Kindergarten Graduation

Today I was able to attend Case's Kindergarten Graduation. It was a tear jerker to say the least. From the minute Case walked in to the classroom with that graduation music playing, to the minute he received his diploma, I was all teary eyed. This year has just flown by and I can't believe this kid will be in First Grade next year. His experience this year has been great and I am amazed and proud of all he has learned. I worry deeply about this kid. He is all boy and sometimes the decisions he makes are not so great. He is a hard boy to get to know, but once you do, you are in love. He is kind and considerate and thoughtful and sweet, but he will make you work for it all. Case will make you earn his trust. He is not going to charm you when you first meet him like my other boys. He is a different kid. I worry about him next year. I worry about who's class to put him in. I worry he will not show his teacher how truly smart and capable he is. I worry his teacher will not understand him and love him the way I do. I worry about him not being able to keep up academically. He is a smart boy, but you will have to pull it out of him. I worry and wonder.

Hanging on the bulletin board was this piece of writing. It says,

"In kindergarten I learned how to do subtraction."

I love this kindergarten graduate. Jeremy missed the graduation because he was stuck in a meeting. Case was so sad and even leaned over to me and said, "Where's Dad?" He is a daddy's boy!

Case with his friends Austin and Chase

Case and Jefferson...Best Buds!

Thank you Mrs. Hebting for a great school year!

Case next to Lucy Blackhurst and Matix Cooklin.

Last week we received a note home explaining all the details of graduation. One of the rules was that we were only able to invite immediate family. I quickly called Mrs. Hebting and asked her if I could trade my immediate family for the grandma and Jim. After all, 6 of us versus 4 of us would be a lot better right? She said that would be fine and so my Mom and Jim were able to attend. So happy they could be there! Sorry Brody, Ledger and Miss B.

Schnepf Farms

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to go on a field trip with Case's kindergarten class to Schnepf Farms. I actually didn't get to "go" on the field trip but I mostly invited myself on the field trip so I could monitor Case and his hay allergy. He was really stressed about this field trip since he has had such horrible reactions to hay. Thankfully, Mrs. Hebting let me follow the bus over and hang out with Case and his group. He did great and didn't have any reactions! The weather was so nice and the fresh picked beets and spinach made great additions to our dinner. A huge thanks to my Mom for watching the other two kiddos so I could attend.

Horrible picture of me but I'm happy I was with my Caser Man!

Oh Case, Grandpa Harvey would be so proud of you out there pickin all those fresh beets. They were so good with our dinner last night. I wish you would have tried them!

Cute Elle and Case with heaping sacks of beets.

Katie (who lives on the corner) and Bree.

Case and Jefferson on the dreaded hay ride.

STOP GROWING CASE!

Zach, Case, Lucy and Quinlin ready for fun on the farm.

YOU WILL GO TO KINDERGARTEN SNOW DAY!!!

You would never know from the look on his face that he didn't want to go to kindergarten snow day!

After the 100th day of school the Kindergarten kids had snow day. Apparently they use their ECA money to rent a snow truck and have a patch of snow sprayed in the parking lot for all the kindergarten kids to play in. I'm not sure how they get that approved, but they do and the kids seem to enjoy it. So the morning of snow day Case gets up, eats breakfast and starts to get ready for the big day. As he realizes he doesn't have the proper "snow clothes" he starts to panic. The tears start flowing and he is refusing to go to snow day. I calmly explain that since we live in Arizona, there is a good chance that not one kindergartner will have "snow clothes." Well Case is not going for it, he is crying and throwing a FIT! We are running late for the bus which is making me upset so I am wrestling with my kindergartner trying to get his grubby jeans and hunting jacket on. He is resisting my help and screaming, "I AM NOT GOING TO SNOW DAY!!" Since I'm not a screamer I firmly tell him, "You WILL go to snow day and YOU WILL LOVE IT!!!" Come to find out, Case was worried about changing out of his wet clothes in to his dry clothes cause his teacher asked him to bring a dry pair of under ware. He was super worried about the kids seeing him in his skivvies. I quickly called his teacher to find out what time snow day would be over and then promised Case I would meet him at the school to help him change into his dry under ware. Phew... problem solved, off to snow day, no more under ware worries! A successful kindergarten snow day!

100th Day HOORAY!

I couldn't fit all 100 smarties on the front of the shirt so I had to go on to the back.

The back of Case's shirt read, "I'm a Smartie on the 100th day of school!"

