Fifth Grade Send Off

Today was a BIG day for Matthew and such a busy day for me, I haven't really had a chance to process it all, but be assured I will be in a puddle of tears tomorrow as remember how amazing today was!!😂

Matthew is finishing up elementary school and I helped put together a big neighborhood celebration parade (which Evelyn and the middle school marching band marched in!) and gave them an outdoor party at Fir Grove afterwards. The kids loved it and they all seemed to have so much fun being all together after 15 months!

Mrs. Burton, the HPMS band teacher, had a marching band shirt design contest.. and Evelyn won!! We love our artistic girl and were so excited for her! This is the shirt and the kids wore them during the parade. 

The kids met on the bluff near Highland and the band got all assembled down in the parking lot. 

Evelyn getting ready. 

Doug graciously agreed to wear the Furry Grover mascot costume to lead the parade. His Dad agreed to drive the truck while Doug, in costume, would be out the sunroof waving to the crowd. 

We had these banners made for each side of the truck.

We even had a police escort.. so cool!!

The 5th graders, in matching tshirts, followed Doug...

... followed by the band, who gave a super performance for never marching before! So proud of Evelyn and her band mates!

Our party after the parade was done as socially distanced as possible. Since none of these 5th graders are vaccinated yet, we wanted to keep them as safe as possible. They were all so glad to just be together after so much time that they didn't care one bit and enjoyed a snack, photos, and an amazing swag bag we put together for each of them. 

Doug also brought music and a speaker set up to provide a cool party vibe for the kids.

He also was pretty popular with the younger kids! Poor guy was SO hot in that costume but he was such a good sport. I could NOT have done it without him!

There aren't enough words to say how much we love Mrs. Serrao. Matthew was blessed to have her as his teacher for two years, and we couldn't have asked for anyone better. She loved our boy so well and became a good friend to me. She worked hard to make sure kids were learning and growing this crazy year, and Matthew loved being in her class, albeit virually. We will be forever grateful for her!

Matthew is a good friend and a good student and I was told by so many people today how much they love him and what a strong leader he is. We are so proud of our boy and know he is ready for middle school!

I have more photos to post from the professional photographe who took some great shots but I need to resize them to have them fit on the website. But it was such a fun and special day and I am so thankful to be able to celebrate our Matthew so well!!

Onto middle school for our boy!!