ADDY AND ELI'S FIRST DAYS

I'm posting these cuties here because we miss them so much and I want to record their first days of school for posterity (and share their cuteness with all of you!)

SCHOOL'S OUT FOR SUMMER!

 

 

Amazing how much they grow in a single year...

KINDERGARTEN GRADUATION AND THE AMCA AWARDS CEREMONY

Tonight was Agape Montessori Christian Academy's Kindergarten Graduation and Awards Ceremony. James has been looking forward to his turn in the cap and gown for a couple years now, so he was pretty pumped to get there and get the celebration started!

(Brandon, Ashia, Josh, Abbi, Ms. Tina, James, Adrian, Coley, and Kayla)

After a quick photo shoot, the graduates walked in to 'Pomp and Circumstance':

 

They sang a kindergarten graduation song (sorry, I didn't catch the start of it!), recited a Psalm, and demonstrated their knowledge of money:

After all the graduates were on stage, their teacher, Ms. Tina, and AMCA's director, Ms. Amy, handed out the kindergarten awards. James received "All A Honor Roll" and the "Mathematics Achievement Award", and we are all very pleased with those accomplishments!

Not only are we pleased with his final grades, we are happy to see that he improved throughout the year (not just in his studies, but in how he works and listens too). Now we just need to work on his participation for next year... (And I'll just note that attendance must not have been tracked as diligently this past semester, because I know James missed a couple days due to illness. Those 3 absences at the beginning of the year were our fault though - the kids missed the start of school because we were out in California.)

 

 Next up was the presentation of diplomas, where each graduate received a rose from Ms. Tina and a framed certificate, and a few seconds of glory at the front of the group while they posed for photos and everyone clapped and cheered! I'm thankful that the kids had the opportunity to get up in front of their families and fellow students to celebrate their big milestone - they were visibly proud, and it felt really good to witness that.

 

When it was Cora's turn, her K4 class (well, some of them - just the girls!) came on stage to sing a song called "The Rules Rap", which was pretty cute. Then they each received an award or two. Cora took home the "Best Reader Award" (which she loved receiving!) and we are super proud of how much she has learned this year. She's going into kindergarten ready and excited!

(Hannah, Emma, Cora, and Avery)

Before we left the house earlier, we snapped some photos of our graduate:

And to celebrate after the ceremony, we went to Orange Leaf, per the kids' request:

He's pretty happy about the graduation medal he received - far more exciting than a framed piece of paper! (Though he did immediately request that we hang his diploma up in his room, so we'll need to do that tomorrow!)

HONOR MERIT FUN DAY

All the big kids (K-11th) were awarded an Honor Merit Fun Day today for scoring so well on their standardized tests. The school rented a waterslide and had a BBQ. After the big kids had their turn, they let the preschoolers take some rides (and Cora was one happy water baby, since her suit had been packed just for sprinklers and water balloons)!

PURPLE HANDS AND A CHIP PARTY

 Figures that the day I agree to let Cora wear the new (white) flamingo shirt that Grambot sent her, they do a painting project involving their hands...

James' class was rewarded for their 2 full weeks of good behavior. Every kid in class has to "stay on green" and go home with all smiley faces on their report - when that happens, apparently they get to place a piece onto Mr. Potato Head. Since they put all the pieces together this week, their teacher rewarded them with a POTATO chip and dip party. I asked James what type of dip he had and he said "Rotel Dip. I LOVE Rotel Dip. I ate a LOT!", which was confirmed when I discovered he must not have had any room left for lunch, since his "munchbox" was mostly untouched...

SCHOOL PORTRAITS, SPRING 2015

(Same backdrop as last year, great smiles by Cora, our little ham, and genuine effort on James' part. Amazing how much the kids have grown in a year's time... We won't be purchasing any of these though - daddy takes better portraits and we prefer outside/natural light shots!)

BACK TO SCHOOL BLUES?

Cora was up and at 'em this morning! (From 3:30am, to be exact...)

 

But James... Oh James... He is not a morning person. Especially not a Monday morning person. And DEFINITELY not a Monday morning after 2+ weeks vacation person. Poor kiddo. He loves his school, and missed his teachers and his buddies, but he's missing his grandmas more and would much rather stay home and "relax" than get back to the grind. Fingers crossed the week isn't too much for him and he slips back into routine well enough.

 

And fingers crossed being back into her busy routine (dance class starts back this week too) will chill Cora the heck out! That girl has worn us all out over the break...

 One little hesitant smile out of him before piling in the car...

DUDE, YOU HEAR WHAT I HEAR?

The kids had their annual Christmas program this morning before we headed east to Florida. The older kids (1st-11th grades) performed "Dude, you hear what I hear?", a story about a little girl getting locked into 'Mondomart' after hours and teaching a set of mannequins about the true meaning of Christmas (because they think it's all about SALES and what they've learned through Christmas carols). It was cute and all the kids did a great job remembering their many lines and singing the songs.

 But before the big kids got started, the little ones had their moments of glory. First the 2- and 3-year-olds (singing Jingle Bells), who were then joined by the 4-year-olds (singing Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer), then just the 4- and 5-year-olds performed We Wish You A Merry Christmas and an incredible version of The Twelve Days of Christmas (we WILL get the video off Jay's phone to post here at some point - the 6 geese a'laying will crack you up! - it's just a little long...)

 She knows she's awesome. We don't have to remind her.

"And if you ever saw him..."

"...you would even say it glows"

 "Let's all do a little waving"

 "Let's all do a little dancing"

  "5 golden rings"

 "And a partridge in a pear tree"

KINDERGARTEN CHRISTMAS PARTY

Wearing their old (and somewhat small on James) WOOT shirts for the occasion!

James decided that his wild and crazy bedhead was actually "party hair" and Cora looks skeptical because she didn't agree that ninjas stealing Santa's presents was appropriately "Christmassy".

AMCA THANKSGIVING FEAST 2014

Ms. Tina and Ms. Kati and the K5/K4 kids who showed up to the feast

James was the only boy in attendance. He said he didn't mind...

She found the stash of Super Christopher tattoos in my purse and wanted one on immediately. Then she had to show me how tough she is. And then how oh-so-very-cute. This child is a performer!

Sorry these videos are truncated, but I couldn't email myself the full files. You get the idea, anyway. I'm bummed Cora was on the end and we only had a view of her side, but she definitely turned on the charm at the end of each song (there were 3 total, but I figured I'd spare you all the stick clanging in the final number) and flashed us her smile and some poses. We were super proud of James for participating and especially for chiming in on the songs and doing some of the hand movements. He's really not into this kind of stuff and gets pretty shy in the spotlight, so it took some bravery on his part. And he looked mighty handsome up there!