H's Second Annual Summer Email

Hayes, who spends many free minutes each week reading our blog books,

 

made a comment the last week of school saying, "Well, it's about time I send my annual summer email."  I glanced at him quizzically and replied in an oh-so-sweet voice, "What in the world are you talking about?"

He then reminded me that he sent out an email after the last day of school last year announcing the beginning of summer.  It said something like this:

             "Its time for some beautiful weather!Have fun in the sun!Happy summer!"

Well, guess what he wrote in the email he sent out to his grandparents and parents on Saturday, May 24, his first official day of summer in 2014?

             "Its time for some beautiful weather!Have fun in the sun!Happy summer! "

 Indeed, Happy summer!

Ears Pierced

Earlier this spring, E began campaigning to convince us to allow her to get her ears pierced.  One of her good friends got her ears pierced in the middle of our spring soccer season, and E loved the idea.  Once we arrived at graduation time, it seemed to be the topic of conversation for many fifth grade girls. Finally, after hearing enough about it and reminding her of the responsibility of keeping her ears clean, we succumbed to the pressure.  The day after Eleanor's fifth grade graduation, I took her to the mall to get it done. 

When the time arrived for her to sit in the chair, I could see the tide of tears beginning to rise as she contemplated what was about to happen.  I told her that she couldn't cry over this and let her squeeze my hand.  At the sound of the first punch, she jumped and said a quick, "Ow!" before the lady moved on to the other ear.  It was over in less than 30 seconds, thank goodness! 

She was too embarrassed for me to take her picture in the mall so we walked over to a corner where I promised her no one would notice us so that I could capture this moment.  

On the way home, in the privacy of our own car, she revealed her true excitement. 

  

Perfect Attendance

Hayes's goal for this second grade school year was not the common "make good grades" or "get great behavior marks".  His one and only spoken goal was to earn perfect attendance.  (Eleanor achieved perfect attendance three years in a row at Brandon.)

Knowing that this would most likely be Hayes's one shot at perfect attendance due to the conflicting schedules for public and private schools, we spent the year accommodating Hayes as he tried to achieve his goal.  We forced Eleanor to miss two days of school so that our family trip was during Hayes's Spring Break and we never left town for weekend trips until the 11:00am hour, the time designated as being in complete attendance at school that day.

So, when he threw up in the cafeteria after lunch two weeks before the end of the school year, I thought his dream was over.  Luckily, that was the one and only time he was sick that day, and he returned to school the following morning.  Hayes made it two more weeks without a tardy or an absence and achieved his goal - perfect attendance marked by a ride on the Fur Bus and breakfast at Chick-fil-A - on the last day of school, the Friday after Eleanor's and Ben's last days!

I was able to pull this picture off of our neighborhood Chick-fil-A's Facebook page.  Hayes is the fourth boy from the left in the top row.  Our neighbor Henry Djuric is just to his left. 

We met Hayes at the bus stop after school

 

to mark the official beginning of summer!  School is out!!

5th Grade Graduation

With Ben's last day falling on Wednesday, it was Eleanor's turn to graduate from the Lower School on Thursday.  The school had a formal graduation, with the kids all dressed in their Sunday best.  They processed into the dining hall one by one, with their homeroom teachers calling their name and then describing each student with a few adjectives.  When Eleanor's turn arrived, her teacher Mrs. Villasana said, "Eleanor Carroll . . .  observant, warm-hearted, discrete, easy-going, well-liked by us all." 

The class of 2021 then sang a few songs and watched a video tribute

 

before it was time to say their final good-byes to the Lower School at a reception in the library.  Here is Eleanor and her buddy Selle, friends from their first year of life when we shared our nanny, Ms. Mildred.  People now get them confused since they look so much alike!

Here are Eleanor, Selle, Holley and Caroline.

We had to get a picture of Mackenzie and Eleanor, good friends since preschool. 

Eleanor loved her year in fifth grade with Mrs. Villasana as her homeroom teacher

Grandmommy's good friend, Mrs. Allen, taught Eleanor's Language Arts each and every day.

Finally, one big Wildcat hug from Dad

 

before it was officially time for E to move on to the middle school.  Congrats, Eleanor!

Our Last Day at The Preschool

Ben's last day at The Preschool was this past Wednesday.  With the completion of his school year, the Carroll family's time at The Preschool has come to a close.  It is hard to believe that we have spent 10+ wonderful years trusting them with our three kids during the mornings each week.  Ben's class marked the occasion by wearing t-shirts their two teachers had made for them, referring to their year-long theme of "I See, I Think, I Wonder." 

The class then signed the back of each other's shirts.  

They had had an end-of-the-year class party that previous Monday, and I was able to grab one last picture of Ben and his teachers, Mrs. George and Mrs. White. 

I do think kindergarten is ready for Ben Carroll!

Tying His Shoes

The same week Ben decided to read a book to me, he also came to the conclusion that it was time to learn how to tie his shoes.  It was his final "step" to becoming a big boy, based on his own set of criteria I spelled out here last September.  I showed him the way I tied my shoes, and he didn't like it.  Eleanor then showed him how she ties hers (with the two rabbit ears vs. the one via my method) and he decided he liked hers more.  After spending about 20 minutes practicing, Ben announced that he could tie his shoes and went to school the next day spreading the word.  He even tied the shoes of his classmates to prove it!  He now ties his shoes each and every day.

 

He won't even wear his Keens because he'd rather wear his tennis shoes just to tie the laces. 

Another Reader in the House

Towards the end of the school year, Ben's pre-reading skills started to shine as he became adept at sounding out words.  One night during the month, when I was putting him to bed, we decided that he would try to read a book in its entirety by himself.  We pulled "Bears on Wheels" from his bookcase and he decided to go for it. 

