The End. (of the school year)

Wow! The end of the school year was upon us before I even realized it, it seemed this year.

Last day of school.


May is a busy time. Well, until that very last week of school when everything suddenly slowed down. The kids didn't really do anything in school, all projects were turned in, we were back from science camp, and most of all- a non-working week for subs. The last week of school is black-out for teachers which means they can't get a sub. That definitely slowed my life down!

Sadie will now be moving onto second grade, Holly fourth, Eli to Jr High, and Emma to HS! I still feel like I haven't let that sink in. On the last day I got to go to the Jr. High to watch Emma receive the "Golden Scholar Award". She had to earn a 3.8 or above each quarter during the the year. To me (not so much to her), this was a big deal. She's always been a smartie, but I feel like this year she has finally learned to really apply herself. She earned those grades. She did her projects and homework herself. So I'm proud of her:)

They don't do a Jr. High graduation here so this ceremony kinda seemed like a substitute for that.

Looking for mom:)






When I texted this last picture to Dana the tears just started coming and it took a few minutes for them to stop. The fact that she's going to high school is proof that she's growing up on me and I know how fast the next 4 years are going to fly. She thought I was crazy for crying. What she doesn't know is that her face still looks like it did when she was 2 and we'd hold hands and go on walks together around our apartments. And how it did when she was 3 ask me "how do spiders make webs?" or "how do birds lay eggs?". She doesn't understand that, that was only 5 minutes ago!
 

But. I got myself together and took some pictures of her cute group of friends.
 


From there we (she got to sign out early) made a quick stop to Jamba Juice as a reward and then over to watch Eli do the "Sixth Grade Walk Out".

Yes, I cried again. Seeing the principal, past teachers, just all our wonderful staff that have helped him through elementary school just made my heart feel so full.


With Mrs. Hyde, his first grade teacher :)


And Mrs. Anderson his 6th grade teacher :)


She's been great :) Someone sent a picture of them at the 6th grade dance too :)


After we said goodbyes, we went outside and tried to jump.
 
Maybe we'll get good at that someday...


To celebrate, that night we went to Costa Vida.
 

And then had a "slumber/movie party". They picked "Frozen".
 
My brown babies :)

Yay for summer! And having hardly any pre-scheduled activities at all!

Sixth Grade Science Camp

I had so much fun chaperoning for the sixth grade science camp at the end of the school year.

The kids were really the best part. They are kind, bright, and thoughtful. And definitely full of energy!

Obviously, I couldn't be a chaperone for Eli's group being a female, but I was so lucky to have such an amazing group of girls. They were awesome:) For all the activities, our girls group was paired with Eli's group, so during the day I got to hang-out with him a lot.

The camp, "Chapel Rock", had it all: super fun, educational, hands-on, and beautiful up in Prescott. Here are only some of the cool activities we got to do:
Geocaching

Dissecting owl pellets (regurgitated remains of an animal that the owl can't digest- mainly bones) (Eli was completely fascinated.)
 

An awesome hike where Eli got to ask lots (and lots) of questions about anything.
 

Team Challenges


Acting out the water cycle


Eli's favorite- the big rock wall with a zip-line at the top!
 
He made it to the top!
 
It must be mentioned that so did I!! Okay, I was just a little excited when I made it up because after climbing a couple feet I had some serious doubts. We had to pick climbing names. Eli chose "Everest Climber" and after thinking for a few minutes of trying to come up with something, the name that ended up coming out of my mouth was "Dream Climber" (Haha-seriously). About half way up the guy motivating and giving out tips from down below noticed how much my arms were shaking and started calling out "Dream Climber! You Can Do This!" "Put your foot there!" Etc. When I was almost to the top (unbeknownst to me because I was so focused on one arm or foot at a time that I wasn't looking up or down) a voice very close said "Okay, just reach up over the top and grab that ledge". Surprised I looked up and 3 men were watching me. Just a little embarrassing! No pictures of me and I'm okay with that :)

My favorite- the skits each group had to put on at night.
 
Some of these kids were so funny. I was crying/laughing during one. Plus, I was probably in 6th grade mode by then.

It was great. Overall, I was left with a sense of  how blessed we are to be a part of such a wonderful community/school. Grateful to be with Eli and watch him thrive around good people:).