DOLLYWOOD...........again!!!

We went to Dollywood AGAIN! This time, we spent the night at a new place called Maples Motor Inn. It was a nice place to stay and was really cheap! If you want to see their prices, just go here: http://www.maplesmotorinn.com/ and click on their rates! They post their rates for the entire year so you can decide on when is the best or cheapest time to go! REALLY clean rooms! We got to ride a lot of the rides with very little waiting! REALY good time to go! I LOVE Mark's Schedule!!!! We went both days that we were in town and then RACED back home to Creston's Baseball game. We do a lot of running, but are having fun doing it!

Snow on my blog still.....

Question:

WHY does Martha still have snow falling on her blog??????

Answer:

BECAUSE, it's STILL snowing here where I live!!! It snowed/hailed in my general area yesterday evening and last night!

I'll take the snow down when we plant our garden.......which won't be until after May 19th! That is the time that my father-in-law says is safest to plant without fear of stuff freezing in the ground! We SURE don't want to have to re-plant!!!!!

The Circus!!

My friend Paulette and I took our boys to see the Circus that was in town! It was cute. They had some trapeeze artists and a buffalo and a camel and a BIG snake and an alligator and some little dogs....some balancing acts and several clowns! It was CUTE! It was even better that we got in for FREE!!! Yippee for FREE!!!

Kindergarten Registration for Creston!

Today was the day that we registered Creston for Kindergarten......as you know, we've been struggling about whether or not to homeschool him....and I've been working with him here for the last few months to see how that would go.

I found out a few things while doing this with him...........

1. I found out that he is VERY SMART and actually is getting a lot of stuff NOW that he wasn't getting a few months back.....(I suppose that's the way that it goes!).

2. I found out that I have very little patience for doing this, but muddled through it.....sometimes crying because I felt like such a failure for not knowing HOW to get my child to understand certain things (however, I would usually take a few breaths, and figure out how to exlain it after a period of time)....

3. I found out that it is very difficult to get Creston to keep his attention on what we are working on while Mackie is running around or hollering from the confines of his room....

4. I found out that Creston does best in the morning hours and not very good at all after lunch.

5. I found out that more than anything, kids learn at their own pace and just because Creston can't count from 13-20 doesn't mean that he won't be able to in another month or two!

6. I found out that anything is possible if you put your mind to it and if you work hard enough at it.

Which leads me to the following...

I found myself starting to think about what it would be like for Creston and for me and for Mackie if we DID send him on to Public School. The thought of this frightened me after I had spent so long thinking about keeping him home. Would this be best? Would I be doing this because I am a lazy parent that doesn't want to be solely responsible for his education? What would everyone else think if I did?..........or if I didn't? I acutally started making myself sick thinking about all of the "Ifs". Mark and I talked about it and decided that we would go ahead and do what we needed to do in order to get him registered with Freedom Trail.....(our local elem, school is closing down after this school year). We would do the medical paperwork and get everything together and go to the Registration and decide after we had seen what they had to offer him.

I prayed and prayed that we would do the right thing for Creston......and once we drove onto the property....a peace came over me.....suddenly, I wasn't worried about it anymore...we hadn't even yet set foot inside, but I knew that it would be o.k.

Once inside, Creston was taken to the K-Classroom while the parents had a meeting in the cafeteria. After the meeting, we went to get Creston and did vision screenings, dental screenings, and he was fingerprinted (for us to have a record of his prints!). After all of that fun stuff, we were invited to eat lunch in the cafeteria with the boys! I told Mark to make sure to explain to Creston what to do when getting his lunch and then we ate and then Mark took him and showed him where to put his trach and tray when he was done.

He seemed to really be at ease in the place, and so were we. I was really and truly impressed with the staff, the building, and the general feeling that the people there truly care about the kids that are at that school! Mark actually knows QUITE A FEW of the employees there either personally or through the High School or School System in General. We wouldn't feel like we were leaving him with strangers. That means a lot to us!

Soooooooooooo.....................we have decided that Creston will attend Public school this fall. Now we begin the fine task of getting all of his "stuff" together so he can go. Supplies, clothes, ect.

I think all in all, he'll like it and he'll have fun! I sure do hope so at least!!!

Waiting in line for the vision screening...

Waiting in line for the Dental Screening....(Mackie is a NUT!!!)

I liked his bunny necklace!!!

Creston's FIRST T-Ball Game!!!

Tonight was Creston's FIRST T-Ball Game!! We were all so excited! Mom came up to watch him play too! He had quite the cheering section there for him!

This was taken JUST before the game when Mark got there! Creston was so excited to see Mark! When he first saw him, he jumped up into Mark's arms!

Here is the "Cheering Section"! Ethan Church played his game just before Creston's game, so his parents and grandparents were also there....we sat with them, then they sat with us!!

All the kids and Parents assembling before the game...

Getting the kids into the "dugout"...

He Definately had their attention!

AndACTUALLY held it!!!

Here is mom...........Mommy was FREEZING TO DEATH!!! Even with her coat on! Next time, I'm bringing her a heated blanket!!! :o) Love you, Mom!!!

Creston at bat!!!

Yay Creston!!!

Creston Running to Second!!!
The Padres take the field!!!

I posted this picture because of Creston rolling his eyes...he is rolling his eyes because Mark is getting on to him for kicking dirt on the field........something that Creston loves to do.........and also something that wound up getting dirt into another little boys eyes just a little while after I took this picture. The little boy was fine, but needless to say, Creston got another talking to about kicking dirt and why he WASN'T going to be doing it anymore!

A shot of Creston running to get the ball!!! He really likes to do this! he'll run for it and SLIDE to the ground....then get up and run around and back to his spot!

Mark & Lynn watching the game!

Paw-Paw providing support before Creston hits again...
The end of the game! Eveeryone shakes hands!

After the game we all ran by McDonalds and then home! I had to take this picture 4-5 times to get everyone looking at me without making silly faces!!! :o)

It was a REALLY good game! He had fun and we had fun and there will be MANY more games to come!!! THANKS again, Mom, for coming up to watch! Creston was glad that you were there!!!

Everything is updated!!!

OK everyone who follows this blog! I have FINALLY updated everything up until yesterday! Please go back at least to the first of March to look over anything that I have added since I last posted that I was updating!!! All of this Dress Making that I've been doing, and our beach trip and being puny have really put a kink in my blogging updates!!!! I'll try to do better!!!

T-Ball OPENING CEREMONIES!!

We attended the Opening Ceremonies for the Avery County Little League today. It was really cute!!!

All the kids got their uniforms and got to run out on the field with their teams! Creston is on the San Diego Padres! Cute little group of kiddies!!! Their first game is Monday night at 6:30pm and then they play again on Friday at 5:30. Wish them luck!!!

He didn't want to be 2 inches away from me! I think all those people scared him a little!

Waiting...

Running out onto the field!!

Standing with his team!

Ethan Church and Creston! We TRIED to get them on the same team, but it didn't work out. They'll get to play each other, though!!! So cute!!!