What a special day yesterday was for June and Mason.  It started out first thing in the morning, with June’s First Grade Awards Ceremony at Larne Elementary School.  My camera just does not take good pictures at all from a seat in the audience to the stage, but June won the Math Wizard Award for his classroom.  Then Addie & Lee went ahead & signed her out of school for the day, & they headed to spend the kids’ first day ever at Carowinds.  I did get this quick picture of June gathering up her year’s worth of goodies out of her desk before we headed out, with a little bit of help from Mason, who’s right behind her.

Then yesterday evening was Mason’s end-of-the-year program with his three-year-old class at Clover Presbyterian Church.  I did try taking a couple of pictures of him performing, because even though he’d been talking about the program nonstop for at least the last week, I still didn’t really think he would actually stay on stage to participate.  But he did a GREAT job – as all the kids did.  Even the little boy who was sitting in the chair next to Mason, and who had already had to go down and sit with his mom in the audience, came back up to receive his certificate :-).  In this song they’re singing about Seek and You Will Find, and right here about Knock and the Door Will Open Wide…Wide…Wide.  I’m going to have to get Mase to teach us that one over the summer.  It was a good, good day.

I  was so proud, when we headed out to June’s game yesterday, that I remembered to look for my grandmother’s pin – and was, frankly, stunned that I could find it 🙂

Their final post-game team circle.  June is #7, the ponytail with her back to the camera, & that’s her dad Lee, third base coach for the Clover Crush, to the far right.  It was a good season.  Way to go, Crush!

When my friend Charlotte is out of town during the week, I am lucky enough to get to pick up her CSA box, which we love.  Scrubbing veggies is one of Mason’s favorite chores ever 🙂

Saturday morning it was back to Rock Hill to be there for Charlie & Adam’s last baseball games of the season.  They’ve had a good time, & we’ve had a good time watching them play.  The last few games Adam’s T-ball league turned into coach pitch, which they kids all seemed to enjoy.  Adam managed to connect with the ball most every time, and here he is standing on third base, waiting for his chance to score.

They play in a league formed by Catawba Baptist Church, which has been a really good experience for them.  Here is Charlie’s team after their final game, waiting to receive their trophies.  That’s Charlie on the end – #8 – and that’s the preacher giving a little devotion and saying the prayer.  As it turns out, the preacher is the son of Bobby Richardson, who played for the Yankees back in the Mickey Mantle days.  Jeff had a great time talking to the preacher after the festivities were over – that was definitely his baseball card heyday, so just made the day even more special.

When Jeff & I went to Rock Hill Friday evening to Charlie’s ballgame, by the time we got there it was storming so bad the games had been called.  So we headed to Sonny’s for some barbecue for supper – and I couldn’t believe the accumulation of hail there as we were walking up to the door.  Crazy!

June and Mason had so much fun with the whole crayon melting project Wednesday that when Mallory & Clara got here Thursday, they wanted to give it a try, too.

It was as big a hit with them as it had been with their cousins.

Then that evening I headed over to First Presbyterian Church in Clover to hear our Clover High School Choraliers perform in their final concert of the year.  Our son-in-law Jackson’s niece Chelsea is a senior this year, so this was our last chance to see her.  It was absolutely fantastic.  I had heard so much about how good the acoustics were in that church – the Choraliers sing there every year – and that is absolutely a fact.  Taking flash pictures during a performance of any kind always feels strange to me, especially in a church, so I didn’t really get any good ones of the performers.  The stained glass window that was right in front of us was absolutely beautiful, and reminded me of the one at Trinity UMC when I was growing up.

A lot of days when the kids are here, our activities include cooking and crafts.  Wednesday was no different.

After we picked June up from school, we decided to give this craft a try that I have seen floating all over the internet, pinterest, all kinds of places.  As it turns out, June and Mason had actually already done this with their mom & dad, but they still were so excited about melting the crayons with the hairdryer.  It was a hit.

Tuesday night was another big milestone for our family – our fifth grandchild graduated from preschool.  The program was great – I couldn’t believe was they had all those four & five year olds doing – and Adam got an award for Most Improved Handwriting, for Counting to 100, and I think one more that escapes me right now.  Congratulations to one super kid!