That is now Thankful #1 in this week's Ten Things of Thankful.
2. In spite of my post on Monday, I did have a lovely Mother's Day, although I think someone owes me a doughnut without a couple of bites taken out of it, and he knows who he is.
3. My daughter had her last choir concert of the year this week. It was Senior Spotlight night, which means endlessly long to anyone who does NOT have a senior (and I don't). The kids are very talented, though, and I enjoyed listening to them sing. My daughter has said repeatedly that being in show choir has been the best thing about high school so far. I'm grateful she's found a good group of friends through it.
4. My daughter's group sang "Counting Stars" and "Say Something." My daughter had a solo in "Counting Stars." The bad news is the mike didn't work during her solo, and we couldn't hear one word she sang. But she LOOKED like she was nailing it, so I'm going with that. Hopefully, she'll get another chance to sing a solo next year, especially since this one got botched.
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| I'm sure she sounded as lovely as she looks. |
5. The preschool year wound down this week with Last Day of School parties for each class. The Pre-K class had a Round Up theme, where they dressed in western clothes (i.e., cowboy boots and hats and bandannas). We played games and ate pigs in a blanket and drank root beer (cowboy food, you know), then went outside to spit sunflower seeds, which is hilarious fun. I told them I was giving them all the boot and sending them off to kindergarten. They've been a NOISY, SOCIAL class, but they've also been a fun one. I'm very grateful I got to spend the past school year with them.
6. It was "See You Later, Alligator" in Primary this week. We made binoculars out of toilet paper tubes on Tuesday, then used them to go on a "safari" on the last day. My assistant teacher, Miss Janet, came up with the idea. She hid 5 animals around the building, and we walked around, looking through our binoculars, until we found them all. The kids had so much fun that when we returned to the room, they wanted to do it again (we couldn't - out of time). It will be something they will remember for a long time. I'm also lucky enough to have 7 out of the class of 12 enrolled in my Pre-K class for next year, so I get to enjoy them for two years.
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| Alligator located. |
7. Pre-K graduation was Thursday night. As per my personal litmus test (no one cried, no one threw up, no one peed their pants), it was a successful program. One of my little girls was literally sobbing when the program was over; she didn't want to leave Pre-K and go to kindergarten. (I would keep her and never let her go if I could, for she is precious, but she's ready to move on and conquer the world.)
8. Other than hauling home stacks of books and boxes of files, my classrooms (I have two; one is a Pre-K room, one is for Primary) are packed up for summer. My Pre-K assistant teacher, Miss Melissa, did the majority of the work in that room, or I would have still been at it today, which was not possible, because...
9. ... THE COLLEGE BOY IS HOME FOR THE SUMMER! He was done with finals on Wednesday, but, bless his heart, his mama was too busy with the last week of preschool to be able to move him home until today.
10. Naturally, the College Boy had not packed one single thing when I got there this morning. His other three roommates had already moved out, so everything that was left was either his or trash (or both, in some cases). He was convinced it would all fit in my car (a Toyota Avalon), but he was completely wrong. The good news was my husband was also in town for meetings, so we took a load across town to where he was, loaded it in his vehicle, and then went back to fill my car with the rest of it. He will spend the rest of the summer getting it all sorted out, since you may imagine that someone who had not packed anything yet the day he was to move out would not exactly be a methodical packer.
I am simply exhausted now, after all the excitement of the week. but it's a good kind of exhausted. Mostly. And it means that I have my summer ahead of me and, most importantly, we are all home again, under the same roof, and will hopefully not kill each other before school starts again in August.
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| Ruby, exhausted after chasing her tail most of the night. Large, gray lump in background is Fletcher. |
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I think I'd like to take a full week just to sit with my feet up and read. Not going to happen, but it would be nice.
ReplyDeleteDon't give him any ideas about that doughnut. The last one tasted like spit as it is....
I absolutely love the picture of those little ones with their binoculars trained on the alligator. So cute!
