End of the Weirdest School Year Ever

What a school year! From 9 weeks at home virtually to going in person with masks and new procedures, 2020-21 was a different experience, to say the least: 

• The kids got used to the social distancing and limitations quicker than we thought they would. 
• They were champion maskers, although Owen had to circle back home more than once for the all-important mask in the morning. They wore them all day, every day, except while eating at lunch or snack time.
• Hadley had all five 3rd grade teachers at one point or another, as kids filtered back in to school and classes were shuffled around to even the numbers of at-home and in-person students. 
• Owen had to stay home for potential exposure to COVID, but a negative test result the next day allowed him to go back the following day.
• No candy was allowed with Valentines.
• Recess was split by classes and the playground was segmented into zones to minimize student mingling.
• No parents were allowed to help in the classrooms or visit for lunch.
• End-of-school parties and celebrations were virtual for the parents.

Hadley had her 2nd grade teacher (Mrs. Cashion) for most of 3rd grade, as she looped up with them. We loved her, and she broke protocol and hugged Hadley on the last day of school. It brought a tear to my eye to think of these teachers with the struggles they had on a daily basis, and not being able to hug their students! This is Hadley's class' Celebration of Learning - each kid get academic and/or attendance awards as earned, and then an award voted on by their classmates.

Owen's class awards were bittersweet, as they were his last in elementary school! His teacher had a slide show of the kids throughout the year, and I snagged a pic of the screen when Owen showed up. He managed to keep the same teacher (Mrs. Reese) all year, and she was great! The 5th grade did their Celebration of Learning awards all together in the gym-itorium and each class posed together at the end. (O is in front in dark shirt.)

Hadley received the 110% (voted on by classmates) and Exemplary Performance (Honor Roll) awards. Owen got History Buff (voted on by classmates), Exemplary Performance, and the Hall of Fame Award for getting 100 on 3+ math tests. The State of Texas made them take the STAAR tests this spring, even after the year they had!, and I have to brag that they both did extremely well and Owen got a perfect score in math! He claims to not like math, but he can do it!

And Owen gets a special comparison of his first and last days of elementary school. He's grown quite a bit in these six years, no?

At least 5th grade got to have parties this year, both at school and at the neighborhood pool.

And the other end-of-year tradition - going through all the papers brought home through the year and deciding what to recycle or keep! Woohoo!

  

Working, Wet May, and Water Sports

The end of April saw a big change to our family in my return to full time work. At least I get to work from home, but it's still an adjustment for everyone. For one, my office is in the cat's room, so at least once a day, I get a lap visitor at my desk. She hasn't made it on camera yet, but there's still plenty of time. And look at what my sweet boy thought to get me for my birthday - a laptop stand!

In other news, it's been a very wet May...

which has led to some interesting sporting events. Hadley usually brought a book or two to her brother's soccer games. Here she's reading under the cover of her jacket on the sidelines.

Owen played his final soccer game in the rain. The team came in 2nd place out of 8 teams in their age group. Their last game was nearly forfeited because his coach and assistant coach were ejected from the game prior. Luckily, some dads stepped up in the nick of time and the boys played probably their best game of the season. Other than the coach drama, we enjoyed watching the Dragons play!

May also brought the start of swim team season. In between rain cancellations, the kids went to swim practice every day after school. Hadley was in the 7-8 group, and Owen had to practice with 11-18 year-olds! The excitement of the pool reopening this year led to the largest swim team ever, so the pools were quite crowded at practices.

The pool has been a welcome addition to end the pandemic school year! Check out the kids "dives"!

Someone was so excited for swim team season that she took a couple of months of swim lessons beforehand to practice up. They both put in stellar performances at their practice meets, particularly in backstroke times! (Note: the pictures only show the top 4 to save space, but there were 12-15 kids in each age group.)

 

Family Reunion

 We got lots of family time in late April, starting with cousin fun on the playground. 

Then Oma and Papa arrived! It was so good to see them after 14 months of pandemic separation.

They stayed with us for a week and got a lot of quality time with the kids after school. Games were played, meals were shared, and cat's cradle was introduced.

Headbanz made for quite a few laughs - something about a yellow bird..? It's kind of like 20 questions, but you are trying to guess the card on your own head that everyone else can see and, inevitably, your card is the last thing you can think of.

Houston always has plenty of restaurant options. Yum!

Another weekend, more cousin time. They enjoyed playing with the Nugget - they made good shelters and even a car wash (one of Will's favorite things!).

The kids went around and around for a LONG time going through the car wash. There were washers, dryers, spinning brushes, and ticket takers.

Hadley made an official agenda for Mother's Day. How cute is that? I think we accomplished pretty much everything on the list, including a delicious Italian meal.

We had a great visit with Oma and Papa, but they had to eventually return to Ohio. Thanks for coming to see us!