School's Out For Summer!

Today was the big day! 

Last day of 4th Grade

Last day of 1st Grade

Last day of preschool - ever!
I never tire of William and is crazy faces.  Luckily he doesn't tire of making them.

I seriously can't even wrap my head around how another school year has passed.  I have officially been a stay at home mom as long as I was a working mom.  

All three boys had a great last day.  According to William it was going to be a great day of  "zero learning"

Jack was all smiles when I picked him up, and his teacher told me that I no longer have a preschooler.  I cried the whole way home.  I'm not ready to send my sweet baby into the big bad world.

We have lots of fun summer plans - summer school, camps, pottery, school of rock, strings.  Throw in a ton of pool days, a ton of Nonna days, and a couple vacations and it's shaping up to be a pretty great summer.  Hopefully come August I'll be more prepared to let my littlest bit head off to kindergarten, but for today I'm wallowing in my sadness. 

Jack's EOY Celebration

I have just loved Jack's preschool room.  He has grown by leaps and bounds!  They had a fun little bubble/sidewalk chalk celebration this week.  Nonna even joined us. 

Jack had a great time with the bubbles- that boy loves his bubbles! 

He and Nonna worked together to draw a house.  It was adorable. 

 He was so proud of his creation - especially the sun with all those rays on top.  I'm so glad his pictures his world as a sun shiny kinda place :)

For the record that circle under the house is the moon.  He really wanted to include the moon too.

Nonna drew a hopscotch board and Jack loved it!  His PT has been working with him on jumping and it shows!  I was super impressed!!

Scout Celebration

We now have a one wolf and one arrow of light in the house.  Both boys achieved their rank advancement at our last pack meeting. 

 They worked so hard all year to meet the requirements and it was fun to watch them earn their badges. 

 After advancement we headed outside for water bottle rockets.  I swear this is one of the boys' very favorite scout activities. 

The little guys weren't quite strong enough to pump their rockets up themselves, but that didn't stop them from having a great time!

In between shooting off rockets the boys ate approximately 22 snocones each.  No lie.  Looking forward to another great year of scouting next year!

Stings

Max had one last strings performance last week.  He looked so dapper in his dress clothes.

 He truly loves playing his cello and I'm so grateful that he had the opportunity to try it out.  He is already signed up for strings next year - and he can't wait to graduate to a bigger instrument. 

My favorite was when they played the blues.  The plucking gets me every time! I love watching him learn and grow in new ways.  Being Max's mom brings so much joy to my life.

One Lucky Momma

I am one lucky momma everyday, but I felt it extra strong this Mother's Day.  We enjoyed lunch with Brian's family.  After a bit of downtime int he afternoon, we met my parents for dinner. 

Words will never express the love I feel for my mom.  She sacrificed so much raising me on her own.  I can only imagine how tough that must have been.  We didn't have much, but I always felt loved and supported.  I knew my mom would do anything for me - she still does. 

I hope I'm half to mom to my boys that my mom has been to me.  She left some incredibly big shoes to fill :)

Messy Art Day

Last week Jack had messy art day at school.  We were warned to dress them in old clothes and that the kids would be super messy.  I don't think I was quite prepared, but Jack had a blast! 

After school we had errands to run, including a stop at the park with the creepy guy clawing out of the earth.  Jack thought it was pretty funny to run all around town still messy. He also wants to have messy art day at home every day :)

 We did our best to squeeze every last drop of fun out of our afternoons together!

Almost Kindergarten Time!

 A few weeks ago our school hosted a kindergarten orientation for the soon to be kindergartners.  I was a nervous wreck, but it went great!  Before this Jack always said he didn't want to go to kindergarten, but he had a great time.

The event was perfect in every way.  We stared with a story in the library before we headed to the classrooms to play with all kinds of great toys.  As the kids entered the classroom they sat in a circle and the teacher explained what they would be doing.  Jack even raised his hand to answer a question!

He had a great time creating patterns, making art, and using pattern blocks to make letters.  We wrapped up the time on the playground.  It was perfect and now Jack is actually excited about kindergarten - momma still not so much!  I can't believe my baby will be in school all day next year!

William's Day

Yesterday William had his birthday outing with Aunt Carm and Uncle Mike.  The schedule included a tour of the hill and lunch at Hard Rock Cafe.  It was very fitting considering how much William loves music!

 I swear that ice cream weighs more than William!

 The bakery was so sweet - they made William four super special chocolate drops for his birthday.  He may have had two for breakfast today - don't judge.

I'm so lucky that there are so many amazing people in our lives that love our boys!

William's Final Tiger Meeting

Well our sweet Tiger is almost a Wolf.  We had his last den meeting last week.  He has had the best experience with scouts.  His den leader is incredible and they do so many fun things.  The meeting took place at a natural cave two minutes from home - I didn't even know it was there.  William got his last three belt loops and will officially become a Wolf at his den meeting on Thursday.  So proud of my little scout!

Granting Dreams

We are thrilled that once again Max was awarded a grant by the Alumni Associate of our school district.  He worked hard on his application to become a golf pro through a golf camp this summer.  He included in his application that he is going to practice extra with his grandpa.  When they came to school to let Max know he was granted his aware the representative asked who which boy was the one that wanted to golf with grandpa.  It was pretty sweet.

Last month they had the awards ceremony.  Max walked across the stage and received his award from the family members that represent the fund.  The entire grant application process is so valuable to him.  Choosing

a goal, explaining what he wants to do to achieve his goal, and how that will benefit him in school and life.  It's pretty powerful.  Just reason 827 that we love our school district.

Max's Day

Aunt Carm and Uncle Mike scheduled special one on one days with the boys for their birthday.  It's so sweet of them to spend time with my boys.  Last weekend they took Max to the art museum for a special exhibit and then to Olive Garden for lunch.

 They got to check out the underwater artifacts from ancient Egypt.

 All of the artifacts were found underwater and it was pretty cool.  It was a great day for our biggest guy.  He may not always show it and he tries to play cool, but I know he felt special having a day just about him.  The Olive Garden lunch helped too :)