End of the School Year

Here we are ... finally.

While I can't believe my kids are going to be in 1st and 4th grade next year, I also thought this school year was never going to end.

Elijah had a fun Kindergarten graduation ceremony. Once the ceremony got started he promptly started tucking in his sweater vest. I picked up his 3 piece outfit at Walmart one day. I was there for something else and saw the Easter clothes for boys on sale so I grabbed it. I liked the dress shirt and sweater vest. The pants were just basic navy pants, but they only had an elastic waistband, typical Walmart. No big deal though because the shirt and vest fit well and the vest would cover up the waistband.

That is until he started tucking it all in on stage! Plus, I had to roll the waist so the pants would stay up on his skinny little body.

I couldn't help but laugh. It was all just so Elijah. If they weren't singing or reciting something he was fidgeting, tucking in his vest, wiggling around, acting on his super hero tendencies, etc. Classic stuff for a Kindergarten graduation ceremony.

I know no one else really noticed because everyone zeroes in on their own child, and really I thought it was so funny. It was a nice night.

Fast forward to today when I knew it was going to be an emotional day for 3rd graders. They recently discovered their beloved teacher was not coming back next year.

I knew I would be choked up going in to get Madelyn, and to give their teacher her gift, but I thought I would be fine.

Well, I walk up to the 3rd grade room and hear sobs. A couple of the girls were just crying and crying and hugging and crying. It was so sad. Then one boy came up to hug the teacher and he was crying. Next the teacher is crying. I am crying. It was all just too much.

We did it though. We got through another year and I am very much looking forward to the respite from the school year routine. Poor Dan still has to show up Monday morning. There is a lot to do to prepare for the next school year.

But, we have some fun things planned. First, haircuts. Madelyn and I are getting our hair cut tomorrow morning. She is getting hers cut off and is really excited about it. It is really long, but she is getting it cut chin length. I want her to have it angled a bit and stacked in the back. We'll see. Sometimes hairdressers are a bit hesitant to do all that on children. Plus, Madelyn has A LOT of hair. I think it would be cute though.

Happy Summer to us!!!

First Sting

Elijah got stung by a bee for the first time ever tonight. Poor thing. He just started crying and then screaming. He got stung on his finger and right by his ear. First he was screaming about his finger and then he was holding his head saying how badly it hurt.

Thankfully, it didn't swell up too badly, and one of the dad's at the picnic we were at had an insect sting wipe in the car. But, Elijah was so bummed. He had been running and playing happily with all the other TKA students who were there, but that bee took whatever fun he had been having away from him tonight.

He did calm down after a bit. It helped that Dan took over. We told him he joined the ranks now that he had been stung. For some reason it seems that the bees are especially bad this year. They seem to be EVERYWHERE! I couldn't even sit outside today with my coffee without being swarmed by bees! It was crazy.

Anyway, Elijah did say that he thought maybe he got stung because he wasn't supposed to be climbing on top of the tunnel slide. I told him he might be right. It makes me so nervous when kids climb on top of the jungle gym play things instead of on them or through them. Thankfully it was a really small jungle gym so if he had fallen it wasn't very high up.

The Back to School Picnic for TKA is always fun though, and the kids love seeing all of there friends from last year. They run around like crazy and we get whatever new info there is about the school.

Madelyn didn't even know that Elijah got stung. She was having so much fun she didn't hear the screams. When we got home I saw that she had dirt all up and down her shins. A true sign of a fun evening.

I do have to say though that this has been one of the best summers for us. I seriously hate to see it go. We have had so much fun with friends and family. I'm really bummed that all the kids have to go back to school and can't just keep coming over and doing water slides and slip 'n slides in the back yard, not to mention picnics on their towels. Harumph. I guess I just need to look out for fun things to do during the Fall and Winter.