Evie Pie- End of the school year

Kindergarten Graduation was actually a week and a half before school got out. I got there as fast as I could after Kara's track meet. (I did stop at home to change out of my sweaty clothes first.)

The kiddos were very excited and full of energy.

They were very cute saying their kindergarten poem. Evie got to say her line for the letter "A". She was practicing all week.

She has a very difficult time standing still, so that always gets me some fun pictures.

And I tend to end up with some crazy ones too. I guess it feels like a big smile when she does this, because that's what she is attempting to do.

She was happy to have such a stylish graduation cap.

This was the only pose I got of her with her teacher. Like I said, she does not hold still for long these days. She is devastated about not being in Mrs. Shipman's class next year. (Even though it looks like she can't get away from her fast enough, haha)

I checked her out of school after the program so we could have some Mommy-Evie time.

She wanted to take selfies in the lobby. They always want to take selfies!

We decided to head over to Andy's for some frozen custard. Lots of her friends were there. I was wondering if any of the kids had stayed at school after the program.

I was sunburned from being at Kara's track meet, and didn't want to stay out in the sun too long. Plus we had to beat the school bus home before Kara and Kiersten got there.

On Wednesday, after the second grade plays, Evie had a girl scout party at the park. I checked Kiersten out after her play, so we spent a little time at the park waiting for the other girls to get out of school. It was an adventure walking all of them across the street together. They were holding onto a rope, and some wanted to walk faster than others, so there were tears. I had my girls throw old t-shirts over their cute outfits since I'd heard colored water balloons would be making an appearance.

They did a scavenger hunt and ate snacks first. They also got their prizes from cookies sales. Evie got a keepsake box and patch.

She steered clear of the water balloons, so it turned out Evie's t-shirt was unneeded. But Kiersten and Kara were happy to get in the thick of it.

She took off the t-shirt because she was worried that no one would see her cute top underneath.

I did make her help pick up water balloons with the other girls though. It was part of the "lesson" aspect of the activity.

Kiersten was thrilled to get drenched in blue and green water.

On Thursday Evie was running a fever, and acting like she didn't feel well, so I kept her home from school. After just one dose of Tylenol, she seemed much better, and the fever never came back. She wanted to send selfies to daddy to make him want to come home from work. This plan was not successful.

I decided that it would be a perfect day to take her to six flags since it's always easier with just one. Also, most everyone was still in school, so it was not crowded. There were some high schools there, but teenagers don't tend to compete for the same rides as Evie. Look how much she loves Sylvester now! My favorite Six Flags memory is when she rejected him and called him creepy, haha.

She had her pick of the rides. Most of the kids in the Bugs Bunny Land were preschool age and younger, so she was living large.

She did tire out a little faster than I thought she would, so I think she really did have a touch of something. But she still had a great day.

After we got home, she wanted a nap, and I should have napped with her before rushing off for concession duty. I had 5 hours of that, so it turned out to be a long day for old Mommy.

Kiersten baby- End of the school year

Kiersten has also been a busy little lady lately.

She attended a birthday party at the park a couple Saturdays ago. Kara was with us, and they spent a little time on the tennis court.

It was such a nice day, but kind of windy.

Evie also had a birthday party to attend, and it was at the World Bird Sanctuary. While Evie was in the party room, the girls went exploring and caught a little frog.

He was pretty cute, and I'm glad I stopped her from releasing him into the enclosure where several of the eagles and hawks are tethered. I wanted to make sure they put him closer to the water so he wouldn't die. (Or become a meal for the birds)

Last Wednesday the parents were invited to watch the second graders read through their plays. They have been doing these all year, and it's been fun to see the scripts come home, and listen to Kiersten excitedly explain which part she read.

This play was about Abraham Lincoln as a boy. Kiersten played his sister.

They all were fantastic. Some rally went all out with fun voices.

They also performed a poem about sea creatures.

Kiersten was the blue whale.

A truly fun group of second graders!

Kiersten's CCL final project night was on Thursday. I was unable to attend, as I had to work concession duty at her softball field that night. So I told Ben he'd better take a few pictures for me.
Her project was a robot that would serve trays in hotels and restaurants. The kids designed and programmed it themselves. Their first idea had been a robot that could go to Mars, but they decided that was too difficult to complete in their time frame.

I really wish I could have seen the demonstration, but I'm sure it was nothing short of fabulous and epic! I'm very proud of her. I would have no clue how to build and program a robot now, let alone at 8 years old.

Kara Bear- End of the school year

The girls always have a ton going on at this time of year. Here is a little taste of what Kara's been doing the past few weeks.
She had her final concert for special chorus. She was pretty excited.

They did a great job, as always.

She also qualified to compete in the elementary school track meet for the district. She was glad that she got to miss regular school from 9:30-1:30 that day. It was a really nice day to be outside.

Woerther came in 2nd overall for the meet.

Stretching out.

She was in the relay. While they were warming up, she was excitedly running around and jumping all over the place. I was worried she would wear herself out.

She was most nervous about the baton hand off. She did it perfectly though, and her team came in 2nd. It was all very exciting. She passed up 2 runners on her leg of the race, so she was proud of that.

While we were out there, we could see the Blue Angels practicing for the air show the next day. So that was neat to see. I should have taken more pictures, they were doing some cool things.

Swim team had a car wash on Saturday, and I sent Kara down to help out. She ended up winning the raffle basket full of fun Castle Pines Crocodiles stuff. She was beyond thrilled, and totally won't give me the visor I keep insisting she should give to me. 

CCL final project night was Wednesday for Kara. They had a world hunger expo, and the kids presented their projects. Kara's group made these activity books to sell for PSDI (Partners in Sustainable development International) which is a charity working in Bangladesh.

They worked very hard putting together these books to be fun, but also teach about poverty in developing countries.

Kara made this poster, I got a picture before the other kids had written their paragraphs on it. They were supposed to email them to Kara so she could have the poster ready, but nobody did, so at first it was just her paragraph on there.

She has researched, and learned so much about Bangladesh this semester. I am really proud of her. She sincerely cared about this project, and I think it changed her as a person to participate in this unit.

All of the kid "ambassadors" had a meeting in the gym, so Kiersten manned the table for them and sold books to parents who were there for other presentations. She's not afraid to go for the sales. And she's hard to say no to. The boys in Kara's group were trying to get her to come back the rest of the evening to help sell.

Kara was the first there, and got everything set up while she waited for her team members.

She was very proud of the books, and even sold one to Evie.

In the gym, they had a kids UN meeting and roll call, talked about the projects and the 4 charities the kids were working with. Some of the groups also started letter writing campaigns. Then they showed a movie on the conditions in Ethiopia that was honestly hard to watch. Then they sent the kids back to their booths, and the parents were able to check everything out. The charities all had representatives there, and they were very grateful for the support and efforts from the kids.

Evie and Kiersten bought concessions at this skit, and then didn't even stay for the show, lol.

I haven't gotten an email yet on the amount that was collected for each charity, but it seemed like a very successful night. After we left I started getting emails and messages that Kiersten had won a raffle basket, so I took her back over there to pick that up. She was, of course, over the moon.