Last Day of School!

Today we are FINALLY done with the school year! Emmie is now officially a THIRD grader and Ellie is a SECOND grader! I can't believe how old they are getting! As I look at their first and last day of school pictures I can't get over how much more grown up Ellie looks this year. She is not a little kid anymore! And she's also gotten taller in comparison to Emmie. I'm pretty sure she's never going to catch Emmie but she is getting closer!

June 2018

August 2017

Ellie loved first grade. Her teacher ran that classroom like a well oiled machine and had very high expectations for the kids. Ellie learned SO much and I loved that her teacher always pushed her to do her very best. Ellie has become an amazing reader (she read the first 3 Harry Potter books this year). She has also done well in math although ELA is her stronger subject. Ellie really enjoys writing and they did a LOT of creative writing this year. I always loved when she would bring her stories home! Ellie also loves to learn interesting tidbits of information (watch for her on Jeopardy one day!) and we love when she comes home and randomly spouts off what she has learned. Ellie is a kid who doesn't prefer to play with a big group of people...she prefers to just have a few very good friends. She had one of her very best buddies in her class this year and we're really hoping Chloe will be in her class again next year! Ellie also made some new friends this year and seemed to have a really great core group of friends. We can't wait to watch Ellie grow in second grade and we know she is going in very prepared!

Ellie and Mrs. Kirkpatrick

Emmie looped up with her first grade teacher this year. We pretty much think her teacher hung the moon so we were overjoyed when she looped! Emmie of course had lots of the same kids in her class this year but she also had some new friends. The little group of girls in her class is so sweet and she had a wonderful year growing those friendships! Emmie has learned a lot this year. Second grade (math) was a big adjustment this year and it was pretty rocky at first but she pushed through and things got easier the second half of the year. I am so glad she had a teacher who always encouraged her and always believed in her! Emmie also started ALERT this year (our district's gifted and talented program) and she has LOVED every minute of it! It was so good for her to have one day out of the week where she was with a small group (3-5 girls) all day. Emmie was definitely having lots of big feelings today...she loves school and her teacher and friends so much and it was really hard for her to say goodbye for the summer!

Emmie and Mrs. Estes

Tuesday both girls had their class party. Ellie's class played bingo, decorated cupcakes, and had a dance party. Emmie's class had a "science party" and they did some experiments and ate lots of food!

Emmie and friends

Emmie and Landon both looped with Mrs. Estes

Yesterday, Ruthie and JP and I helped out at the 5th grade promotion ceremony. Ruthie and JP had a great time...they got to hang out with their favorite 5th grader...Eva! She is Emmie's teacher's daughter and dances at our dance studio so they see her all the time and they both adore her!

Today I packed school lunches for the last time this year and sent each girl a note telling them how proud Paul and I were of them. I also informed them yesterday that next year they are packing their own lunches...it is not a job I enjoy especially since one of mine is SO picky.

Of course we couldn't end the school year without our annual Emmie and Evelyn picture! These girls are the best of friends and Amy and I are praying they are together again next year (because Amy and I need each other too...how else will we figure out 3rd grade?)!

end of second grade

beginning of second grade

It's hard to believe the school year is over. We have lots of fun plans for the summer...beach, swim team, some camps, and just relaxing and enjoying our time off from the crazy school year schedule!

On the Go!

A month or two ago I realized that Ruthie was tall enough to ride Emmie’s old bike. Ever since then she has been working SO hard at learning to ride! Today I let her ride her back around the neighborhood when we took Franklin on his walk. She did a great job and was so proud of herself!

She can’t wait to show Grandaddy how she rides her bike when we go to the beach!

Recital 2018

Yesterday was dance recital day! All 3 girls danced this year. Ruthie did Creative Movement (ballet and tap), Ellie did Ballet, and Emmie did Ballet and Lyrical. They all did great at the recital...we were so proud of them!

The last 2 weeks we've had dress rehearsal so I have video from that. All the dances were SO good and I loved all of their costumes!

Ruthie - I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas

Ruthie's class with her teachers Miss Adrian and Miss Isabelle. Such a cute group of girls!  

I was very proud of myself for managing to get Ruthie's hair in a bun!

Ruthie and Miss Isabelle. This was Ruthie's second year dancing for Isabelle and we're really going to miss her next year as she heads off to college!

Ellie - Jolly Holiday

Ellie's class with their teacher, Mrs. Carrie. I just LOVE these costumes...they are VERY Mary Poppins! Ellie also happened to be in a class with a school friend and a preschool friend and she made quite a few new friends this year!

Emmie (ballet) - Wind in My Hair

Emmie's class with their teacher Miss Laura. There is a group of kids in this class that have been in ballet together for at least 3 years...love the sweet friendships that have been made over the years!

Emmie (lyrical) - Better Place
This is probably my very favorite piece any of my kids have done. It was such a sweet song and such a sweet group of friends that were in that class! I think all of us mamas were tearing up!

Emmie's class with her teachers Miss Bailey and Miss Lexi.

LOVE these sweet girls! They had such a wonderful year in lyrical this year and Emmie so looked forward to class every week.

We were so appreciative of all our family and friends that came to watch the recital. We had all the grandparents there. Mrs. Terri, who taught all of the girls when they were in the 3s class at preschool, came. Clara, who kept the girls every Friday when I worked part time, and Mary Ruth also came. There were also many teachers from the elementary school there (quite a few teachers have dancers and a lot of the kids that dance go/went to our school).

So thankful for grandparents that are close enough to come to special events like this!

We LOVE Mrs. Terri! She was the first school teacher all of these girls had and she will always be so special to us!

Emmie, Stella, and Ainsley...school buddies!

Clara, Mary Ruth, and the girls

Such sweet girls!

So proud of these girls! (In case you're wondering, JP was at home with the babysitter...we were at the recital from 8:45-1 since the girls were at 2 different recital times...we figured he'd be much happier at home...he got to see the dress rehearsal.)

Had to get a picture with Emmie in her lyrical costume!

Emmie also received a trophy for 5 years of ballet. She was so excited!

The grandparents came back to our house after the recital and we woke JP up from his nap to play and eat BBQ! After everyone left we headed to Evelyn's pool for some fun swim time!

So another year of dance is over. We are so thankful to have a dance studio that we love and teachers who love our kids. We are so thankful for the friends they have made through dance and I hope they will stay friends for many many years to come! I think next year we'll probably just have 2 dancers, Ruthie and Emmie, but it was pretty special to have all 3 of them dancing this year!

Awards Ceremony

Today they had the Award's Ceremony at school. Emmie was honored for getting All As this year! We are SO proud of her!

(I can't get over how grown up Emmie looks in this picture!)

Emmie REALLY struggled in math, especially the first half of the year , and we spent HOURS upon HOURS each week working on math. She worked SO hard to do her very best on all her tests. It would have been so easy for her to have given up at some point when it was hard and frustrating but she pushed on and tried so hard to learn the concepts that were difficult for her (skip counting, especially backwards, still gives me nightmares!). We were so blessed that she had a teacher that wanted her to succeed and allowed her to do math in the way that worked for her. I think most of all I'm proud of Emmie for learning how to work through the hard stuff!

We had to celebrate Evelyn too of course! (Ruthie drug her notebook around all morning...apparently she was taking lots of notes on how to be a second grader!)

Sweet school AND dance friends...Evelyn, Emmie, and Ainsley!

PS. Thanks so much to all our family who couldn't be there but tuned in to watch!