First Day of School

Adair, Emalyn and Myla Grant started their second year at Hilltop Montessori School today.  They were all so excited to get this year underway.  Adair is in FIRST grade this year with Ms. Dama and Mrs. Chelsea.  Her class consists of first-third graders and she is looking forward to reading, math, language, art, spanish and music.  She had a great first day and came home chattering on and on about the year ahead!

Emalyn is in 4K this year.  She is Miss Roopa and Miss Stephanie's class.  She and Adair had Miss Roopa last year, but their other teacher, Ms. Marcia, retired at the end of the school year last year.  Emalyn will definitely miss Ms. Marcia, but she is excited about having Miss Stephanie!  Emalyn's class is 3-6 year olds and she will go Monday-Friday until noon.  She is most excited about their new class pet, Rooney, who is a chinchilla.

Myla Grant is in the toddler program again this year.  She has Mrs. C and Miss Rebecca and will go Monday-Wednesday until noon. Miss Rebecca is new to her class this year. Myla Grant hesitated as she walked into her classroom, but had a great day.  I hope she will come out of her shell a little more this year.

We love Hilltop and are looking forward to a great year of learning and growing!

Adair's Painting Party

To celebrate with her friends, Adair had a painting party.  To prepare for her party, Adair created her own masterpiece by decorating her cake.  She and her sweet friends had a blast painting canvases and making melted bead art.  

Adair is SIX!

The precious baby girl who made us parents is SIX today and headed to first grade in the Fall!  She is the light of our lives!  She is bright, inquisitive, kind, loving and an amazing big sister.  

To celebrate turning six, Hank and I took her on a special trip the the American Girl Store and Bistro in Atlanta yesterday.  She chose Caroline as her gift and we had a blast at lunch and enjoying her special cake.

We also celebrated at home with cinnamon rolls for breakfast and ice cream cake for dessert.

Last Day of School and Birthday Celebrations

It's hard to believe the last day of school is already here!  The girls have all had a great year!  Hilltop has been a blessing to us this year.  The girls have learned so much and it has been amazing to watch their minds expanding day by day.  It has been an incredible year of growth!

Myla Grant loved her sweet teachers!  Miss Stephanie and Mrs. C.  She learned to count and recognize numbers, letter sounds and to recognize many letters, she is great at distinguishing size and stacking/nesting things.

Adair and Emalyn's lead teacher, Ms. Marcia, is retiring this year after teaching for many, many years.  She has been such a blessing to the girls.  

Adair has learned to read, write, add, subtract, multiply and divide, among so many other things! 

Emalyn has learned to pour, spoon, trace metal insets and cut them out, recognize many letters, order numbers, among so many other things!

We also love Miss Roopa!  She has been such a sweet spirit in Adair and Emalyn's classroom!

One of the neatest things about Montessori is the way they celebrate birthdays.  Since Adair and Emalyn have summer birthdays, they got to celebrate on the last day of school.  The birthday celebrations at Hilltop are a true celebration of life.  Both girls were celebrated separately.  Each of them was seated in the middle of the circle of children and invited to share pictures of and answer questions about their lives.  Then their class sang to them as they held the globe and walked around the "sun" to signify the number of times the earth has circled the sun since they were born.  Each celebration is individual to that child and such a neat experience!

Adair circled the sun six times...

and Emalyn circled the sun four times.

End of the Year Recitals

Adair and Emalyn had so much fun taking ballet at Children's Dance Foundation this year!  They both looked forward to their recital for months and got so excited about dressing up in their costumes and dancing on stage.

Adair also took violin lessons for the first time this year.  She learned so much!  By the time the recital rolled around, she could play 5-6 songs from memory and got to choose the one she wanted to play for the recital.  She chose "Song of the Wind".  She did a wonderful job introducing herself and playing her solo.  I worried about her being nervous, but if she was, she didn't let on.  She did great!

He is Risen INDEED

But the angel of the Lord said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified.  

He is not here, for he has risen, as he said."

Matthew 28: 5-6

Jesus is risen!  Praise the Lord for the gift of our salvation!

After celebrating the resurrection at church, we had fun with our own egg hunt and Easter baskets.  

The girls love hunting the eggs and discovering what is inside of them!

Myla Grant's Teddy Bears' Picnic

We had a teddy bears' picnic to celebrate Myla Grant's birthday complete with paw print cupcakes, honeybear drink bottles and a bear's favorite snacks...teddy grahams, honeycomb cereal and gummy bears, of course!  Myla Grant enjoyed playing with friends and family and blowing our her candles.  It was such a fun day!