I will be posting my last pictures of this year in a few days!! Stay tuned!! ;D My Last, But Not Least, Newsletter Well, my last newsletter for the year is a long time coming!!! My experiences here at Willow Creek with my first little Intergenerational class has been filled with so many life changing events and emotions, those of which only God can take credit for!!! We ended the year with an amazing graduation ceremony which included a slide show summarizing our year of events filling the room with smiles, laughter, tears, and a majestic feeling of God’s love wrapping around each heart and soul present in the room!!! So many of our parents and visitors that night got a chance to witness firsthand how our little Willow Creek family has grown to be such a strong and vital part of life for us all!!! It was so heartwarming to see my little ones run over and not only give hugs to their own parents and grandparents, but also our Willow Creek family members as if there was never a time they were not part of their life!!! Saylor’s mom had told me she noticed Uncle Kenneth just becoming overwhelmed with emotion when my little ones sang our “Skidamarinkidinki” song, and seeing himself on our slideshow as an important part of my little ones’ lives and year!!! This in turn got Saylor’s mom completely choked up!!! Moments like these filled our night and hearts with memories to last a life time!!! It was definitely a night to remember and one I am SO happy to say was captured on video and shared with everyone of our parents, compliments of Jenifer Reynold’s and her camera man, Chris Cook!!! Could we have been more blessed than this? I don’t think so!!! Each event that has taken place here at Willow Creek has definitely exceeded all of my expectations!!! We have been tremendously blessed beyond measure this year!!! After our graduation we had another week left of school. So many of our grandmas, grandpas, aunts and uncles here at Willow Creek anxiously approached me and wanted to know when the last day of school was. Each individual portrayed sadness of the year ending with my little ones and even had vocalized that I just can’t take the children away from them!!!! YIKES!!!! Talk about a heart wrenching last week of school!!! The sadness was not just limited to our grandmas, grandpas, aunts, and uncles here at Willow Creek, but had also included the staff members who had grown to love all of my little ones as the best part of their regular day!!! Ms. Laura had to be the one person from the staff at Willow Creek who was having the hardest time of all!!! She constantly reminded me throughout the year that all my little ones were not really mine, but HERS!!! Hahahaha!!! HER little ones absolutely adore her and she will, I know, be remembered forever and always!!! Our year and all the activities and interactions had become so much fun and a normal part of our day for everyone involved. Willow Creek had truly become our home away from home!!! Our last Show & Tell activity: Our last Show & Tell with our Willow Creek family was beyond fun and so natural it was a point in time I wished could’ve gone on forever!!! We ended the year with an Ocean theme, as well as a Fun in the Sun theme. I had told my little ones they could bring and share anything from the classroom they liked working with that has something to do with the Ocean/Fun in the Sun. We had sea shells, inner tubes, our small blowup pool, googles, fishing poles, fun sunglasses, and the list goes on!!! Without any prompting, the fun began!!! I heard all kinds of laughter radiating throughout the room. I looked to see Raigan handing the inner tube to Grandpa Lon who was then trying to toss it on her head as she stood still for him with her hands on her knees. The smiles, giggles, and full-blast laughter was priceless!!!! I looked to another area and saw Kellen showing our small blowup pool to Dennis which, within a minute of talking about it, ended up on both of their heads!!! This was hysterical!!! They both had smiles from one ear to another looking at each other under the pool!!! Grandpa Ray was tossing another inner tube back and forth with Lindzie. The giggles were alive and loud for all to hear. Saylor was very involved showing off all of her sea shells curled up on Grandma Mary’s lap so content and without a shadow of a doubt wrapped in love!!! Our little ones made their rounds and had all kinds of fun with everyone who was ready and willing to share and play!!! Another set of moments forever etched in my heart and mind!!! One thing I absolutely love about our little Intergenerational class is that it is just that!!! My children go about their day, but never without a thought or conversation of one or more of their extended family here at Willow Creek. I get so tickled when my little artists are coloring a page and have someone in mind to bless with their master piece. On this day several were very busy coloring the variety of fish coloring sheets I had available to choose from at our hexagon table. Next thing I know Houston comes up to me and says, “Please give this to Uncle Jay.” It was a fish he had colored beautifully. Then Andy walked up to me and handed me his fish and said, “I made this for Uncle Jay,” and proceeded to tell me about his work of art. Next, Joci looked at me and handed me a coloring sheet of a yet a