End of the year Awards

The kids all finished off the year with some great awards. Mom and Dad got to attend several award ceremonies to honor these fantastic kids.

Trevor earned his Block R Award for the 2nd year in a row. To earn this award he had to be involved with a bunch of extra-curricular activities while maintaining good grades. He soared in his academics this year! He earned High Honor Roll all 4 quarters! That is a HUGE accomplishment for our boy!

Logan had a great year in athletics. His coaches were so impressed with him after each season for being consistent as one of the top performing athletes on his team. He was awarded with the Outstanding Runner trophy at the sports awards ceremony. Way to go Logan!

Lizzie had a great year in first grade. In fact, she liked it so much that she never missed a day! We were all so surprised to learn that she had earned Perfect Attendance for ALL 4 QUARTERS. Wow! Good Job Lizzie!

Lizzie takes 2nd Place

Lizzie's class participated in an art contest this past fall 2010. They each painted a patriotic scene with only 3 colors - red, black, and blue. Lizzie was selected out of the several hundred participants as a winner! She took second place in her grade level out of the entire school district.

The Veteran's Association in our area put on a fancy dinner/reception to honor the winners. We got all dressed up and headed over to the Veteran's Memorial Building (the same place where Jordan and Stephanie had their wedding and reception!) for a special evening.

Here's Lizzie receiving her award. She wanted to do it just right. Some of the other kids saluted back to the uniformed person giving them the award. Lizzie was quite determined to look like she knew what she was doing up there.

It was a proud moment for her standing up there on the stage. All eyes were on her and she knew it!

Lizzie's awesome teacher was there to see her get her award.

And here's the proud girl with her new medal. Check out all that personalized engraving. WOW. What a great thing for our girl.

It was a special night to honor our special, artistic (who knew?!), talented girl. Her award winning artwork now hangs contently in our home.

2011 DI Regional Awards Ceremony

Here are some pictures of the teams just after they finished their Main Challenges. They were riding so high! Both teams knew they'd done so well in their performances. We knew their positive vibes and enthusiastic mood would be impossible to capture in a photo, but we thought we'd try anyway.

THE SUPER SMART ALAKAZOO AIRHEAD OF DOOM: serious first then a little silliness

THE SEVEN DI WARFS: serious with a side of silly

I don't know about you, but I think I prefer the silly pictures!

Fast forward to the awards ceremony...

Trevor's event was announced first. Now remember, these guys took first place at Regionals and State last year - they went to Tennessee to compete at Globals! AND our elementary school kids were up against all middle school teams because they are in 6th grade. They announced 6th place. 5th place. And a 4th place tie - The Super Smart Alakazoo Airheads of Doom and some other team tied for 4th. The team was shocked. It was the most difficult moment to watch them stand and get their applause knowing that their DI adventure was finished for this year.

Logan's team had the opposite experience. They placed first in their event! FIRST! They were so happy! It was an amazing overwhelming moment - so much so that Aubry started crying because she was so happy! These guys were stoked to wear their fancy new medals AND got to walk away knowing that they'd be moving on to compete at State in April. After seeing the scores the next day we found out that they'd scored highest in their IC and highest in their Main Challenge. Their structure held the most weight and their performance was top notch.

Are they looking proud or what?! It really was an AWESOME moment.

This picture is so out of focus, but it really captures the moment. It was surreal and joyful - do those coaches look happy or what?

This awards ceremony was a most challenging experience as a parent. To watch the older team feel like they lost the competition. Which, of course they did not lose. They took 4th out of 12 Jr. High teams! That is an amazing accomplishment. No matter how many times we try to convince them that they did so well, it still does not give them that 3rd place they were after. And in almost the next moment we had to be enthused and excited for the other child that took 1st place. Talk about a strained moment. We didn't want to rub it in the older team's faces, but we also didn't want to diminish the younger kids' win. Boy, it was rough.

We are so proud of both teams bringing their best to their performances and placing so well in their events.

Logan wins AGAIN!!

The Fall Sports Awards Assembly was Tuesday, November 9th. Logan was honored like no other! His name was mentioned at least 6 times throughout the presentation. He was the first Cross Country athlete to be given an award - and boy, was it a good one! He received MVP for his team. What an honor! His coach had so many nice things to say about our boy. She even pressured him to continue running next year. (We'll see what Logan decides to pursue next year - football or cross country? Both are equally pulling at him...)

Here's Logan with his MVP trophy. Wow! He was so thrilled!! The coaches made up these cool t-shirts for all the kids that were selected to go to District Championships. Logan was so excited about the shirt that he put it on right away.

Logan was lucky to have such great coaches. They were so kind and supportive of all the runners out there. One of the coaches was Logan's kindergarten teacher - those kindergarten teachers are amazing people to begin with. :)

That is officially the end of the Fall Sports Season for Logan. He has begun his winter season wrestling practices and is enjoying learning something new. Soon, he will be out there in his fancy singlet taking down other kids on those wrestling mats.

