End of School Year Festivities

Even though the last week of school is oh so hectic with all the awards ceremonies and end of year parties, it is an exciting time for the boys since it means summer is finally here.

Mrs. LaFountain, the GT specialist at the elementary, school sent me this photo of the boys last week that she took during their GT showcase, which was a time that the 4th graders shared their GT project with the 6th graders and vice versa. Ms. LaFountain is a great teacher whom the boys both really liked and we are going to miss her!

Yesterday I started my morning at Camden's school for the 6th grade awards ceremony. He received an award for All 'A' Honor Roll all year, Perfect Attendance for three of the four nine weeks, a certificate for one-hundred AR (accelerated reading) points and also the President's Education Award. He has had a wonderful academic year and we are so incredibly proud of what an amazing and dedicated student he is. His teachers love him and he has left quite the footsteps for his brother to follow in. 

After the awards ceremony, I headed right next door to the elementary school to volunteer for Casen's Fourth Grade Step Up Party. It was originally planned to have all sorts of outdoor activities, including some water games, for his party, however it had rained and there was a possibility of more rain, so most everything was moved indoors.  It fortunately turned out to be a beautiful day - and was even a little cool outside!

The PTO mom's decorated the 4th grade hallway.

Grayson and Casen

Casen and Evan

Evan, Aiden and Casen

Crazy that I was wearing a light jacket in May!

Casen got his face painted - she did a good job!

Mrs. Qualls and Casen 

Mrs. Reese and Casen

He ended up getting more 
face paint. :)

Today was the last day of school, which meant the last day for us to have a kiddo at the elementary school and the last day for Camden to be at the Intermediate campus. Although I know they have grown, I don't feel like they changed that much in looks this school year compared with others in the past.

Having worked in a school for 12 years and being married to a teacher, I am always extremely grateful for the love and dedication teachers have working with students day to day. Since COVID, parents and kids are not like they were. Let's face it, they can be down right ugly and have no problem chewing someone up one side and down the other and blame teachers for everything. It seems (according to some parents) that kids don't make mistakes anymore and instead the parents blame anyone they can instead of letting their kids own their mistakes. Believe me, I have been on the receiving end. I feel the least our family can do is remind them how much we appreciation them by giving them an 'end of the year' gift. This year was one of my favs because I loved the message (thanks to the creativity of my boss). Our teachers received this as well as a gift card to one of their favorite restaurants.

Since I took off yesterday to attend their events, I decided not to take off today, so missed Camden's Step Up Party and Casen's awards ceremony. I gave Shane the job of getting some pictures of Camden's Glow Party, which apparently was not the best idea, since he only got candid shots. Shane said he didn't want to embarrass Camden . . . he is better than me, I would have made Camden pose for all sorts of pictures, LOL.

Hungry Hippo - which Camden
said is so fun!

Casen's teacher. Mrs. Qualls, was kind enough to send me some pics of him during his awards ceremony as well as him after. I am so grateful for kind teachers who think of us other working momma's and do their best to share pics of those events we aren't able to attend. Casen received 10th place in Mileage Club, all A's for the past 9 weeks, Academic Excellence award for participating in the GT Showcase, President's Education Award and a Certificate of Achievement for showing significant growth in mathematics according to the Star Renaissance Progress. 

And one last picture - when I was going through Camden's sketch book from art, I found this pic of a skull he sketched. I am always in awe of his art work and love that he is able to draw. I can't wait to see his continued progression.

Now, let's have a fun summer!

A Weekend of Celebrations

We have had a weekend full of celebrations. We started out the weekend at one of Casen's teammates house for a pool party. The boys all had a great time playing together in the pool as well as outside of the pool and we all enjoyed great food!

Sunday at church was Mission Sendoff for the students and leaders who will be going on their mission trip this summer. Camden will be going on his mission the second week of summer and is looking forward to it.

And just because she is so dang cute and Casen loves to take pics with her, I had to share a sweet pic of two of my babies. 

Sports Filled Weekend

It was another weekend full of soccer and baseball. Both boys had tournaments in their respective sports. Camden and three other boys from the 2010 team play with the 2009's during the year to help them out whenever the 2010's don't have a conflicting game. Personally, I prefer watching the 2009's because they play 11v11 on the big field and the older they get, the more fun it is to watch. He had one game on Saturday and then an early 8:00am game Sunday morning. If they were able to win both games, then they would head to Tulsa, OK at the beginning of the summer for a national game. Unfortunately, they came up short in their second game, thus ending the 2009 season.

Casen's tournament this weekend was at Baseball USA. Shane's parent were in town, so they were able to attend several of the boys games this weekend and I am embarrassed to say that I didn't take a picture one with them in it!

 Earlier in the week, there was a school shooting in Uvalde which left an impact on many people. I am not going to lie, it hit me a little harden that others in the past because the student's who lost their lives were 4th graders, just like Casen. One of the teams we played, wore #Uvalde strong jerseys and prior to playing the game both teams took the mound and prayed together. 

Just as Camden's team came up short, so did Casen's. Despite a second place finish for the boys this weekend, I enjoyed watching them do what they love.

Last Elementary Field Trip

Another last for us, the last elementary field trip. The fourth grade class went to the movie theatre and saw a movie about animals and then headed to Jeurgen's Park to eat their lunch and play for a few hours. Parents were not allowed to go to the movie theatre, however we could join them at the park. Fortunately, I received a few pics from one of the 4th grade teachers whose son, Grayson, is Casen's good friend. 

Hadrian, Grayson, Aidan and Casen

Casen was a bit sneaky . . . prior to the field trip I had to sign a form saying if Casen would bring his own sack lunch or if he wanted to bring a snack lunch provided by the cafeteria. Casen wanted the cafeteria sack lunch, so of course we sent nothing. When he arrived at the park, he told me that he did not have a lunch because he didn't have his ID (since they were not required to bring their backpacks to school), which was required to get it. So I left and went to pick him up Whataburger to eat. When I returned, his teacher told me that she had extra ID's for all the student's in case they didn't have theirs and he could have gotten a lunch. Ornery boy . . . 

 

Casen and his classmates.

I am so glad the kids had the opportunity to have a field trip this year. It was a beautiful day and they all seemed to have had a great time.