School's Out for the SUMMER!

First day of school this year....

Last day of school picture. These guys didn't even fight it this morning. They are all a brick and a half taller and Matthew looks more like a teenager.

After I dropped them all off at school, I rushed around and put together some teacher's gifts to take over to Mark's school. I thought it turned out pretty cute considering I only had an hour to to everything.

Mark is always so excited to give his teachers their gifts. Here he is with his sweet 1st grade teacher, Mrs. Sickler. We were so lucky to have her. She is so nurturing towards her class and each one of her kids got along great. It was a great class for Mark.

His favorite part of the week is getting pulled out to go to QUEST . He adores his QUEST teacher so he wanted to give her a special gift on the last day of school too.

After school, the moms got together and surprised the kids with some good 'ole fashion water gun and confetti eggs. Mark was one of the first ones out and got creamed by Kristy! He didn't know what to do! I wish I had a picture of his face. We tried to get a group picture and it was a complete fail. This was the best we got.

After that, we made our way over to Amber's house for a POOL PARTY!

I love these kiddos...

And their mamas....

Last Week of School

This has been one of the busiest week in a very long time. With the half-days and the different exam schedules for the older two boys, I was very lucky to keep it together.

The kids had Memorial Day off so we all went out to lunch at Central Market. Matthew was the only one willing to take a picture with me.

Then we were off to the Apple store to get Michael's phone fixed. His screened was cracked all over the place and he was complaining about how it takes forever for it to charge. We took it in and came out with a replacement phone. Then we had to go to the Sprint store to get it reactivated.

While we were waiting to get his phone activated, Michael was so sweet to his little brother. He kept hugging Mark and pinching his cheeks. I think it was because he was in a good mood about getting a new phone, but still, it was nice to see him show affection to his little brother.

Tuesday was back to school. Matthew had a couple of exams in the morning and texted me to pick him up since the rest of the day was just going to the rest of his classes for 30 minutes. Other kids had the same idea because when I went to pick him up, the lobby was full of kids waiting to be picked up by their parents. We stopped by Trader Joe's and picked up some groceries.

I also picked up these beautiful peonies and hydrangeas.

We ended up at the Shake Shack for lunch. Matthew said the fries there reminded him of my parents donut shop fries.

Wednesday was pretty exciting. Mark had his end of year party. It was chaos as always, but the fun kind of chaos. They all looked so good in their tie-dyed shirts!

I love the look on Ryleigh's face. She seemed pretty annoyed with Mark here.

Our 1st graders "peacing out!"

After the party, I took Mark with me and we went to pick up Matthew. We went to lunch at Kincaid's.

Then more excitement - I got a tornado warning on my phone and it said to "TAKE COVER IMMEDIATELY!" Then I got texts, emails, voicemail for both the city and the school district. So I told the boys to hurry up and finish their food so we can get home.

I called Michael to pack it up from having lunch with his friend and get home. He told me that I was freaking out for no reason and that he will go home after he and his buddies are done eating. Then I got a panicked call from his friend's mom so I call him every 5 minutes to urge him to come home. I was so relieved to see him walk through he front door that day.

For good measure, I made them all go into out pantry. They thought I was being ridiculous. Luckily, we didn't have a tornado touch down, but it sure was close! I found out the next day that there were 3 little funnel clouds surrounding our little town.

Field Day 2019

Another field day down, 3 more to go! We were so lucky to get a beautiful day for the annual field day. at Mark's school. I volunteered to chaperone a group in Mark's class again this year and it was exhausting! But I had a great group and they were all good friends with Mark. They were all so excited about field day. We spent the morning moving from one station to the next with water breaks in between.

They all played a game of knockout. I love that the 4th graders got to help run the games and activities. That's something the little guys are looking forward to when they get to the 4th grade.

Then it was on to Spike Ball.

Mark's favorite game is Gaga Ball.

Ritas' Italian ice is always a hit. We met up with my friend Tonga's group and had a little treat break.

