Whose Child Is This?

by Jessie Girl Rivera

'Whose child is this? ' I asked one day
Seeing a little one out at play
'Mine', said the parent with a tender smile
'Mine to keep a little while
To bathe her hands and comb her hair
To tell her what she is to wear
To prepare her that she may always be good
And each day do the things she should'

'Whose child is this? ' I asked again
As the door opened and someone came in
'Mine', said the teacher with the same tender smile
'Mine, to keep just for a little while
To teach her how to be gentle and kind
To train and direct her dear little mind
To help her live by every rule
And get the best she can from school'

'Whose child is this? ' I ask once more
Just as the little one entered the door
'Ours' said the parent and the teacher as they smiled
And each took the hand of the little child
'Ours to love and train together
Ours this blessed task forever.'

RIP to all the Sandy Hook Elementary Students and Educators.

Carlson First Grade Holiday Performance 2012

On Wednesday the Carlson Elementary 1st Grade class had their Holiday Performance. Our precious Ella and her classmates sang Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanza songs to an audience of loving and proud family members. Going through these pics was hard and I had to fight back tears. Each face on this stage is around the same age as the victims of Sandy Hook. But I do believe we honor the victims every time we celebrate and honor our beautiful children.

The Carlson Elementary 1st Graders


My baby is middle on the right :) Tall kids are never up front ha ha


She loves to belt out her songs


And she was super excited to have a special part during Rudolph lol...


These kids are so cute


They did such a good job


And they were decorated so cute as Elves, Nutcrackers and Reindeers. Except for Ella's class. Not sure what they were supposed to be ;)




And look at this one... giving me the pouty pleeeeaaaaassssseeeeeeee Mommy (with hands folded in prayer) look after she heard them announce there would be cookies after the show.


And I just melt every time that dimple appears when she is so happy that I said yes!


And I delivered on my promise :)


Thanks to the Carlson music teacher, Mrs. Okawa for putting this together. It was a great show.

Cheer Class Graduation

Ella has been participating in a Pom and Cheer class after school for the last 10 weeks. She recently had her graduation and they did a performance for the parents on the last day of class.

Here they are ready to go!

Cheer time!


Getting their completion certificates!


Posing for the camera!!


The entire class posing with their certificates :)


Ryen wanted to get on stage for a photo too! She always wants to be like her big Sister!

Happy First Day of School!

Kindergarten Graduation

I can't believe the school year went by so fast. We are so proud of our girl and all she learned socially and academically this year. We are so hopeful she will continue to make big strides and are looking forward to her new school and her starting the CTA program.

We ended the year with a Kindergarten graduation ceremony.



The kids sang a few adorable songs like "You Got a Friend in Me" and "I have Big Dreams"

 

Then they were called up to get their Kindergarten diplomas. Here is Ella's entire Kindergarten class. 2012 Mrs. Hughes :)



My dimple faced girl. She looks SO much Jimmy's Mom in this photo.



After the show we went back to the classroom for some treats and so the kids could say goodbye to each other. Here is Ella and her friend Ryan.



This was waiting for us on Ella's desk. A cute class photo but also a DVD of photos from the entire year of Kindergarten set to cute background music. Totally was not expecting that and I LOVED it!! :) What a great surprise!



My girl was so excited about her diploma, but was also so excited to give Mrs. Hughes her end of year gift.



We are so proud of her :)



Afterwards we let her pick where she wanted to have lunch and she chose The Olive Garden. So the three of us headed to lunch. Ryen would have loved to come but she was busy at school practicing for her own graduation ceremony that was happening later that night :) Congratulations baby! You had a great year and we are very excited and happy for you.

Ella's School Class Photo!!

Yay! It is here! The very first one. The first of many I will cherish and keep until she is old enough to take them off my hands. Her first official class photo. May I introduce you to...

Mrs. Hughes Kindergarten Class
Santan Elementary
2011-2012 School year

Big.Soft.Sigh.

Miscellaneous School Fun!

With the close of the school year coming (already!!) I wanted to take time to post some of these cute pics I have found on my phone.

Field Trip to the Farm



Spirit Week Pics!







Lunchroom pics with our friends :)




I just love these kiddos. In fact, this post reminds me it has been too long since I have had lunch with my baby at school! I think tomorrow is the perfect time to change that :)