Coffee with Kel

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Daily Life

We love Kindergarten!

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I neglected to come back and report about Macey’s first day of Kindergarten. That’s because we have been BUSY as bees around here, but in good ways.

The first day for Macey was terrific. She loved it! She got to ride the bus home and thought that was quite possibly the coolest mode of transportation ever. She told us all about her day and it seems like the highlights were lunch and playground time. There wasn’t one element of the day that wasn’t exciting to her though. She even wore her name tag when we went to the grocery store because she wanted “everyone” to know she had been to school. When the cashier asked if she had started school, her face lit up and she proudly answered “Yes!” Then she told the lady her grade and school – beaming all the while.

So, school is certainly a hit in our household. As is the bus. I have to take Macey to an appointment this afternoon and she was SO disappointed about not getting to ride the bus that she literally begged to get up early and ride this morning. So, Mickey woke her up early and, sure enough, she popped right up and got ready to go. Mickey walked her to the bus stop (at 6:45AM!!) and said she bounded right onto the bus as happy as could be.

At the end of this week we’ll find out who her teacher will be for the whole year. They do “Kindergarten Camp” (which I might have already mentioned) this week which includes evaluations to be sure that students are in their appropriate classes, etc. They hope to keep the current classes intact, but may have to do some shifting, etc. Her current teacher is super sweet and attends our church, so those are just two of the reasons we hope we keep her. Guess we’ll find out on Friday.

I’ll try to post back soon about Kindergarten. This is an exciting adventure for us all. 🙂

The First Day of Kindergarten…

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Today is Macey’s first day of kindergarten. To say that she has been excited about this day is an understatement. To say that she was happy this morning doesn’t even come close to the mega-watt smile that stayed plastered across her beautiful face. She was absolutely, positively, no-doubt-about-it READY for school.

Here we are together before leaving for school:

And, here are Mariana, Mickey and Macey walking towards the school from the parking area:

We walked in with her today since it’s the first day, of course. Macey found a hook for her backpack, got her snack out and went to her classroom. She got to put her snack in her cubby and then had to get her “rest towel” out of her bag and bring that in. Then she was set. She sat down at her place at the table to color. She was so happy to be there. She wasn’t nervous or anything, just ready. And, I must say that it really was touching to my heart to see her that way. I know that school will bring her lots of great things. Besides learning (which is obviously key), she’ll make new friends and just have so many great experiences. Her journey is just starting and we are so excited to watch her as she goes through it all.

Several friends and family members have been so sweet to send emails or texts today and some have called as well. I have told everyone that I am really not emotional at all. Not in a sad way. Mickey and I are both nostalgic because it seems like only yesterday when our Macey was a baby girl, but this is a happy day. To be around Macey and to see her excitement, it would be impossible to be sad. So, we’re happy right alongside her.

The bus comes in just under an hour to bring Macey home. So, I’m off to make cookies for her. Nothing like good old fashioned milk and cookies for a snack, right? And, I just can’t wait to hear all about her special day…

Nature Center Photos…

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Mickey and I took the girls to the Chattahoochee Nature Center this afternoon. It was our first visit to CNC and I have to say that we were very impressed. We did a short walk along a paved path and went through the butterfly garden which lead down to the beaver pond and then over to the raptor aviary. Then we got to see a Florida pine snake which was shown by a CNC employee. Mariana and I got to touch the snake as well! There were more hiking trails, but we didn’t get to explore them today. We’ll certainly go back though. Can’t wait!

Here are some photos I took there today. (You can click on the photos to view them larger. They’ll pop out and then you can X out individually without losing your place on the blog. )

The End of Summer?

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It’s hard to believe that summer is rapidly drawing to an end. Not the “real” end, but the official end as far as school days go. Public school here starts back on Monday, August 11th. So, in other words, three more days. It’s hard to believe that summer has passed by so quickly. We had a full one that included VBS, dance camp, a trip to the beach, a visit to the Georgia Aquarium, birthday parties and more. We had more things that we had wanted to do, but just never got around to it. Still, we managed to keep busy and have a lot of fun. And, in the course of all that fun, the days fell away rather quickly. Now, here we are – the last weekday before the beginning of school. Already. Incredible, isn’t it? Around here, we’lll have several more weeks of true summer, but with school beginning our activities will be curtailed quite a bit during the week. We’ll start to get up earlier in the morning and things will work themselves into a new normal – a new routine for all of us. Preschool will start in two weeks (from Monday) and then, before we know it, the crispness of fall will be in the air. But, I’m certainly not one for rushing into fall just yet. I want to savor these last summer days. It might be over as far as school goes, but there is still fun to be had outdoors in the evenings and on weekends.

Come Monday morning, we’ll have a Kindergartener in our house. Miss Macey is so excited to begin elementary school. Yesterday we went to Meet & Greet and got to meet her teacher and get more school information. The classroom she’ll be in is so nice. It’s big and has great light, plus lots of great station areas for the kids. Next week they will have “Kindergarten Camp” in which each Kindergarten teacher will rotate to each class and evaluations will be performed on each student for class placement. We will find out on Friday who her teacher will be for the rest of the school year. It’s all so exciting.

For now, it’s off to enjoy this weekend. We are hoping to take the girls to the zoo this afternoon for a family adventure. We also hope to do a lot of swimming this weekend. And, then Sunday we’ll have church, family time and gearing up for the BIG day on Monday.

Summer isn’t over yet, so I hope everyone will enjoy what’s left of it. 🙂 Happy weekend, all!

Emerging Butterflies…

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This morning, our family has had the blessing of watching butterflies emerge from their cocoons. What an awesome experience and opportunity to remind ourselves and our girls about God’s wonders. It’s so cool!

We ordered this Live Butterfly Garden from Amazon for Macey’s birthday. We received the kit and sent away for the caterpillars. Within a couple of weeks, we got five caterpillars in a habitat with their food. When they first arrived, they were tiny little squigglers, but they soon grew. We went to the beach for a long weekend and when we got back, we had five cocoons in the habitat. Yesterday we finally moved the cocoons over to the mesh habitat so that the butterflies could fly about when they hatched. This morning at breakfast I looked up and noticed one of the cocoons moving. Sure enough, the first of the butterflies was emerging. And, we got to witness it!! How awesome!! Mickey took the habitat down from it’s hook and we put papertowels soaked with sugar water into the habitat so that the butterflies would have their food. About half an hour later, Macey and I got to watch the second butterfly emerge. She was in awe as much as I was at that point. We keep checking back to see if any of the remaining three butterflies have begun to emerge. Once they are all safely out of their cocoons, we will release them into our backyard.

This has been a terrific experience for all of us. I am so glad we found this gift for Macey’s birthday. Even Mariana enjoyed watching the caterpillars and is now enthralled with the butterflies. Mariana pointed to the mesh habitat with the cocoons yesterday and told me that the baby butterflies lived there. How cute! So, it really has been fun and exciting for the whole family.

Watching this process has been so inspiring. These caterpillars weren’t much larger than eyelashes when they first arrived at our home. And now they are beautiful painted lady butterflies. Isn’t it just incredible to watch God’s work unfold? God takes the “ugly” and transforms it into beauty. Not just with caterpillars, but with our human hearts as well. What a miracle!! Praise God for His wonders!!

My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
your eyes saw my unformed body.

All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.

How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
Psalm 139:15-17