Yearbook!!

The girls got their yearbooks the last week of school.  I just wanted to share their pictures that were in there.

Fifth grade took a lot of precedence since they were the outgoing class, so there are lots of pictures of them!  The first was of each 5th grade class at Junior Achievement Biz Town. 

Here's a close-up of Bek's class.  She's in the front row with the brown boots on.

And on the Fifth Grade activity page, she appeared again.  She's in the blue shirt on the front row.

Here's Bekah's class page.  You can enlarge to see the scan better.  She's on the second row. 

And her yearbook cover art submission won for her class!  This is the second time she's won for her class! 

She's in the 5th grade collage page with Stephanie and Lauren in the bottom right hand corner.  =)

Lydia made it twice onto the Third Grade activity page.  On the top row, second picture, she's right behind the kid holding the earth.  VERY hard to see her, but she's there. 

And then on the bottom left, she's the star of the Fall Party Fun! Ha ha!

Here's Lydia's class page, with Lydia on the first row with Mrs. Phillippi. 

And here's an enlarged picture of their class photo at the bottom.   

Lydia is right above the two L's in Phillippi.

And Lydia made it on the 3rd grade collage page as well.  Shes on the far right, one up from the bottom.

Bekah is featured in two Heritage Clubs.  She's on the second row, far right for Heritage Glee.  And for Green Team/Safety Patrol, she's on the 3rd row, 3rd from the left.

And the final page of the yearbook is wishing good luck to the outgoing 5th graders.

And it's really hard to see Bekah, but she's the third child up from the E.  =)

So there you go!  A quick preview of the girls' yearbooks!

Our Memorial Day Weekend

Our Memorial Day weekend was full of spending time with friends, both old and new.  We had the Pughs for dinner Friday night, participated in a BBQ fundraiser with the Tuckers on Saturday, and then a cookout at church on Sunday.

One of the girls suggested we have a campout in the backyard.  This sounded like a super fun idea for summertime, so David set up the tent, along with a string of fruit lights he found somewhere.  Then we invited Noah and Norika to camp out with the girls.

The kids weren't out there five minutes when Lydia came back into the house screaming!  She had been stung by a yellowjacket on the leg!  I felt SO BAD for her!  While I doctored Lydia's sting, David went out to the tent to investigate.  Bekah had killed the yellowjacket and David brought it in to show Lydia.  Then he let her put it down the garbage disposal.  =/

We got the kids settled back down again, but Lydia ended up coming back inside because her leg still hurt.   We finally got everyone settled in around 12:30 p.m.

And they were up, promptly, at 5:30 a.m.

::Sigh::

So, much of our Memorial Day was spent napping!

But we invited the Redmons, Pughs, and Tuckers over for a casual cookout that afternoon. 

So while the dads were manning the grill, the kids were soaking up the sun in the kiddie pool. 

We ate until we were stuffed and had a great time hanging out and relaxing.  The parents stayed inside while the kiddos ran all over the yard!!

Here are the adults: Shelley and Brian, Shane & Christy, David & me, Karl and Lena.

And here are most of the kids - minus Noah and Josh who were inside:

Lydia, Emma, Aidan, Neve, Bekah, Norika, Keely, Lauren, Olivia

Rebekah and Lydia invited Lauren and Emma to spend the night - to give the camp out another try!  They had a jar full of lightening bugs ready as a nighlight. 

Then they got all settled in for a fun night!  They had a great time and we finished up a VERY busy weekend!

Smooshy Daddy Kisses

Videos From Bekah's Promotion

Enchanted:



Bekah being recognized for Safety Patrol.  I didn't realize they would call Bekah's team last, so she's at minute 2:27, if you want to jump ahead.



Bekah receiving her certificate (and Lydia and David cheering!)



Don't Stop Believin' (one more time this year)

Bekah's 5th Grade Promotion

Tuesday night was Bekah's 5th grade promotion ceremony, where she graduated from elementary school.

To say the gym was packed is a bit of an understatement.  Even I have a hard time picking Bekah out of this crowd, and I was there! 

Ah!  Here she is! 

Dr. Allen began the ceremony with a great speech about how proud he was of the 5th grade students.  They made the academic expectations more rigorous this year, and the students rose to the occasion.  Most notably, TCAP scores for 5th grade students were 20% higher than they were for these students last year!  Wow!  Very impressive! 

Dr. Allen also took a moment to remember Cameron O'Reilly, and Glee sang the song "Enchanted" in honor of her. 

Soon it was time for awards.  Mrs. Miller, Bekah's 4th grade teacher, was the head of the Eagle Council.  She recognized those students.  Mr. Hovdet, the guidance counselor, recognized the Safety Patrol and Green Team members.  (I have a video of that.) 

And Asst. Principal Dr. Johnson recognized the students that won the presidential award.  These students maintained straight A's their 4th and 5th grade years, plus an 80% or higher grade on TCAP for those two years.  I thought there would only be a handful of students, but there were tons of them that won this award!  They completely filled the floor in front of the stage. 

In typical Dr. Johnson fashion, he gave "the look" when a parent ignored his instructions to hold applause/cheering until he'd called out all names.  It was hilarious! 

Finally, it was time for the kids to walk across the platform and receive their certificates. 

Bekah shaking hand with Asst. Principal, Dr. Johnson,

and Principal, Dr. Allen,

and receiving her certificate from Mrs. Reis, while Mrs. Knoll, and Mrs. Knipp looked on.

At the end of the service, Glee sang again.  As they sang, "Don't Stop Believin'" the group got tickled at some of the antics of those in the choir,  

and because some of the parents were waving cell phones in the crowd (reminicent of the old lighters held up at concerts in the past).

The kids belted out their final song, and then it was time for final pics with friends. 

Bekah with her best friends and classmates, Lauren & Stephanie. 

And our proud graduate with her proud family. 

We had to make time for a few posed shots as well. 

With Dr. Allen and Dr. Johnson. 

Congratulations to our middle schooler!!

My Elementary School Girl

Wow, looking back at Bekah's elementary school pictures.  Well, it's just a little overwhelming!  My girl is now a middle-schooler!!

Here she is, ready for her first day of Pre-K

and with her Pre-K teachers, Miss Laura Lee, Ms. Karen and Mrs. Kathy.

Here she is ready for her first day of kindergarten

and with Mrs. Shell.

Look at this cutie on her first day of 1st grade

and with Miss Gildemeister.

She was missing a tooth or two on her first day of 2nd grade.

With Mrs. DeCola.

She was so excited about 3rd grade

and meeting Mrs. Stanley.

By 4th grade, she was sporting a new haircut.

And it was in 4th grade she got her favorite teacher, Mrs. Miller.

At the beginning of 5th grade, she still looked so young.

She was excited she was in Mr. Adkisson's class on the first day of school.

And she spent most of this year in Mrs. Ries' class.

And Tuesday night, my baby girl...my big girl, graduated from elementary school.

We are so thankful for the excellent education Rebekah has gotten and couldn't be more thankful for her great teachers!!

More pictures to come!