Preschool Graduation

Well, it is official! Elizabeth has graduated preschool and is headed on to Kindergarten next year. Thursday, May 21st, was her graduation day! She got to wear a cap and gown. Thankfully, we didn't have to buy those. She did get to keep her 2009 tassel and receive a diploma certificate.

The program was adorable. It started out with a photo slide show of the class photos for our kids "class" starting from the 2's through the 4's. It was amazing to see how drastically some of the kids have grown up and changed. Then it went through each 4's class. First with the class photo and then a few photos of each child. It included a baby picture, a few from school, and finally their picture in their cap and gown. Very cute.

The children entered the worship center next. Mr. Music (who visits once a month at school and is also named Chris) played the graduation precession on his Saxophone. Then Mr. Chris (Pastor of Music and Worship) led them in several songs. The kids were adorable. They even played their recorders (which they got to bring home) for us.

That was followed by the handing out of the diplomas. Several of the teachers were very emotional during this part. Each set of teachers haded out the diplomas to their class. The kids gave each teacher a big hug (well, most of them did). Elizabeth was eager to get back to her seat.

At the end each child was given a carnation. I could see Elizabeth's initial disappointment when she didn't get a red one. That girl and her favorite color red! Then they exited out of the worship center.

Unfortunately we're fast discovering that our not so old digital camera is old and slow and not so good at catching shots. We missed quite a few cute photo opportunities because the camera or Katherine was not cooperating. I ended up having to leave the ceremony a few times because she as loud and squirming too much. I think she would have loved to be up there on the stage with Elizabeth.

The good thing was that both the camera and Katherine kept me busy enough that I didn't have the opportunity to shed a tear! Phew, that was a relief. There had been quite a bit of chatter between the Mom's about bawling about this milestone accomplishment during the graduation ceremony. I'm glad I escaped that one.

Afterward we returned to the classroom to get Elizabeth where we got a few more photo opportunities. The teachers were also presented with the adorable picture frames that all of the parents had chipped in to have made for them. (Many thanks to Sarah who headed up the idea.) The kids then gave their carnations to their Mom's. Katherine had run to give Elizabeth a big hug and had quickly claimed (as she decapitated it) the carnation for her own. Then we headed down to the multipurpose room for cake and refreshments. It was a wonderful day and a big milestone!

You can view additional pictures here.

MS Walk

This is the 4th or 5th year that I have participated in the MS (Multiple Sclerosis) Walk. This was the first year that I was going to run the event. Many thank yous to my family and friends that supported me in this event. I exceeded my initial $250 fundraising goal! If you wanted to make a donation but didn't get a chance yet, they are still accepting donations until mid June. Here is the link to my participant center.

The local National MS Chapter had changed things up quite a bit this year. We were walking in a new location and there was very little information on the website. That was a little frustrating. There was no map course and the only time listed was for check in. So I was there at 7:24 for checking in. They don't make out your shirt so you have to sign in to get it. There was hardly anyone there. After I checked in I found the coffee tent and got a cup of coffee. Then I found my way to the information tent where I learned that the walk was not starting until 9am. I also found a turn by turn written out course instructions for the 2 mile and 4 mile courses. NO map. GREAT! It really seemed like they were not that organized this year at all. That was a bit disappointing.
With at least an hour and a half to kill I was bored out of my mind. Alison was unable to make the event so I was on my own. I did find another really nice gal, Stephanie, that was walking the event on her own and we started talking. We both have girls similar ages and a few other things in common so we hit it off. She was walking for herself since she was diagnosed with MS not so long ago. I had not even thought about bringing a camera, so Stephanie offered to email me her photos. Thanks to her I have some great shots to share with all of you.

Before we knew it, it was finally 9am and Larry Sprinkle started talking on the stage. They had us do warm up stretches.....only to talk for almost another 30 minutes. They had a beautiful balloon release. Each balloon represented a participant that had MS. for each person

Finally at 9:27 we started to move. The bad part was that the first couple of sections we were suppose to stay on the sidewalks. Imagine 1500 people of different paces trying to all stay on the sidewalks. Some cyclist had showed up to participate and I was sure I wasn't the only runner in the bunch.

I started jogging on the shoulder when there was no on coming traffic and caught up to the lead motorcycle cop. I asked if it was okay for me to run ahead and he said it was fine, but I was on my own for traffic. I was fine with that so I was off and running. Shortly there after 4 other runners joined me. We lost one runner once we crossed the road.

I figured if I could just keep them in sight I could keep going. We all took our own little walk breaks along the way. We'd catch up to each other and then fall back off and on, too. There was not a single water station over 3 miles of the 4 mile course. The first/last water station was when we rejoined the 2 mile course. I am guessing that was at the last mile maker. We really had no idea how far into the run we were at any point.

While taking one of my last walk breaks, I looked over and I was walking next to my new friend Stephanie! I was glad to see that she was doing well on her 2 mile walk. I was loosing sight of the other runners in the mix of the large crowd of walkers, so I picked the pace back up. I joined up with one of the other runners and we finished the last uphill run together. I crossed the finish line at 10:07am. I ran/walked 4 miles in only 40 minutes! That's a 10 minute mile pace. My legs certainly felt it.

I stretched out and chatted with the other runners. We were all surprised that there were not more runners there for the event. Then watched to see if I could see Stephanie cross the finish line. I didn't see her, but she saw me! We chatted a bit more and had our picture taken together. I look forward to getting to know her better.
It was a beautiful, warm, and very humid morning, but it was not raining! Well, at least it didn't start raining until I was almost home. Thank you again for all of your support!