May 2011

May was another busy month. T-ball got underway, we went to birthday parties, a wedding, an IEP meeting, Mitch went on a guys weekend, and school wrapped up. A nasty stomach virus hit our house around the end of Will getting sick first; then Ainsley the night of my birthday; then Mitch. Will had a t-ball game on my birthday and my mom had us over for a delicious meal (and chocolate and peanut butter cake!) but Mitch was sick that day. Somehow I managed to avoid it despite having to sleep with each kid the nights they were sick.
Will has enjoyed playing t-ball. He is on the LOTT (Lion Oil Trading and Transportation) Lions team. He hits pretty well, but outfield is not his cup of tea! After the first game, he got the "game ball" signed by Coach Kyle for "best attention". Hmmm, really? He was proud of it just the same.

With the game ball

T-ball wears him out

His pre-school has a Mother's Day Tea each year. Moms and grandmothers are invited to gather in the rotunda of the building and watch their child's class do a short presentation. Each teacher does something different. Mrs. Lindsey read the book "I'll Love Your Forever". The kids did motions to some of the words and recited the chorus each time: "I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always; As long as I'm living, My baby you'll be" (at the end they changed it to "My mama you'll be"). Lindsey choked  up a few times. It was sweet. The kids served us cookies and punch. Linda Whatley, the CLC director, and Ben Early, the Minister of Education at FBC, then presented each child with a Bible with their name on it. It was a gift to the 4 year old classes since they will be going to kindergarten next year. Will was very proud of his! Then we went to his classroom where the kids gave us some Mother's Day artwork and projects. One of them was a fill-in-the-blank activity about their moms. Will said that I had "black hair, blue eyes, that my favorite food was macaroni and that I was 50 years old"! At least he got the black hair right. He also stated that he loved me because I "played with him" so I guess that makes up for the 50 years old!



On Mother's Day, the guys to us moms out to eat at an Italian restaurant in town, then we gave the grandmothers their gifts at our house.



Later in the month we went to Hot Springs to see my cousin's daughter Nikki get married. We met Guy, Julie and Shepherd at The Purple Cow for lunch. We had to pass Shepherd around for everyone to get hugs and kisses.



Then we went to the wedding, where Ainsley sat through it but Will did not. We got to visit with my Roberts cousins that we don't get to see that often so that was nice. After the wedding we went to Garvan Gardens for a hike. It was quite an experience as none of us were dressed or wearing the proper shoes for it. It was lots of going up and down hills, in and out of caves, etc. There were waterfalls, bridges, and lots of steep rocks that my kids climbed all over. We had to watch them like a hawk while trying not to fall ourselves but we made it with no injuries.  

Will's class had several end of the year activities. They went to the church library, the Police Station, the Fire Station, and had a movie day. I went with them to a few of them. They were all well behaved and enjoyed themselves.

At the Police Station, they got to go in one of the holding cells, see the dispatch room (and hear a few 911 calls), see the exercise room, talk to an investigator, learn about the bomb squad equipment, tour the bomb squad truck, and finally get in a police car! Will made friends with one of the 911 dispatchers and she put him in her lap to see the equipment up close and personal. You can't tell from the picture, but he is in the driver's seat of the car and the officer showed him how to turn on the lights and siren. They all got to turn on the siren, which they thought was very cool.

At the fire station, they got to see the living quarters, kitchen, equipment room, watch a firefighter slide down a pole (as well as Grace's grandpa), see a firefighter put on his uniform (Will answered his questions about the boots, coat and hat) and go through one of the ladder trucks. The only problem we had was getting Will to pose for a picture in front of the fire truck without being silly!

On their last day of school they had a picnic outside and basically played all day. A lot of kids were not there that day, which I don't understand since it was a fun day. Will had a sweet class and has already told us he misses his school friends. Mrs. Lindsey was wonderful for him and we will miss her very much!! It was hard to believe that was his last day at FBC. I was a little sad. He has come a long way and we appreciate them giving him a chance!

We also had Will's IEP meeting with the public schools. There were lots of people there: the Ed. Examiner, the LEA and assistant LEA, the counselor, a kindergarten teacher, the school SLP, Mitch and myself, Lindsey, Kristi Lowery (OT) and Amy Hux (ECSE teacher). We requested for Lindsey, Kristi and Amy to be there. It went pretty well. We had hoped for the best but prepared for the worst based of horror stories we've heard from other parents. The new LEA is supposed to be much more student oriented and believes in the Least Restrictive Environment more so than the former LEA did. Will will be in a regular classroom with a classroom based aide who will help him as needed but will let him do as much as possible and she will also be available to help others. We think it's a win-win situation for everyone. I also took pictures of some of the school rooms (cafeteria, office, library, classroom, etc) to put in a scrapbook to help him get used to the idea of "big school" this summer. That should be a big transition for all of us! We'll see how it goes.