different kind of fish, but this one was not colored at all. I looked at her in wonder and she said, “Give this to Uncle Jay for him to do art work on.” Hahahahaha!!! Oh, how I love my little ones!!! I think it is hilarious and wonderful how, if you take the time to watch and listen, you can pretty much predict what kind of jobs/careers our children are destined for!!! Our last day of school was approaching fast and the anxiety of it coming to an end was beginning to be felt by all. Several of my parents mentioned they would like to try to bring their child up to Willow Creek during the summer for a few visits because their child had grown so close to so many!!! This sparked my idea of having some Summer Fun Days throughout the month of June. It allowed me to be able to handle closing my school year down without it coming to an abrupt end!! Having my little ones all day just enhanced the love I normally have for my class, as well as intensified my emotions for ending our year!!! I decided to keep my class open voluntarily once a week for approximately 2 ½ hours so we could continue our activities with our Willow Creek family and have the time to enjoy each other a little while longer before actually having to say goodbye. I presented it to my parents (which I might add was received with flying colors from all), took a survey of what day works best for the majority, and our Summer Fun Days were off to a great start!!! I allowed siblings to join in on the fun as long as parents stayed to help supervise the extra fun being had!!! Changes: Being in a health facility we deal with a part of life we hope we don’t have to face too often, and that part is death. At the end of our school year, shortly after the last day of school, I was presented with the news that our beloved Grandpa Kirby passed on. It had to be some of the saddest news to handle because Grandpa Kirby had grown so close to all of my little ones including me. He was the one that would make sure he got as many hugs as possible when we walked through his dining room at lunch time to say hi. He was also the one that was ALWAYS able to get all my little ones riled up, full of giggles, smiles, and laughter while he tried to catch their hand in his when he asked them for a high five!!! He was ALWAYS full of surprises and my little ones loved him, without a doubt, completely!!! Grandpa Kirby had a few days here and there where he didn’t feel good but nothing seemed to get him completely down. It was if he held on until the year was over, or was it that my little ones love for him gave him extended life? Hmm…I think it goes both ways. Now I was faced with the task of making sure my little ones knew their Grandpa Kirby was no longer with us because he would be one of the first Willow Creek family members they would look for upon returning for our Summer Fun Days!!! I had contacted all my parents and asked them to please let their child know that Grandpa Kirby was no longer with us. Several parents did not know what to say to their child. Houston’s mom told me that Houston was so worried that Grandpa Kirby fell out of his wheelchair and died and wasn’t sure what to say to him. After taking a moment to think about what a blessing Grandpa Kirby was to all my little ones, how often he talked about how much he loved playing with his own grandchildren and great grandchildren, and how he was always quick to smile and get my little ones to giggle, I knew exactly what I would say to my own little one to explain his absence. I told my parents, “I would just tell your little one that Grandpa Kirby went to sleep with a smile and woke up in heaven.” We will forever love our Grandpa Kirby!!! Our First Summer Fun Day: During the few short days before our first official Summer Fun Day would begin, Uncle Jay approached me and said our garden was doing great!!! This was no secret to me or my little ones!!! Uncle Jay had mentioned at the end of the year he really wanted our kids to come down to the garden and cut the lettuce, but we ended up running out of time. This of course leads us into our first Summer Fun Day activity, but no one had any idea what Uncle Jay was inspired to do with our garden until today!!! He was excited about how our garden was actually producing vegetables!!! He had never done anything like this before in his life but had done his homework on planting, growing, and maintaining a garden and it was paying off!!! The proof was before us, and Uncle Jay could not wait for our little ones to experience their garden completely!!! He told me that there were tomatoes and lettuce ready to cut and eat!!! He thought it would be great if all our kids had the experience of cutting their own lettuce and then eating it. I thought, hmm…this is a great idea but didn’t realize Uncle Jay was taking it to the next step and planning on having all our little ones sit down and eat a full salad grown from our garden!!! WOW!!! What an AWESOME experience for my children!!! Without having to do any preparation at all on my part, Uncle Jay had thought it all the way through right down to cutting, washing, preparing, and eating our homemade salad!!! Our first day back after being gone for approximately nine days was full of all kinds of excitement!!! We were all SO excited to see each other!!! The hallways and classroom were filled with