Kindergarten Graduation

Only the Lord got me through this day. Oh my. How can my baby be graduating kindergarten?

It seems just like yesterday we were bringing this wonderful bundle of joy home from the hospital. She takes my breath away. Just beautiful.

You know it's not Emma Claire unless we get a few 'posed' shots! ; )

Here she is in her classroom for the last time enjoying a few activities with her friends before graduation time.

Here come the tears...

We were so thankful that PePaw and RaRa were able to come up and be here for graduation! They even stayed two more weeks to help us watch the boys while we were in Disney and then be here for the kids procedures. Such a wonderful/crazy month.

We look to young for this, right?!?!

Dawson sure was proud of his sissy!

This girl know how to work it. She even stopped in the isle as they were marching in so I could grab a shot.

Click Here to Watch a Video.

All of the children in white robes were graduating the 4 year old class and going to kindergarten. The ones in the green were graduating the transitional class before going to kindergarten and the ones in blue were the kindergarten graduates.

Emma Claire was chosen to lead the pledge to the Bible. Click Here to watch.

This girl has come such a long way. She used to be afraid and cry on stage but now she just soaks up all the fun. So precious.

Click Here to watch a snip-it of them singing. 

Click Here to Watch a Snip-It of them Singing.

Click Here to watch a video of the kindergarten reciting the verse they've learned the second half of the year.

Oh, how we loves Mrs. Streit. She has been WONDERFUL for Emma Claire this year. Besides teaching her to read, tell time, count money, and a billion other things she has also taught her how to love others as Christ would and how to be a better person by being the best she can be. You can tell how much Emma Claire adores her by how wide those arms are spread to give her a gigantic hug. : )

Emma Claire received the award for sweetest smile and aspires to be a cheerleader who tells people about Jesus when she grows up. So proud of my baby!

Click Here to Watch a Video of her receiving her diploma and the turning of the tassels.

Click Here to Watch Another Video.

Camp was so proud of his sister. When he heard her name called he called out to her and she gave him a little wave. : )

Chad Hood, the Education Pastor at Bayleaf, spoke at the end of the ceremony and did a fantastic job. So thankful for the leaders at this church.

Dawson is the typical Baptist. He dozed off during the 'sermon'.

Emma Claire and Mrs. Eva! Eva is the director at LLLC but Emma Claire sees her much more as a friend because she has known her so long. So thankful for her support and friendship.

So proud of our graduate!!

Mrs. Streit made them these wonderful scrapbooks to keep. I'll share pictures of them soon because they are AWESOME!

One last picture with Mrs. Streit and Mrs. Ferrell. ; (

After the graduation we had a wonderful time at the reception. Great fun, great food, and great fellowship.

Do you see that Chester the Racoon made it to the reception? ; )

Things I Like About School

End of the Year Ice Cream Party

I got to help with Emma Claire's end of the year ice cream party. These kids have worked so hard and deserved a yummy celebration! We even added pop rocks to the ice cream for little extra treat. : )

Camp's Year End Water Day

Camp's class had a Water Day to celebrate the end of the year! These kids had a blast!

Last Day of Kindergarten Photo Shoot

This makes me soooooo sad.....she looks so grown! Get ready for picture overload this month as her last days of school and graduation are near. ; (

Up Early

I don't mind getting up early to this face so much! :)

Rat

Went to make a sandwich and this is what I found. Which rat do you think has been in the bread bag?

She Loves Her Brothers

So thankful for Mrs. Streit teaching her to read!

Camp's Appointment Results

Today's appointment couldn't have gone any better than it did! Camp did great, we got great results and we even got to spend some special time with our boys.

After we dropped Emma Claire off at school this morning we headed to our appointment at the cancer center. It was chaos trying to find a parking place which left us getting there right on time instead of early like they had asked. It's okay, we were just proud we made it! : 0

When we walked up everything was going great until we got inside. We were at the wrong cancer center. Who knew that there were two cancer centers right across the street from each other. Great.

Soooo...... Here we are for take two....

(There were really people there. I stole this pic from their website. : )

After getting back to the parking garage and driving over to the other cancer center we were only about 30 minutes late. Oh, well. Next time we'll know where we're going. : )

Once we got inside the nerves for me started setting in. It was super quiet and there was a room full of people waiting to go in for chemo and radiation. People from teenagers to elderly. We were the ONLY people in the waiting room with children and you could almost feel their glances wondering which one of us was there for treatment. You could tell they don't see a lot of children in the practice.

Here are me and my buddy hanging out in the waiting room!

Once we got into the back all of the nurses were wonderful. They were so patient and caring and really took their time with Camp.

Check him out in the big chair! Camp said that he was going to be the doctor for today. : )

He also loved getting his blood pressure taken because he thought they were checking to see how big his muscles were. : ) (Just for the record his BP was 98/69!)

Camp wasn't the only one having fun in the doctors office!

When Dr. Meredith came in Camp did AWESOME. I was very concerned because going to the dentist has always been a struggle. I was not looking forward to manhandling him down again.

When we asked him to open his mouth he popped it right open and didn't mind showing Dr. Meredith his teeth. I was in shock and thrilled all at the same time. This never happens!

The results we heard were awesome! As soon as Camp opened his mouth Dr. Meredith looked at the growth and said I don't know what that is but it looks to be benign and I'll be able to remove it no problem.

EXACTLY what we wanted to hear! Praise the Lord for being so faithful and gracious to our family.

Camp is set to have outpatient surgery on June 12th at the big Wake Med in Raleigh. Dr. Meredith said the procedure won't take long at all and we'll get to see him about an hour after he goes back for surgery.

