But, for as busy as it was, I love a crazy schedule. I LOVE downtime and relaxing time, but I still get excited when I see my calendar full of activities. So, although I was definitely ready for May 25th to arrive, it was bittersweet because that meant Atticus's year of Kindergarten was over.
It was a great year. Atticus became completely comfortable with Kindergarten early on. We had some tears a couple of times when I would come for an event and then leave (and he didn't want me to). But, otherwise, he fell in love with school. He loved "being a panther" and anything to do with Pebble Creek Elementary. He wanted to participate in EVERYTHING. He loved his friends and every activity in his classroom. He loved his teacher, Mrs. Downs. He went from not caring about letters or spelling to ending the year on Level F for reading. I am just so proud of him!
The only thing he didn't really love? Running in P.E. Haha! Mondays are running days, and from early on, he would realize it was a Monday on the way to school and would complain that it was running day. He loves to run and play, but running just for fun is not high on his list. I hear you buddy! Vic is going to have to show you why he loves it!
The other thing I found funny throughout the year was his handwriting. We used to spend every day after school writing the alphabet or making sight word word wall charts or writing whatever was on his mind. At first, he was obsessed with continuing school once he got home and doing whatever they had done that day. And, getting those letters and numbers right was important. But, by the end of the year, he had much sloppier handwriting and some backwards letters and numbers. Even the "S" in his name, that he writes all the time, usually has a backwards S. I'm sure 1st grade will set him straight.
I wasn't good to document Kindergarten all year long, so I'll just post a few pictures here. But, I want to say how much we enjoyed Mrs. Downs. She seemed structured but still so fun for the kids. I think she might be just what Grace needs for Kindergarten, so I'm hoping maybe we get to repeat with her! Fortunately, all 4 teachers seemed great and I never heard a bad word about any one of them, so I'm already curious (yes, over a year in advance) who her teacher will be!
Also, for the last day of school, during the Kinder celebration, Atticus proved how comfortable he has gotten in Kindergarten. He was a crazy mess up there! I'll post a couple of videos too. He was just a ham while they sang and he and Greer were the cutest talking to each other and laughing. In fact, while I didn't get a great photo, I will not forget how funny he was walking into the gym. Each class walked down the center aisle to the stage in line. Atticus came in laughing uncontrollably behind Greer and yells "SAY CHEESE GREER" while laughing and laughing, his little face so red. I have no idea what was so funny except that there was music and when Atticus hears music, he just wants to dance and sing and have fun. However, the singing performances were really cute and the choreography and songs were really cute too! After it was over, we went back to their classrooms to say goodbyes. It was around 10:00 am and the day let out early at 12:45. Most kids went home, but Atticus told me he wanted to stay with his friends. I think there were only 5 to stay and they were all Kids Club, except Atticus. Well, Atticus had the best day ever! He was so excited when I picked him up...except he wished I would have sent him clothes to change into for comfort. Oops! Anyways, he got to go through the class books and bring some home (like when the class would write about thanksgiving and then Mrs. Downs would bind each kids writing into one class book). He got to bring home some more school supplies (because we need more crayons...but I mean, they were Mrs. Downs' crayons so he needed them, of course). He got to go to each Kindergarten classroom to see what everyone was doing. I think one was watching a movie and one was playing games and I don't know what else. He got to go in the hallways, or in the gym, or somewhere to watch the 4th graders walk through for their end of year celebration. He got to play on the Ipad in his class AND eat a snack from the snack drawer. I have a story for that one - so, earlier this January, he started coming home to tell me he wanted to buy a snack from Mrs. Downs' snack drawer. I had never heard that they could buy snacks at school and I already sent his snack every day, so I would tell him he couldn't and that I didn't think Mrs. Downs' sold snacks. I would also tell him I wasn't sending money for snacks. Then he told me that they were free! Well, none of this made sense and we were reminded monthly to not forget to send snacks so I doubted Mrs. Downs' was just passing them out. So, I emailed her and found out that some parents send snacks for her drawer for when kids forget them. So, she said if I wanted to send some up there and then "forget" every once in awhile, then she would let Atticus have a snack from the drawer. So, I did and he loved it! But, I didn't do it often so when he got a snack from her drawer the last day, of course, it was special. And, then finally, when I picked him up, he was the ONLY Kindergartner in her class to come out as a "walker" and for whatever reason, he thought that was cool too.
