I'll start with some pictures of my hair cut in April as promised in my previous post.
With my hair shorter it keeps a lot more of its natural curl, unless I straighten it.
Eve had been debating a hair cut for a while and finally decided she wanted to cut hers also. She donated her hair to Locks of Love. Truthfully, I miss her long pretty hair, but I think she looks very cute with short hair too!
Here are pictures from her band concert that evening.
Here is a picture with Ms. Blair-Ewing, her band director.
This is with Mrs. Rieser, her English teacher, and our friend from Church.
Here she is with her group of friends.
And here she is with her Young Women's leaders. Needless to say we feel very blessed and supported by so many great leaders in her life!
Eve grew so much in flute this year thanks to flute lessons with her sweet teacher, Kelly Hanks, lots of practice, and many performing opportunities. She received top marks earlier in the year at Solo and Ensemble.
At the beginning of the month Christian and I had the chance to go to the zoo with Debbie and Jacob Lee, and Megan and Tanner Little. We had a lovely time! Here is Christian with an ostrich egg.
The next day I had the opportunity to go on a preschool field trip with Christian to Stratford Ecological farm. He got frustrated a lot this day because things didn't always go his way. His favorite thing was digging in the garden and guessing all the herbs/vegetables. They wouldn't let them catch frogs and the sheep wouldn't let us pet them. Also, the birds didn't eat from our hands. In the end it was still a positive experience, but reminded me that we have to work on patience. :)
On the first weekend of May, DeAnna Newton and I threw a baby shower for a friend, Stacey Skousen. We are her ministering sisters and she was having her first girl. We were excited to celebrate with her. So many friends helped to make this day a success. So many brought beautiful foods, flowers, and offered help with set up or clean up. It really was amazing to me! DeAnna did a great job on the games and activities!
I wish I had gotten a group shot with everyone there! I want to remember all who helped, here is a short list: Beth Niupalou, Kasia Hosford, Jen Kauffman, Meryn Palmer, Mallory Fielding, Jill Skousen, Heather Thomas, and Kira Buttars. We also had Greta Rice, Amanda Fox, Leslie Williams, Rebecca Heer, Misty Goodman, and a few others who attended for which I am grateful.
In the middle of the month Christian finished both his preschool classes. He has had so many great experiences and made many friends at school. He was a great peer role model in his Chapman class.
He had such sweet teachers! Here is Miss Missy with Christian.
And this is Ms. Alexandra. We love her!
Here he is with Ms. Tricia, Ms. Sonya, and Ms. Livy.
Soccer continued and wrapped up in May. All the kids played well and had a great time!
Sterling played hard and was a great leader on his team. Sometimes he got frustrated with his teammates lack of ambition, but he is hopefully learning to encourage others in a positive way.
Sheri's team worked very hard and took 2nd place in the tournament. We were very proud of her!
As school wrapped up I was also able to chaperone for Sheri's field trip to Highbanks Park. The kids learned a lot about the water cycle, natural filtration systems, and invertebrates. They had a good time exploring the creeks and catching water creatures.
Sheri had a wonderful 4th grade year! She absolutely LOVED her teachers! They were pretty stellar! They went out of their way to give the kids hands on learning experiences. Sheri always felt valued and appreciated. They did a great job of keeping her challenged and engaged. She thrived and excelled in all her classes and will be involved in 5/6th grade math next year as well as the higher cognitive ability class (as was Sterling in 5th grade.)
Sheri and Mr. Bertrams
Sheri and Mrs. Smith
Sheri and Mrs. Werling
Sterling also had a great year! He had a band and an orchestra concert.
He also did well in his academics. He kept his GPA high all year and earned the academic award for 6th graders.
As Eve's 8th grade year/middle school experience came to a close she was honored by a number of awards. I don't think another 8th grader earned as many awards as she did. In her mind she didn't do any one thing that was remarkable, but it is the small everyday things that really make a difference. Her everyday actions make her remarkable.
Here she is at 8th grade graduation.
The orange certificate is for her participation in student council. She earned the Knight Award (the 8th grade academic honor roll award), the Academic Distinction Award (3 yrs of Academic Achievement), the Principle's Award (4.0 GPA all three years), the Living the Irish Way Award (nominated by 3 teachers for demonstrating Integrity, Respect, Individual Responsibility, Service and High Expectations) - this was in large part due to her work with peer mentoring and caring about others, and the Citizenship Award (only four 8th graders are chosen, 2 from each team, one male, one female. She always made an effort to show interest and care for teachers, classmates, and friends -especially those who struggled.)
Here is what they shared about her at a separate awards ceremony.
We are so grateful that she is trying to make good choices. Though she is not perfect, none of us are, it's nice to give her some credit for trying so hard to be her best. We are blessed by her!
Near the end of the month we celebrated Sheri's birthday. We had indoor and outdoor games, a movie (The Greatest Showman), snacks and cake! It was a fun night!
We love this fun, loving, energetic, thoughtful, smart, caring girl! We can't believe she is 10 years old already!
Here are just few final random bright spots in our month:
Christian loves to draw and write. I love pictures of little ones writing.
Our neighbors gave us their previous trampoline. We quickly got a net to surround it and the kids have had a blast.
Eve tried out for cheer leading (freshman year) and made the team. She was so thrilled! I am so glad that now she will be able to be in the band class for athletes as well as regular band throughout the year without the commitment to marching band. :) Eve had a great time learning the routines and cheers with her friends.
Christian had some fun play dates with friends from school.
Matt's cousin David came into town for a work conference. We were happy to host him for a night or two. The kids loved him!
We enjoyed root beer samplings and Rook.
We celebrated Mother's day together. It was an early morning for church, so the family made me a delicious dinner.
Dance is winding up for the school year and we are approaching recital time. I have enjoyed attending the kids' classes to see the dances they are preparing. Here we are in the car on a typical evening going to dance.
Now that school is out we have enjoyed more time outside and with friends. Here we are near Indian Run Falls with the Hoyles.
Well, that about sums up our VERY busy month. We are happy and feel so blessed!