 

I must admit that I was plenty shocked when he reached the last page on his own, and I think he was totally surprised too!  When he finished reading the last sentence, he turned his head and looked at me with the biggest, most genuine grin I have seen in a long time. 

Tophat World Cup

The weekend before the last week of school was the season-ending World Cup tournament for E's soccer.  Thomas and I missed this tournament in the fall due to a NYC trip so I was eager to see the colorful costumes the teams create as part of the pre-tournament ceremonies.  (Thomas, Hayes and Ben were all at a soccer tournament in Cumming.)  Representing Norway, our team dressed up as the Norwegian Olympic curling team.  During the Winter Olympics earlier this year, the curling team was infamous for its crazy red, white and blue uniform pants. 

The girls also wore curlers in their hair to help the spectators make the "curling" connection. 

The girls also carried brooms and the sign "Norwegian Curling Team - We'll Sweep You Away!"

Some of my other favorite team costumes included the Dutch girls carrying tulips . . .

Russian nesting dolls . . .

the Japanese in their kamakaze planes . . .

Italian dining tables with pasta and meatballs . . .

 

and the female version of the "Most Interesting Man in the World" campaign from Mexico with lines such as "Her jersey requires no number" and "She can pass the ball WITHOUT kicking it". 

After the parade of countries, it was time for the soccer to commence.  

 

After four games of soccer that day, Eleanor's team finished a respectable third place out of six.  Way to go, Norway!

Hayes's Mother's Day Comments

Like Ben's questionnaire that he completed about me for his Mom's Day at school, Hayes presented me with this questionnaire on Mother's Day. 

 

I loved his sweet replies!

A Family of 5

Ben drew and named this picture below that he included with a Mother's Day card we sent to Mimi. 

 

Just to be clear, I asked him if the "family of 5" was our family.  His response?  "Of course!!"

Ben's End-of-the-Year Play

Each year, the 5/6 class at The Preschool puts on an end-of-the-year play.  This year, Ms. Jo, the music teacher, wrote this year's play that she titled "Blast Off to Summer Fun".  Each child in the 5/6 class had a song they sang with some friends while Ben and two of his buddies, Andrew and Palmer, also had some speaking lines. 

The play began with the class singing its opening song together, with everyone in costume. 

Then, it was time for Andrew, Ben and Palmer to sing "Down by the Lake". 

(Here is the video though the audio is not very loud.)

Ben's lines here consisted of "Next year wonderful things will appear and I'll have another wonderful year!"

The class had hikers, girls in their pajamas, baseball players, beach goers, kids at the beach and boys at the lake. 

The class did an amazing job pulling this performance off.

I captured one final shot of Ben and his good friends Andrew and Palmer post-play.

Hard to believe that they only have two weeks left of school!

E's Chorus Program - Colors

The Lower School Chorus held their annual musical production the first week of May.  This year, the theme was colors

 

and the songs they performed were all famous for mentioning a color. 

The children had been working on the show since January with before and after school practices taking up much of the month of April.  We were happy to finally see the finished product.  Some of our favorites included "Blue Suede Shoes", "The Yellow Submarine" and "The Rainbow Connection".  The students all wore different colors for each number and finished up the show in these bright tie-dyed t-shirts.

 

Eleanor enjoyed her year in chorus, but has decided to switch gears to visual arts for sixth grade. 

Ben's Self Portrait

As we near the end of the school year, Ben keeps bringing home keepsakes from his time in 5/6.

 

We carried this self-portrait home last week.  I was curious and asked him why he painted his hair brown.  He explained that he chose that color because there wasn't a "blond" paint. 

Lacrosse

This spring, I signed Eleanor up for lacrosse.  After much debate with me putting on the hard sell (it is the fastest growing sport among high school students in America), she was willing to give the sport a try.  I promised Eleanor that if, by the end of the season, she did not enjoy the sport, she would not have to return next season.

When I signed E up, she registered without knowing any other girls playing which is a big deal at this age.  Thankfully, I noticed her good friend Allie's name on the roster once it came out, and all was right with the world.  Here they are chatting on the sidelines during the game. 

 

Guess what?  Eleanor ended up loving lacrosse.  I'm not sure if it was her amazing coach,

 

the opportunity to meet new girls from different schools, or the sport itself but she's ready to register again in the fall.  The hardest part about learning the sport was getting used to the mouth guards as our three kids are all gaggers.  Here is E with her mouth guard in place. 

 

At the beginning of the season, Eleanor mainly played defensive positions but by the end of the season, coach had moved her up to offense and she scored three goals!

 

Once Eleanor realized she could contribute to the team, her confidence jumped and the sport became fun for her.  We look forward to seeing where she takes this interest!

Mom's Day

This past Tuesday, I joined Ben, his classmates and their moms for lunch at Mom's Day for Ben's class.  It is hard to believe that this was my final Mom's Day at the Preschool.

We sat down together for a lunch of cheese sandwiches, chicken salad and crackers, peanut butter and jelly, cheez-its, fruit and chocolate chip cookies.  Then, when the kids thought their tummies were full, they decided to play tag in the room (!)  before being instructed by their teacher to hand out their oil masterpieces. 

Here is Ben and some of his sweet buddies.

 

The two boys to his immediate left will be joining Ben at Morris Brandon next year. 

Down the hall from Ben's classroom, I found my portrait and what Ben had written about me. 

For good or bad, his description of me hasn't changed much over the last year, as this what he said about me last year.  At least he gives me credit for coloring with him!