Trevor's End of the Year Awards

Trevor has had a great year. He achieved so much as a 5th grader. Here are some of his great accomplishments this year:

Undefeated Varsity Football Team

1st Place in Science Fair

1st Place at D.I. Regional Finals

1st Place at D.I. State Finals

Tennessee Trip to compete at D.I.Globals

Add all of those accomplishments to his academic endeavors and you have one very well rounded boy. Trevor finished the year with a bang. He received his Block R award for keeping good grades and for participating in so many extra curricular activities. He was recognized in front of the whole school at a fancy schmancy program as his teacher said lots of nice things about him:

It took a LOT of work to earn this award. He had to maintain an above B average for his grades while he participated in, choir, band, D.I., cub scouts, the drama production, science fair, football, volleyball, giving service at school, and in qualifying as a character counts citizenship student at school. I'm telling you, this boy was BUSY this year!

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The final academic awards ceremony of the year happened this week. Trevor was honored 3 times!! His first award was for High Honor Roll. This accomplishment alone, has so much value. Trevor has finally learned how to get good grades. He was self motivated this year more than any other year before. He was so good about getting his homework done all by himself and being responsible for any and all class assignments. This attitude is a far cry for where we were just a year ago - every afternoon, at the table, both of us pulling our hair out from homework frustration, and after all that still not getting the best grades. And now here he is. All grown up. Being responsible for himself and his grades. Boy, what a difference when he cares!

This final video is of Trevor's 2nd award - receiving his medal for reading. The library gives out awards at the end of the year to all the readers that go above and beyond what is required of them. Trevor was the 3rd highest reader in his class. The reading program is called AR (Accelerated Reader) and students accrue points as they take tests on the computer after reading each book. Trevor earned many of his points from reading the Harry Potter books this year. He was on fire with reading!

Trevor' 3rd award was for perfect attendance for the entire year! This boy didn't miss one day of school! WOW. I don't know how he does it, but this kid never gets sick.

We are so proud of Trevor for putting himself out there and trying new things. 5th grade was a great year!

Logan is Student of the Quarter!

Logan works so hard in school. He tries his best every day and loves to please his teacher. All his hard work hasn't gone unnoticed. He was chosen by his teacher to be Student of the Quarter in his class.

That good attitude doesn't exist only in the classroom. He is great at home too! He is always eager to get his homework done (that means more playtime, of course) and most of the time does his work without complaining. He is a great example to his siblings and encourages them to work quickly too.

Logan got another award on this day too. It's hard to see, but look at what he's holding in his right hand. It's a small charm in the shape of a brain! He attended the Chess Club and all the members got this super cool/rare charm for being a part of it. So cool!

We are so proud of you for trying your best every day at school. We love you and know you can achieve great things by working hard giving it your best shot. Way to go Logan!

"What time is it? Sum-mah time!"

I loved Rebecca's post about their last day of school so I thought it would be fun to do the same and take some pictures of the boys before they headed out the door this morning. These boys were so excited for the last day of school today. Can you see the excitement flowing through their faces? That semi-tanned skin, the wrinkled shirt, the lazy grins - they are in summer mode already. Awesome.

Note the hair-dos here... no spikes, no nervous half smiles. So much less pressure from the first day of school. Who knows if they even brushed their teeth before they left...

Here was Trevor's face when I showed him the two GINORMOUS gift bags full of cute teacher gifts he was going to have to carry all the way down the street, to the bus, and onto campus in front of all his friends.... oh, the humiliation! I could hear his mind screaming at me, "Mom, ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!"

And here are the gifts I made yesterday (thank you again to Rebecca for this idea - although I think hers turned out cuter than mine):

It's been a great year. The boys got lots of support from their teachers and finished out great. The awards assembly was last week and both boys got 2 awards. Both got perfect attendance for the 4th quarter - without even trying! Logan got the highest Physical Fitness Award/golden medal. And Trevor received High Honor Roll for the first time ever!

We are proud of you boys for trying hard and always doing your best. We're going to have a great summer!

WOO HOO! Last day of school! Bye-bye 2nd grade! So long 4th grade!

The Award

Jeremy worked his buns off this year putting together his school's application for the California Distinguished School Award. He didn't do all of it on his own - there were many others on the staff that also helped with the paperwork. There were many late nights and lots of energy put towards this application.

Here are some interesting tidbits about this award if you've never heard of it before (I took this info from the award website - click HERE to read more about it: "The program identifies and honors many of the state's exemplary and inspiring public schools with the California Distinguished School Award. Although participation is voluntary, the award is highly sought after by schools in all regions of the state. Approximately five percent of California's public schools are selected each year."

The California Distinguished School representatives always make a visit to the school to check things out and see if the school really does all the things their application says it does. The staff all came together and put together an awesome display of student work samples. They cleaned out the library and the entire room became a display area for project after project. The representatives were totally impressed with this excellent display.




