Eden's Speech Graduation

 

Today was a bittersweet day in Eden's life because after four wonderful years and a lot of hard work, she graduated from speech therapy!  Even though I am SO proud of her, I hate that we are saying good bye to our wonderful speech therapist. Mrs. Jones.  We are going to miss her so much!  She has given Eden so much support over the past few years and I hate that she will no longer be a part of Eden's education.

All of the speech therapy students enjoyed an end of the year ice cream party today during school. 

After they finished their ice cream, they listened to Mrs. Jones read a story.  Eden actually volunteered to come up and hold one of the posters during the storytelling.  This is HUGE for Eden- she never would have volunteered to do that last year.  It's amazing how much she has grown this year!

They also got to play on the playground for a few minutes before they went back inside.

We are so thankful to Mrs. Jones and all of Eden's previous speech therapists for everything they have done for her over the past four years.  Way to go, Eden!  We are so proud of all of your hard work!

Last Day of Sonlight Express

Today was our last day of Mr. Reed's Sonlight Express...ever.  My mom started taking Parker to Mr. Reed's preschool program when he turned two years old and she has been faithful to take all three kids ever since. They have all three loved going on Wednesday mornings and I know the things they have learned from his program have played a huge part in building their spiritual foundation. 

Lily has made so many sweet friends at Mr. Reed's, including Dylann Rose and Trinity.

 

These are all the kids who "graduated" from Sonlight Express this year.  Several of them will be going to kindergarten and several of them (including Lily) will be attending preschool on Wednesdays next year.  We are so thankful for Mr. Reed for everything he has taught Parker, Eden and Lily over the past 6 years.  We will miss seeing him every Wednesday!

Million Word Reader

This past Monday, Parker was honored at the Cleburne ISD board meeting with all of the other Million Word Readers in the district.  Parker read over 1.7 million words this school year- a HUGE accomplishment for a second grader!  We are so proud of him for his determination and dedication to reach this goal!

Parker and Lexi were the only two second graders at our school to reach 1 Million Words!

There were 28 students from our school that read one million words.  18 of them were able to make it to the board meeting.  What a great group of readers!

Six and a Half

Eden-
Today you turn six and a half!  You have had such a great year in kindergarten and it has been fun to watch you grow, especially socially and emotionally.  You have come so far in just a few short months and you don't even seem like the same timid little girl that started school back in August.  Here are a few things I always want to remember about you at this stage of your life:

-You are still tall and thin.  You are the tallest girl in your class and are taller than most of the boys too!  You weigh about 52 pounds and wear size 6/7 clothes and size 1 shoes. 

-You hate clothes and would be happy wearing shorts and a t-shirt every day.  I have to force you to wear a dress to church every week and you cry if I make you pick out something nicer than "play clothes".  You constantly complain that everything, including socks and underwear, "doesn't feel good".  I'll be happy when you outgrow this stage!

-You are the most loving little girl I've ever met! You LOVE to give hugs and kisses to everyone you meet.  If I am ever in a bad mood, I know I can count on you to give me a hug and kiss and cheer me up!  You are always telling me that I'm the "best mom in the world" or that you "love me to the moon and back". 

-You have started playing video games with Parker after school.  Your favorite game is Mario Kart 8.  You also love to watch Octonauts, Sophia the First, and Ninja Turtles.

-You are still a very picky eater. You have a hard time with new textures and don't like to try new things.  You always eat a good breakfast but lunch and dinner are hit or miss.  You love eggs, bacon, biscuits, manicotti, peanut butter and honey sandwiches, beans, nachos, nuts, yogurt and applesauce.  You are still not a fan of fruit, vegetables or meat which can make coming up with meal ideas seem impossible at times!

-Your curls are freckles are still two of my favorite things about you!

-You are not a very girly girl.  You would rather play with cars and swords or wrestle with Parker than play dolls with Lily.  You can occasionally be found playing with Barbies or stuffed animals, but not very often.

-You are a great student and have excelled in kindergarten.  You are a wonderful reader and love to read, especially at bedtime.  You are currently reading on Level 21 and are moving into reading early chapter books.  You are also a very good writer and are writing 2-3 sentence stories every day at school.  I hope you will always have a love of learning!

I feel like the luckiest mom in the world getting to spend my days with you!  You are such a beautiful little girl on the inside and out!  I pray that the next six months would be full of wonderful blessings for you!  Thank you for being such a wonderful daughter and making my days brighter!

I love you to the moon and back, Mommy

Last Day of Preschool/ Splash Day

Today was Lily's last day of preschool for this year and she couldn't wait to get her Splash Day started.  I had to go on an AR trip and was sad to miss her fun day but I was thankful that Granna was able to go watch her.  Cory was also able to stop by for a few minutes on his way to work. 

 

They started with a picnic lunch and then headed outside to start the fun!  Parker and Eden never really participated in Splash Day when they were in preschool so I was so excited when my mom texted me a picture of Lily joining in and trying all of the water activities! 

Lily had such a great time at Splash Day!  She had a wonderful year and we are so thankful for her teacher Miss Tammy and everything she did to make this such a memorable year! I can't believe we only have one more year of preschool to go!

AWANA Award Banquet

Tonight we had our end of the year AWANA awards ceremony.  The kids have all had a great year in AWANAs and they all three earned their book completion awards.   

Eden was so proud of herself for walking on stage to get her award without crying.  She's come a long way since her Cubbie days!

Parker also received the Clubber of the Year for the Sparks!  Mr. Eugene said some very nice things about him as he accepted his award.  We are so proud of him for all of the hard work he put into learning all of his verses the past three years.  He is the only 2nd grader that finished all six books and is truly deserving of this award!

It was a fun night celebrating the kids achievements in the AWANA program!  It is going to be strange to not have Parker in my class next year but I know he will learn a lot as he moves into the TNT program.

A New MS Treatment

Several months ago, Cory was switched from having relapsing-remitting MS to primary progressive MS. It was something that we knew in our hearts, but it was still hard to hear and accept.  We also found out that the current medication that he was taking was no longer being effective at keeping his MS stable.   

 

After several discussions with his neurologist, we made the very difficult decision to try a new MS treatment that came on the market back in December.  The drug is called Lemtrada and is basically a chemo drug that has been used with MS patients.  It pretty much wipes our Cory's B-cells and makes him immunocompromised for several months.  The decision was hard because there are several potentially undesirable side effects associated with this new drug.  But the possibility of providing a couple of years of stability for Cory outweighed the possible risks so last Monday we headed to Dallas to start the treatment.  It is a five day infusion and Cory was required to be at his neurologist's office for 7-8 hours a day for the infusions.   

 

As I type this, Cory is at his neurologist's office getting his final infusion!  We were in Dallas last Monday-Wednesday and then came back to finish up this yesterday and today.  Overall, he has done well and has had minimal infusion reactions.  His biggest challenge has been dealing with extreme fatigue.

 

We are so grateful to my sister and brother-in-law for opening up their house to us while we were in Dallas.  We've enjoyed lots of good food, a comfortable bed and I even got to meet their chickens!

We were able to work it out for Lily to come and spend one night with us while we were in Dallas.  She loved getting to meet Aunt MerMer's dog and help her with the chickens!  I think she would move in with them if I'd let her!

We are also so thankful to my parents who have been keeping our kids while we've been in Dallas.  It's nice to not have to worry about them so that I can focus my attention on taking care of Cory and his needs right now. And to all of our family and friends who have been praying for us and checking in with us daily- we appreciate all you've done to make the past two weeks easier!  We are hopeful that this new treatment will help Cory gain a few more years of stability in his MS journey.