Milestones......

Today was such a big day. This morning Shannon and I went to an awards assembly at Kerman Christian School. We proudly watched our daughter, Mia receive an award for Citizenship. She is such a great Citizen! Then, we proudly watched our son, Rich receive awards for Citizenship, Student Council (he was the president for one quarter, and the classroom rep. for another quarter), and then the most highest achievement of them all, he received the Principals Honor Roll. In order to receive the Principals Honor Roll you must receive a 4.0 GPA. This year Rich set a goal to receive straight A's for all 3 quarters, and he did it! Things got a bit iffy, but in total Richie style he pulled it off!

These two kids are just the light of my life. I call them my "Pride and Joy"!

Rich being my Pride. He makes me so proud. He defeats, and concurs everything he sets his mind to. Any goal this boy of mine makes he accomplishes. He has total pride in himself, and it definitely shows. He is not a quitter. He will finish everything that he sets out to do. Not only will he finish everything, Rich will make sure he is doing his absolute best! He does not halfway do anything. The impression he is leaving, and the role model hie is being for his younger siblings, and friends is such a good one. Everybody that comes into contact with Rich has great things to say about him. What mother wouldn't be proud to have a son like this! I feel so blessed to have Rich in my life. He is one of the best gifts that God has given to me.

Mia being my Joy. This little girl fills me so full of Joy on a daily basis. She has the best personality and the cutest face! Everything she does, she makes it the best time of her life. When Mia smiles the world gets just a little bit brighter. The confidence she has in herself amazes me. She loves her freckles, she loves her bright red hair, she loves her silly toes, she will try anything new, and to embarrass this child is almost impossible. (Well, unless Dallas Nord walks into the room, then this strong willed little girl turns to mush and hides.)

So today I celebrated my "Pride and Joy" moving foreword in their lives.

Mia's ceremony was perfect! Her teacher (my Mother, Mia's Grandma) gave each child a gift certificate to Berians for reaching their reading goal. Mia read 400 books! She gave each child a candy bar award. Mia's candy bar award was a Symphony. The reason Mia received this award is because she is always singing or humming. It was so cute because after Mrs. Newman explained to the class what a Symphony actually was, Noah, Mia's friend said "because Mia is always singing" What can I say the kid is musical. Then she handed out the Diplomas. When Mrs. Newman gave each child their Diploma she said "Now you are officially a First Grader!" That just brought tears to my eyes. I wasn't ready to hear that. Last night I laid in my bed and tried to imagine my little girl sitting in a school desk all day. No circle time on the carpet any more. In a class with second graders (the class will be a 1, 2 combo class). I tried to imagine her do a spelling test, taking a math test.....TEST! My little girl testing! Oh the stress.......on me of course. Then I asked her if she was going to miss circle time, and she said "no, it hurt my back!" She is definitely ready to move on, so I guess this means I have to be ready too.

Rich's graduation was great too. His Principal, Mrs. Rahal, opened with a wonderful speech about how each child has left a lasting impression on the school, and that the prayer of the staff of KCS might leave an impression on each child. Oh Lord, I hope so. The staff all 10 years of Richie's attendance at KCS has been wonderful. Yes, I said 10 years. My little boy has been at KCS since he was 2. He went to Preschool there when my Mom first started her venture into teaching. Richie's life has been centered around Kerman Covenant Church. We attend church there, and he goes to school there. What a wonderful thing to be able to say about your life. So anyway, back to the graduation. Each child was given the opportunity to say what their favorite memory was at KCS. Rich said he couldn't remember anything. I think it was overload. Trying to remember your favorite memory from the last 10 years of your life is hard. He chose to talk about 6th grade camp. I'd like to think he chose that because I was there........Probably not, but I can dream.....right! Then each kid was given an individual award from the teacher. Richie's award was a Leadership award. My son the quiet Leader. I really hope this is a trait he takes with himself throughout his entire life. It is one of his best, among many, qualities.

So that's it! Their off..........

Here some more pictures of the day.

Mia's Kindergarten class.

Now they are all big First Graders!

Richie's Sixth Grade class.

Now they are Seventh Graders!

Mia posing in front of the class Cake.

The cake says....Onto 1st Grade!

Rich and his best friend of 12 years, Cole.

Rich and another great friend, Jacob.

Mia and her best friend, Alyssa.

Mia, and paper Mia.
After Richie's graduation Shannon and I took the kids to Perko's. We started talking about how important this night was. It was the first time our family had a big day like this. Two members of our family shared such an important milestone. Then we started figuring out all the other days in our lives that would be similar.

Check this out............

• When Codi graduates from Middle School, Shannon and I will be graduating from College with our Bachelors Degree.




• When Rich graduates Middle School, Shannon and I will be graduating with our Masters Degree.




• When Codi graduates from High School, Linsey will be graduating from Middle School.




• When Rich graduates from High School, Mia will be graduating from Middle School.




• When Codi graduates College (being that it only takes him 4 years to do so) Linsey will graduate from High School.




• When Rich graduates College (cross your fingers for 4 years), Mia will graduate from High School.

Isn't that neat!