Going from second to third

Here it is August and a week before Caitie starts third grade, and I'm just now blogging about the second half of her second grade experience. I mentioned the first day of school, her class Fall, Christmas, and Valentine parties, the first parent/teacher conference, and I showed her class pic and school portrait on the blog already, but I forgot to mention the two field trips she went on, one in November to the Children's Museum, and the other one in February, to Bodyology. She loved the Children't Museum, and liked Bodyology. I also forgot to update on how she was doing in class for all but one semester. She stayed in the 3 and 4 area on her report card, which means being at grade level for 3, and being above grade level at 4. Those two went back and forth on most subjects, so she did well in second grade. She only missed one day of school, and she probably could have went on that day, but I kept her home as a precautionary measure due to her having vomited the night before; she ended up being fine that day.

Caitie gets good grades, but she usually just does what it takes to get by as far as school work goes; she can't stand homework. If you ask what her favorite part about school is, she usually says recess. ha So I was surprised when Caitie's teacher suggested she test for the Sage program, which is for gifted children. Only a few get selected, so it was nice she was chosen to test for it. The teacher in charge of that program is well liked and I've read many good things about him. Caitie tested, but didn't make it in the program for the upcoming school year. Maybe next year.

She participated in Field Day, which occurs the Friday before Spring break starts. Here she is in the water relay (she's in the pink top and blue jean shorts).

Spring break was parks, crafts, sleeping in/relaxing, play, and the pizza place, it also included St. Patrick's Day, which I blogged about already.

Park pic.

Relax/play pic.

Bailey showing the items she got from the prize counter at the pizza place...

Caitie loves the 'grabbidy-grab' game at the pizza place.

Caitie learned how to play the recorder in her Music class. She did really well; she finished all levels, which were called belts... sorta like Karate belts... she went all the way to black. Each time she completed a level, she got a ribbon put on the end of her recorder. We went to her recorder concert in April. I took some pics, but they didn't turn out all that great. See if you can find her in the first pic below.

I kept asking Caitie what she wanted to wear, like a dress or something nicer than just school clothes, but she insisted on what she wore to school that day. When we got to the school that evening, we saw that everyone else in the concert had dressed up. When will I learn to go with my gut instinct about these things? Remember the sleeper in Kindergarten on Pajama Day? She didn't mind though, and that's what counts.

Her music teacher said the third grade classes will be learning the violin this coming school year.

(if you get a magnifying glass, you might be able to see Caitie in the very center of the first pic below... she's in the top row, in the middle)

After the concert...

We ate at IHOP after the concert.

Here are a couple of pics of Caitie with her recorder and ribbons...

I got a pic of her with her teacher on student-led conference day in March...

I also got a pic of her and Bailey on that day.

Caitie lost one of her bottom front teeth in February...

She then lost her two front teeth in May, a couple of weeks apart. She lost one while in school, so the school nurse gave her a cute treasure chest holder for it to go in; the other one she lost on a weekend. Maybe she should wish for her two front teeth this year for Christmas? (lame, i know).

Caitie participated in the Junior Diabetes fund raising duck race again this year... her little rubber duck didn't win, but she had fun.  The 'black box' was made in her science class. She did it on the same day as the duck race, so I included it in the pic.

Remember my mentioning in a previous post about Caitie taking her favorite doll in for Star Student Day? Here is a pic I took after school on that day; this was in May. She took in one of her favorite stuffed animals, and one of her favorite books to show and tell about as well. All the kids in her class and her teacher signed the book she's holding.

Caitie took gifts to her teacher on Teacher Appreciation Day, which was towards the end of May.

Her class had an end of school year party, this is some of the stuff she got at the party...

The last day of school was the Thursday before Memorial Day Weekend; it was a half day. Caitie's holding her second grade memories book and her report card. It was a very busy day... most of it starting after I picked Caitie up from school... more on that in the next post...

   

   

   

   

   

Love and Hate

Sometimes I love to clean my house, but most of the time I hate it. When I get on that 'cleaning roll', it's like being on a natural high... it's invigorating, intoxicating, and any other 'in' ending in 'ing' word you can think of... I think. Anyway... you get the idea. But most of the time, I'm lazy and can't stand the thought of cleaning this, what I consider huge house, I live in.

When Michael and I were looking at houses back in 1997, I wasn't wanting to go bigger, I just wanted something nice that would be easy to organize and keep clean. When we lived in an apartment not long after we got married, it was so easy to organize and keep clean. There wasn't much space, so we were limited on what we could buy. It was so easy. But now, having scaled up from that small apartment, to a small house, and now a bigger house, that is two stories, cleaning seems daunting to me. It's a constant battle keeping things off the counters and the floors... there are toys EVERYWHERE! It looks like there was a toy explosion in our house. It's not only the toys though, it's also some of mine and Michael's items staying in the same place they were dropped, never to be moved again, even though that wasn't their intended destination. So when I found the following saying on Pinterest, I didn't feel so bad... but when I read the article it was attached to, I started feeling bad again. It's true what it says about how the look of your place can have an affect on how you feel... clutter drives me insane! But at the same time, I'm too dang lazy, and too OCD-ish to do anything about it.

There are weeks when my house looks pretty good, but most of the time, it's in chaos. If anyone has any ideas on quick and easy ways to get organized, and easy ways to keep things clean on a daily basis, send them my way... PLEASE! Thank you from the far recesses of my mind... or somethin' like that.

Here is the saying I was talkin' about above... (click on the pic to read the article)...

After such a stressful post, I think I'll go grab a cup of coffee and sit down amongst the clutter, and keep reading this cute little sayin' here, pretending I never read the article it was attached to... yep, I think that's what I'll do...