Elementary Awards

Yesterday was the last day of school for my elementary kids. There was a nice little awards assembly where they were recognized for some of the good things they do at our school.

Baby Doll received her Soaring Leader, which has become much more difficult in the last couple of years. Curly also received his and several other awards including the Principal's Citizenship award for his grade.

In addition to her Soaring Leader, Scout received the President's Education Award which also included a shiny silver pin. She was also honored for her role on the Safety Patrol, a position she has had for 2 years now.

I'm so proud of them! I have great kids.

Trekking This Is The Place Park

Wednesday was the 2nd to last day of school and since I went to the 6th grade dance with Scout, I decided to go on the 4th grade field trip with Curly. I have been to This Is The Place park many times, and I know it can be quite a hike, depending on if you are going up the hill or down, but it was totally different with 4th graders!

They walk (run) fast!!

I was assigned my six boys to escort around the park, but this time we also had set places we had to be at set times. My favorite was the school house because it was cool (and cool) and there was a place to sit for a few minutes.

The train ride was also fun and I enjoyed the learning experience of the blacksmith shop. I had never been with a group that had a chance to pull the handcarts, so that was a new one for me. They didn't allow the adults to touch them and they only pulled them about a block, but it was in at least double time of what the pioneers would have actually done.

We got back home at about 1:30 and I had to take a nap to finish out the rest of my night. I'm starting to get used to this afternoon nap thing...

6th Grade Dance

I told you yesterday about our preparations for the 6th grade dance and we were pleased with the results of our shopping trip. Scout looked beautiful! The dance started at 1:30 and I was there by 1:10 to set up my punch and cookies station. I was not aware that it was a competition between the 3 classes.

We held our own, with real linens and the nice punch container I have used at several weddings, but the table to the right had a real punch bowl and decorations that included actual pineapples and treat bags for each student. The table to the left missed out on the punch bowl and had to pour their Tampico into cups, but they made up for it with the cheesecake bites on cheesy little stands.

The kids each had a dance card, so partners were prechosen and very little was left to chance. They even knew exactly when each class would break for refreshments. But I didn't mind. That meant most of the time I could just sit back and watch Scout dance. It's amazing how all those years of dance classes made her much more graceful and agile on the floor than a lot of the other girls and nearly all of the boys. I just wish I could have seen her smile a little more. The dance is supposed to be fun, but there were only a handful of kids who appeared to be enjoying themselves.

When they came back for refreshments, she finally confessed that her new shoes had given her blisters on both feet but she grudgingly admitted that she was having fun. We cleaned up promptly at 3:15 and the last two dances were dropped from the card. She seemed disappointed by that... maybe I need to look for her card and see who her partners were supposed to be...

The Transformation

The school year is winding down quickly for my 3 elementary-aged kids. Crafty and Sport finished last week, but now they both have summer classes to deal with. This final week is full of field trips and fun, but most especially the 6th Grade Dance.

Drama Queen came by this morning and took me, Sport, and Crafty to breakfast at Chick-fil-A. Then we drove out to Kohl's so we could spend my Kohl's cash buying something cute for Scout to wear. I want her to feel beautiful and confident tomorrow at her very first dance.

I found a cute blue dress and Drama Queen found the perfect pair of leggings for her to wear under it. We made Crafty be our model and try everything on, even the shoes (although as it turns out, their feet are about half a size different).

Then Drama Queen dropped us home before running to Walmart to pick up more red hair dye to refresh what should have been Scout's natural hair color. I am even going to bend my own rules a bit and let her wear makeup tomorrow, something I don't usually allow until middle school. Don't worry, I'll be sure to show you the transformation and give you a report on the dance. Fortunately, I was one of only 2 moms from her class chosen to be there to hand out punch and cookies.

So excited!