Teen Living

Emma took a class in school called teen living. They covered all sorts of things that would come up in a teens life and even into adulthood. They talked about peer pressure, dating, babies and even had a mock wedding ceremony. She enjoyed the class and felt it was helpful for her. It helped her deal with the loss of her classmate and some of the other trials that a teen girl can have.

During the class they are given flour sack babies that they have to carry for a week. After that they received a mechanical baby for a weekend that cried, needed feeding, diapering, burping and rocking.

Emma really liked her flour sack.

Emma really hated her mechanical baby. It was so incredibly needy. Keep in mind that the teacher that programed these babies has never had children. She relied on Google to get her information on how a baby behaves. Do I sound judgmental? I should because I'm judging.

Paul had to help her feed it while she was getting ready for church. If we sat it down and let it cry it would be considered a missed need and it would effect her score.

I then got to burp it.

Emma went to church with wet hair but her baby was fed, burped and diapered.

Evil baby!

In 3 days it ate over 44 times (If I'm remembering correctly) Each feeding lasted 30 minutes and then required 20 minutes of burping. AFTER EACH AND EVERY FEEDING! It would need diaper changes constantly and cried off and on all throughout the night. Now I'm no expert but I did have two babies. This was out. of. control.

At the end of the weekend Emma was an emotional wreck. This is her late Sunday night, in tears and DONE. I think she was hoping I would say, "go sleep baby. I've got this." but that never happened.

She was so sleep deprived it wasn't even funny. Did I mention that all of this took place during finals week. Lovely! In the end she got an excellent score and has vowed to never have children.

Off to High School

Thursday May 30th was the last day of school. It was that morning that Emma decided for sure that she wasn't going to go to school. (They do a weird hour of school here where they don't take roll and most kids just go so they can meet up with friends and then loiter around town. It wasn't a big deal that she didn't go. It was a big deal that she decided so late that she wasn't going.) Had I known that she was skipping I would have taken her last day of school pictures the day before. But I didn't know. So I didn't take any pictures. And then she didn't go. And now I don't have any pictures of her last day of Junior High. I feel a little bitter about that. What I do have is a picture from the awards ceremony (that only a handful of moms went to. Oops) and some photos from her 9th grade Lagoon day that she took with her phone. Make do with what you've got!

Emma received a lot of awards. She received an academics award, attendance award, citizenship award all of which qualified her for the Viking on Board award (you need all three to be a Viking on Board) the gold scholar award for maintaining high honor roll all year, a certificate for winning Iron Chef with her team twice, skill certificates in both computer tech and foods plus she completed the 50 book challenge which got her another award. She worked really hard this year and had difficult classes. I was proud of her.

Lagoon Day!

I'm really proud of Emma and her dedication to her school work. She's so excited for next year but nervous too. I can't blame her. The high school is a big scary place!

That's it Folks- He's Outta There!

Say goodbye to elementary school! 

On the Left: First Day of School

On the Right: Last Day of School

The obvious differences are the braces and the long hair, otherwise he looks about the same. I do believe he grew at least an inch. Probably more. I can research that.

Even though Andrew graduated from grade school last Thursday he still had several more days of school. It wasn't easy getting him to go. He wanted to skip field day. He begged and pleaded with me. He told one sob story after another about how it was the worst day and that they didn't do anything so he didn't need to be there. My days alone were numbered so I made sure he went.

The dance festival was suppose to be held on Tuesday but due to rain it was cancelled and rescheduled to Wednesday. It was worth the wait. The 6th grade class had an awesome, yet difficult routine (choreographed by my friend Rees!) but they performed it well. I was really proud of Andrew. He's a pretty decent little dancer. 

Sorry about the awful photo but I had to snap this. It was his last day at the bus stop. I've been watching kids wait for the bus for the last nine years. That's all over. He will never ride a bus to or from school again. Milestone. Of course I had to photograph the event. Andrew's last bus ride. (except for field trips of course) 

Obviously I need to teach Andrew to never take his eyes off the camera LOL!

It's still hard to believe that we are finished with Halloween parades, class parties, buses, teacher appreciation etc etc etc. Elementary school has been great but I think we are ALL ready to move on.

6th Grade Graduation

Today Andrew graduated from 6th grade. Next year he goes into junior high. My oh my how time flies. I didn't cry at all until the slide show. They flashed a baby picture and then their current school picture. I can't believe how fast he grew up. He was 6 months old in his baby picture and just so so cute! Now he's a handsome young man. 

The graduation theme that the students selected was...mustaches. Say what? Mustaches? Yep! 

I have to admit I thought it was super lame BUT given what the team had to work with it turned out to be amazing! I was blown away by all the work these ladies did and the attention to detail. Everything was so cute! They had stache bags. They had mustache cookies that were delicious. They had props for fun photo ops. They had balloons. They had everything! 

Here are some pictures of the graduate.

 Andrew with one of his best buds.

These are all the kids from our ward/neighborhood.

The amazing Jordan with Andrew.

Jordan, Andrew and Parker. These three boys are THE best.

His teacher.

Another of his besties. 

Darling Beth who ALWAYS knows how to throw a party!

Beth and Jill (AKA Jordan's mom whom I ADORE)

I had to get in on this action.

This is Andrew with C. one of my college roommates daughters who now lives right near us. Small world. I seriously wouldn't be shocked if these two end up married LOL!

We had to get a picture with Mr. Hadley. He is so so so freaking awesome. The best high councilman ever. We miss not seeing him in our ward on Sundays. At lease Andrew got to see him everyday even if we didn't but now that's all coming to and end. So sad.

After graduation we were allowed to take the kids to lunch. Andrew asked for jDawgs.

Jordan and Parker met us there. I seriously love them.

   Some of the silly signs inside of JDawgs.

 After lunch we took Andrew back to school for a dance. I couldn't help myself, I needed some more pictures. It was so crowded immediately following the graduation I couldn't get to the props. This was my chance. Two of Andrew's classmates were there and they were more than happy to help dress him up and get in on the action.

Congratulations buddy. We're proud of you!!!