Olympic Day!

Last Thursday was the 1st grade Olympic Day at Emily's school. She and her class participated in many fun events throughout the day. In the morning was the parade of classes, and then Emily's class participated in the group / relay activities. After lunch, they moved on to the individual events. Emily was on the winning team for the "hula-hoop" relay--where a line of kids holds hands and passes 3 hula hoops from one end of the chain to the other. They were all so cute trying to maneuver their bodies in and out of the hoops. So, that was her first "gold" medal of the day. After lunch, she was in the first activity--the 50-yard dash. She is a pretty fast little girl, but I wasn't sure how she would do in a big group like that. Well, to my surprise and delight...she WON and she got her second gold medal!

A little while after that I looked over and noticed that she only had one medal around her neck. Worried that she might have lost the other one, I went over and asked her about it. She told me that she hadn't lost it, but had given it to R----- because she hadn't won anything yet. I got a little teary-eyed when she told me that because I was just so proud of her! Now, this little girl, R----- (name dashed out to protect identity--ha! ha!), has been known through this past year to not be very nice to Emily--and often not nice ON PURPOSE! So I was especially proud of her. (Especially since I was thinking that this other little girl didn't deserve to have the medal, and I really wanted to go take it off her neck and put it back around Emily's neck.) Emily truly taught ME a lesson that day.

She even reminded me about a story I had read her from The Friend not too long before about a little boy who found two Easter eggs and gave them both away to make someone else happy. (Click here to read the story.) I was so glad that she remembered something we had taught her, but ashamed of myself for not living up to the standards I was trying to have her set for herself. She made me want to be a better person. Not a bad thing for a six-year-old!

Here are some pictures of the fun day!

Emily and her class before heading out (she's just to the left of center with the pink straps of her backpack-towel showing):

Getting ready for the hula-hoop relay...

Emily and her first gold medal:

Emily in the "fill the bucket" relay (the cup she is running with is full of holes!):

Emily with Mrs. Baker getting ready for her turn in the sack race: