Last Week of School

It is the last day of school for Ben and yesterday was Tessa's last day.  I feel weird saying this but I wanted to hit pause this last month as the days just flew by because I don't want to say goodbye to their schools.  Waaaah.  Moving is hard.  Tessa was crying after we got home from her graduation because she was going to miss the Y.  Her teachers gave the kids little stuffed emoji keychains (try explaining what that is to my grandmas!) and she has been clenching that thing in her fist since.

Of course, this really isn't much of a graduation at all since she's still going to preschool again next year but it's fun for the kids so whatever.  Some kids in her class are 5 and heading to "big kid school" next year some it was.  They had black mortarboards and everything but the teachers kept them to use for the other classes.  Those things do look like a pain to make.  

After the ceremony, which was held in a church across from the Y for some reason instead of the usual gym where Ben's always was, we had cookies in the classroom and Calvin was a very popular guest.   

This is out of order but here is Tessa walking in with her huge hat on.  

They sang the classic "These are the Months of the Year" and some other fun songs and then got their diplomas.  

Here is Milo climbing all over the kitchen toys that were shoved in the corner for the summer.  

As a record of progress, the preschool has the kids draw a picture of themselves each month of the year to display how they are developing.  There is a normal continuum that this process follows for most kids.  I'm pretty impressed with hers.  Ben's people drawing is still solidly in the "mat man" and stick figure territory (his pictures of boats, guns, animals and scenery are pretty good though).  Check out Tessa: the Pink Marker Version. 

And this was the first month of school:

Pretty amazing I think. She  loves to draw hearts and she can draw a really good freehand circle which I am pretty bad at so it intrigues me.  

Ahhh...it's 1:15.  I have approximately an hour and 45 minutes left of peaceful school afternoons.  I wonder-did my mom feel this way about summer?  We are going with a bunch of Kindergarten classmates and a few old preschool friends to a well known kid themed restaurant when school is over and it should be a RIOT with a baby and a 2 year old along but oh well.  I can watch the other moms visit while I chase my maniac toddler around.  At least everyone is always willing to hold the baby. I'm sure I'll be stressed and sweating when it's all over. 

Spring Excitement and Nostalgia

Happy late Mother's Day to all the mothers out there.  It is my 6th Mother's Day.  I said I didn't want anything because I would rather just spend money buying stuff for the new house.  I have been so out of sorts and distracted and I can barely handle my kids in public so I didn't get anyone even a card!  It's a year for the books, that's for sure. Yesterday Tessa's preschool had a parent party and they made these very cute flowers for us. She had the biggest grin on her face when she gave it to me.  

It's actually a pen and the cap is embedded in the rocks.  This is one of the better kid crafts I've seen for that age group.  Ben brought home a painting of a vase of flowers with a letter on the back which said, to summarize, "thank you for making the best chicken nuggets and thank you for making my bed".  Hmmmm OK.  Yes, I do indeed make some good chicken nuggets.  I'm so good at setting the oven to 400 and slipping the pan in there. The bed thing though...I NEVER make anyone's bed in this house unless I'm changing the sheets or someone is coming over.  So I don't know where that came from.  

There was exciting news this weekend.  I tried to embed a video but I couldn't figure out how.  Ben started riding a bike without training wheels!  Now, I'm not bragging here.  I know many kids his age who have been doing this for at least a year and probably longer for some. We haven't really spent much time practicing because our street is at the top of a hill and it always worried me that he would go tumbling down it.  He learned at the farm by starting on a long expanse of grass and then moving to the gravel driveway.  It was crazy because I learned to ride a bike at the farm when my grandparents lived there!  I was a big older, between 1st and 2nd grade because we had been living overseas and I didn't have a bike there with me.  The old banana seater was waiting when I got back though!  I remember it took me weeks of falling in the grass in front of the house to get it.  It was a dry grasshopper summer and I'll never forget the first time I stayed up and rode in a straight line across the grass and grasshoppers were jumping away from me like the Red Sea parting.  Ben was on a roll after one push from my mom.    

When I was a kid, a bike helmet was a rare sight and the person who was wearing it was probably a big old nerd.  Actually, I can't even say that because I didn't know a single kid who wore a bike helmet in the 90's.  But, we know better now I guess.  Also, I had a friend in law school who had a serious head injury when she was 12 from a bike accident and that always stays with me.  We are the same age so kids in the 90's did indeed get hurt.  Yesterday morning I ventured out with Calvin and Milo aka Mr. I Want Everything I See in Stores and Don't Understand the Concept of Paying and Money and When My Mom Puts Food I Like in the Cart I Want to Rip It Open Immediately" to find some helmets.  Of course, every store was picked over by this point but I found what we needed.  I found the perfect style for Tessa. 

Ben's is black and red with a spike Mohawk and Milo's has Lightening McQueen.  

These weeks in May are always full of nostalgia for me.  May 10th kind of caught me off guard when I saw a friend from law school mention it was our 10 year graduation anniversary.  Then, a few days later was the college anniversary.  And today is the day I left for Norway 12 years ago in 2006.  The pictures always pop up on Facebook and remind me. 

