Nina's transition to Womanhood

Further evidence that my little girl has grown up......

Nina was officially welcomed into Relief Society yesterday (the ladies auxiliary of my church)....this is her welcome kit.

Casserole dish--for that first compassionate service call

Table Easel and Doilie--for teaching lessons

Reading Glasses--(I don't remember)

Door Stop--to know that the RS presidents door is always open

Needle and Thread--(I don't remember)

Mormonad--Be Your Own Kind Of Beautiful

Just last week, Nina was sustained as a teacher in the Primary program. She was sustained before she was called....the bishopric forgot to talk to her first, then presented her name to the congregation for the sustaining vote. It was quite a shocker for she and I.....but she doesn't mind. She has frequently expressed some hesitation at attending RS....so now she gets to teach the children. A noble calling in and of itself.

Memorial Day

We started our Memorial Day with breakfast at church. After the pancakes and sausage and bacon, the kids went outside to play. It was all supposed to be outside, but impending rain forced the food and tables be placed inside.

Bishop Stambaugh teaching Kraig how to throw the frisbee.

Kraig turns his whole body as he throws the frisbee.

Kraig jumps to catch the frisbee....mostly he just likes to jump.

The bishop does "knuckles" with many of the children...Kraig loves it!



Thank you to all the fallen military soldiers who have fought and supported this great country.

Mother's Day

I posted Graduation before Mother's Day.....so my blog is out of order.

I got cards of course, and Nina bought me a 3 Musketeer candy bar....my favorite!

Here are some of the gifts Kraig made for me at school. He was so cute....he came home that Friday with all of the gifts in this bag....


I walked into the kitchen to say hello, and he told me "I wanted to hide from you"...so I had to leave. He comes a few moments later to tell me to go find my gifts. No, they couldn't wait till Mother's Day...Yes, I asked.

So, here is what I got.....

Graduation 2009

My how time flies! Seems just a short time ago, I was bringing Nina home from the hospital...and now she has graduated high school.

This is Nina just before her Baccalaureate Program. (a week before graduation)




This is outside of the church where the graduation ceremony was held.



This is inside the sanctuary, just before Nina left to go get in line to enter the sanctuary with her class.



This is Nina as she is waiting to exit...just before throwing her cap.


And this is just after throwing her cap up....the last picture we could get of her in her cap and gown. We arrived early enough for her to show us where she was sitting so we could sit close and she was in an aisle seat, so we are just across the aisle, one row up.



What I find ironic is that my school colors, my husband's school colors and my daughter's school colors were all the same....3 different schools, 2 different states...and different mascots, but all maroon and white. How cool is that?

PROM

Nina is at Prom now as I write this (I am really killing time until she gets home...hopefully I'll make it...her curfew for tonight is 1am--I know, what were we thinking?)

Here are some pictures taken at home before she left....last plans I heard, she was going to the square to take some more, so I will add those as soon as I get them on my computer.

PTA Meeting...

On Wednesday, we got a note from Kraig's school that he had been nominated for a Citizenship award to be presented at the PTA meeting on Thursday (gotta love advance notice!) I had to work, but my parents took Kraig up there to receive his award.



He and his friend Russell both received this award. When it was time for them to go up, Russell said "Let's go Fireman Kraig"...so I guess when they play firemen, that's what they call each other! Too cute!!!



Two students from each class were nominated.

Children's Museum of Memphis

Kraig's class and another class from his school went to the Children's Museum of Memphis on April 29th. All I can say is it was AWESOME! My mom, Chris and I went with him. We followed the bus from the school (gone are the days when parents can ride along....). We parked in the front, then walked around to the bus. His class lined up beside the bus to wait for one of the students to be gotten off...she is in a wheelchair...they were more intrigued with the lift than noticing the parents. He barely waved at us.

After the intro video, we started the activities. The first room is the emergency room....fire truck and police car and motorcyle....Kraig took Russell's hand instead of ours. Russell is his best bud from class. For anyone who missed the previous post about spring break, Kraig LOVES fire trucks. Apparently, Kraig and Russell play firemen frequently at school. So this was heaven for both of them.









In the same room with the fire truck was a police car.....






Kraig tried the back seat out, just for kicks....he'd better not spend any time in there!



There was a dress up area, complete with a dressing area, a stage and curtain and backstage area. Kraig tolerated the giraffe costume, but came to life in spongebob. He danced all over the stage, and liked opening and closing the curtain.






There was a bank stand...where Kraig wrote a check for for cash.....






And then we got to go grocery shopping. Let's just say it'll be a while before I go shopping with Kraig...as soon as we walked in, he just started putting stuff in his basket, without even looking at what it was (and there was a 3 item limit).





There was a China room...Kraig wasn't terribly interested in any of that. There was a dining area and kitchen with fake food in a wok, but another little girl (not in his class) was in there, so he didn't stay.



There was an architect area....complete with a drawing table and a computer for computer assisted drafting.





There was an automotive room




a go cart....



A beekeepr's station....in the window to the right are a couple of actual beehives!


A model of the Mississippi river, complete with fish and boats.


Gears...


Sub contractor area.....



electrical panel....


Cabinets, doorknobs, light switches, doorbells and light fixtures......he liked this part alot!



Human maze--this reminded me of a toy I used to have....it was a cylindrical column with beads in it; as you turned it over the beads would fall to the bottom and you had to tilt the cylinder to get the beads through a a series of holes in the column.






There was a dental room with a tooth puzzle....Kraig really liked the teeth!








Another big favorite was the Fed ex plane cockpit...it was even raised so when you sat in the seat, you felt like you were flying. Not the best for taking pictures....but I did pretty well, I think!




And this is the air traffic control room....


There was a model jet inside a fence type box....a button turned on some high powered fans and gears lifted the strings attached to the jet...kind of hard to describe, but maybe the pictures will make sense.




There were a couple of airplane chairs....Chris and Kraig took a break.....



We walked up steps to get up to the cockpit....the other side had a tunnel slide....Kraig typically does not like dark places, and while he did hesitate at first, he went on in and then went back up to do it again!



This is Kraig dressed up in the locker room...they had baseball and football jerseys an helmets. There was even a football jersey with the pads already in it, but it was too big and too heavy to put on Kraig.




After the activities, it was time for lunch!!!! There are picnic tables outside, so we sat out there. It was not hot, not cold, and not raining, so it was perfect! Chris took the picture of me with Kraig just before we came outside.







And then of course, the kids spent some time running around in the fields in front of the museum. One of the parents is also the PE coach, so he organized the running into a relay race.




I got a great picture of the bushes....where did Kraig go?


Here he is!





And of course, what field trip would be complete with a class picture!