3rd Grade Memories

Cohen has officially completed her 3rd grade year!  We have been out of school over a week and we are currently being beach bums.  A great start to summer.  I LOVE summer and I am in summer mode full swing.  I did want to rewind a little and look back at all the fun that came with 3rd grade.  Four years of elementary school are now over!  I have to say 3rd grade was a big transition year for us.  It seems like there are a lot of expectations in 3rd grade.  The content gets a little harder, a little more is expected, and of course the "M" word...Milestones!  I have heard all the fears surrounding this test though Cohen this year and if you know Cohen you know she really had nothing to fear.  She is very smart but her anxiety level can sometimes go through the roof!  She is a ball of nerves at times but in my conversations with her teacher I think she saves all of that fun for me!  She really had a great year this year.  Once again she was blessed with a sweet, fun, wonderful teacher, Mrs. Hill.  She was so good for Cohen and encouraged her so much.  When we were putting Mrs. Hill's end of the year gift together I had written her a note and Cohen wrote her own note.  Of course I wanted to read what she wrote and she had written it all on her own.  But in her note she thanked Mrs. Hill for being so encouraging and increasing her confidence!  That meant so much to read.  We will really miss Mrs.  Hill next year.  Cohen started the gifted program at school this year and she really enjoyed it too.  She would frequently tell me about the fun things they would do in gifted class and I'm so glad she enjoyed that and will continue to be in that class in the next few years.   There were several events I took pictures at, especially at the end of the year, and since I couldn't blog on each one individually I did want to sum it all up here.  May has quickly passed December as the busiest month of the year!  We were going constantly wrapping up school, preschool, soccer and having a dance recital.  So much fun all at once.  Here is a a little wrap up post on Cohen's 3rd grade year!  It happened so fast.  I blinked and 9 months were gone!  (I'm pretty sure my pregnancy months never went quite this fast).

WELCOME TO 3rd GRADE:

First Day!

In December the kids had a fun field trip to the Georgia Aquarium.

Cohen's class won the box tops party for the first half of the year and while I was there helping with their snack I got to see Cohen present one of her projects to her class.

Cohen's artwork was chosen to be in the county wide art show that all the schools have.  Here she is with her art teacher Ms. Cathy and with her artwork.

This year was the first year that LES had a daddy/daughter dance.  This was one of my favorite events they had.  I love this whole idea and think it is great for girls and the dads!  I got such cute videos and pictures from some of my teacher friends who helped and I could see first hand how much fun they were having.  I hope this is something that will continue at the school.  Next year Kelly will have 2 cute girls to dance with if so!

One of our proudest moments this year came when Cohen was chosen as the 3rd grade Georgia Young Author winner.  This was Cohen's third year in a row winning this award.  Her teachers have always told me what a good writer she is and we were just so proud of her.  This year her writing was about a trip she took to Toccoa Falls with Sug and Pop.  I loved it so much and I love reading things like this because it shows how much she loved this outing with them and how she paid attention to every little detail.  This was something the kids had did with Sug and Pop while Kelly and I had been on our ski trip.

This year Cohen also got to compete in the Junior Olympics.  This is mainly for 4th and 5th graders but Coach Ginn chose a few 3rd graders to go this year and she was one of them.  She was running the mile.  I was so proud of her for that.  A mile is hard for these kids especially on a track they don't practice on.  She was so nervous about it even saying she just didn't want to do it, but she got out there and did it and finished 8th.  I was very very proud of her.  Maybe I'll have a running partner in her one of these days!

There's always fun at field day each year.  The end of the year is one fun activity after another!  The kids always love field day because they get to get wet!  I think almost every game involves water!

Each year the gifted classes get to participate in the "invention convention".  This was something new for Cohen too.  She invented a "2 in 1 t-shirt" for those days when the weather is cold in the morning but hot in the afternoon.  Her shirt had velcro on the sleeve so you could remove the sleeve making the tee a short sleeve tee.  She looked like she really enjoyed explaining her invention to all of the classes that came around.  Parents and family members are invited to come so the kids are presenting their inventions constantly.  I loved watching her in action!

And of course there is always the end of the year awards ceremony.   Cohen received her ribbon for the Junior Olympics, she got the Principal's List award, and also got 3 art certificates.

I loved seeing my girl being recognized with all of those boys!  This was for Jr. Olympics.  

Sweet friends!  4 out of 5 will be at the school next year!

And finally was the last day of school!  It is always so bittersweet!  We will miss our sweet teacher and the fun 3rd grade brought but we are all so excited for summer!!!!!

I have to include these last 2 pictures because these are 2 things that have been all the rave this year.  At least here at the end of the year.   Slime and fidget spinners.  We have made slime in the past but Cohen was all about making it again and even looked up different recipes on YouTube.  Fidget spinners which have been around for a long time for kids with ADHD, became the hot toy to have.  The kids were allowed to have them at school which made them even more fun.  Each day I would hear about who had what color spinner.  This is one of 2 Cohen has.  Kate even has one if it hasn't been lost yet!  Who knew this little gadget could be so fun to have.  The girls got one while we were in Savannah for Cohen's baton competition and someone stopped them right after they had bought it wanting to know where to go to get one.  Why couldn't I have invented that!?!  Cohen also has a 12 sided fidget cube.  Maybe its the "M" word again thats made us have such fidgety kids?!

