Last Day of School

Monday was Penelope and Scarlett's last day of school.  Tucker officially ended school last week.  Wohoo I'm so happy it is summer!  I'm pretty sure everyone in my family was really excited for school to end.  The kids had a great year, I'm just ready for a schedule break.

I wanted to get some pictures of their last walk to school... kind of.  We actually are planning on walking to the school a lot this summer to use their playground/library/free lunches.  But this felt different.  We usually drove to school in the mornings but it was nice out so I wanted to walk them on their last day.  I always walk to pick them up after school, rain or shine.

Over all it is a pretty nice break to get out of the house every day and get some fresh air.  I wanted to get a picture of my walking buddies.  Tucker usually comes too.

The girls both really liked their teacher.  Scarlett had Mrs. Chinnock, who was a lot of fun.  Scarlett said she was going to miss her.

Penelope had Mrs. Sherry who she really liked.  Mrs. Sherry was a little more strict but I could tell she cared a lot about her class.  She is actually going to China to teach a bilingual class for the next two years.

I'm grateful for all the school teachers!  That has got to be one hard job!

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Muffins With Moms

Last week the girls school had their annual Muffins with Moms day where we got to come and read with them while eating muffins.  I was thinking of how easy it was for me to go because I don't have work to take off from or a napping baby to worry about... yet.  I was kind of excited, when in the past I haven't looked forward to these things because I usually disrupts nap time.  I just brought Tucker and Leon with me and they did great!  Tucker sat and read a book that he brought from home and Leon was quiet also and sat with me.

 We first went to Scarlett's classroom because it was the first one we walked by.  She showed me her desk and classroom.  All of which I've seen before but she was very excited that I was there and she got to show me.  Then I signed her out and we went and hung out in Penelope's classroom.  She read a few books to us and then we did a little Easter project on the computer.  Both girls have laptops in their classroom that they are expected to use and they almost have enough where they barely even have to share.  Pretty different than my kindergarten experience.

 It only lasted about 45 minutes but it was a nice way to end the school week.

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School Night

The local elementary school won an improvement award so they invited the families out to celebrate.  We ate pizza and decorated tiles.  I'm not sure where the tiles are going to go up but the kids thought it was pretty cool.  I'm glad that the school is getting better but at the same time I wish they went to a school that was already better, if that makes any sense.

The tiles were supposed to be related to the school so Penelope choose to do the playground and Scarlett wanted to draw the lunch.  Bob and I helped with the pictures.

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Twin Day

Tucker's school had a twin day last week so he and a friend dressed up in their Seahawks gear to get ready for the Superbowl!

I don't love everything about Tucker's school, but I do like it when they have dress up days.  They are only kids I think they should be having fun at school.  I was recently talking about how some schools only have one or two recesses and how silly it is.  How can children, especially the lower grades be expected to sit down all day without a real break?  Its kind of crazy to me.  They are children, lets not pretend they are mini adults.

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Wacky Hair

Yesterday was wacky hair day at Tucker's school.  They must have been talking about it at school or something because he was really excited about it and the past few years he didn't even want to participate.  He was funny because the night before he said "Mom, how fast can you sew?"  That is not the kind of question I ever want to hear.  Kind of like, "Mom, how fast can you make a batch of cookies for my class?"  I think he wanted me to make him some long fake hair.  We compromised on using left over Halloween black hair spray.  He seemed pretty excited about the result.

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First Day of 2nd Grade

Yesterday was Tucker's first day of second grade so the night before we had a little lesson about how to act at school.  It covered things like making good friends, choosing the right even when others don't, and trying your best.  Then we finished it out with a blessing and game of hide and seek in the dark.  It was really nice and I think it helped him feel comfortable.  He wasn't very nervous.

This morning Bob got donuts and helped get everyone ready for school.  It was so nice and just one more way to make it a special day.

It's hard to imagine that one day this shirt won't be gigantic on him.

Here are his new shoes.  I didn't realize there was a size 13 so he went from 12 to 1.  These are the 1s and they are a bit big.  Oh well, he can grow into them.

Recognize the backpack?  I did a review of it a while back and Tucker is finally big enough for it.

Here we are walking to school.  Bob took the picture.  This is pretty much what it will be like every day after/before school.  Well, we will probably drive most mornings and I take turns with my neighbor so every day I will be either driving him in the morning or walking to pick him up after school.  Notice all the cars lined up on the right? We live so close people park at the end of our street to take their kids.

When I picked up Tucker after school he only had good things to say about it.  He was a little grumpy because I wouldn't let him read while walking home.  But once he got over it he kept telling me about how he has the best teacher in the the whole world an how she is soooooo nice.  And when I asked him to tell me one bad thing he couldn't think of one!  I'm glad it went well for him and hope it continues throughout the year.

