1st Grade Here She Comes!

OMGoodness....where has the time gone!!  We have been so very busy since school ended that I haven't posted any blogs! But it's not like I don't post everything on FaceBook anyway!

This summer has been all about swimming, playing, reading (Library challenge), dress-up, make-up, Descendants 1 and 2, and of course the big "6th" birthday!  Bella has grown up so much this summer. I love her reasoning, logic, sense of humor and tender heart. She is quite the big girl now...but she still loves her snuggle time!

It's hard to believe that 1st grade begins next Thursday!! Bella knows her teacher's name and will get to meet her Tuesday evening during "Meet the Teacher" night. She is looking forward to being back in school. She loves to learn new things and can't wait to see her friends! I'm going to miss our all day fun time, but I'll be taking and picking her up each day from school.

With school starting comes our extra stress and worry. Everyone worries about school germs, etc., but we stress over it.  Our goal is to keep Bella out of the hospital this school year. She doesn't want another repeat of last year (nor do we). Even though a few boys made fun of her wearing her mask at school she is determined to keep the germs out, so if she has to wear them again she says she will. (Thank you, Elli, for coming to her defense!)   Just a friendly reminder to keep those little sick one's home!!  And maybe talk to the kids about not making fun of other kids!

So we will celebrate 1st Grade, new friends, old friends, and more! Here's to learning new things and new adventures!!

Bella you will soar high in 1st grade...love you so much!

Summer Reading

Well...I signed Bella up last week for the Summer Reading Program at the Library. She wants to read enough books and check out books and receive a tiny stuffed beaver!  "Grammy I really want that little beaver! I will always and forever remember I got it from the Library for reading!" She has been reading to me, the baby cousins, Meme, Mommy/Daddy, Papa, Great Grandma Betty and any one that will listen!  She is doing awesome!!

This week

SO Thankful

Wow!!!  Between CF Awareness month (which is coming to an end in about a week), Great Strides and Kindergarten Graduation this month has just slipped by!!

Our Great Strides walk was a huge success! Bella's Brigade raised $25,588.00 and I still have a couple more donations coming in!  AMAZING!!!! Bella's team ROCKED Great Strides!!

I can't believe we now have a 1st grader!  Bella's graduation was so cute. The kids all sang great and they were just so darn CUTE!! Today is their final Kindergarten Field Trip...bowling and then a picnic in the park. Mommy and Daddy are with her for this!

We have so much to be thankful for as this school year ends. Bella loved school, she made so many friends, she adored her teacher, she learned so much and is excited about being in 1st grade next school year. We are so pleased and proud of her accomplishments this year and she stayed healthy and grew stronger in body and mind! So thankful that she only had a single set-back and she bounced back from it and has never looked back!

So now we have a summer full of fun activities, family trips, and more. Summer will fly by but we will make the best of every single day!! 

Bella's Brigade Day

Thursday was such a special day. Rejoice School had a Bella's Brigade Day to show their support for Bella and Great Strides!  Seeing such support for her touched my heart!

When Papa and I take Bella home sometimes we take the "scenic route"...which means we drive through Stone Canyon!  The other day when it was just me driving her home and we got to the intersection she says.."Grammy? Can we take the scenic route?" (Sure!) "Good...I like the scenic route!"

Today when we were out playing she started talking about calling me later.."Well..I will call you around 8:30 or 7:30. Maybe 9:30 or maybe 10:30. No..wait..I might be asleep...maybe I can call you in the morning before the Walk. Or I can call you at 7:00 at Kalydeco time!" (You call me anytime you'd like sweetpea!)

Today all the way to Olive Garden (we were having lunch and then going shopping!) she decided to read. So she read from her "Big Purple Book of Beginner Books"..she picked "A Fish Out of Water". I am so impressed with reading! I love when she sees exclamation marks at the end of a sentence. She REALLY gets into those! It's so cute!! (Yes...I am a very proud Grammy!)

Tomorrow is Great Strides 2017!! The weather looks like we are going to have a great day! Can't wait to see everyone! Bella is very excited about the Walk as well!  She plans on taking LOTS of pictures with her camera. (I will probably take a few with mine! LOL!)

Count Down

We have a double count down this month!  Great Strides 2017 is May 13th and Kindergarten Graduation is May 23rd!

Where do you want to eat? "Braum's!"

Of course May is Cystic Fibrosis Awareness Month and I'm sure most people are ready to "unfriend" me during this month!  But getting awareness spread and research money raised is the only way we will ever find a cure for CF and I will never stop until a cure is found.   Danny's walk for Bella's Brigade is today in Los Angeles! I can't wait to see pictures!!!

Friday, Bella's class (and the other Kindergarten classes) will all be wearing Bella's Brigade t-shirts in support of Bella.   Rejoice School staff, parents and kids have really touched our hearts!  I am so very happy that she is going there. And speakiing of school....... how did the end of this school year come so quickly??  Bella is happy and sad. She is ready to swim and play, but she is going to miss her friends and especially her teacher!  She gets a little teary eyed thinking about saying goodbye.  She has been practicing her graduation songs and I have to say they are going to look so darn cute up there singing!!!
"Grammy I am going to be scared!" (So will all the other kids, too!) "There will be lots of people!" (Yes, but they will all be there to clap, smile, cry happy tears, and celebrate your big accomplishment!) "You will probably have happy tears." (Oh..I can just about promise you I will have happy tears!!)  I do plan on bringing kleenex!!  Papa told Bella that he will turn the pool heater on the day school is out. That helped Bella get even more excited for Summer!

Bella spent the night and we "camped" in the family room last night. She only woke up once and asked if it was time to get up... 4:02 a.m. .... (No! Let's see if we can't sleep in just a little longer!)

Birthday Bash

Just realized I missed last week's post!  OOPS! Bad Grammy!

Bella and I went to the Aquarium last week to finally see the sea turtle exhibit. It was really cool and Bella loved it! We plan on seeing in many times this summer..along with the zoo and other places for great adventures!

This week has been a few more firsts for Bella...Testing all week. We practiced filling in bubbles in preparation! And this week Bella tried the school pizza! She said one friend just smiled and another friend looked shocked! She loved the pizza and can't wait to try it again and maybe even something else!

This week ended with the Kindergarten Birthday Bash! What a fun afternoon...carnival games, food, face painting!  Bella and all the kids had a great time!!

It's hard to believe that school will be over in 3 1/2 weeks!  Where did the year go??

Happy Easter!

This past week brought another first for Miss Bella.  She got to participate in her first school Easter Egg Hunt!    She also has her last Sight Word list mastered!  She will turn it in Tuesday when she goes back to school.  We all signed off on List 22!!  

Being silly..waiting for Olive Garden to open!

"I'm getting up front now!"

Her friend, Elli (some will remember her as "Four"..when Bella just couldn't remember her name when school first started and she was making friends!) came over Friday after school. We had lunch at Olive Garden with Elli and her mom and brother, too!  The girls had so much fun playing at the house.  Burkley came over as well!  

We will have an Easter Egg hunt here later today. Tonight Momma and Daddy are going to the PAC so we get to have a special overnight visitor!  Happy Grammy!!  We plan on going to the Aquarium Monday. We are going to feed the turtles, stingrays and see the sea turtles!  She is so excited!!