Here we go.... Let's look back at 2nd Grade!

Well, here we are, a week into the 2016-17 school year.  It's a whole new routine for all of us - Riley's started kindergarten and we're at a brand new school.  With that new routine, I'm hoping to spend a lot more time blogging again, and so...we need to do  A LOT of catching up.  Hopefully, this will be our last big catch up and I can get back to this more regularly.

So, even though he's now a third grader, let's look back at the end of Gavin's 2nd grade year.  I already blogged about Riley's preschool graduation, so it's time to give Gavin some of the spotlight, too.  

Gavin had a rocky end of the year after his teacher began having health issues and missed the last six weeks or so of school.  He had a lot of substitutes coming and going, and because of that, there was a lot of chaos in the classroom - because, you know, kids can't behave for subs...  But, he kept working, kept reading, and even completed his first diorama!  They had to pick something Arkansas related to research and create a diorama/write a paper about, and he chose Bill Clinton.  

We were all kind of processing the fact that as the school year ended, so did our time at Elm Tree.  We loved the school and really LOVED the calendar, but with our town growing so rapidly, the school board felt the need to get all elementary schools on the same calendar, and thus rezoned everyone.  That meant no more year-round school and no more Elm Tree.    I received this key chain from the PTO for volunteering, and I love it.  The kids recited a student creed every single day, and this is how it started.  It's a good reminder that you get a fresh start with every sunrise.  We all need that reminder sometimes...

On a scorching hot day, Riley and I headed to ETE to help out with the 2nd grade end-of-the-year party, which was a sports/Olympics themed event.  It was HOT, but we still had fun.

And the class was SO excited to Ms. Behnke come back for a visit.  They had missed their teacher, you could tell.

And, of course, mama had to get her traditional last day pictures before we left 2nd grade in the dust....

Thankfully, he obliged.  It's not often I get good pics of this one these days...

Riley helped me hang the end of the year decorations to celebrate the start of summer, and instead of baking something, they asked if we could do ice cream this year, so we headed to Yum Yos after our last Elm Tree carline.

Elm Tree was good to us.  The three years we were Wildcats helped shape Gavin.  He matured, and slowly worked on becoming more confident, more outgoing, and more social.  I remember dropping him off at kindergarten like it was yesterday...  We are so thankful for our two years with Mrs. Ruffner and our last year with Ms. Behnke.  He had wonderful teachers that helped him grow, continued to nurture his love of learning, and inspired him to keep going.  He made amazing friends, and I know that the true friends will hang around even though we're leaving for a new school.  He tried out Cub Scouts, and learned that he loves Running Club and soccer.  He learned to read, and left 2nd grade reading on a 5th grade level.  He is growing into an amazing young man.  And we love him.

Goodbye, 2nd Grade.  Goodbye, Elm Tree.  We'll miss you both, but we have bigger things ahead, and new adventures to be had.  <3 font="">

Our Baby Boy is EIGHT!

It's been a few weeks since it happened....but somehow our little guy grew up and decided to turn eight last month.  We decided to have a little 'Ten Days of Birthday' countdown, and he got a little something each day for the ten days leading up to his birthday.  Nothing major - just a special breakfast, or extra electronics time, things like that.  We also celebrated with the birthday banner hanging in the living room that he got from Mimi and Beepa for Christmas.  Looking forward to using it for many years to come, including when he's a teenager and super embarrassed by it. ;)

 

Right before his birthday, he lost yet another tooth!  Took him forever to lose his first, and now he seems to be losing them left and right.

On his actual birthday, he was lucky enough to have the day off school for part of his May break.  I woke up to make him his birthday pancakes to find him snuggled up under his new blanket with a backlight, reading one of his new books he got from Aunt Meggie and Uncle Kyle. :) Love how much he loves to read!

After dropping Sister off at school, I surprised him and took him back to the house and spent the entire time Riley was at school playing his new xbox game with him.  Neither of us had ever played Fifa before, so we weren't really good at it, and we laughed a lot!

We picked Riley up and then headed to meet Daddy for a pizza lunch.  Dinner was lettuce wraps, of course, and we had a special cupcake dessert.  

A couple days later, we had his birthday party with friends.  It had to be the easiest party I ever threw -- two hours of playing video games with friends and cookie cake.  Basically, I greeted the guests, cut the cookie cake, and snapped pics of the boys before they left.  The rest of the time was spent engrossed in the massive screens that filled the place. :)

 

 

Happy birthday, Gavin Jack!  You're growing into a really amazing young man and we're so proud of you.  Love you more than any other boy in this world.  XOXO

Second Grade Silliness

February was a fun month to be a second grader.  For the last few months, Gavin's been preparing for the second grade musical with his classmates.  I was so excited when I first read that there'd be a musical this year, way back in September.  When TREC came into play, it was actually one of the things I checked out first, because Gavin is out of the classroom every Tuesday and therefore misses music.  Not that I was expecting him to have a huge role in the musical, but I wanted to make sure he was able to practice and prepare with his fellow second graders.  

