October/November/December: Kindergarten Update!

I really can't say enough about Avaree's incredible experience in Kindergarten this first semester! She is in the inaugural class of our school district's new Fine Arts/ Dual Language Academy. Last semester, she had Spanish and Math in the AM, lunch and recess in the middle of the day, and then she had English, Social Studies, and Specials in the afternoon.  This semester, her morning and afternoon subjects have flipped, but everything else is the same.  She was successfully adding and subtracting by mid-October! 

She thinks through math equations in Spanish and then in English--which is so interesting to me! 

When she reads to us, she asks us pre-reading questions, questions after every page, and post-reading questions. We even have to raise our hands! ;) She wants to be just like Mrs. Anthony, her reading teacher that is also a reading specialist and bilingual. She is being taught by the best of the best with a sweet heart to boot! I really didn't think it was possible for her to be "inspired" to love reading any more, but she has been inspired and pushed even further! She has been in her own reading group for most of the year, but recently Mrs. Anthony called us and asked if we would be okay if she went to another classroom once a week to meet with a little girl that is close to her reading level. We thought this was a great idea, and so did Avaree! Mrs. Anthony even let Avaree take something that Avaree likes off of her desk, so that she would feel comfortable there. So thoughtful!

Mrs. Sanchez, her Spanish and Math teacher, has been so kind to send us encouraging notes and call with updates on how great she is doing! This particular note is one that I will save forever! 

I agree--she is destined for greatness!

Aside from music, dance, theater, art, gym, and piano at school, Avaree also participated in cheer during football season! She loved it and had lots of spirit!

This was her Kinder school picture!!!!

She has also had two stomach bugs, strep throat, and mycoplasma pneumonia since Kinder started! Prior to the strep, she hadn't been on an antibiotic in a year! I'll take it!!! 

She's also grown up a lot!!!

In late October, Avaree came home with this note that she was nominated to the Corey Hall of Fame by her music and piano teachers for her enthusiasm!!! We were so proud!

She got to draw a picture of her favorite part of school (and she drew herself dancing) and it hung in the hallway with her picture for an entire six weeks! :) 

She was so proud, and so were we! 

Sister also LOVES going to the same school has some of her favorite friends from Pre-K! Thi is Chloe, Ava, and Avaree (and 2 of their 3 little sisters--Felicity did not want to be in the picture) on a random beautiful Friday afternoon!

We went to Avaree's school carnival one Saturday afternoon in November, and she did the firefighter obstacle course! It was very difficult, and she didn't give up!

I had the privilege of volunteering at the Kinder Thanksgiving feast! Thanks to Daddy for keeping the littles for me! I was setting out the handmade placemats before the kids came in, and I teared up when I saw this gem! :) She was thankful for 1)family 2) health and 3) her bible!

She loved her pilgrim hat!

…and having her Mommy there. She cried and cried when she had to go back to class and Mommy left. Mrs. Sanchez held her hand and let her be the line leader because she was so sad. So sweet. 

Three little turkeys before Thanksgiving break!

Avaree and Chloe!

Avaree LOVES that her sweet friend, Ava, goes to LABC with us! They got to come to big church for "Hanging of the Green" on the first Sunday of December! 

 The next day, was Avaree's very first field trip, and (most importantly to her) her VERY first time to ride a school bus!!!!!!!!!!

 Can you see her excitement????

 

 My big girl!!! 

I was thrilled that my Mom was able to come spend the day with the littles, so that I could spend the day with my big girl and her friends!

 We went to the Fort Worth Museum of Nature and Science, one of our favorite places, and we had a blast! First, we had a picnic outside!

 I was responsible for my girl and two of her friends--Mico and Isabella! We only had to go to the bathroom three times in four hours! haha!

 They were so pumped to get to see The Polar Express at the IMAX!

 This is Avaree's class on the stairs before we left! Mrs. Sanchez is a rockstar. She only counted "her babies" 99 times! ;)

 I also had the privilege of helping at Avaree's "Winter Party." It's pretty much a dream to get to be a co-room mom! Remember, I was the one that never got to go to the parties when she was little, so I'm extra thankful to get to do so now! Olaf came for a visit, but he didn't have to speak Spanish!! ;) 

Overall, Avaree's first semester of Kinder has been fantastic. I asked her what she would say about her experience, and she said, "I love it! I love my friends, and my teachers are the best! Dance is my favorite too."

Here's to another semester of Kinder! The first week back went great! :)

Thankful can't even begin to describe my gratitude to her precious teachers.

Avaree is S-I-X!!!!!!!

