A Kid's Paradise...

Katey was wandering around the living room this evening, brushing her hair and giving us a glimpse into her creative and dreaming mind.  I'm not sure how the exposition began, but she was describing what a Kid's Paradise would be like according to her.  I began typing the list as I realized what she was saying.

So, without further ado, A Kid's Paradise...according to Katey:

Bunk beds

You can visit any website, any time you want

Super fast wi-fi...I mean SUPER fast!

Any food you want to eat, any time

Every movie

Any phone you want – you can even have multiple phones, and an iPod touch

Technology galore!

All your belongings are there with you and you can stay in touch with your parents

A whole lot of instruments and you can have video chat lessons (so I can still learn piano)

Did I already mention vending machines that NEVER run out of food and they are all FREE!

Everyone has their own room and you can move it anywhere you want at any time - and there are 2 sets of bunk beds, at least, for every kid!

I love that Katey included that kids can stay in touch with their parents...and Mrs. Alison will be pleased to hear that piano can still be taught.  This girl has big dreams!!

Picture Perfect

Our Katey.  Our smart, sweet, loving, scattered and wonderful Katey.  Looking over this last school year, there is so much that has just screamed, "Katey!"

She started Middle School.  Mom was a nervous wreck - I remember Middle School and all the insecurities that came with it.  But, Katey was not me.  She headed in, full force, and loved it!  There was much talk of lockers being butterflied (pad locks turned around to make it tough to open them), kids who didn't do what they were supposed to (and Katey making sure teachers were aware of such transgressions), annoying classmates, great friends made, and the Battle of the Books team adventure. 

But there was one thing that happened in particular that made Mike and I just shake our heads, smile, and proclaim that this event was a perfect way to sum up Katey.

School was winding down, and Katey came home on June 1st fit to be tied.  In her best 'outraged' voice she hit the door exclaiming that she had won an award at school that day but NO ONE had told her she was receiving it and NO ONE made sure she was at the awards ceremony to receive it.  Her award was the Best Overall Language Arts Student in her team of teachers (about 150 students).  The awards ceremony was a big deal - parents were invited and the kids who were getting awards were able to leave class to be a part of the ceremony.  Mike and I had no idea, as we were not notified.

I began trying to calm Katey down and started questioning her.  "Did you get an envelope in the last week or two to bring home to us?"  No.  "Did any of your teachers mention to you that you should be at the ceremony?"  No.  "Are you sure?"  YES!  At first I was pretty ticked off at her teachers...and then I asked to see her school folders.

It took several minutes to wade through past homework and school work, progress reports and miscellaneous stuff, but then I found it.

A letter dated May 23, notifying us that Katey was receiving an award and asking for an RSVP to the ceremony.  Oops.  Katey was mystified.  She had no recollection of being given that letter or it being in her folder. 

So there it is.  A picture-perfect illustration of our Katey.  The best overall language arts student who didn't pass along an invitation and didn't even realize she was getting the award.  What a fitting way to end 6th grade...and because she has such a good temperament, we all laughed about it once the mystery was solved.  :-)

Our bright scholar with her award!

 

Shampoo

I was preparing a shopping list for a Target trip this week when Katey notified me that she needed more shampoo. Knowing that I had recently purchased a giant, pump bottle of Aussie shampoo, I asked her how it was that she needed more already. Her response to me was this:

"But, I need to use the Garnier Fructis Sleek and Shine Shampoo. Since I use the Sleek and Shine leave-in conditioner, it says right on the bottle that for best results you should also use the Sleek and Shine shampoo. So that is the one I need to use."

I love my literal, rule-following Katey!

On Display

Thanks to a friend of Jen's mom, Katey was asked to be in a fashion show for Dillard's a couple of weeks ago. If you know Katey at all, you understand why Mike and I were curious as to how this would play out on the day of the show.

We made our way to the store about 2 hours before the presentation and started to get ready. The organizers put light make-up on the girls, and worked with the kids on how to walk down the runway, when to stand still and how to pose while the announcer talked about the clothes and shoes. Katey was pretty reserved that day but was still excited to be a part of all the action.

