End of the School Year

We finished out another school year yesterday...yay! It's hard to believe we now have a 4th grader, 3rd grader, and kindergartner!

August 2018

June 2019 - I forgot to take the pic before school so we have some face paint and hair that needs brushing. lol.

We had class parties on Tuesday. I was the room mom for Emmie's class so I didn't get any pictures of the party because I was busy, busy but we had ice cream sundaes, made suncatchers, and played some games. It was so fun!
Ellie's class had a camping theme (the kids got to pick the theme). Her teacher did a marvelous job decorating the room! The kids were so excited!

Wednesday after school (we had a half day) we took the traditional Emmie/Evelyn picture. Then Ellie got to invite her best friend Chloe over and we met up at Marble Slab with Evelyn and Anna.

August 2018 - Emmie had just donated her hair.

June 2019 - Evelyn had just donated her hair!

Yesterday we made a Pelican's trip. Ellie has been BEGGING to go for weeks so she was especially thrilled!

We are ready for a fun summer full of pool time, friend time, family, camps, and more!

Awards Day

Emmie and Ellie had awards day at school yesterday. Emmie made A/B honor roll and Ellie made A
honor roll. We are SO proud of both of them!
This was Ellie's first year getting grades. She adapted so well and Ellie really shone this year in ELA. Her average for the year was 100! She had a big advantage with spelling because she heard Emmie doing the spelling words last year. I have been very impressed with her reading comprehension. She made 100 on almost all of those tests and we generally didn't have to study for them. All those reading counts quizzes she takes paid off!

Ellie has had such a wonderful year with Mrs. Estes!

Ellie also got the "Best Actress" award from her teacher which made Ellie so proud!

This was the first year Emmie has gotten a grade in all 4 subjects. It was pretty rough adjusting to all the extra tests and quizzes but she made it through! I'm especially proud of her math grade. She made a B in math each quarter (she made As in all her other subjects) but she worked SO hard. She has to put in a lot of extra time on math and it can be excruciatingly painful for both of us. But we survived and every single point she got was evidence of many hours of blood, sweat, and tears. I could not be prouder of my Emmie!

These sweet friends make me so happy!

Emmie's class voted her "Future Teacher". If you know Emmie you know this is spot on!

Lots of sweet friends!

Ruthie needed a picture with Mrs. Estes too. She can not wait until it is her turn to be in Mrs. Estes' class!

Dance Recital

Emmie had her dance recital today. We loved watching our sweet dancer on stage and we are so proud of her hard work this year. This year Emmie took ballet and lyrical and Ms. Bailey was her teacher for both classes. Emmie loved having Bailey for a teacher and I am so thankful for Bailey and her constant encouragement!
We had dress rehearsal 2 weeks ago and I was able to get some video of Emmie's dances (see below). Also, this is the first dress rehearsal in 2 years that she hasn't had multiple seizures during the dance. We celebrate things like that around here!
AND, my favorite thing...I had pictures done of the kids by the amazing D. Marie Photography a few weeks ago and we already had Emmie's ballet costume so I got Dawn to take pictures. This picture absolutely blew me away!

Photo Credit:D. Marie Photography

The reality of organizing a bunch of 9 year olds.

Emmie's teacher's daughter was in the first recital and we saw them when we were coming in. Emmie was excited to get a hug!

Anna and Emmie. They've been dancing together for years. It's so fun to watch them grow!

Evelyn, Emmie, and Emma. These girls have been friends since they were in 4k together! I am so thankful for friendships that stand the test of time.

Evelyn and Emmie

The kids were all starving after the recital and Ruthie was the only one feeling cooperative enough to get a picture with Emmie.

Gran and Grandaddy

Emmie had auditions for next year's competition company yesterday and today they presented the had the new members come up on stage and they gave them a little charm. Emmie is SO excited to be doing competition next year with so many of her friends!

Photo Credit: D Marie Photography

Side note: This is the first year we have brought JP to the recital. He slept through most of it. Lol. Thankfully both of Emmie's pieces were early in the show so he was awake to see her dance!

Memorial Day Weekend

We spent Memorial Day weekend in Summerville with Paul's parents. Paul and the little kids headed down Friday morning and I got the big girls out of school about an hour early and we headed down. Paul played in a golf tournament all weekend and Friday evening Paul and I went to the dinner they had out at the golf course and Paul's parents took the kids to CFA.

Saturday we took the kids to the pool in the morning and then came home and took some much needed naps in the afternoon (and poor Paul went to play golf in the hundred degree heat).

One of Paul's good friends growing up, Megan, had her kids out at the pool. Her daughter went right to Emmie and grabbed on to her. Emmie loved it!

SO HOT. And it hasn't been any cooler any of the days since then. OVER IT!

The kids always look forward to Saturday evening. They do dinner at the club, there are lots of other kids there age to play with, and there is dancing. They had SO much fun! They only see most of the other kids once a year but they always are so excited to see each other. We also got there early enough to see Paul finish up his round of golf.

Selfies while we wait for Paul.

Sunday morning we went back to the pool (because there isn't really anything else to do when it's over 100 outside! And we love the pool). Sunday afternoon the kids played at the house with PaPa while Gin-g and I did some outlet shopping. Always fun!

Kiddos snuggled in the bed together watching something on the ipad.

We had dinner Sunday night and then headed back to Columbia! JP got to stay at GiGi and PaPa's house for a few extra days after we left so he was excited about that!

Monday the kids and I went to the pool for a few hours. It's so awful that the water in the pool is already WARM and it's only May! Monday afternoon Paul and I took the girls and met Amy and Evelyn at the movies to see the live action Aladdin in 3d. It was SO good! The origianly Aladdin is not one of my favorite Disney movies but this one was SO good and it was really fun to see it in 3D. After the movies we took the girls to San Jose for dinner (Ellie's suggestion...clearly we're raising our kids right!).

We had a wonderful weekend...only 1 more week until school gets out! We are SO ready for summer.

Little Reader

I am SO proud of my Ellie Belly! They do reading counts at school (you read a book on your reading level, take a quiz, and get points) and this year she earned 500 points!! I don't know much about what's "normal" but apparently 500 is a LOT of points, especially for a second grader. Ellie reads ALL.THE.TIME. She also just took her last sri test of the year (which determines their reading level) and she is one away from the top! This girl blows me away with her love for reading and it makes me so happy!

Last Day of Preschool

Last day of preschool.

First day of preschool.

Today was Ruthie's last day of preschool. It is hard to believe that our sweet baby #3 will start kindergarten in the fall! Ruthie has had such a wonderful year as a Jammin' Jellyfish this year with Mrs. Shelley and Mrs. Teresa.

Today, the school had their end of the year program and JP, Gran, and I enjoyed hearing her sing.

JP was NOT into picture taking.

She did such a great job (which I knew she would bc she practices her songs all.the.time. in the car).




I can't believe how much this sweet girl has grown this year...in every aspect! She is so ready for kindergarten and JP is ready to get started with his preschool time in the fall!

Roo with her sweet friend Sloane.

Roo going through the tunnel!

Another one of Roo's sweet friends, Elise.