Titus' Kindergarten Graduation

So we went from this....

To this......

 In a matter of just a few days it seems. 

I can't believe how fast that year went by.   Titus loved school so much. He was so upset that Josiah got to stay all day and he had to leave at 12 everyday. 

Most kids wanted to play outside during recess, but Titus only wanted to play in the gym. I would pick him up and he would drop his head and say, "I had a bad day again at school. We had to play outside again. Why can't we just play basketball in the gym everyday?"

He also got his feelings hurt if he caught me throwing his school papers away. 

"Mom!!  Don't throw that away. Do you know how many hours I worked on those?  I just did all them papers for nothing then."

So I had to throw them away when he wasn't looking. I kept most of them, but goodness. There's no way I can keep all their papers. 

Titus had a great year and learned how to read a lot quicker than I had anoticipated. I was so proud of him. 

Titus was excited about his kindergarten class graduation. He just couldn't get over that he was going to have to wear a graduation "dress". 

The night of the graduation Titus and I went to his classroom to get some class pictures. Everyone looked so adorable.  Titus wouldn't keep his head still and his hat kept coming off. He really needed a longer gown and a bigger hat, but we made do the best we could. 

Celeste, Bradley, Lauren, Isaac, and Titus

Titus and his teacher, Mrs. Bowman. She was such a godly example. Titus would be praying over his supper and would pray for our country and the president. I knew he was getting this from his teacher.  Just things he would say around the house let me know just how blessed he was to have her as his teacher. Titus never gave her much trouble and she always said he was very obedient. I'm not sure if he respected her more because she was older or what it was, but he was always quick to obey. She is really soft spoken too. I can get loud and scream and it's still like he can't hear me talking to him. Maybe she can give me a few tips. Lol

The graduation ceremony started and the Kindergarteners came marching out. Titus had told me earlier that he was so nervous because he had never done nothing like that before.  I begged him not to drop his head and come in all goofy acting like his brother did when he graduated. Ha ha

He done really good even though it looks like Bro. Jarvis may have a death grip on him to keep him still for a picture. Lol

They done a cute little slide show of pictures of each graduate. I always spend a lot of time choosing which pictures I want to submit. I think I chose all the right ones though. Especially when you could hear the roaring of laughter throughout the crowd as Titus' pictures were being displayed. 

After the ceremony, one of the mothers had headed up a small reception in the kitchen for the Kindergarten graduates. It was simple, yet cute. I was glad she had gotten it together. 

Looks like Celeste had ditched her graduation gown and for some reason Bradley didn't get to stay. By this time they were all hot and tired. 

In our family it seems like my kids take notes on who gets to do what and when and where. It all has to be fair. If one done it or got it, then they must have it too. So when Josiah graduated Kindergarten we had bought him a signature dog for all his friends to sign. 

So we found Titus one just like it. 

What's hilarious is that we actually found this at a yard sale last summer. I put it up in his closet to save for him. I just knew he would throw a fit if he didn't  have one just like Josiah. So I thought it was neat to find one at a yard sale. And in case your wondering..... No. The pen with it did not work. Of course we didn't know that until Titus' friend tried to sign it. That's ok. We found another replacement. Ha ha

Here's a collage of both Josiah and Titus when they graduated Kindergarten. 

What's funny is in 2016 I will have another Kindergarten graduate. Yikes!!  Thankfully the every 2 yr trend will end after Amelia. Ha

I am thankful for the Christian school my kids attend. We are truly blessed. However, we have had a rough year financially. Maynard was laid off work for 3 months and then during the loss of his mother we had to take on a lot of financial debt. The Lord is helping us and I know He will always provide. Right now we aren't sure if our kids will get to attend LCA in the fall and it breaks my heart. I've been praying for the Lord's will to direct me on what we should do. I can homeschool them if that's His will, but if not, then He will have to make a way financially for them to go back to school. Please help us pray. My boys get so upset when they think they might not get to go back. Amelia has already declared it ain't fair if she don't get to go to school. 

Awards service 2014

Awards service has come and gone. Josiah gets a little lazy when it comes to memorizing his scriptures for school and sometimes I'd rather have my eye teeth pulled than to study with him. This years scripture memory was Matthew chapter 5,6, and 7. Goals were set to earn a smaller trophy, but in order to get the big trophy you had to be able to quote each chapter at a time.  Josiah would start to whine about studying and I would say, "It's ok, Josiah. I don't feel like studying either. You don't really need that big trophy anyway so just don't worry about it."   

