The Lee Family: May 2017

Wednesday, May 31, 2017

4th Grade Celebration

This morning was Sofia and her fourth grade friends' celebration. Yesterday I told Sofia that we'd be at the 4th grade celebration and she said they hadn't practiced anything or done anything for it, so she wasn't really sure what would happen. One of the moms told me that they would be reading out their "greatest accomplishment" for their year, like they did in 3rd grade. I arrived shortly before it started and CK got there a few minutes later. It was surprising how few parents were there, especially compared to the Kindergarten graduation. We ended up sitting in the middle of the second row. The celebration started with the three 4th grade classes filing in with their teachers and sitting facing the stage, with their backs to us. When Sofia came into the room, she searched for us and finally saw us and waved. She sat down in front of us and read over her accomplishment page and I wondered what she wrote.

Mrs. Farragher welcomed us all and congratulated the kids on a successful end to their 4th grade year. She then welcomed Mrs. Grant to hold the microphone for each of her kids so they could read what their greatest accomplishment was for the year. Finally it was Ms. Murray's turn and then finally Sofia was approaching the stage. She looked really calm and relaxed as she walked toward Ms. Murray with her paper. She stopped and read her greatest accomplishment for the year which was: "meeting Jim Lovell and Fred Haise the astronauts because they were very interesting. I feel like we could all learn from them; it was very memorable." It was sweet and I somehow thought that she would write something about math, since she's become much better at it over the year and she loves Mrs. Grant so much. However, I can understand why she chose that experience as her greatest accomplishment, even though it wasn't related to school.

The program ended and we met up with Sofia and gave her a hug and congratulated her on another great year. She headed back to her classroom for the rest of the school day and CK and I headed out. I actually had a tennis drill to go to and as I drove I felt really blue thinking that she won't be back at CES next year. There are so many sweet kids and their parents who we've gotten to know over the past five years and I realized how much I'd miss seeing them at all the parties and events. Sofia doesn't seem to be upset by her upcoming change at all. When I ask her who she'll miss most, she does say all of her friends in 4th grade, and she means everyone she knows, which is awesome. She gets along well with everyone and as much as she will absolutely love the challenge and change that Aspire Academy will provide her, I do know there are some great kids she'll miss a lot and so will we. But, it's been a really great year and we can't believe we will have a 5th grader on our hands!!

Sofia reading over her greatest accomplishment, before it's her time to take the stage

Ready to take the stage

Ms. Murray with Sofia reading her greatest accomplishment

Sofia and her friend Elena

Sofia's greatest accomplishment page

Tuesday, May 30, 2017

Rockets End of Season Party!

Tonight, instead of meeting for an hour of soccer practice, we met at Red Brick Pizza four our Rockets end of season party. I'd considered hosting the kiddos at my house for a swim party, but figured it would be a lot easier to do a swim get-together another time. Sofia and CK decided to stay home, so Olivia and I headed to the pizza place. We arrived and all the other girls were already there. We ordered our pizza and salad and Olivia joined her soccer friends. The kids played and talked while they waited for their pizzas. I sat with the parents and we all talked about our upcoming summer plans.

After the girls ate their pizzas, Coach Matt handed out the soccer trophies to each girl. Olivia actually got hers first and had the biggest smile on her face! She was so excited! She normally doesn't like the attention on her but she didn't seem to mind. She held up her trophy and smiled for a picture with Coach Matt. After all the trophies were handed out, Grace's mom Corrie gave each of the girls their own individual cookie with their name written in icing. They almost looked too good to eat! Of course, the girls didn't have a problem gobbling them down. She also picked up a cupcake "cake" of a soccer ball with "Rockets" written on it. It was SO cute and looked delicious! Of course the girls gobbled down a cupcake each too. They were then all crazy with sugar, so we got them together for one final group photo with Coach Matt and Coach Doug. I made sure Olivia thanked each of her coaches individually before we said goodbye to everyone and headed home. They are terrific with the girls and really are trying to teach them all they can about the game. We are so lucky to have them as our coaches and look forward to a great season in the Fall.

Rockets cupcake "cake"

Olivia with her individual cookie

All the girls hanging out together

Coach Matt handing out Olivia's trophy

Olivia and Coach Matt with her trophy

Coach Doug, Coach Matt and the Rockets! Such a fun group of girls!

