Kindergarten round up!!

Our day started sorta regular.  We started on our way to Donna's.  But, there were a few exceptions.  One is that Ellie didn't FIGHT me about what she was going to wear to school that day.

Because by "school", I meant SCHOOOOL!!!  It was kindergarten round up day!!  We'd been talking about this day for weeks.

This was last Friday.  I also wondered how Gabs would take it, you know, being dropped off at Miss Donnas, with sissy going on with mom and dad.  Oh, that was different too!!  Mom AND Dad were heading to school with Ellie.

Because you better believe Daddy-O wasn't going to miss this day for anything! 

And Ellie absolutely LOVED having both of her parents with us and her having full attention of us on that day special day.

Even several days later, this is the picture that kinda makes me wanna cry!  So special!

Do you think I may have looked like the stalker mom in the parking lot!?  Understand, we weren't even in the building yet!!  ha.

Daddy opened the door for her and we were off to find the others.  And find them we did.

It didnt' take this social butterfly long to find her crew.  She knows Isabella (in the green maxi dress) from dancing.  The other two were friends she met that day.  Avery is the little blond on the end.  I KNOW she and Ellie Sue will end up  being good buds.  I mean, she had FEATHERS in her hair!! 

It was sweet that the school's concession stand handed out popsicles to the newbies.

This is actually as the crowd was clearing out, but I thought I'd share Ellie's new gym with you all.

Ellie was feeling her place at this school.  I think she felt she was home!!

And mama was plenty proud!  I took her around to the classrooms, with Dad around for the majority of the tour.  I think he got bored. 

There are four kindergarten classrooms.  And for the most part, they are all very similar.  They have a book area.  And "centers" with pretend kitchens, climbing areas, and THIS....

ART SUPPLIES!!!  I could hear the heavens ope,n and I got all tingly.

She recognized stamps, colored pencils, markers, crayons, glue, and all things that are good.

There was this one point at which Ellie Sue was drawing a very elaborate family of four, all complete with different outfits, tiaras, a pouf in one of their hair-dos, and then she started adding everyone's words.  Ellie, Gabbi, Todd, Mom, Isabella, Groves,.... just word after word after word.  The mama next to me, asked, "How OLD is she?"  I said, "She's four".  And as she continued to write (very well might I add), "WHen will she be five?".  "In July", I replied.  I could tell the lady was a little concerned, so I went on to explain that Ellie has been around art supplies her whole life, and draws and paints just about daily!  I was kind of feeling sorry for her.  Especially when I asked her son, "Hey, I love all those colors you are using.  What are YOU drawing?"  He said, "A ROCK". 

I'm really saying all of that in jest.  She and I bonded later, when we realized she was over 40 too, and realized we'd be a couple of the older parents in kindergarten. 
And I am fully aware that girls draw families with elaborate outfits, and boys draw, well, rocks!

This is the beginning of the drawing.

And then she added most of her numbers.  She just LOVED showing off the things she's learned from Miss Donna's. 

And so... there it is.

And there SHE is... my kindergartener!!

The last fun of the day was the playground.  Ellie loved that too, especially when the first graders came out to play.  7 year olds... oh YEAH!! 

Can you believe my baby is going to school this fall?!!?

MO





My swimsuit models

Not sure what was going on this day...but apparently it included a whole lot of bathing suits. Now that it's swimming season in LA, everyone's pretty excited that the swimsuits are in full swing. Especially THIS little girl.umm hmmm.. from the right. Now, from the left!Hands on hips. Now hands by side. Oh, wait... did I show you this angle?! Oh, then there's THIS pose!Also not sure why her belly button looks black?!  Sharpie, perhaps?! Ok, it's Gabs's turn in the same bathing suit. Ellie is really, really tiny. When people meet her, they are shocked about how intsy she is. But, to put it in perspective, so is Gabbi. She is also on the end in her dance class of 25ish. And Ellie and gabbi can easily wear the same sized clothes! Gabs tries, but her pose lack a little "sumthin"! She does finally have the peace sign down pat! It took us a while in OT to get that fine motor skill. She can now also show us how old she is with her fingers. Three fingers! Yay for Gabs. No matter what, she is one cute baby girl!! And baby girl DOES have that toe cock goin ON! 

MO

Lots of fun blogs coming this week.  LOTS of pics have been uploaded to the puter from things I missed during my blogging hiatus.  Check in... daily!  And leave me some comment love!! 

A day at MMPT

Just your average day at MMPT.  Ol Liles comes in hollering and acting crazy.  Followed by me and Keif hollering and acting crazy! 

Then, we find out it's Scott's birthday, so you KNOW we have to celebrate!!  They'd just moved into a new house, so I personalized a canvas for them to hang there.  And of course, cake and a balloons.

Anna went to the cage to work on isolating muscles with gravity eliminated (for all you therapists out there).  This cage is pretty exclusive to our clinic in north Louisiana, maybe Louisiana in general, and is GREAT for so many things!!

Then it was time for Dylan to walk.  He is a miracle!!  A true miracle.

Bobby showed his love to Kim with a kiss on the cheek.  Kim is such a sweetheart.

Then, he posed with me and Seth, all in our turquoise for a Monday, Wednesday or Friday uniform.

