End of the Year Happenings

End of the year activities for the boys kept us quite busy the last few weeks.  Here are the highlights.  This is a long post.

Soccer 
Soccer kept us quite busy.  I coached all the boys and thankfully the conflicts were minimal.  No pictures since I was on the sideline.  Shep had a pretty good year in U8- got a goal.  The team was awful and I think I learned that I am not cut out to be a U8 coach.
Hunter and Ashton both had a great year.  Ashton is the clutch player that every coach wants on his/ her team.  And Hunter's leg got stronger and stronger each game.  We lost in the playoffs 2-1 to the 2nd placed team.
My goal is to take the fall off from coaching.  I would like to just sit on the sideline and take pics of my kids again.

Chorus/ guitar program.
I will be honest, his guitar song with the two other "advanced" (I use this team very liberally) students was mediocre at best.  haha- the teacher this year was not very good.  That being said, he did learn to strum this year and there was improvement.  I hope it sticks with it.

"If I Had a Hammer"

He has gone back and forth on doing chorus next year.  I am trying to gently encourage him to stay with it but the decision is his.

The Soaring Singer... Hunter is top middle in blue.

Fishing Rodeo
This is not school related but church fun.  Though we dont go to ARP on Sunday mornings anymore, the boys and I attend Sunday night.  We have some dear friends there and we want to stay involved.  We went to the Fishing Rodeo at a church members home.  The boys had their first real taste of fishing.  They have piddled with it before but they each caught multiple fish.  Chad didnt go so thanks to the guys (Jay, Jonathan, Clyde) who stepped up to help my  kids (I dont fish- it seems so painful to the worms and fish).

Shepherd got the first catch of the evening.

Bennett getting some practice (thanks for sharing your rod Carly)

Hunter reeling his first one in.

One of Ashton's many catches.

Jay brought extra rods and then helped the boys for a couple hours.  

The youth pastor, Jonathan, helping Hunter out after a catch.

ARP also had a end of school year bash.  But, I was helping with the middle school so I didnt get pictures.  But, fun was had.

Club Larne
The boys look forward to Club Larne every year.  Basically, it is a behavior incentive that leads to a dance party on a school day.

Hunter and his crazy friends.   

Ashton and his good friend Ricki with a couple girls from his class

Shep and his best friends.

 School Awards Ceremony
Ashton's program was yesterday.  For his class, he was awarded the Leadership Award.  For specialty awards, he got the Music Award.  I almost laughed out loud on this one.  Do you remember here where I was slamming him for not being able to keep the beat?  Oh, I love irony!  I also love that he got this award as it reminds me so much of Grandpa Gordie.  He would also sing so loud and though he wasnt always 100% on key, it didnt matter- that is Ashton.
Ashton also finished up with all A's.  He had the highest Math MAP score in his class and either the 3rd or 4th highest in 2nd grade.

Receiving his class award from the principal.

Ashton and his 2nd grade teacher, Ms McGinnis.

Hunter's awards program was today.  He received the Historian Award for his class award.  He also received all A's award for Social Studies for the entire year.  He stayed on the A/B honor roll the entire year as well.

Receiving his class award

Mrs Eaton and Hunter.  Another great teacher for Hunter.  

Shepherd didnt have an official awards ceremony but he finished up the year super strong.  The kindergarten program was in May on the same night that H and A had a soccer game and Chad had football so he wasnt able to go.  He is beyond ready for 1st grade.  Dont know what his reading level is but based on the readers I have, he is reading a solid 2nd grade level.

All the kids also did AWANA this year through First Baptist.  They loved it!  Shepherd was awarded Kindergarten Clubber of the Year.  Hunter and Ashton had to miss a good bit in the winter because of basketball so I knew they were not going to be able to earn any "big" awards..  They all worked hard to  memorize and learn their verses.  Thumbs up for AWANA!

This is from the first day of school but with no awards ceremony I never got a recent one.  We loved Ms Brewer though.  She went above and beyond to keep Shep challenged.

Field Day

Field Day was well done this year.  Chad's football players have come to help the last few years and he had a great group of guys come and lead the stations this year.  

Only got this one picture of Shepherd's class... oops

Ashton's group getting some instructions before dodgeball.

Hi five

Moving to the next station

Hunter sack racing

Getting ready to tricycle race

Extras
Here are just some things they did at school at year that I liked or wanted a record of.  The first semester stuff that I am keeping has already been filed but thought this was another good way to record some of my faves.
Hunter
He doesnt have as much because, I guess, as you get older, you dont give your mom your papers anymore.

I love this especially since we are related to Ben Franklin (many many great uncle)

Hunter has zero time or patience or love for art but I thought this owl was cute.  He also 

Owls must have been a theme.  He made this in art and it is now used to hold my rings.  I love this little guy.

 Ashton
Ashton hates art so most of his stuff is writing.  His quirky sense of humor comes through his writing and laugh out loud a lot reading his stuff.

He wrote/ typed this about his dad.

Writing piece on the 100th day of school.

Persuasive writing.

Opinion piece on why football is the best sport.

 Shepherd
Now this kid loves art.  He constantly makes me pictures that show how much he loves me.  Being that Hunter and Ashton dont express love like this, I must admit, I bask in the sweet notes he gives me.  As I mentioned before, kindergarten was easy for him.  His writing got so much better this year, he is quite detailed oriented.

Love this.  The one on the left is from the 1st day of school.  The right is from the last week of school.  So different.

Shep still will flip some of his letters (especially c's).  "My favorite part on field day was the race course and the snow cones because the race course had a lot of details and the snow cones just because." It continued on the back.

"On Mother's Day I will build a castle with all my legos and put it in her room."  He knows the way to my heart- legos.

 It is understatement to say how proud I am of each of these guys.  I am of course proud of their grades, love watching them excel at things they love to do and cheer them on when they work hard to master something they struggle with.  However, I am most proud of the compliments that I hear from their teachers and the parents of their friends.

Boys continue to "ponder the way that is blameless and walk with integrity of heart" Psalm 101:2...  continue to "be kind and tenderhearted to others, forgiving just as Christ forgave you" Ephesians 4:32... continue to "be wise in doing right and stay innocent of any wrong" Romans 16:19.

Congratulations on a great year!  I love you all!

1st, 3rd, and 5th grade... here we come!