Last day of school!

Today was an exciting day for a few reasons- #1) it’s the last day of school!, and #2) it’s the day we leave for Idaho!  First up, Asher’s first grade award ceremony.  Here’s Asher sitting patiently waiting to receive his awards (he’s in the white shirt).

 

And here he is after getting his awards (sorry for the blur, but we were sitting pretty far back).

They sang a few songs after that.  You can see Asher in the white shirt, red lei, and shorts just to the left of center.  He’s in the second row from the bottom.

After the younger grades they also had awards for the older kids.  Unfortunately by that time I had a cranky Cambria, so I didn’t get any pictures of Kyrie.  But I did manage a quick video.  Don’t mind Derk scolding Bri in the video- she was really done by that point and was being super difficult.  The really weird thing about the older kids’ ceremony was that the huge crowd of parents completely cleared out by that point.  There were literally 2 families left to watch all these 4th graders getting their awards (us and one other).  Made me feel sad for the other kids!    I was also bummed out because as the parents cleared out, the staff started removing all the benches up front.  So we were still stuck really far back, even though there was nobody else there.

After that, we headed home to finish the last minute packing, and then it was time to hit the road!!  I did almost all the packing/prep throughout the last few days, but there are some things you just can’t pack up until the last minute.  We made really good time, though, and were packed and ready to hit the road within an hour after the ceremonies were over. 

 

Here’s Asher all set up in the van.

It’s so great that we have so much family along the way.  It really helps make the drive seem less awful when you can stop several times along the way.  Hooray for a successful school year and, more importantly, summer vacation!!

Spirit week!

I just realized I never blogged about spirit week!  This was back at the end of April.  The kids were looking forward to it for weeks and had a total blast!  Kyrie just loved it, of course, but Asher had a few reservations and took a little convincing.  He kept saying he thought he’d get teased for looking goofy, but once he saw all his classmates getting into it he dove right in and had some fun.  Here are some of my favorite pictures from the week.

It’s hard to believe the school year is almost over!

Honor Choir concert

Kyrie made it into honor choir again this year, and tonight was her concert!  They’ve been staying after school once a week for the past couple of months practicing their songs, and of course she had the time of her life.  This girl sure loves to sing, and we’re so proud of her.  Derk had a business trip in Phoenix and made it home just in time for the concert.  Here’s the stage all set up.

The auditorium was pretty packed, so Asher had to sit on Derk’s lap during the concert.  He loves to snuggle anyway, but since he’d just come from karate he was extra worn out and glad to snuggle.

Check out this cutie’s cowlick!    That’s what happens if his mother forgets to comb his hair in the mornings…

Here they are on stage with their director.  I drew a white arrow over Kyrie’s head.  I just realized it’s kind of hard to see – it’s on the right hand side of the picture, just up and to the left of where the director is standing.

In between songs.  In case you can’t spot her…there’s a boy on the far right in a white shirt, then you can see the girl right next to him to the left – she’s looking at Kyrie. 

I got some video, but for some reason I can’t get them to upload.    Here’s our girl when she’s all done.  Go, Kyrie!

First school dance

The kids’ school had a Valentine’s day dance for the 4th and 5th graders today, and Kyrie was super excited to go!  She tried to convince us to let her ask a boy to the dance……which I will admit completely horrified me.  Only because  her finally starting to notice boys isn’t something I was prepared for.  She wasn’t happy with me at all when I told her absolutely not, she’s nowhere near old enough to start asking boys to dances.  And she was even less happy when her dad agreed with her mom.    She still wanted to go and had a great time.  She wore her new dress that Nana gave her for her birthday, and I gave her a pretty hairdo to match.

She’s growing up way too fast!  *sniff, sniff*

Spelling bee!

Kyrie was chosen to participate in the school’s spelling bee!  There were only 12 kids total who made it out of all the 3rd-5th grades.  We were so proud of her!!  She did great and made it to the final 5 before she missed her word.  This was the only picture I could take, which was before the spelling bee started.  You can see Kyrie there in about the middle of the back row. 

Go, Kyrie!!

Veteran’s Day

Today the kids were able to wear red, white, and blue to school instead of their normal uniforms.  Here they are before heading to the bus (it’s hard to tell, but Asher’s shirt is red with white and blue stripes, and Kyrie’s hair tie is red….hey, we worked with what we had on hand!  lol).  They always get so excited when it’s a non-uniform day! 