The Vice Principal also organized a lovely catered luncheon and spiffed up the staff lunchroom for the occasion.

We didn't get any pictures of the outside grounds, but the custodial team did a great job prepping the aesthetic curb appeal of the school as well. They spent many hours planting flowers and scrubbing that school until it sparkled and shined.

The California Distinguished School team was impressed by all the efforts made to make their visit so comfortable. Two days later Jeremy got the phone call that, yes, they officially received the award. Woo!

Here they are at the awards ceremony in Anaheim. The first picture is of several staff members, Jeremy, and the superintendent of Fresno Schools. The second picture is Jeremy posing with the Fresno Unified Superintendent and the State of California Superintendent.


Good job to Jeremy and his staff for all their hard work.

Student of the Quarter

Logan is an excellent student. He loves to please the teacher. He tries so hard to be obedient and follow all rules and instructions. It seems that his teacher notices all his efforts as well. We are so proud of our Logie Man for always trying his best. Way to go Logan! We love you.

These boys are big time

Trevor and Logan both received certificates at their end-of-the-year awards ceremony this year.

Logan earned writer of the month for May. His teacher says he is so creative and has such great content in his stories when he writes.

Trevor received Honor Roll for the first time ever, I think. He worked so hard this last quarter (due mostly to the incentives laid out by Jeremy) to get all A's and B's.

The most rewarding part of this whole award ceremony is the looks on the boys' faces. They know they've accomplished something great and they are proud of themselves. We are so proud of both of our school boys. They try hard and do their best. What a great way to end the year. Way to go boys!

And were back...

We have taken a bit of a vacation from the blog world, but we did get some good pictures of Jackson in his urban sombrero (Seinfeld anyone?) and are now happy to be back.

Allow me to catch you up to speed.

The month started off nice with Trevor receiving a couple of awards at his school. We were so proud! Trev hates being made the center of attention of course, so it was quite enjoyable to watch him squirm with awkward delight on the stage in front of the other students and parents.

My parents gave Jennifer and I an early anniversary present by taking all the kids minus Jackson over one of the three day president holidays on a trip all over the state of California. They spent time at cousin Ryan's b-day party in Orange County, stopped off at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library near Santa Barbara,

and visited Kelly and Julio in San Luis Obispo.

Trevor and Logan really liked the library as they were able to walk through the old Air Force One and see some other cool things as well.

If you ask Lizzie, she just really liked staying at the different hotels and going swimming.

Lizzie loves the hotels above anything else when ever we make a trip. In fact, she loves them so much that she begins to cry and say, "I want to stay at the hotel" each time we are pulling back onto our street from a trip. I'm not sure what that means, but it probably isn't good. Anyhow, they had a great time.

Jennifer and I really enjoyed the quiet home for the weekend. We went out to eat for almost every meal, went shopping (my favorite) and saw lots of movies. All of the families went out of town around the complex leaving the place very quiet. On Sunday afternoon, Jackson slept while Jennifer was visiting teaching, leaving just me. After living next door to 9 other cousins, aunts & uncles and 2 grandparents, it was eerily serene. I am sad to say that it was almost uncomfortable. Poor Jackson was so bored from just hanging out with mom and dad all weekend that on Sunday night we found him laying on the ground staring at the ceiling. I think he was more excited then Jennifer and I to see the rest of the kids return home.

We also spent three of the weekends in February putting together a new playhouse.

With thirteen cousins between the three houses and lotsa friends always over, the play equipment (the trampoline being the foremost) gets lots of use.

About two years seems to be all we can get out of any trampoline or playhouse.

Now I know it doesn't look like much, but that thing was a major pain in the butt to put together. Three Weekends! By the time it was done, Matt and I both agreed that where it sits is where it stays cause were not going through that again. Anyone else have a similar experience?

Anyhow, it was time for a new playhouse and tramp. The last trampoline broke a couple of months ago (I think Robb was jumping on it, need I say more...). Since then, the kids and moms, were at a loss as what to do that is fun (and what to do to get the kids to play outside). That was all remedied a couple of weeks ago when Matt and I stayed up late one Monday night putting the new one together. The kids were so excited that we let them stay up late to jump on it for a few minutes. It is nice to have both mini projects done.

We also took advantage of one of our Monday's off to hit the snow. Rainfall has been good this year in the valley and thus the mountain tops are capped with snow.

The Minnicks invited us to come along with them to a snow park near Shaver and we could not have asked for a better day, sunny and warm.

We left fairly early in the morning allowing us to have some good time in the snow, eat some good chilidogs with hot chocolate and then return home fairly early in the day. Logan loved the hills with his board.

Trevor enjoyed the fort building and snow ball fighting with some new friends.

Lizzie, well Lizzie just wanted to eat.

"Little monster" Jackson enjoyed being held the ENTIRE time we were there.