Oh Atticus! I hope you always love school and everything that goes with it as much as you loved Kindergarten! I know the older grades will just get tougher and be more work, but I think Atticus will always love learning. And, I think we are at such a great elementary school, so I am just so pleased.
Anyway, here are some pics from the last day!
This is when they were walking in for their kindergarten celebration.
Lots of whispering going on up there!
Waiting to begin - there were 4 classes with about 75-80 kids altogether in K this year. And the year was heavy with girls. I know for Atticus' class, there were 11 girls and 7 boys. The other classes were similar.
Crazy, loud singing.
Leaving...or trying to. Still so wild.
Last day with our beloved Mrs. Downs.
Friends.
And then we have these four friends! Atticus and Greer have been best buds all year long and while they played T-ball, Ellie and Grace became fast friends too!
When I picked him up from school, I attempted a cute picture in their cute outfits. #mamatried
And, that evening, we began a last day of school tradition: dinner at Torchy's Tacos!
In the spring, he got to read the day's lunch menu during morning assembly.
He dressed up like an old man for the 100th day of school. He loved this day all year long. From early on, he would come home and tell me exactly what day it was. So, to finally reach this day was so much fun!
At their Kindergarten Rodeo day, I got a picture of what Atticus called "the four friends". These guys had so much fun this year playing together: Greer, John, Atticus & Charlie.
Crazy sock day. Vic loves crazy socks to wear with his business dress attire each day at work. So, Atticus loved picking out pizza socks for this day.
Oh my. This is the view I had when I dropped him off for school in the mornings from my car. Some days I would walk him in to watch morning assembly, but as the year wore on, I just dropped him off in the car line. But, this view. He ALWAYS waved and ALWAYS told me he loved me and many times he would yell it back to me as he walked away. These little moments are just he best. Between regular 6 year old behavior always lurking about, he is just the best kid.
I just have to document this because right before school got out, he made a list one night of every kids in his class, their birthday, their age and their gender. I'm not sure he got it all right or not, but he was obsessed all year long with who had birthdays and when. Since he is April 30, he had to wait ALL YEAR LONG to turn 6 and watch everyone else turn 6 first. So, I think he memorized most of these.
This was a picture Mrs. Downs took and put on her facebook page the first week of school. If this doesn't show how excited he was about school and learning, I don't know what could!
This was Mackenzie, who dubbed herself his girlfriend early on. They were pretty cute though as many times they would just hold hands randomly. Mrs. Downs even thought they were such sweet friends to each other. This was on the way back from the Oil Ranch field trip on the school bus.
Pajama day with Greer. And the fact that Greer also had a Star Wars backpack was one reason Atticus hit it off with him from day 1!
Vic helped the kids carve a pumpkin back in October. I think our table was not only the wildest and loudest, but had the least perfectly carved pumpkin. I thought the kids should get to draw the design and help carve it, but later we saw that the other table's parents pretty much did the drawing and carving. I couldn't stop laughing because clearly, Vic likes good work and our pumpkin was a hot mess! But, those kids had fun!
And, this is from Book Character day. Somehow, the night before, I managed to come up with this costume. It was total luck to find a solo blue fleecy girls coat, although in size 12, at Walmart to to use! And I just cut and glued and pinned a bunch of felt together and it worked! He was the cutest tickle monster ever! Oh and it helped that the book came with a set of "tickle monster hands".
And, if you are still reading, here is the video. Why are his hands in his mouth? I don't know. It's been this crazy habit for about 4 months. We thought it started because he was always feeling for loose teeth, even though he had none. But, either way, it made me crazy! As I type this, he has recently stopped doing it so much. Good, because I'm tired of saying "get your hands out of your mouth". haha! Here's the video: https://youtu.be/N17tmxcr_uk and then my camera battery died. ha!
What great memories from his Kindergarten year!
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