5th grade "graduation"

On the last day of school the 5th graders had a musical performance and award ceremony. The principal was adamant that it was not graduation or culmination. Whatever. They sang some fun songs and also handed out awards. Paige did awesome and got an award for academic achievement! way to go Paige. They also handed out perfect attendance awards for kids who hadn't missed a day that year, and 2 boys had only missed 4 days since Kindergarten!! Who does that? But Paige's teacher handed out great attendance back in the classroom, which Paige got. She ended up only missing 2 days of school, one to go to Disneyland in Oct. (bad mom), and the other to go to Utah for my grandpa's funeral, no sick days! pretty impressive! Congratulations Paige!

ps-they had 20 kids from her grade who from anytime since kindergarten were in the English as a second language program! It was amazing to see kids I never knew had a hard time with English. Paige even had a girl in her class this year move in barely reading or writing English and now does really well. We live in a melting pot here!

Paige's 5th grade party

trying to stay cool
Waterballoon toss

The girls of her class taking a break

Yum ice! No flavor?

"Playing" capture the flag :)

Basketball relays

Paige had a fun but hot 5th grade party last Tuesday. They had 4 stations, baseball, dodgeball, capture the flag, and basketball. Then they had lunch bbq of hotdogs and hamburgers with lots of other good food, I thought. They had a waterballoon toss and then the Shave It van came (very fine shaved ice) followed by a waterballoon fight. They had fun, but it was too hot!!

First burn of the season :(

Oops! we came home a little sunburned today. We didn't reapply the sunscreen on the legs and so Paige burned her upper legs and rear. ouch. I got the top half, chest and back. No burned faces or backs for the kids though! Rashguards are the best investment! We had a blast today though! Paige spent most of the day in the water boogie boarding and body surfing with her friend, while Seth was in and out of the water, but mostly playing in the sand. Unfortunately this is where he stepped on a bee and got stung, another ouch! He was good to let my friend pull out the stinger after she numbed it up with ice.

I did really good last year to keep the kids from getting sunburned, so I am disappointed that I let it happen on our first day. It will be the first and last of the Summer! We had a fun time with 4 of our friends joining us. Happy Summer.

Oh, I almost forgot, today was supposed to be 107 at and near our house (The Valley). When Matt was driving through "The Valley" today he called to tell me his car temp said 118!!!!! Yes, that is not a typo! Crazy. So I am about to watch the news to see the final say. They said 109, still way too hot. and tomorrow it says 111, and the caption under the temp says "hotter than heck", that's a nice way of putting it.

Summer, Summer, Summertime

Will Smith song for those of you who don't know. I always sing this line in my head when I think of Summer! I was a fan before he was a big movie star! :)

WELL, IT'S FINALLY HERE!!!! Summer! Today was the last day of school. I feel like I have been running around like a chicken with my head cut off the last few days. Volunteering, Dentist, getting teacher gifts, getting last minute things for end of school parties, going to Paige's 5 hour, end of 5th grade park day party (it was 100 degrees that day :(, not getting my hair done as planned because my daughter REALLY wanted me to help with the party, being in charge of Seth's end of school party, missing the end of that to run to Paige's graduation ceremony (indoors), and melting in the hot Summer sun!!!

School ended at 12:20 and it was HOT!!!! We were supposed to go swimming at a friends house to celebrate, but by the time we got home and cooled off they didn't want to leave the house. I was okay with that. So we relaxed inside with the A/C cranked up! Matt said his car said 107!!! Crazy! My car said 64 and then slowly inched to 70, I wish. Obviously mine is broken. So tonight on the news they said we did get to 107 and it will be the same the next 2 days!! Guess where we are headed! This was planned before it was going to be this hot, but all the more reason to go to the BEACH!!!! Sun, Surf, and Sand here we come. Yay Summertime!

I have lot's of pictures to post from the last few days, but I am too lazy and will do it another day. So enjoy the summer sun and join us at the beach :p

Marathon Weekend

(no running involved :)

Hiking with Grandma and Grandpa Strong
Last Baseball Game

Dress rehearsal and lunch with friends

Beach after hiking
Trying not to get wet, yeah right!

Fun beach

Sit back and relax

Dance recital night with Morgan

Thanks for spending the weekend with us!!

We had such a fun weekend with Gma and Gpa Strong. Here's how it went: Saturday morning take Paige to dress rehearsal and Matt pick up the Grandparents. Get ready and go to Seth's last baseball game including waterballoon fight and pizza! Swim and then go to dinner at Cheesecake Factory, no surprise. Wow long day. Next day, go on the hike we took with the ward. The fog was still burning off so we didn't get the views of the islands, but it was still a beautiful day. Then we drove down to the coast and made the climb down to El Matador beach. Silly me, I thought we would just walk in the sand and get our feet wet. That is impossible with Seth. I was smart enough to bring a change of clothes. Get home and swim again. Shower and get ready for Paige's dance recital. Sit for 2 1/2 hours to watch Paige's recital. wow, they need to shorten those, and that was the 3rd one of the day. Way too many performing group dances. Well worth it to see Paige's 2 dances. She did awesome and had a great year taking hip hop with her friends! Next morning Paige went off to school but Seth wanted to spend some more time with Gma and Gpa before we took them to the airport. So we had a nice walk to McDonald's for breakfast. Wow what a weekend!!!

Growing Up Fast

I can't believe that my daughter is in 5th grade and finishing Elementary School. I stressed out for so many years about what I would do when she was close to going to Middle School. I would stop because I knew it was years away. Well, we are now weeks away from all of this coming to reality! She is so wonderful and really loves learning and especially reading. She has had such a great experience at school and all of her teachers have been the perfect match for her. We have been so lucky. This year has been the biggest change for her. She is very responsible with her work and always gets it done on time. In years past I have always had to sit and ask her and help her with her work. This year they have helped them to be very independent and organized to prepare for Middle School. I love it!

I am scanning all of her school pictures and fun school activity pictures onto my computer so that I can make her a digital


scrapbook of her Elementary career. I am excited for her to have this tangible memory of what a great experience school has been for her.

Great job Paige on making it to Middle School, well almost, 2 more weeks before it's official! You are the best and we love you so much.

Is it Tuesday?

Tuesday June 3rd, the day Indiana Jones Lego Wii game comes out, Oh happy day!! We have been waiting since December for this wonderful occasion, we meaning Seth! When asked a few months ago what vacation we wanted to take this Summer, Seth responded by telling us we couldn't go anywhere because "Indiana Jones Lego was coming out Summer 2008!" He figured that Summer 2008 meant the whole summer and he didn't want to miss it! We then explained that it would be one day this Summer and that even if we were in Utah, we would still buy it! He was relieved! I have been instructed to drop him off at school and go straight to the store to buy it. You know where Seth will be tomorrow after school! Hopefully it's as good as Lego Star Wars :)