Meg's 5th Grade Graduation

Megan graduated 5th grade this last week.  We've been planning and having lots of events leading up to this big day for her.  She was super excited to finally get to have her turn at graduating.

I came in early to help a team of Moms get everything set up.  It was interesting working with ladies not used to giving service.  It was interesting what people see as super important and what they make a fuss over.  It all came together in the end and looked great.

I didn't realize that I was going to feel so emotional during the ceremony.  I just thought it's 5th grade graduation but it just hit me when she did her walk in how big she's gotten.  I did get a little teary eyed but held it together. 

Megan got the golden seal presidents award for maintaining a 3.5 gpa for 4th and 5th grade.  She is a great student and I was really proud to see her up there.  She has really worked hard and it has paid off. 

Her teacher gave out special class awards.  He said this student is huge on details.  She is someone who will tell you every detail when you ask for a summary.  She also keeps the teacher on task reminding him of stuff and making sure he follows through.  She got the "details" award from him.  She had a big grin when he said it was for "Megatron"  this was his nickname for her through the year.  I knew right from the start that this was going to be her.  I think she comes by it genetically...

After all the class awards it was time for the completion certificate.  They kind of just read out the names and you came up in a line to shake hands and get your certificate.  The typically type ceremony tradition.

Megan made sure we got a photo with her teacher.  She had a great year with Mr. Bryd.  Looking back she said this was her favorite teacher for this school.  He really made the year fun and she loved it.  On the last day of school when she came home she had a total meltdown of tears because she was sad to move on.  She wished he was moving on with them.

 The reception to follow was okay.  Each student got a special chocolate graduation had as their gift.  It's a Hersey bar with a Reese cup attached.  Super cute and Megan loved eating hers as we talked about her graduation.

 She even got her name on the graduation cake that everyone got to have.  All the names didn't fit on one cake so it was split in two cakes.  It made the students feel a bit special to see their names all together.

We took Megan out for a special dinner. She got her own box of See's candy with flowers and a balloon.  She felt so excited and special on her big day.  Jeff and I are super proud of the awesome young woman she is becoming.  On to middle school.  I can only imagine what will come next.

2nd Grade Fieldtrip

Andrew had is 2nd grade field trip to the Children's Hands on Museum in Olympia.  Megan had this same field trip for 2nd and 3rd grade so I thought I was all set and knew what to expect.  Little did I know that it changed buildings.  It has moved several blocks and the building is so much bigger and better.  I was super impressed at how different this experience was.



I have to say I was not looking forward to going this year.  I was nervous that it was going to be tough.  So I enlisted Jeff to go with us.  He took a few days off and we got to spend them having fun.  Megan was off to camp and we took Andrew on his field trip.  Andrew LOVED having Jeff come along.  I think this is the very first field trip of both kids that he has gotten to go on.  It made it all the more special.

There was a small communication problem with Andrew's teacher.  I had told her that Jeff and I were both coming but she thought it was only going to be one of us.  It didn't matter that much but we did have like 7 chaperons.  Each adult had 4 kids and the teacher was able to just hang out and had no kids to be in charge of.  She just floated about keeping tabs on people.

Our four kids were 2 boys and 2 girls.  This made it a tad tricky at times when deciding on what area to play in.  The boys had one idea and the girls had another most of the time.  It was so nice having both Jeff and I there.  We'd just divide and conquer when needed so it was more like having only 2 kids to keep track of.  It also helped out just being able to keep eyes on the kids.  It was a bit of a mad house and hard at times to make sure all where accounted for.



Andrew loved this place.  I don't think he really remembered that we had been with Grandma and Papa before as that was the other location.  This place was all new for him even though some of the stuff was the same.  Since the building was all different it was like exploring a whole new place he had never been to before.  It also had some new items which made it fun.  When I asked what his favorite section was he said he had several.  There was no way he could choose just one.

He loved the "scream room" and all the touching and hands on stuff.  It was just so much fun.  He also said he loved the water spots and sand sections.  Really any place that he could just get in and play with his hands.  Not too big on imaginative play but sensory stuff was all good for him.

He was really good as were all 4 of our kids.  We had no real issues with anyone and didn't lose anyone either.  I consider this a big plus in my book.  No injuries or problems at all.  We just enjoyed out day out with Andrew.  He got to go to a catapult workshop which he loved and just had a great time.

We were there till about 1pm then we had lunch and made it back to the school.  We were all back and done by 3pm.  It was kind of weird to leave him at school after our fun day for another hours of school stuff.  In the past we've gotten back a bit later where I've been able to take them home.  This was a bit different then the usual but still okay.

I'm so thankful for the chance to be there for my kids.  It means a whole lot to me just to have the experience with them.  I love to see them grow each year and to just have that chance to be there for them.  Next up for him is field day on Friday.  Jeff took this day off as well so both of us will be there for the first time.  Megan is excited to have her Dad around for the first time at school.  We can't wait to have some family fun at school.

5th Grade Camper

Megan is a big 5th grader this year and along with that goes camp.  This is her last year at her school and she'll be moving on to middle school.  She was so excited to go camping I think I heard about the plans for months ahead of time.

Megan would come home and tell me about the shirts and name tags and cabins and on and on.  She was just over the moon at the chance to go to camp.  I really wanted to volunteer to chaperon and go with her this year.  Megan had other ideas.  She wasn't too thrilled with the idea of me tagging along.  She really wanted to have this experience on her own.  I wanted to respect her wishes so I declined to go and made sure to send her with a camera. 

I told her since she wasn't letting me go she needed to make sure to capture her experience on the camera.  She was thrilled to be the picture taker as that is usually my role.  So she got to go on her own and have the camera.  What more could the girl ask for?

I told her to make sure to be in some of the photos so I could see her in action and not take a ton of everyone else.  What she came home with was a few photos of people and the rest were of the camp and surrounding area.  She was so busy having a great time she said she forgot half the time to take her camera.  She'd rather have fun and experience everything then be bother with a task.  Totally understand that thought,  maybe this whole picture taking is better left to Mom?

She came home totally exhausted and dirty.  Her bus was an hour late bring her home so we only had a bit of time before Andrew was home to join in.  Both kids loved having a small 3 day break from each other and just getting to have their own space.  Three days was just long enough for her to have fun but not miss her terribly.

She loved learning camp songs and all the activities.  She had a new appreciation for eating all the food on your plate and not wasting stuff.  She was using camp terms as she was talking to us and letting us know almost every detail of her camp experience.  She had a great time.

I think she wished she could have gone for longer but did appreciate what she did get.  There are 6 elementary schools in the district and only 3 schools still go to camp around here.  I was saying to her teacher that when I was a kid we went for a whole week so 2 1/2 days is really not long enough.  That's when he said they are just doing everything they can to keep it going year after year as it's not that supported.  This makes me sad.  Camp is a huge milestone for kids and so much fun.  I hope that it stays around long enough for Andrew to go and then they can do what they need to.

Megan loved being on her own and didn't mind not having me there.  She did wish that Jeff could have gone but it just wasn't working out.  Then he's a male and wouldn't be able to spend that much time with her and what is the point of going if you don't spend the time with your child.  It all worked out the way is needed to and all of us were happy.

I'm super happy that she had a great time and that she got to have the experience.  It really made a difference to her.  She created some lasting memories and brought home a  few keepsakes to remember her time.  Next up is her graduation from middle school in a few days.  I'm so torn with her moving on.  Both excited and scared to see what comes next.