Later that afternoon, Kyrie had a Veteran’s Day performance at school.  She’s a member of the Student Ambassadors this year, and they all did a little presentation for the rest of the school.  She did excellent in her speaking part, of course!  I just love watching this girl perform because she is simply amazing – enunciates so clearly, knows her part better than any of the other kids, and just has such a commanding presence when she’s up there.  Totally opposite of me!!!

My camcorder died on me mid-performance, but I did get a couple little snippets of her speaking parts.

 

Asher was so cute and couldn’t take his eyes off his sister every time she got up to do a speaking part (he’s right in the middle).

It was a  neat moment for me because I was watching my oldest daughter do something she LOVES to do, saw my son admiring his big sister and saying “That’s my sister!” to all his friends, and then little Bri just reaches up and grabs my hand as we watch.  I was just so in awe of these beautiful little people I have been blessed with, all at the same moment and felt like my heart would explode!

Math night

Tonight at the kids’ school they had a math night, which is where they introduce the math program they use called MAC-Ro.  We knew all about it because Kyrie did it last year, but since Asher didn’t do it last year (it’s only done in 1st-5th grades) he was super excited about going to the math night.  I sat at the table with him while Derk was with Kyrie, so I didn’t get any pictures of her.  But Asher had a blast!  Here he is playing math war with his teacher, Mrs. Swope.  She was super impressed with how great he is at math already!  You play the game just like regular war, but the object is to blurt out the sum (or difference, or product, or whatever you want to do) before your opponent.  Asher got so excited each time he beat Mrs. Swope, especially when she went on and on and said he was too fast for her! 

The highlight of the night was the guessing game, though.  Each grade had a container filled with candy, and they all had to try and estimate how many pieces were in each container.  Asher guessed EXACTLY right and won the container of Starbursts!  Kyrie would have won, too, if she’d have listened to Derk when he told her to put down a guess of 42 (but she decided to put 30 instead).  She was in awe that her dad got it right, and of course he just said she should never have doubted he was right because he knows everything!  Ha!  Here’s the proud winner, who became slightly less enthusiastic when his mother informed him that no, he would most definitely NOT be consuming all 96 Starbursts that evening. 

I wasn’t too thrilled about going to this math night because I’d actually completely spaced it until Kyrie reminded me a half hour before it was supposed to start (which is right when we sat down to dinner, of course).  But I’m really glad we went because we learned some fun math games that the kids just thought were the greatest.  So far they both really enjoy (and are good at) math, which I hope they never lose.

First day of school, 2011

It’s hard to believe our babies are in 4th and 1st grade now!  Check out the first day of school post from last year and see how much they’ve changed (Asher especially)!!! 

This year Derk wasn’t able to come drop them off on the first day like he did last year.  I was bummed about that.  These are the best pictures I got of them before we left.  It was super sunny (as usual) and also windy, so that didn’t make for the best pictures.  Kyrie just looks so mature now, doesn’t she?  Crazy.

Their school offers all students free breakfast AND lunch (so nice for the grocery budget, let me tell you!), so Bri and I sat with them while they ate. 

Dropping them off was hard.  Kyrie was so sweet and wanted to walk Asher all the way to his classroom.  Asher is all smiles in this picture, but right after that was when I told him it was time for me to go.  That’s when he got upset.  He grabbed onto my neck so tight, and I had THE hardest time leaving him there.  Luckily my urge to prevent him from seeing me cry helped me get out of there fast.  If he’d seen me getting upset, it would have been all over!  Kyrie was right there and concerned for her brother.  I had to force her to walk away before she ended up being late for class!  By the time we got to Kyrie’s class the teacher was shooing all the parents out, so I didn’t get a very good picture of her at her desk. 

Speaking of teachers, Asher’s teacher from last year moved up to teaching 4th grade and is Kyrie’s teacher this year!  We LOVE Mrs. V. and are extremely thrilled Kyrie will have her this year.  Asher’s teacher is Mrs. Swope, and she’s actually on maternity leave for the first 2 months.  The sub is Miss Butler, and she seems really nice.  Here’s to a great school year!

Last day of school

Well, we made it! The school year is officially over. Very had to believe we’ll now have a 4th grader and a 1st grader! Here’s a cute look at these kiddos on their first day of school compared to how they looked today on their last day. Asher especially has grown up a lot (even in height, believe it or not! ).

Kindergarten graduation!

