It's the last day of school today! And it's only a half day! And, Caeden is finishing his toast on the way to the bus...just a normal morning getting ready for school!
It was a really good school year for all 3 of the kids--in many ways. We are very grateful for our school and teachers and community!
I was a parent volunteer for elementary Field Day this afternoon, and had fun facilitating a relay race.
The point of this relay was for kids to have to work together and cooperate and communicate with a partner. The first part of the race one person rode a little tricycle and another pushed him/her. The second piece was to walk together on "teamwork trekkers." These looked pretty tricky, and it was fun (and sometimes funny!) to watch the kids do these!
Caeden and his classmate Denton did a pretty good job working together.
It's Art Show time!!! I really look forward to the end-of-the-year Art Show all year as the kids tell me about the projects they're working on. It's so neat to see all the art on display and realize how much they've learned!
Caeden's clay coil pot...He said it had a lot more coils originally, but somehow got dropped and they other coils couldn't be reattached. I think it still looks cool. Love the colors and the awesome glaze!
When the kids draw their shoe, they are using marker and are not to pick it up from the paper the entire time they're drawing. Sounds incredibly hard to me!
Annah received a 3rd place award for her Pen and Ink Shaded Animal project.
Sylvia received a 4th place award for her Charcoal Shaded Sphere project. She learned about Chiaroscuro, value and light, and experimenting with different papers.
(I don't remember all of their awards. A few of them I snapped a picture of the award, but most of them I didn't and I forget what they got!)
Annah's ice cream cone project...
1st place award for Sylvia for her Picasso-style mixed media collage of herself playing cello!
2nd place award for Sylvia on her oil pastel shading tool project in the style of Jim Dine.
Sylvia's 4th place Frank Stella sculpture--abstract design, painting, pattern and texture, collage
Sylvia -- 1st place -- Listening for and creating mood through music and painting --in the style of Wassily Kandinsky
The girls were involved with Art Club this year, which meets once a month after school for a couple hours. They loved it!!! These lanterns were one of their art club projects.
Annah pointed out her styrofoam sculpture on display in the art room.
Sylvia's clay chocolates on display in the art room...
Another art club project--painted cherry trees
Our AWESOME art teachers!!!!!
Sylvia's stained glass tissue paper mandala -- 1st place
Caeden, Sylvia, Annah, and I were all performers in the 4th-8th grade Spring Concert at school tonight! I'm not sure we will ever have that privilege again, and it was pretty special and fun! It was extra fun that my parents came over today and attended the concert, too! It was the first time they've seen one of the kids' school concerts live. A very exciting night, for sure!
The kids love to get fancied up for their performances.
The girls are required to wear black for their school concerts. Caeden wanted to wear the suit Dawn had given him, and she event sent a bag of ties for him to choose from. He was a little worried about not having dress shoes, but I thought he looked pretty cool with his hi-tops and suit.
A little pre-concert posing at home...
In 4th grade, the kids get to play their recorders in the concert. Mr. R actually starts teaching them recorders in 3rd grade now, so they are "old pros" by 4th grade. (Caeden is sitting in front of the conductor, so he can't be seen while playing his recorder.)
This year, Mr. R taught the 4th graders how to conduct, and they auditioned to conduct one of the songs at the concert. Caeden was really excited to be chosen as a conductor!
I think Caeden was nervous. He was off beat from the 4th measure on, forgot to take his bow, and forgot his classmate's name as he was introducing her. But, he did remember to stick his tongue out at his friend Cale before he started the song, which helped all the kids relax a little bit. It's a pretty neat experience to get to conduct your classmates in 4th grade!
Mr. R taught the conductors to formally introduce each other and shake hands as they passed the conducting baton to the next conductor.
The kids played really well!
Annah turned pages for me for 6th grade choir. Mr. R was teasing her about something before.
Thank you to my mom for taking so many great pictures during the concert!!
6th grade choir
Sylvia decided to step up her performance tonight and really try hard to show expression and enjoyment on her face as she sang. It made a big difference, and we could tell she was having fun.
We are very proud of her!
I don't think Jeremy meant to take this as he was recording the choir for me, but I kind of like the story it tells. He rushed out of a very important meeting at work and got to the concert just seconds before Caeden started conducting. He works so hard at his job, and he also works hard to be at events that are important to the kids because they are important to him too.
I didn't take any photos of the 6th grade band, as we couldn't see Sylvia's face. She sits right in front of Mr. M, so we could see her arms, instrument, and legs.
The horns sure sounded nice on this piece!