laughter, smiles, hugs, and once again excited chatter not only from me and my little ones, but my parents were excited as well, not to mention our Willow Creek family!!! EVERYONE was excited to see each other and once again be all together!!! One of the first things my little ones did when they got there that morning was look out our windows and check on our Children’s Garden!!! This was just something they constantly did throughout the day and year to check on its progress!!! It was obvious our Children’s Garden was a huge source of pride and excitement for them, not to mention Uncle Jay being one of their favorite Willow Creek family members!!! During our time off from school, the garden had definitely flourished and was in full bloom with all the rain that we ended up with. All the children were beyond excited when they looked at our garden through our windows!!! As a matter of fact, Carson looked up at me completely excited with big, huge eyes and yelled, “MS. GILLETT, MS. GILLETT, LOOK AT OUR GARDEN!!! THERE’S FOOD OUT THERE!!!” Little did he know that we were about to experience our garden like we had never done before!!! We all went to the garden and sat down patiently waiting to see what Uncle Jay had to say and wanted us to do!!! He had definitely thought of everything including the piece of plywood he placed in front of the garden on the ground so all our little knees wouldn’t get dirty!!! Scissors in hand, each little bright eyed person was called up to cut a chunk of our big leafy lettuce leaves which had practically taken over that part of the garden!!! Uncle Jay, being the jokester he so quickly let us know he was, was not without a few jokes up his sleeve. He showed each child where to cut the lettuce while he held it in place for them. A few times he pulled back his hand with one of his fingers bent back showing he was missing one and that more than just the lettuce was cut off!!! When this had happened my little ones would quickly look up at him to find a huge grin on his face and a chuckle in the air!!! Everyone would laugh as we continued to cut our prize winning lettuce!!! After everyone had the experience of cutting our lettuce, we made it back to the classroom to wash our vegetables and get prepared to finish our amazing Summer Fun Day with eating what we had actually grown!!! Uncle Jay had made sure we were prepared with bowls, forks, ranch dressing, and shredded cheese to join our lettuce and tomatoes, and to celebrate eating what we had grown with him during the year!!! WOW!!! Not only did my little ones LOVE their salads but MANY asked for seconds!!! What an AMAZING EXPERIENCE my little ones got to have with their Uncle Jay!!! One that they will remember forever, I am sure!!! This little Intergenerational Pre-K class has done more to inspire than could ever be expressed in words!!! Uncle Jay, a man who never wanted to have any children of his own, has grown to love ALL of my little ones and just can’t wait to figure out what he can do next to ignite the excitement and joy in so many little hearts and souls!!! He has instilled so much in my little ones without even knowing it!!! One thing for sure that has been instilled in so many little hearts, is the love of growing things!!! This had become apparent when Daven’s mom had told me that Daven talks about Uncle Jay and our garden all the time, and gardening is by far his favorite thing to do!!! Another incident was when Saylor was helping her mom garden and plant some flowers and plants they bought at the store. Saylor was very excited carrying them to their designated area, digging some holes, and then covering them up to get them ready to water!!! Her mom told me she was just so happy and mentioned, “Gardening is so much fun!!! This is just like with Uncle Jay!!!” Saylor’s mom also told me Saylor thought they were planting tomatoes, green beans, and lettuce, too!!! Heeheehee Among all the activities my little ones have done this year, the ones with Uncle Jay are by far their favorites!!! Uncle Jay is the one who when asked what his dreams were for the future replied, “I don’t have any dreams…other than to make a green house for the Pre-K kids!!!” And this, by the way, is a project in the making as I speak!!! He had mentioned he wanted our Pre-K to be like no other!!! Well, it is DEFINITELY like no other because…WE HAVE UNCLE JAY!!! Our Second Summer Fun Day: Our second Summer Fun Day we planned to have a Bean Bag Crab Walk Race, Outside Bubble Fun, and Water Fun to end our day. We had a BLAST!!! We began each Summer Fun Day by meeting in our classroom and going to our Self-Selected Learning Centers. It gave all my little ones a chance to spend time with each other, have fun, and get readjusted to being together again after being gone for a week. Our quiet and silent classroom was once again filled with laughter, chatter, giggles, and a glimpse of what our future has to hold!!! During our classroom time our door is always open as an invitation for any Willow Creek family to come and join in. On this day Papa Bill made his way to our room. All of my little ones know we have to make sure Papa Bill is safe in our room for fear of him tripping and falling. Papa Bill is 89 yrs. old and at one time a very established and high ranking officer in the United States Navy. He was at one time a man of