Owen: End of 5th grade

Owen was a class representative for SCA and was able to participate in a few special activities during the year, including the Veteran's Day assembly and Earth Day assembly. For Earth Day, each SCA member created a costume out of recyclable materials. Owen was pretty excited about the costume he made from boxes!

We've joked that Owen needs to learn how to eat pasta before taking anyone on a date to an Italian restaurant. I was feeling pretty guilty about the kids never having been to Olive Garden so we used the opportunity to have Owen practice his pasta-eating skills ;) 

Another tooth gone!

We didn't know what a typical 5th grade graduation was like since Willow had a drive-thru graduation during COVID. It was a nice ceremony with a few songs performed and lots of recognition given out. Owen took it very seriously whenever the teachers mentioned dressing their best for graduation. Gramma took him out shopping to find a nice collared shirt and he picked out his tie as well. Chris can't believe that he's related ;)

We get a kick out of Owen's nostrils flaring any time that he's trying to hold back a smile. It's hard to ignore your family when they're in the 2nd row!!

song #1

song#2

song#3

Owen enjoyed learning to play the ukulele in music class. It's actually what helped us convince him to try band in middle school instead of "interest block" (art, home ec, computer, etc.). 

Check out the slideshow the teachers made of each student's pictures!

Time to celebrate with some yummy snacks!

3 of Owen's closest friends:

Nana and Grandpa hated to miss but were in Minnesota at the time.

A little flashback to Kindergarten:

That shirt is filling in fast!!

Two big graduates in the same year! On to middle school and high school next year! Eek!

From Kindergarten:

To 5th grade graduation in the blink of an eye!

We've had a great lineup of teachers for elementary school! Check out his first day pictures, teacher pictures, and school pictures!

Willow: End of 8th grade

Willow had her last middle school choir concert. Mr. Bartley has always raved about how talented their grade level is. He gives them harder pieces and challenges them in a lot of ways. They had a great performance!

Songs:

here

here

here

here

here

Here's the link for the school's videos. 

She was surprisingly emotional after the performance. She's chosen to be in the Performing Arts program at Burton next year, which prohibits her from being part of the high school choir due to having to take PE. Being part of the middle school choir has been such a great experience for her!

 Some of her choir friends before their performance:

The 8th graders had a fun afternoon outside to celebrate. Willow didn't take any pictures (gasp!!) but thankfully got this picture that a friend took.

They may be headed off to high school, but they still enjoy sweet innocence on the trampoline!

We had double graduations to celebrate this year! We enjoyed having family over to celebrate them both!

I hope this still fits when she's a senior!

The 8th grade graduation was held on WebEx. The first 15 minutes was breaking up so bad that you couldn't understand a single thing they said. Then they made an announcement that they'd heard about the choppiness and were going to speak slower. They did for a few minutes, which was a lot better, but then they forgot and it broke up a lot. Watching the closed captions wasn't helpful but did add a bit of humor to it. Willow was sitting just in front of the computer recording so it was fun to catch glimpses of her every once in a while. She received an award for All As, a presidential award, and the superlative of "Most Likely to be President." 

We're ready for time to slow down a little bit!!