That would do the trick every single time. Knowing he would get a big trophy at the end of the school year kept him studying. I would get so frustrated with him when he would forget words or mix them up. Then I would feel bad because I couldn't say any of them, but here he was quoting whole chapters at a time. I think out of the whole school only 15 students earned that big trophy. From 1st to 12th grade. It made every minute of studying worth it. 

He also won awards for the Honor roll all 4 quarters. He only made one B all year. He won the reading challenge award. We turned in that he had read 526 books. In all honesty, he probably read more than that, but we didn't keep track of every book because he was constantly reading everywhere we went. He also won the "preacher" award for his character award. His teacher said Josiah loved the bible and all bible stories. She said he even knew answers to bible trivia questions that the high school students didn't even know during chapel. That makes me proud!!!!!  Yeah the academic awards are pretty important, but loving God and His word will take him so much further in life.  He ended up with 3 trophies, a medallion, and certificates. 

 I got to add also that I was humiliated that Josiah's pants were so short that morning on his awards service. He has gotten so tall this year. Everytime he got up to get an award I would cringe because his pants were so short. Oh well. No way was I gonna buy new uniforms that late in the year. Lol

Now on to Titus........

Titus had waited 2 years now to win a trophy. He remembered Josiah's first awards service and he couldn't wait to have one of his own. He was one extremely happy boy. As matter of fact, he and Josiah were up and dressed by 6:45 Friday morning before my alarm even went off. I don't think that happened all year. 

Titus also won an award for scripture memory. They learned several passages throughout the year. I worried and worried about him not being able to memorize his verses. I pretty much sent Titus to school barely knowing how to write his name. Josiah started Kindergarten already knowing how to read. Titus is the middle child though. Ha ha. 

Anyway, Titus really amazed me at how well he did. He cracked me up with his verses. Not only did he just say them, he said them with such expression. Then he would tell us where the verse was found. More than once he would speak up and quote a verse and where it was found, in a situation to where it was needed. It was pretty neat for him to not only memorize the verse, but also know what it meant and how to use it. 

I also worried at how well academically he would do. I kept comparing him to Josiah and how Josiah caught on to stuff so quickly. Titus seemed to catch on more slowly. I even only paid for half the year for him at registration in case I had to pull him out and teach him at home. Isn't that awful of me???  He took to school like a duck to water. Now he doesn't like to read as much as Josiah does, and that's ok. As long as he knows how to read I'm totally fine with that. All that worrying was in vain. He done great in Every subject. Except maybe cursive writing. Yuck. He does need help with that, but goodness. Cursive writing in Kindergarten????

Titus got lots of awards as well. I can't wait to tell y'all what his first award was. Are y'all ready for this???

OBEDIANCE!!!!

Yep. You just read that correctly. 

His teacher, Mrs. Bowman, always told me how obedient Titus was. I just don't even understand. Apparently, Titus behaves more at school than he does at home. When I think of obedience, the name Titus does not come to mind. Ha ha

He also won the Bible award. Which is way neat because Josiah has won the bible award every year as well. Their teachers have always told me that every bible story they go to tell, my boy's hands shoot up and they declare they already know that story. Which if I was the teacher, that would get on my nerves after awhile. Ha

Titus also got an award for being "helpful". Now this is true. Titus is very helpful. This is not to be confused with cleaning. He does not clean, but he will be glad to help you gather your cleaning supplies. 

He won a medallion for being on the honor roll as well. He made all A's every quarter. He won a trophy for meeting the reading challenge. He also won a certificate for being exceptionally well in Social Studies. Titus is a history buff. He loves army stories and things like September 11th. 

The awards service lasted well over 2 hrs and I noticed Titus was getting antsy. I was so scared he was gonna start a hopscotch game with his classmates. 

I am super proud of my boys and I am so thankful for all their hardwork and the achievements that they made during this school year. 

Last week of school activities 2014

Last week was the last week of school. And let me tell ya. It was cram packed full of activities. I stayed so busy I didn't know if I was coming or going. I rescheduled a drs appointment for Titus 2 different times that week and finally had to cancel it all together. 

