The Last Day of School

It's tradition!

Last day of 6th Grade!

Last day of 3rd Grade!

Picture Perfect

Our Katey.  Our smart, sweet, loving, scattered and wonderful Katey.  Looking over this last school year, there is so much that has just screamed, "Katey!"

She started Middle School.  Mom was a nervous wreck - I remember Middle School and all the insecurities that came with it.  But, Katey was not me.  She headed in, full force, and loved it!  There was much talk of lockers being butterflied (pad locks turned around to make it tough to open them), kids who didn't do what they were supposed to (and Katey making sure teachers were aware of such transgressions), annoying classmates, great friends made, and the Battle of the Books team adventure. 

But there was one thing that happened in particular that made Mike and I just shake our heads, smile, and proclaim that this event was a perfect way to sum up Katey.

School was winding down, and Katey came home on June 1st fit to be tied.  In her best 'outraged' voice she hit the door exclaiming that she had won an award at school that day but NO ONE had told her she was receiving it and NO ONE made sure she was at the awards ceremony to receive it.  Her award was the Best Overall Language Arts Student in her team of teachers (about 150 students).  The awards ceremony was a big deal - parents were invited and the kids who were getting awards were able to leave class to be a part of the ceremony.  Mike and I had no idea, as we were not notified.

I began trying to calm Katey down and started questioning her.  "Did you get an envelope in the last week or two to bring home to us?"  No.  "Did any of your teachers mention to you that you should be at the ceremony?"  No.  "Are you sure?"  YES!  At first I was pretty ticked off at her teachers...and then I asked to see her school folders.

It took several minutes to wade through past homework and school work, progress reports and miscellaneous stuff, but then I found it.

A letter dated May 23, notifying us that Katey was receiving an award and asking for an RSVP to the ceremony.  Oops.  Katey was mystified.  She had no recollection of being given that letter or it being in her folder. 

So there it is.  A picture-perfect illustration of our Katey.  The best overall language arts student who didn't pass along an invitation and didn't even realize she was getting the award.  What a fitting way to end 6th grade...and because she has such a good temperament, we all laughed about it once the mystery was solved.  :-)

Our bright scholar with her award!

 

All Things Seth

Seth in pictures

Mustache Day at school!

Seth received an award for being on the Honor Roll all year!

Tie-Dye t-shirts for his class to wear on Field Day

Watching TV and snuggling with Daddy

Super Hero Day at school - Seth went as Thor

Candy Bars

My (school) year has been consumed with trying to sell all of the chocolate bars left from our annual PTA fundraiser.  We began selling in mid-September and the final box left my possession this week!!  As I have spent the year fretting over getting rid of them, dreaming about getting rid of them, and working on getting rid of them, I cannot express the utter relief I feel in knowing that we have gotten rid of ALL of the chocolate bars!

 If I ever see another one of these it will be TOO SOON!!!

Baseball

Now that the season has ended I figured it would be a great time to write about Seth's first baseball experience.  I, of course, would not have wanted to write about this earlier as it would have only been a partial story and cliffhangers are a little on the mean side.  Yeah, that's why I waited.

So Seth asked to try his hand with baseball this Spring and we were excited to let him do it! Having never played before, this was a completely new, somewhat difficult experience for him.  One thing we have noticed about Seth is that he likes to be the best at everything.  And, like his Momma, he wants to figure things out on his own, not be told how to do something.

Enter baseball.

Most of the kids on Seth's team had played t-ball or coach pitch in previous years.  They were familiar with the rules and with being at the plate to bat.  We were pleasantly surprised that Seth was very good about taking instruction - not only from his coaches, but also from his peers.  He worked hard and tried his very best.  He practiced at home and asked questions if there was something he didn't understand (because baseball, unlike soccer, has A LOT of rules!).

Seth got to play right field, left field, 3rd base and 2nd base throughout the season.  He did a wonderful job backing up players and being quick on his feet to run down hard-hit balls.  Over the course of the season he learned to be patient at the plate and watch for good balls to swing at.  While he was never able to get a hit in a game, he did get several walks, and we were all proud of him for that.

When asked, Seth told us that he would definitely like to play baseball again, and he is very excited that, even though the season is finished, his coaches are planning to get the kids together once a month or so to continue refining their skills.  We can't wait for next season!

Seth's first-ever at bat

Pictures

While Shannon and the girls were here we decided to have some pictures taken of the kids.  Our friend from church, Taryn (terra firma photography), met us at a park and she got some great shots!

I think this one is one of my favorites:

Why?  Because we asked that a re-creation be done of this picture from 3 years ago:

Love it!!

But, really, we have some cute kids.  :-) See:

A Weekend Project

For awhile now we have been toying with the idea of a new TV stand.  (And by 'awhile' I mean like 2 years.  Can't be too careful in the decision making process!)  Mike was thumbing through a Handyman magazine awhile back and a plan caught his eye.  We both liked the design and the article mentioned that it only took a weekend for the creator of the pattern to finish this project.  Perfect!

So, Mike set out to put his tools to good use and started on our new piece of furniture. 

And after a weekend, this is what was finished:

So, Mike kept working diligently and after a week and a half this is what it looked like: 

 Another week or so and he had the drawers in and ready to go (something he had to learn as he had not done drawers before!).  I should mention here that we did have to wait a few days for drawer hardware to arrive as the size we needed isn't carried at Home Depot or Lowes. 

 Next came all the staining and polyurethane-ing.  I didn't get any pictures of that process.  And, once you apply the final coat it is recommended that you wait a week before moving it inside.  So we did.

We are pretty sure this 'weekend project' took about a month, but last night we got it into the house and all set up.  Mike did an awesome job on this - what a beautiful piece of furniture we now have!!