2nd grader in da house

Yesterday was Kiera's first day of 2nd grade.  Cra-zy.  I didn't cry thankgoodness.  I think I am past that stage now, past the crying as she goes off to school, not the past crying part.  I am still a big ole bag of emotions.  I am not even going to look back at her other school pictures right now.  There is a whole lot of fake smiling going on in these pictures.  I ought to start getting creative on ways to make her truly laugh to get that genuine smile out of her. 

 

Her cat pose.  I can't tell you the last time she hasn't done this.  It happens daily.

 

When I was picking her up from her Papa's house I asked how her first day of school went.  She immediately told me she got in trouble.  Apparently there was confusion between she and a classmate as to where they were supposed to go.  Kiera told him they were supposed to go back to the classroom and he said they were supposed to go to the cafeteria.  They ended up going to the cafeteria instead of the classroom where they were supposed to go.  I don't think that they got in big trouble for it but she likes her teacher and enjoyed the rest of the day. 

    

Homecoming parade

Last week I took Kiera to our town's homecoming parade. I think my mother in law took her last year though I can't remember so I jumped at the chance to take her myself this year!

 

 

There was nothing impressive about it by any means but Kiera loved seeing all of the kids on the trailers and there was music of course. 

 

 

The kids on the "floats" threw out candy so Kiera had a blast picking it up.  I don't remember candy being thrown out to everyone when I was a kid, then again I was IN the parade.  Yay for band!  Not really.  I was only in band 6th through 8th grade and I played the clarinet.  I have no idea what happened on the side lines since I was busy marching and tooting my horn.  HA!  I am also wondering how many of you lovely blog readers out there in the world freak out over her picking up candy off the street to eat.  We are soooo not germophobes and the candy is a wrapper anyway.

 

  

 

We didn't go to the game though I would have liked to.  Kiera and I have had a cough and she also has a runny nose so it just wasn't a good idea.  And wouldn't you know Garth Brooks and Tricia were there?!  I still need to keep a better lookout for them in town.  Oh and we won the homecoming game too!  Go Rams!

 

We have a first grader

The evening before your first day of first grade we put you to bed at 8:30 because we knew you might have a problem falling asleep.  You did.  

The morning school started you had a bowl of fruit loops for breakfast.  

You watched just a little tv,  Pokemon and Ninjago.  Curious George is "lame" so you say and "for babies". 

You let me take your picture.  I really appreciate that you cooperate for that 2 minutes.  Really that is all I need and I luckily know how to work my camera quickly.

We walked to the bus stop and waited for.ev.ah.  We played our version of red light green light with more colors and motions.  Purple = dancing, blue = freeze, yellow = walk slow. 

Your bus arrived and we hugged and kissed before you were on your way.  

I didn't cry.

I was lucky enough to have to pick you up from school that day so I left work early.  After I got you we went straight to Cherry Berry for ice cream.

Afterwards I wasn't ready to go home just yet so I took you to Target to so you could pick out a toy and pay with your birthday money.  I helped you decide on this Barbie pool which is pretty awesome.   Oh and you still have money left over.  Woop woop!

Tomorrow you will be graduating high school and going off to college.  Not really but dang that is what it will feel like when the time comes.

Kindergarten graduate

First grader in da house!!!  Ohmygoodness, a first grader.  Our baby girl is now a first grader.  Let's soak that in for a second.  And breathe.  Last week Kiera had her graduation ceremony so I whipped out my nice camera...and all the lenses.  HA!  Please excuse the craptastic indoor pictures. 

She was trying so hard not to smile and she hadn't even seen us yet.

 

Pointing us out to her classmate.

 

Of course I had to do the traditional first and last day of school pictures.  She is squinting since the sun was in her eyes with a posed smile but that's OK.

First Day of kindergarten

 

Last day of kindergarten

Totally didn't plan half of her outfit to be the same on the first and last days of school, though I did remember what she wore that first day.  I just wanted her to dress cute!!  Her hair has grown a lot but we are working on growing it out again.  I also noticed that I can count the bricks to see how much she has grown between each occasion.  Our front walkway is my go-to place for pictures. 

So for her year of kindergarten it started a little rough since she had a hard time not talking or staying still during rest time, but she just loves other kids (and adults) and making friends.  She eventually fell into the routine and things were great for the 2nd half of the year.  She was the youngest in her class and the only 5 year old at the end of the year.  She had zero problems keeping up with the work.  She will always be one of the youngest ones in class.  And she will be 17 when she graduates high school!  Ohmygoodness.  Still it was very exciting to see her final report card with "Promoted to first grade"!!!  We are so so very proud of our girl!!!

JOM Indian Education Awards

So a few weeks ago Kiera brought home a flyer from school for the Johnoson O'Malley Indian Exemplary Student awards.  I didn't really know what it was and thought you had to pay to go and so I thew it away.  About a week later a co-worker that has kids who also attend the same school district asked if we were going.  I told her about throwing the flyer away so she got me another one since her husband is on the board.  The Johnson-O’Malley Act was a law passed by the United States Congress to subsidize education, medical attention, and other services (such as school supplies, tutoring, scholarships etc.) provided by the states to Native Americans, especially those not living on reservations. 

