Monday, July 21, 2008

WE WON!!!!!



My program, Grow and Sing Studios is the winner of Nickelodeon's 2008 ParentsConnect. com Parents' Picks Award for "Best Artsy Class for Little Kids in Orlando, FL"! Parents from all over the city picked us as the best.
Check out our listing on ParentsConnect. com/ParentsPicks !

Sunday, July 6, 2008

Lot's of happenings!

An entire MONTH has gone by without a post. Honestly, I have no excuse but that I've been doing "other things", and haven't taken the time to spend on this. But, I'm BACK and ready to blog some more, and keep all my loyal readers updated on the happenings around here. :)

Actually, I guess now that I think about it, and look back at my last couple blog posts, it's been since school ended and the kids have been around a lot. Also, my huge summer Kindermusik program is in full swing! There are 150 children in the program this summer.. so needless to say, it's been GREAT but busy busy busy!


Okay, so I want to reverse a bit and continue where I left off. The last I posted, we had gone to Anna's Kindergarten picnic, and then that awesome dog park. Well, Miss Browne (Anna's teacher) invited me to join the class for a bit on the last day of school. I got a huge reception when I walked in the door, and immediately felt sad! I realized how much I was going to miss going to that class each month and doing music with them. They asked me to sit in the reading chair, and presented me with a gift. A frame of pictures with me and the kids. The children signed it as well, and made "fingerprint" musical notes. This gift meant so much to me, and is currently hanging in my foyer.

















I stayed for a while that day, and helped out with their ice cream party and just breathed it in while I could. Being there that day and receiving that gift meant much more to me than most would realize. After my father died, I was raised by a single mom who did the most she could while keeping our little family afloat. I always promised myself that if I could, since my mother couldn't, I would be a strong presense in my children's classrooms and various activities. It all sort of came together for me that day that I accomplished that.

So, we've been keeping busy with lots of activities lately, both child centered and NOT child centered. heehee...

Let's see.. first we went to a Luau party some friends threw. It was lots of fun. Without posting any "inappropriate pictures", here's a bit of that party. We also just went out and celebrate my friend Beth's birthday.. but we'll leave those pictures out of the blog --- for now. :)

Rachael and Me

















Kathy, Kristin, Me and Beth
















We took the kids to a place called Monkey Joes. It's bascially a huge warehouse full of bounce houses. I have to admit, Will and I had just as good a time as the kids! I LOVED going down the huge slide. Anna and I did races down that thing. Good times!





















We went down South to visit Will's parents over the Father's Day weekend. We all went to a really great aquatic facility so there a pic from that, and also a family of ducks paid us a visit as we were leaving to go back to Orlando.
















Will's cousin Bill Schmitthenner was in the Orlando area and came by to see us. We hadn't seen him in years so it was great to visit.
















We took the kids to Epcot recently and had a great day.



















The kids have been doing swim lessons, and actually are getting much better. Anna has turned into a little fish. Aiden, well.. he not too keen on the swim lessons, but he can now swim to the side and pull up -- so we know he could save himself which was the goal this year.





















We have officially had Sagan (our black lab) for a year now. Rachael's brother came into town last week, and of course had to visit him. We got this cute picture despite the fact that Sagan is AFRAID of cameras!!
















and finally... 4th of July! We had a GREAT time at Kathy's house this year. Great food, fun and fireworks!
























So that is a month in a post! Wowie! I hope to get better again with the blogging since when I'm doing it, I actually love it. I'm going into week 4 of my 5 week Kindermusik session, and then I'm OFF from teaching for an entire month!! While I'll be busy gearing up for Fall session, I look forward to the time off.

I hope anyone reading this is doing well, and please comment or touch base and say hello!

Love, Holly