Front Porch Snoozer

For Mothers Day we went to visit my Grandma Angie. Bryce was being a little be moody (it was past nap time) when we first got there and he said he didn't want to come in the house, so we left him on the front porch. When I went out to check on him a little bit later I found him sound asleep. 

He slept this was for quite awhile. It is so funny some of the ways and positions he falls asleep in. #BryceEE

Preschool Graduation

Bryce had his end of year graduation from Montessori. Since Landon wasn't able to make it due to conflicts at work Tanner attended with me.

 Bryce has loved preschool and will attend again next year. He has learned and grown so much this year. His teachers have been awesome, he has four of them, but he has especially taken to Miss Kelly-who is his reading teacher.

The theme for this year was 'Oh the Places You'll Go'. They have learned a lot about US History and land formations. It has been so cool to hear some of the things he tells me about. One of my favorites is the song 'Mount Rushmore Rocks' it is so cute and I love hearing Bryce sing it. They sang it in the program. Bryce had a part and he got up and said it without any problem. This video clip shows his part it was "it took fourteen years to construct Mount Rushmore".

He had another part during one of the songs it was called 'Driving in my Car'. Bryce had to walk around and around pretending he was driving in a car. Here is a video clip of that.

For part of the program they had made a video of the school year. In the video they asked each child what they wanted to be when they grew up-Bryce is still holding onto his dream of becoming a farmer. HAHA! I don't think Tanner was too thrilled with that answer, he told me we needed to get Bryce into a better preschool. LOL. All I can say is it's better than the kid who said 'Batman' and the other one who said 'A Robber'.

 At the very end they had the kids put on caps and gowns and come forward to receive their diplomas. As they came forward they read a little something special about each child. Here is what they said about Bryce "Bryce is so smart! He is such a great asset to our class! He is excelling at Math and is already on Reading boxes and he only just turned 4! He loves to learn and we enjoy his positive attitude."

 Bryce and Miss Kelly

 Bryce and Tanner

 Bryce and Mommy

Good job Buddy. We love you and are so proud of you!

Sunday Morning Meltdowns

On Sundays we have church starting at 9:00 am. This means, especially after a long week of go, go, go, that sometimes it is hard to get up and get going. Most Sundays Bryce cooperates pretty well, but last week for some reason it just wasn't happening. To start with, he wanted Landon to wear his matching tie. Landon was already ready and didn't feel like changing. Bryce started crying and wanted nothing to do with it. Finally, after listening to the crying for about 10 minutes, Landon offered to let Bryce wear one of his ties. Bryce finally accepted, but that took a lot of creativity on Landon's part to get it to fit the little guy. Then right before it was time to go, Bryce decided it was bugging him too much so he took it off. SERIOUSLY!! HAHA! We just wasted 20 minutes on that tantrum. What do you do?!!!

 #Bryce #fournado

Retiring of the Shin Guards

Chloe has been playing soccer since 2010. She has loved it and like pretty much every other sport she has played she was really good at it. It has been a huge part of all of our lives, and we have seen her grow in so many ways as she has played.

A few weeks ago Chloe made a huge choice. She is quitting soccer for at least a year. Things have been crazy playing three sports. She has had to practice almost every day and sometimes twice for two different sports. She has had to choose between two sports which game to attend. And overall it has just been exhausting for us all. She decided to stop soccer for one year and really focus on basketball and softball and see where that takes her. If she want to play again when she is in high school she will try out for the team and shouldn't have a problem making it.

It has been an emotional decision. Chloe played her last game of the season and although Chloe's team didn't win. She did score a goal, which was a great way to end the season.

After the game Chloe gave her coach a thank you card with her decision inside.

This is the text we received back from him.

'I just wanted to say that we will definitely miss Chloe on our team. It was sad to read that she will be taking a break, but I hope it is what is best for her. She has always worked hard and done what I have asked of her without ONE WORD of complaining! She is a great kid, and you should be very proud parents! Happy that she got a goal today, thank you Chloe for being such an amazing teammate and human being.'

WOW! that honestly couldn't have made us prouder of our girl.

Though that was her last official game with the team, she will be guest playing with them in the upcoming summer games.

In the meantime her other sports have become even more time consuming making us realize the wisdom and necessity of this decision. She has pitching lessons once a week for softball, She also made the all-star team, which brings with it two practices a week. ON top of that she will attend three different basketball camps in the next three weeks (one of them on invite to go to a team camp with the freshman team). 

We love you Chloe!!! Remember life decisions can be difficult, but as long as you work hard and bu your heart into it you will succeed in whatever you choose, and don't forget to have fun along the way. 

#lifedecisions #ourgirl #Chloe

Academic Frustrations and Improvements

This year has had its ups and downs for Chloe, but I think that definitely more ups. Last year she wasn't happy at GWA she wanted to switch schools and she didn't want to come back this year. Certain things happened and she ended up coming back for another year, and she was glad she did. I think maybe the biggest factor in making her have a better year was that she had a wonderful homeroom teacher--Mr. Schwager. He challenged her to be a better person, not only in academics but in all aspects of her life. He also embraced Chloe's personality and applauded her for being herself. It was great for Chloe and we found her actually not wanting to miss school, but to make sure she was there. 

Math was a struggle for her it always has been, but this year more so than usual. She actual failed Math her last semester, Her and the teacher just didn't click and Chloe struggled all year, but the last semester she pretty much just gave up and quit even trying. It was frustrating for both of us. 

In most other subjects Chloe received A's with a few B's. 

Chloe's SAGE test scores, state tests, have always been a 2 pretty much across the board, The scores range from 1-4. 1 being the worst and 4 the best. Mr. Schwager told Chloe he knew she could get a 3 in science this year and Chloe really tried hard and she actually did. She was proud of herself and so was I. She actually ended up getting a 3 in Language Arts as well. So she saw improvement in two areas. Although she failed math her math scores in math stayed at a 2 so at least it didn't go down.

It's been an interesting year for sure, but I'm proud of the improvements Chloe has made and hope next year they will continue and she will continue to want to learn and improve herself-lets hope her new math teacher can get through to her. 

Teacher Appreciation Week

This year was the first time in many many years that I haven't been over teacher appreciation week at George Washington Academy. It has honestly been a huge relief. Though it is something I love doing I just felt like I couldn't do it anymore. As our spring activities played out I wondered to myself how I had ever done it in the first place.

The kids and I had some fun making some cute things for their teachers. Seriously so nice to only have to do this for a couple of teachers instead of 80+ staff.

For Chloe's teacher we made these cute pizza box gift card holders. We also gave him some dry erase marker cause Chloe said he could never find his-haha!

Bryce's teachers got these cute ice cream cone gift card holders. They had gift cards for Cold Stone Creamery inside them.

I am so grateful for good teachers in my kids lives and glad that they have been blessed to have had so many of them.

Root Beer Floats

We have started a tradition, this is the second year now, where at some point during the season, usually during a double header, we have root bear floats in the dugout for the girls. The girls really enjoy it and so does Bryce!