Summer is here!

The last day of school was short, both school and after school...mostly because it was chaos. Matalley and a friend made their teacher cry (Mrs. Terry is moving to New Mexico and the girls just didn't want her to leave). I reminded Matalley that she said the same thing about her kindergarten teacher at the end of last year and so Matalley made up a song that included how sad she was that she wouldn't have either teacher anymore.  The song (which was hand written for the performance) included pauses (which were written out...'I will miss Ms. Terry. pause, pause, pause. And I will miss Ms....').

Grayson was okay leaving school...bummed that he doesn't get to see friends every day but not so sad to not be in school. Both kids ended with all A's all year but I am most impressed with his scores on the STAAR....I bet his teacher next year is not so excited because I'm not sure how he will improve. Texas is not counting the math scores this year (grading them but not funding based on the scores because every teacher had to bump standards an entire grade at the beginning of the year. So the powers that be were worried scores wouldn't accurately reflect a student's ability since they had to teach 2 years worth of Math in one year...4th grade standards from last year were taught in 3rd grade this year). Grayson essentially skipped a year and it didn't even phase him. Go G!

This pic is from the 3rd grade awards ceremony...all A's, spelling bee and fitness award.

We had lunch with friends and then a bowling party. Millie kept trying to get in the 'claw' vending machine and roll around on the floor while I was watching the other 5 bowl without getting hands stuck in the ball dispenser or flinging the ball anywhere but down the lane...it was too much for me and I was ready for a break before summer technically began.

Thankfully my co-parent bailed me out with family movie night and a weekend of purging our household...garage sale coming soon!

VBS was this last week. I had the opportunity to shepherd the second graders. I will state the obvious in that even though I have 4 kids, I am not a teacher (I repeated that a lot to myself and others this week). Mostly it's because I'm a germaphobe and a schedule keeper and kids are messy. There is the physical messy of sweaty outside dirty legs, spilled water cups and oreo ridden faces and a few asking me to blow up the balloon they just spit into. There is the logistical messy of trying to get anything accomplished in a room full of energetic 8 and 9 year old kids who can be a little dramatic or shed tears when things don't go their way. Then there is the heart messy of discipline issues and over share of messed up lives and real diagnoses of physical and mental illnesses in these kids. And I don't deal with any of that very well. Loving on these kids in the middle of all that mess wasn't easy but I did love it because VBS is so fun. I could see the wheels turning and an acceptance of TRUSTing in Jesus. We had insightful questions, kids spouting off all the fruits of the Spirit, the science experiments connected biblical principles like not keeping the message of Jesus to ourselves just like a mentos candy created bubbles in a diet coke and the soda couldn't be kept inside the bottle and the kids loved singing bible verses. The car rides home with my kids and some friends were my favorite moments this week...each kid sharing what they had learned (even though they each watched the same experiments) and excitement building for the next day. It was awesome and I love that we made it on time each day, even picking up 2 friends along the way.

We had our first high noon on the square, swam a couple times, signed up for summer reading program at the library and just started to enjoy the summer. I know it will pass too quickly so I'm glad we are off to a fun start!