Messy Games 2026

Messy games 2026 was another hit! It was the last messy games of all time for our family. That is a milestone! 13 years of messy games and this will be our last.

Owen has been so excited about messy games! He brought home rice to cook up for one of the games. The third graders got to play in the games and choose them and he was so thrilled to be a part of that planning process. He wanted to cook the rice two days ahead, just to make sure it was done, but I didn’t get to it till the night before. 

I signed up to be an extra helper. Instead, they assigned me a group of 11 kids to lead from station to station. We had a blast! Owen was with his Close friends, Alex and Cameron and Parker. Here are some fun pictures of the day!

 

Butter Slip n Slide

Bubble gum relay

Pie In The Face to the teachers

Oatmeal balance beam - yuck!

Baseball: mashed potatoes at home base. 

 Spaghetti at 1st base

Canned peaches & beans at second base

Rice & butter at 3rd base

Jello Fidget find

The classic sundae hair salon

Last Day of School

 The last day of school was a fun one for everyone. 

Owen had messy games. Owen is a third grader graduating up to upper. He has had Patsy and Kelley for three full years. That is unusual as often the teachers have turnover. I am so grateful for Patsy and Kelley. They love him and he loves them very much.

Nathan wished Flor goodbye as she is retiring after the school year. His teachers are Linda and Flor. They went on a trip this week to power up and then to the Becker’s lake house to go tubing and spend quality time as a class community together.

Dawson has had a really good seventh grade year in middle school. He has some really good friends that are eighth graders that will be moving to high school, and I know he will miss them very much. They had their pass the torch ceremony and the eighth graders passed the torch to the seventh graders. They do a little candle ceremony and it was special and fun to see him interact with his friends.

Kayleigh will be a sophomore next year. She will miss Cooper very much and is finding her place in the high school. I’m very proud of her.

Cooper and the seniors spent the night at the high school as a senior prank. They created all kinds of obstacles and funny things all around the high school overnight and stayed up all night working hard. They put pictures of Jon as a teenager all over the high school, put Michael’s faith with different AI versions all over the computers and TV screens. They put sticky notes all over and made pyramids out of chairs and saran wrapped parts of the high school. They blocked the teachers parking lot with all their cars in a haphazard way and blocked the entrance to the high school with helium balloons. I think they had a blast and it will be remembered for a long time!

Senior Key Ceremony

 

High school has a special ceremony that they do with the high school students. They crafted a key, a key to success, in the Innolab and they put the kids’s future destination on it. Cooper’s key says Academia Guiu on it. Then a student from the high school prepares a tribute speech to each senior. Kaylee gave a tribute speech to Cooper as his sibling. It was a very special few minutes hearing her speak to her brother with love and compassion. It’s clear that she looks up to him very much. She got emotional Sharing her thoughts and love for Cooper with the whole high school. They have become very close this year. Cooper told me earlier this year that she is his closest sibling. They’ve done a lot together and she looks up to him in sports and in school and in life. I think it is difficult to lose one brother and then another brother and then feel like you have to lead the family of siblings without your older brothers to help you along the way. I’m sure it’s a lot of pressure that she feels knowing both her brothers will not be in the house anymore and she will take the lead as the oldest sibling. I’m grateful for their friendship and I encourage them to keep in touch and to continue to develop their relationship long distance. It’s a special bond that they hold. It was special for me as a parent to witness this interaction.