I really have no idea how we already have a six year old. It seems like just the other day I was trying to figure out how I would ever do anything but hold and stare at her all day long. :) A lot has changed, but this little girl still loves to be held and cuddled.  At six, Avaree is doing so many things. Her brain is a little sponge, and she has far surpassed any expectations we have ever had for her academically. She started reading at 3.5, but now she is reading far and above her grade level. She had to stop at the third grade level at school, but not because of fluency, she could have easily continued past it based on her reading fluency, but she had to stop because she would not give the oral results that the test wanted when asked to make a personal connection with a non-fiction test. This made me laugh because her little brain is so very literal. If she doesn't think it matters to find a personal connection to a book about the dangers of tornadoes (and she has many personal connections to this based on our severe weather seasons spent in the master closet), she says there isn't one and moves on. Alas, I have talked to her about "playing the game", and I've also introduced her to K-W-L charts to help her get in the habit of "activating prior knowledge," since such ideas will follow her all the way through high school. :) At six, Avaree is thriving in Kindergarten. Her teachers (a billingual reading and social studies teacher and an only spanish-speaking science and math teacher) told us that she is "remarkable." During our meeting with them, it was so clear to us how well they knew our kid. They said she is a perfectionist in many ways, loves to learn, hates to get in trouble, wants to please, loves to lead, loves people well, gets excited about everything, and makes learning so fun. She is in her own reading group, and she's also in a group of her peers for writing, so she loves that. Her Spanish teacher even told us that she makes her regular lesson plan, and then she makes an additional plan for Avaree. She told us that she has Avaree paired with a native spanish speaker, so that she can begin picking up on every day language as well. Avaree is already the centers leader and teacher's helper just because she understands all of the non-verbal clues and easily picks up Spanish. She has learned so much in just 8 short weeks of school. Her pronunciation is pretty stellar too. I can't even accurately quantify how much Spanish that she knows, but she understands even more than that, so she's a very good example of Spanish immersion being an incredible way to learn the language.  The enrichment activities that she has the opportunity to participate in every day at school have been incredible also. Initially, I thought that there were way too many transitions for five and six year olds, and I think there may be some changes to next year's schedule because of that, but now that the school is familiar to Avaree, she doesn't feel so overwhelmed by that. She has A days and B days, and she always keeps them straight. She has never  (ever) forgotten what activity she has on that particular day (and the schedule changes week to week), so she helps me with what she needs to wear each day. On A days, she has dance, music and PE, and on B days, she has art, theater and piano. She loves both days so much. She also still gets to have recess every day after lunch, and they have recently started to go to the computer lab once a week. She really loves that too.  I truly didn't think that she could fall in love with learning even more, but she has!  She has homework Monday through Thursday every week. On Mondays and Wednesdays, it is usually a reading and writing assignment, and Tuesdays/Thursdays are reserved for spanish and math. We also did our first little science project all in spanish. I can't imagine what homework would be like with a kid that doesn't LOVE to do homework, but for right now,  it's fun to help her with it. The only tricky part is making sure I also have "homework" for little sister. :) We quickly found out that we needed a routine, and now it is just a part of our day every day. I hope that we can keep that going as the years continue. :) It's a little crazy to have Avaree, a large age gap, and then the babies, but it's also really neat because she has such a unique role in their lives. She really is a great big sister. At six years old, she of course has a lot of selfish tendencies, but she also has a really sweet, tender heart. She loves to care for people, and she loves to be cared for. She prays the prayers of a thirty year old some nights, and other nights she prays like her little sister, but I can tell that she is growing in that area too. A few nights ago, I was putting everyone to bed by myself, and it had been a particularly hard hour or so. The girls weren't being obedient and were fighting a lot, Brandt was fussy, and I was just trying to get everyone what they needed and in to bed without tears. Avaree is usually a big helper for me, and she was just not in the mood to have little siblings that night. Sometimes I completely understand her frustration, so i just let it go. A few minutes later in her prayers (without me having to say a word), she asked God to give her a better attitude toward Felicity and Brandt. It was completely from her own heart, and it blew me away. She frequently uses emotional manipulation with me and will look right at me as she is praying something just because she wants to make me happy, but this time she was very much just having a conversation with God. It was really precious, and I snuck back in later to tell her how proud I was of her. She was sound asleep, so I waited until morning, but her sincerity made me so proud. I know that God is working on her little heart, and I can't wait to know that one day she will spend eternity with Jesus. She already renounces Satan and understands how to pray against darkness, so I know that she will be attacked in many ways as she grows, but I also know that she has His word hidden in her heart, and I'm so thankful for her little heart. 
Of course, I also think that she is beautiful. At six years old, she sometimes looks like her little baby self, and other times I get glimpses of ten years down the road. I know it will go fast, but we are so very, very proud of our big girl. She loves to play outside, train for American Ninja Warrior, ride her back (and is currently learning to ride without training wheels), play at the park, race, sing at the top of her lungs, play school, read, dance, make up silly songs, and get dirty! 
She loves her grandparents, aunts and uncles, and cousins soooooo much! She has a few really good friends, and she is a friend to many, many more! 
I sometimes have to catch myself and remember that she is only six. Sometimes, her depth of understanding, insight, and analysis on life is just far beyond her years. 
At six, she weighs 54 lbs and is 47 inches tall. She was in the 90% percentile for her weight, and she was in the 85th percentile for her height. 
At six, Avaree is pretty awesome. She's fun, easily excited, beautiful, energetic, compassionate, loving, funny, sassy, and silly! We feel so incredibly blessed to be her parents. 
I love that I can still pretty much always "fix it"--whatever it is--but I know there will come a day when I can't. I pray for her heart and mind to be guarded. I pray that she will know how deeply she is loved by God and loved by her family. I pray that she would always be loving and kind, and I pray that God would use her to further His Kingdom. I can't even imagine what she will accomplish in her little life, but I"m thankful for the seat that I get to watch from…
We love you, Avaree Grace Barton.  From the moment they put you screaming on my chest, I've been head over heels in love. 
Happy SIXTH birthday, baby girl… You have been my favorite birthday gift for six years now. :)