ReplyDeleteAren't they darling? They were SO EXCITED every time they found an animal. They painted the binoculars themselves.
DeleteHappy summer vacation!
ReplyDeleteRomi @ In the Way Everlasting
Thank you, Romi! I hope I get a lot of organizational things done this summer. Plus a lot of relaxation!
DeleteTotally thought of the episode of The Middle from earlier in the week, when Frankie went to pick up Axl from college for the summer. If you haven't seen it, definitely watch it and guarantee you will enjoy it and possibly relate a bit. But seriously Happy Summer Vacation and we still have about another month here before I can say that :)
ReplyDeleteI need to see that. I feel like we're The Middle anyway, most of the time. And I totally related to them moving Axl into college in the fall.
DeleteIf it's any consolation, my daughter still has two more weeks of school, but preschool doesn't make up snow days.
Say Something is one of my new favourite songs. I bet that you were so proud.
ReplyDeleteMy son is done SK this June and they don't have a graduation which is sucky. I always wanted to be a JK/SK teacher and thought how cool it would be...then I volunteered for my son's fit-a-thon day and I wanted to veer my group of kids to the nearest liquor store. So bless your heart. You put in a lot more work than people will ever know.
There are days when it takes a lot of Diet Coke to get me through. And preschool is only in the morning! But when they are so unbelievably cute and funny, like they were with the binoculars, then it's all worth it.
DeleteCongrats to your daughter on her solo! That is a big deal! As much as I hate for my kids to grow up, I do love seeing all of the new things they do once they get to high school. Looks like your daughter is branching out just as much as my kids.
ReplyDeleteI love reading about your preschool fun. Did I tell you that I won't be teaching next year? The school doesn't have enough kids, so one room will be closed. It makes me so sad.
If you didn't watch "The Middle" this week, you need to find it somewhere to watch it. It sounds eerily similar to your experience picking your son up from college.
She loves high school so much! Except for Comm Arts, that is.
DeleteI didn't know you weren't going to teach next year! That's sad! Our enrollment has declined over the past few years, combination of economy and tornado. It really is a luxury to be able to send your child to preschool.
You're the second person to mention that episode of "The Middle." I am going to have to look it up and watch it! I don't know what we would have done if my husband hadn't been in the same town the same day for meetings and was driving a company van.
This is super! So many positive transitions and your photo of the safari is priceless. As good as it gets. As for your daughter, I am very disappointed to hear that her sound was quashed but I can tell from looking at her beautiful stance (!!!) and from my experience in singing in front of people she did indeed bring that song HOME. TO A T. you are so fortunate and the great thing is, you really know it and I love that about you! xox jean
ReplyDeleteThank you, Jean! It always makes my day to read your comments! I really hope my daughter gets another crack at a solo next year. (Solos only amount to a couple of lines, usually, by the way.)
DeleteThis list is so beautiful. Poor daughter, I'm sure she did sound as lovely as she looks.
ReplyDeleteThose binoculars are so ADORABLE! I love that, I might have to do that here with my kids and their friends. Too cute!
I'm dying laughing over the college boy's packing, or lack thereof. My niece had a similar situation, my sister had an idea that might happen so they started making trips weeks ago. GOOD idea b/c they found laundry from CHRISTMAStime, 6 months ago. She said the smell of all those dirty clothes in the closet and under the bed was unbelievable, THEN they had to put all that IN THEIR CAR and drive through traffic. They had to keep rolling down all the windows and the back hatch window, she was afraid a bag might fall out if they took off too quickly. Then she said she was kind of hoping that WOULD happen, less laundry :)
Aww, thanks, Joy! Thank goodness, she took it pretty well.
DeleteThe binoculars are easy to make. We painted them with tempera paint (I stuck a tube on my fingers and the child painted it, painting me rather liberally in the process). Stapled together, holes punched in them for the piece of yarn used for a strap. Easy peasy.
You cannot imagine the utter lack of organization in his packing! He hadn't done laundry since he was home Easter. I had to go buy some storage containers, so when I left his room, I had to give him a list of things to do while I was gone, including picking up all the trash and putting it in a trashbag and scraping the gum off the floor around the trashcan. Adult, my ass!
