And now we are done

All the milestone graduation occasions have happened.  Talent shows (Bub did a science/magic  Miriam sang a song), student council elections, cleaned the classroom-brought home a bookbag full of never ending papers and broken crayons, year books signed, ending flag ceremony and 6th grade balloon send off, Miriam used all the coupons she had earned through out the year in one week.  She brought pop to school, used her 2 homework passes, and ate lunch with her teacher.

then.....

Field Day

Where I was again over painting faces, only this time with many fewer volunteers (kindergarten moms are so gung-ho!).  I knew what to expect this time around so I wasn't surprised by the 2 hours of non-stop, no break face requests.  I now know to say "no I can not do a dragon you would recognize...let me give you some suggestions".

I am improving though, 600 faces will do that to you.

 This guy took off the minute the first candy cannon went off and I didn't see him for the rest of the day! He reported back having done everything...bounce house, waterslide, water dodgeball, dunk tank (only throwing balls), had marks from the cotton candy and popsicle stand, also tried most of the minute to win it games, hula hoop, and tug of war. His brother and sister did the same, the only thing they DIDN'T do was come get their faces painted from me....they say it's a waste of time to wait in the line when you only have 2 hours!! Which I agree...nevertheless my booth was extremely popular.  I will try not to let it go to my head (especially since the woman helping me graduated with an art degree, possibly she was the draw:)

The Last Day of School Pictures.

The last time EVER Soren will walk them to the corner, he will keep on going down to kindergarten next year!

After the very teary ending flag ceremony, I left Miriam and her sobbing friends to console themselves with a walk down to Galaxy Frozen Custard for a "Black Hole" to share.  I was crying too...with the good byes, and the school song, the 6th grade balloon send off and all that pre-teen emotion...then a little boy in 3rd grade said "Why are they crying? They are in the same class every year!"  This was a voice of reason to my heart and I was able to pull it together.  Miriam is in a program that keeps the same group of kids in the same class every year so she would see almost every single person next year...just like the previous 2 years. 

However, Miriam was not and is not consoled by that fact.  She cried randomly throughout the day and again as she was going to sleep last night.  She will really REALLY miss her teacher (although she will be across the hall).  Mrs. Stringfellow called them "our class family" all year and completely made them feel valued, wanted, and loved.  It's hard to let go of people who believe in you so much.

Since Miriam had her plans I took the boys + one friend and met more friends for a Fizz and park trip.

Not one tear from Byron, the boy is ecstatic for summer.  He loves his teacher, has nice friends and all-in-all had a great year, but school is hard on our introvert. For Miriam I cry at the end of the year because she has to leave her friends and teacher...for Byron I cry at the beginning of the year because although he is super brave about it I know his little soul cries out for quiet and introspection during the long days of constant demands and stimulation.

This morning they will wake up to the first official day of summer!!

(We will celebrate by cleaning the house)

Manditory Family Fun

Weekend hiking trip

 

Water is FREEZING!

Beautiful wild flowers are starting to bloom, tons of lizards, and we even saw 2 garter snakes!

Finishing Spring

As we head into June, we are finishing off our spring activities, summer is just around the corner.

Bub and the Golden Eagles played their last game of the season.

The "good game" high fives.

Miriam then had her final piano recital for the year.

She earned her medal by memorizing 8 piano songs, she performed 3 of them at the recital.

Soren performed a cricket dance from his tumbling class.

It was so so stinking cute and classes are held in a building that is also reception center at night so its a pretty fancy location! Unfortunatly, I don't think I can convince him to take the class again next year. 

School is out in 3 1/2 days! 

Art (not my dad)

A few things I am grateful for.....

1. In the basement, our house has this wall divied into thirds.  It's perfect for displaying the kids artwork. Thank you previous owners!

2. Our school has a wonderful art teacher, who also teaches ballroom dance.

3. One of our favorite babysitters is a super duper crazy talented budding artist and she teaches (very inexpensive) art camps in the summer 

(2 & 3 are very important because I am NOT a resource for the kids when it comes to visual art, or art history)

4. I finally conviced Byron to let me toss some of the old art to make room for the new as long as I promised to take pictures and put them on the blog.

Art from last summer's camp through October of this school year.

Upclose on Bub's

Upclose on Mim's

(her art class last summer made an art book which is not displayed)

Upclose on Soren's

Mim's Jan-June

Bub's wall Jan-June

(his one complaint about school art class is that he doesn't have enough time to finish all his projects, he wouldn't let me hang the ones he didn't feel he had enough time to do his best.)

I have left space on Byron and Soren's walls for their upcoming summer art camp.

Miriam is doing a science camp instead of art this year...choices are hard!

The NEW Eight Year Old!

The whole week was pretty great because Byron got to be the star student.

We made a cool poster, he got to bring his favorite book,  brought show and tell items about his interests, brought a class treat on Friday AND Soren and I could come sit at the birthday table with him during lunch.  Not to mention cake on his Dad's birthday 2 days earlier!

He asked if I would bring him pizza but I surprised him by going one better...garlic cheese bread (and some apples that only I ate). It's just like pizza only better because the only (debateable) healthy thing on the pizza is taken off!

Soren helped me pick out 8 balloons for him to wake up to.