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School Open house

Last Thursday Tucker's school had a little open house.  It was a chance for the students to bring their school supplies meet their teachers and see their classrooms all before school started.  I love that they do this because I never want to wait for teacher conferences to see his classroom.  Plus it gives the kids an opportunity to see what school will be like and gets them excited.  And they always have ice cream sundaes so who doesn't love that?  Here are my kids and some friends.

Tucker goes to a very low performing school so this year we really debated sending him to a "better" school.  I want the best for my kids the tough part is just figuring out what that is.  The other school is farther away meaning more time away from home and possibly time on the bus which I wasn't thrilled about.  But I always hear good things about that school and they do way better on their tests.  In the end we decided to keep him where he was at.  I heard from several people that the second grade teachers are all great.  And think the teacher is more important then the school anyway.

Here the kids are checking out the calculators.  I waited about ten minutes for everyone else to leave because it gets hectic when we come in.  That is Tucker's teacher's back.  She seems very nice and I've only heard good things about her.  Tucker was a little sad that his best friend wasn't in his class but he did ok.  I thought he would be more upset.  The neighbor that is also his friend and we carpool with everyday is in his class so I think that helped.  

 Here is Tucker at his desk.

 So far he has loved school and I hope it continues on this year.  The first day is Wednesday.

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Last Day of School and Teacher's Gift

Tucker's last day of first grade was last Tuesday.  I think we were both very ready for school to end and summer to start.  I just like having all the kids home so I can do everything I want to do with them.  There never seems like enough time when they are gone most of the day at school.  Anyway,  I wanted to get his teacher a little gift.  Elementary teachers work so hard for their kids I just thought it would be nice.  So I found this idea on pinterest.

Its a cup with a little tag that says "thank you for quenching my thirst for knowledge."

Here's Tucker with his teacher Mrs. Crawford.

This year we carpooled (is that what you call it when you walk?) with three other boys.  It was nice not to have to take and pick up Tucker every time.  But it was also difficult to walk 8 kids home.

After school we thought it would be fun to take the kids to the McDonalds play place to celebrate.  I guess the rest of the town had the same idea because it was packed!

We had a good time.  This was Leon's first time when he was actually old enough to play.  He was having a blast!  But I still felt like I needed to be really close to him because it was so crowded.  Maybe next time we will go I will let him play a bit more on his own.

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Lego Cupcake Tutorial/Recipe

Tucker barely (June 21st) has a summer birthday so I brought cupcakes to his class a little bit early.  Having a summer birthday myself I know the pain of not getting to celebrate in school, so I want to make sure to Tucker doesn't have any issues with it.  With the release of the Lego movie coming up Tucker is all about legos right now.  So I made easy lego cupcakes.  These were seriously so easy and I think they turned out great!

Ingredients:

Cake mix and all its ingredients

Frosting

Sprinkles

Lego candies (found in bulk at Winco)

1).  The first step is to bake your cupcakes.  I usually do a box mix for convience and this year Tucker once again choose Fun Fetti.

2) Once that is done I quickly frosted them.  It might look even more cute if you piped the frosting out in a fun way.  But I was busy and was making these just hours before they needed to be at school.

3) Kids love sprinkles!  I put the cupcakes close togther and just shook them out onto each cupcake.  Some got a little more some a little less.  No big deal.

4) Lastly lightly press the legos onto the top of the cupcakes.  I think three legos of verging size and color for each cupcake was perfect.

When I got to class the kids instantly knew what was going on and got really excited.  Then Tucker and I washed our hands and passed them out to the children.  They sang happy birthday with lots of extra things at the end of the song that I didn't know.  And after Tucker took the first bite everyone dug in.  Tucker's entire class loved the cupcakes.  Several kids were saying that they were the best cupcakes ever (I think they were a little hyped up on sugar though).

The only downside was we barely had enough.  I made 24, 22 of which were eaten at school, leaving two for Penelope, Scarlett, Leon and I to share.

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First Grade Performance

Last week the first graders did their end of the year music performance.  Tucker did a great job and I am really happy for him.  I know he worked hard trying to memorize the songs and the motions for each one.  A few of the kids had a speaking part and Tucker was sad that he didn't get to do one.  I'm sure he would have done great if he got to though.  He also got a little nervous which surprised me because he has never expressed any nerves for getting up in public before.  But I mean a little, once we got in the building he was dying to get back to his classroom to line up and get ready.

The only sad part was that even though we were there 35 minutes early it was a little hard to see Tucker.  That is just the way it goes with so many people.  Even if we would have been in the front row I think half his face would have been covered by the child in front of him.

We took a few pictures afterward.  He insisted on wearing this shirt because that is what he said other people would dress like.  The parents were told to dress them like they would for picture day.  Well, I let Tucker wear whatever he wanted for picture day because I knew I wasn't going to buy them so I guess it was good I let him wear the shirt he wanted.  I do like that shirt anyway.

These next pictures are of Tucker and his best friend Noah.

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