Glad for Eustress! It's great to be exhausted but happy. Great weekend now, Dyanne!
ReplyDeleteI'm hoping my legs and feet stop aching by the end of the week!
DeleteI have been craving donuts since your post on Monday. Resistance may be futile. :-)
ReplyDeleteI think college students believe that cars are like Mary Poppins' purse. Glad you were able to get the college kid (and his stuff) home for the summer!
Give in to the doughnut craving.
DeleteI now know not to believe him when he estimates volume of any kind.
The girl in the purple dress in your first picture? She's my sister-not-in-law. :)
ReplyDeleteZoe is? How are you related?
DeleteMy husband and I went to school at OCC (you know that part), but since he was a foreign student, he didn't have a place to stay on breaks when the dorms were closed. He went to CHCC, and somehow got connected with Doug and Kelly. I don't know how well you know them, but they often have people staying in their house, usually international students. Well, he ended up staying there often enough and long enough that Charity and Zoe "adopted" him as their brother, and Kelly stood in for Adrian's mom at our wedding, since Adrian's family wasn't able to make the trip. Therefore, Zoeis my sister-not-in-law. LOL.
DeleteGreat story, Kirra! I know Doug and Kelly. Our daughters have gone to school together since 1st grade. Love the term "sister-not-in-law"!
DeleteWhat a shame the mike didn't work for your daughter, she looks lovely and I'm sure she sang beautifully.
ReplyDeleteI can quite understand the feelings of the little pre-K girl as I was the same. I loved pre-K and the teachers so much that I was heartbroken when I had to move up to Kindergarten. That was many years ago now of course but I still remember it well.
Thank you! I was so sad!
DeleteI felt really badly that my little student cried so much, because I was always telling her I wanted to keep her and not let her go to kindergarten. Which is true, but now I think I probably contributed to her crying at her graduation.
The safari sounds so fun! I am bummed that you couldn't hear your daughter's solo. :(
ReplyDeleteI was bummed, too :(
DeleteThe safari was easy, awesome fun!
is it just me, or was it like, January 3 weeks ago? For as awful as the Winter was, the time it took to get to Summer (if end of school is not Summer, then nothing is, calendars notwithstanding).
ReplyDeletetrust you will have a meteorologically boring summer!
It's not just you. It has gone by in a flash.
DeleteSummer is usually meteorologically boring. It's SPRING that we have to worry about. May is the worst; as soon as it is over, we just have hot, humid weather, but not much tornado action, if any.
You made it! It's the holidays! College boy is home! No one peed his/her pants! A week to be thankful for!
ReplyDeleteYou know it, Sarah!
DeleteWell done to your daughter, even if you couldn't hear it.
ReplyDeleteEven though I did know American schools break up earlier than the UK, it still amazes me that it's here already! Our girls' school still has about 6 weeks to go (although older daughter is currently on study leave for exams) and my cousin's kids don't finish till the week after ours, and in England it's halfway through July before the hols.
College boy's packing sounds very similar to my younger daughter's in preparation for a trip to Belgium. She's there now, seeing WW1 sites, and I'm missing her!
As always, love the Ruby photo.
Thanks, Yvonne! Our schools are usually over by the third week of May, unless we have to make up snow days, which we do this year (ten days' worth). My preschool doesn't make them up, so I get out earlier. And colleges always have a little shorter calendar than the public schools. The kids go back to school in mid-August.
DeleteHas your daughter realized she forgot anything important with her non-packing for her trip to Belgium? How long has she been gone?
I put the photo of Ruby in there just for you!
Let's start an exhausted club :-) Just thinking about the next two weeks makes me a little more tired than I already am. But yours (like mine) sounds like a good sort of exhausted. Enjoy having the college lad home!!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Stephanie. And we can start a club if you'll be president; I'm too tired to conduct meetings :)
DeleteI love the idea of a bunch of cowboy preschoolers spitting sunflower seeds ;) The alligator activity looked adorable too...
