Science Night

With Diana working at the elementary school, she sometimes gets roped in to helping out with some of the different activities. Well, this is one she actually volunteered for! Science Night at school has been something we have participated in since Ledger was in first grade. It's always been a fun event that he loved. The school goes all out- they have different STEM type activities in a bunch of the different classrooms, things like popsicle stick bridges and making their own slime.

This was always a highlight for Ledger, he loved to dig in and make stuff, especially if it was messy! The best part, the thing we would spend the week before Science Night building, was the good ol' egg drop. The principle would get up on the scissor lift in the gym and drop the students' creations from 25 feet and see if the egg survived. They still do it and all the kids totally love it!

This year Diana got to help out at one of the activity tables, helping the kids build shapes and towers out of straws and connectors. Ledge and I stopped by for part of the time and got to see her doing her thing with all the different kids, each of them so excited to see Miss Diana and introduce her to their parents! It was a lot of work for her, but to see the sparkle in the kids' eyes made it all worth it for her!

Handprint: 8th Grade

It's that time again, time for the annual tradition of making a handprint on the ol' board. Each year we have Ledger put his hand in a bunch of paint and put down his latest hand size onto the board at the start of each school year. We have been doing it since his preschool year and continue the tradition now that he's going into 8th grade. He used to turn it into an opportunity to get paint all over his body and go crazy with the chosen color each year. Now a days, he gets annoyed that we want to pull him away from his friends and tablet to do the old tradition.

He can complain all he wants, but we are still going to do it! This year he chose pink as his handprint color. He dipped his hand in the plate of paint and made his latest print. It's really fun to see how much bigger his hand is now than it was back when he was 4- year little boy- it keeps getting bigger and bigger, just like him!

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8th Grade: 1st Day

Summer has come to an end and our boy has to go back to school. Things are a little different though, this time he's the top dog! He hasn't been on top since he was a 5th grader ruling the roost in elementary school. Now he's the big guy on campus again as a big ol' eighth grader! This year we kinda gave up on trying to slowly ease him back into an early wake up and early to bed. It never works anyway, so we just figured he'll have a bleary-eyed first day and his schedule will adjust pretty quickly from here!

With me working 3rd shift, I get home from work just in time to get him up and ready in the morning. When I got home it was a bit of a struggle to rouse him out of bed, but eventually he emerged from his room and started getting ready. We are back to the daily waffle breakfast. Always dedicated to a bit, he wore the same shirt again for his first day of school. The Snoopy shirt asking 'Is It Christmas Yet?'. He wore it the last day of school last year too! On the way to school we talked a little bit about the gravity of the situation and he shared that he wasn't nervous at all this year, but felt pretty good about it all. He was mostly pumped to see his friends every day again. Oh, and how tired he was...

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School Open House

Each year the school has an open house for all the students a few days before the new school year is going to start. A chance to meet any new teachers and figure out their new schedule. I took Ledger this year and we mapped out what his 8th grade was going to look like for him. We met all the new teachers, including a foreign language- French! We found his locker for this year and tried the combination, which was quite a bit easier than it was back in 6th grade, and met up with a few friends he hadn't seen since last school year. He was happy with all the changes and all the new teachers. I guess we are ready for the new year!

Last Day of 7th

It's finally the end of Ledger's school year. He was pumped to finally put his 7th grade year behind him. Not that anything was bad about it, he's just really looking forward to summer break! As has become his little tradition, Ledger picked out his 'Is It Christmas Yet?' Snoopy shirt for his last day. He got a lot of funny looks and laughs wearing it last year, so he figured he'd go back to that well...

On the last day, his school had their achievement awards for the kids. Diana and I came to watch the ceremony and cheer him on has he was awarded the highest academic achievement award they have- way to go, Ledge! Afterwards, Diana went in to her work and I headed home for a quick nap.

Also, a part of our tradition is that I go pick him up from school on his last day and walk home with him. Since Diana started working at the elementary school, our walk home includes a stop at her school and saying hi.

When we got home, we both realized that we were pretty hungry, so we went out to eat as a celebration of the end of the year and start of summer- finally!

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A Song in His Heart

Fa la la! It's time for the annual Christmas concert with the ol' middle school. When first entering sixth grade, Ledger wanted to be in band. After trying out a couple instruments and realizing the amount of practice he would have to commit to, he quickly changed his mind and settled on Choir instead. We have been very happy with that decision ever since. For us it means we don't have to suffer through him practicing an instrument either, and also it means that our house is often filled with singing from a beautiful little boy's voice! Though he may not exactly like all the songs his Choir teacher picks, he is still using his voice and getting very good too! I was never a very good singer, once puberty hit anyway, but Ledge has continued to use and develop his voice- and it shows! Diana and I always look at each other with delight when we hear him singing any old random song from the other room- we just love to hear him!

