Honor Roll: Siope

Went to Siope's award ceremony to see him receive his certificate for A-B Honor Roll.

Proud of this little munchkin :)

2nd Trimester Award Ceremony

For the 2nd trimester all 3 kids got invited to their Award Ceremony!! I was so proud when they brought home invitations. Especially for Nic. He has seen his brothers bring home invitations throughout the years and this was the first time he got to bring one home himself. He was so proud to show me his letter when he got home from school and I was excited to see what he had accomplished. When they bring home the invitation it doesn't tell you what award your child will receive, it just tells you they are being recognized, so you don't find out until the actual ceremony when they call your child's name.
The ceremonies were broken up into different days at different times. This was a little bit of a challenge because I work grave so I normally am sleeping while the kids are in school.

Siope's ceremony was first. I remember coming home and taking a 30 min power nap. I was exhausted when my alarm went off and I was so ready to go back to sleep. I thought in my head that Siope wouldn't mind if I wasn't there and when I went to turn my alarm off on my phone I saw a text message that read "Mommy, don't forget that my award ceremony starts at 9am". Uuuuugh! So I forced myself up and made it to school to see my little man receive his award.

A-B Honor Roll! Whoop!

The next day was the 4th graders turn. The boys had asked Nici what award he thought he was getting. He kept telling them he wasn't sure and that it was most likely for citizenship. When I got to the assembly the kids started getting called up for their awards. And towards the end Nici's teacher said that she had 2 awards left to present. They were for the 2 kids in her class who worked extremely hard and showed the most improvement that trimester. Then I heard Nici's name called.

Most improved!! How awesome is that?!! So unbelievably proud of this kid!! With all of the struggles he faces, he has never given up!! He also brought home an award for citizenship. Great job Nici!!!

Last but not least was my 5th grader. For the 3rd consecutive day I came home and took a tiny nap and growled when my alarm clock went off. I headed to the school. As soon as I walked in the auditorium Mote spotted me and smiled and waved. I smiled and waved back then found my seat. With Mote there is no guessing when it comes to these assemblies. He has consistently gotten the same awards each year.

It is Mote's last year in Elementary and since he entered Kindergarten he has gotten Honor Roll and Outstanding Citizenship every single year. I cannot be more proud. He is the best leader to his younger brothers.

Although I lost out on sleep this week it was absolutely worth it. I would trade in sleep any day to see these kids succeed in school. I love them so much and am extremely proud of who they are becoming and what they have and will continue to achieve. They are my everything!!!!

Ries Elementary 2nd Grade Award Ceremony

Got to attend another award ceremony today. Siope received A/B Honor Roll for the 3rd trimester as well as A/B Honor Roll for the entire school year.

Ries Elementary Field Day 2013

The boys have been looking forward to Field Day for quite some time. Siope and Nic had their turn earlier on in the day so I wasn't able to make theirs, but I got there just in time for Mote's. It was so fun to watch them compete. They had a blast!

Ries Elementary 4th Grade Award Ceremony

Thursday I took a trip to the Elementary because Mote got an invitation to their award ceremony. I was exhausted from work the night before but was so glad I made it. I knew he was getting honor roll, but was surprised when they called his name for 3 awards that day: Outstanding Citizenship, A/B Honor Roll for the 3rd trimester and A/B Honor Roll for the entire school year. I almost cried seeing him on stage with his awards. I'm so proud of this little guy. He has been a great leader to his brothers and a wonderful help to me while his dad is away. And on top of all of that he has managed to work hard in school and earn honors.

4th Grade Wax Museum

Mote's class put together a wax museum for their end of the year project. He chose to be Babe Ruth. It made me a little nervous at first because we have NO baseball gear whatsoever at home. But I think we did pretty good. He was so cute in his little costume and did a great job at memorizing his speech.

Apex FunRun

The boys had a fun run today to raise money for their school.

Mote completed 32 laps...

Nic finished with 27...

And Siope surprised us all and completed all 36 laps!

I'm proud of all of them, but am seriously shocked with Siope. We always tease him that he's lazy. He is definitely book smart, but doesn't really carry an interest for any physical activity lol. He's not in to sports as much as the other 2... So when he came home and told me how he did I was blown away. I know he is capable of doing whatever he wants... it's just getting him interested and motivated that's the tricky part :)

Teacher Appreciation

School's Out! Can't believe it. It's been quite a year. We let them finish out the year at Wright Elementary, but next year they'll be attending their new school. I wanted to make subway art for their teacher's gifts, but Siope didn't seemed too thrilled about it. I asked him what he thought we should give their teachers and he said, "Mommy, if I were a teacher I would want my students to give me soda." Mote chimed in and exclaimed, "Yeah Mommy, my teacher is always drinking Diet Coke." So it was settled, we ended up giving my subway art AND the boys soda.