Here's Summer, OT, with Kim.  It was her birthday this past Friday, so we made her a classic rap CD mix.  I asked for a copy because it is sooooooo awesome.  And now I am addicted and just want to stay in my car and listen to it.  "NOwwwww, here's a little story I have to tell about three ... you know so well... it started way back in history... "  Ok, so I miss big gaps of words.  But I am feeling the old school love!!

Kristin is working those biceps with a therapy band.

This can be considered the "before" picture!!  Now, we have red geraniums, white caladiums, and purple verbena.  This was "spring".  We've moved on into "summer".

And this is my precious Kelsey!!  She is working here with our PT student, Caroline. 

Caroline was visiting us from University of St. Augustine in Florida.  She is actually from Maryland.  I love to have students in the clinic.  I am actually a teacher at heart.

And this is Patchez, Cassie (speech student), and Ashley, doing what they do.

Just another day at MMPT!! 

MO

William's First Birthday

My buddy, Breanna's baby boy, William, turned one year old!!  Crazy, since it seems like just yesterday he was making his entrance!!  Her he is

with his grandmother, Terri, who also happens to work at MMPT Monroe!!  William's birthday was just before Easter, so Breanna combined the celebrations.  This is his older brother, Elijah, doing a little peeking while the adults were hiding the eggs.

And then Renee and Ellie took their turn to peek.  You KNOW Ellie found the oldest girl at the party to hang out with.

Breanna and I love to work together to make our chillen's parties AWESOME!!  She didn't ask for my help at all, but she knows I would've been glad to assist.  Looks like she had it totally under control!

Breanna typically keeps her parties very small scale.  Usually her kids, my kids, a cousin or two, and her best friend's children.

Ellie was ready to find the eggs. ( LOOONG before it was time to find the eggs!)

This party was in the morning, and I LOVED the cute little brunchy foods.

I especially liked the mini stacks of pancakes with whipped cream and strawberries.

Breanna makes party hats for a living.  She sells them through her Etsy site, Bayou Moon and also sells them to Olive&CoCo.  Looks like Hazel was ready to get hers on!!

This is where Breanna's flair for the awesome comes in.  Are these paper fans cute or what?! 

She would set up little vignettes of cuteness around the party area.

And she decoupaged pics of William as a baby onto these painted wood templates.   So presh.

I think this was the creme de la creme.  Text decoupaged lampshades with mixed ribbons.  Soooo cute!

I was impressed, but I am not so sure William was!!   Look at those blue eyes.  He is a precious little guy.

And the big ONE year old party is a biggie for ANY kid!!

These were our goody bags!  Being a hoarder myself, I asked Breanna if she wanted her ribbon back before we left.  Being a fellow crafter, she understood that I would be loving it as well, so she let me keep it.

This is William with his great granddad.  I LOVE those kinds of pictures.

Oh, wait.  THIS might be my favorite area.  I really loved all the photos of William during his first year.

And Breanna really outdid herself with all those paper wrapped jars with twine and little candles in them.

Breanna bought very simple little plain cakes at a local grocery store.  It is really the awesome banners she made that made them special anyway!!  Oh, she sells these at Bayou Moon too!

Ellie asked me after the party, "What kind of party was that?"  I said, "You mean, like, a 'birthday party'?".  She said, "No, I mean, what FLAVOR was it?!"

Then it dawned on me... she was referring to a THEME!!  Ha!  A girl after my own heart.  I explained little baby boys sometimes don't have a "flavor".  But, his mama just chose certain colors to repeat. 

And here he is with his mama and daddy.  And NOT liking his custom made party hat one little bit!!

There.  That's much better!!

I'm glad my buddy, Breanna, is back in town!!  She has already made several banners for people at MMPT who are having birthdays!! 

It's just handy to know crafty people.  Especially those who know that "CUTE" is important to you, so they rush an order in a day just so you can have something especially "CUTE" by the day you needed it. 

And she knows I'd do the same for her!

Look at this floor she stenciled, one at a time, for her daughter, Renee.

It's pretty fabulous!!

I told her early in the project, just drop it.  Don't do it.  It was taking so much time and the pressure was almost getting to her.  But, I am so glad she didn't listen to me!!  It was worth the effort.

And I think I showed you this already.  But, here's the shower curtain she sent me a picture of and asked me to make a canvas to match it.

We trade out for lots of things.  It was this project that made me decide to paint on boards vs. canvases.  I knew my bud, Bre, would want something "unique" and a canvas wasn't necessarily "outside the box".

I feel that these neat little individual boards with each of her kids' names on them are pretty unique, indeed.

This is their upstairs play area.

And this is the beginning of her son, Elijah's big boy room.  Hey, Bre, have I told you I have an old encyclopedia or some sort of TIME book chock full of MAPS?!  It's Todd's and he hasn't approved my riping it up yet.

But when he does.... we are going to make something AWESOME to go over those beds.

Cute tent in the corner.

I practiced my panoramic picture taking in the room, moving from one side to the other.

And for the most part, since little cameras were flashing all around, I spent most of my time during his adventure with the smash cake, videoing for them.

Breanna, if you are reading this, don't let me forget to give you those videos.

It was a fun party.  Thank you for inviting us, Bre.

I hope you are ready for my girls' parties in July and August.  I think I have the "Flavor" for each one picked out.  And each one is going to be plenty colorful!!

So start stashing your primary colored papers!!

And start making rainbow colored hats!

So glad to have a good friend like Breanna!!

Happy First Birthday, William!! 

MO