Last Day of School

Both girls had such great school years complete with wonderful teachers! I love to compare their first day to last day pictures! 

It's amazing how much Jemma has grown up this year! Her teacher described her to me at conferences as very happy, kinda quiet and very social! Jemma is hard to read sometimes, but she definitely enjoyed being at school! Currently, Jemma loves the social/play aspect of school a lot more than the learning aspect! She's definitely not as eager of a learner as her big sister, but she is counting, identifying letters and working towards writing her name. Her coloring has improved tremendously, literally going from scribbling to staying in the lines overnight! 

Here is a little clip of Jemma's "Last Slide" on the last day of school!

Jemma with her teachers Ms. Carrie and Ms. Karen!

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To say that Jade loves school, would be an understatement! This girl was excited to go to school every single day, and was literally devastated on days she had to stay home sick! Jade's teacher Mrs. Gamboa described Jade to me as a leader and responsible. Jade was often selected to run papers and things down to the main office, because Mrs. Gamboa knew she would do what was asked, and come straight back! She also said she thought Jade could run the class in her absence. ;)

At the beginning of the year, Jade's daily journal consisted of mostly pictures rather than words. By the end of the year, her daily journal was filled with sentences. She loves math and doing story problems and is a whiz at counting! She has progressed so much in her reading abilities as well! She started out not being able to read at all, to now reading complete Dr. Seuss books among others! Her favorite extra is still Art!

There was no Kindergarten Graduation ceremony or anything like that, so I've just included some pictures from the end of the year theme days!

Field Day!

Super Hero Day!

Pajama Day!

Bring on Summer Vacation!!!

Jemma's First Ballet Recital

Jemma's ballet recital was definitely one of my favorite Jemma days, ever! She did such a good job up on that big stage! We couldn't have been more proud of her! After, we all headed to Culver's for lunch and ice cream!

Pretty girl before the recital!

Jemma is the second from the left! Photography wasn't technically allowed during the recital. I snuck this picture and snagged the video below from a friend! I of course did order the full recital DVD! ;)

So proud of this girl!

In addition to Nate and I, Jemma was spoiled to have her sister and both sets of grandparents there to watch her!!

Jade was such a sweet and supportive sister! Kept telling Jemma that she was the best one!!

My girl!

Mother's Day

Mother's Day festivities began a week early with a celebratory dinner at Weber Grill with Grammy, Grampy & GeeGee!

On Thursday I got to attend a Mother's Day Celebration at Jemma's school! First was Chapel time where we were given a Mother's Day blessing followed by singing! We then headed back to the classroom where each person in Jemma's class recited a page out of a book about moms! Lastly, Jemma's teacher read off some answers to the questions the kids were asked about their mom, and we had to try to figure out if it was us! I was confident in knowing it was Jemma's after Ms. Carrie read the one about where we like to go together! Here are her answers!

Jade came home with these goodies for me on Friday! I just love her answers! :)

On Sunday, the day started out with a dozen red roses from Nate and then church! After church we came home and I opened the gift from the girls! It was a blank canvas and some paints for us to make a family hand print tree! It turned out so cute! Sorry, don't have a picture of it handy! :(

April & May Catchup

Just wanted to share a few random pictures from April & May! So, hope you enjoy this super random photo dump! I'm noticing they are almost all of Jemma! We spend a lot of time together! ;)

A little sass before ballet class!

My little Ballerina!

Despite her face, Jemma was so excited to be the Star Student at school! She brought home that red bag and had to fill it with items and return it to school the next day to tell the class about!

Unexpected nice weather called for a park date with friends!

 

Jemma is a great companion for errands! I only have to bribe her with snacks sometimes! ;)

A spur of the moment day in CL with Grammy and Grampy and of course a visit to Nick's Pizza!

Cashing in on Jade's birthday gift card to Dairy Queen!

Trampoline fun!

Dinner and ice cream date at Chic-Fil-A with my favorites!

 

TJ Maxx and Park day!

A little Nate update! He was selected for the Cook County Sheriff's Law Enforcement Award of Merit! This is a pretty prestigious award that not many officers receive! We attended an award ceremony to celebrate his achievement! Great job, Nate!

Jade's Art Party

Jade loves all things Art these days, so she was 100% sure she wanted an Art themed birthday party this year! So, we had her kids party at the local Art Studio where she takes weekly classes!

Jade selected a Unicorn for the theme of their painting, so I just went Unicorn themed for the party!

Ms. Kim took the girls through a step by step process to draw their Unicorn!

Then she walked through various painting techniques!

All of the girls did such a great job with their drawings!

They loved using all their painting techniques, especially the "splatter" one! ;)

They were all so focused and enjoyed it!

Jade's almost finished painting!

After the girls were done cupcakes were served!

 I should have taken the group photo earlier on, the girls were quite silly towards the end of the party! 

They were all super excited for Jade to open their presents, and all huddled in close for each one!

Such a fun and special Birthday celebration for Jade! A big thanks to all her friends and especially Ms. Kim for hosting such a wonderful party!