Annie's last month of Elementary School

 Annie was happy to have the fun end of year stuff that the 5th graders have missed out on the last couple years because of covid. They had a water day and BBQ at school the week before school ended. A fire truck came and hosed them all down and had they had a good time together with friends.

After they got changed out of wet clothes they got to eat a great BBQ and hang out for the day.

Promotion day came and Annie got all prettied up. She sure looks grown up and ready for middle school.

We were able to snag a picture with Ms. Duncan before school. Annie and Eloise were lucky to have her as a teacher. Annie got her for both 2nd and 3rd grade.

Annie was chosen to give the 5th grade speech for her class. She did a great job! Then it was time for her class to be recognized and promote to middle school. Here she with Mrs. Forgacs, her principal:

Cue all the photos with family and friends...

Annie and Leah:

Heading to Desert Sky next year!

Sammy and Annie, friends for many years:

Annie loved Mrs. Chamberlain. Now Ryan will get to be her student next year!

After promotion the ladies went out for lunch to celebrate!

On the last day of school Annie and Eloise hosted a party at Grandma's house, then we moved it to the pool. We were going to check out the new Purple Heart splash pad but there were WAY too many people there, so we headed to Clements instead. Megan's friend, Kaylee's mom brought Eegees for everyone to enjoy.

Overall it was a great 5th grade year. Since the Knights are leaving this summer to go back to Washington, we're glad Annie and Eloise got to be in the same class again and get all the cousin time in while they could. 

Rachel's last month of middle school

 Rachel had a full month in May. She got a phone of her very own, as she has been hoping for for ages. Since we're paying her phone bill, she pays us by taking care of the dishes any time it isn't someone's chore. It's lovely to not have to load the dishwasher every night. 

When she's up late loading the dishwasher she often worms her way into watching whatever Jacob or I or both are watching. She likes Oversimplified as much as Jacob. 

Rachel had a band concert (combined with both orchestra and choir). She plays the trumpet and likes it enough to keep playing in high school.

As the school year wrapped up she had to turn in her beloved laptop. It was a tough parting.

They had a few awards ceremonies for our marvelous daughter (and the other kids, too, I guess). 

She was one of just 29 kids in her school that got straight As for all 3 years of middle school. So we got to go to a special awards ceremony and breakfast (which included all the kids who got straight As this year, so there were a ton of kids there-10% of her school).

Rachel also got to go on a couple end of year field trips: one to Skate Country for the pride party (being prepared all year, and the other to Funtasticks with all the 8th grade. She said Skate Country was fun, Funtasticks was lame. 

Then it was finally time for her promotion from 8th grade. She got a special dress for promotion and looked beautiful for the big day.

Thought about wearing her Dipper hat, but in the end she skipped it. :) 

It was the best (aka fastest) promotion/graduation we attended all season.

Of course we snapped a lot of pictures afterwards with her friends and us.

With Bella:

With Megan and Hailey

Angelica:

Grandma:

The Family (minus the kids, who didn't come):

I got a pretty awesome visor/wig combo from the Party City donation with the PTA. It matches my hair color pretty well so I call it my mullet hat since it makes it look like I have a mullet. Rachel hates the hat, so I told her I thought her graduation would be a great time to wear it. She hoped when I pulled it out for 10 seconds at the awards ceremony a couple days before that it would be the end of it. Alas, I could not let it die there. 

She was not a fan.

After all the promotion and pictures were done we headed home to celebrate and relax until we went out to eat for lunch with Grandma. 

(Rachel tried on the mullet so Jacob would give her $5.)

The following day was the last day of school, but the 8th graders had already promoted, so instead of going to school, Rachel hosted a party with her buddies. 

Rachel enjoyed her middle school years at Desert Sky (especially the hybrid year where she only was at school 2 days a week), and now she's ready to move on to high school!

PTA wrapping up

 As the school year wound down we had just a few more things to take care of with the PTA. We put on a pretty great Teacher Appreciation Week, if I do say so myself.

Nicole had gotten a donation from Party City that we had been pulling from for decorations and prizes and all sorts of things for two months, and there was still so much stuff left that we decided to just have a yard sale to get rid of it all. We invited other PTAs to come dig through and take advantage of our good fortune, too. And by the end of the two days all the stuff was gone. (Well, we had to do a quick goodwill run with the very last of it, but compared to the 3 Uhaul truck loads to get it all there, a minivan trip or two was nothing.)

With that done, we were pretty much done for the school year (except for electing additional officers for next year) and could enjoy the regular craziness of May without the PTA responsibilities adding to it. 

Fast forward to June and we were able to go to the PTA convention in Flagstaff. I was really hoping it would be worth leaving our family for 2 and a half days and not just be a waste of time. Turns out it was well worth our time and I think it will help us be better able to help our school next year (and help me be more helpful in the 2 other schools my kids are at, too).

That's me and Nicole with Anna King, the national PTA president who came to the AZ PTA convention. She's a great and inspiring leader.