The Smout Family

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Thursday night was graduation and Friday May, 24th was the last day of school.  My dad and grandparents had spent the night so they could see Emma in the variety show on the last day of school.  Emma lives for the variety show.  She always wants to show off her new "talent"!  I think by now people have expectations for her.  She tries not to disappoint them.  She aims high.  This year it may have been too high, but none the less, she did her best.  I am proud of her for having the guts to try this stuff!

 She unicycled this year as well as dribbling a basketball while unicycling, then she attempted to make a basket on a 10 foot hoop and she sang a small part of the song.  Like I said, she aims high.  She had some errors but she kept going.  She did not have much room to ride.  She was disappointed in her performance but the audience was still amazed by her talents.  It is pretty amazing that she can ride this thing.

 The last day of school is really FUN!  After the variety show the kids go outside for lunch and recess.  During this time they get to play and get their yearbooks signed.  The weather was super!

 Chandler and Claire got ready for graduation together at our house.  Chandler's mom is the queen of hair styling tools so she brought all her curling irons and we went to work on curling their hair.  I have to say they are both quite beautiful!
 The entire ceremony was really touching.  It began with a procession of the teachers.  This made me cry.  I did not expect to cry.  I realized how much I love these men and women.  They have always validated my thoughts in one way or another.  They pray with me and for my children.  They assure me when I have needed it and I have never felt judged by any of them.  Josh Crane came to CCS 8 years ago and is going to another school next year.  This is the only class at CCS that he has seen all the way through.  He presented a message to the students from the pulpit.  I love how he looked down upon them in the front 3 rows.  He was talking directly to them, not to the parents.  He was challenging them in how to go on from CCS all while telling them how special they are as a class.
 And then there was the music.  Mrs. Kouba led the 6th graders in a song at the end.  It was beautiful.  They sound so much better than they did in JK!



We have watched Claire grow up during her time at CCS.  She has had a great class.  They are mature and kind.  After the reception some of us went out for ice cream.  It was one of those nights you didn't want to end.  We are hopeful that she will continue her friendships with these girls as they will attend different schools next year.  We are very grateful that we were able to send her to CCS and will always have fond memories of her time there.  It was a night to celebrate!

 During the month of April Claire attended an etiquette class on Fridays that ended with a Cotillion dinner/dance downtown.  She did not want to do this.  We made her.  We do not think she has poor manners by any means, but we want her to feel comfortable in a lot of different social situations.  Although she probably would not admit it, I think she had fun.  She got to get a new dress and meet new kids her age.  She was all giggles when she arrived home that night.  I was unable to attend so she went with Chandler and her parents.  She could not stop talking about this funny boy at her table who obviously did not learn much in the etiquette class as evidenced by his twirling mound of spaghetti noodles!  She had some funny stories from this experience.

My little boy turned 9 the end of April.  He had several special requests for his birthday.




 Then they divided into teams according to their bandannas for capture the flag and kick ball.  Claire and Emma were each team captains.  This actually worked quite well.  Scott's idea.

I use this blog a lot to talk about my family and then sometime I talk about me.  As many of you know in August I injured my hip training for a marathon.  I rested, I cried, I cried some more, I felt down, I went to physical therapy, I tried yoga, I walked, and finally I ran.  I gradually increased my walking to running and played it safe.  This went against my nature as it felt slow and boring.  There were times when I just wanted to GO!

When we got home from skiing I decided if I could ski then I could run.  My endurance was no where like it used to be, but I knew that I could run.  I needed a goal.  An achievable goal.  I decided to sign up for a 10K/6.2 mile. This is a very manageable distance or at least it used to be for me.  My goal this time was to run it fast.  Fast for me anyway.  My goal was to run it in 54 minutes.  I had never run a 10K before in probably under 58 minutes.  It seemed like a stretch, but maybe just wanted I needed to get me back in to the game.  I wrote myself a plan and stuck to it for over 2 months.  The race was small.  I only knew one other runner.  It was a rainy day.  I love running in the rain.  And I did it...53:47.

Small accomplishments lead to big victories.

Now what should I sign up for?