Good-bye McGaheysville Elementary School!!

Our era at McGaheysville Elementary School has come to an end.  I can't believe it!!!  Ryan started Kindergarten at MES in August of 2008 and Lydia and Emily have now completed 5th grade in June of 2016.  My mom once said to me that while my brother and I were going through various stages of childhood, it often seemed as if it took a long time to get through various events, but when she looked back on the time that had passed all at once--time had gone so quickly.  This is so true!!  I felt like we would never get completely out of elementary school (even though I love MES!!), but as I look back on the past 8 years, it really has flown by!!!

                                       
Ryan's first day of Kindergarten

                                                                Lydia and Emily's first day                                                                                             of Pre-K



Lydia and Emily had their 5th grade farewell on June 10.  They both received several awards as well as being presented with their completion certificate.  The 4th grade parents host the farewell (I helped with the hosting when Ryan was in 4th and when Lydia and Emily were) which was so nice.  The little photo booth was a big hit!!!  

Emily and Lydia with their first MES teacher, Ms. Therese Warner and their last MES teacher, Ms. Marianne Cline.  In Pre-K there was just one class so they had to be together.  For 5th grade we decided to put them together because we don't feel they will be together much in middle school.  Their strengths are so different which will cause them to have different classes.  They even picked different electives.  Ms. Cline is retiring after this year.  She has some new grandbabies on the way. Twins even!!  Two amazing women!!  We will miss you MES!!  We've come a long way baby.  

Lydia photobombing behind Ryan Layman and Owen Garshwiler (2 of her classmates)

Owen Garshwiler with Emily and Lydia.  Owen came to MES in the 1st grade.  He was in Emily's homeroom class that year.  We happened to run into him and his family at the soccer field one day.  Owen and Emily saw one another and hugged each other.  This caused me to meet Owen's mom, Molly, and this started a great friendship.  It is so true that your friends are who your kids friends are.  :)  It has been great having the girls in school with Owen all these years.  Owen has a younger sister, Cate who still has two more years at MES.

Lydia and Emily were accepted in the Pre-K program at MES.  This was difficult to make happen--especially with two kids needing to get in there.  While at the farewell, we got the kids who are still at MES who were in that class, together for a picture.  L to R--Lydia Washington, Emily Washington, Therese Warner (teacher), Emma Cude, Lilly Raynes, Austin Nichols, Ulnemic Chen.  Damien Burner and Kobe Marsten were also in that class and still at MES, but Kobe was not at the farewell and Damien left before we had the idea to take this picture.  :(

Processional for the 5th grade farewell

 Emily receiving her certificate for maintaining honor roll throughout the year.

 Emily and Lydia receiving their certificate for perfect attendance.

Emily was a library helper this year.  Each year the librarian asks several 5th graders to help out in the mornings.  They assist in checking out books, collecting books from the classes who will be visiting the library that day and checking books back in.  The 5th graders put their name in if they are interested in helping out with different things.  Emily was selected from the names and LOVED helping in the library!!  She and the other 4 students were the ones who helped out--one each day of the week.  Her day was Wednesday.  This is the certificate she received for doing this.

 The PE department honored several students for being exceptional in Physical Education.  Lydia and Emily each received a certificate for the Rockingham County Schools Standards of Physical Education.  In order to receive this they needed to maintain a certain level of ability and strength in PE.  We didn't know they would be getting this.  It was a nice surprise.

 Each year the music teacher at MES has a 5th grade chorus.  The 5th graders who choose to be part of the chorus are welcome to join.  The year the majority of the 5th grade participated in the chorus.  It was really great!  Emily and Lydia were part of this chorus.  Emily is interested in participating in the chorus in middle school.  Lydia's drama interest may conflict.

 Emily receiving her certificate of completion of the 5th grade.  And Elementary School.  She is now eligible to move on to Middle School.

Lydia receiving her certificate of completion of the 5th grade.  And Elementary School.  She is now eligible to move on to Middle School.

 Lydia and Katelyn Shifflett

 L to R--Katelyn, Marley, Thalya, Emely, Emily, Emma, Lydia

 Lydia and her good friend Jesela Cooper

 Emily and Lydia with Abby Showalter.  Abby started school at MES in 3rd grade.  Her father is in the military.  The day after school ended, Abby and her family moved to Hawaii.  Her father is going to be stationed there for the next few years.  Unfortunately she will not be moving to Middle School with the girls.

 Emily with Katelyn and her good friend Hayleigh.

 Our family in front of the MES sign.  The end of an era.