high respect and honor. He now has an advanced case of Alzheimer’s and does not connect or clearly communicate with others. The majority of the time he does not seem to look at you or speak with much more than mumblings. Whenever my little ones come in contact with Papa Bill it is as if he comes back to life and knows what is going on at the time. His eyes automatically look at my little ones and he will connect everytime!!! It is such a miracle of God to witness!!! When Papa Bill walked in Kellen, Karlyn, and Saylor ran over and gave him a hug. His eyes lit up and his somber face changed into a smile of joy!!! All my little ones yelled in unison, “Hi, Papa Bill!!!” I smiled at Papa Bill and said, “Hi, Papa Bill. l How are you today?” He looked at my little ones and said, “I fell and hurt my back.” He said this just as clear as day!!! Karlyn and Kellen took him by the hand and along with Mrs. House, Saylor, and Lilyan, began to walk him out of our classroom. Once they got to the lobby area where there were several other people, Papa Bill sat down. Lilyan leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek. Once she did this he looked at her and said with a smile, “Thank you!” At this time a few employees of Willow Creek walked by and stopped in amazement that he was so lucid and talking so clearly. This was no surprise to us, for we have witnessed this several times. Life is so full of little miracles and some of them are only about three feet tall!!! It was now time to have fun in the lobby area and get ready for our Bean Bag Crab Walk Race!!! Ms. Tracy, our wonderful Liaison, was ready for the fun to begin!!! The lobby was full of our grandmas, grandpas, aunts and uncles so we began to explain to all the children and Willow Creek family what the Bean Bag Crab Walk Race entailed. Ms. Tracy and I decided to demonstrate the first race for all to see and understand. I kicked off my flip flops and got ready for the competition. I knew I had to put my best foot forward because I had short little legs compared to Ms. Tracy’s very long legs!!! We got down on the floor in our crab position, put the bean bag on our belly, and on the count of three we were off flying backwards to the end of the room while being cheered on by our crowd of Willow Creek family and children!!! It was a close race but I prevailed when Ms. Tracy lost her bean bag and footing, her feet flew up in the air, and her bottom went crashing to the floor!!! We definitely had a BLAST that day!!! The laughter was so loud you couldn’t help but join in!!! Ms. Tracy handed out colorful Hawaiian lays for all of our participants!!! After we finished with our Bean Bag Crab Walk Race we all went outside on our porch which is connected to our playground. This porch can be seen by all our grandmas and grandpas who are sitting in the dining room. Ms. Tracy was prepared with huge outside bubble wands to work with!!! Several of our grandmas, grandpas, and aunts and uncles came out to watch and join in. Ms. Tracy handed out the wands to the parents who stayed. The wands produced huge long bubbles that filled the air. The children began to run and jump and laugh uncontrollably to try and catch them!!! Everyone involved was blessed tremendously with a day full of fun and joy!! We ended our day with multiple sprinklers cooling the hot summer day and all of my children off. Some of our Willow Creek family sat outside to be closer to the fun while several looked on from the dining room windows!!! The children laughed and played by running, standing, and riding their bikes through the water that continuously stretched from one side of the porch to the other!!! Our day was full of love and laughter and smiles from one ear to another!!! As our time came closer to an end, we wrapped my little ones up in towels to dry off and to say our goodbyes to all our Willow Creek family as we walked through each dining room. When we walked around the corner Zechariah spotted Uncle Jay at the end of the hallway walking towards the other direction. We hadn’t seen Uncle Jay today because he had gone to bed early that morning and was just now getting up. Once Zechariah spotted Uncle Jay he took off running full force with his wet towel in hand yelling, “UNCLE JAY, UNCLE JAY, I’VE MISSED YOU SO MUCH!!!” Uncle Jay stopped, turned around, and braced himself for a running hug, one that not only almost overpowered his stance, but definitely overpowered his heart!!! Uncle Jay blushed with emotion as his faced was filled with overwhelming joy!!! Yes, Uncle Jay is a man who never planned on having any children of his own, but has ended up, not only being adopted by so many little hearts, but adopting all my little ones in his heart, as well. True love cannot always be seen, but can ALWAYS be felt in the arms of a child!!! One of God’s little miracles and blessings we can so easily overlook in the rush of our day. Our Third Summer Fun Day: On each summer fun day the walls and classroom are just filled with the joy children can bring!!! On this day, Grandma Mary walks through our open doors as the children are playing in centers. Once all my little ones see her she receives a HUGE welcome with almost all of my children running up to her wrapping their little arms around her!!! She hugs and kisses them all on the head and cheek and tells each one