Today was Asher’s kindergarten graduation.  Very hard to believe the school year is almost over (tomorrow)!  We are SO ready for summer, but it’s very hard to think about not having his wonderful teacher next year.  Mrs. V was truly amazing and will always hold a special place in my heart for the wonderful way she loved our boy!

Here’s the cute banner they made and had hanging at the front of the stage.     We have no clue which one is Asher’s (although we could pick out some that we could most definitely rule out), but we had fun trying to guess. 

 

Here’s Asher walking into the ceremony with his classmates (he’s in the jeans and striped shirt, if you couldn’t tell). 

Here’s Asher taking his place on the stage.  I love how he’s looking for us. 

 

Then they sang a few songs.  Asher kept rocking out through the whole performance, and we even had people comment to us afterward about how funny he was.  He even started doing an air guitar at one point, although I didn’t have the camera rolling to catch it.  I did manage to catch a few funny poses, though.  Sorry the video quality isn’t the best.  My camera doesn’t like to be clear when I zoom…

 

 
After that it was time for their “diplomas.”  Here’s Asher’s teacher calling him over.  The other lady standing next to Mrs. V. is their principal.

After that, they did a cute slideshow of all the kids throughout the year.  Here are a couple (pictures of pictures) of Asher having fun in class!

Then it was back to the classrooms to pick up a few things, like his final report card and some other school papers.  While there, one of Asher’s friends was desperate to give him a hug.  The pictures will tell you how he felt about that…

And of course we had to get a picture of him with his teacher!  I seriously cried after this.  She is just the most amazing lady, and I know Asher wouldn’t have had nearly as good of a year if she hadn’t been his teacher.  She mentioned that she wanted to teach an older grade next year, so we hope she’ll be teaching first grade and get Asher in her class again. 

We’re so proud of you, Asher, and all you accomplished this year!   

Spirit Week!

The kids had spirit week at school this week and had tons of fun dressing up! Their favorite days were pajama day and crazy day! They are getting so excited that the school year is almost over, and this was a really fun way to celebrate the great year they’ve had. I especially love how into it Kyrie got on crazy day. She went all out, and the pictures of her outfit definitely don’t do it justice. I just love how spunky this girl is! Asher had a great time, too, and kept running to the mirror and saying, “I just look SO crazy, Mom! I’m so hilarious!” The only part they weren’t happy about was that Derk was out of town all week and missed their crazy clothes. So to help himself feel better on pajama day, Asher wore one of Daddy’s shirts. It was so sweet. He said, “I miss my daddy, so I’m going to wear one of his shirts today as my pajamas for school!” I loved how he wanted to take a piece of his daddy with him.

Body Walk

Today Kyrie's class (the whole 3rd grade actually) had a field trip. It's times like this that I'm SO grateful to be a stay-at-home mom because I can actually go on these field trips. She gets so excited to see me there, and then I see the other kiddos who don't have their parents there, and it just makes me sad for them. I feel so lucky to be able to share in these fun experiences with Kyrie.

The field trip today was called Body Walk, and it was all about how to take care of our bodies (proper nutrition and exercise, avoiding drugs and harmful substances, etc.). It was held at the Yuma Civic Center, and I though they did a really great job. The different stations were put together really well, and it was very fun and interactive for the kids.

When we first got there, the fire department was there and gave a presentation to the kids about fire safety. They mainly stressed having a plan in your home for what to do if there was ever a fire. Honestly, we’ve never talked to our kids about that, so I was glad this was brought up. I know what our next Family Home Evening will be on! Bri was still super shy during this part and sat on my lap, but here’s a picture of Kyrie with the rest of the 3rd graders watching the video they showed. Kyrie is right in the center and is wearing a bright pink headband and a light pink jacket.

After the presentation from the fire department, the kids went to different stations to learn about their bodies. Each “booth” was basically a canvas tent that they’d decorated really cool by painting relevant things on the “walls”. Then the staff all dressed up in fun ways to match their booth, and then each area had its own slogan to help the kids remember what they learned. There was a booth where the ladies were dressed as dinosaurs with the slogan “Don’t let your teeth become extinct”, there was a booth about exercise that had a lady dressed in a referee uniform with the slogan “Make your move”, there was a booth about eating healthy with people dressed like Egyptians with the slogan “Eat like an Egyptian”, etc.

After the presentations, they had a room where the kiddos got to play some games. This particular game was a ball toss. The ball had all sorts of different pictures of food on it. Each person got a turn to catch the ball, and wherever your thumbs landed, you had to tell which food groups those foods were in.

It really was put together quite well, and I think the kids learned a lot.