End of the School Year

Oh gosh, did it really happen?  Did THIS LITTLE KID....

...just finish sixth grade and is going to be heading off to Jr. High?  Nope.  Can’t be true. And yet, somehow it is.

The last few days of school, though stressful, were also a wonderful celebration of a great year for the kids.  We had such a fantastic group of teachers and I was very devoted to each of them.  Cap especially had such a good year - this was the first year I didn't feel like I had to cattle-prod him through every single bit of his homework.  He really started developing self motivation and had some goals and everything.  I was really proud of him.  His teacher, Miss Parker, was a friend of my younger brother's in high school and it was especially fun to have a personal connection with her.

This is not a very good picture of Bitty and her teacher, Mrs. Farrell.  I adore this woman.  She's a dear friend, really - Cap had her for fourth grade as well - the first time Bitty has ever had a teacher whom Cap also had.  She'd better stick around for a few more years so Skippidy gets a chance with her too!

And Skippidy.  I count myself as a very fortunate mom to have had the chance to have Skippidy in Mrs. Yaeger's class.  What an amazing woman.  She makes life fun - what more could a kindergartner wish for?  She's strict, but she also makes life a celebration and cheers for every accomplishment these kids have.  I know school ended a few weeks ago but now that I'm finally writing about it, I'm feeling very sad that the kids have moved on from these neat ladies' classrooms.

The day before school was officially over, Cap and the rest of the 6th graders took part in an official "promotion" ceremony.  I'm not going to lie, it was kind of a tear-jerker.  There was a great slide show, choir numbers, words of wisdom from the teachers. And then of course, a tasty lunch with some of Cap's best buddies, most of whom he met and developed friendships with during his kindergarten year.  I can't believe they have stayed friends all these years.  And like the old fuddy-duddies say, I can NOT believe all those years have already passed by.

We should have taken some pictures with the adults so there would be some normal pictures in there as well. Oh well.

Then came the last day of school - the kids all gather in the auditorium and each grade sings a song or two, then the big-kid choir gets together to sing farewell.

Skippidy got a little emotional:

Then came the moment of triumph.  The very last thing that happens is the teachers all grab yard sticks and make a tunnel for the 6th graders to run through.  It happens really fast and is hard to catch on camera, but I tried:

Then suddenly school was over.  And the sibling fighting began.  Just kidding...that didn't start until the next day!  We celebrated that afternoon by getting burgers from B&D and eating at the park in the leafy shade.  Ahhhh.  Sounds so nice.  Today was over 100 degrees, so thinking of that lovely 80 degree weather, sitting in the shade at the park sounds pretty great right now.  

Skippidy Turns Six

So should I wait until later or just admit right now that I really really really didn't want to throw a party for Skippidy?  I was so totally overwhelmed by the end of school and everything going on, the thought of putting together a cute and wonderful party with lots of little screaming girls was just more than I could bear.  I feel kind of bad about that because I'm sure that Skippidy would have loved it.  Eek.  I feel bad.  And I will say that I did give her two options - a little party or.... A FABULOUS all-day birthday extravaganza with just her and her mommy all to herself!!  I may have talked up my idea just a little bit to try to convince her, it wasn't really fair, but yes, I did that.  And I tried really really hard to make it the best day possible for her.

The day began with a breakfast-in-bed party.  Skippidy had made it abundantly clear that she wanted breakfast in bed, that she wanted scrambled eggs, bacon, hash browns, ketchup and water.  On a tray. Since we have a tradition of the birthday girl (or boy) getting one present at breakfast, we decided we'd better have a mass-breakfast on our bed.  We spread out a tablecloth, gathered the kids and everyone enjoyed some breakfast while Skippidy opened a couple of presents: a giant jug of gumballs (what was I thinking?  Don't ask.  I don't know,) and a small lego kit.  It was a very merry morning.

After I got the kids off to school I had just enough time to bake a birthday cake and decorate the back porch in preparation for dinner in the evening.  Then I grabbed some chicken nuggets, which seem to be Skippidy's favorite meal on the planet, and met her for lunch.  I have never actually eaten lunch with any of my kids in the cafeteria before.  It was a new experience for me, and I probably should have done it long before now.  I think Troy has often been the special lunch visitor on Stomper's birthdays, and Bitty has her birthday in the summer, so I guess that's why.  I had fun chatting with Skippidy's kindergarten friends. 

After lunch I stayed for lunch recess and had a really good time observing Skippidy in an environment I don't normally get to see.  There are lots of sweet kids in the kindergarten group and as soon as I pulled out the camera they started flocking my way. Started with a little hide n' seek:

As soon as school was over, I whisked Skippidy away and took her to our first stop: getting a mani-pedi. Now, this was something that she had told me she really wanted.  She had been talking about it for quite some time - "Mom, can we please please please go get a mani-pedi some time?"  And when I asked her what we should do for our birthday-date, she said with great gusto, "Mani-Pedies!"  Great!  I got us scheduled and was excited to take her.  But then, during our recess play, Skippidy came up to me and said, "Mom, I'm so excited for my mani-pedi." (Long Pause) "Mom, what IS a mani-pedi?"

WHAT???

All this time she had just heard the phrase, probably in a cartoon or from friends or something and had no idea what it was.  This was like the biggest part of her birthday and she had no idea what it was!! I was dying.  I told her teacher and the two of us just howled.  So once I explained to her what it was we were doing, I really hoped that she would still enjoy it.  I'm pretty sure she did.

I let her pick my nail color....may have been a mistake, especially for someone who NEVER wears nail polish

After we got our nails done we had enough time to make a quick visit to the planetarium. For some reason she just really wanted to show me the things she had seen there on a field trip.  So that's what we did!  We just puttered around the displays and I followed her lead.  We had a good time.  And of course at the gift shop I let her choose a bag of the shiniest sparkliest rocks I have ever seen.

After the planetarium we zipped home to finish preparations for Skippidy's dinner party.  She told me she wanted steak and strawberries and asparagus, so that's what I did.  And I threw in potatoes too. We enjoyed the company of grandma and grandpa and a very pleasant June evening on the back porch.

This cake was totally the best part.  Initially Skippidy told me she wanted "a chocolate cake with black frosting with white polka-dots."  Sometimes when I ask her what she wants I think she just free-associates.  It can get very random and very funny.  I tried to talk her out of black frosting - she was okay with pink and decided that we could make polkadots out of marshmallows.  Skippidy insisted on applying all the decorations, and finished up by going to the garden and plucking a dozen mint leaves to top her cake.  It looked...awesome.  And very creative.  She had so much fun making the cake.

So my skippidy girl is six.  She's losing teeth, she finished kindergarten, she's as sassy as can be and...now she knows what a mani-pedi is.  Happy day for all.