The Boys & Me

Finally. The last day of school. It was a hot day. It seems like we have been dancing around the last day of school with activities and countdowns for far too long.  Today was all about the awards. When I was in school I don't remember having an award ceremony until the 8th grade.  It didn't seem like many awards were given either. I wonder if we had semester ceremonies and end of the year trophies if I would have worked harder in school. Doubtful but possible.

Dylan was disappointed he only received an award for A/B Honor Roll so I had to gently explain why. Remember the times you refused to take your spelling test and got zeros on your paper? Remember when you said you didn't care about the timed tests in math and didn't want to do them because the pressure was just too much?  Remember when you didn't care about AR testing so you didn't attempt to reach any of your goals?  

The kids get a certificate to a restaurant and a dog tag with A/B Honor Roll written on it.

The air conditioning wasn't working correctly this morning in the gym so it was hot with no air circulation.  How did I survive an elementary and high school with no air conditioning when I was a kid?  I lost our lens cap during the ceremony too. It disappeared. One minute it slid off my lap hitting the side of my chair and poof, it was gone. No where to be found.

Dylan was so sad when we left school because two of his friends are moving this summer. He said he had the best kids in his class this year and doesn't want to start over with new classmates next year.  Have I mentioned before my kids don't like change?

I was wearing a suit with super high heels in this heat so after Dylan's awards we went home for me to change clothes then Dylan got to choose a lunch restaurant, Wendy's, yippee (insert sarcasm). His free meal coupon from the award ceremony was for Taco Bell but he hates Taco Bell.  

Are you wondering why I was in a suit?  I had an interview early this morning in town and didn't have time to go home before Dylan's ceremony.  It wasn't too bad moving back into a work mode mindset and immediately off to a school function.  I purposefully don't use my blog as a place where I will discuss a work-for-a-paycheck life but I'll let you know if, when, and why I decide to go back to corporate life.

By Dane's ceremony the air conditioning was working in the gym. Did I mention it was a hot day?  I have heard other moms discuss how sad it is for their child to leave elementary school for middle school.  They talk of tears. I just didn't get it. I didn't have a elementary school to middle school transition as a kid mostly because our K-12 had the same number of students as Dane's middle school will have. Dane will be in a different building with all new teachers and principals but on the same campus. The award ceremony was followed by a "last walk" through the hallways. When the kids came around the corner with the music over the intercom the girls were crying, parents were crying, teachers were crying....Dane was ready to get out of there - no tears from him. I was getting weepy so we got out of there. I loved Dane's teacher and feel the year  went too fast. I wish they could clone her. I could not imagine a teacher with more enthusiasm for her students and learning.  Dane loved her too but he won't admit it. It is no coincidence that this was his best year ever. I saw some hugging going on with her during the awards. She gets so excited for the kids. 

Dane was a rock star at his awards ceremony today. Before I go on I just want to say that I know bragging about your child's accomplishments is very annoying to others. I get this. No one gets more annoyed than I while reading how darn happy everyone is on Facebook. My life sucks a lot of the time so when something good happens I go overboard rejoicing at how lovely it is that something, anything good happens. So I apologize in advance for the rest of this post.  

Dane received the following awards:

A Honor Roll second semester

A Honor Roll for the year

Mixed Math Facts Multiplication and Division, 100 problems in 5 minutes or less with 90% or better accuracy three times

AR (accelerated reading) Goal each quarter all year

Presidential Award for keeping a high GPA all year

Duke University Talented/Gifted Program

1st Place Award for highest AR points for the 4th Grade

Dane has never received anything below an A on his report card all of elementary school. Very exciting! He doesn't like timed tests and stresses over the pressure so I was surprised he accomplished the highest level tested in his grade.  He has never reached his AR goal because he never had the drive to accumulate points before this year. So, for him to receive over 400 points this year was shocking to say the least. We knew it was close and he was in the running for a big award. We also knew a boy moved mid-year to his class that rocked AR like no one before and that he was in first place for the entire school. When they named third place, I thought, great, Dane will be second.  When they read the second place winner and it wasn't Dane I was crushed. I could see where Dane was sitting and he was crushed too. Then, first place winner...Dane Richards. I started to cry. I was that happy. The school gave the new kid a big trophy for highest in the school which left Dane to take first place. I didn't even pay attention to the points when they read them because I thought it wasn't going to be Dane. Dane said the same thing, when he heard four hundred and, his mind went somewhere else.  I told Dane later if the kid didn't move back mid-year Dane would have won for the whole school!  Only fourteen kids got the Duke University award. Yes, I counted!  That is like 10% of the fourth grade. That award was for students who scored high on some special testing. He will be in the program for the rest of his school years and it comes with some special opportunities. I'm thinking it will look great on his application to Northwestern University in Evanston, IL in eight years where I plan to move as soon as he is accepted.  

Here are a few photos.

 The "new kid" in gray, Dane in blue, second place winner and third place winner in orange. The boy on the far right plays tennis with Dane and the "new kid" is in Dane's class so I thought that was neat.  I try not to mention other children's names on my blog without permission.