First Race - GREAT job!

 
Saturday Blakely and Drew ran in their first race and they loved it.  They are going to start Road Runners at Brighten after Labor Day.  Road Runners is an afterschool running club that students can participate in.  My nephew, Will, has done it for years and has loved it and the Twins couldn't wait until they were old enough to participate so when I saw Brighten offered it we immediately signed them up.  They can't wait until it starts.  To get them a little bit of experience we decided to do the P.E.T. run this past weekend since we thought most school haven't really started their Road Runners programs yet it might be a smaller race.  We went up to Fairplay park a couple times in the past few weeks to practice a little bit but they really didn't know much around running in a race.  They were so excited.  Saturday we woke up and went and watch Will race.  He did a great job.  He actually had to run a mile and a half!  I don't know how he did it in that heat and up and down hills but he did a great job.  Then we left for a while and came back for Blakely and Drew to race.  Drew raced first and he did okay.  He was a little nervous, confused, and distracted but he finished and for his first race that was all I was hoping for.  Blakely ran next and she did great.  She was a little nervous as well but not quite as much as Drew because she got to see him do it first.  She did a great job and really turned up the heat at the end.  I am not really sure what place she came in but she did get in her words a "Golden Metal"!  I am just so proud of them both for even attempting the race.  I have never been much of a runner so I am pretty impressed with whatever they do because I don't think I could do it.  I also thought that one of them winning a metal and the other not might cause a problem but it sure didn't.  They were just proud of each other also Blakely said I got a "golden metal" this time because Drew you already got one for baseball.  It was so sweet.  I sure do love those kiddos.  Well, we will see how they progress.  They have to run three races to be part of Road Runners so one down two more to go...

Cheerleader in the making???

A couple of weeks ago Blakely started taking Cheerleading class and Douglasville Cheer and Gymnastics and she is LOVING it!  She has taken gymnastics in the past but she never quite loved the bars and the balance beam so I went to visit the gym over the summer and asked them if they offered anything with out those and they did.  They offered a cheerleading class which was exactly what we were looking for.  She has only been three weeks so far but she is loving it and really learning a great deal.  They started teaching her a routine and she has done it over and over and over again about 1,000 times.  It is so cute and my parents say she looks like a little Whitney.  Of course - I love it and I hope she continues to like it but we will see.  There is so much for kids to do these days. 
 

I now have KINDERGARTENERS - What!?!

Today was the first day of school and it is so hard to believe that I have two kiddos that are actually going into KINDERGARTEN!  I can't believe it.  Where has the time gone?  I remember having a hard time deciding whether they needed to go to two day two year old preschool let alone kindergarten.  Time sure does fly!!!  How does those 3 and 4 lbs babies that were born 5 short years ago grow up sooooo fast?  It truly is hard to believe but I am so proud of them and so excited for them.  Blakely and Drew are going to be attending Brighten Academy Charter School.  In order to get in the school you have to take part in a lottery drawing.  When  they did the actually drawing back last March or April we didn't get in but since then they decided to do away with a pre-k class and add a kindergarten class so we got the call a couple of weeks ago and we had to decide.  It was a HARD decision!  I guess since I knew we didn't get in I had just kindof quit thinking about it and just assumed they would go to South Douglas, where my nephew Will goes.  But once we got the call I had to make a decision and I had to make a decision quick so immediately I called Brighten and asked if we could go on a tour and of course they were more than willing to allow us to do that.  Of course it was summer and the classes weren't all put together but at least I was able to see it and ask questions and hopefully understand "charter" schools a little bit more.  So I am glad that we were able to do that but that still didn't make the decision for me.  I had to keep doing my research.  I called everyone I knew that has or has had a child go to school there to get their opinion.  I also researched everything I could find on the Internet - the good, the bad, and the ugly so that we could make our own educated decision about what we wanted for our kiddos.  After all that research and analyzing - we finally decided that BRIGHTEN it was!  So we had to start preparing the kids because prior to this we had said "there is your school!" every time we would pass South Douglas so we had to let them know that they would not be going there and that they would be going to the school that we toured.  I thought this would be a big problem especially since they knew many other kids going to South Douglas and especially because their big cousin Will went there but actually it wasn't too bad and it really didn't take that much convincing.  I am sure they would have loved South Douglas.  I have heard nothing but good things about it but really the decision came down to the fact that we got in so we felt like we needed to give Brighten a try.  We can always go back to South Douglas but we can't go back to Brighten - so here we are on the first day of school headed to Brighten.  They are really excited.  We went to open house last week and got to meet their teachers.  They are Mrs. Folsom and Mrs. Cathy.  They are both lovely ladies and I think the kids are going to love them.  I actually taught Mrs. Cathy's daughter at Chapel Hill.  The class has an Owl theme and of course Blakely loves that.  The open house was wonderful.  Everything was decorated so cute and we got lots of information and got to meet lots of people.  It was also nice to see that we actually knew a lot more people that went their than we really knew about.  So that made us feel a little better about our decision.  You can also see from the pictures that they wear uniforms - which I LOVE!  If you know me you know I love dressing the kids more than anything but this uniform thing is great.  I love not really having to think about it.  It makes the nightly routine so much easier.  Also we don't have to lose all our style (ha ha) because Friday's are what is called "Fashionable Fridays" where the kids can wear whatever they want.  Of course Blakely is really look forward to that!  So today we got up really early so we wouldn't be rushed and we would be ready to go in order to walk in and take pictures - so that came really early this morning but the kids didn't have any problem getting up.  They were actually excited and ready to go.  We got ready and took the yearly front door pictures and then we headed to school.  Once we got to school we walked the kiddos to their class room and took some pictures along the way.  They were really excited!  Drew got a little nervous once we got in the classroom and came over and held my hand but once I said I had to go he was fine.  It was really cute.  I am so glad they like school.  After school my mom picked them up.  My mom and Phillip's dad are going to share pick up duties this year.  Thank goodness because that was one of my stresses about them going to a different school.  I think this will work out great.  After school the pick up line was waaaaaaay long because of course since they are a charter school they don't provide transportation and it was the first day of school so it took quite a while for mom to pick them up but once she had them in the car they were full of stories but once they got to her house and had a snack their energy level went down and went down quick - they were two tired kiddos.  When I picked them up Blakely was a sleep before we got out of the drive way.  Since we have been home and they have re-engergized we have heard quite a few stories and I love it.  They are so sweet and innocent.  They told me all about lunch and recess, Drew told me about how you have to raise your hand, Drew told me his favorite part was making new friends, Blakely told me they got draw and read, they told me about the Owl binders/communication folders and how important they are, they told me about the behavior clips, and so on and so on...  It is so sweet to hear them tell about it.  I am so glad they had fun and that they are so excited to go back tomorrow.  Well - 1 day down 179 more to go....Good Luck Blakely and Drew!  We love you and are so proud of you.