Graduation!

Sorry, if you are on facebook this is a repeat, but...

My first baby is now a kindergarten graduate! As each one came up to get their diplomas we got to hear their answers to four questions. Here are Seth's:

My favorite food is peanut butter and crackers.
My favorite Bible story is when Jesus rose from the dead.
When I grow up I want to be a doctor who works at the hospital.
What I liked best about kindergarten is reading group. I love to read!

So proud of my sweet boy!

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Graduation was very cute.  The kiddos all had caps and gowns and entered to "Pomp and Circumstance."  Then they were presented their diplomas.  It was fun to hear all of the students' responses to the same four questions.  Many of the 'what I liked best' answers were "recess."  I was pretty proud of my boy for picking reading as his answer.  And he does LOVE to read, which makes me very excited as a mommy who loves to read. 


Then there was the slide show portion.  Sweet little tear invoking songs and pictures of Seth and his friends.  I did tear up at one point.  Thankfully, I had been warned, which usually makes me cry less.  And, thankfully (?), I had Max and Luke crawling and climbing everywhere to distract me. 

During the slide show they stripped them of their caps and gowns.  This was disappointing to me because I didn't take any posed pictures before, thinking I would get some after.  But, they were rented so I guess the easiest way to be sure they got them all back was to collect them mid-ceremony!

After the slide show, both classes came up and sang some sweet songs. 

And then they were done.  There was a nice packet to pick up that included the diploma, report card, some awards, and a new little Bible, a framed picture of his entire class and a graduation balloon.   

Seth's kindergarten teacher, her assistant, and his preschool teacher. We adore all of them!

And finally, we celebrated at home with ice cream!  My Seth is a lot like me in that he doesn't love change.  He likes to keep things exactly how he likes them.  He shed some tears the day before school ended, knowing that he wouldn't see his friends or his classmates for awhile.  Some of the students will not be back next year and I'm not sure he realizes that.  There were only 17 in his class (there was a second kindergarten class), so they were all pretty close.  He's adjusting to summer break, but I truly think he would go to school all year if he could!  Not sure what that says about my parenting, but I'm so thankful that he loves school.

First kindergarten field trip...

I recently had the privilege of accompanying Seth's class on the first field trip of their kindergarten year.  I am so thankful that David was able to take off work to be with the littler boys so I could be around some of the other moms in Seth's class and spend a little time with the teacher's assistant.  I really want to be involved with the boys' school!

[Sidenote: His teacher was out of town as her daughter had quadruplets, very early.  Seth's class has been praying for the mommy and her babies.  I love that they are able to do this at his school.  However, I am a product of public schools and am in no way knocking that choice either!  Thank you for allowing me this not so brief digression].

Seth's classmates and the teacher's assistant.  Or the resistance, as Seth calls her. 

We got to hang out in the refrigerator - not freezer as a snowman would eventually melt.  I loved their tour guide!  She was a recent college graduate, with plans to attend law school so that might have elevated her a bit in my book.  But, she was really good at explaining things in way that was interesting, yet easy for a 5 year old to understand.  Her apple tip - keep your applies in the fridge with a damp cloth and they will keep for months.  Who knew?  Likely everyone except me.  Ha ha.

The apple sorter, where they divide the good apples from the cider apples.  Mmmm, apple cider.

The polisher.  Did you know they don't grow on the trees that shiny?  Okay, just kidding about that one!  Well, I mean, they don't grow that pretty.  But, I knew that.

We each got to pick four apples to take home with us.  Luke was very appreciative, pulling up his chair, washing the apple himself, and digging in!

It's always fun to see your child interact with people outside of his family.  It is funny to me that, at this age anyway, Seth's best friend is whomever is in our group on the field trip.  I asked if the little guy he plays with at recess most days was there as I never saw him talk to him but Seth said, "Yeah, I just didn't want to bother him."  So funny!  He just hung out with the other little boy who rode in our car.  And on the way back to school they made big plans to play together the following week.  It all seems so easy at 5!  I'm definitely looking forward to more field trips!

Hot dog!

Okay, I was trying to come up with something cutesy as it related to 'catch up,' as in catching up on some long overdue posts. But my mind just kept wandering to ketchup and mustard and relish. Which, of course, led me to the hot dog. I think I must have Memorial Day cookouts on my mind. Although, I've been informed that we will be taking on a major landscaping project around the back deck over the long weekend so I'm not sure I will be permitted a full fledged cookout. From the looks of the forecast we may have to invest in some plastic handled yard tools to avoid being zapped by lightning. But, isn't the ground easier to dig in when it's wet anyway?

Well, that was a long and boring intro into what will likely prove to be a long and boring post. But, we did have three fun-to-us activities in the last week or two (excluding Max's birthday as that gets its own post), so here goes:

First, I took the two oldest boys downtown for the 500 festival kids' party last weekend. It was a rainy and dreary day so we decided that Max would stay home. Since he's a tad bit young to do this solo, Dave stayed home too. Other than the nearly half hour it took us to park in the parking garage, it was a good time.

The boys got to see a race car.And make pirate hats. There's a pirate cartoon that they love so this was good fun!And if you know my boys, you know that their entire world revolves around fire trucks at this point. If we leave the house they often want to know how many fire stations we will be driving by. And if you can "spot" a fire truck just out on the road, it's huge. So, standing on one with the help of a real fireman was quite the adventure! Everytime we came to a booth/display/exhibit, I would ask them, "Do you want to do this?" Without fail, Luke would nod 'yes' and Seth would shake his head 'no.' Thankfully, seeing your little brother having all the fun seems to coax an older brother into having some fun too.After all this fun, we surely needed refreshment.And this is what I brought home with me - one very sleepy pirate who fell asleep in the car and stayed that way, even after being carried inside and placed on the couch. I'm counting the day as a success if it knocked him flat!

***Next was Seth's end of year picnic for preschool. The weather was PERFECT! Rain was forecasted but it held off. Seth had a great time running and playing and eating lunch outside with his classmates. I was very fortunate this year to be able to go on nearly every field trip and attend every party. It's really important to me to be involved at his school.

We finished at the park, after an unfortunate skinned knee(s) incident, and headed home to show Dad and Luke all the bandaids. Then we decided to take Max out and see what he thought of the swing in our backyard. He is the first of my boys to enjoy the swing! Seth and Luke only just this year decided it was fun. [Thankfully, because Dave spent WAY too much time building the swingset for neither of them to enjoy it.]

***Our next big event was Seth's preschool graduation. We were invited to a party to see how much he had learned - counting to 100, writing his name, letter sounds, and some basic sounding out of words, etc. While that was fun to see, it was much more amazing to me how much he has changed physically since school started. His teacher took a picture of each student at a little 'meet the teacher' day before school started and it was shocking to me to see that the little timid four year old I had sent off to preschool (with much trepidation myself) had finished his year as a sweet and VERY social five year old who loved, quite possibly, every minute of school. When he started school, I'm not sure I was committed to going back to the same place next year but his experience was so awesome that it didn't take me long to commit. He has grown, physically, mentally, and spiritually, and I couldn't be happier!