#5 - Mother's Day (and my new garden)
The best thing about Mother's Day? Being a mom! I so love being a mom, it's really all I ever wanted to be! So celebrating being a mom is a treat. My family took me to Charleston's for lunch, which is always a favorite. And as I mentioned in an earlier post, we put in a raised bed vegetable garden. Having a garden takes me back to my dad (even though it's no Father's Day). My dad is an old farm kid. You can take the kid off the farm, but can never take the farm out of the kid. And all my life my dad has been growing vegetables in a big garden each year. I honestly didn't really appreciate it as a kid. But I do remember helping Dad water and pull weeds. He is always at his most peaceful when he's digging in the dirt. And now my kids are enjoying watching our first garden grow. Clara just loves to go to Grandpa's and explore the garden with my dad. I love that!!! Those days of roaming around my grandparents farm when I was a kid are some of my favorite memories. So now we have a garden....and even chickens next door. The chicken story is for another day.
#4 - Painting my art out
I've always said, I'm creative, but not artistic. In the back of my brain, I think a little artistic bent might have been squelched as a kid. I do vaguely remember sitting and sketching in a sketch pad when I was in middle school. But that might just have been a brooding teenager thing. ANYWAY...I digress. So, my friend Kristen invited me to go to Paint Your Art Out for a girl's night out of painting. We all painted a poppy, and I have to admit, I really enjoyed it! It was so fun! Of course, spending time with friends, sipping a glass of wine and laughing a lot certainly made it even more fun. But the whole being artistic thing (which is certainly up for debate) was a nice departure from my normal life.
#3 - Clara's dance recital
My mom put my brother and I in dance class one year. We were probably 4 and 5. I was a scrawny little girlie girl and my brother was 200% boy. So, the pictures of us in our dance costumes, with our cat ears and tails.....it makes me laugh out loud even now! In fact, now I'm going to have to go find that picture and get Joe to scan it in for me because it is hilarious!!! And my brother's not on the computer, so he can't kill me for posting it. Again, I digress! So, my baby girl is taking ballet. And she LOVES it, LOVES it, LOVES it. She is a child who takes direction well and loves to learn, so she really does what the teacher asks her to do. So when the teacher obviously told the kids to "smile, smile, smile while you're on stage" she took that literally. During her dance Harrison leaned over and said "her face is going to hurt from that huge smile". I admit, I thought she might be a little timid on stage, she's fairly quiet at school. But....she LOVES the stage! Go figure! After the recital I said "Clara, I think you kind of like being on stage" and she said "Like it? I love it!"
#2 - 8th Grade Dance
As the 8th graders prepared to graduate, they had their big dance at the school. I went to chaperone. I have to admit, it was really fun. Not only watching the kids, but watching the principals and some of the teachers have a great time with the kids. And watching 13 and 14 year olds at a dance....well, there's lot of things to make you smile (and a couple things that scare the foo out of you). I was standing by a table that had several boys standing or sitting around it. All of a sudden the music turned slow and a 6-foot boy comes running (literally) across the room frantically shouting "Sit down! Sit down! It's a slow dance! Everyone sit down!" I was laughing so hard I almost cried. The girls all looked so grown up and beautiful, and the boys cleaned up pretty good too. And what dance would be complete without several 8th graders sucking helium out of the balloons at the end and entertaining themselves with their helium voices. Some things never change! After the dance, about fifty kids went to Hideaway Pizza for dinner and dessert. It was fun watching from the room next door as they toasted themselves with their Dr. Peppers and enjoyed their friendships. This is such a great class of kids!
#1 - Graduation Days
Clara graduated from Sonshine School. It's an end of an era, no more Mother's Day Out for the Pierce family. She was so cute in her graduation cap and gown. It's a little sad to say good-bye to this season. But it is so fun watching who she is becoming as she grows.
Then it happened....Harrison graduated from 8th grade. I'm not sure how that happened! Three years ago he turned 12 and started 6th grade. He wasn't even 5 feet tall. He had a little boy voice. He was a boy!!! Now...he's 5'10", he has a "manly" voice, armpit hair, a size 12 shoe, and he's becoming a young man. Three years people, just three years! Where does the time go? He got dressed for graduation, putting on a tie and the whole works. Then his buddy Braden came by to walk to school with him (which they have done everyday for the last 3 years....waaaaah! That's over too!). And I stood there taking a picture of these two who have been friends since they were babies. Literally! Julie and I met when we were pregnant. They started spending the night together when they were still in diapers. And I started thinking about all the friends Harrison has from school. What a blessing! Honestly, he has such great friends, both boys and girls. Thanks to Harrison's school friends I have made my very dearest friends in the whole world. Merlene and I met when we became homeroom moms together in first grade. Christine and I met because Lawson and Harrison became buddies at school in 1st grade. Robin and I met in 2nd grade, when Rhett and Harrison were in class together. Christi and I met when the boys were in mother's day out when they were 4. Kristen and I met when we were pregnant and Harrison and Jenna hung out when they were babies. Hmmmm....I'm kind of wondering if I'd have any friends at all if I didn't have kids. Weird! Anyway...I'm thankful that Harrison has such great friends and I'm doubly blessed by the friendships with their moms. And now we are all headed to high school together! Watch out world, here they come! And you never know, Harrison might just make the Craig's List. (Hee! Hee! That's one of my favorite Harrison stories. One night he told us he didn't know if he would be able to make national merit scholar, but he was pretty sure he could make the Craig's List. We laughed so hard!)
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