First Cross Country Meet Today!!!

 

Seanelle enjoyed her first Cross Country Meet.  She has been training for the past couple of weeks, and has been looking forward to this. 

Not having ever been to a Cross Country meet, she didn’t have any idea what to expect, but she was eager to get started. 

 

She was the second group to run.  The first group was the 1st grade boys.  She watched to see what they were doing so she would know what to do when it was her turn.

She started well.  The picture above was her running in the first quarter mile.  She paced herself well, and was confident enough to even pose for the camera.  (Somehow though, those pictures didn’t turn out as well.)

In the picture at the left, she is running the last quarter mile… which started uphill.  She was still running and has a smile on her face. 

During her practices, she usually runs a little and then walks a little.  But we asked her to try to run as long as she possibly could.  I would be proud of her as long as she did her best.

Well, I watched her run past me, and because she made such great time, I knew she hadn’t stopped to walk at all.  And she seemed to be running at the same pace I saw her running in the first quarter.  Wow!

I have never seen her still running after such a great distance.  The weather was a little cool for spectators, but nice for the runners.  It was much better weather than the 90 degree weather conditions they have been experiencing during practice.

Below is a picture of Seanelle on the home stretch… she’s still running, and excited to see her daddy cheering her on to the finish line.

 

Out of the 30 or so girls, Seanelle came in 13th place.  They wouldn’t post the times until the end of the meet.

Because we wanted to go out to dinner to celebrate, we didn’t wait until the end of the meet to find out her time.  We are hoping to find out tomorrow at practice.

In order to qualify for the All City Meet, she will have to run the mile in less than 9.5 minutes.  If she didn’t make it, she has one more chance.

But even if she didn’t qualify, it was a huge victory, and you can see from these pictures that she is really happy with herself for being able to run the entire distance.

What a cutie… (She ate well and fell asleep fast tonight.)

Seanelle’s Open House – Part 2

I just wanted to share with everyone what Seanelle told me about the huge heart on her painting.

“Seanelle, I love the big heart you drew on your picture.  I loved her blonde hair, her blue eyes and her big smile, but why did you put the big heart on her?”  I asked.

“Because that is where God lives!” she said.

It Was a Fair Day…

We chose to go to the fair today.  It rained on us the entire time we ate lunch.  Most of the time we were inside buildings, but during our lunch we ate outside.  (And I’m sure it smelled better than with the animals!)

They had a great time painting their very own bird houses.  They worked very hard on them.

It was pretty nice.  Each child was able to participate, and t-shirts were provided to protect their clothes.  Unfortunately, some kids really flung the paint around and it wasn’t until I got home until I noticed I had been hit. 

But the kids had a great time.  We tagged them and then we picked them up when we were leaving the Fairgrounds.  They are very colorful.

We kept our distance from most of the animals, but the sheep seems friendly enough.  Until the kids actually touched them.  Then all of a sudden they became a little shy.  I had to beg Seanelle to go back to pet the sheep so I could take a picture, but I had to be fast.  GaryTodd would have none of that.  Seanelle touched the goat and ran, and GaryTodd didn’t want to get any closer.

We watched some dirt bike racing, which the kids really enjoyed, while my mother and I were ready to get away from the noise.  We also huge pumpkins and paintings and the kids got to get a free plant of parsley… (although right now they only think they got some dirt.)

Even though I would have liked to see some more things, and I am certain my mom shares that sentiment, we did get worn out.  The only one that didn’t get a nap in was Seanelle.  She waited for all of to fall asleep and then asked if she go ride her bike.  (Luckily I didn’t fall for it this time!)

Seanelle’s Open House…

We attended Seanelle’s Open House this week.  I really like the way they handle it at this grade school… Instead of having to go to the gym and listen to the Principal talk forever about the school and the rules and whatever they usually ramble on about (which I obviously sleep through most of the time…) we instead went directly to the classroom.

Seanelle showed us around the classroom and pointed out some of her projects.

This is a picture of my favorite.  Seanelle has decided for a while now that she wants to be a Veterinarian.  But apparently she wanted to make sure that everyone in her class understood what kind of a doctor she plans to be.

I am curious as to why she has a Roman numeral IV on her shirt.  I keep meaning to ask her, but whenever I think about it, she isn’t at home.  And when she is home, she is generally making plans to go somewhere.

In case you can’t read the picture, this is what it says:

“My name is Seanelle.

I am an expert at painting.

In first grade, I want to learn

how to make good choices.

When I grow up, I want to be

an animal doctor.”

Some of the things that I like about this is her blonde hair, blue eyes, and her huge heart.  She really does love everybody, and has a huge heart.  But my favorite thing is that she said she wants to learn to make good choices in first grade. 

I wish that was what I wanted to learn in first grade.  I wanted to learn to read.  Wanting to make good choices wasn’t something I desired until after years of making several bad ones.  I really hope she learns it!

First Week of Sunday School!

Today was the first day of Sunday School.  Seanelle and GaryTodd went and sat down and waited for the fun to start. 

Neither of them have ever attended Sunday School before, so they didn’t know what to expect.  They just found some chairs and sat down and waited. 

Before long they were engaged in a game similar to “Duck, Duck, Goose” but was modified to help learn the names of the children attending the Sunday School. 

This is a great game for kids that like to run and be active.  This should only be played in wide open spaces where the kids can run easily, because none of them really care about obstacles… only running…

I don’t think they slowed down to prevent running into spectators.

