Taylor finishes Kindergarten

Taylor finished Kindergarten today.  He's a cutie! He's also had a great year, and his teacher, Mrs. Godfrey has taken some great pictures of him throughout the year. He's been a good student and a nice friend to others. 

On a side note, can we talk for a second about overkill at kindergarten graduations?  There were parents there today for the 20 minute singing program that had flowers, plants, and huge balloon bouquets for their kindergartners.  Lots of candy leis, and money leis, and all sorts of other things.  I felt a little sheepish to give Taylor nothing.  He finished a grade in school people.  And it was half day kindergarten.  Sheesh.  I guess I'll make him cookies or something.

Anyway, here are some pictures from him program today...and some taken by his teacher this year.

 Taylor & his teacher, Mrs. Godfrey

Taken at the beginning of Kindergarten on the playground. 

Taken in the fall for a rhyming project...

"Willowby, wallowby WAYLOR.  There's an elephant on TAYLOR!"

 

Made into a Christmas ornament with sticks & buttons.

 

Earning his Radiant Roadrunner award at the end of the school year.

 

Abby end of school

The end of school is always an insanely busy time with school programs, field trips, parties, soccer, fathers-n-sons, Zach's birthday, etc.  Whew.  I'm exhausted.  But Abby has had a great year in 1st Grade in Mrs. C. Webb's class.  This was Kason's first grade teacher too.  She has become a great reader this year and earned her Radiant Roadrunner Award.  Here are a few pictures from her program.

Abby's and her teacher, Mrs. Webb 

Abby and her friend Kaizlee.  Check out how tall Abby is!

Fathers and Sons

I went to California for my Grandma's Funeral, Abby slept at DeHaans house, and Tige took the 3 boys to father's and sons.  The details are always sketchy on these outings, but they snapped a few pictures and looked like they had fun.  Tige was a good sport to take Zach.  When I asked him how he slept he said "well, Kason still grinds his teeth."  The Briggs boys came along too, so I'm sure it was even more fun to have cousins.  They caught frogs in the stream, which Zach was too  scared to touch.  Yay for finally using our new 10-man tent that we've had for a year. 

Tige sent this picture to me in California.  It always warms my heart to see these cute kids camping with their dad.

Taylor plays soccer too

This was Taylor's first year playing soccer too.  He loved it. He had games on Tuesdays, and Abby had games on Wednesdays for about 10 weeks. We loved watching both of them play, but took turns at the games so we didn't have to bring Zach along.  There was one game where Taylor scored SIX goals in one game.  (Tige said the other team was doing a lot of spinning and looking at the clouds).

Abby plays soccer

This was Abby's first season of playing soccer, and boy was it fun watching her!  She's a natural, and with her long legs she looked like a gazelle bounding up and down the field.  When the other team stole the ball and started for a breakaway down the field, Abby was the only player who could tear off down the field and catch them.  She stopped several near breakaway goals this season with her fast, long legs. 

 

Coach Payton, (standing)  Kambria, Abby, Shay,

(kneeling) Carlie, Baylee, Maddy, &

Klara

 

 

There were two girls on Abby's team (Carlie & Maddy) that I saw pushing and shoving their own teammates multiple times during the season.  I was grateful I didn't see any of that kind of behavior from Abby.  I guess there are "mean girls" even at this early age. 

 

Baylee Beckstrand & Abby