More than Mothering: End of the School Year

Sunday, June 24, 2012

End of the School Year

The end of the school year was so, so busy. This being our first year with one in "real school" sure did shed some light on the crazy that is the end of the year. Kind of makes me worry about when all six are in "real school!"

Brownie's class went to a park for lunch one day towards the end of their year. The park is nearby. Some sisters and I showed up to play too--Brownie loves the monkey bars!

Boushka loved the water fountain. She thinks she's one of the "big" girls, so she was thrilled to be seen with siss and her "big" friends!

When Brownie's class started to eat lunch, we bid them good bye. It was only a few minutes later that they were to head back to school to be picked up. We had a nice time playing with Brownie and seeing her with all of her friends.

Bug was the first of the three to finish school. Since she was only going two days a week (as opposed to 5 days a week like the older two), her school ended first. This was my sweet girl on her last day.

The two littles and I joined her and her class for some outdoor time with ice cream to boot!

We were being goofy taking pictures like this for fun!

Since it was her official start to summer, we came home and enjoyed popsicles while we waited for sissy (Peach) to get off the bus. We also played on our bikes!

There's always a little sister not far behind.

Brownie still had one more day of school, but she sure did enjoy celebrating Bug's last day!

Here's my Brownie and one of sweet teachers on the last day of school. It was the second year in a row that we've had Mrs. L! Peach had her last year--and we just adore her. And it's obvious she loves her job--a sweet inspiration for our girls.

We also played outside with Brownie's class and ate more ice cream. I also started something new this year (thanks pinterest)--I had all the past and current teachers for all three older girls write a little message in Oh the Places You'll Go, by Dr. Seuss. I plan to give the book to them on their graduation day!

Now on to the Peach! Her May days were so full. I think in all we had two pizza parties, a field trip, a field day, a special lunch with parents and an end of the year party! Wowza! Her field trip was to an environmental lab--so that explains the hat she's wearing. But no little sisters were alowed on the trip!

Her school held a fundraiser a while back and if the students sold a certain number of cards, they were able to take a limo to a pizza place to have lunch. So I met them up at the pizza place to say hi--and then we eneded up eating there, too! But we left Peachy alone and didn't bother her and her friends too much!

During the last week of school, they had a filed day. I came to eat lunch that day with Peach, and then it was on to the activities! I was in charge of just about the most boring one there, but hey, I was happy to help! And I was happy to have my little girl visit my station. In case you can't tell, you step on the skateboard type thing and try to aim the rubber fish to land in the laundry basket. I was right next to scooter cars and several huge bouncy house type things. So yeah, my station wasn't getting much action!!

But the perk of little action left me with some time to sneek away. Not sure I was supposed to do that, but I did anyway. I went clear across the field to see all the kindergarten classes compete in a tug of war. Once the class winner was declared, they had all the kindergarten boys vs the girls. They had tons of fun with this!

A couple days later was the last day of school. I couldn't believe we'd made it through a whole year--our first year with our first-born. I remembered crying this time last year because I knew once Peach went to school, time would just fly and soon they'd all be in school, graduate, and leave me to join the ranks of adulthood.

And sure enough, I was right. The year went incredibly fast and now here I am sending another baby to kindergarten!

All of our kids in school had two teachers this year--so we made these little picutres and framed them. It has the teachers name in a decorative manner in the center of the page. Then I had the girls draw and/or write some special things about their teacher. I didn't get a picture of any of them except Peach's to Mrs. J! As much as I wish I had the time and patience to teach my kiddos at home, I am also glad that there are other adults out there who can help my kids learn in a way I never could. And I'm so happy that my kids can learn to trust other adults as they branch out in this world.

Here's a picture of the whole class at the end of the "end of the school year" party. These kids were so sweet, and I can't wait to see who will be in her class next year. Her best friend might be moving, but several of the other kids live right here in our neighborhood-- we just need to figure out where and have them over!

Peach gave her teachers their gifts at the party. I love this picture of all the kids gathering around to see what Mrs. J got!

And here's another little gift we gave the para for Peach's class. It's s'mores ingredients. Turns out the teacher had just been given a fire pit for her birthday--so I think this one was a hit!

We ended up having to travel to the doctor on Peach's last day of school around lunch time because of some issues Scrunchie was having. I can't remember now if this was for the infected bug bites she had or for one of her two ear infections (all this happened withing two weeks), but needless to say we were stranded at lunch time. So we enjoyed some heavenly pizza slices at a new place--and then we stopped at the cookie store down the way. This was the day I discovered the best frosted cookies ever--the same ones I had at my gender reveal party! They were so good that we decided to buy a little frosted cookie for Peachy. She gobbled it up as we watched Arthur after her last day of school was complete. It was some nice down time with her!