More Graduations!

Leah finished up her middle school career last week! Poppy & Gheghe came down for the weekend and then we all attended Leah's graduation ceremony on Monday. Along with a middle school diploma, she received the Citizenship Award, won the Patriotic Essay writing contest (second year in a row!), received the President's Education Outstanding Academic Achievement Award and the Bronze Scholarship Award. Jack received the National Physical Fitness award (and was nominated for the Robert A Gibbs Athletic Award) along with several academic mentions in individual subjects. His art work placed second in the county-wide Yom Hasoah Day of Remembrance Art Contest. So, we are pretty proud of these two! They will both be attending new schools next year, and we know they are going to kick butt! Way to go, Leah & Jack!

Shape Monster, Shape Monster!

Will's class put on their first presentation on Thursday, performing the ever-popular Shape Monster puppet show. The kids prepared for the show by constructing their own shape guy, having to match their skin, eye, and hair colors. They then sang the Shape Monster song for all the parents. Will did a great job, singing every verse of the song with gusto! This may seem to be your typical, run-of-the-mill preschool thing to do, but for us, it is quite monumental to see how far he has come.

Since Ethan is off galavanting in California, the class displayed his shape guy during the show, so he was there in spirit (and construction paper)!

Social climber.

John and I accompanied Leah and her classmates on an 8th grade field trip to our local rock-climbing facility. Leah did really well, making it up the straight wall higher than anyone else. Her arms are pretty sore today, but she is looking forward to going back for more!

So glad they canceled school today so these poor kids wouldn't have to go out in the big storm.

First Day!

Today was Will's first day back at preschool. This year he is in the PreK class with his buddy Ethan, and he will be going every morning.


















He had a fantastic first day!

Second day: school canceled due to T.S. Fay. We'll keep you posted!

School's out!

Last day today! But before we go, we must pause for a brief PBA (Public Brag Announcement)!

Leah & Jack received many awards at today's festivities - both received High Honor Roll for this quarter, along with the President's Education Outstanding Academic Achievement Award. They also received several academic awards, and received recognition for service, athletics, citizenship, scholarship, and spirit.

Last month every student wrote an essay detailing their choice for "Most Influential American" in the last 50 years. The essays were then judged by the top administration at all six schools. The finalists and winner were announced at the ceremony today. The top three finalists were... Jack, Leah, and some other kid. And the award-winning essay was written by... Leah! She was completely surprised and had to read her essay aloud after they called her name. It was excellently and effortlessly written. Yes, I am biased, but I speak the truth.


















Way to go, guys! We are so proud of you both. And believe it or not, a year from now Leah will be wearing the cap and gown...

Talent Show!

Carolyn gets the prize... Jack and some friends performed a dance routine to Hannah Montana's See You Again (or is it Miley Cyrus?). He certainly does have a certain talent for entertaining people! Too bad he's so shy, though.

K.N.O. (Kids Night Out)

Tonight Leah & Jack attended their final school dance of the year - a formal affair, of course!

They had a great time, and now we all are looking forward to summer vacation!

Bet your bottom dollar...

... you lose the blues in Chicago!































And they are off. We got the kids to the airport at 5:45am this morning and they boarded their flight to the Windy City with much excitement! I was able to capture a few shots at the airport, and I am hoping for some emailed iphone photos over the weekend to share. They have an extremely fun-filled, non-stop tour of Chicago planned!

Leah & Jack, we miss you but we know you are having a great time exploring a new city! We are beyond proud of you for being so brave and adventurous!

Cool School of the Week!

MyFox Orlando | Cool School of the Week

Each week one of our local news stations broadcasts their morning show live from a different "Cool School of the Week"... and this week Page was chosen! Actually, they filmed down at our Orlando branch, but they invited our middle schoolers to participate. Definitely watch the video and look through the pictures and see if you recognize anyone!

**Nice pass, Jack. That guy couldn't catch a cold if he were naked in a snowstorm!

Blogged with the Flock Browser

And we'll keep on fightin', til the end...

Jack's team played in the championship game last night. And wow, what a game! The boys on both teams played hard and fast from the first minute. The score stayed neck and neck through most of regulation. At the final buzzer, we watched our opponents celebrate their win by 2 points. But wait... the refs add .4 seconds back on the clock, and give our guys possession. Nick passes in to Yaseen, and Y hits a 2-pointer at the buzzer to tie it up and force the game into overtime!















After double overtime, with about 5 seconds left, our opponents took possession of the ball and set up for a three-point shot to tie up the score again. Jack ran in and blocked the shot with one hand, with the other raised in victory! League Champs!

Day of Valentine's.

Jack & Leah attended their school's annual Valentine's dance tonight, wherein Jack was voted "Prince" of the dance. Neither was too keen on having their pictures taken, but I did the best I could do. A fun time was had by all (or so I'm told).

Jack's turn!

You may remember this post, and this one, and of course, this one. Today, Jack has joined what appears to be becoming a family tradition... he was officially inducted into the National Junior Honor Society.

Way to go, Jack!

Signing in to the National Registry.

Let the music play.

Yesterday afternoon we had the opportunity to watch and listen to Jack and Leah's first band performance. The school band is new this year, so the kids have only been practicing together since August. Most of the kids in the band only first started their instruments in August as well. They have had to learn how to put their instruments together, take them apart, clean them, read music, follow the conductor's leads, actually play the right notes at the same time as everyone else, and also, breathe at some point. So for only having been together for three months, it was pretty impressive!