Keeping My Promise

Here are some photos of the numerous end of the school year activities the kids were able to participate in:

Olivia and her 4th grade teacher Mrs. Clarke

Mattingly and his 2nd grade teacher Mrs. Hayashida

David was able to walk with us to school in the morning during the kids' last week of school (his students were already out for summer...so his start time each day was a little more flexible). Derek enjoyed the stroller in the mornings throughout the school year. In the afternoon, he loved riding his Razor scooter to school to pick up his siblings.

Flowers for their teachers on the last day of school. We were so blessed this school year with fantastic teachers. Just loved each of them!

Nathan & Daddy on Kindergarten Promotion Day!

Me & Nate with his promotion certificate (it was also pajama day at school for spirit week. Funny story...we dropped Nathan off at his classroom that morning and every kid in the class was all dressed up for the promotion, but not Nathan. He was wearing his pajamas because that is what was scheduled for spirit week. I told him that pajamas were fine with me, but if he wanted me to go home and get dressy clothes for him, I would. I thought he might feel silly being the only kid in pajamas. He wanted the pajamas! He was comfortable and happy and that made me happy.

Here is Olivia receiving Superintendent's Honor Roll (the highest academic honor). Wish the picture wasn't so blurry.

Mrs. Mullins and Nathan

Perfect Attendance Awards Assembly for the 3rd Trimester

Perfect Attendance Assembly for Matty too. He received the award for Perfect Attendance for the entire school year!

4th Grade Recorder Concert & Career Day...what you want to be when you grow up. Livie is dressed as a teacher of course :)

Nathan ready to ride his scooter home after his last day of Kindergarten. That was a tough moment for me. I will miss walking home with him at 11:10 am each day and hearing about his Kindergarten fun. He's growing up. Dang it!

Walking home after a fantastic 2010-2011 school year.

Here's Nathan receiving his award for Perfect Attendance for the 3rd trimester.

Kindergarten field trip to Fairytale Town

We went to the Sacramento Zoo that same day. Aren't these Kindergarten monkeys so cute!!

Mother's Day Tea in Kindergarten
(one of my most favorite days of the school year)
I was spoiled with songs, flowers, a beautiful portrait by Nate, a bracelet, a cupcake and lemonade. What a great day!

4th, 5th & 6th Grade Spring Choir Concert
All the songs were about food. Great music and a lot fun songs. The choir had such cute movements too. My kids love singing to the soundtrack. Livie has a music/band teacher that really puts in a lot of time. Livie is taking her summer band class that she offers out of her home on Wednesdays. Her flute playing is already much better than I ever was on the clarinet. She is thinking she wants to be a music teacher when she grows up.

Briley & Olivia

It has been very difficult for Olivia to accept that Briley will be moving this summer. We love her and her family. Really great people!

Softball 2011 Championship Game
We placed 2nd. Tough on the girls when we lost our championship game (hence some tears), but they had so much to be proud of! We had an awesome season! Way to go Dodgers! We celebrated our terrific season together with a huge swim party (BBQ, swimming, bounce house) at our catcher's home. It was a blast.

School is out now and we have been laying around the house, doing nothing. NOT!! Next post will consist of summer fun...swimming, bike rides, play dates, basketball camp, Mattingly's 8th birthday & baptism, baseball camp, Cub Scout Day Camp and............................!

Livie's "Liberty" Basketball Season 2009

Here is a photo from Olivia's final game of the season. She is in the blue shirt in the middle of the picture. She worked really hard at being aggressive on defense. I was really proud of the way she kept on striving to get better throughout the season. She definitely wasn't the tallest girl out on the court, but she made up for it with her speed and aggressive attitude. She made one basket all season and that moment was awesome. She was so happy and proud of herself. The look on her face was priceless! Both sets of grandparents happened to be at that particular game, as well as her daddy and brothers. Everyone cheered liked crazy for her. Being her coach and referee of the game, I got to run up and congratulate her right away. Her first words to me were, "Mommy, I did it! I did it!"

A medal to congratulate the basketball player for a great season. Can't wait until the next season of girls basketball. We had a great time together!

The End of a Great Soccer Season!

Livie defending the goal.

"Shooting Stars" 2008

Go "Stormtroopers"! 2008

(Matty's in the white jersey)

We wrapped up a fun and exciting soccer season yesterday, as Olivia and Mattingly each played in their last games. David, Nathan, Derek, my parents, David's dad, and I cheered the kids on during each game. Olivia worked her little buns off trying to score a goal. She played in the Under-8 division this season and she did remarkably well. She learned to be very agressive and to not be afraid to take the ball away from the opposing team. I was very proud of how determined she was in every one of her games. Her coach said, "Olivia bleeds soccer!" She makes me want to get out there and play. It was a blast watching her improve every game! Way to go, Livie!!

Mattingly played in the Under-6 division again. He really came alive towards the end of the season. Last week he was dribbling the ball up the field and taking it right to the goal. He scored his second goal during that game. His face lit up with excitement as his ball rolled into the net. It was incredible as a parent watching from the sidelines. He had worked hard all season to improve as a soccer player... and he did it. During yesterday's game, Matty was a rock star goalie. He jumped on the ball and used his body to stop the other team from scoring. (Funny story... earlier in the season, David was standing behind the goal to help Matty as goalie. The other team had taken a shot at Matty's goal and David yelled, "Jump on it, Matty!" And literally, Matty tried to jump on the ball with both feet. It was hilarious. Just a kid, trying to do what his daddy told him to do.) We enjoyed watching our kids learn to love playing the game of soccer. Their little bodies had big desires to get out on the field each week and play some serious soccer. Can't wait for next season!