But also because this school year just flew by. Seriously, wasn't it just Christmas?
For a hot minute I thought about spending this day completely deep cleaning the house and getting it "ready" for summer. Then I realized that "ready" for summer meant "ready" for my kids to destroy it. So instead I put together the annual treasure hunt, took an extra long walk outside, bought a new dishwasher at Best Buy (here on the 30th!), ran a few little errands, and then picked up a Panera salad to eat at home. Then I dozed for 30 minutes on the couch.
It was the perfect last day of school for me.
While I will definitely miss the freedom that comes from having all kids in the school, it'll be really nice to not have to get up at a specific time or do the whole getting ready for school in the morning thing. And while our summer is pretty jam packed with activities, I think there's still enough free time for us to do fun things like random day trips to Chicago or
It's fun to see how much the kids have changed during the 9 months of school. Spencer definitely looks older - I think he's about as tall as I am now!
I think he's excited to be in the oldest grade at middle school next year. He has rocked it academically, has gotten a leeetle more organized, and is probably about as social as his sister. (And that's saying something!)
This kid is going places. He's not as social as Spencer, but the few friends he has he is fiercely loyal to. And I think that's awesome.
And then there's Cole. (I tend to say that a lot.) First, excuse the outfit - it was field day and his team color was brown. And arguing about his choice in pants just did not make sense to me this morning. Mainly because I've given up on arguing about stuff like that with Cole, because he just doesn't care. (Winning the war and not the battle and all of that.) Second, this kid had an AMAZING first grade year. I still have zero regrets starting him a year late. His teacher, Mrs. Meyers (who won teacher of the year this year for the school district) helped him so much. First grade is a big step up from Kindergarten, but I feel second grade is even more so. He's ready.
I had really wanted him to get into the accelerated 2/3 class next year, and when he didn't I was kinda sad for a day. But then I really thought about it, and realized this was probably the best for him. Yes, he'll get bored next year. Yes, he's super bright. (Not just mom bragging. He is.) But I don't know that he's mature enough yet for an accelerated program. He doesn't love school. He kinda tolerates it. And I think the extra work and projects would just make it even less fun for him. So for now, we're good with where he's at. Because where he's at is pretty great.
Oh miss Tess. How she has LOVED Kindergarten! She adored her teacher, Miss Lenhardt. She was not always as fond of her classmates; I had to explain several times that there will probably always be a few kids in a class who are naughty and sometimes cause problems for everyone. That you have to be kind to them, even if you don't want to. This was a hard lesson.
Tess is doing great academically - reading and writing like a champ. But even more so, she's excelling socially. It's all about friends at school! She's quite a bit smaller physically than the rest of her classmates, and for the second half of this school year I have really focused on getting her to stick up for herself and being brave. (She went through a brief "I'm afraid of everything" phase. It was annoying and sad. But mostly annoying.) She now confidently exclaims "I am fierce!" when confronted with things that used to scare her. I have to agree - she's my super-fierce first grader!
This has been a really good school year for us. I feel blessed to have such great kids and that they had such great teachers.
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