Future 1st and 4th Graders

I failed this year, I didn't get the last day of school picture... shame on me. Instead at the bus stop we had a water balloon fight, went to the pool, and went out to dinner with Drew's baseball team that night. It was a long day, a fun day, but I spent more time in the moment rather than capturing the moment. That seems to be my theme these days. I used to never leave the house with out the camera, now I rarely bring my camera. They are at the age they don't want their picture taken all the time, and i don't really want to fight them on it either. I do miss getting all the pictures all the time though. I can't tell you how many times I just scroll through photos of when they were babies and toddlers and smile. I love that a picture can bring you back to the day it happened and then you can focus on the day, the time, the experience that the picture represents. You feel like you can live it all over again, the good days, and the bad ones.  This means that I need to bring my camera out more huh? I need to balance capturing and being in the moment better than I have over the last year. Add one more thing on that to do list! :)

Even without the photos, I can tell you the kids had a great school year this past year. Hannah did awesome in 3rd grade. I was nervous for her starting the year as 2nd grade was tough on her academically. She didn't quite jive with the teacher and got behind early in the year and never really caught up. We spent last summer with math tutors and got her ready for 3rd grade. Wouldn't you know it, she did awesome. It was a whole new year, and a whole new Hannah. Hannah ended up with pretty much straight 3's ( A's) for the year and scored much better on the testing for 3rd grade. She worked hard, focused, and it paid off.  

And Drew, well he rocked kindergarten with no surprise. He is an entirely different kid at school than home. The teachers actually tell me he is polite and listens. That doesn't happen at home so I am glad he knows some type of manners! Academically Drew did just fine and hit a first grade reading level early in the year. Drew made a lot of new little friends in his classroom and has a lot of little baseball friends in other classrooms at the school too.   We would get Drew's writing workshop papers home at the end of each quarter and I loved looking at them. There would always be a picture, then they would write about it. 90% of Drew's pictures had an army tank, navy ship, missiles and explosives. The remainder generally had to do with baseball, fishing, sharks or being at the lake. They are so funny and I love to see what is happening in his little mind. The writing is so different from when Hannah was in kindergarten. She would come home with writing and pictures about rainbows, flowers, puppies, family and sunshine. And that is the difference between girls and boys! I love it.

I hope Hannah and Drew both have a great school year next year. 1st and 4th grade kind of blows my mind. Darn it.. stay little. 4th grade is getting awfully close to middle school and I can tell you I am not ready for that!