First Day 2013

Here we go again.

Another school year.

And changes again this year ...

Jacob is in 3rd grade,

Blaine is back at Mulberry in 5th grade,

and Jarrett ... oh my goodness.

6th grade at Dacula Middle School.

Yep - the boys are split up.

Two different schools.

Sniff!

Most of the Cleft kiddos ... l to r:

Katie Beth (1st), Whitney (1st), Ty (2nd), Jacob & Will (3rd), Anna Beth (4th), 

Riley Catherine & Blaine (5th), Jarrett (6th), Will (7th) and Wesley (9th).

Not pictured:  Grayson (K), Graham (8th), and Ethan (10th)

These 2 ... could they be any cuter??!

Graham came down later & let me get shots ... 

can you tell they are middle schoolers??

Always love the new shoes ...

Nana & O came to see the boys off ...

Only walking in 2 this year ...

WAAAHHHH!

Jacob with his teacher, Mrs. Stephen.

Can you tell he's excited??!

This kid LOVES school!

Walking down the 5th grade hall.

Blaine with his teacher, Mrs. Tucker.

Back in a traditional setting, 

and its perfect for him.

No walking this kid in ... 

just had to let him out of the car and watch him walk in.

Love that sweet smile - he's ready.

Whether we are or not.

Love making dinner for the Blaine & Jacob's teachers ... 

the first day is exhausting on the teachers!

Picking up Jarrett after school ... 

it was a great first day.

Looking forward to a wonderful year!

5th Grade Promotion

How did we get here??

Jarrett is officially finished with elementary school.

Finished.

Good grief!!!

Mulberry did a GREAT job of having a really nice ceremony.

The kids were all asked to wear nice clothes - as in ties for boys and dresses for girls.

Loved that!

They also got a quick lesson from the principal on good manners and appropriate behavior.

Loved that too!

We enjoyed Jarrett's favorite meal, BBQ, before we headed to the high school for the event.

Becky gave Jarrett his gift (check out that post here) and then we had some goodies for him as well.

He can now officially wear Dacula spiritwear for the middle school,

so we had to provide him some!!

We headed to the high school and got the best seats that we could.

I love that they use the theater there instead of trying to cram everyone in our cafeteria.

Ready to go!

Jarrett was part of the very first group to complete kindergarten thru 5th grade at Mulberry.

Mrs. Stranahan, the principal, with opening remarks.

Unfortunately, Jarrett's class was on the back row on stage!

It made it very tricky to get his picture.

All of the members of chorus sung a special song.

Jarrett was less than thrilled to participate!

Standing up for one of his honors - 

I think this one was for straight A's since 2nd grade.

Walking across to get his awards & certificate from Mrs. Stranahan.

Love this shot! 

I totally missed the shot of his teacher, Mr. Wenger,

hugging him.  It was so sweet!

Awards received:  medals for 5th grade promotion,

all A's since 2nd grade, and Special Area award

Afterwards, at the reception ...

Of course, Aunt Beck came!

Nana & O

Grandmama & Papa

These are Jarrett's teachers ... kindergarten thru 4th grade:

Mrs. Wilber, Mrs. Watkins (1st & 2nd), Mrs. Moore, and Mr. Cone

And all but 1 were at the ceremony!!!  Love that!

And Jarrett with his 5th grade teacher, Mr. Wenger.

We can't say enough how blessed we were by ALL these teachers.

They were each instrumental in growing Jarrett into the student he is now.

How do you ever say thanks for that??!

With his buddy Andrew.

With his best buddy Carson.

The 3 Amigos:  Jarrett, Carson, & Maddie.

This is big, a girl being in the picture. 

But dear Maddie is probably better at sports than most of the boys in 5th grade.

Seriously.

Mrs. Stranahan

The assistant principal, Mr. Day.

Jarrett's class

The fun collage of all the 5th graders.

What a wonderful 6 years!

GREAT days are ahead!!!

Last Day 2013!

Another last day post ... goodness!

Just to refresh - here's the first day:

And the last:

I'm not sure if all schools do this (but they should!), 

but Mulberry lets the 5th graders parade around the school on the last day 

while all the 'underclassmen' stand in the halls and high five and cheer for them.

What a great send off!!

Of course there were lots of 5th grade parents there too ...

so special.

And all this is done while the song 'Celebration' by Kool and the Gang

is blaring over the intercom ... super fun!

Students, parents & teachers lining the halls ...

Love that Jarrett sported his new Dacula shirt ...

he's pumped about next year!

High fives all around!

Jacob standing with his class to cheer them on ...

After the parade, all the 5th graders gathered in the front atrium

to see what gift their class would leave to Mulberry.

This year it was especially neat, 

since this was the first group of kids to go from K-5 at the school.

This huge carpet will stay in the atrium for all to see as they enter the school.

All the 5th graders' names are on it.

Love!

And, of course, Jarrett had to limbo one last time.

Sniff!!

(somehow I missed Jacob limbo-ing to 3rd grade!)

Coming to the jeep after school ... one last time at Mulberry.

Honestly, I did get a bit of a lump in my throat at this point.

We have loved Mulberry so much.

I'm not a fan of change.

TIME, PLEASE STAND STILL!!

But when I saw that Christa had once again put the sign out ...

I let out a huge sigh and smiled.

It's gonna be a GREAT summer!