of them how much she loves and misses them!!! The day has kicked off to a great start!!! Today was an extremely hot day!!! One that was way too hot to have any activity take place outside!!! Ms. Tracy and Ms. Rhonda (both our wonderful and treasured liaisons) and I planned to have some bubble fun for everyone in the lobby. The lobby once again was filled with our grandmas, grandpas, aunts and uncles waiting for the fun to begin. One thing I always tell my little ones is how important it is to smile, but more important than just a smile is a hug because it warms your heart!!! As we walked into the lobby to meet with our Willow Creek family I told my little ones, “Please give a hug if you can. Everybody needs one!!!” When I turned to see what was transpiring, my heart jumped and my eyes filled with tears. So many of my little ones started to give out hugs and made their way completely around the room making sure they gave EVERYONE there a hug to remember!!! Uncle Kenneth received a memorable hug from Carson. This is a picture in my mind I will forever remember!!! As Carson reached up to hug Uncle Kenneth, it was as if Uncle Kenneth held on for dear life. It was as if he was being hugged by an angel and didn’t want to let go!!! I am blessed to have been able to actually take a picture and freeze this memory!!! Whenever I look at this picture, it brings tears to my eyes!!! Moments like these are my treasured moments in time!!! God is so Good!!! Our bubble fun was just that, lots of fun with bubbles!!! Each of my little ones had a bottle of bubbles of their own and got to blow bubbles to all of our grandmas, grandpas, aunts, and uncles to see if they could catch them and pop them!!! It tickled me to see the interaction between the two different generations. There was just so many giggles, smiles, and laughter!!! Just life and love shared by all!!! At one point I saw several of my little ones with their noses pressed to the front door. Carson yelled, “Look, there’s Uncle Jay!!! Let’s get him!” Ms. Tracy called to Uncle Jay who was outside walking D.D. his/our beloved schnauzer. Uncle Jay came in with D.D. and was immediately bombarded with bubbles from several children!! It was Hilarious!!! Uncle Jay’s eyes got huge and the giggles began!!! Ms. Tracy handed Uncle Jay a bottle of bubbles and the bubble battle was on!!! Hahahaha EVERYONE had a BLAST!!! Our Fourth and Final Summer Fun Day: Today is our last Summer Fun Day, a day which we all had hoped would not come so soon. The children gathered once more to fill the air with laughter and smiles and to share some love. Today, Papa Bill came to visit once again!!! Saylor, Maddie, Zechariah, and Raigan all ran over to give him a hug!!! His face glowed with delight as he looked at each little face. This time Papa Bill was wearing a helmet to protect him from any future falls. The children noticed and inquired about this new addition to Papa Bills wardrobe. Once they realized that he now had to wear it to protect himself because he had fallen a couple of times, Saylor and Maddie took him by the hand ever so gently, more so than ever before. They walked him out to the lobby with Zechariah, Raigan, and Mrs. House, too. Such sweet innocence and compassion is priceless!!! Our plan for today included putting on The Three Little Pigs skit for our Willow Creek Family, and of course Water Fun!!! All my little ones were beyond excited to put this skit on and use the houses Uncle Jay and my husband had created!! The houses are tremendous!!! They are huge houses, approximately 3’x3 ½’, made out of cardboard!!! The houses are magnificent!!! Made with real straw and sticks glued on with such care!!! We also had pig noses along with hairy wolf gloves and headbands for all!!! The show was sure to be great!!! Before our day had gotten under way too far, Saylor saw Grandma Mary down the hallway from our classroom and said, “There’s Grandma Mary, Can I go give her a hug?” Saylor’s younger sister, Halle, was there that day as well and said, “Can I go too?” What an amazing display of contagious love!!! Saylor and Halle ran down the hallway and wrapped their little arms around Grandma Mary. Grandma Mary was just completely overjoyed and responded with her usual hugs and kisses back!!! I have just loved how all the siblings that got to spend some time with us this summer seemed to chime right in and share hugs and love with our Willow Creek family, as well!!! What better thing to be contagious then love and compassion!!! Our Three Little Pigs skit was now ready to unfold. We practiced a bit in the classroom with some of my moms helping me out, which ended up being hilarious!!! There’s nothing like performing when you least expect it, and then having to wear a pig nose to boot!!! Hahahaha!!! We were finally ready to put our show on, so we all gathered into the lobby. The room was full of an anxiously awaiting audience which included all our Willow Creek family and parents. We started the music of the Three Little Pigs from Greg and Steve, and the show began!!! The giggles, smiles, and faces of overwhelming joy filled the room and all our hearts and minds forever!!!! Our year might have ended but the life lessons we have learned live on for a life time!!!
Posted on: Mon, 19 Aug 2013 03:37:47 +0000
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