Don't look now, but Freddie Pressley is a preschool graduate!
The ceremony was great - Freddie led his class (alongside Emily Claire Smith) in the Lord's Prayer - and according to Mrs. Delalio's announcement, he wants to be "a digger man" when he grows up.
He will be GREAT at that.
If you ask Freddie, though, the highlight of the whole experience for him was likely riding the school bus from the Early Learning Center to the main campus. He's been very sad about the fact that he never got to ride one, and JoJo did it on the regular (going from school to PE and school to the library as well as to three different field trips), so when torrential rain made it necessary to transport the graduates, I knew he'd be thrilled, and was he ever thrilled.
It was also pretty cool that Jeremy was asked to deliver the closing prayer at the ceremony. Afterwards, the boys and I had lunch with my mom at the Blue Rooster, and after that, we headed to Lake Chatuge for our first visit of the Summer.
Like a lightning strike, our year at HCA has come to an end. I am so grateful for the incredible experience that we had there. Should things not work out in our homeschooling adventure, I would feel 100% comfortable sending the boys back to Haywood Christian. In fact, we're already planning to be on campus at least once a week. Mrs. Herbert has cleared us to attend chapel, so I'm so thankful for that!
As a service project, the HCA Early Learning Center (also known as "Freddie's preschool") just participated in the St. Jude's Trike-a-Thon. The kids raised money (Freddie's goal was $100, and he made it to $126, thanks to both sets of grandparents and the Pressley Group's Benevolence Fund, which didn't exist, until I just now named it that!) and learned bicycle safety every day for a week.
The whole thing culminated last Friday when the entire preschool rode in the Trike-a-Thon.
This was one of the cutest events I have ever been a part of. As a service project of their own, the elementary students served as the littler kids' "pit crews." They did everything from washing bikes to passing out water bottles to walking alongside the little boys and girls who were worn out from nearly ninety minutes of pretty persistent pedaling.
Oh, and Jones did a fair amount of dancing.
As he does ...
Both boys were assigned to the Purple Jelly Beans team. This, of course, made for the perfect opportunity for all of us to show our Paladin pride, because honestly. What other article of purple clothing would a little boy who wants to name his future sons Bo and Luke Duke (as Jones announced last month) have?
Jeremy dropped off Freddie's Hot Wheels bike and his Spider-Man helmet after letting the boys out at school. Then, he and I showed back up at HCA right around 10 a.m. I'd been asked to take pictures for the preschool, and Jeremy was there, just because he's a good daddy who is blessed with the luxury of leaving the office whenever he wants to, so long as there isn't a client sitting across from him (seriously. I do not discount the gift of this).
Freddie did great for the first 30 minutes or so, and Heaven knows, Jones was MADE for HIS role as official cheerleader and tire cleaner. But just before 10:30, I saw Freddie walking in the bike lane, as opposed to riding in it.
"I'm scared," he told me when he got to me, giant crocodile tears streaming down his face. The crush of 36 boys and girls on bikes was making him nervous. Exacerbating the whole thing was the fact that he'd been up the nite before, scratching his eczema. I'd finally given him some Benadryl around 1:30 a.m., hoping it'd calm his skin down enough to let him get back to sleep, so he was tired - and itchy - and, understandably, uncomfortable with how many tiny tires were racing around a tight track.
I held him and gave him some water and reminded him that God is his Helper and that He is always with him. Both Jeremy and I prayed with him and let him rest for a minute but also told him that he HAD to finish his race, that God calls us to run the race with patience. It was MONUMENTALLY important to me that Freddie not give up.
Obediently - but timidly - he got back on his bike. Not long after, I noticed the super sweet school-wide Teacher's Aide walking along side him. She'd seen him struggling on the other side of the course and walked with him, every lap, for thirty minutes or more. When his teacher, Mrs. Burke, offered to walk with him instead, Freddie said he wanted to stay with the aide, Mrs. James.
Soon came time for a race-wide popsicle break. When the resting was done, Freddie hit the course again, this time with Mrs. Burke on one side and the brother who loves him more than he'd be willing to admit on the other. It started to rain, so just after the kids got back to riding, the teachers decided they'd just go three more laps. Mrs. Burke and Bobby Jones walked each of the three laps with Freddie, and when the race ended, a jubilant five year old ran over to me and said, "I want to give you a hug, Mama! I did it!"
He did! And in doing it, he learned the valuable lesson of perseverance and also the importance of coming alongside those who need a little help. As I told Mrs. James in the thank you note I gave her after school that day, "The lessons of this morning will last that little boy a lifetime."
When I picked him up from school yesterday, Freddie repeated something that I assume Mrs. Burke told the class that day. "We didn't have a winner for the Trike-a-thon. The REAL winners were the kids of St. Jude's," he said, rightly acknowledging that the money raised would go to help those sweet, young patience.
But Freddie, for finishing a race that he wanted to quit, will always be a winner in MY book. I have rarely been more proud of him that I was then.
Jones with Mrs. Clackett's son, Josiah
If you look in the background of this photo, you can see
Jeremy and his Mini Me standing the EXACT SAME WAY.
The "car wash" was so cute.
Sweet Mrs. James
When he'd finished, he ran up to me.
"Mama! I wanna give you a hug!"
I love Jones in the background of this picture.
Jones and Colton Rochester
helped Freddie park his bike.
People who take school pictures must be some kind of magicians, because the boys have now gone through three rounds of them, and each package as been as incredible as the last one. Here are their Kindergerten and Pre-K pictures.
Call me biased, but I cannot get over the cuteness.
In what was their first order of business as official HCA Redwolves, Jones and Freddie (and Jeremy and I) went to a pancake breakfast fundraiser for Redwolves athletics. Held in the gym at First Baptist of Maggie Valley, the whole experience reminded me so much of all of those Hot Dog Suppers I grew up going to at Oakwood. Such happy memories.
The boys ate their pancakes, and I was able to talk some with Mrs. Rochester (Senior School Administrator) about who Freddie's teacher will be (Mrs. Clydette Burke) and how enrollment is up this year (Yay!). I'm really glad we went.
Afterwards, we headed to Staples to buy school supplies. About that, I'll just say this: school supplies are WAY more expensive than I remember them being, and the boys' lists consisted of a LOT of things that I'd expect the school to provide for itself. As I paid for Post-It Notes, several reams of copy paper, garbage bags, 3 different kinds of tape (Scotch, masking, and moving), and more, I had to ask myself, "What exactly is our tuition for?"
Still, Jeremy and I dutifully did as we were asked and walked out with $185-worth of way more than crayons and glue sticks. The boys were very excited to see it all spread out on the kitchen table and to fill their brand new pencil boxes with their new wares.
Less than two weeks until Jones Pressley is a Kindergarten man (Freddie starts on 8/27)!
Don't look now, but Freddie Pressley is a preschool graduate!
If you ask Freddie, though, the highlight of the whole experience for him was likely riding the school bus from the Early Learning Center to the main campus. He's been very sad about the fact that he never got to ride one, and JoJo did it on the regular (going from school to PE and school to the library as well as to three different field trips), so when torrential rain made it necessary to transport the graduates, I knew he'd be thrilled, and was he ever thrilled.