Monday, May 29, 2017

Memorial Day 2017

On Memorial Day the girls and I drove to Greenwood Cemetery in Fort Worth to attend the 100th remembrance service at the Royal Flying Corps Cemetery, which is located in a section of the cemetery. That area is the final resting place of US, British and Canadian flying airmen who died while in Fort Worth training to fly during World War I. Two years ago CK was asked to fly his Waco over the cemetery during the remembrance service and we attended the service with Cynthia and her family who were visiting that weekend. This year he was asked again to fly with his Stearman and flew formation with one other Stearman and pilot friend. His buddy Chad was going to fly in the cockpit with him, but he couldn't make it, so CK asked Sofia to go with him and she agreed. Later, he asked if she could go with Olivia and I instead since he felt it was more important for her to be on the ground and experience the entire service.

The girls and I arrived at the cemetery shortly before the service was to begin and were shocked at the attendance. There were easily twice as many as the prior service and a good mix of people. It really is a beautiful ceremony and is really something special to attend. The girls and I originally stood with a great view of the podium. A young lady with a beautiful voice sang the National Anthem and CK and his friend came over in their Stearmans just as she finished up, which was the absolute perfect timing! CK told me that was their goal, but they were only going on time and weren't in touch at all. It was perfect timing and very moving.

We soon found it to be too hot in the sun where we were standing, so we switched to the other side of the podium and stood under a large oak tree. The girls ended up sitting down for the rest of the ceremony. Once again, the Irish priest who spoke at the last remembrance service gave a very moving talk in memory of those lost. The bagpipes started into song and just as they began, the F-16s flew over! It happened so fast that I could hardly even get a photo of them before they were gone! It was incredible!!

After the service, the girls and I headed to the local airport to pick up CK and returned to the Lion's Club across the street from the cemetery where there was a luncheon for those involved. The man who has organized it each year and has involved CK in the fly-overs, wanted to give an award to CK and his buddy for their efforts. The luncheon ended up being really sweet and several people came over to talk to CK after they realized that he was one of the pilots. CK gave a small speech about the importance of these services when he accepted his plaque for himself and his friend. It was really a special event. After lunch, we said our goodbyes and I took CK back to the airport. Olivia decided to fly back to Arlington with him, so Sofia and I headed home.

The program

The wreaths to commemorate the British, Canadian and U.S. airmen lost

The fly over of CK (in the lead) and his buddy

The introduction by the man who has organized the events!

A view from the shade of the crowd!

Olivia listening to the priest

Such a beautiful event

The placing of the wreathes

The bagpipes begin

The sword salute

The F-16s that were there and gone in a second!

The departure of the bagpipes

The gravestones at the end of the service

CK with his award and talking of the importance of these commemorative events

Thursday, May 25, 2017

Fun Day!

Today was Fun Day, which both girls were really excited about. We didn't buy the "Fun Day" shirts this year and Olivia nagged me about it a few weeks ago, but ultimately neither of them wear those school t-shirts again, so I figured they would be fine without wearing a shirt like everyone else. Plus, I discovered after I arrived at school that it was much easier to spot both girls in the packs of kids! Olivia wore her CES Class of 2029 shirt while Sofia wore an older CES shirt that is grey since her Class shirt was still dirty from her trip to the zoo. The "Fun Day" shirts were bright blue, so both of the girls really stood out and they were easy to see.

I arrived shortly after Fun Day started and after looking at the map I decided to find Sofia and her fellow 4th graders doing the 50 yard dash. Olivia and her fellow Kindergarteners were on the far side of the track doing the tug of war. I watched a few of Sofia's classmates run, since she had apparently already run by the time I arrived, and then decided to follow Olivia's class to the sack race. Sofia's grade went to do the Tube Tug, which was always one of Sofia's very favorite events but she said she was going to sit out. When I asked her why, she said that a lot of the kids (boys) took it very seriously and they would pull her down and before she could let go she would be drug across the grass. So, she wasn't interested.