He had a HARD time waiting to open his gifts.  He opened a few gifts and cards that morning, but I wanted him to wait until the evening for the biggest one. I wonder if I should have just let him tear them all open and be done with it because the waiting almost felt like it was ruining his birthday.

Waffles, Nutella, fruit, and whipped cream breakfast request....granted.

Played one VERY rainy, VERY cold soccer game. Unfortunatly, not our favorite game of the season, but we made it through it and came home dripping wet. Because the rain had changed our plans for a Topaz Mountain trip we had to re-group and come up with a new celebration plan. We decided on a late afternoon movie.  Avengers Age of Ultran for Bub and Dad, Cinderella for the rest of us.

Finally...time for deluxe ice cream sundaes! Tons of candy/cookie toppings but the special request was Nutella sauce, whipped cream and a cheery on top!

Done and done...we squeezed in the eight candles and rushed through our family's special version of the birthday song so it wouldn't melt!

He finally got to open the big gift...a Razor scooter of his own.

But this grand event did not end his birthday celebrations from spilling on to the next week.

We took a trip to the scout shop where we picked up the basic items for him to start scouts, and then we threw together a birthday party!

Lazer Tag

Over two hours of bounce houses, Pirates cove, and the arcade before we stopped by Krispy Kreme for their fresh hot doughnuts! (Bub isn't a huge fan of birthday cake).

It ended up being an epic 4 1/2 hour birthday party but the boys loved it!

I kept asking them if they were tired and wanted to come home, but no...they didn't.  I purposely didn't feed them thinking they would get hungry...they did, but not enough to want to leave.  Finally I just had to drag them off the bouncy slide so we could finish the party.

The boys loved watching the doughnuts be made in the store, then we tore open the gift quickly so I could get them home!

Byron was so sweet about saying thank you over and over for the party and to his friends, he is a very gracious kid, so fun to give gifts to because he loves everything!

The completion of the celebrating will be when he purchases the pocket knife he has been pinning over for 3 years!!! I know...I know, even though we will teach him knife safetly I expect there will be blood and possible stiches in my future!  

Caught-Up

I love Darin's birthday.

That is the day he finally catches up to me and we are blistfully the same age for 6 months.

Since he started bike-communting his looks even younger than usual.

Kind of love that-kind of hate that....it's not easy to have such a hot young looking husband.

His birthday was an eventful day!

Soren and I surprised him at lunch with some Ben & Jerry's.  Upon coming home, I realized we were without power.  I assumed a million people had been calling the power company so we held tight for a few hours.  When I finally asked the neighbors (and porch lights started coming on) I realized that only 2 houses on the street were without power! 

So this is what our front yard looked like until 11 pm that evening.  A power line had shorted out and they had to dig under the road.

Luckily, we had plans to go out to dinner with friends so we missed most of the excitement out front.

Mikado Sushi (loved the pop-rocks!) and then shared a Tres Leche cake with some friends.

As usual, Darin had ordered things he wanted a month or so ago...and has been using them for a few weeks, so.....no gifts to open, but his mom sent a card.

FIVE

 Soren turned 5!

We celebrated with a "classic birthday party" theme.

The theme was picked by me, when I ran to the store the weekend before and grabbed what I could find to entertain 5/6 year olds.

Soren received an EZRoller for his birthday (vehicle in orange) so Miriam invented the "rent a vehicle" station...for sure the hit of the party. Especially once the bubble machines were handed out and the kids would zoom through zillions of bubbles!

Monkey-Toe marble game,

Face-painting,

(The older kids got to miss school for the party. I think it's important to cultivate sibling connections through fun activities and service, and also I didn't want to be alone with that many 5/6 year olds.)

Lots of bubble machines.

Not pictured: sidewalk paint, piñata, scavenger hunt and bean bag toss.

Then on to the Ace of Cakes tie-dye cupcakes (Lovingly and painstakingly made by Miriam).

Cute party guests.

 It's tradition to celebrate Soren's birthday at the Zoo

 (perhaps a tradition that will change as he gets older but for now I LOVE IT!)

We picked up Darin from work and got in right before they closed the gate.

They have an impressive dinosaur display throughout the grounds right now. 

The baby orangutan is as cute as ever.

The kiddos took a birthday ride on the carousel.

Soren picked out all the meals for the day.

Nutella on toast with apples for breakfast (strawberries for the rest of us). 

Cake and ice cream with SPRINKLES for lunch.

Cheetos, watermelon, ham sandwiches and Sprite dinner picnic.

(not one vegetable the whole day)

 We enjoyed the animals and dinosaurs so much we missed out on the flavor burst ice cream cones, but it was all good because we did have cake and ice cream at our house.

(Miriam out did herself!)

So he blew out candles again...this time with Dad around.

Love this kid.

 Love his quick wit, his enthusiasm, his silky blond hair and striking green eyes.

Every once and awhile, around 2:00, in the afternoon sunshine, we snuggle on my bed...Soren smells his blankie and makes soft sucking noises while his eyelashes flutter as he drifts off to sleep.  Then I fall asleep.  The kids wake us up when they get home from school around 3:40.  Aside from snuggling with Darin it's just about my favorite thing ever!