Awana Derby and Graduation

As you saw in my first Awana post earlier in the year, our family absolutely loved this wonderful church program designed for kids. Every week Caleb and Hadley were so excited for Sunday evenings to come, and Dave and I were thankful for a little time to relax too. 

While teaching and having the kids memorize God's Word are the primary focus of Awana, they also have some fun side activities such as their game time segment each week. Annually, they also host the Awana Derby in which the kids can design and create their own cars to race. This year, my oldest son got to be part of this friendly competition. 

After purchasing the car kit, Caleb and Dave got to work planning our boy's racer. First, Dave showed Caleb several pictures of other derby cars on the Internet to get some ideas since he'd never experienced a race before. Then, Caleb got to work designing exactly how he wanted his to look.

Later that day, Dave helped him cut out the design...

...and then he taught Caleb how to sand it with sandpaper.

Finally, Caleb painted it and they attached the wheels so that, aside from adding the weights in the back, it was all ready to go.

Sister wanted a turn!

Once we arrived at the church for the competition, they weighed in and it thankfully fell right within the allotted range. Then, all Caleb had to do was wait for his turn.

He lost the first and third brackets but won the second. He didn't seem to pay much attention to winning or losing though; he just liked racing.

At the end, each kid got a participation ribbon which he was happy about too.

 

Sadly, at the end he dropped his car and chipped a piece off the top, but Mommy told him we could glue it back and thankfully he didn't get too upset.

It was definitely a good activity for a father in son to do together, and his first Awana derby car has become a special keepsake that's now displayed on his bookshelf for safe keeping.

Just a few weeks later, they wrapped up the year with their award ceremony.

They sang a song or two they'd practiced.

Hadley had the sweetest teacher who was always come up with creative ways to teach the kids about God creating the world. We are so thankful she got to participate in Puggles. If it were up to Hadley, I think she'd loved to stay a Puggle forever. We love Ms. Noelle!

Caleb's teacher, Mrs. Tutton, has been helping with the Awana program for ten years. She was great at working with the little ones too and flexible to allow us to catch up on the workbook if we missed a week here or there. Though Caleb will be moving on to Sparks next year, Hadley will be a Cubby, so we'll hopefully see a lot more of Mrs. Tutton.

In the front of Caleb's workbook was a page displaying all the awards the kids could earn for completing the sections in their book. He loved to flip to it and gaze at all the prizes in anticipation of when he might finish the entire book, receiving all his patches as well as a completion ribbon. With all the snow days this year though, there wasn't going to be quite enough sessions for the kids to finish their books. Mrs. Tutton said she would give all the kids that had participated regularly the award ribbon anyway, but I thought Caleb could finish the workbook if he put his mind to it so we decided to double up on a few. How excited he was when he finished and was awarded that ribbon and his final patches!

After the awards ceremony, the kids were given Awana money to shop at the little store they had set up there. Here is Hadley with her friend after choosing her prizes....This little girl in the pic always called Hadley her "circle friend" since they weren't in the same class but always found each other during the song time. Next year they'll be together in Cubbies!

Awana is one of the few programs I really wish ran year long. We definitely had a bit of withdrawal the first few weeks after it ended. Hopefully this fall even Reid will be able to participate, making the new year that much more exciting to look forward to.

Wrapping Up Preschool

This school year brought our whole family into new territory as Caleb started preschool. Instead of waking up and being able to stay in our pjs for a while in the mornings, three days a week we were in the routine of getting everyone ready to get out the door in order to take big brother for a half day of learning at his school. While there were some inconveniences that resulted, especially having his siblings to juggle too, in the end, there were definitely pay-offs as we watched him grow both socially and academically.

Going to school was sometimes a nice break from the same ole' same ole' at home for Caleb. Looking at the same toys day in and day out gets a little old, and so does playing with your younger siblings or waiting around for Mommy to tend them when you want her attention. At school they always had something going on though. From practicing handwriting and reading to playing outside on the playground or indoors on the moon bounce, they kept the kids entertained and productive. Going to chapel, playing with friends, doing crafts, etc. were all good things to fill up a morning.

Caleb especially got excited about the dress up days. On occasion they were invited to wear their pajamas to school or a pair of sunglasses to keep things fun. On the 100th day of school back in February, they were challenged to dress up like someone who was a 100 years old. Here's our little grandpa...

In March, they got to dress up like their favorite character from Dr. Seuss. 

I am not sure if Horton was really Caleb's favorite, but it was the best Mommy could come up with. :)

April's dress up day was especially up Caleb's alley since they got to wear their clothes backwards and he loves all things silly.

Since this is our first real school experience with peers, it was fun to seem him get to participate in things like making Valentines for his friends.

Caleb had over 20 kids in his class so I'd planned to let him do a few each night, but we got behind. He wrote several of them but got worn out quickly. And, since handwriting is a tortuous task in his opinion, Mommy had mercy on the poor boy and helped him finish the rest...I noticed a lot of other Valentines he received were written by other kids' mommies too. :)

He hand chose which card went to each friend.

He wanted to hand make Valentines for his whole class, but somehow along the line we agreed that it might work out best just to make ones for his teachers and buy the rest (even that was a messy task).

Hadley wanted to make one for Auntie Beth too!

He also really had a good time preparing his teachers' end of the year gifts.

One of the hardest parts of sending Caleb to school for me was that I felt like I was missing out on his day. Though having a break is sometimes nice, I hate to miss any part of their little lives. That said, the few opportunities, I had to join him at school events were so special to me as I got a peek at him in his preschool world.

One of those events was a Valentine's party.

More recently, I also got to spent a couple hours with him on field day. 

I love that they are having some good old fashion fun.

Uh-oh, Caleb....You're falling behind!

What enthusiasm!

Homemade giant Kerplunk!

Over and under....fill that bucket.

Attending the Mothers of Preschoolers group the school/church hosts twice a month allowed me to get another glimpse into Caleb's classroom. While we didn't get to go all that much due to illnesses and weather this winter, when we did this gave Hadley and Reid a chance for a little socialization and to experience a bit of what their brother did when he was away from them.

In March, the school also had a family night when the kids did a few things they'd been learning and received awards. Our immediate family plus my mom and her parents came to see Caleb perform a couple poems they'd prepared.

He was so excited when he spotted NaNa.

Since we really struggled with handwriting this year, Caleb ended up receiving the award for most perseverance because, after months of working on pencil grip, he finally got it.

He said it was the "best" award and was thrilled.

The night before school ended, the school also hosted a graduation night. Again the whole family made it out to see the performance. Caleb did great at saying his part and even reading aloud in front of the whole audience. :)

I didn't really have any pictures of him with his teacher. She was so enthusiastic about working with the kids and you could tell from day one that she wanted to be there....Thanks, Ms. Yvette for all your hard work!

Caleb loved Ms. Mandy (the assistant teacher in his classroom) too. She was always so encouraging

Finally came the last day. 

We were ready for the summer, but it was bittersweet for Caleb to leave his friends behind and for me to think about kindergarten coming in the fall.