of the characters and the love story like Twilight.

I read something today from Stephenie Meyers website about the origin of Twilight and she says how much she loved the characters while she was writing. I can so see that when I read the books. She loves Edward and her writing about him makes you love him too. Or at least it did that for me.

So, I'm not going to be ashamed anymore. I love these books and movies. I'm even shopping around for a T-shirt of some kind. There are about a million and I can't decide which one I like the best! And I'm counting down the days until the movie marathon (Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse) we're going to on June 29th!!!

Ellie's Gymnastics Recital

Ellie had a gymnastics "recital" on Saturday too (It was a busy day). Basically at her age the recital just shows them doing the skills they do at all their practices. We had to pay for her to be in it (which included a leotard) and then we had to pay to get in the door. Yes, it's quite a racket.

We still enjoyed it though. She's doing awesome! She's made so much progress since she started in November.

This video was toward the end and she was getting pretty tired, but you get an idea of what kinds of things they did.

My camera is a very basic thing. For the most part I've been very happy with it. But, it doesn't take the best pictures at distance and in an environment that isn't well lit. So most of my pics are out of focus. But you get the idea.

At the end they got a medal and even got up on a podium. Cool!

Father/Daughter Dance

The Girl Scouts had a father/daughter dance on Saturday night. It had 80's themed music, right up Stuart's alley!

Ellie and I went outside to take some pictures and she was so funny. It was like a little photo shoot with her changing poses all on her own between shots. I don't know where she's seen that before, probably somewhere on TV! She came up with these all on her own. I just stood there and took the pictures! Too Funny!

We Love you, pretty girl!!