Cut out some personalized tags

and added them to 1 liter sodas

bought some inexpensive frames and painted them red

memo to self: remove jewelry BEFORE painting

added subway art

and voila!

Spelling Bee!

Siope participated in his first Spelling Bee this year. As soon as he found out about it he went right to work studying his list of words. He told us all that he wanted 1st place, nothing less. We were all so nervous and excited for him. His class held their competition and when Ti picked him up Siope came marching out to the car with his trophy in hand. He did it! He won first place. We were so proud of him.

The following week the top 3 from every class went on to The Spelling Bee Championship. Wow, was it intense!!! Slowly the number of kids started to dwindle down. Before we knew it, it was down to 10 kids and Siope was still in it... then he made top 5.... and then it was down to 3 kids... including our Siope! The words started to get more and more difficult. He ended up taking 3rd place and came home with another trophy!! It was so exciting to watch him compete and we are so proud of his hard work and accomplishments.

Dr. Seuss Day

The boys celebrated Nevada Reading Week at school and on Friday they had a morning activity for parents to participate in with their kids. I was sooooo tired... but this is the reason why I wanted this shift - to spend time with the boys. So I sacrificed a little dream time and me and Ti went the Elementary with Siope, Nici, and Mote. They had cupcakes for everyone and Dr. Seuss books available to read. After the read-a-thon we all played Dr. Seuss BINGO and Mote was the first winner! He won a Dr. Seuss book to take home. I'm so glad we went. The kids were so happy to have us there and they had tons of fun.

Teacher Appreciation: Smore Kits

I didn't realize that the boys last day of school was on Friday, until Thursday. So I scrambled to get gift ideas together for their teachers. Thursday Mote had a pack meeting for scouts so I didn't have any time to work on the gifts. Friday when I got back from work I went straight to bed and woke up at around noon. I got to Walmart at around 1pm and made it home by 2 o'clock. I put these quick smore kits together and was at the school by 3pm. JUST before the bell rang... phew!

Check out the customized white ribbon!
I got them in the mail just in time to add them to our gifts.

Merry Christmas!

October Haps: Fall Festival

Wow, October really flew by! I can't believe it's already November. Last month was definitely busy for us. We got to do so many fun things, so I'm going to try to recap on everything we did this season. Fall is one of my favorite times of year, especially in Vegas because the weather is so nice that we're able to do a lot of outdoor activities. The kids had their annual Fall Festival last month and we were finally able to go again as a family. The last time we attended was when Mote was in Kindergarten. We had so much fun that year. Since I've started to work, my schedule hasn't permitted me to participate in any after school activities. Now that I've switched to grave, I can go to pretty much any after-school function <~ I might regret this later LOL. Anyhow, when the kids got home from school I was just waking up so we got ready and headed back to the Elementary. We started off at the trunk-or-treat then made our way to each of the games.

The kids loved these low riders at the trunk-or-treat

All the frisbee tossing in the street payed off at this game

We got lots of candy and prizes then stood in the what seemed like a never-ending line for the haunted house. I was impressed with how spooky the haunted house was. The kids were terrified! Nic screamed like a little girl the entire time. I had to drag him and Siope forward because they were so scared. And there was a little girl who grabbed on to Ti Tonga's arm and held on until we got out HaHa.

We saved the cakewalk for last. We never seem to win this game, but it's still so fun. We gave the kids their tickets and told them they HAD to dance the entire time... and sure enough they did. Me and Ti Tonga took our seats to watch and we couldn't stop laughing. The first song they played was Sean Paul and Siope was going all out. It was so funny to watch him dance around the seats. After the first song the DJ called the winning numbers... none belonged to us, but she let the kids go one more round. The kids danced around and around and when the music stopped they rushed to grab a seat. The DJ called out 4 or 5 winning numbers and I seen both Nic and Mote jump out of their seats. They won! We went and claimed their sweets and Ti bought the kids some Popsicles with their left over tickets.

We grabbed some food on our way home and had dinner out on the patio before I went to work. It was a great fall night.