It happened. As hard as I tried to stop it, it happened. Carter graduated from elementary school. The day was happy and sad at the same time. Carter said that what he would miss most about Tate's is being outside so much. It is an outdoor campus. They eat lunch outside. They go outside whenever they walk to computers, spanish, art, music, or gym. When they study anything in nature, they go outside and look at it and touch it. They have a garden they work in. My favorite thing about the school is it's size. It is small. Carter graduated with 20 other kids. I know all the kids and all the parents. My shy kindergarten Carter has had the opportunity to bloom and now he is no longer a follower, he is a leader. I am grateful for this school and the advantages it has given Carter both academically and socially.
Carter getting his diploma
The grandparents came and celebrated with us
Carter and his best friends, they call themselves "the monkeys"
The graduating class
I included this picture of his class to show the pond in the back ground. The day after graduation was the last day of school/field day. Carter and the monkeys started a new tradition and jumped in the pond at the end of the day. Carter was SO excited.
An old tradition at field day is the 5th graders playing kick ball against their teachers and their parents. Allen and I both participated and had a ball. The 5th graders have never won a game in all the years of playing, but this group was sure they would be the ones to do it, they were positive they could beat us. This group of kids has had the reputation through the years as being very competitive. There was a lot of smack being talked on both side of the field at the beginning when the score was 1 to 1. But as we pulled away and ended up winning 11 to 1, the kids became more and more quiet. Allen and another dad were the stars of the game and this made Carter proud, and softened the sting of losing. I had a few moms say to me, "now I see where Carter gets his competitiveness from."
We have all three kids swimming this year on the swim team. Claire is following in her older brother's footsteps with her swimming skills. The first day of practice she could barely make it across the pool with several pit stops. But just a few weeks later she has a very nice non-stopping free style and has even learned the other 3 strokes, though not to perfection. Thanks to our pool Jared finally has a true dive and even Claire is getting the dive down. Carter is swimming 50's this year and has done great with the change. His turns are improving everyday.(btw, they are standing on our front porch with the driveway/front yard behind them)
Allen enjoyed his day...some cuddling/back rubbing after breakfast in bed is always a nice start. The kids gave him a self -decorated pillow case. Claire got one side and the boys shared the other. As they were making it, Carter stated that he got to use the term "#1 dad" and added a funny illustration (Rob and Peter are friends of Allen)