ReplyDeleteSo wonderful your son is home - Happy summer holidays! Wish I was joining you already :) We still have a few weeks to go here.
We used to eat watermelon and spit the seeds, but it is getting harder and harder to find a watermelon with seeds in it that we went to sunflower seeds.
DeleteI still can't get used to the fact that I don't have to go to work tomorrow!
Wow! That says a lot about your daughter. Singing her heart out without benefit of a working microphone. Good for her!
ReplyDeleteIt may have been exhausting but it sounds as if you had an absolutely wonderful week. Thanks for sharing it:)
btw, rumor has it that Ruby just hangs out, lets Fletcher do her bidding and even has her humans waiting on her as well. Just sayin.
Thank you! I know she did great, because I've heard her sing. Just wish I could have heard her sing THEN.
DeleteIt was a wonderful week. Exhausting, but wonderful!
I'm going to guess that big, fat Pete has been talking, because he hates Ruby's guts and would like to see her get thrown out of the house! Poor Fletcher is like Eeyore. The Little Princess has figured out how to get on top of my dresser, which means it's only a matter of time before she starts stealing my earrings and bracelets as toys and has them scattered all over the house. Sigh.
As soon as all the College Boy's crapola gets moved out of the living room and into HIS room, I will be much better. Not that I am the one moving it; it just bugs me to have it there.
ReplyDeleteAww I love the kiddos updates, especially the one about the little girl who isn't ready for kindergarten. I hope she comes back early next fall to update you on HOW EXCITING kindergarten is.
ReplyDeleteSo do you have summers off? I often find myself missing school for that reason alone. Summer fly by so fast!
I am glad you have everyone home for the summer. I am sure you will have plenty of fun and funny stories to share for the coming weeks!
Oh Ruby. I wonder if the awe of her own tail will ever fade? In the meantime, you get the "perk" of her enthusiasm!
Kate at Daily discovery
Yes, I have summers off! Perk of the job. Of course, it also means I don't get PAID in the summer, so there you go. And I know that sweet girl is so ready to go to kindergarten! She will be more than fine.
DeleteI have wondered the same thing about Ruby and her tail. It never ceases to surprise her that it's following her.
Exhausted gratitude sure is the look of the season isn't it? :) feeling so much of the same over here!
ReplyDeleteI'm hoping to be energized by the next weekend.
DeleteI hope you have a wonderful summer and I hope you get that donut! ;)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Linda. I will probably have to go buy my own damn doughnut.
DeleteWe recently bought an alligator that gets bigger in water (left in it for days) and then gets smaller again so I totally loved the photo of the kids finding the alligator (crocodile? whatever, that ugly thing that looks cute when 5" but ends up eating us if he can when he's big). What's up with the donut??? I hope you got one and here's to feeling good and exhausted and thankful.
ReplyDeleteAnd I still need to talk to you about the boobies.
I don't know my crocodiles from my alligators. We called this one an alligator when I remembered our theme was "see you later, alligator." The rest of the time, I called it a crocodile.
DeleteYou have to read my account of my Mother's Day that I posted last Monday to understand the doughnut story.
Email me.
Haha, I did that to my mom,too, at the end of my freshman year! She got there and nothing was packed! I thought she might kill me.
ReplyDeleteI fully believe your mom would have been justified in killing you. It will take him the entire summer to sort it all out, since it's all thrown into suitcases and storage tubs. Just in time to send him off again!
DeleteThat was a fun read. Truly fun though hectic. U wud be having great time with college boy at home and the way u described his stuff + mess made me LOL !
ReplyDeleteUr girl is so pretty. good luck for her singing
I wish I had taken "before" and "after" pictures of my son's dorm room. Half of it is still in the middle of my living room, and he has until Friday to get it up to his own room. I don't know what I will do with it if he doesn't, as I have not thought that completely through yet :)
DeleteAnd thank you for the compliment about my daughter!