Boosterthon craziness

LO was in school for five days when the first major fundraiser of the year began.  I had been involved with the planning of said fundraiser since late spring, so he was pretty excited to become part of something I had been talking about for months. His school's PTA fully supports nine teaching positions (that's half the teachers!) and has an operating budget of over 300,000 dollars!  Needless to say, our community is heavily involved in making this school what it is.  We had heard that before we started going to school there, but experiencing it is a different story.  The state gives us two month long windows every year to raise funds without having to pay taxes on them.  The first opens just days after school starts.  The second is in February.  From LO's side of things, this fundraiser was a lot of fun.  When you're a kindergartner and five days into school you launch into nine days of prizes, dress-up, and a fun run, asking for a few pledges is worth the work.  As a parent, it was a lot of work, but the fun the kids seemed to have was worth it.  Last Friday, after the fun run on Thursday, LO asked "what is Boosterthon doing today? Will I get a prize."  I had to break it to him that it would be a "normal" school day and his prize would be writing his name and numbers a little better. All of that to say, "thank you" to those of you who helped support my kiddo in his first fun run.  Thanks for humoring us as he fumbled his way through asking for your money.  Thanks for asking how the run did and telling him you're proud of him. Thanks for helping us support his school.  If you haven't heard, he completed 32 laps before time was called.  We hadn't realized there would be a time limit, though in retrospect, there had to be.  He was so upset because I had stressed that he had to run 35 to make as much as he could for his school.  We finished the last three together as sort of a cool down, and his teachers gave him credit for them.  Apparently he sprinted every lap in front of DH, Boo, Papa, Lah-oo and other onlookers, then slowed a bit on the back half of the loop before stopping nearly every lap for water from me.  My dad said he "won the prize for the fiercest running face...and maybe for the most water breaks!"  Here are our pictures from all nine days of spirit, pledging, and the big race.

Wacky Tacky day

crazy hair day; he was so excited about the hair color

school spirit day; we didn't have our school shirts yet, so we improvised!

We won best spirit for the whole school!  Here is LO with his principal.

LO working on his first school poster for the poster contest. 

We had help with our concept and cutting, but LO made most of the executive decisions, and did a lot of the gluing and all the stickers. He didn't win for his grade, but we were proud of the finished product.

Car pool pep rally; his whole class dressed up for "USA day" and cheered for the other students as they arrived at school.

A lot of people didn't know it was him until I talked to him.He enjoyed being incognito.

Can you find LO? By the time this pic was taken, he was over being in pictures.  He's there though, just off Capt America's right hip you can barely make out his patriotic wig.

LO is the far right, partially obscured by his classmate in the red sweatband.  This is kindergarten officially starting the race.

Lady Liberty (their principal)

and Capt America were there to cheer them on.

One of the early laps, that's LO in the red sweatband.

Running hard as he turned the corner in front of the spectators.

Top center, me running the water stop, and LO in line to get some, and chat, and beg me to hold his cup. 

Running hard again...

and again...

so he could get water again, and again...

sometimes they were made to walk a lap.

Walking his last three with mommy.

The whole school got popsicles; he was thrilled.

His entire school; just shy of 180 kids.

Then the fire department sprayed all the kids from atop their ladder. 

Waiting for the water to start...

Cooled off, soaked, and exhausted from running nearly two miles.  He thought he should get to go home, but he had a whole day of school ahead of him!