End Of The (School) Year BLUR!

With 3 kids in elementary school, May becomes a whirlwhind of end of year activities. I somehow always manage to forget this small detail and end up running around crazy when every May comes around. This year there was no shortage of activities to keep us as parents, and students busy. And since I like to keep things semi-organized and orderly, I will go in kid order. (And yes, most of my pics are crappy. This is because I had to use my cell phone for most of these days and well, I'm not so proficient at it...)

TANIS
May was perhaps busiest for this kid.

We started off the month with a DARE graduation on the 14th. Tanis is in the lucky group of 6th graders who are the LAST to actually do the DARE program. They are switching to something called NOVA next year. Apparently the DARE graduation was advertised poorly as very few parents showed up. I was thankful that Tanis was excited enough that he didn't let me forget about it and I was there.

When Tanis returned home I wanted to get a picture of him in his shirt, holding his certificate - which I did. But this was also the night we went to the BEES game and I lost my camera - so no picture of him in his shirt with his certificate. I did like his shirt much better than the one my brother got eons ago. My brother had this black tee with the words DARE written across it and it was just blah!

Tanis has a tee that is in the shape of a smiley face, but the words for DARE are what makes the smiley face. Trust me, it's much better and more creative that it was...

On May 22nd, we were pleased to go to Tanis' Spring Pony Band concert. I couldn't believe the progress this group of kids had made in 4 months. Now, they aren't great BY ANY MEANS, but they are so much better than they were in December. I think our kid still has a lot of work to do, but it was a nice concert anyway.

I'm even so nice to share it with you:



May 30th was probably the toughest day for me in all this hoopla. May 30th was 6th grade Graduation. I would've been fine without an actual ceremony as I'm struggling with my kid being old enough to head to Jr. High as it is.

The gym was decorated nicely and all the 6th graders looked nice in their best clothing. I held things together until they had the sweet special needs kids 'graduate.' The sweet lady that works with these kids seems so amazing and listening to her speak was enough to open the flood gates. Then the kids actual walked the stage and got their 'diploma' and that was when the water works really started going.

I composed myself for a bit and was only slightly teary when Tanis had his turn:

After all the kids had 'graduated' the principal made his speech. I laughed through a lot of it, but then at the very end he had all the Moms stand up and then the kids had to yell to the moms, "I love you." Yup, I totally lost it then.

This is such a hard thing for me to go through and I'm sure I won't be done with the tears. I was so appreciative of Tanis' teacher this year and was so grateful that he was blessed to have Mr. Orr as his teacher. I think it was a very good thing for Tanis.

My baby boy is growing up so fast and has now said 'goodbye' to elementary school. Le sigh...

SHAYLYN
On May 18th, Shaylyn (and the rest of the 4th grade) had a day where they shared their county reports. When I heard about the county reports I was so thrilled...NOT! Doing it for Tanis made me crazy and I wasn't looking forward to doing it again.

I was pleasantly surprised this year that all we had to do at home was gather some information a couple of times. Shaylyn did that effortlessly. So I was happy to see her finished project that she did all on her own during classtime.

-- This was a little project that was hanging in the hall that I happened across...You should read the part about

her brother, Alex... ---

One day on Facebook I had a friend mention how excited she was that all 3 of her kids got to compete in the 'big race' on Field Day. I thought that was an accomplishment and then being somewhat silly and/or curious I asked my kids if any of them were going to run the big race.

Shaylyn pipes up that she was able to. (I wonder if I would've been told had I not asked first...hmmm) She didn't know when the big race would be though. I asked my friend and thankfully she knew and I was off to the races at 9:30 in the morning on May 29th.

What happened that we don't see is that before the big race each individual class had the girls race, then the boys. Each class took the top 3 and sent them to the 'big race'. Shaylyn was one of the top 3 in her class. The gym coach then had each of the girls run in 2 separate heats. By my math that should've been like 12 girls, but I think there was only like 8 or 10....

Anyway, Shaylyn ran the 1st heat and came in third which meant she would run with the 1st 3 girls in the 'final'. So when she ran against all six girls, she came in:
(She's in a white shirt and khaki shorts...)

THIRD!!!

She was so excited that she won a ribbon and I was so happy I was able to be there for it. She was even more excited that her 'boyfriend' got the same place as her when he ran with the boys.

ALEXANDER
For starters, ball season has begun again. Although this year Lex has played very seldom. He had a friends birthday party one week, then the same friends baptism the next week. This past week we weren't home and so I feel somewhat bad that he hasn't had a better season.

The first day of the season I again didn't get pictures, but the second game (May 19) I made sure I got pictures.

-- Sometimes,  he gets bored in the outfield and decides he's a robot... --

-- Straightening the cap, things are gettin' serious now --

On May 25th, Lex got to show up his dance moves. The 2nd grade does a dance thing every year teaching the 2nd graders about different cultures. Lex's class ended up with an Irish jig and they were told to wear their best clothes. I was thinking Irish - wear your green shirt. Well all the other mothers dressed their boys in a white button up shirt and black slacks...My kid looked a bit out of place, but he was cute nonetheless.

And thus completes the end of the year wrap up!