Crazy girls!!!  Marley, Katelyn, Hayleigh, Emily and Lydia

Bulletin board made for the 5th graders

Dance'n the Night Away

Ryan is getting ready to finish up his 7th grade year in middle school.  Middle school is where the dances start.  The elementary school where the kids went/go doesn't host dances.  It is strange for me to send my son to dances.  He went a few times during 6th grade, even met his girlfriend there.  This year he has not been to any of them, but wanted to go to the last one.  The last dance is the "formal" dance.  I have such mixed feelings about it as for the 8th graders, it is much like prom.  There are kids arriving in limos, paying LOTS of money for dresses and then there is an after party.  It makes me sad to think that the kids won't want or need to go to prom in high school as they will have already experienced it.  I hope not.

Ryan doesn't have a girlfriend right now so he went to the dance with two friends.  They dressed up and had a good time.  Growing up so fast!!

Kendall and Ryan

Ryan, Kendall and Andrew

Parker Reunion

Parker Reunion 2016.  We had cornhole and everything set up for a great tourney after eating and it rained.  :(  Still visited inside some, but reunion ended quickly.  Maybe next time will be better.  Not much to write on this one, but wanted to include the picture.

Break a Leg Lydia!!

Lydia has always done the Turner Ashby Drama Camp that is held each summer.  This year we signed her up for the Blue Ridge Community College production of Looking Glass Land.  She was in a cast of kids that ranged from 9 years old to 17 years old.  Some of these kids had been doing the BRCC productions for years and some were just starting like Lydia.  She made some great friends and learned so much about acting and stage presence!  She is ready to do the fall musical that starts in September.  The cast practiced each Saturday from January until May.  The week of the production she had rehearsal every night.  It was great seeing her come home every night made up like the red pawn.  :)  Even coming to Emily's softball game, made all up, one night was particularly funny.  She was so wonderful and Mike and I were so proud of her!!!  They did their production three different nights and one afternoon.  We were blown away by the talent that radiated from that stage each time!!

Ms. Cline, Lydia's teacher came to see her on opening night.  She was so surprised and happy to see her!!  Such a special lady!!  Lydia had a classmate, Owen, who was also in this production.  Ms. Cline gave them each such a sweet card and gift card on their opening night.  We will miss her next year in Middle School!!

These two girls were Lydia's dear friends!!  Lydia is next to Olivia and the one in the jean shorts (who had already changed out of her costume before I could catch her for a picture) was Moriah.  Moriah was the first friend Lydia made and Olivia was one that came later.  They were three peas in a pod.  It was great!!  Moriah is home schooled and going into the 7th grade and Oliva goes to another middle school in our district and is also entering 7th grade.  I don't believe there was anyone else that was Lydia's age (entering 6th grade), but they were great to her.  They had also both done BRCC productions in the past.

Grammy and Paw Paw came to see Lydia for the Friday production.  It was great that they were able to come see her!  Grammy came back on Sunday with Lydia's cousin Penny (Adella was not able to come), but Penny didn't want to take a picture with Lydia that day.  Guessing the make up threw her.  :(

This is another Olivia.  She played Alice.  Lydia really liked her and wanted to have her picture with Alice.  I love it!!  She had A LOT of lines to memorize.  It was crazy!!

This picture was taken during a warm up exercise one of the practice nights.  This is Moriah, Lydia and Oliva waiting for their turn in the warm up.

This is the play director.  Justine.  She was AMAZING!!!  She is very laid back and was so great for Lydia and her first year doing this BRCC production.  She is not the director of the musical, but I am sure we will be seeing her next year for the winter/spring production!!!

On Sunday, two of Lydia's good friends and classmates came to see her in Looking Glass Land.  Owen is the guy in the crown next to her.  He was the "Red King" and actually played Lydia's dad in the play.  She thought that was pretty funny. Owen was great as well!!  They are both future talents for sure!!!  Next to Emily is Abby.  She has gone to school with Lydia and Emily for three years now.  Her dad is in the military and this is the longest she has ever stayed in one place.  The day after the last day of school, Abby and her family moved to Hawaii.  Next to Abby and Lydia is Jesela.  She is also a good friend of Lydia's.  She has appeared in blog posts before.

Such a great experience!!

Forest Fire

For roughly 2 weeks, starting mid April and going through the end of April or first part of May, our area had a major forest fire!  We were able to see the flames from our house.  The smoke became quite an obstacle in our area as sporting events had to be rescheduled due to the poor air quality conditions and the ashes that were floating around for those couple of weeks.  It was really sad and scary.  I am all about smelling a campfire when camping, but when you are constantly living in it and it seeps in your home and in your place of work, it gets really tiresome.  

