Last days of 4th grade

Well there she is on her last day of 4th grade. She is now officially a 5th grader. 

It seems so much older 5th grade. It's when I met my best friend Michelle, who still after all these years, 34 years later is still my BFF. Becky and I talk about how we remember 5th grade, the teacher, what we learned, projects we did. So it feels very much like Ally is leaning childhood. But we have known it was going to happen sometime. And she is ready. And it's not like we have a choice. So forward we go. But not without a summary of the last few weeks of school. 

   

Outside school on the last day. She was so embarrassed to have her picture taken there, but she did it. Yes her blue hair has already faded to a pinky-purplish color. She wishes it was still blue, and we might go back for more color. But she says she is still happy she did it. 

After school we continued our tradition of a swim play date with friends. Becky and I drive girls to the pool for a swim and snack on the rooftop patio and then back to our place for some hangout time until parents come pick them up. 

 

Willow, Catalina, Ellie and Ally. Such a fun group of girls. 

 

enjoying the sun and snack 

 

Ally told me on Sunday night "I don't think we will learn much this week" and she was right, the last 5 days of school were filled with movies, field day, pajama day and the 4th grade showcase and concert. Fun all of it, but frankly not much was taught or learned. 

 

In her pajamas for school. 

 

A close up on her ponytail. I used a lock of the colored hair to wrap around the pony. So pretty. 

 

Tuesday after school there was a potluck snack picnic with the 2nd grade. There are a bunch of kids with siblings in each grade so the homeroom parents organized a play date at the park near school. One mom brought a cake to celebrate the end of school. We brought drinks and papergoods and it was a fun time. 

 

Ally with her friends, Camilla, Willow, Catalina and Charlotte. 

The 4th grade showcase:

 

Ally and several friends wrote a song to sing to their teacher who is retiring after this year. They performed it in front of the entire school at an all school assembly and then also performed it for the 4th grade parents at the showcase. 

Ally's copy of the lyrics are below. 

Ally. Maya, Catalina, Augustina and Katerina sang, Else played violin and Alma the viola, Lizzie played bongos and Charlotte piano. It was a tear jerker. 

The class also sang some songs and played a few songs on the recorder. 

 

Ally's projects were on display. 

 

Each student chose a region of the country, Ally picked the Northeast. She couldn't really explain why she chose that, but she did the research and made the poster in classtime at school. I am actually impressed with how much she learned. 

The other projects were related to non-fiction books the students read. 

 

Ally made a collage of pictures of Laurie Hernandez, the Olympic gymnast and winner of Dancing with the Stars. 

She wrote an autobiography. I read it too. Good book. 

 

For her Spanish selection Ally chose a biography of Malala, the Afghan girl who won a Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts to make education accessible to girls in Afghanistan. Ally drew the sketches. 

Below are pictures from Field Day. I usually stop by for 30 minutes or so, but this year I volunteered to help out. Ally was not happy about that, but in the end it all worked out ok. And I didn't embarrass her. 

 

Fill the bucket race. 

 

Her teammates, Catalina, Becker, Camilla, Ellie and Ally. 

 

The next event wa say relay race to gather tennis balls, each of which had a letter on it, and when all were picked up the team had to make as many words as they could. Ally was with Olive and Antonio.

 

 The water based sledding race was next. But Electric Slide came on the speaker and Ally's teacher, Mr. Hernandez led the class in the entire dance. It was a riot. I will say Ally was a half hearted participant in that one. 

  

Another event, another team. This was for Quidditch. Teammates, Daniela, Alma, Olive and Willow. 

 

I think her huge smile shows how much fun Ally had. And it turns out she was a ringer in Quidditch. She scored almost every time. 

It has been a great year. Ally received a fantastic final report card and we are so proud of her. 

New Hair

Ally has had her own hair stylist since she joined our family 10 years ago at 7 months of age. 

 

That is baby Ally with Feri after her first haircut, right before we headed to PA for her baptism.

Here she is today with Feri:

The salon has watched Ally grow up. When she was a baby and toddler and little girl they would see her every 6 weeks or so for a haircut. As she has gotten older and has long hair she only goes about 3 times a year. A few months ago when we were there the salon owner, Judy offered to streak Ally's hair with some color if it was alight with us and if Ally wanted it.

Ally definitely wanted it and has been asking me about it for weeks. Today she had it done.

 

 

 

 

 

I left Ally at this point and Becky and I picked her up 3 hours later. This is the first step, bleach.

 

 

M 

 

 

 

 

 

Gymnastics Banquet

Tonight Ally had her gymnastics banquet. All of the team boys and girls at her gym are invited to the event from 6-8 at a local community center. Over 100 gymnasts attended the banquet. There was dinner (pizza and pasta Ally told us she ate some of both). A DJ for dancing, and candlepin bowling. The athletes were supposed to get dressed up. It was for the gymnasts only. Parents dropped off and came back 2 hours later for pick up. 

Ally has been on a no dress fashion program this year. She has definitely developed her own style and dresses just aren't a big part of her style. Nonetheless I was pretty set on the need for a summer dress. We settled on a denim dress which she paired with her funky high top sneakers. She said with bowling she wanted shoes she could bowl in. 

 

 

She looked great, very appropriate too. We took her to the banquet, went out to dinner, did our grocery shopping and went back to pick her up. We hung out with other parents while the program wrapped up the awards. Yes awards were given out. 

Ally received Hardest Worker Award! 

We are so very very proud of her and super happy that her dedication and hard work was acknowledged by her coach and the entire gym. The awards were not given to everyone and it wasn't even an award just for her team. But out of the over 100 athletes in the team program she was selected as the "hardest worker".

It really makes the drive to this gym and the cost for her team really worth it when she gets an award like that. We know she works hard. She knows she works hard. She is proud of herself. She told me it felt good to receive it. I said "find another word". She said "really good!" I said "no, something more descriptive". and she said "it feels great". I laughed and she said;  "It does. It just feels good, really good."

 

It sure does.

Busy weekend.

We had a busy weekend.

Saturday Grandma Barbie and Grandpa Frank came to visit, mostly so they could watch Ally perform in her ballet recital and end of year gymnastics show. 

Rehearsal was Saturday. So Friday night I had to practice costume makeup

 

Saturday we did some work around the house, we recently completed some small remodeling work; electrical, plaster and paint. It felt good to hang up pictures again and get the house back to better than before. My parents arrived after lunch and after getting Ally fully dressed in costume and makeup we took her to rehearsal and then I drove my parents to see a few of my project job sites. 

We had Chinese food for dinner and after watching some UCLA Gymnastics on tv it was bedtime. Back to the hotel for my parents. We all needed a lot of rest for the busy Sunday.

The gymnastics show was first up, we left at 930 for the 1030am show. 

 

 

 

 

We left as soon as her performance was over and head to the ballet recital. It started at 130 and Ally needed to be there in costume with makeup and hair done by 12:00. She ate lunch in the car and after we delivered her to the show, we had a picnic lunch outside. Soon it was time for the show to begin. Lost of waiting and walking, and my parents were patient and good spirited about the walk.

The show was amazing. 

 

 

After Ally changes and took off her makeup my parents treated us to a celebration dinner. Ally's choice was the diner, where she had a chocolate milkshake, scrambled eggs and pancakes. 

 

It was a busy but fun weekend.