Fifth Grade

Collin has enjoyed a month full of fun activities to celebrate the end of his time at North Elementary.  

There was the tile dedication:

Each fifth grade student makes a tile in art class, and the tiles are placed in the main hallway of the school.  This is Collin's tile:

Here is the wall where his tile is located:

This is Tyler's tile, and we look at it every time we walk in or out of the school:

                                      

I think it's awesome that the students remain part of the school after they have moved on.

Collin also enjoyed a roller skating field trip (I wasn't able to chaperone because it was the same day as Reagan's third grade performance), a slide show, the 5th grade Strings Tour, Step Up Day,

Step Up Day is a day when all of the fifth graders visit the middle school.  The North students wore these tee shirts:

and the Fifth Grade Awards Ceremony.  

The string orchestra played at the awards ceremony.

Collin received a completion certificate, a strings participation certificate, and an award in art.  Here he is receiving his completion certificate from the principal and his teacher.

The fifth graders also sang a few songs.  It was a very nice ceremony.

The final event was a luau that was held at the middle school for all of the fifth graders from the three elementary schools.

The apple stacking game proved to be very difficult; the kids had to stack four apples in one minute. There were a few other games too.  I worked the game table where each student had one minute to place a Nilla wafer cookie on his forehead and move it into his mouth without using his hands. Collin was able to do this in less than fifteen seconds!  I had fun working that table because the kids were so funny.

It's nice to see the students celebrated before they move on to the middle school.  Collin enjoyed all of the festivities.

Blog Award

I love blogging.  My real purpose for blogging is to preserve family memories.  I want to remember as many details as possible.

I never expected to make any friends through blogging.  If you asked me if it was possible to create friendships over the internet before I started blogging, I would have told you that you could not create "real friendships" and people who claim to have done this are probably weird.  Well, call me a weirdo.

I am rambling here, but I recently received a blog award from a few blogland friends and I want you to know that I sincerely appreciate the award.  It is so nice to know that people enjoy reading what I write here.

Ticia from Adventures in Mommydom, Natalie from Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns, Angela from Confessions of a Non-Domestic Housewife, Sherry from A Little Fun With Me and Lu, and Shannon from Mommies Little Artists were kind enough to think of me and pass along The Lemonade Stand Blog Award.  Thank you so much for reading my blog, and for sharing the great activities you do and ideas you have on your own blogs. You should also know that I would be giving this award to all of you if you hadn't given it to me first.

The Lemonade Stand Award is awarded for being a blogger who shows great attitude and gratitude. The rules for accepting this award are:
- Put the Lemonade logo on your blog or within your post.

- Nominate at least 10 blogs with great attitude or gratitude.

- Link the nominees within your post.

- Let the nominees know they have received this award by commenting on their blog.

- Share the love and link to the person from whom you received this award.

There are so many blogs that I enjoy reading.  Today, I am passing this award along to:

My Family, My Forever - because you are truly one of the most genuine people I know and I value your friendship
Chronicle of an Infant Bibliophile - because you have introduced me to so many wonderful books
Frugal Family Fun Blog - because so many of the great ideas that my children give me credit for actually come from you
Our Nifty Notebook - because you are so sweet and I always enjoy the honesty in your blog posts
Teach Mama - because we seem to think on the same wavelength so often, and because you help me teach my children valuable pre-reading skills 
A Mommy's Adventures - because your posts are always a joy to read
Funny Days with Mommy and Maddie - because you are a New Englander, you share awesome recipes (cranberry bliss), and your crafts are great too
Live, Learn, Love - because you are one of my original blogging friends
The Activity Mom - because you have so many incredible ideas
Our Random Acts of Reading - because I love this project and I really want more  people to visit your blog to learn more about Random Acts of Reading

Go visit some of these great blogs.

You love me, you really love me!

I am so grateful for the friends I have met through this blog. I never expected to befriend people this way, and I truly feel blessed to be able to share ideas and learn from other bloggers. Two of my blogging friends have honored me with blogging awards and I am finally passing them along!

Ticia from Adventures in Mommydom gave me the Super Comments Award. If you are not familiar with her blog, check it out. She writes about everday life with her twin boys and daughter. I am passing the Super Comments award along to Valerie at the Frugal Family Fun Blog. She has the greatest ideas, and her comments are always so genuine. I am also passing this award along to Susana at Our Homeschool Fun. Susana comments with great regularity and is so nice. Also, if you are looking for giveaways or need a place to publicize your giveaway, she is the host of Friday's Gracious Giveaways!

The blogger buddie award was given to me by my friend Kristi from the Orange Juice blog. She tells it like it is and I love that! Kristi is funny too, and she emails me. She also sent my children postcards from CA for our fifty states project; how nice is that? If she wasn't on the other side of the country, I'm sure we would actually hang out!

I am happily passing this award along to my friend The Dairy Queen. We worked together to create the Super Summer Swap, and she is one of the sweetest people I have ever met. The Dairy Queen also sent my children postcards from her home state and from another state where she was vacationing with her family! Go visit her blog because you will love her, and while you are there congratulate her - she is pregnant with her third child!

Thank you for reading my blog, passing awards along to me, and befriending me!

Sisterhood Award

I am long overdue in passing along this award. It was given to me by Jennifer at My Two Happy Homeschoolers. She is amazing; every time I read her blog I am impressed with her creativity. So, in the rare chance that you have not read her blog, you must go there now.

I knew right away that I would pass this award along to Shannon at Letters Numbers and Books Oh My! because I honestly feel like she has become a friend to me. She is an amazing blogger and a nice person. Shannon has always been quick to respond to my questions and kind enough to acknowledge me in her blogs. She made me realize that there is more to this blogging world than just putting a post out there. I am truly grateful.

I also want to pass this along to Marietta (the Bookworm) at The Bookworm's Booklist. She was one of the first people to comment on my very first post when I had no idea what I was doing (not that I have much of a clue at this point)! She also comments with great regularity and I LOVE comments! I am always amazed that people are actually reading this blog and the comments really make my day. Also, I love her blog and all of the wonderful information she has to offer. Thank you!

A bit under the weather

I have some wonderful awards to pass on and a few things to post but today I can barely lift my head off the pillow. I promise that I will pass those awards along as soon as I feel better. Thank you so much for thinking of me and for reading my blog.

A Super Award for me!

I am so happy about receiving this really cool award from Sandy at Just for Fun. She has a great blog and I get so many ideas from her. Thank you so much!Here are the rules for this award:Tape it up on your blog somewhere.Pass it along to 5 fellow super bloggers, and comment on their blog to let them know how lucky they are today!When you present your Super Blogger awards, link back to the super blogger who gave it to you.

There are so many wonderful blogs out there but today I am recognizing these super bloggers:

My Two Happy Homeschoolers

Painted Rainbows and Chamomile Tea

The Whipples

Living and Learning

Adventures in Mommydom

I am so happy to have found your blogs and I appreciate the time you take to post about all of the wonderful ideas you have. Thank you!

An award for me!

I was not expecting this at all, but Shannon at Teaching Tiny Tots gave me an award! I feel so special! It took me a while to figure out how to get this little picture posted but it's here so I can finally comply with the rules of the award.

Rules:

1) Add the logo of the award to your blog
2) Add a link to the person who awarded it to you
3) Nominate at least 7 other blogs
4) Add links to those blogs on your blog

5) Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs!

I would like to nominate:

The Ramblings of a Crazy Woman

No Time for Flashcards

Adventures in Mommydom

Storytime and More

Tiny Tots Learning and Growing

Super Healthy Kids

Who says 8 is enough?