The firefighters were amazing!!  They were doing everything they could to get it contained and keep it from taking over the homes at the bottom of the mountain.  They were successful!  No ones home was in danger, but there were so many in the path.  While we could see the flames from our house, our house was not in immediate danger thank heavens.  At the time, we had not had rain in so many weeks.  God answered our prayers and brought the rain that ended up extinguishing the fire.  It was wonderful!!!

These pictures are ones I wish I could take credit for, but can't.  The top one was taken by a friend of mine who works in the school this "smoke face" appeared over.  The flag is in front of her school.  For several days we just saw smoke.  Then the flames started being visible.  More so at night, but even during the day from certain areas. The second picture was taken as a view from our house, but is taken from the school that is next to our neighborhood.  We saw the same view, but the guy who took this was not on our deck when he took it.  :)  The pictures I took were this same angle, but not this nice.  It really was pretty, but crazy how it was living in it.

My cousin, Michael, was making a delivery at Coors during the forest fire.  He called me and told me that Mike needed to turn the heat down on the grill--he was burning the steaks.  :)  Too funny.  We have seen the damage and growth of the area on Skyline Drive.  It is amazing how much growth has come back!!  It happens quickly!!   

Club 56--Making their mark

I don't believe I have ever been as proud of my girls as I was today.  Lydia and Emily are part of a youth group--at our church--called Club 56.  It is a group of 5th and 6th graders, and another mother and I are the youth leaders.  Ryan was part of this group last year and the year before and now it is the girls turn.  Each year, our youth group preforms a church service for our local Presbyterian retirement community.  Many of the service attendees live in the assisted living portion of the community, but some come from the apartments within the community.  In addition, the residents who are not able to make it to the service because they are feeling sick, etc., the church services are piped into their rooms.  Well, today was the day for our service.

The last two years, Ryan has participated in being one of the ushers.  He has never been comfortable with speaking in front of people so he left the speaking parts to his group members.  Emily felt the same way this year.  She was not interested in speaking in front of anyone.  She felt comfortable with handing out bulletins and collecting the offering.

Because our group is a little smaller this year than it was the last two years, we needed to make sure we had enough kids who were comfortable speaking.  Lydia volunteered to do the Children's Sermon.  Emily agreed to hand out the crackers that were to go with the story Lydia told.  We do a children's sermon and the younger siblings of our group members are the children that come forward.  Lydia read the entire story (found at the bottom of this blog) and Emily handed out the crackers.  Lydia was amazing!  She even wanted to add to her prayer . . . "and all God's Children say . . . " and everyone in the congregation says Amen.  Our Pastor will often say that and she asked if she could add that to the prayer that we picked.  I was so proud of her.  In addition to the Children's Sermon, she also did the greeting.  In the greeting she welcomed everyone and explained who we were and what Club 56 was about.  She also introduced the ushers.  And then, towards the end of the service, she did the Prayer of Thanksgiving and lead the congregation in saying the Lord's Prayer.  She was wonderful!  All the Club 56 kids were wonderful!!  I was just so proud of the way she took this and ran with it.  We had talked about making eye contact, but didn't talk about it much.  I don't know if she forgot to do it or was nervous.  Most likely forgot.  Either way, thought it was good.  She never looked back and never hesitated or seemed nervous.  For 5th and 6th graders--they were all amazing!!

 Emily passing out bulletins with her club mates . . . Ashley, Connor and Megan (Megan used to be on the Crush softball team with Emily)

 Emily giving a bulletin to one of our dads.

 Lydia, delivering the service greeting.

 Lydia reading the Children's Sermon story to the kids.

I was not able to get a very good picture, but this is a picture of Emily passing out the crackers to the kids.  It was part of the story.

Emily passing the offering plates.

The four ushers dropping the offering plates at the front of the church and Lydia giving the prayer of thanksgiving and the lords prayer.

 The hymns and prayers are projected in the front of the church for the congregation  This was during her leading the Lord's Prayer.  I really was saying the prayer while taking this picture.  Can you see her at the pulpit at the bottom?

After the service, we took the kids to Golden Corral for Breakfast/Brunch.  This is tradition.  They had such a great time and enjoyed celebrating what they accomplished.

Here is the bulletin that everyone received in the service and the story that Lydia told during the Children's Sermon.

Here is the link to the service.  If you would like to watch it you can.  It is about 30 minutes, but of course you can skip over parts with kids you don't know.  So very proud of Lydia!!
https://youtu.be/s8Nlb-hFhx4