Casen's Class Photos

I do believe Casen's favorite teacher this year was Mrs. Adams. Casen and her daughter, Charlotte, have had a few classes together in the past and since she and Shane are colleagues, Casen has known her for years and is comfortable with her. She is really a great teacher and knows how to make learning fun. Throughout the year, she has sent us pictures that she has taken during class. 

Casen and Grayson giving their best
'Elvis' look after performing their lip sync
 for extra credit. Afterwards, Mrs. Adams told 
them they were perfect and Casen said,
"Thank you, thank you very much."

They were at colonial school learning how
to write with a quill (which they did not like).

Casen and his group rocked the escape room and
he learned how to open a locker.

Boot camp training for the STAAR test.

Mrs. Adams took her class to Willow Creek Elementary to read the books they wrote to the kinder classes . . . so sweet!

Grayson and Casen - best buds!

Casen organized everyone at the star - made
for a good group shot.

Target practice

Turned into archeologists.

Learning about bees and tasting honey from a
master beekeeper.

And my most favorite picture of all! Apparently Casen accidentally let out at a fart and Mrs. Adams caught the aftermath. I love all the different reactions -  one girl is covering her nose and mouth, his friend Tristan is trying to hold in a laugh, the other girl waving in the back (obviously oblivious to what just occurred) and then Casen, who I can just hear his genuine laugh. That boy!!!

End of School Year Festivities

The last few weeks of school always prove to be a whirlwind as there are award ceremonies and parties. Interestingly enough, at Camden's school they only have an awards ceremony for 8th graders, but I will still toot his horn because he had an awesome year with straight A's in all TAP (Tomball Advanced Placement) classes, and we couldn't be prouder!

Casen's campus is a Great Expectation campus which means they promote a culture of respect and academic excellence. They teach different life principles and expectations for living. At the awards ceremony, each child was given an award based on one of the life principles. I had to chuckle under my breath when certain students who are known to have more 'energy' than others were generally given the word 'curiosity'. :)  Casen said in his particular homeroom, his classmates had input on what word each student should receive. When his homeroom teacher, Ms. Whitley, was announcing the awards and got to his name, her microphone cut out and I completely missed his word, or so I thought. I immediately texted Shane, who was standing on the side of the cafeteria, and asked him what exactly Casen's word was since apparently I missed it. Well, going back and looking at my video, it wasn't that I missed it, I just didn't understand the word or didn't even know what it meant, for that matter! His word was Esprit de Corps and on the award it is described as 'devotion among members of group for each other and the group's purpose'. Not one other student received that word on their award which he and I both agreed was pretty special.

Casen also received an award for Distinguished Honor Roll (all A's) all year as well as Perfect Attendance in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th nine weeks. 

Casen and Ms. Whitley

Me and my smart boy!

Casen also received another award in class from Mrs. Adams, which was the 'Zero Gravity Award. This award went to a student who lifts others up. 

Every year, I receive a picture from Emily Adams with her daughter, Charlotte and Casen. Mrs. Adams is a teacher at Northpointe and Casen was fortunate enough to have her this year as his science and social studies teacher. It sure has been fun watching these two grow up!

Of course before we headed out for our last day of school, we had to take our 'Last Day of School' pics.

                                        

Casen first day vs. last day (he intentionally
wore the same shirt)

Camden first day vs. last day

Shane was given the task of getting a picture of Casen with each one of his teachers.

Mr. Henze

Mrs. Adams

Mrs. Whitley

Casen had an end of the year party and was not opposed to me crashing his party!

Grayson, Casen and Ross

Casen, Tristan and Minh

I apparently missed the day Casen actually received his medals from Field Day. You may recall that he received first and second place in the relay as well as first place in the scooter race. I, of course, made him pose with his medals.

I still really can't believe that 5th and 7th grade have so quickly come to a close. Even the boys agreed the year flew by. We are looking forward to having a fun summer and hope that time slows down just a bit for us to really enjoy it.

Casen's First Homerun

Today, Casen finally hit his first homerun!!! Now I guess that is a bit misleading because he has had in the park home runs and homeruns with coach pitch. But this was the first over the fence dinger, and boy it was a pretty one!

My happy boy!

The Big 5-0

Birthdays are not my thing. I have friends who love having birthdays and celebrate all month long. That just isn't me. I guess I really need to change my way of thinking, especially now that I am on the downslide. Now let's be honest, I probably have been on the downslide for several years, but I like to think that since my grandma lived to be 103, that I might too. But do I really want to live that long?!?!?!? Probably not so much.

So, of course, this being the big 5-0 I was not really looking forward to it. In all honesty, we have been so busy it kind of crept up on me. But thankfully, I have co-workers who would not let me forget it. As I arrived at work today, I was greeted with signs strategically posted throughout the floor of our building, encouraging people to come by and wish me a happy birthday. So much for staying on the down low! As I made my way closer to our office sweet I was welcomed with a large sign.

Once I made my way to my office, I found it to be nicely decorated (finally, since I really have yet to decorate since moving in) with a tiara and sash awaiting.

After dawning the sash and crown, I wandered over to my boss' secretary to speak to her about something and out comes my boss with the following basket. Now if you knew my boss, the contents of this basket would be even funnier. He is honestly one of the most positive, uplifting, supportive  God-fearing people I have ever meet, who unfortunately he is retiring at the end of June. When he handed me the basket, he asked me not to look at everything right then, then changed his tune and told me to go ahead and look at it. I was very shocked when I opened up the shirt. 

I had not been back at my desk very long before my sister texted me and asked if she could come up and bring my birthday card. Well, when she arrived with the card, she too had a basket and it dawned on me that Sarah, my coworker, had set up all of this! She is a jokester and made sure that I was celebrated appropriately. :) The khaki color thing in the basket is underwear with butt padding - which I told her I was actually excited about because I definitely could use them!!

The morning progressed, and next thing I knew, our superintendent, Dr. Henry marched in my office with a Dr. Seuss book. Who knew that Dr. Seuss wrote a book just for us old fogies!!! Dr. Henry was very kind and told me he had a discussion with his secretary and they were shocked that I was 50 as he thought I was more like 30. Right then and there that man became my best friend!!

My co-workers spoiled me with gifts, took me to lunch at Gringo's and then came back to a cookie ice cream cake.

Once I got him, it was practice for both boys, so we scarfed down some pizza and then divided and conquered. Once we all met back up the boys gave me their cards before retiring to bed. You just have to appreciate Casen and his jokester self!

As much as I was dreading this day, I am so very grateful for Sarah and my coworkers for making it a special day! Here's to another 50 . . . .