I'll try to keep you all updated as the surgery gets closer. I already know that hour Camp is away from me will be one of the longest hours of my life. I also know that God will be teaching me many lessons on trust, patience, and peace. Thank you all so much for your prayers today. We truly felt them and God was completely faithful.

After such a great day and appointment we celebrated with Chick-Fila and ice-cream!

Update

I will send out a more detailed post soon but I wanted to let you all know we got a great report at the doctor today. Thanks so much for all of your prayers!

Tomorrows Appointment

This is another one of the many reasons I decided to take the blog private. In times like this when I am going through something personal I don't want to put it out there for the world to see but only those that are like family and who I know will lift us up in prayer. This paperwork is not something I ever thought or ever want to see on my counter again.

We are taking Camp tomorrow to the Cancer Center of America to have a growth in his mouth looked at. It's been there for quite some time and knew the time would come when it needed to be removed. I took the kids to the dentist a few weeks ago for a teeth cleaning and found out two things.

1. It was time for us to be referred and for Camp to have the growth removed.
2. That Emma Claire was going to have to have 3 teeth pulled in the next few weeks to make room for her new teeth. (Ssshhhhhh.....She doesn't know this will be happening.)

Our dentist told us not to worry with the name but rather the oral surgeon we will be going to see.  Up until yesterday I hadn't thought much about it. When the paperwork had come in the mail I just filed it away for another day. However, yesterday as I got it out to begin the process of filling out the paperwork for Camp my heart began to become anxious. Even now as I'm typing it's hard to hold the tears back. I know in my head that this is no big deal. God has this. That they will be putting him to sleep, removing the growth, and everything will be fine. BUT in my Mommy's heart it's hard for me to grasp the thought that I am taking my sweet boy to the cancer center for a pre-op evaluation. What do I do with that?

I can.not. imagine the pain parents feel everyday taking their kids for cancer treatment. This disease is ugly and we live in a fallen world. I can't wait for the day that Christ comes and makes all things new and puts EVERYTHING back in perfect order.

I am asking for prayer for two things.

1. That God would be gracious with us at tomorrows appointment. Every time I take Camp to the dentist I have to manhandle him down for them to clean his teeth. For whatever reason he is terrified and fights it every time. I do not know what to expect at tomorrows appointment so I'm not really sure how to prepare him. I am hoping that they will just take a quick look and we will be done, but I just don't know. 
2. For my heart. That I will fully rely on God's strength and have peace in that. I know they have told me that everything will be fine, but just the thought of walking through those doors sends a chill up my spine.  This is my baby. 

Benjamin will not be able to go but I am very thankful for a small group friend/sister who will be going with me to help out with Dawson. I really don't know what we would do without our small group family.

Thank you all so much for walking through life with us. We think of each of you as family and I will update you all as soon as I know anything. Tomorrow is just a pre-op appointment so it may just be that we find out information for his upcoming surgery.

God's got this.

Love you all!

Look Who's Reading!

My sweet friend, Starla, captured these pictures for me today while Emma Claire was reading a story to her class. I am so thankful for these! Emma Claire was in Starla and Cindy's class last year and I'm just amazed at how far she has come. So proud of you big girl, way to go!

Boo For Finger Sticks!

Poor little buddy has been sick. It finally landed us in the peds office today with a high fever, blood work and oxygen tests. He never cried but couldn't quite figure out the band-aide on his finger. :)

His white blood count was off and his oxygen level was borderline so for now we wait and see. It's been going on for 2 weeks so let's hope our little buddy finds relief soon!

Muffins w/ Mom

Camp's teacher, Mrs. Lyn, sent me this picture of me and my little guy today! : )

Morning Coffee

I could think of better places to have my morning coffee...

Tooth #2 Bites the Dust

Guess who lost another tooth!?

She was sitting on our bed looking through the movie case as I was getting things ready for bed and said 'Mom my tooth just fell out on the bed....' She was so calm that I didn't think it had really fallen out. You know we usually have a lot of drama around here. : )

Needless to say she was thrilled and under the pillow it went.

Now for a little back story. I had been sick fighting off an awful cold all day so I didn't feel well at all. Before I went to bed I took some pretty strong meds that knocked me out for the night. The next morning Emma Claire walked in our room ever so quietly and whispered to me that the tooth fairy forgot to come. My face just froze as I stared at her for a second not believing that I had forgotten when she leaned over and said "It's okay mommy, I know it's you and you didn't feel well last night. You can just do it tonight, okay?"

NOW HOW SWEET IS THAT!? Love this girl.

BTW, tooth fairy take two was a success! : )

Wacky Wednesday

Today was Wacky Wednesday in the kindergarten class!

Taking Our Blog Private

We have been trying to avoid taking the blog private but we now feel it's time to make the change. There are so many crazies out there lurking the Internet and after a few random comments on our blog I feel a bit uncomfortable leaving the kids pictures out there for everyone to see.

With that being said, we would LOVE for you to keep following us!

It's simple.

You have to have a google account. (which is free and you can have it using your current email address)
Then you just have to give me your email address so that I can add it to the approved list.
The first time you visit our blog you will have to log in using your google account but then after that it remembers your information so you don't have to log in again.

We are so thankful that you have been walking with us through life! We hope that you will continue on this journey with us so don't forget to email me your email address if you'd like to stay connected!

We love you, all!!

ashley.quinn@live.com

Mother's Day Gift from Dawson

Love this sweet little fat hand! ; )