6/23/2008

Our Baby's All Grown Up!

Well, it finally happened....Benny graduated from 6th grade! Our baby boy is now done with elementary and on to Junior High. His ceremony was on Wednesday, June 4th and he got to give a speech! There were about 10 student speakers, and I'm not biased or anything, and I have had this confirmed from other non-family members, but Benny's speech was BY FAR the best. He spoke well, and he wrote so many great things about his experience at our school. Most of the family was there, and the Brattons even came (They had 2 cousins graduating also).















This year was fun for us, because he came to my school. We rode together every morning and he hung out after school with me. I will definitely miss that! He also grew so much in the Lord-I was truly amazed. He was surrounded by kids who had been in private school all their lives, and at first he really struggled, but he rose to the challenge and we are so proud of him!



Mr. Zimmer, Benny's fantastic 6th grade teacher







The other thing is...I no longer have a child in elementary school. I can't believe it! One High Schooler and 2 Jr. Higher's. It's a different world for us now, no more coloring, cutting, pasting, no more book reports with adorable hand-drawn pictures, no more parent-teacher conferences..it goes on and on. I know that some of you have yet to start elementary school with your kids..my advice to you is..be as involved as you can. I missed so much of my kids' elementary experiences because I was working, I really do regret it. These last couple of years have been better because I have been able to take more time off, and I finished school 2 weeks earlier than my kids, so I've been able to participate in their end of the year activities, and the kids have loved it. So, even if you're a working mom...try to find something to help out with at their school- I used to send in baked goods for the monthly teacher birthday celebrations, I helped with the book fairs..and all of that was great, but I could have done so much more. It's weird because once you get to Jr. High, the parent involvement really drops off. They have a PTA, but it's not like before. It's very behind the scenes and the parents are a lot less visible. So, I have to get used to that, I guess.

Anyways, the last 2 weeks have been very bittersweet for us, as I pack up all of the kids elementary school projects and report cards and we prepare for a whole new world. Good news is, Ben will be at school with DJ and all 3 of them will be pretty much on the same schedule....God is good! :)