Our Baby Boyer: 8 Years, 3 Months...Winding down the end of the year!

We have had some fun school activities at the end of the year. We had a Celebrate the Arts night where our artwork was displayed in the hallway. We got to hear the choir perform and did a God's Eye craft in the art trailer. I also went to the choir pirate musical to support my 3rd grade friends. The Bees (2nd and 3rd graders) went on a field trip to the Science Center. It was a quick trip as we came back before the end of the day. Ella and Ranijah were in my group and Mom was in charge of us. I helped Mom with the remaining Leader in Me groups. We had Donuts with Dudes and Daddy was able to come! We also had a Literacy Carnival that was a lot of fun. We played a lot of games and entered tickets into a drawing. I won a set of chapter books (which I read in one weekend!)
The school year is coming to an end. I have worked really hard this year. We were all trying to get our best score on our STAR reading test. I got two points lower than my best. I was so disappointed. So, I tried again on an iPad in the hallway, and blew my high score out of the water! Mrs. Gross said I made over 3 years' growth in one year. She never saw anything like that! I'm also scoring my best on my STAR math test. I got my name in a drawing for the highest score and it was chosen for a play date with Mrs. Gross and her son Kohen (whom I absolutely love!) I can't wait!
We had the best student teacher this year in addition to the best teacher. Miss K. did so many fun things with us. She was a great artist and really cared about us. It was hard to say goodbye to her. She really loved the ducks and chicks that we got to have in our classroom for a week at a time. The ducks were so funny and loved to swim. We named them Big Bird and Mizzou. The next week, nine chicks hatched! Some of their names were Chirp (I named him), Nugget (Miss K named him), JoJo, Popcorn, and Totally Not Food. They were hard to say goodbye to as well!
I ended up with a crazy ear infection this month. Nothing else bothered me and I never ran a fever, but man, my ear hurt! I had to have drops put in 4 times a day. Thank goodness I go to school with Mommy!
We also went to our first orthodontist consult. (We will have another one later this month before deciding where to go.) I was really nervous to go at first because I only heard horror stories from Corinne. I loved Dr. Francis! Carrie's mom works in the office too. I will have to have 4 brackets on my front top teeth and an expander to correct my crossbite for about 9 months. Then I will probably have to have another set of braces after my permanent teeth are in.
It was a month of birthday parties too! I went to the roller rink for Cami's party. Then, I had three parties in one day! I went to Flipz for Kayleigh's party, Lazer Lanes for bumper cars and lazer tag at Ella's birthday, and then to Nana Arden's for Daddy's birthday! At Ella's party, we played games to earn tickets. At the end, we cashed them in for prizes. I got a miniature Rubic's cube and a Jolly Rancher. Ella's card wouldn't load and she was disappointed so I gave her my prizes. I was happy to do it, but it was really hard too. Mommy gave me some Kohl's Cash that was going to expire, so we stopped there before Daddy's party. Instead of getting something for myself, I wanted to get something for Daddy and Grandma Kathy's birthday and Emily. Mommy made me use most of it on myself!
We had some family events this month. We went to Sarah and Greg's for a bonfire, but we had to leave before the bonfire started. I enjoyed playing with some of the other girls there. I am really breaking out of my shell! Mommy took Emily and me to Washington for Mother's Day. We went to Grandma Kathy and Grandpa Tom's and spent the night. The next day, we went out to Uncle Duane and Aunt Mary's. I was looking forward to riding horses, but their hooves were hurting so we couldn't this time. I rode on a 4 wheeler with Chase instead! Then we drove back to Columbia to Aunt Lisa's house. Our whole family was exhausted after that!
I have decided to not continue with Girl Scouts next year. I had fun selling cookies, but there are other activities that I am more interested in. I have expressed a strong interest in learning to play the piano. I am also interested in doing Girls on the Run next year.
I ran in another track meet. I took first place in the 100 meters with a time of 19.07. I was so excited! The 400 meters was a lot harder to do and I decided I needed to practice more to get better. I took 4th with a time of 1:53.1. Since that was pretty hard to run, I decided to scratch on the 800 meter, but to train for next time!
Our family got a basketball goal! We weren't able to use it for a few days because of the rain, but we are enjoying it now that it is dry. Daddy is showing me how to shoot properly (and I'm teaching Mom!)
I'm also doing really well in soccer. I've had a lot of spectators too! I scored three goals in one game! We are working a lot harder as a team. Coach told Mom that I had a lot of potential and she would love to make me an excellent player if she could have me for more time. She also recommended me to go to a selective group that will learn some more skills later this month. My friends are not liking soccer as much as I do though, so this might be the end of some of our time together.
Throwing the ball in