Let's start with Monday. 

Monday was a field trip to the local inflatable place. My kids always look forward to going. 

Titus was so excited to see me when I got there. He wanted me to play with him. I thought it was sweet that he wanted me to play with him instead of all his friends.   I'm sure one day will come and he will beg me to stay home so I wont embarrass him. Ha ha

Amelia loves to tag along to all their field trips. I think it's kinda helping prepare her for when it's time for her to start kindergarten. 

Tuesday was a field trip to the park to play and have a picnic. 

Wednesday was Josiah's class year end party where they won the fundraiser at the beginning of the year. 

A few of us Mommas put our heads together and came up with the most easiest, and quickest party ever. 

I think I got the hard part though. Ha ha. I had to show up around 9 and play games with them until their lunch from Wendy's was served. We played some fun games, but the whole time they just kept asking "when are we going to have our water fight?"

Finally the water was already to go and they came flying out like a bunch of wild little Indians. 

Is there anyone that doesn't love Kate?? Amelia adores her and I think she's pretty sweet myself. 

They had a blast having their water fight and then took a small break to eat their lunch catered by none other than Wendy's?? Ha ha

Now keep in mind that Titus has been in his class all this time. He knew Josiah's class was having a party and he knew there was gonna be a water fight. He just hadn't figured out how he was gonna be able to crash it. 

Until his class came outside to swing. 

And this happened......

Titus deserted his class and picked up a weapon. He was soaked before his teacher even knew he was missing. And that folks, is Titus for ya. 

The kids were all playing when they heard music playing. Guess what???  The ice cream was there. Part of their party surprise was for the ice cream truck to show up and they got to choose their very own treat. 

And because we're not that cruel we had told the other classes about it the day before so they had money to buy them an ice cream too. 

After the ice cream truck left it was field day for the rest of the afternoon. 

They pretty much just divided into teams and played different games. It was really neat and gross. One game involved them sticking their faces in cool whip and digging for worms as a relay. They used the same pan. I was gagging and may have even told Josiah he couldn't play that game. 

Josiah had to suck up m&m's with a straw for his game. 

Finally Wednesday was over. That was one of the longest days of my life ever. Ha ha

Thursday they only went a half day because of a funeral. 

Friday morning was awards service and then they could leave afterwards. I think I will do a separate post for that. 

Thanks for reading....

Mommy and Me Tea Party

I seen a flier at the library announcing a Mommy and Me Tea party in honor of Mother's Day at the library. It said something about tu-tus and tiaras and I knew immediately that Amelia would love it. 

I told Amelia about it a week ago and she has been so excited. Every day she was constantly asking if it was tea party day. 

This morning Amelia was up bright and early. She came running into my room and said, "it's tea party day!!!"

I wanted us to wear our matching red chevron outfits, but she wouldn't hear of it. She wanted to wear her tangled princess costume. So I just wore my purple Easter outfit to match her. 

We got to the library and I put the boys each on a computer and we went to our tea party. 

It was decorated so cute. The first thing we did was have our picture taken. 

Everything was decorated so pretty and girlie. 

Our tea was pink lemonade for the princesses. 

Then we had finger foods. Most everything was pink. I couldn't tell Amelia NO so I let her eat what she wanted. She was in pink Heaven. I am also happy to say she didn't break out at all. I'm hoping she is outgrowing her dye allergy. Her Dr said we may be able to trick her body into becoming immune to it so I hope that is what happened. That year without any dye has paid off hopefully. 

Amelia's second plate. Ha 

After we ate it was craft time. They got to make Victorian paper fans and paper mâché picture frames. 

They took our picture at the beginning and then printed them off for our picture frame. I thought that was a neat idea and a great keepsake. 

This was happening during all our girlie festivities. 

A peeping Tom. Or Peeping Titus, rather. 

I had put Titus and Josiah on the computers right outside the door where we were, but it was killing Titus not to be included. 

And because Titus has found favor with Ms. Leah and Ms. Rayna throughout the years.... This happened:

"Ms. Leah said I could."

So it wasn't much longer until we had another visitor.

It was at the end of the tea party and there was lots of food leftover so they let my boys in. I thought that was very sweet. 

My kids love their library and I don't care a bit to say we have the best library in the world. They have so many fun activities for the kids. It's also free so what's not to love, right?!?!