 Thank you 3rd grade for the memories!!  4th grade here she comes!!

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Graduating First Friends!

Last week was a sad one for this mama!  My sweet baby girl Kate graduated from preschool!  I feel like I just had her or that she really just got started there.  Its so true what everyone tells you, it flies by so fast and in a blink your kids are grown.  I feel that Cohen just graduated and here she is finishing 3rd grade.  I hate this all so much but yet I love every minute with my kids and I love getting to experience all of this with them.  So bittersweet.  Kate has had the best year.  She has loved school and has had so much fun.  She has loved having Nolan at her school and our playdates with him each week after school.  We have had so many fun trips and activities at the school.  It has been so fun getting to soak it all up with her too.  It seems that you don't get to do much at all with the kids once they walk into elementary school so I have loved getting to have this fun time with her.  Her teacher Amy is also one of my closest friends and it has been awesome having her teach Kate and bond with her.  We like to cut up and laugh every chance we get so it was fun having a friend get to be with Kate.  My first year teaching preschool at First Friends is when I found out I was pregnant with Kate and my second year there was when Amy was pregnant with Sam.  I can't believe the years have passed so fast and now these kids are 4 and 5!  I really had a hard time saying goodbye with her last week.  I'm so sentimental and I would literally sit and think about everything each day.  I really torture myself! Ha!  We still had a lot of fun during the last week.  Tuesday Kate had a field trip to Blue Haven Bee Co.  This was one of my favorites for the year.  It was so neat learning about the bees, the hive, and just how they work.  It is quite amazing how they work.  They are another reminder of how great God is!  I hate bees and it was all so fascinating to me.  I also loved the gift shop!  Honey, soap, lotion, and so much more.  It was so much fun!

seeing the queen bee

tasting honey...she just knew she wouldn't like it but she did!

As close as you'll ever see me to bees!

 After the field trip Kate went to Suzy's while I headed to Cohen's field day.  Just before I left she had already caught a lizard!  She came in telling me, "Look Mama I caught a lizard, do you want to come take my picture with it?"  She then let it go only to catch it again...so I could video her "lizard catch". This girl is so funny and she loves her critters!

one with the lizard on her shirt

Another fun thing was the sheriff from Hart County brought the alligator to school.  I was shocked when Amy told me Kate had been a little hesitant.  You know my animal lover and I would have thought she would be all in it.  I can remember Cohen doing this and she loved it too.  I think the alligator and the kids letting their butterflies go were just more animal excitement for Kate.  

Thursday was the actual graduation ceremony.  I had cried leading up to the graduation and I did cry at it.  Those slideshows with the sweet songs just get me!  I did love all their sweet songs and they were all smiling so big.  You could tell they loved their songs!  It was so sweet.  If I could freeze these kids in their safe, fun, and small preschool environment I would.  That is one thing that makes me so sad, they have all been together and had so much fun and now they will be scattered to different schools.  Everything was so safe and innocent at preschool and it seems that big school can sometimes corrupt that.  I know God has big plans for Kate and each of these sweet kids though and it is all going to be so fun to watch and be apart of!

training black dog

I loved the "Hollywood" theme.  Here was Kate's "Star"

Don't they look so excited!?

She could look so serious during some of the songs.  She was cracking me up

 

Friday we were back at the preschool for the official "last day" picnic.   She didn't have to be there until 10:00 which had me going to my Pilates class with no Kate to walk over to school.  Another cry moment for this mama.  Can you tell I'm having a hard time?!  Anyway...my awesome Pilates class cheered me up because those ladies are just fabulous.  Soooo....at 10 we made our way to the playground for some playtime fun and then a picnic lunch.  The kids loved the bouncy house and water guns!  Kate and her sweet friend Hannah were loving the water guns and the swings and found a way to enjoy both at the same time!  They were so cute.

you can bet Bryce was right there in the middle of all the fun!

Here are some fun pictures from the beginning of the year until the end.  So many sweet friendships made and I know more fun is still to come.  You'll see a lot of pictures of Kate and Nolan too.  These 2 were friends before this year and have grown up together but this year they just grew so close and have been the best of friends.  They may not be headed to the same school next year but we will be sure these 2 stay close!

 Butterfly catchers!

She found the leprechaun's hat of gold 

nature hunters!

Super Hero Day

Chinese New Year! 

eating with chopsticks 

Kate fell asleep and Nolan's face is priceless

Bryce has a huge love for the livestock barn.  We made a few trips there and this was the first.

Kate's birthday celebration at school.  Since she has a summer birthday we chose to celebrate a little early

At the end of April the preschool had a field trip to the Greenville zoo.  I think Kate had been waiting for this one for most of the year.  Who would expect anything else from Kate.  And even though we had been to this zoo several times, she loves it each time!

The poor goat is just waiting patiently

silly girl 

Kate's Boo hoo breakfast

last full day of school!

Thank you for the great memories First Friends preschool!  We have loved Mrs. Lori and Mrs. Amy! My sweet girl is now ready to take on LES!  Watch out kindergarten!

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