End of the school year

Last day of school:

The end of the school year was fast and furious as usual!
It was such a great year for all the kids and the move to our new school was such a blessing.  Reggie already had a group of friends going there, but he made some new ones that are really good kids and he came so far in figuring out how to study and manage his time (and not panic when he had lots of homework).  The first 2 quarters, he was barely hanging on to straight A's, but the last quarter, he had really high A's and felt pretty confident in his grades.  He told me it seemed that school was getting easier :o).  If he got straight A's all year, grandma and grandpa would split a WII U with him, so he had great incentive and worked really hard.  He has been enjoying it a lot since we got to Washington.  He was also given an IB trait award for being open minded at the last assembly of the year.  We were a bit surprised by this, but I guess in certain situations, his teachers see him that way!  Who knew?

A very happy boy:

Ainsley had a very busy end of the year.  She had a big project with classmates where they came up with a business idea, applied for a patent, made their product, promoted it through a poster and commercial and then sold it to their classmates.  She made a lot of "Walker" dollars and was able to buy some fun things at the end of the year.  We also went on a field trip to the capital and train museum.  It was a fun day, but really long.  

You can see her teacher photo bombing the picture!

She was also recognized at the end of the year assembly for being 1 of only 2 students to get a 4.0 for the entire year!  This school is a little more academically challenging and she really wants to excel, so way to go Ainsley!  It was sometimes difficult with her gymnastics schedule, but we used car time and weekends and she ended up cramming for a couple tests and it is good to know that she is able to do that and come out o.k. if necessary.  It is quite a balancing act!

She has a great group of friends and spends most of her recess teaching them gymnastics. Here she is with her best bud, Makayla, who happens to be her teachers daughter (Ainsley is a giant!):

We also had her gymnastics banquet which kept me quite busy.  I did the awards, coaches gifts and senior gifts and was very happy to have it finished!  It was hard keeping everything a secret since I knew well in advance who was getting special awards.  Ainsley was given the hardest worker award for level 5 and they said some really nice things about her.  

Khalif had a great year!  His teacher said he came so far in so many areas and is such an amazing reader.  He was having some behavior issues the last week and it was a bit frustrating, but we were in the car driving to swimming and he said to me, "I am having a lot of feelings about school ending."  He was nervous about next year, sad to leave his teacher and friends for the summer, but also excited to go to grandma and grandpa's.  We talked it through and the next morning he woke up a different kid.  It was then that I realized what had happened....Something was bothering him, he figured out what it was and brought it up to me!!!  What a major break through!  Makes me feel like some of the therapy and all the work we do might be paying off.  Very impressive for an almost 7 year old.  He has had a lot of growth this year...we just need to figure out how to keep track of water bottles and jackets and we'll be golden!
With his teacher, Mrs. Mahoney:

This was too cute.  Khalif couldn't find his friends on the last day of school and Ainsley offered to hang out with him (one of her sweeter moments).

The 3 seahawk fans!  He asked his teacher for this picture :o).