Here she is in her first outfit. This one was her favorite!!

And here is outfit #2!
Katey did a wonderful job, posed nicely and even remembered to smile during her 2nd runway experience! It is hard to believe how grown-up she looks!

Another Great Year

Summer break is here!  I'm not sure who is more excited, the kids or me!

We had a nice end to the school year with lots of fun events/parties.  Katey got to attend the 5th grade dance, then there was field day (for both kids), the 5th grade graduation and classroom parties. 

The dance was a lot of fun to chaperone.  It was great to see the kids run around with an air of, "we own this place"!!  As was expected, Katey had a very fun time but didn't really interact with her classmates much.  She really does march to her own beat and seems to truly enjoy life and not really care too much what other people think.

Our beautiful dancer!

Katey is all the way on the right.  She is dancing, just far away from the group!

Graduation was a nice event yesterday.  The kids were so proud to walk across the stage to get their certificates.  Katey said she was a little nervous because her class went first and, since they did things alphabetically, she was the very first student to be called up.  She did beautifully and is now officially a 6th grader!!

Finally, there were classroom parties.  It is always a little bittersweet to see the end of the school year arrive.  Katey and Seth both had fantastic teachers and it is hard to say goodbye to them (for me, too!).  Katey's class made 5th grade memory books and signed each others' yearbooks.  Seth's class had an ice cream sundae party and signed beach balls.  I believe today was taken up with cleaning out desks and watching movies.  What fun!

With Mrs. Carbone

With Mrs. Holder

With Ms. Crook

With Mrs. Haynes and Ryan

With Mrs. Toy

This year has flown by!  Here are pictures for comparison sake.  Wow, have these kids grown and changed this year!!

August, 2011

June, 2012

August, 2011

June, 2012 - I do feel the need to point out that Seth is wearing pj pants because today was pajama day!

Honor Roll and Georgia!

The end of the school year always brings a flurry of activity and this year is no different.

Katey took the EOG tests 2 weeks ago (4 tests over 4 days) and passed all with flying colors!  While we didn't have much worry that she wouldn't pass, it is still a stressful time for Katey and her school mates and we are so thankful to have them behind us!

Friday was an exciting day around here.  Katey was part of the award ceremony for the Honor Roll at the school.  She was in the A honor roll all year long and received a certificate and trophy for all her hard work!!

Right after school on Friday we headed south to Georgia to meet up with Aunt Christy and visit Aunt Martha and Uncle Lee (and cousins!).  We had a wonderful weekend of fun playing in the pool, catching frogs and a turtle, exploring the woods, playing on the tire swing, watching Uncle Lee take off in his plane, visiting church, laying around with Cody the dog and eating lots and lots of cookies!  As usual I was really bad about getting pictures and neglected to pull the camera out while we were hanging out with Mike's cousins.  (I think it was because we were enjoying being together so much that there wasn't time to think about pictures!)  Guess we'll have to have a next time so I can get pictures then!  :-)  

Terrific Kids

We have 2 pretty terrific kids.

Katey ran her sixth 5K last weekend and managed to shave several minutes off her personal best to set a new (personal) record!!  She and Mike crossed the finish line in right at 36 minutes!  As always, Katey thoroughly enjoyed her season of Girls On the Run and was especially excited about the post-race pizza and cake celebration.

Seth got the Terrific Kid award for his class this grading period!  We were treated to breakfast and a presentation of awards.  His teacher wrote a very nice paragraph as to why Seth was chosen for the award and he was all smiles as he heard it being read.  Seth was so excited about this honor that he could hardly stand it and must have told us 10 times how overjoyed he was!  (We won't mention the part about his whining and complaining over being made to wear a collared "church shirt" to school. HA!)

 

We are so proud of both of our TERRIFIC kids!

What do archery and waffles have in common?

They are both new adventures that were experienced over Spring Break! 

I know what you are thinking.  How could waffles be a new experience?  I'll get to that.