The Sack Race was off to a bad start when Olivia jumped the gun and went along with the person in front of her. She is very sensitive and started crying when her classmates said "Olivia, it isn't your turn." She said they were "being mean" even though I explained they were just trying to tell her and weren't being mean. She finally calmed down after Mrs. Schultz and I both comforted her and we somehow convinced her to give it another chance. She hopped her little heart out and ended up having a great time! After the Sack Race, the kindergarten kids moved to the Water Relay. The volunteers and gym teacher explained the rules and apparently the kinder kids have been "practicing" at PE, probably without water. The Water Relay is a race between four teams of kids where the first kid runs with a sponge to the pool of water to fill up the sponge. That kid runs to the back of their team and stands backwards to pass the sponge to the front person. The front kid wrings out the water from the sponge into a bucket. The goal is to fill the bucket to a certain line. It is actually my very favorite Fun Day activity to watch and Olivia obviously feels the same. She had a huge smile on her face the entire time and also got soaked. She ended up going through a few times for her team and had so much fun, even though her team never won. They did get close to filling up their bucket with water though.

Once the Water Relay was finished it was time for snacks. That morning, I'd given both girls $6 for snacks that would be for sale. Of course, Olivia picked the $4 snow cone with cherry syrup. Just looking at it gave me a belly ache! Since the kindergarteners had a 30 minute snack break, I decided to find Sofia. The fourth graders played Hungry Hippo, which I don't remember them playing before. It was such a super fun activity and it was obvious that all the kids love it. Hungry Hippo is a game where eight teams battle against each other at the same time. Sofia was on a team with six boys and the goal was to collect as many foam and other balls that were set out in the middle of the gym floor. In order to collect balls, one member of their team had to lay on top of a wheeled platform and be pushed out to the middle of the gym floor, while holding a bucket to capture the balls without using their hands. The kids that pushed their team member couldn't pass a line on the floor, so it was actually a lot harder than it looked. The kids did a great job taking turns. Sofia was bummed that she only got one turn. At the end, Sofia's team was just two balls short of winning. It was such a fun game!

After Hungry Hippo, the 4th graders went to play Newcomb so I went to find Olivia and the Kindergarteners who were set to play the Tube Tug. The Tube Tug is a game where they line up four groups of kids in a square and an inter tube is in the center of the square. One kid from each of the groups is called out at random and they have to fight over the inter tube and try to get it to their team's cone to score. Olivia was up against three other boys and held her own. She reminded me of Sofia in how serious she fought and hard she tried. Just as they started pulling on the tube, two boys fell down which meant they were out, so it was Michael versus Olivia. They tugged and fought hard, but Michael ended up pulling Olivia slowly to his team's cone. She went a few times and had a great time playing!

From there, the kinder kiddos went to the Obstacle Course, which was actually just an inflatable bounce house that they took turns climbing and running through. After the Obstacle Course, the kindergarteners completed their last event which was the Last Flagg Pulled. This game involved each of the kids wearing a flag that could be pulled off by someone else. Then, Mrs. Nuegent who was in charge of the game, would pit one class against another or girls versus boys. Olivia ran around like crazy and since she's so fast she can avoid most of her classmates. However, she never tried to remove other kid's flags, so she was stuck just doing defense. In the girls versus boys competition, she was actually the last girl left against three boys. However, the boys ganged up on her and pulled off her flag. If she went after the flags she would have lasted longer or won. At the same time, Sofia and the 4th graders played Tug of War and Sofia told me that the girls beat the boys in the final competition which made her really happy! The teachers didn't even help, which is pretty cool! Once Olivia and the kindergarteners were done running all over the field chasing each other, the Kindergarteners were done with Fun Day. We were able to get a cute class picture of Mrs. Schultz and her Cuties before they headed into their classroom. Once at her table, Olivia drew a picture of me. I'm pretty sure they will all sleep very well tonight!

I gave Olivia a hug and headed to meet Casey to go to Luna Grill for lunch before we returned to watch the 4th graders compete in the Water Relay. Sofia loves the relay and usually gets soaking wet, although this time she didn't get as wet as years past. Some of the kids were actually jumping and sliding into the pools of water and getting drenched, but I knew Sofia wouldn't do that. Her team had fun and did well before they headed to Hyper Ball, which was similar to Last Flagg Pulled but involved having to secure balls from the "competitors." It took a good amount of strategy and team work and the kids had a blast. Sofia played defense and guarded her team's balls. The game ended up getting pretty intense and physical and the teachers ended up stopping it after about 20 minutes and few minor injuries. At that point, I felt like my skin was on fire from standing in the sun all day. I really hadn't planned on being at Fun Day the entire time and probably wasn't as prepared as I could have been for the sun. I gave Sofia a hug goodbye and headed home. Both girls had a blast and it was so fun to watch them compete. I love how much they get into it and how hard they try. The activities are all a lot of fun to watch too!

The girls' lunches are ready to go!