Last Day of School

Sometimes pictures speak louder than words!

PIRATES, BRACES AND 1 MORE DAY!

ONE MORE DAY!

Jia, the Pirate Princess

Mom-happy everyone will be home with her soon.

Ms. Flanagan High 2009

Before

After

Coco Channel-no reason, just too cute.

What an exciting day today! We started out getting Jia ready for her Pirates and Princess Party at school. It just so happened we had Jia's pirate costume from Halloween two years ago and she was perfectly happy being the only girl pirate. Everyone made a big fuss over how cute she looked.

Katie and Anna had short days because they are taking finals. Katie's appointment with the orthodontist was at 1:30. She has finally got her braces!!!

Then Anna and I went out to Target to buy teacher presents. While there we ran into one of Anna's teachers. The first thing she said to me was: "Are you Anna's Mom?" When I said yes, she said " Would you please come over to the school and teach a class on how to raise a child right". She went on and on about how wonderful Anna was. It is so nice to hear all of these great things about our girls.

We have spent the evening making jars of hugs & kisses for teachers.
Tomorrow is the big day!

Blogging Directions...

Please scroll down, there are 3 new blogs in a row. (Don't worry, they are short).

Goodbye Coach, We will miss you.....

COACH! YOU ARE THE BEST!

Coach Dave Tuthill has been the PE Coach at Silver Palms Elementary for 20++++ years. He had Anna and Katie in his class through their elementary years and he has Jia right now. He typifies what an exceptional teacher is. He remembers every student, makes them feel special and teaches with all of his heart.

Coach Tuthill (just called "Coach") is retiring this year. Today former students were invited back to say goodbye to him. I got Anna and Katie out of school early so they could go. Both girls found tee shirts from elementary school and wore them out of respect to coach. When you look at the pictures notice that Anna and Katie have 5th grade shirts on. Coach remembered both Anna and Katie and says that Jia is a sweetheart.

There are a lot of good teachers out there, but there are only a few that make a supreme difference in a child's life, Coach Tuthill, without a doubt is one of them.

One Hundred Years From Now

Author Unknown

One hundred years from now
It won't matter
What kind of car I drove
What kind of house I lived in
How much money I had in the bank
Nor what my clothes looked like
BUT
The world may be a little better
Because, I was important
In the life of a child.

Katie Van Gogh

The kindest child in the world shares some cheese with her canine friends.

This was Katie's favorite, it was the end product of a unit on shading.

Katie's continuous line design.

This is an example of a radial design

Color Wheel

Oil Pastel Landscape

We kinda forced Katie to take a "fun class" (she is so serious) and she chose Drawing and Painting I. She ended up really loving it. Yesterday she brought home her portfolio so I wanted to show you some of her work.

Also, along with her work, Katie got a little note from her teacher that I would like to share with you. "Katie, thank you for all of your kindness while helping Phillip, your kindness is admirable and appreciated each day." Not only did Katie do her work in the class but she "adopted" a mentally challenged boy named Phillip, sat next to him and helped him do his work everyday. At the end of the class she packs up all of his things and gets him ready to go to his next class. My sweet girl started doing this on the first day of the semester without being asked. The teacher asked her to please come back and take Drawing and Painting II.

God has absolutely blessed us with the children we have. I am a firm believer that everything happens for a reason, so I thank the Lord everyday that he chose us to be the parents of these exceptional children.

Anna's Accomplishment!

So Proud!

The cover of Flanagan High School's 2009 Yearbook!

Anna was the only freshman in her yearbook class. This was due to the fact that her 8th grade Yearbook was nominated for publishing awards and her teacher gave her a glowing recommendation.

Anna fit into the class beautifully . The other 12 kids in the class (12 kids made a 288 page yearbook!) called Anna "their little freshman". She worked very hard on this book, worked until dark, on Saturdays, before school after school. Not to mention she had to raise $600 to be in the class and her grade depended on that. The yearbook came in last week and I have to say, not as a Mom, but as a teacher for 25 years and a yearbook student myself, it is the best yearbook I have ever seen!!!!! Anna is very proud and she has every right to be.

I hope that some of you get to see the book, Anna designed the Freshman page, the UTAP page, the AP class page, the soccer page, a Music/Sports page and a dedication to her Journalism teacher. Nona, Anna is making copies for you....

2 more days of school, my babies are almost Sophmores. I truly cannot believe how time flies!

A Night Out

Last night we joined Ellen and her grandaughter Daphne at the Moonlight Diner, which is a real old fashioned diner. The big draw for Anna and Katie is that they have every single flavor of milkshake that you can think of, and they make it the real way.

Jia and Daphne just had a giggle fest. Very cute!