2nd grade awards day

Last week, Northside Elementary held its Awards programs for each grade.  I am so proud of Emma;  she has done extremely well this year and we are very excited about her hard work and dedication.

Emma and one of her best friends (and biggest competitor), Carson)

Emma and Carson say the pledge.

Emma and her very special teacher: Mrs. Frizell

So Emma's biggest accomplishment and most excitement this year was her FIRST PLACE TROPHY IN AR!  She and Carson go back and forth for this award, and (to be perfectly honest) she was very excited to beat him!  I hope that her competitive spirit continues for many years to come:

Cameron, Carson and Emma with AR trophies.  All teachers' kids too!

Emma received several awards in her class this year:  Top award in Spelling, reading and language arts.  She also received All A's all year honor roll.  Like I said, very proud!

Proud daddy!

Emma and Carson with their AR awards

Emma and Mrs. Frizell

The proud mom!

Mother's Day Weekend

For Mother's Day weekend we decided to make a last minute trip to New Orleans for the weekend.  We love going to NO, and the girls always ask to visit.  This trip we walked around Magazine street (my personal favorite) on Saturday and then on Sunday we went to the Audubon Zoo. They were doing a Mother's Day special (mom's get in free) and Irma Thomas was playing music.  They had all kind of amazing craft booths and great food.  We had a great time.

The girls and I at the entrance

The weather was great.  Love this picture of Mark and the girls.

This crazy spider was "wild" outside one of the exhibits!

Emma petting the turtle

Emma and her fellow monkeys!

How amazing does this lunch look?  The margaritas were amazing!

Katie and  Emma in the hurricane machine

So Irma Thomas was playing for Mother's day and the crowd was huge!  It didn't effect the crowd so bad to see the animals b/c most of them set up to listen to the music.  Either way, it was such a fun atmosphere!

Northside Art Show

Northside Elementary does an Art Show every year as a fundraiser.  The winning pieces are auctioned off to raise money.  Emma got 2nd place in the 2nd grade this year, so I got to go bid for her work.  She was so proud:

Emma's 2nd place tile art work:

Emma's teacher has a daughter named Ava that seems to love Emma - here they are checking out the art work:

Emma and the winning pieces: 

Emma and Ava enjoy the art work and some impressive face painting:

Emma and her prize piece! 

Girl Scout camp

So a few weeks ago Emma got to experience her first Girl Scout camp outing.  She had a great time while she was there;  maybe a little homesick the second night, but I think she will be fine with it as she gets older.  The weather was gorgeous, but freakishly cold for the first weekend in May.  What should have been an easy packing event (shorts and t-shirts) got complicated when you had to throw in long pants and extra blankets!  Either way, it made this mom a little sentimental for her old Girl Scout days.  They spent the night on Friday and Saturday with their troop leaders, and the mom's got to come down for the day on Saturday.

Erin and Emma doing crafts Saturday morning.

The craft room: 

My sweetie hanging out and jump roping between activities: 

Heading back to the cabin after crafts and before canoeing: 

Emma and some of her troop: 

Waiting to get instructions on canoeing: 

Listening to some canoe safety from our instructor, Tyler. (Did I mention he is one of my former students?  - didn't recognize him with facial hair, but he recognized me!)

Marydale sign by the lake: 

Our whole troop with leaders, Melissa, Amy and Shari:

Emma taking the "spa" spot because we had an odd number in our troop.  She ended up switching canoes before they started and did get to paddle: 

Emma canoes with Mrs. Amy

Emma and Mrs. Amy canoe with Makalynn: 

Erin, Mia and Emma find a secret spot at camp: 

Getting ready to go swimming, finally! 

Playing some volleyball: 

One list picture before I leave for the evening with her nose shaped rock!