Bye 2nd Grade!

Tomorrow is the last day of 2nd grade.  It is this time every year that I'm grateful Connor 'missed the cut off' with our school system & he started elementary school a year later than his buddies born just 2 months before him.  It makes the...

{Oh dear heavens.  My baby will be in 3rd grade soon...}

a little less painful knowing his buddies are going into 4th!  Haha!

Each year I've been spoiled (although I should refer to that as blessed), as each year of school Connor dominates.  This year- All A's, strived for perfect attendance (he feels bad if he has to miss for being sick), Math award (recognized as the strongest in his class), hit his AR goal every time, Citizenship award, is reading at a 5th grade reading level (all those awesome "Harry Potter" reads excite him now), and is always recognized for being the most kind-hearted, good friend in class.  At Connor's awards, his assistant teacher made a point to say that their class had a child join them midyear who could not communicate well.  Connor and this child (Ty) meshed from day one and Connor took him under his wing to help him feel included.  She said it was amazing how even though Ty had a hard time learning english, Connor and Ty just understood each other.  His teacher made sure I knew how Connor truly is a blessing to their classroom & that I am doing an amazing job raising him.  

Cue the tears at that point!

I am terrified to see him grow up so fast (each year just goes faster and faster), yet I'm so proud to see it all at the same time. 

Here's to the summer!!

Lucky us!

When you barter with another photographer & end up getting a free Mommy & Me session out of it!

My gift to myself for Mother's Day!

Side note: After working under another photog, I find it waaaaaaay easier to be behind the camera than in front of it!

The kids really had a great time, so it makes the pictures so much better knowing there was no bribery or whining involved! :)

Hey kids...remember the time...

So today was one for the memory books...

Our pool is just about done, but the water is in & it's hard to keep the kids excitement contained.

So after homework time after school, the boys ran quickly to their rooms to suit up and hopped in the freezing pool.  They were thrilllllled.

The part we weren't expecting was this.

Since the water was chilly, Connor thought he would bite the bullet & just jump in.  Just as he hit the water, I saw a bolt of white light in the corner of my eye...

The splash of Connor's jump terrified our cat who was just casually walking around the pool.  Seuss went flying across the raised wall of the pool and sent him flying into the shallow end.  I put down all of my photography equipment I had ready to capture the first swim in our pool to scoop our cat out of the water!  As I lifted him out, his back paws clinched into my hand and left two nice deep gashes into my palm.  As he jumped from my hands, I was nicely gushing from my hand.  I ran into the house to see the water trail left from our soggy feline, grabbed an old towel to wrap my hand, and managed to catch the cat upstairs to dry him off a bit.  It was pretty traumatic yet hilarious at the same time.

Good chance we won't forget the first time we went in the pool annnnnnd good chance Seuss won't be seem close to the pool again.

Another season down...

Last night was Connor's final season game.

This past year, he has developed such a love for soccer & wanting to continuously learn, which Matt & I love to see.

Connor has grown so much in the sport & I'm anxious to see how next season goes as he moves up to a bigger field with U10 boys.  

Matt noted that he can't just parent on the sides during the season & must be Connor's coach from here on out.  With Matt's Masters classes, he just couldn't commit this season.  Connor was begging Matt to be his coach next season, so he was pretty pumped to see Matt will definitely do it.

I'm so so proud of the little athlete he is and how hard he works!

Now it's a count down until the Fall...