Karissa graduated from Gallimore today. There was a breakfast, a short presentation, the receiving of certificates, and a clap out. It was a great morning! She has grown so much there. Her group was the first to try the TAG program at their own school, so it was an extra special day. We will greatly miss Mrs. Bell, the principal, and her staff members in the office. Not to mention all the other teachers and staff members we have known. Austin is on the waiting list for TAG, but has informed me that he doesn't want to go if he gets in. So, farewell, Gallimore! We will miss you!
Mrs. Berry, her teacher, and some good friends.
Karissa and Sarah
Clap out
Olivia and Karissa have been friends since preschool!
Great group of friends and moms!
Karissa and Vanessa
An even harder move for me is the fact that our friends, the Looslis, are moving to Colorado Springs while we are on vacation. The Looslis have been our close friends for many years. Dallin is Austin's sports buddy and Victor and Erik have done some sports together now. Zarin and Natalia were our babysitters before Victoria was old enough and Zarin threw Austin's 5th birthday party. We have carpooled to everything you can think of. Melissa and I both are firm believers in carpools and had a great system. Analee is a year older than Victoria and Daria has loved playing with my girls, even though she's a lot younger. My girls now babysit Larisa, when their family has other places to be for the older kids.
The only upside to this is that Jason's parents live in Colorado Springs. So we will see the Looslis more easily than if they were to move somewhere else.
We had Austin's birthday party yesterday. He had planned to have a sport's party, particularly soccer. He only invited his friends that really like sports. Two of them couldn't come, so we only had four friends, but I thought it was perfect since our other children were here and actively (and loudly) participating in it.
On the invites we suggested the boys bring towels and swim suits so we could also play water sports. Luckily most of them did come prepared because it rained the entire time! It was also lucky that the biggest sports fans were here. Only true sports fans would play soccer outside in the rain!
I've decided that smaller parties with less structure work better. The kids have so much going on nowadays that they enjoy just being together and being crazy at a party! They pretty much just played outside, then opened presents, had cake and snacks, then played air hockey and balloons in the basement. I didn't clean the house before they came since I knew it would get dirty during the party. Surprisingly enough, there was no mud that was tracked in, just grass that we could wipe off when they came in.
Playing with the football (if you'll notice, all these pictures are from the deck so I could be under the canopy and not get the camera wet!)
I made little hurdles from them to jump over or dribble the ball around.
The rain wasn't enough, so they got out the hose at one point.
Victoria volunteered to be the target for silly spray.
Soccer game
He loves this stop motion gift from Haruka.
We braved the rain again for the pinata that Austin helped me make.
Making the pinata a few days earlier.
After the party, the girls decided to make these pillows for Austin. Victoria did it becasue she didn't give him a card last week. Karissa did because she didn't give him a gift. They did an excellent job!
It was a great party despite the rain and weird facial expressions in the pics!
Austin turned 9 yesterday. I can't wrap my head around it. My kids are growing too fast! I was privileged this past week to be able to volunteer at his field day and then go on a field trip with his class to the Jiffy Factory. I liked seeing him with his class mates. I haven't been able to volunteer in his class this year, but his teacher has told me a few times this year what a good student he is. She has said she has a hard class but that Austin isn't one of them. (That makes me happy.) At field day, I noticed how right she was! The boys are all the "tough boy" / "Joe cool" type kids. The girls seemed okay, though. Austin is very friendly and has a "cool" personality. I could see that he didn't feel intimidated by his class mates, nor did he show any need to show off in an inappropriate way to feel like he belonged.
For the field trip, we got to see where they produce the Jiffy mixes for the entire US. During the busy season, they put out 150 million boxes of Jiffy mix per day! That season runs from September - January. We got some sample boxes and I bought some at a very reduced price. Austin was excited to make cinnamon rolls with me later that day with some of the mixes.
My group for the tour. We got Austin's good friend Krish in our group.
Our fancy hair nets for the tour.
The whole class at the park after lunch. Austin and I are in blue in the back left.
I didn't get to see the outside of the main factory until I was driving away. I snapped this from the red light!
Austin and Dallin have been taking a tennis class together at Miller on Tuesdays.
On his birthday, we went to the Home Depot project. It was outside for a change and it was a cold morning, so we brought it home and made it in our basement! Austin loves making those projects each month. Erik joins us sometimes. Austin also loves building Lego sets. He loves to tell jokes, dance and sing, play ball sports, play Mine craft and Wii, and read. He stays up very late each night reading. He finished the entire Harry Potter series earlier this year. He completed his Wolf Rank for scouts and will now be a Bear. He has done well with the piano this year and will continue next year. The piano recital, along with football practice/game was on his birthday too. It was a busy day!
Austin's breakfast of choice every day now, even on his birthday. (sigh)
Building his car for the Home Depot project.
I didn't get any shots of Austin playing yesterday because I was involved in watching it, but I did get some of Erik. He made a good run here in these pics.
Austin received a medal for piano excellence.
Victoria received a medal as well.
Karissa received a trophy for piano Federation.
Present time!
He loves to wear socks, even when it's way too warm!
He loves the group Imagine Dragons. He recently adopted my old CD walk man, so I thought a CD would still work for him.
One of his favorite book series is Diary of a Wimpy Kid.
Legos!
After the recital, we went to Wendy's for dinner, per his request. We were going to convince him to do something nicer, but then thought, oh well! Whatever makes him happy!
Austin is such a great kid and we're proud to call him our son!
I had forgotten where I put the batteries, the only gift he actually asked for. We found them right before bedtime!
Happy birthday to our fun-loving son!
Here's their piano rectial songs. Also, bonus feature: Erik singing in the kindergarten music program! Since he never sings for the church programs, I was surprised at how into he was!
