End of Another School Year

It's amazing how fast the school year is. There is always so much excitement finding out how who our teachers are and what friends are in our classes. And next thing you know, you are with them on the last day saying goodbyes. 

4th grade went really well for Matt...minus the fact that he didn't enjoy being in the cabins (fancy name for portables!). He had 2 different teachers this year and both of them really challenged him. Mrs. Alfred taught math and science and Mrs. Whetzel, reading, language arts and social studies. 4th grade got to go to Austin for their field trip to visit the capital and the museum. I'm pretty sure the kids were more excited about the bus ride than actually visiting the capital!

When we toured the grounds of the capital we came upon this. So beautiful that this sits on the grounds of our state capital! This made my day. 

Matt also enjoyed being part of the choir, although I think he liked being with his friends and Mrs. Janes, not necessarily the singing part of it!! I mostly enjoyed their field trip to 2 nursing homes where they sang Christmas songs to the residents. The smiles on the resident's faces was priceless. 

Matt finished the year again with all "A's" and he was really proud of himself for that. He's still anxiously waiting for STAAR results to come in because he thinks he aced that too! We'll see if we ever get them. 

They didn't really have a true awards ceremony in their class this year. Each kid presented a project they did throughout the year and I was amazed at how well everyone presented. Matt got an award for successfully completing 4th grade (I mean let's hope so right?) and an award for choir. Again, not specifically for his voice, but for being a part of the choir! Thank you Mrs. Alfred for being Matt's homeroom teacher!

We were so thankful Marlie had Mrs. Smith for 3rd grade.  Matt had her last year and we just love her! Marlie was also very excited that so many of her friends were in her class. Mrs. Smith said multiple times that this was her favorite class and she's been teaching for several years!

Marlie also ended the year with all "A's" and she has a little competition going with Matt to see if she scored higher on the STAAR test.  Should be interesting to see how it all turns out. Marlie's class did a "kid's choice" awards ceremony which was so fun. The kids presented the awards and were so excited when their name was called and they got to walk down the red carpet! Marlie got the "Most Athletic Girl" award. Dad thought that was funny since she's the only girl in her class who doesn't play a sport. He doesn't realize that dance is just as much of a sport as any other!! I was also really proud of Marlie for getting the Music award for the entire 3rd grade class!!! That was so special! Thank you Mrs. Smith for your love, patience and dedication to these kids all year long. I'm still hoping you'll show up next year in 4th grade and Marlie's in your class again! 

 

Guitar Recital

Matt & Marlie had their year end guitar recital back in April. On this night I get to watch BOTH of my little people perform and it never lasts long enough. 

Marlie started off and performed 2 songs including one of my favorites, Light & Dark. She continues to improve and is sounding like a real classical guitarist! You can't hear very well in the video below (breaks my heart) but I'll post it anyway.  There is a pause between the two songs but it's quick!

Matt did really well too.  This was the first time he didn't seem nervous. He was very confident and played so well. 

Mrs. Kristi likes for them to practice playing together so they performed a duo as well.  At home there is usually a bit of fighting...someone's going too fast, someone's going too slow or not counting in right and on and on.  But they got up there and made that song look pretty easy as if they'd been practicing together just fine!

Mrs. Kristi announced that Matt scored a 100 on his music theory test that he took earlier in the year.  Marlie will get to take it next year. She also presented them with nice trophies for their performance and hard work. We can't thank you enough for working with them.  I'm amazed at how good they have gotten over the years and we love watching all your other students improve every year too. 

 

Kingwood Strutters - Babe Platinum

Marlie had such a wonderful year on her Strutter team. She made the Babe Platinum team again this year and had Mrs. Jordan again as her instructor. She was blessed to be on a team with a group of sweet and very talented girls. 

Marlie did 3 team dances this year, plus one team/elite dance.  My 2 favorite dances were their jazz dance - Lights, Camera, Action and their small group open dance - Bathing Beauties. Both dances placed 1st at Nationals. Some of my favorite pics this year are from their jazz dance. Marlie does a ring leap in this dance and I'm so thankful we had several people capture this in action! 

Bathing Beauties is a group of about half of the team. Mrs. Jordan did an amazing job with the choreography and costumes. The girls had SO much fun doing this dance and I loved watching it over and over! The girls are competing with this dance at Elite Nationals in early July so I will post a video after. 

Marlie got picked to do a solo for their lyrical and she was SUPER exited about that! This dance, America the Beautiful, placed 2nd at Nationals. What I loved about this dance is watching the girls expressions which are much different than their other dances. They all looked so sweet. 

Last but not least was their novelty to Jet Set! This dance too was so fun and another crowd favorite.  They all looked cute in their flight attendant costumes. They placed 2nd at Nationals. Yes that is a giant airplane as their prop!

I love watching Marlie dance but she loves all the silly moments with her friends. I just love all these girls!

Next year Marlie will graduate to the junior team which is 4th-6th graders! I can't thank Mrs. Jordan enough for all the time, love and patience she gave these girls. It was a great year!

 

C2 Baseball Wins Again!

These boys had a great tournament a few weekends ago in good ole Beaumont, Texas.  They won 2 games on Saturday and came back Sunday to win 3 more including the championship.  Matt did great and this was his tournament of triples!! He hit really well and was so excited.  The hitting lessons with Uncle Jay are helping him improve a ton! 

Here are some happy boys with their brothers after their 2 wins Saturday. And here's how Marlie entertains herself during the games. She worked on this scorpion for awhile and finally got it! The siblings seem to have just as much fun as the ball players!

Sunday started like this...

 ...and ended with an 11-3 victory in the championship game at about 10:00pm!

 These people were all super proud of Matt.  Especially the red head!

And here's Matt with the team's biggest fan. This is Nicholas, Andrew's big brother. Nicholas has cerebral palsy and only misses a game if he is playing with his baseball team on Sunday.  We all love Nicholas...parents and boys. He's always cheering them on and sometime coaches from the stands. We love having him on the team!