JustJessie

Finale Rally

It's been fun, but I'm glad it's over.  Grayson had his kindergarten graduation (Finale Rally) on Tuesday night, and his last day of class was today.  The graduation ceremony was adorable.  It was luau themed, so all our little cuties wore Hawaiian print shirts and white bottoms (incidentally, you wouldn't believe how hard it is to find white shorts in boys size 8!). 

Grayson did wonderfully at his speaking parts and at his turn on the xylophone.

There were two moments in the night that really made me extra proud.  One was during a song when the kid's backs were facing us and they were supposed to put on sunglasses and turn around, looking all joe cool.  I could tell Grayson was having some sort of problem, but I couldn't tell what it was.  When he turned around, his glasses were crooked, but he went on through the song and did it perfectly.  It turned out that one of the arms had broken off his glasses.  What made me so proud was that instead of having a come-apart on stage or crying or sitting down, he just rolled with it.  He wouldn't have done that a year ago.  It really showed me how much he has matured in the last school year.

The other one was after the ceremony.  One of the other moms pulled me to the side, and as we were talking she said, "Andrew [her husband] and I were talking about it earlier, and we just think Grayson is great.  There's something special about him.  You can tell already by how well his character has developed that he is not an average little boy."  Of course Jeff and I feel that way about Grayson, but for someone else to say all those things about him is pretty awesome. 

Electric Slide

Playing Chicken

About two weeks ago, Farmer Bunny (that's what they call her) brought a whole bunch of chicken eggs for Grayson's class to incubate.  They've been keeping egg journals and learning all about chickens and how they hatch.  Last week they all broke free, and the kids have been SO excited everyday.  Grant loves walking Grayson to class anyway, but since the chicks have been there it has been the highlight of his day.  Well, the chickens are going to their permanent homes tomorrow, so all the kids that wanted to got to have a chick spend the night with them tonight!  We took one of our build-a-bear boxes to bring our chick home in, and the teacher supplied it with all things chickish.

I hope our poor chickie makes it through the night... he just might get loved to death.  Grant keeps picking him up and saying, "Aww, dis chickie's mah beft fwend, mawm.  He wuvs me awot, dun' he?"

I keep explaining that chickie can be his best friend for tonight, but that after that he's leaving...  I get the feeling that he doesn't quite understand.

Mother's Day Tea

Grayson and I had a very special time together on Thursday.  Every year his school puts on a Mother's Day Tea for the kindergarten moms.  They coach them on manners beforehand, so that when we moms arrived our kids waited for us at the door of the "tea room" and escorted us to a seat.  Then they very carefully served us tea and waited patiently until we finished.  Each of our kids wrote us a poem, which they read in front of the group.  Grayson's went like this, "I love my mom.  She is Jessica.  She is the best.  I love my mom."  Here he is reading it to me:

After the poems, they sang us a couple of songs, and then we played a game called "Guess Who."  The teachers asked the kids questions about their mom ahead of time, and we were supposed to guess who the mom was based on the kids answers. That was a lot of fun.  I'll tell you, though, I was sweating that one.  You never know WHAT kids are going to say or take out of context.  Thank goodness Grayson's answers were all accurate and socially acceptable.  At the end they presented us with gifts: a vase they painted, a bookmark they made, and a copy of our poem.

I am so thankful to his teachers for giving Grayson and I a day we will treasure forever. 

Filmed Love Affair

I have been loving my 35mm camera lately.  It has taken some getting used to again... that viewfinder is TINY after being used to LCD screens.  Anyway, here are some pics of the boys from last week.

This one of Grayson is completely untouched.  Is he gorgeous, or is he gorgeous?

I had forgotten how scary it is to take a roll of pictures and then have to wait for them to come back from the developers.  There's a lot of stress involved in not knowing if you got a single decent picture in the bunch. 

I've got lots of great Mother's Day things to share, but for now I'm going to sit back, drink the coffee made by my sweetie, and enjoy my sweet momma's boys.

A Girl For a Change

This was my first experience painting a little girl.  She was a lot of fun to paint, especially all those curls!  I'll be taking it to it's new home tomorrow... I hope they are happy with it.  I have a feeling I'll be dreaming all night about what should be different in the painting, but it's hit that place where if I keep tweaking, it'll be ruined.  It's time to step back and call it finished.  Unless of course one of you points out something I missed before the gloss coat goes on.

All About Jeff

Genesis over at Expat Mom tagged me for the "All About My Man" meme.  You all know a lot about Jeff already, but it still looked like fun!