As usual, we invited Mema and Papa to join us in listening to the middle school choir concert. It was surprisingly good- in fact, the choir teacher herself talked about how this has been one of the best classes she has ever had! The nice thing about that is she challenged them with some of the more interesting Christmas music. So we got to hear quite a few unusual and impressive songs during the show! Though our boy didn't have a solo, Diana swears that there were a few times that she could hear him individually. Afterward, all four of us got to heap praises on him, which he liked of course,

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First Day

He enjoyed it last year, so let's try it again! Now our little boy is in 7th grade and ready to do it all over again. Sure, he isn't really ready for summer to end, but on the other hand, he's ready to be social with friends again.

We didn't do so good with getting ready for the schedule change. At the end of every summer, Diana and I always say that we are going to have him go to bed a little earlier each day so he will be ready for the early mornings at school, and once again, we totally failed... He was up until 11:00 the night before. Oh well, change is coming whether he's ready or not!

He thought it would be funny to wear his 'Is it Christmas yet?' shirt for the first day. Definitely has his father's sense of humor... 

Usually, he's a bit extervous on his first day (it's a word he made up years ago: nervous and excited all at the same time. Very clever!), but he was totally chill this morning. Last year he wasn't sure what to expect, being his first year in Middle School, but this year it's old news since he's a big bad seventh grader now.

Got him ready, did our obligatory first day pictures, and then it's off to start a new year! Good luck, Ledger!

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7th Grade Handprint

The tradition continues! Every year since Ledger first started Preschool, we have gone to the craft store, picked out a new pain color, and put his hand print on the board. This year he picked out teal.

We keep the board downstairs, tucked away in the basement, only to be taken out the day before school starts. We put some paint on a plate, stick his hand in it, and make a new print each year. This is his ninth print. It's pretty cool to see his hand getting bigger and bigger each year. He's definitely getting more mature because he only puts the paint on the board now instead of all over himself!

The best part of the board is that we measure how tall he is on the back of it. It's really cool to see how much taller he gets each year. Usually its just a couple inches, but there have been some years where it's pretty dramatic how much taller he's gotten! Pretty soon he will be taller than his mother- he's already taller than his grandma!

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7th Grade Intro

Unfortunately for Ledger, the summer is almost over. With only a few days of freedom left, the impending return to school was almost upon him. We went to the middle school open house to see what classes he was going to be in for this, his 7th grade year.

As usual, we had huge problems with getting his locker open. Last year was the first time he ever had a locker with a combination, so he really struggled with figuring it out, opting to just keep his backpack with him all day for the first week or two of school just so he wouldn't have to try to open it! Over the course of the year he got really good at it and it was no longer a problem at all, until now. This year he knew how to do the combination thing, but the little nob that he needs to turn to get the door open was stripped bare and for the life of us, we couldn't get it to turn! Argh! Well, we'll get that figured out later, but first we need to walk around to his classes and meet his new teachers. 

Ledge was actually looking forward to it. He doesn't hate school at all, and was kind of getting bored the past couple weeks, ready to go back and see all his friends. Some of them were there tonight and he got to talk with them and start planning the fun they would have this year. After meeting some of his teachers and talking with friends, I think he's ready for 7th grade to start.

Last Day of 6th Grade

He's gotten so big! Our beloved child has now finished his first year in middle school- what?!? How did time pass so quickly?!? I used to teach middle school- how could I have a child old enough to attend?!? Witchcraft, I tells ya! But here he is, on his last day of 6th grade! He's so big! I'm kind of having a hard time dealing with him being so old, can you tell?

Anyway, he was really excited for his last day. He took my advice and wore the shirt that would be the funniest: a Snoopy shirt that said 'Is it Christmas yet?'. It was a lot of parties and goodbyes, which he loved! I don't usually pick him up from school, but with it being his last day I made an exception. When I picked him up I asked him if he wanted to go see Mama at work, and he was totally up for it! So we walked over to West Ward and wandered over to see Diana. She was so excited to see us! We had the opportunity to spent a little time with her as she wrangled the kids and got them to their parents on the last day. Finally we headed home with her and got to enjoy the final day of school and get excited about the first day of summer!

School Awards

A special day here in Ledgertown. He's finally being recognized for all his work at school! Diana and I made a special effort to attend the middle school presentation of the award show to recognize the great work that the students have accomplished this year.

So many students came up to accept awards, many of whom Diana recognized from her work in the elementary school over the past year or two.

We were delighted when our beloved boy was called and walked up to receive his much deserved award for getting 'A' grades all year! We were so proud! What an accomplishment! well done, little buddy, keep up the good work! He seemed pretty delighted too!

