Recap: End of 6th grade and other stuff

Pretend it's April/May/June.

Right after Elena's Honor Choir field trip, she had a field trip to Shenandoah National Park (literally the next day). The weather was horrible (pouring rain), Elena got left behind on the hike (I was seriously pissed off, but things happen). She was with her aide and myself. Long story, lessons learned, etc. but in essence, just about everyone on that trip was pretty miserable. At any rate, it was *memorable*.

Just...horrible. (This was a short break in the pouring rain.)

We went to a friend's beach house (so lovely!). We played games, played in the ocean, E and Viv even got to kayak and paddleboard! We had such a GREAT TIME. Super fun, and the kids were pretty independent. As a matter of fact, their first move on the beach was to paddleboard out of sight (quickly followed by parents).

Paddleboarding!

How I like to kayak.

Elena had her 12th birthday. TWELVE. Honestly, there's so much to say, but as I'm still playing catch-up, I'll leave it at this: Elena is rocking it right now. She has a good sense of her disability, is very real about it, but tries very hard to not let it get in her way. She is growing more responsible and mature (but not too quickly!) and makes us proud every day. We love you E!

E at the school Track Meet. Her relay team was AWESOME. She is carrying her baton in her "pocket shirt".

May consisted of school SOLs (Standard of Learning) and Elena had goals to pass all of them, with an Advanced Pass in Language Arts (she has never had an advanced pass, and in the past these tests have been incredibly anxiety provoking and she has failed several). She only had two; she passed her Math SOL (solidly!) and was one point away from an Advanced Pass in LA. Wow!

June was the end of school wrap-up; concerts (Elena), performance (Vivian), sports (baseball for Viv), and a flurry of academic presentations to showcase the kids' achievements. Honestly, it felt like something was happening every evening for the first two weeks of June. I loved seeing what the kids (and their friends) had accomplished this year--impressive!

Vivian ended the school year with great grades (numbers, not letter grades or tests yet, much to her dismay) and Elena ended up with all As (including MATH!!!) with one high B (Language Arts). She worked HARD for those grades, I tell you. What a year. I can't believe I'm writing this, but 6th grade was a smash hit!!