Easy Come, Easy Go....

The Friday after Mother's Day was a send-off celebration for my mom who is retiring this year, after 40 years of being in education. She taught 2nd grade for 11 years in Roland and the remaining at Sallisaw teaching kindergarten. Two weekends in a row traveling back to Oklahoma is a little tiring, but getting to celebrate with her was well worth it.

Sallisaw's Superintendant kicked off the party with a few sweet words and presented her with a gold pin.

The theme was chosen because of my mom's love for, not only country music, but George Strait in particular... "Easy Come, Easy Go" ...... notice how he made an appearance on her behalf! Thanks to Heather for making that happen!

Mrs. Weedon wrote the perfect poem highlighting what it was that my mom brought to the school, the students and other teachers. (again sniff, sniff)

Mom said a few words, told some great stories even with Kella in tow.

Back in the day, Mrs. Weedon, Mrs. Sindle (now Osburn) and mom WERE kindergarten.

We spent Sunday afternoon in the country at my grannie's house. It's just not a true visit of being "home'' without going there. This is the hi-way I spent almost every Sunday of my life growing up. After dinner (lunch), we would ride our bikes up & down this road (something I can't even imagine letting Kella do now).

Aunt Martha wanted to show Kella the chicken house again and she even got to gather the eggs! I love it!

Counting their eggs!

Feeding the chickens

Heading up to the loft.

I must say, Kella loves her some worms! And can I say, I love that she loves them and getting dirty for that matter. This is not a girly-girl. Don't let the bow & white pants fool 'ya!

Mother's "TEE"

The Tues. after Mother's Day, Kella's class invited all the mom's to come for a special "Tee". The theme was "T", so we were to wear our favorite t-shirt (shout out to The Pokes!) Kipp was sweet enough to take Ryan to the office with him, so Kella & I could have one-on-one time for this special party.

We began the morning with some songs and the Lord's prayer. Hearing 14 3 year olds recite this prayer simultaneously is priceless!

At each of our place settings, were presents along with a photo album filled with pictures from the whole year. Her teachers went above and beyond capturing all the special moments from their different activities they have throughout each of their school days; Romp, Chapel, playground time and even her special birthday party celebration with her class. All of these are moments Kipp & I don't get to share with her, so I'm thankful for the pictures to see how our little one spends her days! (tear)

We all received these special glass plates with a pic & decoupage.

Kella loves Miss Amy!!!

And Miss Ann!!! (We didn't get a pic with Miss Meredith, but loves to her too!)

Miss Camille! This little one is too fun! When I come to the door to pick up Kella, she will say, "That's Jodi." "Hi Jodi"!! Needless to say, Kella has been calling me "Jodi" a little more these days!

I pledge....

So, I know it's been awhile... as I was looking back at pictures from this month, I realized it's been too long since my last post....

Kella often says phrases, sings songs and mimics people, animals in new ways that she's picked up from school. For instance, her green "blanket" as she has ALWAYS called it is now her "lovey". I've heard her teachers refer to the other kids prized possessions as this and now Kella informed me the other day, "Mom, this is my lovey"!

Another is her usually saying "Yeah" when answering, but recently she says, "Yesssssss'', with a definite stress on the "SSSS". Thanks to her 3 special teachers starting proper English early!

And now her latest is having a response of "Ohhh, okay!" Sounds so simple, but when you're having a conversation with a 3 year old and doing your best to explain something detailed in a way that she will understand, it's the perfect response to your efforts. Does she get it? Really? It also comes at very unexpected times.... when she's asking to go outside, watch a movie, blow bubbles in the living room, eat yogurt on the couch....and my answer is "No", I can tell her my reasoning and she says, "Oh, okay!" Huh? That's it? All this girl needs (for now) is an explanation and we move on about our day. Period. Oh, how I pray this reasoning will last.

The other day, she had the tongs and a dish towel. I noticed she was murmuring some words that seemed to have a familiar tone. I asked what she was making and she said it was her flag. "What are you saying?" "Is that the pledge of allegiance?" I took her "flag" and recited the words, rushing back memories from Mrs. Sindle's kindergarten class when I was the special leader and got to lead the flag salute!!! As I recited, her eyes kept getting bigger and bigger. Could it be that mom knows this amazing poem too!!! (At least that's what I thought was going through her head =D)

She waited for my finale, took back her "flag" and recited the WHOLE pledge of allegiance. Who knew that my little dumplin' knew this in it's entirety!?! Probably not that big of a deal to some... I mean, why does a 3 year old need to know this?!? But I knew who would be just as proud of her as me? GIBBIE!!! We made a quick phone call and I could feel her smile through the phone! With all my mom's experience with little ones, she's a good source for comparing notes.

