School's Out!!

I can't believe it's the first day of the girls' summer break!!

About two weeks ago we had the End of the Year BBQ at Parkside. It was very fun. Poor Makayla had soccer practice at the school for more than half of it!

The girls had some friends over one day to decorate shirts with puff paints that a friend had. Makayla made this one so her friends could sign it at school.
Tuesday night Makayla had her fifth grade awards and "Moving On Ceremony", the principal emphasized it was not a graduation. They don't "graduate" until after high school.
Makayla and Briauna, who convinced Makayla to wear a dress to the ceremony. Taylor came over Sunday after church and helped Makayla pick out her outfit.
Makayla and Kayla
Mrs. Boyd, what a great teacher!
Can you believe he'll be a kindergartener in the fall?!
Poor Jason is about to waste away from lack of food. He came straight from work, and just pulled up in front of the house, as we were at the stop sign ready to turn. At the end he looked at me and asked, "We have three more of these to sit through?" I told him, "I guess that depends on what school the others go to. Maybe not all of the elementary schools have them." It made me smile to see the look of hope when I said that. He confessed he agreed with my Dad who thinks the 5th grade ceremony is a bit much just for finishing elementary school.
Makayla's elementary school years have FLOWN by!! She has been so blessed to have incredible teachers!! I think I'm still in denial that here stands a middle schooler!! NOOOOO!!!
Here are the awards she received Tuesday night and the attendance award is from her assembly at school Wednesday. I tried to take pictures of her getting them, but we were too far away. She also ended up with a $10.00 gift certificate from a local bookstore for being an alternate in Battle of the Books. We cashed in on it today. She's so excited!! I think just from the AR books she read, she read over 4 million words. I have no idea how many additional words she read from all of the other books she read!




Malia with Mrs. Colley. Malia and Mrs. Colley REALLY want us to stay in the Parkside boundaries. Can you believe we also have a third grader in our house?! Malia was not outdone either. Her AR tests give her credit for well over 1 million words, but she also read books that were not AR books as well. Jason was noticing that on one of the reports she had, it said that she was reading at a 6th grade level. She earned the reward of Mrs. Colley treating her to see Kung Fu Panda 2 and have pizza at Abby's yesterday with four other students in her class, and some of the kids from a first grade class, and her former 1st grade teacher went too. It was so cute to have Malia say after she walked home from school, "I miss Mrs. Colley already".

Yesterday I ended up at the school for a little bit, because Makayla left a message for me to bring some stuff to the school for her. One of her friend's mom was there, and commented on how impressed she is by all of the reading our girls do. Yeah, it's getting them to stop when I need them to do something else, that's the trick I can't master!! Getting them to put their books down so they can do chores, sleep, not get food on them because they set them down at the table when it's mealtime, etc. is IMPOSSIBLE!! We all laughed when I told them that taking their books away is one of the ways they get disciplined!!

What am I to do with these smartie pants kids to keep them sharp all summer long?!