Dwayne's New Ride

My long-suffering husband finally had his fill of driving a 14-year-old vehicle to work every day, so we broke down (before the truck could beat us to it) and bought a new car. The Ranger had been in the shop twice this year and started to act up again last Saturday when we drove back from Sandy's house. We decided it wasn't worth putting more money into it. We are keeping it around for the rare times we need a truck; hopefully, it can hang on for a long time to come if we're not putting a lot of miles on it.

We found a 2004 Grand Prix that is just beautiful! We got a really good deal on it. I was surprised how inexpensive this model is for all the features it has. It really reminded Dwayne of the Trans Am he used to have. It has a lot of the same dashboard gadgets. It's like a luxury car for the price of an economy car. He is so happy to have a worry-free ride to work and I am so happy for him. And the girls love that the dashboard graphics are red when the headlights are turned on.

Here are Dwayne and the girls posing with the car:



Dwayne loves the front end on Pontiac cars:



The trunk is really big. We can fit both girls in it, in case they get too pesky. Unfortunately, Bridget already knows how to use the escape latch inside the trunk!

Accelerated Reader Awards

Abney Elementary held a ceremony the evening of Thursday, May 22, to honor participants in the school's accelerated reader program. The kids earn points toward various award levels by reading books. Grades K-5 participate in AR. Mrs. Hurst does such a wonderful job with this program. She is the only teacher whose entire class earned the highest distinction -- Eagle Reader. There were more than 100 winners of the bronze award, more than 70 winners of the silver award and about 40 won the gold. There were only about 30 out of the whole school who were Eagle Readers, and 16 of them came from Bridget's class, including our Miss Bridget herself.

Here's a pic of Bridget getting her trophy:



Bridget artfully posed her award with a Sprite can for this photo she took:



Here's a photo of Bridget with her bus driver Miss Malinda, who came up to congratulate her after the ceremony. Bridget was glad to see her. I know she will miss her, since she will have a different bus driver next year.



I am so proud of Bridget for working hard to earn her trophy. I am amazed at how much she has learned this year!! Here she is with her trophy:



This has nothing to do with the actual awards ceremony, but our budding photographer Bridget took this hilarious photo of Tessa in the parking lot before we left school. Thought y'all might enjoy it:

Bridget's End of Year Party

Bridget's class held their end of year party Thursday, May 22. The theme was "Hawaiian Luau". The girls wore grass skirts and flowers in their hair, and the boys wore straw hats. Tessa and I arrived at school at noon. Her teachers had a little graduation for the students in their classroom. Here is Bridget hugging Mrs. Russell after she got her diploma (Mrs. Hurst is on the right):



Here's a close-up of Bridget in her luau gear:



After the ceremony, we went outside and ate sack lunches with the kids. Here are Bridget, Alyssa and Tessa at lunch:



After lunch, some of us parents stayed and helped out with "centers". We had bubble-blowing, fishing for prizes, art, and musical chairs. It was really fun.

Due to redistricting, Bridget will be going to a different school next year. I am disappointed that Tessa won't get to have Mrs. Hurst and Mrs. Russell for kindergarten teachers. They are just wonderful! They go above and beyond the call of duty to make things nice for the kids and their parents. They prepared a wonderful summer goody bag for Bridget that included a framed photo of Bridget with both of them and a lovely poem about how they will miss her. Every child got some special awards in their goody bag. Bridget got two -- for wearing pretty dresses and for her beautiful singing. These little awards made her sooooo happy!! I am a little bit sad that today is Bridget's last day at Abney Elementary . . .

Broadway Bridget

The kindergarten classes at Bridget's school performed at the PTA meeting held Tuesday, May 20. They sang and danced to three songs, "Razzama Tazzama," "You Are My Sunshine," and "First Grade, First Grade" (sung to the tune of "New York, New York"). They wore little plastic top hats and looked like they were ready for Broadway!

Here's the "chorus line" of kids (Bridget is in the yellow dress):



During "You Are My Sunshine," they had to look happy followed by sad for the line, "You make me happy when skies are gray." Here's the happy look:



Here's the sad look:



Here's a movie of the "First Grade, First Grade" song; it was my favorite. I took this with my digital camera, not a real movie camera, so the quality is not great. Bridget is so cute. I think she is tap dancing rather than kicking at the end of the song.



The kids did a great job!!!

Tessa's Preschool Graduation

Tessa's preschool graduation was held Monday, May 12. It was a cute ceremony. The kids sang two songs, "He Saved Us" and "May There Always Be Sunshine" before they stepped across the stage to receive their diplomas. Tessa was the first one who had to go onstage from her class and when they called her name, there was a loooooong pause before she made it onto the stage. She finally went up and posed for a photo with her teacher, Ms. Heather:



I asked her afterwards why she had hesitated to go onstage and she said she was afraid she'd fall. Poor little darling. I'm proud of her for gathering up the nerve to go up and get her diploma! You'll be glad to know she was full of spit and vinegar after the ceremony, chasing a certain little red-haired boy who shall remain nameless (but his initials are Keaton). That's my girl!!

Tessa's Dance Recital

Tessa's tap/ballet class had their end of year recital Monday, May 5. They performed a tap dance to the Jackson 5 song, "ABC," a ballet dance to "Music Box Dancer," and the finale was a daddy and daughter dance to the song "Cinderella" by Steven Curtis Chapman. It's a song about how daddies need to enjoy their time with their little girls before they grow up and leave home -- a real tearjerker for tender-hearts like me. It was a beautiful dance and quite appropriate for the occasion because the dads who participated took the time to attend 4 rehearsals with their little darlings. Of course, Dwayne was the most handsome daddy there! It was hard to get good photos, but I got a few decent ones.

That's Tessa in the middle, getting ready for the first number. Ms. Lisa, her ballet teacher is behind her:



Here's Tessa tapping (at left of photo):



Here's a short movie of Tessa shaking her moneymaker (she's 2nd from left):



That's Tessa in the middle, with her daddy behind her:



Here's Tessa dancing on her daddy's feet:



Here's a short movie of the daddy/daughter dance. Tessa and Dwayne are the third couple from the right:





Here are some photos of our little Cinderella:





Cinco de Mayo was also my birthday. Here's a photo of the girls helping me blow out my candles:



I was so proud of Tessa and Dwayne! Watching the recital made this one a special birthday.