I feel like I just posted a message last week, but it's been almost 4 weeks! Needless to say, June has been crazy! We have had end of year school parties, a sixth grade graduation, father's day, a dance recital, Clara's birthday, my birthday, and swim team! Luckily Grandma Rose was here to celebrate many of those occasions (Grandpa stayed home this time). We feel so lucky that she comes to visit so often. It's very difficult living so far away, but Grandma and Grandpa Matras always make the effort to come to the important Schmidt events! The kids really love that! And, it means so much to me.
Amelia finished 1st grade this year. She had the BEST teacher ever, who just happens to live in our neighborhood. She makes the kids just LOVE school! Amelia cried all the way home on the last day of school...she wanted to go back on Monday! CJ finished an awesome third grade year! He absolutely loves school. He received the Citizenship Award for his class this year. The kid's pick one boy and one girl they think should receive it and write a paragraph explaining why...CJ's said things like "he is always fair," "he helps people whenever he can," "he is caring and trustworthy." We were so proud of him! And, Clara just "graduated" 6th grade! I can hardly believe she will be going to middle school in the fall. She had a really fun last week of school and a lovely graduation. We are so proud of her and are excited (and petrified) she is moving on to the next phase of school! 
We celebrated Clara's 12th birthday with a few friends over for a sleep over. They swam at the pool, had pizza, watched "Camp Rock" and stayed up until 3 a.m.!! I also celebrated my birthday, but we'll just skip over that event!
Finally, our summer swim team is in full-swing! All three kids are participating this year. Amelia swam in her first meet on Wednesday and came in 22nd out of 23 swimmers!! She was happy she got a "participation" ribbon...what a great attitude. Clara and CJ are swimming really well this year! This is Clara's 7th year on the neighborhood swim team!