Kindergarten: Sneek-a-Peek and Day One!

I asked our families to send me letters/prayers of encouragement for Avaree, and I made her this little book! It's full of pictures, scriptures, letters from her grandparents, and a letter from her Daddy and her Mommy! I hope it is something that she will treasure as she gets older, and I also hope that I can add to it every year--or every few years. I also want to do this for my other babies, so we'll see how that goes!  

We gave it to her on a special hamburger date that we went on after her sneak-a-peek at school! 

She was so proud of it!

Let's recap that evening! Mom Mom came in for a couple of days, and she took care of little brother and sister at home, so that we could just take Avaree to her school! That giant bag that Daddy is carrying full of (labeled) school supplies!

We found out that evening that Avaree's homeroom teacher is Mrs. Sanchez (pictured below). She can only speak Spanish in front of the students (even to us), so when we walked in the door, she greeted us with only Spanish. It was a little overwhelming (and funny) for all of us. At one point, Mrs. Sanchez was even drawing us pictures to explain about parking on Monday! Avaree is in Mrs. Sanchez's room for homeroom, Math and Science for the first half of the day every day. Everything is in Spanish!!! Then, she goes to lunch, fine arts activities, recess, and then spends the last couple hours of her day in the English speaking room with Mrs. Anthony! She has a busy, busy day for a Kindergartener!

Mommy and Daddy signed up for PTA and snagged this cutie a t-shirt! She was pumped!

Avaree was so very, very excited for her special date with Mommy and Daddy!

She wanted to read all of her letters! 

…and take pictures with Mommy!

She told us thank you and that she felt special! Mission accomplished!

The next few days were a busy blur, but on Sunday afternoon, we had some time to snuggle together while the babies were sleeping. We talked about her big day on Monday! 

…and we were silly!

That night, we read "The Night Before Kindergarten!" 

She was nervous and excited!

Apparently, as we discovered the next day, Felicity thought she was going to "class" too. (oops!)

I set everything out the night before!

The next morning!

We took the whole family for the first day of Kindergarten!

Felicity wanted to be in all of Lolly's pictures!

Standing outside the building before we went in! Otherwise known as stalling for Mommy to get it together!

Family selfie! All smiles!!!

Sunflare!

The school had a photo booth set up outside the entrance!

At her desk!

With Mama!

Her first Spanish worksheet!

Sister thought these were her crayons, too!

It was hard to leave, but because I had such an emotional night the night before, I held it together until we left her Monday morning. It was so strange to just wonder what she was doing, and if she was okay. She's so much braver than me. She did great! AISD posted this picture on their website that afternoon. The superintendent visited Avaree's classroom. :) We have been very proud of how she has handled everything. 

The infamous piano room! (Avaree is not in this picture--just in case you're searching for her!)

The pick up line is C-R-A-Z-Y! We ended up waiting for Ave for over an hour on the first day! These two were not the happiest campers! (We were parked in a line when i took this picture!)

A friend a few cars ahead of me sent me this! We couldn't WAIT to get our girl back!

I'm so thankful to have the opportunity to pick her up! I only get her four hours per day now, and it is so very, very different. What a gift these past two years with her have been. 

We GOT HER!!!!!!!! (still parked--don't worry!)

(By the way, Felicity gives Ave the silent treatment for the first few minutes every day when she gets in the car. I think she's mad at her. Ha! I've tried to explain, but hopefully she will get over it soon. She has gotten better about not screaming for so long at the door after Avaree leaves in the mornings. Daddy takes her most days, though we have taken her a couple of times too. It works out much better if Daddy takes her on his way to work, though! :))

We celebrated the first day of school with a stop at YoBerry for some dairy-free yogurt!!! 

We really have been proud of Avaree. She has been exhausted every day, and the meltdowns have increased exponentially, but she walked in a classroom that had no names on the desks, no one welcoming her with sweet words that she understood, and she walked in confident and ready. Of course, I did have to give her a slight little push inside the room on the first day, and we have had some tears, but all of that is expected. Kinder has changed our lives in a lot of ways. I am trying to give it time for us to all figure out our new routine--or to even get one! ha! :) 

We love our Kinder girl! More to come!