The Junior High Choir (7th and 8th grade)
Sylvia turned my pages while the JH choir performed.
Annah sang a small duet with Ryan in The Rose.
The JH Band did a fantastic job with some tough music. We were all impressed.
As soon as Annah started playing her clarinet, I thought, "Wow, she really looks like my Aunt Juanita." and I made a mental note to ask my dad who he thought she looked like while playing. Seconds later, I heard him turn to Mom and say, "She looks like Juanita!"
It's kind of a fun circle...I chose to play clarinet because I loved watching my Aunt Needy play it. Annah chose to play it partly because I played it. And now she looks like Aunt Needy while she plays her (my old) clarinet.
Recently, Annah was sitting with me while I went through a bin of things from when I was in high school. She was looking at a concert program and noticed that in Jeremy's last high school band concert (April 1993) we played Overture for Winds--this same piece!
These guys needed a picture together after the concert. Love this crew!
What a fun, fun, fun concert!!! We are so thankful for the gift of music!!!
My son is the king of excuses. It's a constant battle at home. So I'm sure he didn't blink an eye when he received this assignment at school to come up with excuses.
(He is pretty good at spelling when he tries, but clearly either hadn't learned how to spell 'excuses' yet, or just didn't take the time to do it properly.)
The quality and legibility of his handwriting is another thing we have battles about, so I will "translate" some of these excuses here.
Oven exploded turkey everywhere.
I was lost.
I was buried alive and escaped.
I was transformed into a superhero.
I battled aliens all night.
My dishwasher came alive and ate all my pens and pencils.
I died and came back to life.
I was captured by teddy bears.
I had to dye my mom's hair 7 different colors.
Superman came to my house and used my homework to defeat enemies.
Yesterday, Sylvia woke up at 5am with some kind of stomach bug. Poor girl. She was feeling well enough by 11am, that she knew she would be ok if I left for a little bit. I had an appointment to give blood at the school blood drive. It had been several years since the last/only time I had donated, and it didn't go so well that time. But, everything went just fine today. I donated in 6 minutes and 11 seconds, and wasn't woozy at all. Paige saw me as I walked to my donation station, and texted me to see if she could come sit with me. She was a good support and distraction.
Today, Annah woke up sick almost exactly 24 hours after Sylvia did yesterday with the same thing. Boo.
I was able to run up to the school for just a little bit this afternoon to watch Caeden receive his All-A Honor Roll certificate at the honors assembly.
I failed to realize that his class would be having their spring party though, so I completely missed that. Bad mommy.
I took Caeden back for another orthopedic appointment today, and this time he got to meet the doctor himself. (We saw an assistant previous times.) He was great with Caeden, and very nice. He seemed so genuinely interested in us and the situation. He checked out Caed's hat, and was apparently impressed or surprised that I had actually made it. He asked Caeden if he'd been wrestling, or even wrestling around with friends. (He has not.) Caed was as honest as possible, and told him he has played a little basketball, and has done some push-ups and other things. Dr. N. seemed impressed that he had done push-ups, as that is a pretty good strain on an elbow.
After assessing him, he said that Caeden is healing much faster than expected, and that he doesn't need to return for another appointment! He said he shouldn't wrestle for at least another 2 weeks, and that he just needs to be honest with himself about how he thinks the elbow is doing. I told him Dad = Coach, and he said just leave it up to him to decide when he can return to practice. (Coach Daddy said the season ends in 2 weeks, so he is done anyway, like we thought.)
Dr. N. told us the elbow is the most sensitive joint in the body, so Caeden should be extra careful not to jump back into using it too much before he is 100% healed. He ok'd him to return to P.E. class activities--except for contact sports. So, in 2 weeks, the compression sleeve can come off, and hopefully Caeden can resume normal activities. We are very thankful for his good care and quick healing!
Last semester, Caeden did a poster book report on Killer Whales. He finally got it out of his book bag this week to show me he got an A on it.
We need to do better about making sure I see his papers in a timely/daily fashion.
Today, I picked the kids up from school for lessons. I went into the school to help Annah carry her backpack because I got a call from the school nurse today, who said Annah pulled a muscle in her back during P.E. this morning while doing pushups and was really in pain. Elementary kids are released from class first at the end of the day, and Caeden came down the hall to me and handed me a wrinkled certificate. There had been an honors assembly, he had received an award for getting all A's last semester, and I had missed the whole thing! I've never missed an assembly, but I didn't know about this one at all. He says he didn't receive a note or a school calendar, but the school is usually great about informing parents. I'm not sure what happened, and I'm so sad I missed it.
