Hanging of the Green

The acolytes at our church were asked to help with the "Hanging of the Green" service, and Lauren and Grace had a wonderful time at this special service. They had practiced the Wednesday before the service, and were ready for their parts.  

Thanksgiving Week

Fresh from the groomer and ready for Thanksgiving 

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and that you got to spend time with family and friends.

We have had a very busy fall so a week to relax (and not have school and 1000 extracurricular activities) was such a nice treat. First, we did some work. We decorated the indoors... downstairs and then upstairs in the kids' rooms. While that was occurring, Skip did a LOT of yard work to kind of close out the year and tame some of the leaves. Afterward, we decorated outside as well. After a weekend of work, we took it kind of easy on Monday.

The duo had an unofficial school field trip Tuesday to see the movie "Wonder". We went early and had lunch at one of their faves - J. Alexander's - and then met up with their friends and teachers for the movie. Gracie and I read the book last year, and Grace/Lauren's class included the book in their curriculum this year. I definitely recommend the book to everyone. Most children could probably read this book as early as third or fourth grade, but I recommend it for older kids, parents and literally everyone. Have empathy and be kind is a message that translates to all.

On a day off, they chose to go to the movies with their students. So love them!

Our Thanksgiving spanned from Wednesday to Friday. We started by having Grammie over for lunch (lasagna!) Wednesday, and the trio had a good time catching up. Skip's family got together Thursday for lunch, and the trio had some good cousin time. We went to Grammie's house Friday for lunch and to catch up with relatives near and far. We enjoyed seeing everyone.

Saturday is a big day here locally, what with the Iron Bowl rivalry. I have not been a dutiful fan over the last year (or two, actually), and in keeping with that, I worked on my Christmas cards and some other items during the game. Skip has had a very bad feeling about Auburn for the last couple of years, and it looks like their work finally came together during the last few weeks. Skip and the trio watched the first quarter and then went outside to play football themselves before returning to watch the second half of the fourth quarter. It was ugly, but we are Roll Tide forever, regardless. We had some dinner, watched George process a rare Alabama loss and then called it a night.

The girls helped with the "Hanging of the Green" service (more soon), and then they were ready for resume school... at least for a few more weeks.

Fall Photos

A few years ago, a large piece of property in our neighborhood went on the market. The entire parcel was close to 100 acres and was priced prohibitively. Portions were sold off, but one large piece of land remains. This acreage used to be home to a dairy farm and still has a few old barns standing with dairy equipment inside. The oldest and largest barn was damaged about three years ago and had to be taken down, opening up our view of an expansive field that is frequented by deer. We have to slow while driving past and, when there are deer present, we pull off and watch them.

A couple of weeks ago, we borrowed the field for some family photos.

Prior to our family photos, the trio had "portrait day" at school. Since school photos can be dicey, we took a couple of snaps in the driveway before leaving.  

Since our social media feeds have been (happily) saturated with fall photos, Skip asked whether or not a memo had gone out viz having them done.  

Has your family taken advantage of the foliage as a backdrop yet? 

Election 2017

One day at the beginning of October, Grace and Lauren both got into the car after school, telling me that they had both accepted nominations for the position of school presidency.  A total of six nominees had been voted on, and they accepted, knowing that they would be required to campaign and give a speech to the student body.

We were so incredibly proud of them. They both can be sometimes shy so 1) being nominated by their classmates and 2) being willing to run (and speak!) was slightly out of their comfort zone. That night we decided we would be celebrating the nominations -- no matter what happened later on.

Both Grace and Lauren prepared good speeches using an outline and guidance provided by their teacher. We were so proud of them for coming up with solid, persuasive speeches.

On October 24th, Skip's birthday, the nominees would be delivering their speeches to grades 3 - 5.  We practice for 3-4 days prior to the speech, and they were ready that morning. We're normally pretty relaxed parents, but we were nervous for them. When I picked them up at school, their principal walked over to my car and told me that they were great. She said Gracie really did a great job... she did so well, she wished she had filmed it. Lauren did a great job, too. We are so grateful for some pics from that day.  

Votes were counted the next day, and they shared the news that afternoon. Six candidates were reduced to three, and Lauren made it into the final round.  

We took a few days to process the developments. This election was such a learning experience, and the girls now understand demographics. They grasped the male/female vote split right away, realizing that the two male candidates would get the majority male vote, and that that would then be split between the two male candidates. On the other hand, the female vote was going to be split four ways, between the four female candidates. 

Both Grace and Lauren had assessed their "base". In the past, Grace has helped the first and second grade classes with reading, and she currently helps the kindergarteners at lunch. She also helps K-1 in the afternoons. In short, she is well known with those grades, and Lauren knew she would garner more votes there. After the vote count, Grace said that she would have been one of the final three had the entire school (K-5) vote in the primary versus just the upper grades (3-5). She was able to draw parallels between her personal demographic information and our leaders' campaign calculations. George endorsed Grace very early in the primary saying, "Grace always plays with me."  

Lauren works as an office aide, competes in the spelling bee, runs track and is well known to grades three and four. She was also hoping to pick up Grace's votes with George's friends and other K-2 students. 

Grace’s Presidential Primary Speech from Cathi Lindsey on Vimeo.


Lauren’s Presidential Primary Speech from Cathi Lindsey on Vimeo.

Lauren’s Presidential Primary Speech from Cathi Lindsey on Vimeo.

We rallied around Candidate Lindsey, and she got to work on her speech. She finished the speech early and had a few days to practice at home. On election day, November 7, she went to school wearing the school field trip shirt she designed (have I mentioned that? At the end of last year, Lauren's proposed field trip shirt design was chosen for this school year.). Her siblings and her friends wore their shirts in support.

The three candidates gave wonderful speeches, and I was so proud of each of them. Do not ever doubt future generations. Lauren went second, and we were soooooo proud of her!  

  Lauren’s Presidential Speech from Cathi Lindsey on Vimeo.

The speeches began at 8:00am, and students (K-5) voted at 8:30. We waited all day for the results. When I received the below photo from George's teacher, I had a hint that there may be some good news.

Although Lauren and Grace stayed after school that day for Science Olympiad, George broke the news when I picked him up: Lauren is the School President! He was thrilled for her! Our sweet neighbor, who helped garner some crucial kindergarten votes - the kindergarten caucus, if you will - delivered a special congratulatory note that afternoon.

A compelling campaign poster from Lauren's 4th grade friend

Last week the school posted Lauren's win on their sign. Although I embarrassed them, they agreed to pose by the sign, and Grace was such a good sport about celebrating and supporting Lauren's win.  

Lauren has already started making daily morning announcements. She already loved school, but the honor of being President has put school over the top.  

We recently celebrated their nominations, campaigns, speeches, and Lauren's presidency (+ George's Boy Scout badges) with a trip to Cheesecake Factory. We are so blessed and had so much to celebrate.