School's out for the summer!

School's out for everyone in the fam' now! Phil and his class graduated last night with a nice ceremony followed by a dinner reception. We knew he had gotten pretty good grades throughout the course, but we were surprised when he was given an award for graduating in the top 10 percent and the "Fogleman Award" for his class.

The kiddos and I were very, VERY proud of him and his hard work over this past year. Nicely done, Phil!

Not a kindergartener

As of today, she's officially NOT a kindergartener anymore. But I refuse to refer to her as a 1st grader because she is still my Claire-baby. And Claire-babies can not possibly be 1st graders who go to school all day long.

Don't worry - I have all summer to get used to the idea.

In the meantime, check out that big girl with her bus stop pals on their last day of school.

Graduation (for Maddie)

Our little Maddie-kins recently had her pre-k graduation. Except she's not really graduating because she'll do pre-k again next year due to her late birthday. But her school makes a bit of a hooplah over it so she got to party, too. They've been practicing their ceremony for awhile now, complete with four songs.
Each child in the class received some sort of award. You know, things like "Most Curious", "Best with Numbers", etc. We were really SUPER proud of Maddie when she was recognized as the "Best Friend" in her class! Her teacher said she was a good friend to everyone. Maddie would find the kid with no one to play with and be sure to include him or her. She was always friendly to everyone and easy to get along with.

We were so happy to hear that our little girl was the same sweet person at school that we (mostly) see around here. Congrats, Maddie
Our next graduates will be Claire (from kindergarten) and then Phil!

Picnic in the Park

As the school year wraps up, there seems to be much less actual learning going on in class and much more fun. This is understandable, as the weather has seemed more summer-like and the kiddos (and probably the teachers, too!) have been antsy for the end of the school year to arrive.

Maddie's school helped with the antsy-ness with a picnic in the park. The teachers and a good number of parents walked with her class through town to a nice little park.

They ate their picnic lunches.

Then they had a little parachute time. Who doesn't love the parachute?

Then a story.

And THEN it was playtime! Wahoo!

All About Me Day

Each year, Claire's school puts on an "All About Me" day for the kindergarteners. They work all year long on making projects to display. On the big day, parents and family can come into the school to see what all they've been working on. Each kindergartener stands in front of their display and answers questions/shows off their stuff. They were so proud of themselves and of all the things that make them, "them"!

Part of the display was a photo of them on "When I Grow Up" day. Here's a closer picture of Claire on that day -- she wants to be an artist.

After showing off their work they all got up on the stage to sing a few sweet songs. How cute are these kiddos (especially the one second from the left in the back row)?