Well, the morning of the Granny Awards performance came and I couldn't wait to see him up there.  When we first were told the date and times of the musical, I asked Gavin if he wanted me to be there for both the daytime performance and the evening one, and he said yes, so of course, I made plans to be there.  Jarrod wasn't able to make it for the morning performance, but had plans to meet me at school that evening.  When I dropped Gavin off in the carline that morning, I commented that I would see him soon, and he looked back at me and said, 'You're just coming tonight with Dad, right?'  I reminded him that he said he wanted me to come to the morning performance, and he tried telling me he didn't need me to come anymore.  I just smiled and apologized, telling him I was still planning to be there.  

I was SO proud of Gavin.  He didn't have a part, so to speak, but seeing him in the front row was so amazing.  In true Gavin fashion, he was rather reserved, not exactly singing and dancing like some of his classmates, but he was up there, and he was being brave and not looking at all nervous.  There was a time when being on that stage for Rise and Shine would bring him to tears, but he was awesome.  Perhaps someday he will be more into being on stage in front of his peers and you'll be able to see him mouth moving or his body movements a little more exaggerated, but for now, I was just so proud to see him up there and being confident.

You can watch some clips of the musical on our YouTube site.  www.youtube.com/mrspate22

After the morning performance, Riley and I came home for a bit and then headed back up to school for the second grade Valentine's Day party. It was meant to be a bit low key, but it, of course, was a little chaotic - what do you expect though with 25 7-8 year olds, the day before February break, all sugared up? :)

Treston's mom, Jen, was at the party and we snapped some pictures of the boys and of ourselves with our sons.  These two have been in the same class every year we've been at Elm Tree.  They have such a great friendship, and I wish we'd spent more time together outside of school.  Now that the rezoning of the schools has happened, we're pretty sure we won't be at the same school next year, and I have promised Gavin that we'll do all we can to make sure he still maintains his friendship with Treston.  He's such a good friend to Gav.

And, of course, we headed back to school later that night for the evening performance.  Jarrod and Riley killed time waiting for it to start by doing a bit of dancing.  Melt my heart.

I didn't have the greatest seat to snap pics at the evening performance, but was able to get a few before it all started.

And one afterwards with one of his classmates, Parker.

After the busy day, we were very excited for a week of relaxation.  I'm going to miss our year round breaks so much next year!  We didn't do too much during our February break.  We visited Amazeum, did some shopping, and hit up High Rise for Elm Tree spirit day with Treston and a bunch of other boys.  It was great to have some quality time with him.

Goodbye, First Grade

Just like that, first grade came to an end a few weeks ago.  We were so lucky to have another fabulous year with Mrs. R.  It was just luck of the draw that we ended up with her two years in a row, and I'm so thankful it worked out that way.  Gavin had such an amazing start to his schooling career with her.

They celebrated the end of the year with a special "P"arty.  Pajamas, pillows, playing outside, eating pizza and popcorn, watching Parent Trap, taking silly pictures...the whole shebang.  He was pumped up for his fun day!

Riley and I joined him for a little while.  Unlike kindergarten, we didn't spend the whole day with him this time.  In fact, he barely paid us any attention during the outside play time.  He was much too busy goofing off with his friends. :)  But, I still enjoyed being part of the fun, seeing him laugh and play with the other boys in his class.  Watching him come out of his shell is pretty special.  The older he gets, the more outgoing I see him become.

We snapped a few class photos before lunch, and it just cracks me up because it was so dreary that day....not a hint of sun in the sky, yet Gavin couldn't keep his eyes open without his sunglasses.  We made a trip to the store and stocked up on more sunglasses for the summer after school that day.  He somehow lost every pair in his collection over the course of the school year.  

We headed in and the kids got all settled in to watch their movie and relax for the rest of the day and that's when Riley and I headed out and let him enjoy his afternoon sans Little Sister.  I think he appreciated that. ;)

Before we left, we presented Mrs. R with a gift the class all contributed towards.  It was such a pleasure to put this together for her.  Made me have flashbacks of the wonderful class gifts I once received.

Gavin, Daddy and I are so proud of your accomplishments in first grade!  Great report cards and test scores indication you're already reading at almost a 5th grade level and doing match like a pro....that's all fabulous.  But, more so than that, we just love the young man you're becoming.  You are trying more things - Cub Scouts and soccer were on the list this year.  You're finally tackling things that once gave you so much hesitation and fear - swimming and riding your bike, for example.  Thank you for making our days light up and for always giving us hugs when you know we really need one.  We love your loving heart.