End of School Year

What a fun, busy week we've had. I don't know why they try to cram all the fun things into the very last week of school. Seriously, can't they space field trips and parties throughout the year? Anyhow, I'm sure the kids love it. On Tuesday I got to go help with a water party Sophie's class was having -- it was actually for all the first graders. I was in charge of the "duck, duck, goose" game. We just rotated through the classes. They had so much fun, and are so easy to make happy at this age. Afterwards we got popsicles. I got a red one (which I usually prefer), but as I ate it I realized it wasn't the typical red cherry. It was pina colada! What a nice surprise. The other helper mom even came and asked me if I noticed -- of course! I wonder what brand they were. So, back to the party, Sophie came home a little damp. She really wasn't all that wet, especially by the time we got home, but she wanted me to take a picture of her for Brandon to see. Now you all can see.



The next day was field day and talent show for Sophie's class. Chloe had a talent show a couple weeks ago. She played her one and only song she's learned on the piano. She messed up a bit at the start, which threw her off, but she just walked over to her teacher and told her, so her teacher asked me to come up and help her. I thought she handled the situation very well. I'm proud of Chloe and ALL her talents. Parents were not invited to Sophie's talent show, due to a space issue (they combined with another class). She took her crafts she loves to make as her talent. Since it was Wednesday (my volunteer day), Sophie's teacher still wanted me to help, but Chloe's teacher was fine. That left me with a little time to kill before going to Sophie's class, so I just went and hung out with Chloe. She's always happy to have me around. After school I got pictures of the girls with their teachers. Wasn't that so smart of me not to wait until the last day of school when everything gets so hectic?





I got to babysit Eli this morning and since his parents weren't back by the time school got out he got to surprise the girls as they came out of school. We let Eli play on the slides for a bit before walking home with our friends (and getting caught in the rain!) It sure will be nice to start our summer vacation and have the girls back home with me, but since this is my little soapbox I need to rant for a minute (you may stop here if you don't appreciate my rantings). How on earth are we supposed to teach our kids to love learning and value their education when they are fed so much "excitement" about being OUT of school? Everybody acts like it's such a great day, and makes absurd comments to my children about how happy they should be to be done with school. Hmmm, and we wonder why they start to hate school after so many years. Luckily, right now, my kids are still praying for 10-15 more weeks of school. Good thing I have a lot of books and worksheets planned for the summer.

And just in case you didn't know, my kids aren't going back to that school next year. I got them enrolled in a charter school, and we are getting more and more excited about it each day. I found an old VT partner from Cheyenne who is going to be attending (well, her son is!), and I have a 2ND cousin who is sending her two boys there -- who happen to be in the same grades as Chloe and Sophie! So, we're really happy to know some people that will be joining us.

One more note: We've started a new system for bedtime. It's so hard for the kids to go to sleep when it's still light outside, so Brandon printed off a calendar with the sunset time on each day. That is our new bedtime. We're hoping to teach the girls a little about the earth's rotation and possibly phases of the moon by doing so, and as summer progresses bedtime will get earlier and earlier preparing us for school in the fall. Yes, we can already hear the cries in December when they have to go to bed at 5:00. He He -- that is a joke (kind of). Our first night seems to have worked great. The girls crashed as soon as they hit their pillows. I'm sure that won't last, but it was a nice start.