Year-End Celebrations

Club volleyball party!  This was a great group of girls and wonderful coaches.  Alexee really enjoyed the season and learned a lot!

The NJHS group took a fun year-end field trip to Silver Dollar City!

Junior High Honors Night.

Proud of Rhett!

Intermediate and Elementary awards assemblies.  

Proud of Alexee and Crosby, too!

First & Last Days of School:  

7th, 4th & 2nd

This year FLEW by.

The boys had a few friends over to swim after school on the last day.  (Alexee had a friend over too, but they didn't swim much so I guess I missed getting their photo.)  Swimming, pizza, popsicles, ice cream and watermelon...It was a great way to end the school year!  

*****

Ready for summer!

Plants & Animals

The day after Easter we took in a baby bunny.  Our neighbor's dog caught it, but somehow it was not harmed at all (just extremely frightened).  She brought it to our door and asked if the kids would like to care for it.  Of course they would!  It was the cutest, sweetest thing!  We bought puppy formula at Petco and fed it with a syringe.  The first day it was too afraid to eat, and I was worried that it might not make it.  The next day it had calmed down and developed a big appetite.  It took the formula with no problems at all and was so energetic that I could barely hold it.  We fed it formula twice a day for almost a week and gave it hay, clover and lettuce.  Once it started eating those things we thought it was probably independent enough to return to the woods. 

We let it go in the woods beside our house.  It was really ready to be free, but we were sad about it and a little worried about how it would do on its own.

Good luck, Brownie!

*****

I went to the zoo with Crosby's 2nd grade class.  It was a fun day, and I loved hanging out with him and his friends.

The giraffes are very friendly!

The petting zoo was very popular too.

Crosby had a great 2nd grade year!  This was a sweet class, and he made some new friends.  

*****

We're attempting to make a butterfly garden with milkweed and nectar plants.  Unfortunately the deer seem to like the plants too, so I'm not sure how well it is going to work.  

We've had a few monarch caterpillars.  They ate and ate then disappeared.  We are hoping we'll see them again as butterflies soon.  

We had a bluebird build a nest in our birdhouse.  There were three beautiful eggs, but unfortunately they never hatched.  I'm not sure what went wrong.

We also have a phoebe flycatcher nest (I think).

We had one peony bloom.   I planted a hibiscus tree and several tomato plants.  I love this time of year!

Bogart asleep on the couch.  :)

Kids' School Activities

Things have been busy lately with school activities:

On March 23rd, Crosby was one of two class representatives to the 2nd Grade spelling bee.  These kids were amazing--they exhausted the 2nd grade spelling list and had to advance to the 3rd-4th grade list in order to determine the winner!  Crosby did a great job.  He was eliminated with only 5 students remaining in the competition.

March 27th was the induction ceremony for the National Junior Honor Society.  Rhett will be serving as president for the 2017-18 school year!  We are very proud of him!

He was thankful to have his grandparents in town for the special occasion.  I know they were proud of him, too.

On April 4th, Alexee was in the 4th-6th grade Drama Club performance of Treasure Island.  She was one of the townspeople.  She learned a lot this year and really enjoyed drama club.  It was a great experience for her!  We've loved seeing her confidence grow.

The entire cast, along with Mr. & Mrs. B and Mrs. H, the wonderful drama club sponsors.

April 12 was Gifted Showcase.  Second graders did a state float parade. Crosby chose to research Arizona.  The float was required to feature several things about the state including state bird, tree, industry, flag, map and interesting facts.

Parade time!

Fourth grade students did the STREAM challenge.  They did several projects throughout the semester, and chose one to be on display that night.  Alexee chose the "float your boat" challenge.  

I think 7th grade had a similar format to 4th grade.  The kids worked in groups on various projects, then chose one thing to test individually and display at the showcase.  Rhett chose to do a paper airplane flight project.

Alexee's final boats (thank goodness Lane helped her with these!) and a few pictures from their year-end "Red Carpet" celebration at school.

And one more picture of Crosby with his Arizona project and a group photo from their year-end party.

This isn't a school activity, but on April 22nd, Alexee's club volleyball team played their last tournament for the season.  She loved playing this year!  (Crosby had fun hanging out with his buddy at the tournament too.)

No wonder the days and weeks fly by...it has been a busy school year.  I'm looking forward to summer break with the kids!

Crosby's 8th Birthday!

And now Crosby's turn to celebrate!  What a sweet 8 year old he is!  We love you, CGG, and we are so thankful for you.

He took cookies to share with his class, and I had lunch with him at school one day!  

His birthday was on a Sunday, so he opened gifts before church.

His expression was so cute when Lane handed him the toy rifle he'd been wanting:

Family Photos with the Birthday Boy

We went to brunch at Keeter Center after church.  Lane's parents came up to visit for a couple of days.  Crosby was excited to have them here to celebrate with him!

That evening we went out for Mexican food.  The waiters came to the table to sing to Crosby and it surprised him so much!  They were really loud and stuck this sombrero on his head, which made him laugh.  :)

It was a fun night!

***

EIGHT THINGS ABOUT CROSBY:

1.  He loves sports:  basketball, flag football, baseball & tennis. 

2.  He currently likes songs by the Christian group Switchfoot.  He knows all the words to Live it Well and I Won't Let You Go.  And Chris Tomlin's song, Home.

3.  Likes to play Roblox and FaceTime with Pierson & Grant.

4.  Usual school-day breakfast:  pancakes or an Eggo waffle with powdered sugar & chocolate chips.

5.  His 2nd grade school leadership job has been sportsmanship leader.  He leads the class in warm-up exercises before P.E.  

6.  He learned all 50 states and capitals in school this year, did his state project about Arizona and wrote and illustrated a book about cheetahs (research project).  He's been reading the I Survived book series as well as Amulet and Dog Man graphic novels.  

7.  Some of his favorite snacks:  popsicles, apple slices, mango, granola bars, fruit snacks, pretzels & Oreos.

8.  He has brought so much joy, fun and laughter to our family for eight years!  We know God has big plans for him!