On Her Way To 2nd Grade

I still can not believe that we are already wrapping up the school year.  This is Savannah's last week of school, and let me tell you… she is ready for a break.  If I'm being honest, so am I.  This has been a long year for all of us.  First grade was a lot more work than kindergarten… kinds makes me think that it just keeps piling on as she moves up.  Therefore, we really deserve to enjoy ourselves over the summer break.  I say "we" because, well, I am exhausted from all the school work, and reading, and math, and calendars, and meetings, and packing lunches… Ryder is probably exhausted from being up at the school with me, tagging along with whatever I have to do up there.  So yes, WE are all ready for summer!!  Savannah had another fantastic year, both academically and socially.  She made so many new friends and came out of her little shy shell more than I expected.  I really am proud of the little lady she is becoming.  It goes without saying that we are also very very proud of how well she is doing with her academics as well.  She is excelling and loving school.  On Monday first grade had their end of the year award's assembly.  Savannah received several academic awards and a handful of good behavior awards.  It was the perfect way to kick off the last week of school.  

This banner is pretty fantastic, and pretty sad all at the same time.  Thinking about her graduating high school makes me sad… and thinking about the year being 2025 just makes me feel old.

Receiving her awards from her principal.

Savannah's frist grade class.

Savannah and her wonderful teacher.

Out of all the certificates she got, Savannah thought that this one was the coolest.  She really thinks that she is a member of some special Texas Reading Club.  Kid cracks me up.

And in honor of our smarty pants little girl, I took the fam to the snow cone stand!!  

Turns Out, She Can Run

It has been quite a while since I last posted.  So many things have happened that I wanted to share, but I just couldn't.  I just couldn't bring myself to write a single post and be okay with the fact that my g-ma would not be sitting at her computer in SD reading what I wrote.  It took four months, but I slowly started to realize that there are other people out there who missed the blog updates, Eric and I included. I did not realize what a high part of me this blog had become.  Being able to document my life as a mom has been a wonderful thing for me, and I've missed it.  So, I'm back… back to sharing my daily adventures with my little ones.  

Last week Savannah had her field day events at her school.  Eric and I were both SHOCKED to see what a fantastic competitor she was.  Girl can run… like really run… fast.  Her first event was the hurdles, which she did really well at.  Second in her group, I believe.  Her second event was the 60 yard dash (video below), she finished third in her group.  Her third event was the relay, her team got first.  The final event of the day was the tug-of-war.  Her class came in second.  

Hurdles… pretty genius whoever came up with these mini hurdles for the kids.  It was perfect for them.

Video of Savannah running in the 60 yard dash

Savannah running in her leg of the relay.  Her team was behind up until the point that Savannah got the baton.  She managed to catch up and close the gap for her team.  

A Quick Recap

Lots and lots of things have been happening.  I have a ton of pictures to share and stories to tell.  The kids are both changing and learning new things every day.  Ryder is talking so much now... he is finally communicating in a way we can understand (most of the time, anyhow).  Oh and Savannah, she is excelling in school.  Her enthusiasm for school makes me so happy and pushes me to work even harder with her and her studies.  These last few months have been some of the craziest of my life, and some of the best.  

Savannah brought home this masterpiece from her art class at school.  I am in love with it.  It is a self portrait and I think she nailed it.  Beautiful Savannah.

We also had our first major homework assignment of the year... a community diorama.  Each kid had to choose an establishment in their community that they wanted to build a diorama of.  Little miss chose the library... and not just any library, a rainbow library where princess go to read.  Perfection.

We somehow managed to squeeze a trip to the State Fair in.  Same ol', same ol'... rides, fried food, animals, and lots of tractors.  Ryder loved all the tractors, especially the little ones that he got to ride on. Happy happy boy.

There hasn't been a whole lot of time for new house stuff.  The only two rooms I managed to get done are the kids' rooms.  Ryder's was easy... we just did a light grey, nothing fancy.  Savannah's was not so easy.  She wanted a whole new color scheme than her old room and I wanted something that was bright and bold.  This is what we ended up with.  It turned out fantastic!

Savannah before school one morning.  Every day I swear she looks older and older.  She is also getting better with the whole dressing yourself thing.

Post family pictures... a quick snapshot of the kids.  We haven't done pictures as a family since Ryder was born, so I was very excited about this session.  I can't wait to see the proofs.  

He is still doing well in his big boy bed.  As you can see he brings everything he possibly can to bed with him.  Boy loves his stuffed friends.

One of my favorite parts of Halloween... the carving of the pumpkins.  Savannah was a huge help cleaning out the pumpkins and choosing what we should carve.  Ryder had no interest at all.