We wrapped up an awesome school year! Chase finished up 7th grade- first year of jr. high. 7th grade is just notoriously hard, and it had its hard moments for Chase, but also he learned so much and did so well. He learned a lot, made some new friends, learned to balance 8 classes and different teachers schedules and expectations. He's grown up so much and I'm so proud of him!
Chase played a great baseball season! His team lost almost every game, but he kept his spirits up and was a great cheerleader for his teammates. He also got a bunch of great hits and scored a lot of points. He even got a home run on a game that his grandparents were all there to watch as well! His team won the first round of the playoffs in a truly incredible game. They learned to play really well together over the course of the season and it was fun to see them come together like that. They lost in the 2nd round, but still felt really good about their playing. Chase played mostly 2nd base, which is his favorite position. We had the whole team over the following weekend for a backyard campfire and it was so cute to see the boys put together a little backyard baseball game and include Davis and Hudson in it.
This was the boys leaving for field day! I always loved field day and they were so excited about it! Also- this jazz jersey Davis is wearing. He wore it a lot in April because they were supposed to wear purple every Friday to support children of military members. It was the only purple thing I could find for him. One day I went in to school to volunteer on my usual Wednesday and was chatting with Davis's awesome teacher before school. When Davis came in with the rest of the kids and took off his hoodie, I noticed he had ONLY the jersey on, no shirt under. That little stinker pulled a switch on me! He was super proud of himself! I asked his teacher if I needed to run home for another shirt for him (tank tops are technically against the dress code). She laughed and told me no, and that in fact on days he came to school wearing it with a shirt under he usually did go to the bathroom at some point in the morning and removed the shirt under. She just laughed a let it slide. Davis is such a funny kid and definitely my most mischievous.
Davis finished up another soccer season! This kid has a lot of energy and no fear! He loved playing goalie and the other positions (which at this age just means running around in a clump on the field).
Hudson and Davis got to do the Track and Field club at school. It was Fridays after school and they had a blast. Hudson was pretty silly doing it and loved to make the younger kids laugh.
I took Lila and Hudson to see Nora perform in a kids production of Frozen. Lila was completely enthralled!
How I found her one day at the end of her quiet time. She usually plays so sweetly in her room for 2 hours, she's not supposed to come out of her room or she loses the chance to do iPad time after. She's being so obedient here!
Chase had his piano recital and I took no pictures! But he did amazing! He learned Clair de Lune and it was gorgeous. In the 2 months leading up to the recital I got to sit and listen to him practice this beautiful, peaceful song at 6 am every day!
One day I came down to him practicing like this. Lila was up early and being ornery and wouldn't let Chase open the blinds or turn on a light. I found him practicing like this- phone light on, held in his mouth and pointed at his music while he serenaded her!
I got to chaperone Davis's field trip to the Treehouse museum! It was a darling field trip and he was so excited about everything. I had a group of five kids to keep track of, which was a little crazy as they were all over the place, and Davis was by far the craziest in the group. It was such a fun day though!
This is Lila, hiding behind a chair, in her attempt to not be taken to Papa Ray's for their regular Wednesday babysitting while I go help at the school. They've been doing this for three years and she still threw a fit every single week through the bitter end.
The Layton Temple opened! We got to attend the open house one night as a family and it was truly an awesome experience. I loved showing it to the kids and can't wait to be inside with them all some day!
Lila loved coming to school pick up. She'd bring her "big girls" and play with them in the car for the 5-10 minutes we'd wait for the boys.
I put together gift baskets for the boys teachers this year for Teacher Appreciation Week. Both boys had such wonderful teachers that really went the extra mile and were awesome even when the boys were not. I told Heidi what I was planning to do and she said, "Yeah, Davis might always be a full-gift-basket-type of kid" (He's just very high energy). The teachers loved them and they were fun to put together!
We had a Sunday dinner at Will and Kate's one week because my parents were in Europe with Heidi. The kids had their own table and played together seamlessly all night!
We built the boys new bunkbeds! Their room got a little make over. Their old bed was really falling apart, their mattresses were in bad shape and their bedding was old and tattered. I found this darling Star Wars duvets (which matches the theme they created last summer when we painted) on super sale at Pottery Barn. Ben built these beds, I stained them and we got them installed and honestly they look great! Such a fun upgrade for their room.
We had Star Wars day on May the 4th. Davis was so very into it. This year we had "Han-burgers" (Sliders) which are currently Davis's favorite food.
Chase took over mowing Nana and Papa's lawn. So now he does ours, theirs and Papa Ray's. He spends a lot of time mowing these days!
We finished up the school year! That last week of school was full of so many fun things- parties and field day and the boys were all just bursting with excitement all week long. I was so sad to say good-bye to such amazing teachers. We really were blessed with the best this year! Davis and Mrs. DeMoux got along just swimmingly- she's a fellow energetic redhead. She could totally handle his craziness and made him feel like a million bucks! He came so far in reading this year and he will even tell you "I'm really good at math! Like I'm probably the best in math in my whole class". He had the best first grade year!
Hudson was so blessed to have Mrs. Walker- who is also our neighbor and good friend. She loved him and all his quirks. She had him bring his yo-yos to do a show for the class. After picture day it became his "thing" to wear his blazer with shorts, and loved that the whole class knew it was his thing. This year was a little harder for him socially- all his good friends ended up in other classes. But he made some cute friends and had a teacher who always thought he was incredible and let him shine just the way he is.
And Chase totally rocked 7th grade. And by totally rocked, I mean, he survived it. It was definitely hard at times for him- 7th grade is such a huge adjustment and is full of new things and challenges. He learned to balance all the different teachers and classes, navigated some tricky social situations, helped with the school play, did Robotics, and got mostly all As.
To celebrate the last day of school we took the kids out to dinner. We let them pick where to go- they picked Buffalo Wild Wings. It was such a fun night and a fun way to celebrate all they accomplished this year! And then our crazy summer began!
