End of the School Year

School Carnival. 

The kids LOVE the school carnival. There are the usual carnival games, bounce houses and food. The kids had so much fun and the school ends up making a grundle, so it's a win-win. We have just this one picture of sweet Hailey going down a slide. She is a timid thing and we're always proud of her for daring something new. We didn't see much of Andrew and Ashley while we were there, which means they were having a great time with friends. 

The Fun Run. 

The Fun Run is a run that loops around the perimeter of the school property. Each grade competes separately and it is a big deal, at least for the younger grades. Kindergartners were first. Ashley is pretty quick and I was happy to see that her endurance was pretty good too. She came in 2nd of the girls and about 6th or 7th overall. 

 
 
Way to Go Ashley!

For the competitive 1st grade boys it was an even bigger deal. 
 
 Andrew is fast too and his endurance is good but, I've noticed lately that his off the line start is slow. In the picture below he is the far right, just in front of a girl in pink. 

 When the kids reemerge from the front of the school (so that the parents can see them again) Andrew was in 2nd place and doing great. He slowed up for a few paces and slipped to 3rd and then held at 3rd until the finish line. 4th was a long ways behind him and then they trickled in for a bit until a big group comes and it's about through. 

 I was very proud of him for 3rd place, I think that's awesome! He has a boy in his class who is several inches taller and older and very athletic too, and he seems to win everything this year. What's hard is that he puts others down about it continually and at home we've had to talk a lot about good sportsmanship, how to respond to bragging and being proud of our own accomplishments regardless of others. It's been rough. 
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Last Day of Kindergarten

Kindergarten ended a week before the other grades. Ashley has loved school so much! Even though she is excited for summer she is sad to say goodbye. Ashley loves the kindergarten bus ride home as much as any other part of her day. Several times I was at her class when school ended and she refused to drive home with me in the car because she wanted to take the bus! Ashley was the last stop and she loved the driver, Sheila. On the last day they gave each other a big hug and Sheila teared up and said she'd miss Ashley the most of all the kids. Ashley left the bus and then cried too. She is a sweet, tender, easy-to-love girl.  

 
 Katie at the bus stop to greet the Kindergarten graduate too

 Ashley and Mrs. Larson at the end of the year assessment day. Ashley loved Mrs. Larson and she was a great fit for Ashley! I came in to do art once a month in Ashley's class and loved getting to know her teacher and classmates that way. Ashley loves art and was always thrilled too. I helped in about 3 class parties for the class but, they never managed to make it on a field trip, which was too bad. Their class put on a self written Opera. I taped it rather than take pictures but how I wish I'd had extra hands because Ashley was a very animated, sweet performer and I was so impressed with the songs, actions and story line, all done by the kids. 

Hailey finished up her first year of preschool. She will have two more years. She went to Holladay Preschool and had the same teachers as Ashley did for her first year (though Ashley only did 2 years while Hailey will do 3...just a birthday thing). I felt that Hailey needed an extra year because she started the year very shy, timid and reserved. She loved preschool very much and asked each day to go, which was tricky since she only had class twice a week. She was in the same class as friends Mary Ivins and Clara Hinckley and we loved carpooling and having a standing weekly playdate too. 

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Hailey is far right on Miss Linda's lap

Her teachers year end letter said "We love sweet Hailey! She always looked so cute! ....She was quiet on the rug and listened to our stories and discussions. She wasn't afraid to speak up and share....She is sweet and innocent but can definitely hold her own against anyone. We smile when she would take on the biggest child to get them to move from her stuff or to stop bothering her. She definitely has two sides! She LOVES "little" toys. Her favorites are pet shops, horses, zoo or farm animals, and the doll house...She was known to jump in with the boys and build a tower too. She loved to play with Mary and Clara in the tree house...She always loved art and would take a lot of time making it just right. Hailey knows what she wants. She isn't afraid to take care of herself...." 

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I started the year with the expectation that she have lots of fun and come out of her shell a bit and I am so glad that she was so successful. We love Holladay Preschool. With a new baby coming this fall, and my carpool not working next year we are going to try a closer, less expensive, in-home preschool for this coming fall and hope it will be great too.

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 Andrew had Mrs. Baxter this first grade year. I can't sing enough praises for this amazing teacher. Several told me they thought she was the best in the school and I felt lucky that he had her day after day. He loved her so much. His class had a lot of year end activities and I was able to be a volunteer for a few. I went on a field trip to Liberty Park, helped lead the class around on Field Day, and went to the school picnic and first grade picnic too. I came to class once a month all year to do an art/craft with Andrew's class too and loved doing that too. I helped with about 5 class parties or field trips through the year too. I love his teacher and he has a great group of friends in his class and the others too. 

 Last Bus Ride for the School Year! 

We have the best bus stop! The other 2 moms had such fun ideas and let me ride their coat tails. The kids got off the bus to a table full of cupcakes and popsicles, music and even a banner to run through. Such a fun party!  

Ashley was one of 2 kids in her class to be awarded a reading medal on the last day. Unfortunately, I wasn't aware of that and since Kindergarten got out a week early, she wasn't there so Andrew brought it home. Andrew got the same reading award last year and I think one is given to a child for most consistency and one for most improvement. 

 The end of school also means wrapping up the sports seasons. Andrew and Ashley had their last soccer games of the season. Ashley's game was first and she had one of her best games ever. She was dribbling the ball all around and got a goal too! That makes 3 goals this season for her! 

 Goal!

One of her favorite things about soccer is that there are usually dogs around. She takes every chance when she's out to pet them. 

Her team 

 Andrew's last game was at 1 p.m. and it was hot. We've seen before that Andrew doesn't do his best in the late afternoon games. He is tired out, sluggish and not his usual fast runner but, his team still managed to win 4 to 3, with Andrew having 2 of those 4 goals. That made 31 or 33 goals this season (since we weren't positive on goal count during two games), which is just awesome. His team won 6 games and lost 2 and had a lot of fun on the way.

His team

 Baseball wrapped up too. Ashley is still in the young division of baseball and they finished up before Memorial Day. Andrew is in the machine pitch age group and after the regular season they had tournament play. Andrew's team was seeded 7th of the 8 teams so they weren't expected to go very far. It was double elimination play. Andrew's team had 3 girls on it when the other teams had 0 or sometimes 1 and that was tricky because even though we all liked them, they struck out a lot and that makes winning harder. BUT...His team had their last game on the last day of school and ended up 2nd in the tournament! They first beat the team seeded 2nd, then lost to the 4th, then beat the 2nd again, then beat the 1st, then lost in the championship to the team seeded 4th, which won 1st place. The moms were ecstatic with each win and cheered like college students. We were sooo proud of their hard work and awesome playing! Andrew had a great season. He hit well each and every time, he played in the pitcher position where a lot of balls come and fielded very well and hustled too. He was a consistent, happy, and hard-working player. 


"We did it!" 

 After the game the team skipped the always-long, always-too-hot league desert bar where the first place team gets recognition, and instead we had the best after-game slip n slide bbq party ever! The Schmidts have a big hill in their backyard plus a 90 foot slip n slide which is amazing. It was so fun!

 From there we went home and set up the backyard blowup Movie Screen. We had a big group of friends and families come at sundown for our first backyard movie of the summer. We showed Monsters University. We had a line of kids at least 20 long all the time because we had Nana's snow cone maker for the night, along with popcorn and all the treats people brought to share. The kids loved all of it. I didn't take a picture but, it was our biggest group yet and all the kids had a great time.