Michael's 6th grade

Michael had a great 6th grade year this year.  He was involved in scouts at church- here he is conducting a meeting so that he can get his communications badge.

He and I go running sometimes.  We did a 3k at the school in the fall, it was a neon color run, they gave us glow sticks and we ran.  He's fun to run with and he likes to make funny faces at the end. He took a parkour class at Flips gymnastics.  In that class, they make obstacle courses out of the mats and then try to see how fast they can jump over and run through the mats.

 He also did percussion.  He mostly played the marimba, but there were several other drums and instruments that he got to play at different concerts.  I don't think he ever got to play the triangle. ;)

 Over the course of the year, he got straight A's all year.  He also got good citizenship all year.  He was awarded a principal award.  That award is given to two students (one boy and one girl) from each class who were exemplary in grades, citizenship and all around likeable.

Here he is on the first day of kindergarten and the last day of school.  I took the picture after school, and he had just run through a serious rain storm so he's pretty wet.  Now he's on to the Junior High, it's really quite unbelievable.

Ellie's 4th grade

Ellie had a great 4th grade year.  4th grade here is the last grade in elementary school.  She got our favorite teacher, Mrs. Upshaw, which made her year that much more special.  This first picture is just of her hair.

 At Christmas, we went to the Nutcracker.  She invited her favorite friend, Sydney to come along.  It was put on by a local dance studio, but it was well done and fun to watch.

 This was her favorite friend in her class, Megan.  They enjoyed hanging out in Mrs. Upshaw's class.

 Face painting at Christmas.

 She wanted to try kissy lips.

 At their school, when they get straight A's they give them popsicles as a treat.  This is Ellie with her church friends, Sydney, Melanie, Madison and Bailey.

 She has kept super busy this year with gymnastics, practicing 12 hours a week.  In the fall she went to a ton of competitions.  Here is a full team photo.  She is kneeling, nearly in the middle with the best smile ever.

This is her coach and gym owner, Coach Becky and two teammates Lily and Megan.  Coach Becky is a fantastic coach.

For activity days, we had a one day "camp" at our old Conroe property.  The kids got to swim in the lake, ride the zip line and shoot paintball guns.  Ellie had really good aim with the paintball gun.

 This year Ellie was in choir and honor choir.  The year end performance was full of 50's songs so they got to dress up in their poodle skirts.  Melanie, Ellie and Sydney.

 The kids normally have a half day field day.  This year they postponed it two times because there was so much rain, and then only had an hour to play.  We called it field hour.

 One Friday in May, all of the 4th graders in the feeder zone for Oak Ridge went to Oak Ridge and had a War Eagle challenge.  Ellie got to compete in the 300 m dash.  She came in 2nd in her heat, but didn't place overall.  She also got to be on a math relay team, but sadly, they didn't win either.

 After all the standardized testing was over, the kids spent about a week learning about the rainforest and decorating the classroom like a rain forest.  This was on the rain forest night.

 It has rained so much this last couple of months.  This is Ellie with her friends getting ready to play in the rain.

At the end of 4th grade, the school has a special 4th grade awards ceremony.  Ellie got a ton of awards:  She got awards for being on Honor Choir and in Student Council.  She got a PE award for being one of the top 10 PE students- her teacher said someone who you would want to be on a team with.  She also got straight A's, good citizenship and perfect attendance all year.  Her big award was the principal's award she got for having the highest GPA in her classes.  

 Her class.

 Her teacher, Mrs. Upshaw.  She is my third child to get Mrs. Upshaw and we just love her.

 The day before the last day of school, Ellie got to show off her skills in a talent show.  She did a hula hooping show with 3 other girls, then she did a second act where she did her gymnastics routine.  It was great!

 This is her on her last day of school.

 For fun, this is her on the first day of kindergarten and the last day of 4th grade.

She really has blossomed and is doing amazing things.  We are so lucky to have her and are so proud of her!

Nate's 2nd Grade

This post is going to be a little catch-all for all the fun photos I have taken of Nate this year.

The neighborhood had a meet the santa at the school.  Nate expressed that he wanted to go, even though no one else did, so we went.  He had fun posing in the funny picture props.

 This is at the Christmas party.  Nate is a little funny about pictures.  Most of the time he doesn't like anyone to take his picture, the other half of the time he will stick his tongue out or look away.  It's so nice to see him with a genuine smile.

 Nate did really well this year and got Straight A's all year.  They reward the kids every 9 weeks with a popsicle if they get straight A's.

 This year I had a few opportunities to take Nate out just him and I for lunch.  I used to do it all the time when the other kids were in school, and once he started school there was never time for just him and me to get away.  I think it was hard on him that he never got that special one on one attention, and since we have been doing it again, we have really enjoyed it.

 We also went on a trip in February to Cedar City to look at houses.  We decided this time to take Nate with us. He got to go to the cabin and play in the snow for a little while, and he absolutely loved that.

 The second grade play this year was about Dogs. Every kid got to dress up like a different dog.  Nate was an Irish setter and had 3 lines that he delivered in an Irish accent.  It was cute!

For his birthday, they had a special throne and blow up hat that Nate could wear at lunch time.  He wanted nothing to do with it, but I did get him to put it on just for a picture.

His school has a special walk of fame, where if the kids do something extra special and a teacher notices them, they get a star ticket.  When they get 10 star tickets they get recognized with a special t-shirt and they get to march around the school in a special parade.  Nate was very excited that he got to do this.

Nate's teachers were Mrs. Nesbit and Mrs. Blackman.  He liked them, but come to find out he is a shy kid at school.  He got straight A's all year, perfect attendance, and the highest marks in citizenship all year.  The teacher asked the class to write things about each student and they made a special graphic with the words in it. The words that were written about him are: funny, smart, good at sports, excellent student, silly, good friend, and kind.

This is him at the end of his school year.  He did fantastic!  Now he's on to 3rd grade!

Mother's Day

Just for fun, I measured the kid's height against mine last Mother's Day and then again this Mother's Day.  It was crazy to see how much they grew, especially Adam.

 I love how the stair steps are almost perfect.

I am one lucky mom!