Choir Concert

 With the end of the school year fast approaching, Ledger got to put on a show! He is taking the Choir track in Middle School. He enjoys singing, so it was a better option that band or gym classes. Being in choir brings with it the twice-a-year commitment of performing in the choir concerts!

He's got a nice voice and likes to sing, but he's not much of a fan of choir class. Mostly he just gets annoyed that they keep singing the same songs over and over again! Well buddy, you've got to be able to perform them well for the concert! 

This spring performance had an oceanic theme, including a song from Moana! Now we're talking! As usual, he did a great job and was pretty proud of how it went after the show. We were pretty proud too, Ledge- great singing!

Snow Day

Now that I'm working night shift, I have the responsibility of getting the boy up and ready for school. I get home about the time he needs to get up. It works really well and lets Diana sleep in a little bit until she needs to get up for work. This winter though, we have had a few snow days so that means I don't have to wake him up at all and I can climb into bed early!

This particular morning I got the alert that school was cancelled which puts Ledger in a good mood because he doesn't have to go, and it puts Diana in a good mood because she doesn't have to go to work! This will probably be the last snow day of the year, so I figured we aught to take advantage of it. I quietly slipped into our bedroom and gently woke up Diana. Informed her that she had the day off and asked her if she would, instead, like to go out for breakfast. She was up now, excited for the free day, so she said yes. I woke up the boy and told him that we were going to go for breakfast and he was just as delighted! We all got ready and went to Village Inn restaurant. We got there and sat down, delighted by the unusual start to our day. We got our food and laughed and talked when suddenly Ledger piped up and said 'Oh no, I forgot my backpack!' Diana and I were stunned and then started laughing- Ledge didn't realize that school was cancelled and thought he had to go to class after breakfast! When we finally broke the news he was shocked and so happy!

Afterward we headed back home and had ourselves a delightfully lazy day together. Who doesn't love a good snow day, right?

Choir Concert

At the start of the school year Ledger had to make an important decision: did he want to do band or choir? After a couple failed attempts at trying an instrument, he settled on choir. When that choice was made, I knew what it meant: we would be going to choir concerts! Tonight was his first public performance in the choir. I, for one, was excited! I thought choir was a good fit for Ledge, he's always singing at home, so it felt like a good outlet for him to use and develop his lovely voice! He, unlike his father, has a good singing voice and can actually keep a beat! Thankfully, he took after his mother on that one...

We invited Mema and Papa to join us for the Christmas concert at the Allegan high school auditorium. I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised with the variety and quality of the singing! There were unusual songs, funny songs, a Christmas classic or two, as well as some well sung solos. Ledger sang a few of them, and really got into it! One of the songs they sang was 'My Favorite Things' from The Sound of Music. A month or so ago, when Ledger first came home and told us that they were singing this song, he was really annoyed about it. He thought the song was dumb and lame. As they continued to practice it and work on it, he totally came around, and by the time it was concert day, he absolutely loved the song! It was so fun to see him up on stage getting into it, bopping along with the song and having a grand ol time up there!

After the concert, Mema and Papa got to congratulate him on a job well done. He was proud of his performance, with good reason- he did such a great job!

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6th Grade Handprint

Better late than never, right? Usually Ledger makes a hand print on his board before the first day of school, but this year we weren't on top of it and finally went to buy a new paint color a week after the school year started. And now finally we actually brought the board up to put the print on it!

Our boy is definitely growing up because he didn't want to get messy this year. In years past, pulling out the paint and letting him put his hand in it was an invitation to make a huge mess (which always annoyed Diana...). After putting his hand in it he used to then put paint on his face, arms, chest, etc. and run around laughing until we finally threw him in the bath (which then left a huge colored ring on the tub. Hmmm, maybe that's why Diana always hated it?). This year he just wanted to do the handprint and wash it off. This year he picked dark blue as his color. After the handprint, we stood the board up and did our annual measuring of how tall he is now. It's fun to see all the previous heights and see just how big he's gotten. He's grown about two inches a year for the past three or four years- wow!

First Day Dinner

Knowing full well that it was going to be a stressful day for Ledger, we had planned to get a special celebration meal for dinner after his first day of school. It being a big day for Diana too made it all the better. It's a good thing we planned on something special because Ledger needed it. Diana and I walked the the middle school to pick Ledger up at the end of his day and when he came out it was pretty clear that things did not go very well... He was not happy at all. He didn't really want to talk about it, so I handed him his scooter and he took off as fast as he could toward home. Oh well. Diana and I watched him scoot off into the distance and just enjoyed our own little walk home. When we got there Ledger was a little more open to talk about the day. He was happy to see all his friends and meet a bunch of new ones, but he was so mad about his locker! He shared his frustration about having to try and open the lock on the locker and how he failed time after time. Poor kid, those twist combination locks can be really tricky! We assured him that he would quickly figure it out and by this time next week he would have gotten so used to it that he would be able to do it without even thinking about it. He was skeptical... Fortunately we got to finish the day off with some delicious pizza and pasta from the Hut, which made everyone a little bit happier! 