Mother's Day

The Frisco Women's League hosts the annual Mother Daughter Tea each year. Last year Kella was too young to go, so I volunteered. This year the plans were to take my mom & Kella, then head home to Sallisaw for our annual Mother's Day traditions. Mom was all set to come down, she'd gotten a mani, pedi and bought 3 dresses, but unfortunately the issues she's been having with her feet (long story) wouldn't allow her to come... boooo! So Kella & I headed out Saturday afternoon to have a long, awaited day with just the two of us ...

The theme was "Tea with Panache". Everything was black, white & red. Our state representative's wife & a local news anchor were the guest speakers. Along with Miss Frisco as a special guest. There was a style show, arts & crafts for the girls, professional photographer taking portraits and silent auction. The Tea benefits Heroes for Children, a charity focusing on the hardships parents face when dealing with a child that has cancer. They pay electric bills, mortgages, throw birthday parties and special "milestone" parties, provide laptops to those teenagers stuck in the hospital so they can keep up with their friends and do school work, etc. and unfortunately they also help with the cost of "end of life" parties and funerals. What little time we spent in the hospital with Kella was spent on the cancer floor. When we go for our check-ups, its in the oncology/hematology department. So we've seen, firsthand, a little of what they go through. At the tea, a video was played that told the story about the 2 founding mother's. Their mutual experience of having daughter's battling and eventually losing their fight with cancer brought them together to start this amazing charity. They both had an amazing support system, but also recognized that not everyone had the family & friends that they have. Some children spend all day in the hospital bed with no visitors. The little girl, Skyler, next to Kella's room didn't have a single visitor the day we spent in the hospital and the nurses said that was typical. When someone does come, it's a rare occasion ... she is 5!!!! Completely breaks my heart. Seeing the video was such a reminder of how fortunate we are. We had a quick glance at how that could all change in a moment's notice. The one day we spent in the hospital was one day too many. We've managed to keep Kella pretty healthy over the last year & a half. Even though we've had a few ER visits, we've avoided getting admitted. I love the new tradition we started this year with the tea and thankful for the old ones we've done my whole life.

After the tea we headed to Oklahoma for the rest of the weekend. Kella loved her "fancy feather headband" so much, she insisted on keeping it on. Shortly after leaving the house she fell asleep, I couldn't resist the pic!

Once we arrived at Gibbie's house, Skip had a surprise for her. Sitting by the front door was a new John Deere "Gator". Mom said he was so excited to buy it and couldn't wait for us to get there to show her! So sweet! It was about 9pm when we got there, so bright and early Sunday morning she made her way outside to test it out.

Mom has a much bigger yard than we do in Texas, so she had lots of space to drive. We figured out if we just let her go she CAN drive it, though she likes to act like she can't... Skip & Kipp would give her a task, "drive over there and get that rock".... "now take that dirt over there and dump it", she was a pro after a couple of hours!

Giving Gibbie her musical card. It played "You are my sunshine!" This has always been a favorite song of Kella's so it was perfect for her to give & sing along to!

Ryan is finally big enough for the exer-saucer!

Growing up, I thought everyone went to "decoration", but later found out that wasn't the case, in fact, most people don't even know what I mean when I say it. Ours has always been on Mother's Day, followed by lunch, family reunion style, where everyone brings a dish or dessert. Even though I try & visit my dad and Matthew when I come home, it's always nice to go when all the family is there. It will be 3 years this month that my cousin Matthew was killed. Motorcycle wreck on Memorial Day weekend to be exact. Oh, how I miss this boy!

This is Kella, Mother's Day 2008. We decided to take her picture under this huge tree every year to watch her grow. We figured, well, the tree isn't going anywhere....buuuut, the next year it got struck by lightening!!!

The tree is still standing, with only a few dead branches =) I don't think it's going anywhere!

Me & my best girls!

Monkey-ing around!

Happy Mother's Day!!!

This is the Mother's Day card Kella made for me at school. I couldn't have asked for anything more!