The awards were give to native american students with good grades.  Kiera doesn't exactly have "grades" in kindergarten but she is still performing "at grade level" so I guess they counted that.  She also kept calling it "Cherokee Awards" since she is Cherokee and we kept explaining it is not only for Cherokee's but all the other tribes also. 

This is pretty much the only smile we got out of Kiera that night.  She was kind of in a funk that evening.

And a little bored.

The called out each school and then named off all the children who were receiving awards.  Once they got to her school she perked right up.  They called her name and she marched right down with a swing to her walk. Here she is walking across the stage after receiving her certificate and shaking hands with everyone before receiving her medal.  Oh crappy phone picture, it doesn't zoom in too well from the distance.

 She is 6th from the left.  Oh and her future husband is up there too.  HA!  They were in pre-K together and ended up with the same kindergarten teacher, which was neat because in our town all kids go to one school for pre-K but then go to a different elementary school depending on wher they live.  He saw her when we first walked in and ran up to say hi.  She had (has?) a big crush on him and even had dreams about them getting married before.  He is freaking adorable and his mom is gorgeous too. 

She harldy even cracked a smile while she was up there. 

She came and sat back down and we told her congratulations to which she replied "I had no idea I would win!!"  She will  definitley win one every year because the girl is going to do well in school, we will make sure of that.  She is such a smart little thing and I take her education so much more serious than I ever did my own.

Next up a group of highschoolers came out dressed in tradidtional ceremonial outfits did  different dances with an explination for what each dance was for.     

Afterward we went down and had some cake and punch at the reception.  Oh there is the smile (and Dada!).  Of course she was happy, sugar was involved.

Lunch at school with my girl

Yesterday I went had had lunch with Kiera at her school. It wasn't as simple as I thought it would be though. I thought I could just go and sign in at the office and sit with her to eat. Oh no, I had to get a background check done before doing so.  When the heck am I supposed to do that when the enrollment center (where you get this done) is only open from 7:30am to 3pm Monday through Friday?  Um, hello...I am getting my child ready for school and am at work during this time.  So I went by the enrollment center on my way there to let them scan my drivers license which luckily only took 1 minute like lady said it would.  Then I ran to McDonald's to pick up Kiera a kids meal and me a little burger.  Only the drive thru guy had me pull up to wait for my measly little McDouble.  I running out of time and I was not going to be late bringing her lunch, so I left.  I was pretty livid by this point with the whole dang thing.  So I get to her school and wait for her to show up at the lunch room.  

I was fine by time she showed up.  Very hungry but fine.  I knew I would be, and how could I not with her beaming smile?  She was so excited that we planned for me to come eat lunch with her and that we got to sit at the tables designated for parents.  She said to me "I have never sat at these tables before!!!"  

It was quite chaotic watching them get moved through the lunch line and the teachers (or lunch assistants?) help with getting the kids situated and helping them open packets in their lunches.  They only get 25 minutes for lunch though it's more like 15 minutes of eating time.  I rarely see Kiera eat as fast as she did!  It was also pretty entertaining to be in a room full of 80 kindergartners.  One little girl threw up her lunch and then a so did little boy across from her.  Man did that cause a riot!  There are only 4 kindergarten classes and Kiera's was the best behaved, even though we weren't sitting with them.  Eventually one of the helpers had to break out the loud speaker to quiet them down.  I saw one boy get a look of death from the the janitor, I think he threw a classmates lunch on the floor.  Of course I was then drawn to watching a little boy who has down syndrome in the corner who was very upset and was trying to escape either because it was too loud or a multitude of other things.

I really had a great time and laughed a lot.  I can tell Kiera did too plus she had fun pointing out everyone in her class.  She even pointed me out and had a boy wave at me as I was leaving.  I hope I have a couple more years before she is embarrassed by me.  Though I made sure not to kiss her and be all touchy feely like we usually are, just a hug goodbye.  After all I want her to want me to come back to school again! 

Oh and after I left I went back and got my burger at McDonald's!

Blood is red

Totally not surprised at Kiera's choices here.

First day of kindergarten

Wednesday night Kiera and I made her lunch.

6:30am Kiera wakes up and comes into our bedroom and I let her lay in bed with us until I needed to get up.  She sits on the couch and watches tv while she drinks her hot cocoa and munches on some Apple Jacks during which I get ready for work.  We then fix her hair and she puts her outfit on the opposite side of the couch because that is the "girls dressing room".  We hang out a little longer before I take her outside to get some pictures.  She was excited to go to school, though sad that she didn't get to see her Pre K teacher anymore.

Now we head to the bus stop.  Yes she is riding the bus to school, her choice not mine.

I did fine until the bus pulled up and stopped.  I was busy talking to the driver and didn't get a picture of her walking up the stairs.

She actually got on the wrong bus but the driver said it was ok and she could take her, she was going to Kiera's school after all.  I have since switched her bus assignment to that one, since it picks her up earlier and the bus driver was awesome.

I cannot look at that picture without crying.  Can not do it.  The joy on her face is absolutely priceless.  She was waving but I missed it because I turned off my camera. 

There she goes.  Such a big girl.  I just have no words for my feelings.  Happy, sad, proud, scared...they just don't convey the feelings I have for this tiny little human.