Graduating from the Hummingbirds

This post is way overdue, but I wanted to share a little about the end of year activities at Nature's Way. It's hard to put into words how much we love the school and Spencer's teacher, Mr. Britt. Not a day went by that we didn't feel blessed to have found this special place. Dave and I were feeling super sentimental when we dropped off Spencer on the final day (I know you're surprised!)

My big boy outside the gate.

Just a glimpse of the tree corner.

Mr. Britt and Spencer.

5 of the 8 Hummingbirds - looking quite surly I might add!

When we came back to pick him up that afternoon, we were blown away by the "What We Love about Each Other" project. The kids took turns saying nice things about their classmates.

What do Spencer's classmates love about him? Playing Rocketship/Baby Jesus; He is helpful; Always takes care of us; Great leader. That'll bring tears to a mama's eyes, no doubt.

Mr. Britt drew a really cool tiger picture for Spencer and put a picture of him inside a frame that Spencer made earlier in the week. Special mementos.

Nature boy.

Later that week, the whole school went on an end-of-year field trip to Crowe's Nest Farm in Manor, TX. We were worried the trip would be canceled—when we woke up it was storming like you wouldn't believe. We headed out there anyway, and before we got started, the skies cleared up and it was actually kind of cold. It was a glorious day!

On the hayride with his buddy Koen. Dreamy little boys.

Daddy helped Koen and Charlie take some pictures. Not sure what this pose is all about!

I didn't take a lot of pictures—tried to enjoy the day and be in the moment. We saw lots of farm animals, plus a baby ostrich and a village of prairie dogs. We went on a hayride. We saw a cow milking demonstration, too. Then we had a picnic under some big trees and soaked up the last minutes of our Hummingbird year.

A few weeks ago, we wrote a letter of recommendation for Mr. Britt to help him get into a special program. We interviewed Spencer, too, and I think his answers are sweet and show why Mr. Britt is such a special teacher.

Q: Why did you like having Mr. Britt as a teacher?
A: Because he’s so smart.

Q: What did you learn from him?
A: Being in nature and I love him teaching us. To respect animals.

Q: What is your favorite thing about being a Hummingbird?
A: It was just a really fun class.

Q: Why was Mr. Britt such a good teacher?
A: Because he was so happy to see us when we got to the nature school.

Q: How do you feel around him?
A: Happy (and he drew a smiley face next to his answer).

Q: What are some of the special things you did?
A: Experiments.

Q: What will you miss when Mr. Britt isn’t your teacher anymore?
A: I’ll miss having fun with him and making traps for him. But we can still make traps for him! (The students liked to build traps to catch Britt on the playground. He, of course, went along with this, and Spencer plans to continue trapping Britt next year at school even though he won’t be in Britt’s class.)

Q: What are three words to describe Mr. Britt?
A: Nice. Fun. Really fun to play with… but I just don’t want him to ever not be my teacher!

Well, Mr. Britt won't be Spencer's teacher next year—he'll be one of Miss Kelly's Iguanodons—but Spencer will still get to see him a lot on the playground and probably set a few traps for him!