Last week of school

And ... it's done.  Another year is down in the books, for better or for worse.

Both Kate and Anna has another great year of school, making some amazing strides in life and growing up.

Both of them had mixed feelings about the school year ending and their emotions boiled over in several ways over the course of the week.  I'm sure we will find our summer rhythm soon, but we just haven't quite made it there yet.

Kate's week included the 3rd grade field trip to Cave of the Mounds.  In spite of the downpour as they arrived, it sounded like the kids had a good trip.  Maybe the rain just made it a little more memorable of an experience.

Kate's week also included finishing up a writing project ... on the night before the last day of school.

I believe we have a writer on our hands for several reasons.  First, she does her best work when there is a deadline looming.  Second, she loves to write, which means that her writing assignments at school are lengthy by choice.  However, that also means it takes her an extra long time when she has to write her "final copy", especially since in third grade everything is still written out by hand.  We're hoping that Kate's 4th grade teacher will encourage more use of technology.  If not, we know how to advocate for Kate's needs, too.

Soon after school ended, we stopped by the library to sign up for the summer reading program, check out several dozen books (seriously), and get a picture of Kate with the June Dairy Month poster she created for 4H titled "The History of Ice Cream".

Anna's week included a trip to the middle school with the rest of the fifth graders, followed by the annual fifth grade picnic, which was mildly rained out.  The first hour or so was in the park shelter, but then the next hour or two were outdoors.  Not ideal, but it worked.

Anna's week also included various fifth grade celebrations on the last day of school, including an opportunity to smash a pie in the face of one of the teachers :)

Although we didn't see it ourselves, Anna's aide sent me some photos of the event, and we were told that many at school had never seen Anna move quite as fast as she did when her name was chosen.

Mom and Ethan's week included an extended time with a loaner car while the van was getting new tires (and a variety of undercarriage repairs), watching a roofer fix a leak in the roof (it was an expensive week ...), weeding and then hauling leaf mulch to the garden, running some last minute errands before all of the kids were home for the summer, and doing the final preparations for the 4H club's annual Dairy Day at the Gazebo on the last day of school (which we somehow ended up coordinating this year).

On the "errand day", we also stopped to get donuts as a final "Mom and Ethan" celebration.

Matt's week included biking to work two of the five days of bike-to-work week, picking the girls up from school on the last day, the standard early morning/late evening meetings to coordinate with co-workers around the world, and helping support us through a busy time.

And now school it out for the summer.  Hip, hip, hooray!  However, we still have a busy few days ahead of us, followed by an eventful few weeks, but then things will finally relax ... right???