Last week Case celebrated the 100th day of Kindergarten. You know what that means folks...only 80 days of school left until summer vacation! I sent Case off to school wearing a 20 pound shirt with 100 packages of Smarties hot glued to it. I thought he would take it off the minute he got there since it was so heavy, but he didn't he wore that shirt ALL DAY LONG! He had a ball doing all the 100 day activities and even came home with a 100 day hat.

Hooray for the 100th day!

Student Led Conferences: A Proud Mommy Moment

On Monday, Jeremy and I had the opportunity to attend student led conferences with both Brody and Case. This was a whole new experience for us and let me just tell you, it was so awesome. First up was Brody. We go to his class and he proceeds to the teachers chair and tells us to it on the other side of the table. He begins with, "Welcome Mom and Dad to my student led conference." He then thanks us for being there and proceeds to give us the rundown of how he is doing in school. He reads us a story he has written and explains his new goals for the third quarter. He tells us how he has been behaving and explains that he wants to do better at not talking to Kailey Appel who sits right next to him. The conference was so wonderful. I loved hearing about school from his perspective. I loved hearing what he wants to work on and what he feels are his strengths and weaknesses. I watched and listened to him with alligator tears in my eyes. Then I kicked myself that I didn't have my video camera. Next up was Case. We head over to his Kindergarten classroom and begin to follow the directions his teacher has left for us on his desk. He proceeds to show us his work by quickly flipping through the pages. He really was not interested. So we get to his journal and we read the first page, "I like to go to my grandma's cabin." We compliment him on his great writing and turn to the next page. It reads, "I like to go to my grandma's cabin." It is a little easier to read this time so we turn to page three. "I like to go to my grandma's cabin." I grab the journal and proceed to read the next 3 pages which all say the same thing, "I like to go to my grandma's cabin." Jeremy and I are cracking up. We tell Case, "You know you can write about something else." Dumbfounded he looks at us and smirks. What can I say, the kid is no dummy. Let's not reinvent the wheel here, let's just write the same thing over and over and hope no one notices! In all fairness, the sentence did get easier to read and there was a little more spacing between each word instead of it looking like one large word. Oh Case, you are just a goof ball! I absolutely felt so proud when we left the school Monday. Both boys are doing great and are loving school. You boys are awesome! Thanks for showing us what you have been doing in school.

Brody explained all about 2nd grade in great detail.

Case showing us his graph. Is he really the first kid to answer yes to the question, "Have you ever built a snowman?"

It is my pleasure to introduce to you....

THE NEWEST KINDERGARTEN SUPER STAR

 AT RMRE!!!

This cute boy has been waiting patiently all year to be the super star of his kindergarten class.  He has reported to us each Friday who was chosen to be the star of his class for the following week.  He has helped color super star pictures of his friends who were chosen.  He has shared in the excitement of each kindergartner who has had his/her turn.  He has shared what happened with each family that visited their super star's class. And now it's CASE's turn!

Monday, Jeremy picked up Case and Brody early from school so we could get our family pictures taken.  When Case walked through the door, he had on these super cool green star glasses.  He was beaming from ear to ear as he announced he was the new Super Star of his class.  Oh were we happy!  Since his teacher had us make the super star poster at the beginning of the school year, all we had to do was show up for a family visit on Wednesday.  Talk about feeling proud and excited for your kiddo.  When we arrived in Case's class, his friends and teacher sang us an adorable song.  She then had Case introduce all of us and tell what he likes to do with each of us.  We now know that Case likes to fight with Dad, play games with Brody and Ledger, play with Miss B., ride bikes with Mom, and have sleepovers with Sugar.  We then got the grand tour of the classroom by our cute super star. What a fun day for all of us.  That night, Case got to go to Oregano's and then to Target to get a toy with Sugar.  He was on cloud nine!! We love our little Super Star.  Way to go Case!

Case was so funny during the class hello song.  He kinda put his head down and mumbled the words like he was waaaaay too cool to be singing to us.  We laughed at him the whole time!

Our little super star and his poster and traced body.  Do you notice the Elfie the Elf swinging with Case's picture?  Too cute!

Case and I made this poster at the beginning of the school year.  It turned out cute!

As you can see, I am so proud of this little guy.  He is the cutest super star ever!

Sugar and Miss B. are proud of you too Case!

Hooray to Case for being the Super Star of the week.  

We love you buddy!