Busy Weekend!

It has been quite the weekend! It seemed like anything that could have happened or be planned was this weekend!

On Friday, we went to Tony's parents' house for dinner. Tony's Uncle George was in town from Kansas and treated us to Gina's, a local pizza place that he basically will visit JUST to eat there! Bradlee was quite entertaining by pulling his own pants down and walking around and sitting on Tony to read his books! :)

The Flushing Relay for Life was Friday - Saturday, and Tony was asked to DJ for it, so while he was getting ready to set up, Lynne, the kids, and I walked around to check out the different campsites. Here they are enjoying their animal suckers Aunt Lynne bought them!

Friday night, Bradlee stayed at Tony's parents' house and I took Emma home. I "let" her sleep in my bed with me (which she LOVED) and Saturday morning we were up early to go see TOY STORY 3!!! It was SUCH a good movie, and Emma just loved it, too! Here she is with her 3-D glasses on!

Then we went to lunch at Jimmy Johns. At first I wasn't so sure Emma would eat well, but one she started, she ate about 3/4 of her sub, plus some chips and lemonade! We then went to a co-worker's house to help her get ready for her daughter's open house that afternoon. I helped by making some pasta salad and some brownies for all the people she was going to have come over! They have a trampoline and swing set, which Emma had a ball playing on...all I have to say is thank God for "sneaky skirts"!!

After the open house, I took Emma to her friend, Maddy's, house for a birthday party. Maddy and Emma have gone to school since Maddy was born (since she's younger than Emma!)...they've been buddies ever since.

Once I picked Emma up after Maddy's party, we went to visit Tony at his DJ gig - which was an open house! Then we went back to his parents' house to pick up Bradlee. While we were there, we had a surprise visitor!! The best man in our wedding, Steve, was visiting from Florida with his daughter, Kaiya! They came over for a little while so the girls could see each other and play together for a bit! It was like they had just seen each other the day before, and not about 6 months or so ago!! They picked right back up and played like best friends again. It kind of reminds me of a friendship I have with someone! :) I hope Emma and Kaiya remain friends for a long, long time!!

On Sunday, we went to my sister, Kat's, apartment for a Father's Day brunch...I have a few pictures of that, but will post them in a separate blog post! :) Sunday night I played in a concert in Saginaw...then we came home and C-R-A-S-H-E-D..... :) It was a great weekend full of family and friends, but I'm so glad it's over! LOL

An event I forgot!

A few weekends ago, Emma and I travelled to Grand Rapids for the baby shower of one of my best friends, Lauren! Lauren lives in Kitchener, Ontario (Canada), but her mom and sister live in Grand Rapids, where she's also originally from! Lauren and I were music majors together and CMU, lived together our last year there, and also walked in graduation together! I'm SO excited and happy for both her and Scott (her husband) on their expectant arrival (due in August)!!

Mom of a Kindergartner...

Yep, you read that right! I am now the mom of a Kindergartner! Emma "graduated" from Pre-K on Friday...I just don't know where the the time has gone!! Here is a picture of her with her teacher, Mrs. Walters:

The flower between the two of them is one that Emma picked out, along with the pot and saucer, to give to Mrs. Walters on the last day of school. She also drew a picture and wrote "Mrs. Walters, Thank you for helping me grow! Emma Coggins" on it and we laminated it and put a Popsicle stick on it and stuck it in with the plant. Emma has had such a great time in Pre-K this year and has come home having learned so many new and awesome things. Case-in-point: "Mama, did you know that another name for a caterpillar is 'larvae' and another name for a cocoon is 'pupa'?"...amazing. She's done so well and I am SO happy she had Mrs. Walters! When I picked Emma up on Thursday afternoon, Mrs. Walters pulled me aside and told me how much she's enjoyed having Emma in her class...what a kid!

When Tony picked Emma up from school, he was informed that they were having a little "show" for the parents! Emma and her friends/classmates performed "I'm a Little Tea Pot", "The Three Little Pigs" and "Who Let the Alphabet Out?" for all the parents. Then they each received a "diploma" saying they are ready for Kindergarten!!

Tony also got some pictures of Emma with her friends and other teachers! One thing we are sad about is that some of these kids she's gone to school with since she started going to the nursery program when she was 8 weeks old (or when they were born and started coming!)!! She will not be attending school with most of them, since she will be going to one of four elementary schools in the district...here she is with only a few of her bestest friends!

Here is Emma with Mrs. Edsall. Mrs. Edsall is the pre-school teacher Emma had last year and also the head of the before/lunchtime/after school program Emma attended until Tony or I picked her up. Emma was telling me about all the things Mrs. Edsall has taught her, "The Pledge of Allegiance, the Thunder song, and she brought in Turtlini (her turtle) so we could sing to it." Mrs. Edsall's son, Danny, was one of Tony's favorite students, so we all have a special place in our hearts for her! :)

The other two teachers Emma had this year were teachers she's known since she was born! Terri (on the left) was one of her teachers at the nursery (and Bradlee's, too!) and Sarah (on the right) is her best friend, Maddy's, mom! We've known these ladies for a long time and have gotten to know them professionally and personally...we love knowing that our kids are in good hands!!! As you can probably tell, they love our kids like they would (and do) love their own!

Next it was on to pick up Bradlee from school. He will be in the same place next year, but Tony still got a picture of him with two of his "buddies"...Miss Gina ("Nina" - on the left) and Miss JoAnn ("O-An" - on the right) are with him every day and he talks about them all the time! Miss JoAnn is the one who taught him how to do the "Obama Bump" - although she calls it "knuckles"!! :) Oh, and that's Boomer that Bradlee's holding! :)

Tony and I had a hard time deciding what to do with our children's education. Our choices were Holly Schools (they are a Schools of Choice, and Tony teachers there), Flint Schools (HA!), or the Catholic school system. Tony and I both went to Catholic grade school through 8th grade. He attended public high school and I continued at Powers, a Catholic high school. While both of our educations were excellent, we just felt that with the state of the economy (including our own personal one!) and the availability of opportunities, we just couldn't pass up sending our kids to Holly. Not only does it show that we support the school district that Tony teaches for, but it will offer Emma and Bradlee so many more opportunities than the private school system. The ONLY thing I will miss them receiving is the religious-based classes...which means we'll have to do "CCD" (they don't call them that anymore, but that's really what they are!) for the sacraments in the church...big deal, right?! :) Tony and I are extremely confident that our kids will get a quality education...and I think we've already proven to be correct!

HOORAY!!! SCHOOL'S OUT!!!

Happy Summer! :)