A trip to Austin

A few days after school got out my mom and aunt took the kids to Austin, TX to see Danny parents. This was Grant's goal for potty training.  We told him that he needed to get potty trained so that he could go on the airplane.  He finally did it over Memorial Day weekend.  They carefully packed everything and got to the airport. Since I didn't go on the trip, I don't have all of the details.

Apparently they were very good on the plane and watched movies the whole time.

Grandma and Grandpa were there to pick them up.

The first night, Grant didn't quite sleep on the mattress the whole night.

They shucked corn with their cousins Ronnie and Alex.

One day they went on an Austin duck tour where a bus takes you around town and then on the water as well.

They all got these lovely duck noise makers.

They even drove past the capital building.

They also went one night on the boat to see the bats under the bridge like the last visit.

My mom had never been to San Antonio, so they went down there for a day.

They saw the Alamo and went on a boat ride on the Riverwalk.

Of course, you can't go to Texas without going to BBQ,

They played croquet in the backyard.

There were lots of silly selfie pictures with Andrew and Ron.

A tepee in the woods near Todd's house.

A garage ping pong battle.

Grant playing in a pool in his clothes and shoes.

A picture with Grandma and Grandpa.

Alex in his tree house with Claire, Grant and Andrew.

Todd, Maria, Ron, Jan and some kids up in the tree house.

They also went to the minor league baseball game one night.

Andrew got a shirt from the cannon and a fly ball.

Grant got to sit in the cockpit before the plane took off and they gave him this huge route map.

A happy reunion at the airport!

The last day of school

Another school year is finished!  Andrew completed 4th grade and Claire finished 1st grade.  They both had a great year and learned a lot.  They had great teachers that really took an interest in their learning.  They are excited for lots of fun trips over the summer.  

Pictures of the kids

I was finally able to arrange our schedule to be able to do a photo shoot with the kids.  My friend Lindsay that I used to work with took these lovely pictures.  I wanted them taken in the afternoon outside to make use of the beautiful light.  Grant was in a good mood, but wasn't very interested in smiling.  I think his best picture was with just he and Claire.  I wanted muted colors, so I was able to use their Easter outfits again - perfect.  I plan to use this first picture for our Christmas cards.  Enjoy!

End of the year open house

Last week Andrew and Claire had their end of school open house.  They both told me how excited they were to show us the things they have been working on in their class rooms.  The first stop was the cafeteria where there was an art show.  Each class had some type of part project on display.  Claire's class made art with their hand prints.  Claire made hers into a fish complete with sand glued to the bottom.

Andrew's class has been working on comics for their projects.  They had to cut out a small comic and then make it larger.  He chose Charlie Brown and he did a great job!

We visited Claire's classroom first.  The teacher had a checklist for each child to review with their families.  Claire was so excited to go down the list and show us around the class room.  This art project shows the many uses for band aids.

In this project, Claire tells about what she is going to do when she is 100 years old.

Next up was a writing assignment about what they would bring to Grandma's house.  She said that she would bring milk, cookies, and flowers.

Here she is with the clipboard.

The kids can earn stars for doing good things in the classroom.  She has brought many of these papers home filled with stars and has them hanging in her room.

In this picture Claire tells about her self and some of the things she wants to do in the future.  She says that she is funny, smart and loves people.  She wishes to go on the biggest rides, and to get a job someday.  She hates spiders and loves to play with her dolls.  She wants to go to fun places and to be happy.

This is the behavior chart that shows the kids how they are doing on their behavior for the day.  The kids all have numbers, thus Claire's work is always labeled Claire 7.

Here is Claire at her desk.

Claire with her teacher Mrs. Rice.  She had a wonderful first grade year and she loved Mrs. Rice.  We get to see her lots at the pool and swim meets.

More pictures from her classroom.

We had the last 30 minutes to spend in Andrew's class room.  All of the kids had their science projects on their desks.  It was fun to check them all out.

This was an art project they did in class working on mirroring an image.

Typing progress that they do on computers.

This was an autobiography worksheet that they all filled out.  His first three milestones were swinging his first golf club, walking and turning double digits.  Also his earliest memory is kissing his baby sister.

Some pictures of the classroom.  Both Andrew and Claire sit at the front of the class. 

Andrew with Mrs. Esparza.  I love her!  She really listened to my concerns at the beginning of the year about his experiences last year with math.  He came into this year not liking math at all and she turned him around.  I wish she could move up with him!