A Kindergarten Graduation

Have you ever read the poem “All I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten” by Robert Fulghum? As you read it you find yourself nodding your head in agreement with everything it says. Somehow this poem doesn’t mention the massive amount of artwork that the modern kindergartener will drag home from school.

I had no idea that the volume of artwork would cover this entire wall. What you see isn’t even all of it. A few favorite pieces had already made it to Laura’s room are were not hang-up-on-the-wall material. However, I like to think that Jesus was happy for the company.

So on May 20th Laura made the first big step in her school career with Kindergarten graduation.

Many nursery rhymes were sung with great enthusiasm by Laura and her classmates. In this picture I believe it was Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary.

Laura received her Diploma from Dr. Beck with her teacher Mrs. Jones announcing the exciting event.

Mrs. Jones and Laura pose together.

So how does the poem end?

When you go out into the world,
Watch out for traffic,
Hold hands and stick together.
Be aware of wonder.

Congratulations Laura!

Another Year Older

Malissa has celebrated one year older today.

I would like someone to tell me how it could possibly be that she is 11 years old today. Today was even her last day of 5th grade and the first day of the softball season.

Is it even conceivable that she is now officially a 6th grader and will be in middle school next August?

We love you Malissa and wish you a very Happy Birthday!

Easter and Easter Bunny

So the balancing act continues.

On one hand we want our children to understand that the season of Lent and Holy Week culminating in the Resurrection is the most important time in the life of a Christian.

The foremost concerns of our children are a little different. What days can I have the treat that I gave up for Lent? How many times do we have to go to Church? How many days until the Easter Bunny visits? I want to wear this dress to Church! You mean we have to go to Church again today!?!

Karla and Laura at the CYO Easter Egg Hunt on the Saturday before Palm Sunday. Laura planned on wearing this dress days before the actual event. Gabe participated too but he didn’t quite get it.

Somehow we made it home without any palm branches on Palm Sunday so no pictures of palm welding children. This is how it usually goes down.

Egg dyeing thus year was another non-picture event. For the first time ever I hard-boiled some eggs – handed the eggs and egg dye kit to the big girls – and said have fun. Such a liberating event. Of course mom was still on the quick-clean-it-up-before-Gabe-gets-up-from-his-nap duty!

This is as close as we were able to get to a family Easter portrait. We attended the Easter Vigil mass on Saturday night. But I always forget how long it is. When we left at just short of 2 hours later there were no more smiles. Just some very crabby kids. (And possibly some parents as well.) Kids can make it challenging but there is soooo much going on at the Vigil mass! Very worth the effort.

And now for the “real” Easter morning portrait… and yes Karla IS still wearing her dress from the previous night.

And a close up…Gabe was stuffing whole peeps in his mouth. I think he approves of this candy thing.

Hope you had a good Easter!

Tricky Words

Were you ever in the spelling bee as a kid? I was terrible at spelling. There was zero chance I would ever end up representing my school in any kind of spelling contest. Spell check was invented for people like me. However Megan has had the chance to attend the Nemaha County Spelling Bee on January 18th for the second year in a row on behalf of her B&B class.

Megan standing at the podium spelling a word. The one that tripped her up this year was “bequeathed.”

Megan with her participation certificate. We are very proud of the great job she did!

Hold on a moment!

Wait a second! Did we really just jump from Karla’s birthday to Megan’s Birthday without doing anything in the time between?

Of course we did stuff! This is just the household of a 1 year old and a 3 year old. Mixed in with a 5 year old, 10 year old and a teenager. Things don’t get done!

So a little bit of an update is overdue.

The beginning of February saw a snow storm with the corresponding day off of school. This dry cow doesn’t seem to mind the snow so much as the wind. And yes, I was outside taking snow pictures because there were five crazy kids stuck in the house together.

When not grabbing a bite to eat these dry cows sheltered in the shed and wisely refrained from having babies.

Next was the B&B Alumni Reunion weekend to celebrate the legacy of B&B schools. For those who don’t know, B&B jr/sr high school is closing this year. Many events surrounded this weekend festivities. A home basketball game on Friday Feb. 7th kicked everything off. After the game was a speech by Ed Broxterman (our local olympian) a presentation of all the different athletic awards won by the school since its inception, and some of the junior high and high school kids performing “Cups”. In the semi-circle, Megan is the second person closest to the camera in the light blue shirt. They did a great job!

The following day Megan helped model old uniforms at the alumni banquet. I don’t have a picture of that but here She is with a poem she wrote.

Megan and her locker this year.

Next up is the 4-H club days February 15th. Here Malissa is doing a reading. If I remember right it is Green Eggs and Ham.

Megan is reading Biggest Shadow in the Zoo. (Its about an elephant) Megan will get to participate in Regional 4-H Days with her reading.

Also not pictured but during the month of February, Megan participated in Junior High Scholars Bowl. Which she really enjoyed. She is also taking guitar lessons. Which she also enjoyed.

This is the closest we have to a group shot for February.

Plus Malissa.

And that is February in a nutshell. Hope you had a great one too!

Teen In The House

On April 1st it was birthday time in the Deters household once again.

Somehow Megan has morphed into a teenager! I’m pretty sure just yesterday she was a little girl starting Kindergarten. There must be some mistake!

At least she still wanted a fun cake shape.

Of course there is also all the loot. Not pictured is a trip to see the movie Divergent. Completely worth it.

And finally your obligatory cute baby Gabe picture with his favorite dessert.

Karla Turns Three!

What were you doing three years ago today? We were introducing ourselves to a brand new baby girl. Its so hard to believe that three years have slipped past. Just the other day her older sisters brought home from school papers for preschool screening. (Not a chance!)

On that Friday just a short time ago it was cold like it was today only a snow storm was moving in. I believe some sort of comment was made about babies and adverse weather events.

Malissa is responsible for this pretty little creation.  I'm not quite sure why the tropical island. Maybe she was wishing it would warm up.

We are blessed to have Karla as part of our family!