Overall we had a pretty laid back Spring break.  The kids were happy to stay in their jammies into the afternoon and enjoy just kicking around and playing outside.  It was a wonderfully relaxing week, with the exception of trying our hands at archery...which was just plain fun!

We learned that wielding a bow and arrow is a lot more difficult than it looks!  We had a one hour session with instruction and supervision and all of us had sore arms by the time our hour was up.  We would all shoot 3 arrows then retrieve them and start again.  Mike had the most accurate round of all of us (all 3 in the yellow circle), but we all had fun and hit close (enough) to the center mark to feel pretty proud.  Check out our form!

Go Mike!  The target on the left was for the kids - half the distance of ours.  Part-way through they put a smiley face (named Squat) on the middle of it and challenged, "I bet you can't hit Squat!".  Seth hit him so we went out for Steak and Shake afterwards!

One day Katey asked if I would teach her how to make pancakes or waffles.  So, we opted for waffles and she was quite surprised when I told her I would help in an advisory role but she was going to do all the measuring, mixing, pouring and cooking.  She was so very excited about this prospect and did an excellent job!!  The only part that I assisted her on was folding in the whipped egg whites as she didn't know what it meant to do that and asked me to help. 

The waffles were absolutely scrumptious and even Seth gave a thumbs-up, which is no small feat when it comes to something that involves his sister! 

 

 

PS - Note that the kids are in their pajamas.  We ate waffles for lunch.  I love pajama days!!

Wacky and Tacky

Last Friday was "Wacky Tacky" day at school in honor of Dr. Seuss' birthday.  If you know Katey at all, you know that this day was made for her!  It seems that no matter how hard I try, she doesn't quite understand what matches and what doesn't (though I think we are slowly getting there).  

For example, she came downstairs one day last summer wearing this and not wanting to change:

So, when I got downstairs on Friday I was all ready for a "great" Wacky-Tacky ensemble.  Katey proudly displayed her chosen outfit exclaiming, "Isn't this a great outfit for Wacky-Tacky Day?"

 

Doh!  Perhaps she isn't making as much progress as I had thought.  :-)  

So it was back to the drawing board and I almost laughed out loud as I heard, "Mommy, can you please help me pick something out that doesn't match?"

The result?  

Presenting, the very whacky, Wacky-Tacky Averill Kids:

Debut

Just after Christmas Katey had her first-ever piano recital!  It was a special day and we were glad to have lots of family in town to witness and enjoy Katey's performance.  She was a little nervous but she put on a splendid performance for us! Katey played:  Sunrise, Skip to My Lou, Turkey in the Straw, Angels We Have Heard on High (a duet with Alison, her teacher) and Jingle Bells.

 

Katey with her teacher, Mrs. Alison

Katey's first recital!!

We were also treated to the musical talents of Aunt Christy and Aunt Joanna, playing a beautiful duet! We hope Katey was inspired by their performance and sees what diligence in practicing can produce!

Shades

This is what I have learned:  I love painting.  I do not love prepping to paint.  I despise cleaning up the painting supplies and mess when I am done.  The actual painting itself is quite relaxing and seeing a finished product, all clean and neat and new, is amazing.  But, perhaps I should limit the work to one room per year instead of 3 rooms per month...

It all started when I realized the kids' bathroom needed a coat of paint.  From there it was an "if-you-give-a-mouse-a-cookie" kind of a project.  I let the kids pick the bathroom color (the choices were green, orange or purple).  They choose orange.  4 coats of paint later (yes, I said FOUR!!), the finished product looks great and is much BRIGHTER than the builder white that did cover the walls.  Check it out:

Once we began talking of painting walls, the kids were really excited and both wanted their rooms re-painted.  Here are the before and after shots of both.  

We (Mike and I, not Seth) were sad to see the cute animal mural on Seth's wall go. A friend painted it on there 6 years ago when we moved in the house and Seth decided he was ready for something a little more "Big Kid". We are all really pleased with the results of all the rooms!!