Ahhh, the glow of a 22 year old. 

And, the joy of a person who is finally done with formal education.  Actually, I still fantasize about college academics sometimes.  If I didn't have any morals I would love to be a research paper writer.  Haha.  I'm sure I could still bang one of those out in no time especially if it was a liberal arts topic. 

The Norway pictures could be shared again but all a person has to do is to the link for May in any of the years along the side of the page and there will be some there because I love them so much I have shared them every year I think.  

Spring Update

Do you all remember your Kindergarten graduation?  I really don't-I remember more clearly my preschool graduation.  I lived in Wyoming when I was in Kindergarten and I remember things about it but I don't recall a graduation.  I remember my sister's and brother's Kindergarten graduation because the school that became my hometown school liked to make a big old deal out of it and I still remember the often used "Everything I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten" essay fill of wisdom like "wash your hands" and "share" and "take a nap".  The current version of that would include "outline a book and write a little report" and "deconstruct numerals in groups of ten" which are things Ben has done this year.  I wasn't even sure what deconstruct meant when I saw it on the report card but it basically refers to learning subtraction.  There is a lot of controversy about Kindergarten and whether or not it is too much.  I'm glad to say, at least for my first kid to enter the world of school, it has not been too much even though a March birthday apparently now makes him of one of the youngest in his class.  He is an extrovert to the max which probably helps.  I love seeing the papers he bring home and deciphering his entry level spelling.  My favorite was when he brought home a picture of an oval with a line coming out of it and it said "Sosaj Rap".  Hmmmm...well obviously it was a picture of his favorite lunch which is a Sausage Wrap.  Anyone could see that. Also, he loves to draw pictures of tanks and guns and he always chooses books from the "Military Missions" series at the library and one day he brought home his own "Milutaree Book" that he made. Sounds first, then phonics I suppose.

So, even though there are still a few weeks of school left,  the Kindergarten had their music concert for the year along with their graduation.  They theme was "A Day in the Life of a Child" and the songs were traditional folk songs and camp songs we all know accompanied by music class instruments like tambourines and drums.  In the grand tradition of events held in school gyms, it was crowded, hot and hard to see and the pictures from where I was sitting were bad.  Everyone was holding up phones and tablets to try to get a good recording so it was hard to see.  After the show the classes went to their rooms so we could take pictures with the teacher and get their "diplomas".

I love this tree on one of the streets near the school where I always end up parking because there is no parking lot except a small one for the teachers and staff.  It is huge.

I was worried about handling Milo during the concert because he's crazy.  I had suckers, candy and drinks in my bag do distract him.  He actually calmed down when the singing started.  He liked it.  

I shouldn't have worried.  The Kindergarten demographic is known for having preschool and toddler and baby siblings so there were plenty of other screaming, running, meltdown having kids around.  

Speaking of the "Milutaree" aka the Military, my dad has worked as a civilian at an air force base for the past 11 years and last week he officially retired at the age of 60.  I wish I could have been there for his retirement party.  It was a lovely send off.  

He received a flag and a picture of the plane that flew the flag.  I don't exactly understand this (was the flag on the outside of the plane?  Inside?  It's an Air Force thing).

He also received a medal for HVAC unit members which is pretty unique and had to be tracked down and one was finally located and sent from a AFB in Texas.  He received a custom made NDSU sign for the farm and a statue with a Viking because the airmen of the base refer to themselves as the Northmen.  

The coworkers had hashtags for him which are pretty funny and true.  #AGNEWS

Here is the Viking statue.  

Pretty fitting because I am convinced that my family must have Viking blood.  

Both of those items above deserve their own post but I just haven't had time to post regularly.  Calvin has been sick for almost a month now and is on a second antibiotic for an ear infection after the first round didn't work and it spread from one ear to both.  It has been hard to put him down and the house is in absolute shambles.  My neighbor's grandkids came busting in last week and the 4 year old said "it's messy in here!".  Yes, it is kid.  Get over it.  Of course, they then proceeded to make it even worse.  

I have been trying to pack and move things each weekend. After packing our bags there isn't much room left and it has taken two loads just to move our coats from the coat closet. The amount of crap is completely overwhelming.  On Friday I loaded the closet from h3ll which holds old Halloween costumes, not two but three lettermen's jackets and two grad school graduation robes with hoods.  Minimalism is the latest "thing" and most people would advise me to just throw it all away but guess what.  I don't want to.  I like having costumes around should the occasion arise.  I like my letter jacket.  It was a big deal to be in 9th grade and get to have one and I was proud of it.  Same with the graduation robes.  And many of the costumes were made by me.  Back in 2008 I made the flapper dress below by sewing fringe to a clearance Old Navy dress and the matching headpiece doesn't work anymore because the elastic is stretched out.  

It fell off the hanger in the car and this morning Milo was afraid to get in because he thought the big fluffy feather was a spider.  Hahaha.  If it was that would be a very terrifying spider!