Wrapping Up Fifth Grade

Today wrapped up Grant's time at Longview. Bittersweet I tell ya. We've had a great 6 years at this school. While I'm thankful to watch him grow and move on, it's always a bit of a double edged sword. I like the comfort of elementary.... I know it. I know the people. I know the kids. In any case, here we go! Fifth grade graduation was tonight and I was happy  to snag ONE picture of Grant and his best bud Cooper. Grant is so anti picture right now and it drives his picture taking mother insane! 

I grabbed another when it wasn't too embarrassing (which was when we got home but I still got a lot of whining). Grant snagged the President's Award which means straight As all through elementary. Pretty impressive if I do say so myself! 

I did get to snap some pictures on picnic day so I could document who he was spending his fifth grade days with. Eli, Cooper, and Spencer were pretty much his crew. 

Kayli, one of his good girl friends. Two words there. Different from girlfriend:)

Friends.  

Breck. 

Boy and Girl Crew. 

Elaina joined me for these last days of school. This will be her last tag along time since next year she'll be a kindergartener! And, it looks like she's got plenty of people to pay her attention! 

Best Bud Cooper.

Girl bud, Sophia.

Awww. Me and G:)

Fifth grade teacher, Mrs. Moss. Mrs. Kofahl wasn't around to get a picture:(

Fifth grade has been an exceptional year! Middle School here we come! 

Fifth Grade Picnic

Grant finished out 5th grade this week with a class picnic at school. It seems that school always ends with a bunch of nonsense days but when I look back on it, they will be some awesome days that G will always remember. I can remember my own 5th grade end of the year party...it held more significance than Grant's since I was moving to another state and wouldn't really see my elementary friends anymore, I suppose. In any case, we sweated out the day hanging one last day as elementary kids. This was his gang of cronies this year: Eli, Cooper, and Spencer. 

Kaleigh has been a friend to Grant for a few years now and she's also a neighbor down the street. 

I was trying to get Grant to participate in a picture with some of his girl friends...(read that girl (pause, pause) friends...not girlfriends :) ) but he was being ornery and made his boy buds get in the picture AND between the girls and him. Gah. Anyway, Tyson, Reagan, and Olivia. Grant and Reagan "liked" each other for the better part of this school year and last but don't tell anyone that I said that:)

 Grant and his buddy Breck. It is here that I notice that G really need a mowing on that hair. The spikes have grown quite tall. The end of the school year is so busy! Who has time for hair cuts?

Friends. 

Elaina hung with me through several hot picnics and what-not for her brothers. As you can see, she had a terrible time and never got any attention from anyone.

Cooper has been Grant's best bud at school for several years. Cooper is a kid that keeps me laughing. I love that kid! 

I made G's friend Sophia stop for a picture. They did a lot of playground playing and would hang at church together. 

Oh, and here's me. I was at the picnic too:)

Grant loved his teachers this year. Mrs. Moss was his homeroom and he traveled to Mrs. Kofahl's room for math and science. Cade had Mrs. Kofahl too and we loooooved her. I have no idea why I do not have a picture of her because I KNOW I took one:/

Fifth grade has literally flown by. I think this may have been the fastest school year we've had yet. I cannot fathom that kid #2 is headed to the middle school already. I'm thankful though....thankful that God has given me so many healthy years to enjoy them and watch them grow, and thankful that they are maturing and developing into their own people. Fifth grade's just about a wrap. Only the graduation ceremony to go! 

Eleven!

This week we got to celebrate G's ELEVENTH birthday! He woke to his birthday crown (how long is he going to let me do that? I love it:) ) and coffee cake which is one of his favorite breakfasts. 

His two requests (which have not deviated for several years now) were grandma's chocolate cake and a sleepover with his besties. Grandma came through once again with an awesome baseball cake! 

I guess this is Grant's "I'm too cool for all this singing stuff" face or else he's the saddest kid ever on his birthday which I KNOW is not true:) 

Make a wish! 

I tried multiple times to get this crew to pay attention for just 5 seconds so that I could get a good picture. They literally couldn't stop acting nutty. I snapped this one quickly ( and of course one person had to blink!). 

Before they scattered I was able to snap off one more but again, not everyone was cooperative with a nice face:) Ah, it is what it is. I still love all of these boys! 

 Happy eleven years of living, Grant! I have loved every year with you and I can't wait to see what new things this year brings you. 

Day Three of Testosterone Nation

Grant was stoked that it was his friend's day. Somehow Rhett got the best end of the deal with these fun friend days. He got to take part in every one! He better count his lucky stars:) Elaina didn't make out too bad either! 

 There was swimming, soccer, swimming, rough housing, and more swimming:)

Another super grand day for the memory books! 

Surge Baseball

Grant played for Surge again this year. It was the team's first year as a "modified" travel team. That meant that we played in Cal Ripkin as an all star team but we also played in tournaments outside of Cal Ripken. 

 Grant did well this season playing some center field, catcher and a little second base. He had some good buds on the team as well and that always makes for a fun season! 

Elaina spent all of her baseball days running the field after games. As long as she came home completely dirty she felt like she had done her job:)

G's Ten Year Party

Grant's party was a little delayed because of a hunting trip and our trip to Haiti but it rolled around a couple weeks late and he didn't mind a bit. Any time he can have all of his besties over for some of Grandma's chocolate cake it's a good day! 

Mom crafted up a specialty baseball cake. The boys were quick to let her know that her players were not positioned correctly and they moved them around to better field positions:) Poor player placement had no effect on the end result....it was to die for! 

After eating the boys disappeared downstairs and came back up dressed in things from my Halloween bin. We laughed at Tanner who must've gotten into Elaina's stash because he had a baby doll, a pink purse and a gun and he called himself "overprotective mom". Ha! 

I tried to get a good pic of all the friends together before bedtime but they're a nutty bunch of kids and it took several takes before I got this decent serious face one.

First there was this:

 and this:

The boys were having so much fun that we totally forgot to open presents. The next morning we decided we should go ahead and do that! Grant was pumped:)

He got a huge kick out of Cavin's singing card that had something to do with eating beans and pooting out your birthday candles. Perfect boy birthday card! 

One last attempt at a group shot before pick up.....well, two attempts then I gave up trying to get everyone to smile all at the same time.

I couldn't ask for a better group of boys for Grant to spend his 10th year with. I pray that these kids spend many more years together making memories! I love you, G! Happy 10th birthday party:)

TEN!

Today my little winter baby turns TEN! Double digits for another kiddo in the Morgan Casa. It's unreal to me! I thought at 10 he'd forget about the birthday crown but the night before (thankfully so I didn't have to get up at the crack of dawn to do crafting) he asked if I had made it yet. I love that he asked me that:)

Cade was already gone for the morning to school so he missed out on the birthday boy donut request. Rhett knows better than to miss a donut opportunity so he was in on the action. Lanie? Sleeping. 

His birthday dinner request was J. Alexander's so we headed up for a great meal that evening. We followed it up with Nothing "Bundt" Cakes and some present opening. 

He got the Beats he'd been asking for:) 

I love celebrating birthdays. I'm so thankful that God blessed us with another year of Grant. I pray that it's followed by 100 more!