First Day of 6th

The start of the summer was a hard one. Both Diana and Ledger struggled with saying goodbye to elementary school. Closing a chapter in his life was a challenge. The reality that he no was no longer an elementary school student was weird and he didn't like the prospects of summer without all his friends. Sure, he quickly got over it and loved the freedom of summer, so it wasn't that big of an issue. But now, here he is, ready to start the next chapter as a middle schooler. Yikes- he's getting so big! 

We all three woke up together and got him ready. It had been a while since he was up and at 'em for breakfast! I got those good ol' waffles ready and he played a little bit on his tablet as time drew closer. He got his clothes on for the day and, of course, I had him go outside the front door for the annual 'first day' pictures. Once he was ready, we hopped in the car to bring him to school. 

We had gone to the school's open house last week to get him familiar with the place, but it was such a maze that we left more confused than when we arrived! But at least Ledger got to see his locker, walk through his schedule, and see his classrooms (and friends). We pulled up to the school, making sure we were nice and early so he could talk with all his friends and everything before class started. He walked to the door, ready to start his big 6th grade adventure, making sure to look back and wave at his loving parents before going in the front door as a middle schooler.

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Back to School Shopping

We knew Ledger would need a bunch of new clothes and stuff for the upcoming school year, we decided to get ahead of it and start the school shopping early.  We made the plan to go shopping in Holland, so we headed up there. Whenever we go out shopping, Diana and Ledger's favorite part is usually the part where we go out to eat! We were driving by Russ', which caught Ledger's eye, and he got really excited about going there for lunch on our way to shopping. I honestly have no idea why Ledger likes that place so much... For those who don't know about Russ', It's a local chain that's really popular with Dutch people over the age of 70. And Ledger, apparently. 

It was always my grandma's favorite restaurant, but she always pronounced the name wrong. The place is called Russ'. Please note the apostrophe, there by stating that the name is supposed to mean that someone named Russ is the owner and it belongs to him. When speaking, it correctly would be pronounced 'Russes', so show ownership. My grandma didn't seem to understand that and would always call it 'Russ'. She would say 'Lets go eat at Russ'. This delighted me to no end!

Anyway, after a delicious meal, we made our way to a couple stores and got the boy a bunch of shirts, shorts, and pants. We just need one more trip out this summer to get notebooks, folders, etc. and we will be done with his back to school shopping!

Last Day Picnic

It's finally here- 6 years in the making. The last day of Ledger's elementary school career! He's pretty pumped to be done with school this year, but he's also a little sad. It's been a good year for Ledger and his class as the biggest kids at the school. He got to do some extra curricular things, he got to do safety patrol, go on a bunch of fun class trips, and even have his mom as the lunch room and recess helper! Though there were a bunch of fun things, there is also the sad realization that this is the end of something important. He's been excited for the year to be over, but leaving West Ward for the last time was hard for him.

Fortunately, they had one last blowout! Every year the school has a half day picnic on it's last day. All the parents and families are invited to come and join the students for lunch. In years past, all the parents were invited to bring food for their kids and eat out on the lawn. This year the school had Pizza Hut host the event and we could buy personal pizzas and drinks for cheap. They were the perfect size, and it took away the hassle of trying to find something ourselves. After eating, all the kids were invited to play a game of kickball against the teachers. That only lasted about 15 minutes before it broke down into just a chaotic mess of kids running around. Eventually, the teachers gave up on trying to wrangle everyone and dismissed the kids to head home for the year.

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Elementary Graduate

Its a pretty big day: our son graduated from elementary school! He's still got one more day of actual school, but the ceremony is tonight. There's a bunch of different stuff rolled into the ceremony tonight, including a song from the fifth graders and awards given out recognizing each student's strengths. We all dressed up a little bit for the celebration (not too fancy though, I'm still wearing my sandals). We got there and found seats near the front and Ledger went over to the student section and found his assigned seat.

The whole thing started with a video of pictures from their years there, even some super cute photos from kindergarten and first grade! Next, the kids came up and filled the risers so they could sing the song they had been practicing in choir. It was really cute and Diana certainly shed a tear or two. Next, the fifth grade teachers came up and called out each of the students to recognize them for a special aspect of who they are. Ledger, not surprisingly, was given the 'Art Super Star' award! Next, each child was called to receive their certificate of graduation from fifth grade. When Ledge got his we cheered loudly!

He's pumped to be done with elementary school, but the prospect of going to a different school next year for middle school is a little bit scary to him. He'll be fine- he's got so many friends and buddies that he's not going to have any problems at all next year. He is the funny kid, after all, and everyone likes the funny kid!

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