2008 School Year is Ending

This is an exciting and special time of the year for my nine grandchildren. School is ending for the summer, honors are being given and baseball teams are playing their championship games. Not to mention the fact that Swim Team practices have already begun for many of them!

Today I witnessed the end of a season for a very special activity at our church. Tom (The Knight), Kim (Nurse Missy), Andrew (The Page) and Emily (the newcomer that jumped out of a box!) had their last performance in the children's department of the storytelling Kingdom of Apostlelot. All winter they have faithfully presented God's word, in story form, to a large audience of eager children, blessing them with wisdom and knowledge of how they too can be members of the kingdom. Everyone was sad to see them go for the summer. Tom has been the brave Knight for four years, Andrew, his page, for two, and Kim joined the ranks this year with bold determination and an exciting love interest for the Knight!

... BRAVO, BRAVO! Teaching the children is where it all begins.

Grandad spent his Sunday afternoon watching Joe working hard in his play-off game and yesterday afternoon watching Ford finish out his season....Note from Grandad...

"Joe's and Ford's baseball teams are deep into their championship playoffs. Each of their teams is 3-1 in a double elimination tournament. They each play on Monday evening. If their teams win, then two more games follow, so long as they keep winning, to become champion of their league. Today, Joe played outfield, catcher and third base, and yesterday Ford played catcher. He will pitch, tomorrow. He has been selected for the top All-Star travelling team, which will spend the last week of the summer baseball season in Cooperstown, NY, in a massive 100 team play-off for the National Championship. That will be the last full week in July. Then both Joe and Ford start football practice. Two busy boys!"

More Boy News from Kristin...

"The boys are having a fun and busy end to the school year, as usual. Manor School's open house is next Wednesday. Aidan's 1st grade class will present aproject on the Town of Fairfax. Aidan selected Fradelizio's (his favorite restaurant) for his report. He interviewed the head chef at Fradelizio's and, after finishing the obligatory questions about the restaurant operations, peppered him with questions such as, "When do you wake up in the morning?" and "What's your favorite food?" The chef was so tickled, he gave Keegan and Aidan their favorite dessert (tiramisu) for free. Keegan's class of 2nd and 3rd graders will be presenting and in depth look at the Ocean for Open House. Keegan will be an expert on the Flying Fish, and has been working on his costume. I was hoping for something as simple as a poster board, fin and a pilot's cap, but Keegan has other ideas.

The boys both ran in Manor School's lapathon last Friday, in record-breaking heat. Parents kept the kids as cool as possible with hoses, squirt bottles and popsicles. The Principal decided to cut the running times short, keeping the kids to 45 minutes. Keegan ran a little over 5 miles, and Aidan ran over 3 miles. I'm sure I couldn't have done either in 90 degree temperatures! Keegan ran the most laps out of his grade level for the fourth year in a row, and will soon be adding another medal to his collection. (Aidan won a medal last year as well for the most laps run in kindergarten, and was a close third this year.)The boys are also both playing baseball this year. Aidan is in the Farm leaque (coach pitch) and Keegan is in the Minor league (kid pitch). Aidan has quite an arm, and has been making great plays all season. He's played all the positions, but particularly enjoys short stop, first base and catcher. Keegan took a video of one of Aidan's games recently. I need to download it, edit and send to you! This is Keegan's first year in the Minors. He's a great pitcher. I'll have to check stats with him, but he's struck out dozens of players so far this season. His team, the Angels, is in second place in the league, which isn't bad considering almost all of the players are new to the Minors. " -

Looks like the Pedersen boys have been busy too!!

<---Here is a picture from Issy's softball season...check out the gal in action! I'm told that, for her, too, the season is over, but she learned so much and is ready to play again next year! Gooo ISSY!

Emily is playing the Tone Chimes at the end of the year school program -->

Congratulations to all of you for awards (to be posted as I get knowledge of them), team work and overall excellence for a great school year! Happy Summer! I look forward to hearing about all those swim team medals.

P.S. William is just being cute, working 65 piece puzzles (alone), playing endless games on the computer and very happy that it's summer once again. --->