Bye Bye 1st Grade!!
Clayton had a great time at school this past year. His teacher was Mrs. Himmelspach, although she let all her students call her Mrs. H. At the end of the year he gave her a bucket filled with candy and a note that read,
"This is nothing to SNICKER (snickers pkg) at but, we think you ROCK (pop rocks). Thanks for going the EXTRA (extra gum pkg) mile in teaching me this year"
I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure Clay had a little student crush on his teacher and wishes she could teach him again sometime. ;) He did very well in all his subjects and was among a group of top readers that got to participate in Mrs Cashmore's advanced class on Mondays. I think Clayton secretly liked being with this group and always tried hard on all his homework and reading. His end of the year program was "Dive Into Reading" All the students in first grade had a sea creature assigned to them to study and create a display on what they learned. Clay was given the Octopus. I never knew Octopus's had three hearts and their blood was blue! They also are extremely smart, can change colors to match their surroundings and get out of most fish tanks quite easily.
Here are half of the first graders at Big Hollow. The other half performed on another day. They sang fun songs and the students were awarded certificates for reading so many books. I am really glad I told Clay to wear his red and dark blue striped shirt because it was easy to pick him out. Right smack dab in the middle! It reminded me of an, Where's Waldo Game only this time Where's Clay??
Each student made a sun visor that they wore and had painted all sorts of different sea creatures on them. I took a picture of their "Shark" pose that they did during a hilarious song which was sung with lots of excitement and shouts!!
As I watched I couldn't help thinking how Clay will be in second grade this fall, and my ball of energy Hayden will be a kindergarten student!! As most say it seemed just like yesterday that Clay was the first addition to our family and he is now on his way being educated and growing up.
We hope you all had a wonderful Fourth of July weekend, because we for sure did!! Two nights of fireworks back to back! I seriously LOVE fireworks! This is probably because when I was little I considered the fireworks part of a celebration toward my birthday, which is at the end of the month on the 27th, and was glad everyone was there having a good time enjoying the show too. Nate teased me while we watched them because he said I had a big smile on my face! We had fun enjoying some picnic time on our blanket and games that boys love: wrestling, freeze tag, and a bit of soccer while we waited for the show to start.
Every year we have a parade that is right by our house. We can walk out of our house 5 minutes before the start time and get great seats. Justin was funny to watch because once he picked up that first treat thrown to him, all his focus turned to that piece of candy and nothing else, not even more candy that was throw at his feet could change his focus! We came back home with an entire bowl full of candy!
We also were able to spend a whole afternoon with a lot of great friends, swimming, enjoying a delicious barbecue, and soaking up the sunny sunshine!!! Thanks again everyone for such a wonderful, fun filled day!! 
