School's out for Summer

The last day of school. I remember how excited I was for this every year. The freedom of summer. The warm weather. Lazy days with friends. I think Ellie has similar feelings. Ellie and I categorize days by what she has to do in the day....a school day, a work day for mom, a church day, a dance day...and of course....a nothing day. This means that Ellie has nothing on her agenda for the day and is free. Ellie is excited about a lot of nothing days this summer.

Ellie had her last day of pre-school (ever) on June 12th. Her school ended with a party (as every school should) where they had a Circus day. This consisted of dressing up, going to the circus, performing at the circus, etc. It is meant to be a day for the kids to have fun and be together. They do a similar day mid-year called Western Days where they dress up and do similar activities.

On the drive to the last day of school, I was dealt the bad-mom card.

"Mom, do you remember that one time you didn't come to my school?"
"Yes, you mean on Western Days when I didn't know parents could watch?"
"Yes."
"I'm really sorry I wasn't there Ellie, I didn't get an invitation from your school so I didn't know parents could come. I'll watch for it next year and be there for sure."
"That's okay mom - maybe they just didn't invite you."
(Silence and a lot of thought.)
"Mom, Miss Sandy said today will be a lot like Western Days."
"Does that mean parents will be there? I didn't get an invitation."
"I don't know."
"How about if I ask Miss Sandy when I drop you off if I can come?"
"Okay mom."

Miss Sandy proceeded to tell me that parents aren't really invited but some show up to take pictures or watch the circus (some parents had done this on Western Days too - I was obviously not one of them.)

Here it was...my chance to redeem myself. I dropped Ellie off, rushed home to get presentable and rushed back for the circus. After my hour of trips back and forth, I was one of three moms in attendance. Ellie acted like it was no big deal, but I was so glad I could be there. And I think it was important for her too. It was so fun to watch the circus and to be a part of her last pre-school day. See if you can find her in the circus crowd. She wanted to wear her dance costume as her dress-up.

After school, it was officially time for summer to start. We grabbed some friends, the hose, and a few lawn toys....and started a neighborhood party.

We finished off the day with a ride to the park....and Ellie did her first swing from one monkey bar to the next without help. It was a successful last day of school and first day of summer break.

The school year was a success as well, here is her last day of school report card.

We hope you are enjoying your nothing days!

Training Wheels

This story is a few months old.....about a week before Ellie's 5th birthday (on March17th to be exact) I asked her if she wanted to learn to ride a bike with no training wheels.

Here is a picture of Kevin taking off the training wheels...


Ellie's first attempt with my poor coaching.....(there were a few more attempts just as successful)...


and ten minutes later Kevin putting the training wheels back on.

It could have been the poor coaching skills or maybe the fact that Ellie is not very daring or a combination of the two, but either way we'll probably wait until six before the wheels come off again. :)

Baby Arrest

Yesterday Ellie got a pair of mini-handcuffs out of a "prize chest" - I was surprised it was something she would pick. Last night I found her arresting her baby.

"Ellie - what did your baby do?"

"She did a very bad thing. She stuck her face in poop. Her mom told her to go to bed and she climbed out and stuck her face in poop and then she got the newspaper and got arrested."

I love everything about this story. That she put the cuffs on behind the back. That she knew how to apply the word 'arrested.' That the worst thing she could think of to be arrested for was disobeying your mom and putting your face in poop.

I wish it could always be this simple.