Last Day of First Grade

First Grade flew by! I can't believe this boy is now going to be in 2nd grade.  He has learned so much over this year. His reading has improved dramatically. I felt like he could barely read at the beginning of first grade but before Christmas, he was reading chapter books.  He is improving in all areas which is all we can ask for. Way to go Evan!

On our way to the bus stop for the last time.

I joined Evan up at school shortly after the bus stop to volunteer at the end of year activities.

Evan with 2 of his friends enjoying the outdoor carnival.

Evan with his teacher Ms. V

All of the neighbors at our bus stop put on a surprise ice cream sundae party for the kids when they got off the bus!

Caitlin and her friend Charlotte even got to come enjoy it (they'll be in Kinder together next year).

Ready for summer to begin!

Enjoying the ice cream sundaes with friends. What a great year! Shortly, we will be sending 2 kids to school. They are both excited to start again in a few weeks (Caitlin especially).  I will try to update the blog with some summer posts soon!

Spring soccer - the last chapter

Evan again played soccer at the YMCA this Spring with Daddy and Coach Travis taking on the coaching duties for something like the 8th time!  Unfortunately, Mother Nature did NOT want us to play much soccer.  More times than not, our practices and games were cancelled.

A rare sunny game day!

These two - playing soccer together for 4 years!

This was our mudfest game - a makeup on a field so muddy, the ball barely moved! 

With all the rain, the team often got together just for fun on random other days. A favorite of all was Parents vs. Kids!

Our team celebration where they received their medals.

We still had a blast with all these great boys. Unfortunately, our YMCA days are coming to an end. The team is splitting up (after playing together for a long time!).  Evan will be joining the Lonestar Soccer Junior Academy in the fall (with a few other boys from the team although not necessarily playing together).  It's bittersweet to say goodbye. We have loved getting to know everyone and having so much fun. I know the coaches are sad too.  But, we have Ryan to look forward to playing in the Spring when he turns 3!

First Grade Awards

From the blog perspective, school is almost done!  Evan had his end of year school awards. We enjoyed getting to be there to celebrate his achievements! Here's a video of his award:

And some pictures from after! If you couldn't see the video, he got awards for: Reading Minutes, Shining Star in Reading, Rising Star in Math, and Citizenship.

Even Oma got to come to his awards!

Daddy and Evan

Mommy and Evan

Evan and his best friend Alex

Evan and his teacher Ms. V!

We are so proud of you Evan! We have seen great strides in your reading this year and you continue to be a good student and friend (never came home below green once all year!).  Keep up the good work.

Caitlin's Preschool Graduation

It's hard to believe but Caitlin has graduated from preschool!  Yep, she'll be starting Kindergarten in the Fall and she couldn't be more excited or ready. 

Her preschool had a wonderful graduation ceremony with a whole production of songs, slideshow, and diplomas. 

We are so proud of you Caitlin for all your accomplishments and how much you have learned this last year.  We know you are so ready for Kinder.

Caitlin and her friend AJ. She is so excited they'll be going to the same school!

Caitlin and her friend Brinley

She will miss all of her friends who are going to different schools too. We have loved being part of the Westside family! Good thing Ryan is starting preschool in the Fall so we will have 3 more years of Westside!

I have a long video of the whole performance but I haven't downloaded it yet. I'll try to upload it at a later date if I remember but I didn't want to wait to post this until then. Congratulations Caitlin on graduating preschool! We look forward to all that is still to come for you.

Caitlin's Dance Recital

Caitlin has been taking a ballet/tap class again this year. She was fortunate to have 2 very good friends in her class!  For their recital, they did a tap number to Singing in the Rain. They had umbrellas for props. It was cute.

Caitlin with her friends Ellie and Ella Kate.

Backstage lining up

Caitlin and her friend Caroline (who is in a different class)

Caitlin and her best friend Ellie - excited for the performance!

And the girls with their trophies! They did a great job and definitely enjoyed it. We are so proud of you Caitlin!

My little dancer!

Baba came too and brought her flowers!

Me and Caitlin

Spring Boy Scouts

Evan has really been enjoying Boy Scouts and being a Tiger Cub.  Here are some pics from his activities this spring.

First up, they had a cake challenge at one of their den meetings. The boys were supposed to bake the cake with an adult who does not do the baking usually (which means Bryce). I helped them come up with a cake (thanks pinterest!) that looked fairly easy.

Two pans of store bought cake mix ready to cook!

And the final product! It's supposed to look like a campfire. We made it egg free and dairy free so our friend Alex could eat it if he wanted to.

The random Texas flag is because I didn't realize there was a Texas theme so we improvised! And Evan won a Judges Choice award!

He was so happy to get a trophy for his hard work!

Another weekend, the boys went on a weekend camping trip. Fortunately, it was nearby so we joined them all for dinner on Saturday evening.

Everyone playing kickball

The girls building campfires!

The boys also had to do a service project which was wrapping these baby trees with wire so the animals didn't eat them.

Our end of year picnic got rained out but we did have a Bike Rodeo one day. The kids all had fun and since the picnic was rained out, the boys did get to officially become Wolfs! They go into the Tiger-Matic as tiger cubs and then come out the other end of a Wolf cub! 

It's been a great year. Evan really enjoyed it. Looking forward to learning what it means to be a Wolf Cub!

Random March/April pics

I think I skipped the fact that Evan got his cast off!  At the very end of March, Evan finally got his cast off.  That was a long six weeks!  

Old pros now at cutting this off (remember the pool incident?)

Cleaning up the nasty skin underneath

And into a brace! He wore this brace all the time for 2 weeks, then just for sports for 2 weeks. He's doing great. Very tentative at first without it on, but that didn't last long.  He even went back to swimming right away which is actually great for his arm.

Kids have Good Friday off of school so we went to the park with the Isaacsons!

April is also the elementary school Spring Carnival. Always chaotic but a lot of fun. Caitlin got her hair colored orange!

And we played lots of games

Evan and his teacher Ms. V