Pomp and Circumstance

It seems like only yesterday that Sweet Baboo graduated from Sunshine Day School. Here she is at 5 years old in her 1st cap and gown.

On Tuesday of this week, Sweet Baboo graduated from the 5th grade...with Presidential Honors (more about that in a minute)...and here she is in her super cute polka-dot dress made by Bebe. Thankfully, we did not have to rent/purchase a cap and gown for this event.

Sweet Baboo has had a fabulous 6 years at Heritage Elementary School. She's made new friends, stayed close to old ones, learned all kinds of things like reading, math, science and social studies. She has grown butterflies in her classroom, looked at vinegar eels under a microscope, and completed projects that included the lifecycle of a plant and the history of her hometown, Thompson's Station. She has had wonderful teachers. In kindergarten Miss Janet was her teacher, and Miss Janet had also been Mommy's kindergarten teacher - that was ultimately cool!!! Her wonderful teachers have also included: 1st grade-Mrs. Hicklin, 2nd grade-Mrs. Maxwell, 3rd grade-Mrs. Reina, 4th grade-Mrs. Jewell and 5th grade-Mrs. Dreyer. She has gone on totally cool field trips to the Sam B. Davis home, a walking tour of Nashville, Cumberland Caverns where she explored a cave, to Chattanooga - where she and Bebe saw penquins and she touched sharks and stingrays, and to JA Biz Town - see the "Hey Miss DJ put a Record on" post on this blog.

Here she is with Mrs. Jewell -her 4th grade teacher that she loved, loved, loved!!!

And here she is with Mrs. Dreyer - her awesome 5th grade teacher that she loves and had too much fun with!!!
Sweet Baboo has always received excellent grades and has always received comments on her report cards such as "Kendall is such a delightful child. She is such a joy to have in class." She has never "pulled her color" and she has always scored really high on TCAP's and various other tests. Ryan and I have always been so proud of her accomplishments. But on Tuesday, we were surprised with an accomplishment that we did not know about. Even the 5th grade students did not know who would receive the award. SB received a "President's Education Award". To receive this award the student must maintain an A average for the entire year of 4th grade, the first semester of 5th grade and score higher than 85% on reading and math on their 4th grade TCAPS. It was such an honor and surprise for us when Dr. LaChance called Kendall's name. Which by the way was a grueling wait since our last name starts with a W and she called out the names in alphabetical order. Great job, SB, we are so proud of you!!!
We enjoyed the ceremony very much, that is the parts that we could hear...but that is a post for another day. We also enjoyed sitting with Big Nanny, Lawnmower Man, and the Medium Nanny - the Lil Nanny was also a part of the graduation celebration. Congrats Lil Nanny!!! So the girls are off to middle school - 6th grade - here they come!!!

Here are SB, Mommy and Bebe after the ceremony...


And Sweet Baboo with her proud Daddy...
And this picture was just for fun...one of the great things about SB getting older is that her feet are getting bigger...and sometimes if we are lucky, we can find matching mommy/daughter shoes...SB's foot is on the left, Mommy's is on the right.

We celebrated SB's graduation with a dinner out at Logan's - guess what she ordered for her celebratory meal...anyone...anyone...that's right...sweet tea, chicken fingers and fries.

The only sad part about the evening was that because of SB's 5th grade graduation, we had to miss Tenley's High School graduation. Tenley is our beautiful niece who at 5 years old believed that Ryan was her boyfriend. Reid loves Tenley...he calls her his "little lamb". Tenley were are so proud of you! You are a beautiful, smart, funny and "gifted" young lady. We love you very much!

We will be celebrating with Tenley and her family on Saturday. We will also be celebrating with Reid's "Love" on Friday evening. We will be going to PHS's graduation and to the Johnson's for Olivia's celebration party. Congratulations to all of 2009's graduates!

And an update on graduation news, Reid received his report card today and he has been promoted to the 2nd grade. Whew...that was close!!! Not really close, but apparently, Reid was somewhat worried. He told me so this morning as we were walking into school to pick up his report card. We picked up the report card, gave Mrs. Hicklin a hug (yes, Kendall and Reid had the same 1st grade teacher - love it!) and as we were walking to the car..."Well, mom, did I make it?" Make what, son? "To 2nd grade, did I make it?" Yes, son you did. I guess he was really worried that too many checks in the "needs to control talking" box might hold him back. Because trust me, he had plenty of checks in that box. :-) I think his mommy had a few of those in her day...