another school year bites the dust

I always look forward to the last day of school when we start our summer break from routine and schedules. What I don't particularly love is the crazy schedule that happens in the weeks leading up to the last day. Oh, it's all fun stuff...selling yearbooks, awards assembly, 8th grade party to celebrate moving onto high school, 1st grade camping cookout in the classroom, meetings to make some decisions about next year's fall fundraiser, beach field trips (this year I had two, one with Kyle and one with Jillian...it turns out the beach is less relaxing with a hundred 5th graders...who knew?). The last day of school came and went, we got it all done and now the kids are officially on summer break, hooray!

This was my first year ever with all 3 kids in school full-time. Here they are, first day of the school year and last day of the school year...1st, 5th and 8th grade are now officially finished for these kiddos of mine.

September 2014

June 2015

Leah - she had a great year in first grade! Her teacher is incredibly sweet, and I was always impressed with her fun plans (seriously, a week long camping cookout theme for the last week of school including crafts, stories, hot dogs and s'mores!). Leah wrote the sweetest thank you note to her teacher and even decorated it in a Mariner's theme because that's her teacher's favorite team. Overall it was a great year for Leah - she consistently did well in all areas, her report cards were fantastic and she did some testing in the spring which means now she will be in a class next year that will be a great fit for her academically. Leah started piano lessons in the fall and has enjoyed learning many songs. And she still loves gymnastics as much as ever, she participated in 2 small level one competitions within our gym and will continue her lessons throughout the summer.

Jillian - I don't think this blog is big enough to list all of the cool things Jillian did this year but I will try. In addition to doing well in the classroom, Jillian joined quite a few fun clubs at school...running, circus arts (she learned how to ride a unicycle!), climbing, volleyball, yearbook, yoga, lego robotics and drama club. This year Jillian also decided she wanted to take up tennis like her big brother so she has started tennis lessons. In the fall Jillian started piano and has taken off like a flash, going through her books fast and doing a great job at the local music festival where she got 100% all of the testing. She also started violin in the 5th grade orchestra. It's a bit harder to get Jillian to practice violin than the piano, but she did learn quite a bit in orchestra class and it was fun to go to the 5th grade band and orchestra concert at the end of the school year. We've taken a break from her true love, horseback riding, in order to fit all the other fun things into her schedule.

Kyle - Kyle also had a great year academically. There were some ups and downs, study habits are still a work in progress but Kyle is smart and always kept his grades up high. His work habits have improved leaps and bounds when I think back just a few years so I'm happy to see he is working harder. Kyle was in the video game programming club at school, he still plays tennis at the local tennis club, but of course his favorite pastime is still playing on the computer. It has been a nice way for him to keep in touch with his friends in Toronto. Kyle earned the Presidential Academic Excellence Award which involves maintaining a high GPA and doing well on standardized state testing. He seems ready to start high school in the fall!