Seanelle is a brown blur on the picture in the left, and GaryTodd is the purple blur in the picture on the right.

The were moving fast.  Catching the kid they were chasing was not their concern.  They were all excited that they were allowed to run in the church!

Although this was a game to learn the names of the children, the children paid little attention to that either.  (But the Sunday School teachers did!)  As if this wasn’t enough fun to make the kids want to come back next week, there was another special treat planned for them!

Each of the children got a balloon.  There was a piece of candy attached to the end of the string of each balloon.  The children were told to eat this piece of candy.  (I think they would have figured that out on their own.)

But I think that was to sweeten the idea that none of them would be keeping their balloon. 

The candy pieces would be replaced with a note inviting people to come join us for Sunday School, and the balloons would be released.

GaryTodd and Seanelle waited patiently for the balloon.  (I think they were being selective in which type of candy they wanted that was attached.)  I’m certain I heard one of the teachers ask, “What color balloon do you want?” with an answer of, “The one with the lollipop!”

 

 

We all went outside to watch release of the balloons.  The original idea was to release it from the grass, but the trees were an obstacle, and we didn’t want any popping prematurely.  So the children moved to the parking lot.

 

 

With the children heading to the parking lot, the building obstructed our view.  Many of the parents and grandparents decided to get a closer look too.

It wasn’t very windy today, and a few of the balloons floated back to us.  The children caught them and released them again, and enough of a breeze picked up to take the balloons on their travels.

I have no doubts that a few of those children were wondering why the adults were telling them to let go of the balloons on purpose, something they wouldn’t normally do… but they had candy.

We came back into the church and celebrated with doughnuts and apple juice.  It was a fun day for the children, but I think we older ones had more fun being able to watch the entire process. 

I grew up going to Sunday School every Sunday.  But I had more fun today than I ever did as a kid.  I’m so glad we didn’t sleep in today!

Seanelle Loves the Spotlight!

We knew when we saw her perform for Kindergarten that Seanelle felt completely comfortable being center of attention in a big crowd.  On Sunday, during the “Moment with the Children” she was asked to stand in front of the congregation and hold up a sign as high as she could.

As you can see, she was not at all shy.  Next to her was a friend that she brought to the church.

Eventually all the children would participate in a “commercial” to help get the word out about Sunday school.

Seanelle really wasn’t as interested in what the message was, she was pleased that she was part of the ‘show’.

 

 

 

 

I am so pathetic.  I’m sure I blocked a view from the people sitting behind me, but Seanelle made me chuckle, and I needed to take a picture of it.

I took these pictures with my cell phone, which should have been turned off.  I’m glad I didn’t turn it off because I would have missed these shots.

My phone has been known to ring during church, followed by a frantic commotion that I create as I am rummaging through my purse trying to find the phone and turn it off.

I did get a call while I was in church today too.  Usually it is one of my children that call me, but this time it was my husband.

Todd has been waiting all year for this day.  He had plans to draft for his Fantasy Football league, so he wasn’t able to attend church with me.  But he had a great time with his friends.  And he designed a new jersey and sent me the picture.

On the tops of the sleeves, it has the Men Are Pigs Association logo, (which he is a card carrying member) and on the back it has “Goose.” 

I wish he wasn’t wearing his hat, because he has a very cute bald head that we shave often.

(Seanelle and GaryTodd think that all bald or balding men shave their heads.  Including some people at church that only have bald tops, but have hair around their ears!)

Our Littlest Sponges

For Kindergarteners, they have their Open House before school starts.  That way they can get acquainted with the classroom, their teacher, and the surroundings.  We went to the Open House and GaryTodd was super excited.  He gave his teacher a high-five, and later gave her a huge hug.

But when we actually entered the classroom, he didn’t want to do anything the teacher had wanted him to do.  He wanted to play with the toys.  He especially didn’t want to color on the coloring pages that had been set out.

That was what made him get nervous about going to school.  He got upset because he didn’t know how to color.  He has never been interested in coloring with me, and he suddenly realized that he was going to have to color in school. 

This was his first paper he did in school (left).  I was very happy with the fact that he colored. But then I was excited that he followed the directions, and even wrote his name!  I had never seen that from him!  I was impressed that he had traced most of the circles too.  I have been so happy with how much he enjoys school, and how much he absorbs.

On the fifth day of school, he came home with this paper (right):

I was amazed with how much his coloring changed in just a few days.  And he uses many different colors whenever he colors. 

He tells me every day that he doesn’t talk in school.  He can be a quiet kid, so it doesn’t really surprise me that he is quiet in school.  But we just entered September.  We’ll see how quiet he stays by the first parent/teacher conference. 

Seanelle is really enjoying school too.  Today she gave everyone a huge scare.  She is a first grader now, so she wants to be like all the other big kids. 

We take a neighbor to school in the mornings, and then her parents pick them up after school.  Today I got a call asking me if I had picked up Seanelle already.  They searched for her in the school, but no one had seen her. 

I immediately left the house to search for her.  I found her not far from home, just walking home after school.  When I asked her why she walked home, she told me that she just wanted to be a big kid and walk home. 

I suppose it is a good time to learn a lesson about being where people expect you to be, about being safe, and keeping your word… but I could have done without the panic.  We are definitely going to have to keep our eyes on that girl!