School's Out For Summer...

Yeah!! School is out for the summer!! Although every year the summer seems to shrink by a day or two. What's up with that??? Before you know it the kids will be going year round. :( The kids were excited to be done with homework and classwork, but they are all pretty bummed about not getting to see their friends for the next 2 months. Oh well, they will be back before they know it! I got to go to all of the 3 younger kids class parties and that was fun. Plus it rained on us when we were done so that made it even more fun!! Here are some pictures from the day --

Here is Jensen at her class party getting her award. All of the kids got an award for something special about them or something special that they did. Her award was for making learning fun because she was always so excited about new papers that they did in class and she always tried to get everyone else excited about learning something new. Ya, that sounds like her! :)


She was so excited about it that she ran off cheering before I could get another picture! :P


Here she is with her teacher, Mrs. Martinez. She sure is a great teacher! She makes things so fun for the kids. She taught them a little morning song that they would sing every morning when saying the pledge and having a moment of silence. It has actions and everything, I guess I should get her to do it some time so I can film it. It's something along the lines of -- Good morning birds, Good morning sun, Good morning flowers and trees each one, Good morning ?????, Good morning to you and Good morning to me. Yeah, I really need to ask Jensen about it! Jillen had Mrs. Martinez for 2nd grade so we were super glad that Jensen got her this year!



Here is Jayden and his teacher, Ms. Swartz. Boy, I can't say enough good things about her!! She was really a blessing for Jayden this year. He struggled so much last year in 1st grade, they really wanted to keep him back in 1st grade again this year, but once we got his ADHD diagnosed and got him started on some medication things seemed to straighten out a little bit. Ms. Swartz was always so patient with him and always encouraged him to do his best. He really enjoyed having her as a teacher! I got to help out in his classroom a few times each month (well, I helped in all the kids classes) and I was really impressed with how positive she was, even when the kids were not being their cutest selves. :P She really helped Jayden with his handwriting and he really started improving once they started cursive in January. As a result he got the Best Penmanship award for his class! He was so excited!! We will forever be grateful to her for all of her hard work and dedication!
<-- Notice the army suit from Uncle Beau! Seriously, he never wants to take it off!! :D At least it was cold and rainy all day so he didn't sweat to death or look too out of place wearing his jacket! :P


Jillen always loves her teachers, and this year was no exception. She was a little worried at the beginning of the year because 4th grade is a little stricker than 3rd but she did great! And she quickly became a favorite of her teacher. Mrs. Nicol told me that she could always count on Jillen to have a good answer or to work hard on her classwork. She said lots of good things about her which made me happy since I'm her mom. I guess I must be doing something right since other people think she is such a sweet, helpful girl. Jillen and I will both miss her next year!! I always looked forward to helping in her class because Mrs. Nicol was so much fun to talk to! :D Jillen made the Principal's List and had straight A's again this grading period. She was sure excited!!



And of course, Jillen is our little social butterfly. Here she is with a few of her best friends --

Jillen and Hannah


Jillen and Kaylin


Jillen and Maddie


And Jorden did great with his school stuff too. He won't get his grades for a few more weeks but according to his weekly planner he has pretty close to straight A's again, if not all A's. And he said that he made the Honor Roll again. I asked him if they give out certificates or anything and he said yes, that he had thrown away a couple of them! :o I guess we should be getting one in the mail for this semester and he thought he had another one in his folder, so I should be getting that. Silly Boy!! He got to go out with his friends for the first time last night too! I think I saw him for a total of about 15 minutes all day! As soon as he got home from school his friends came and picked him up and they went to buy tickets to the Indiana Jones movie. Then they all went and hung out at one of his friends houses and had dinner and stuff. He had a really good time! I think he was surprised that I let him go, especially since he didn't get home until almost midnight! But I know all the families and all of his friends are in his Deacon's Quorum at church so I figured it was pretty safe. Plus I guess he's got to be able to start having some fun without me sometime... ;)


So, since school was out today I decided to take the kids to the movies! One of our local theaters does movies before noon on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and holidays for $5.00 each. I have been waiting patiently for 2 weeks to see Speed Racer, so off we went this morning to the 11:00 show. I know that the critics didn't like this movie, but I have learned over the years that the movies I love are usually the ones that they hate, and the ones that they rave about are ones that I can't stand. You know, the kind where you feel dumber for having wasted 2 hours of you life watching it? :P The kids were excited, but probably not as excited as I was! And the movie was really good too!! No cussing or blood or sex or anything! And both the young kids and the older kids liked it. There was lots of action in the car race scenes and a pretty good story line too about the good guys trying to defeat the bad cheaters. And the fact that Matthew Fox and Scott Porter are in it didn't hurt either! :D Well, at least I found myself smiling a little more everytime they were on the screen!! :D It is one that I am sure we will buy when it comes out on dvd. Here are the kids (minus Jayden who apparently doesn't like to be in pictures anymore... Wait, he is my child right??? :P ) in front of the movie poster. Notice the long sleeved shirts!! It was chilly all day!! And it's the end of May!! I think our high today was around 70 degrees or something, and it has rained for the past 2 days! We got over an inch of rain!! That kinda sucked for all the high school graduations last night. :( Anyway, Speed Racer!!!



Oh, and congrats to Cookie for winning American Idol!! He will do great!!! I sure wish that both him and Archie could have won but I know how talented they both are and I am sure they both have great careers ahead of them. Yeah Cookie!!