Mark and his friend Ryleigh. They are like peanut butter and jelly. They were in the same kindergarten class and now 1st grade. Hopefully, they will be in 2nd grade together,

I left for part of the day to run some errands and then went to pick up Matthew early from school. We went back to Mark's school right in time to see the sack race. Mark won 2nd place, but ended up with the 1st place ribbon because his friend Carson who won 1st place wanted to trade because he wanted the red ribbon Mark got. These kids are so funny!

His class also won 1st place in tug-of-war 2nd year in a row. Yay, Mrs. Sickler's class! It was another successful field day!

Fairytale Ball 2019

And the events just keep on coming! How many things can we pack in the last 2 weeks of May? I love all these events and the kids have so much fun, but can we just spread them out a little bit. Maybe? Please?

Yesterday, Mark had his Fairytale Ball. It was cute. They got to perform a fairytale with their classmates in the music room. I have no idea what the fairytale was and can barely hear what the kids were saying, but they were so proud and worked so hard on it. The effort was there and I love their effort.

Then we went back to his classroom sohe can read us the fairytale that he wrote. Mark's fairytale is titled "The Genius of Beijing."

Here's the cover of his book.

And the "Meet the Author" page. I love this so much. I guess he really likes soccer!

My little baby.

Matthew came with me this morning because M was out of town and I didn't have anyone to take him to school. I dropped him off at his school a little later that morning. I know that he really didn't want to be there, but Mark was really happy to see his brother.

We also got a binder of some of the things he worked on throughout the year. What a great idea for the teachers to put these binders together. I don't keep much of what he brings home from school, so this binder is a great keepsake. 

This one made me laugh. I guess the happiest day of your life SHOULD be the day you were born.

He also received his award for the year for Knowledge and Learning. I'm not really quite sure what that means, but I think it's for having a lot of information about a lot of things and wanting to learn about everything. That's how she described him when we had our parent/teacher conference. 

Two Promotions!

It's been a busy couple of days for us! Yesterday, we celebrated Matthew's promotion to high school. What?! How did that even happen? It was a very long ceremony, but it was a great milestone to mark. He let me take a few pictures after the ceremony and then he was off to Burger's Lake to celebrate with his classmates. I love this tradition that Dawson Middle School does. They get a day off and then they can focus on taking their finals.

Waiting for the ceremony to start!

He chose optimism as a trait he's known for. It's a little surprising, but I'm happy he sees himself as one.

M wasn't able to make it because he was traveling for work, but Jennie and Grandpa were there to give their support. Michael and Mark wanted to come too, but it was because they wanted to get out of school. Haha!

These 2 have known each other since Kindergarten and are both in YMSL. I hope that they develop a great friendship.

I'm so glad there was a photographer there to take a "green-carpet" picture with Principal Wilson and Assistant Principal Langford. I was stuck in the stands so I wouldn't have been able to take this great shot. He's so luck to have such a fantastic principle for the past 2 year.

That same evening, Mark had is Rank Advancement Ceremony for Cub Scout. Never in a million years did I think we would participate in Cub Scout. It was never in our periphery until Mark showed interest. There's been a lot to take in and lots of new things to learn, but I am trying to embrace it.

Mark seems to be enjoying it tremendously. I am not a camper and will never be a camper, but Cub Scout is so much more than camping as I have come to realize. So, we celebrated Mark crossing over from a Tiger Cub to a Wolf Cub. I don't know how long this will keep his interest, but I will hang on for as long as he needs and wants me to.

As we were waiting for the ceremony to start, my little sweet boy brought over this flower to me. My heart melted...

I love this little face so much!

He got called up to the front twice-once for getting his Bear badge and then his Wolf badge.

Here is the den receiving their new Wolf handkerchief.

What better way to end the evening than to grab a bite at the Shake Shack with a friend? These two were doing silly choreographed dances throughout dinner.