1. Who is your man? Jeff

2. How long have you been together? 12.5 years

3. How long dated? 2.5 years

4. How old is your man? Ooooold.  Just kidding.  He's 36.

5. Who eats more? Jeff!  At least that's what I tell myself. :)

6. Who said “I love you” first? Um, yeah.  That'd be me.  He responded with a very heartfelt, "I care about you, too."  Sheesh.

7. Who is taller? Jeff.  He's 6'2 and I'm 5'6

8. Who sings better? That depends on who you're asking.  I'd say me, but he would say him.

9. Who is smarter? Jeff, in all the useful ways.  He's very logical, business-minded, future-minded.

10.  Whose temper is worse? Probably about equal.

11. Who does the laundry? Yers trooly.

12. Who takes out the garbage? He does, cause he luvs me so, and I HATE dealing with the garbage.

13. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Me

14. Who pays the bills? Me

15. Who is better with the computer? I'd say Jeff.  He can sit down and figure things out, where I just get stuck.

16. Who mows the lawn? He does, and that's saying a lot.  We don't so much have a lawn as a football field.

17. Who cooks dinner? Usually me, but Jeff helps out.

18. Who drives when you are together? Always Jeff.  My driving makes him crazy!

19. Who pays when you go out? Hmm, let's see.  Since I haven't contributed to the family coffers since Grayson was a baby, Jeff usually foots the bill.

20. Who is most stubborn? Me

21. Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? Me.  We figured out a LONG time ago, that if I apologize for my part of an argument, the whole thing blows over much more quickly!

22. Whose parents do you see the most? Mine.  I'm over there  a LOT when Jeff is at work or at a work function.  We see both sets fairly often, though.

23. Who kissed who first? Uh, last time I checked, it takes two.  BUT I GOTTA TELL YOU THIS STORY!  The first time Jeff and I kissed, I had my pager in my front pocket, set on vibrate.  As soon as he pulled me to him and kissed me, the pager started to go off!  He said that either I was a REALLY good kisser, or my pager was going off. :D

24. Who asked who out? Jeff asked me.  New Year's Eve, 1995 he asked me out.  I left my BOYFRIEND'S house, and met him at Applebee's.  After that night, I knew he really liked me, and switched boyfriends.

25. Who proposed? Jeff.  Down on one knee, and the whole nine yards.  We both cried... it was so sweet.

26. Who is more sensitive? Me

27. Who has more friends? Jeff.  I'm an introvert, so I meet lots of people, but very rarely allow them to become my friends.

28. Who has more siblings? Me.  I have 2 older brothers, and he has 1 older sister.

29. Who wears the pants in the family? Jeff.  We're very traditional that way.  I make most of the mundane decisions, but his word is final.   I know, I know, where was I when women's lib came knocking?  I was in a happy marriage, that's where.

Okay, now I tag Megan, Arizaphale, Chris, and DeeDee.  Chris, change yours to All About My Lady, of course. :)

Early Mother's Day

I am always one to say, "Oh, no.  Please don't get me a gift," and usually I mean it.  In a one income household with four people to feed and clothe, I can see a lot better uses for our money than Mother's Day gifts.  This year, though, I asked for something I've been needing for a long time, and I got it early! 

See that beautiful new easel?  It's mine, mine, all mine.  I want to get mini ones for the boys, so they can paint alongside me, but I haven't found the right ones yet. 

And speaking of the boys, they gave me a little early mom's day as well.  They got the kits at Home Depot, and assembled them at home with Jeff.  They're cutie little pencil boxes with flowers. :)

the latest

This one is a gift for my MIL for Mother's Day (I'm pretty sure she doesn't read here and won't see it).  She bought Grayson that little white outfit when he was about 15 months old and asked us to have his picture made in it.  I wasn't wild for the outfit at the time, but I took him to her friend's garden and took pics of him myself.  I came across them the other day, and I thought it would be great practice because of the garden background. I chose to add only a few flowers, because the original photo had so many it was really distracting.  I'm very pleased with the end product, and I think MIL will be too.

Of course, now that I'm staring at it on a computer screen, I see that I'm not finished after all.  Looking at his body,  his left arm (stage right) needs to be more obviously in the background.  Anyway, when I finish that, I'll be starting my first out-of-the-family commissioned piece.  EEK!  Y'all keep your fingers crossed for me (and your toes if you're that talented)!

Field Day Champ

Hmm... no, that can't be right.  Five blue ribbons?  Wait.  Let me count again.  Let's see, that's one for the fifty yard dash, one for the ball throw, one for the obtacle course, one for jumping rope, and one for seed spitting.  Yep, that's five blue first place ribbons for m'boy.  Then there were three second place and one third.  I was a pretty proud momma at Field Day, and it was so wonderful to see Grayson's confidence grow with each race.