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Tag: evie

Gifted

A couple of months ago, my phone rang. It was a local number I didn’t recognize, so I almost didn’t answer. I caught it on the last ring, just before voicemail would have picked up, thinking that it could be one of the kids’ schools calling.

The woman on the other end of the phone introduced herself and said she was calling about my daughter. Based on recent test scores, they wanted to test her for a program for exceptionally gifted children and she was calling to ask my permission. Say what?!?

It is no secret that my children are all very smart kiddos. The two older kids are both involved in the gifted program at their schools and have always done very well in school. I’m pretty sure that Caleb will follow right along in their footsteps in a couple years as well. I mean, hey, they all take after me, right? Seriously though, I don’t want to sound like I’m bragging, but they are all very intelligent kids.

This whole thing took me totally by surprise though. For one thing, I had never even heard of this program. For another, there are only two (yes, 2) other kids in her grade level currently in the program out of the three school districts that it covers.

To make a long story slightly shorter, I agreed to have her tested and she passed and even I was impressed with the results of the IQ test. Yes, I knew she was a smarty pants, but whoa.

However, there was still a lot to consider. Going into this program would mean changing schools and school districts. Since she just changed schools last year, I worry a little about uprooting her again. Plus, we have to consider transportation to/from school, lunch costs, and before/after school costs (which are much higher).

Then there is the social impact. Evie is a very social little girl and always has been. At the new school she would be going into a classroom with only a few kids in her grade level. They do join the other regular classes for recess and specials (music, art, p.e., etc.) during the day, but the majority of time is spent in a very small group.

The educational experience though, is so far above and beyond what she can get in a regular classroom. It really would be amazing for her and allow her to really excel.

So we went to visit and check out the program. The first thing we found out when we got there was they she knows the other two kids that are in the program – one from her kindergarten class, and the other from preschool. (+1 in the social department!). The other kids in the 2nd/3rd grade class told us all about the kind of projects they have been working on and a little about how they do things in the classroom. We were also given a quick tour of the school by the girls. Then we got to see some examples of the coding project that they have been working on.

All in all, Evie was very impressed. We went in not knowing for sure if this was something either one of us wanted to do, and left feeling pretty certain that it was the right thing for her. She is very sad about leaving the school she’s at now, but is also now excited about going to a new school and experiencing all that it has to offer.

It will mean a lot of schedule wrangling and adjustments, especially since the kids will not even be in the same school districts. I hope that we find it is worth it though. And, if she doesn’t like it or we find it just isn’t a good fit for her, she can always go back to her home school.

I’m still a little blown away by the whole thing, but it really is happening!

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Kindergarten Graduation

evie's kindergarten graduation

The school year is nearly done. The kids have three days left (thank you, snow days!) before summer officially begins. Zach and Evie have both had a really great year this year. Evie is reading like a champ, surprising me every day with all of the big words she can read. Zach has excelled well beyond his 3rd grade level this year. We’re busy scrambling around with all kinds of end-of-year activities, but the most notable was Evie’s Kindergarten graduation. I put together this little video of photos and video of her graduation and wanted to share it with you. It isn’t perfect, but it is my first shot at combining still shots with video. Enjoy!

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Celebrating Four

While I was off in LaLa Land (otherwise known as maternity leave) Miss Evie had her fourth birthday. Turning four was a VERY. BIG. DEAL. It was the first year that she really grasped the concept of what a birthday is and she was crazy jealous that her cousin turned four a few months before her.

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She insisted that her birthday party be held at a place that had bounce houses and inflatables. Most of her cousins have had these parties and she was not going to settle for anything else.

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The place was a bit crowded (and HOT!) but Evie had an absolute blast bouncing and sliding with her friends. Her theme this year was Tangled (I couldn’t tell you how many times she has watched this movie!) and, as usual, her Aunt Tanya made her an awesome cake!

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She received some awesome gifts from her friends and bounced and played until she was completely worn out.

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Caleb made things really easy on me by sleeping through the entire party on his cousin’s lap.

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I’m both excited and sad to see her turn four. This year has started out pretty rough so far behavior-wise, but there have been a lot of changes in our house with a new baby around and it was expected. She is growing up so fast and tries so hard to act older than she is, pushing all the boundaries. I want to enjoy this year with her because I know that year five brings so many more changes and my little girl will soon be a big girl.

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Through the Lens

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I’ve been missing my camera lately. It has been sitting on the shelf, packed safely inside my bag pretty much since we came home from our vacation. I did take it out to snap a few photos when my cousin and her family were visiting, but I haven’t taken the time to really photograph anything. I’ve been looking at some amazingly creative photos online recently, and have felt discouraged that I don’t have the time to experiment with my camera the way I would like to. Then I though about just how long my camera has been sitting on that shelf. Huh.

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After dinner last night, I decided I was just going to shoot. Maybe just a few lifestyle type snapshots of the kids – anything just to get my finger clicking again. Since Zach refuses to let me take his photo, I ended up snapping 20-30 quick shots of Evie. A few of her playing with Thomas the Train set, then we went outside and she played in the yard while I snapped a few more.

My Sunshine

I realized later, while I was looking through the photos I shot, that I’ve been missing out on a lot of her smiles lately as well. I’ve been tired and short-tempered lately, and that is probably only going to get worse over the next 6 months or so. Giving her a few minutes of my undivided attention made her so happy.

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Sometimes, it really is the small things that matter the most. Funny how sometimes I see things so much more clearly when I’m looking through the lens.

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A Random Saturday

I’m not feeling very wordy today, so I thought I’d share these photos from Saturday afternoon. It was absolutely beautiful outside so I bribed the kids to let me take photos while they played. They are mostly of Evie, as Zach refuses to let me take a decent picture of him these days. They were so happy to be playing outside that I couldn’t get them to come in for dinner!

My Little Model

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All Around the Mulberry Bush

Seeing as it has been nearly a month since I wrote anything here, I suppose it is time to get my fingers back to the keyboard and share some earth-shattering news. Except, I don’t have any. Well, nothing earth-shattering anyway. I’ve been busy and just generally overwhelmed with life these last few weeks, which seems to happen often. One of these days I swear I’m going to get my act together.

First off, I am a bad, bad, mommy blogger. I let my beautiful baby girl’s 3rd birthday go by without so much as a mention on my blog. I’ve wanted to post something about it, but just haven’t had the time or the words to do so. She had an excellent birthday, with a super fun Dora Fairytale Adventure birthday party. This was the first year she got to invite friends to her party (we’ve done family only parties before). A friend of mine who is starting up a party planning business helped plan it, and it was much better than my standard at-home birthday parties. The birthday girl certainly enjoyed it!

78/365 - Just after blowing out the candles

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Behind the scenes, I’ve been working on getting my photography business set up. I’m definitely not a pro yet, but I’m taking some little steps to make things legal. I filed my d.b.a. a few months ago, and just last week set up a separate business checking account so that I can track my income/expenses. I’m also working on some marketing/branding stuff so that when I’m ready it will just be a matter of sending it off to the printer. I still have a few more things to do to feel like I’m official, but I am legal enough to be in business at this point. I’m just nervous about making that jump. I absolutely love photography, but I know I still have a lot to learn. I’m hoping to get a few more (non-family member) sessions in over the next couple of months. I’ve pretty much exhausted my kids and my niece/nephews with all of the photo taking. Here’s one of my favorites that I took of my niece a few weeks ago.

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I still see imperfections in every photo I take, so I know I need more practice. However, I also know I love nearly every portrait ever taken of my kids – perfect or not – so maybe I can make it fly. I’m a little stuck in the “I need more practice to take better photographs, but I need better photographs to get people to want to hire me so I can get more practice” conundrum. Or maybe I just need more friends willing to loan me their kids.

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On top of all that, I’m still stressing out about summer day care for Zach. I pretty much just stopped looking because I needed to just stop and breathe for a while. Sadly, ignoring it is not making it go away. The end of May is coming up very quickly.

Oh, and then there’s the really fun thing that happened on Friday – my car blew up! Well, it may have actually been easier if it did blow up, but it is broken (again) and undriveable until we get it fixed. I’m ready to trade it in, which we most likely will do, but not so ready to have to make car payments again. In the meantime, I’m driving hubby’s car, which we just had to put new tires on and he thinks needs a new starter. It works most of the time, but every once in a while just decides it doesn’t want to go. Kind of makes me wish we lived in a city where cars were not a necessity.

There are so many other things, but not enough time in the world to write it all out. My lunch hour just does not last long enough.

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