Memorial Day Weekend

We stayed close to home this Memorial Day weekend and took it fairly easy. We started the long weekend off with a short walk along our Riverwalk where it seemed like it was about to rain and took in some of the "Art You Can Sit On,"

before we went on to Freeman Park to see their display of 1000 American flags. I think it's important for the kids to understand why everyone got a day off from work and school.

The next day was warmer and sunnier, so we headed a little ways down the highway to Hell's Half Acre, a lava field with an easy path. I had the thought that H might be more into hiking this summer if she had a more tangible purpose than exercise and fresh air, so I got a geocaching app, and the kids really did enjoy following the clues and compass to find a couple of hidden treasures on this hike. Fingers crossed for future hikes!

Lastly, H and I took advantage of no school for her to meet up with some school friends at Cress Creek on Tuesday. She surprised me by leading the hike, instead of trailing behind! Maybe this will be our hiking summer!

May Flies By

Wow! May really did go by quickly! It has been mostly pleasant weather, too, though we are getting our April showers pretty consistently in our May evenings. No problem here; we turn those showers into opportunities!

On the flip side, we have had a few dinners outside to enjoy the late spring. Nothing like home-smoked ribs on the porch, while we watch our neighbors get new shingles delivered to their rooftop via crane.

The hail storm that we had back in April has blossomed into new roofs for nearly every house on our street, even ours. That tap-tap-tap sound will be the sound of our summer, coming from a new direction every few days. We got onto their schedule quickly, but with a two-man crew, it took the roofers five days to finish it. Voila!

Hadley learned how to make paper airplanes during her last week of school, so we had a friendly, family competition in the back yard. Apparently, some planes (or pilots) can be constructed to do backward loops instead of forward arcs... And Dad still throws the farthest.

You know when it gets above 70 with the sun shining, it's water play time!

Owen is a little bitter about his "extra" two weeks of school when Hadley is done. But he is trying to be a good big brother and pull his weight (and hers!) anyway. The countdown to "real summer" is on!

Kinder-graduate

This kid! She's had quite the week wrapping up kindergarten. First, she got an award from Awana, an extracurricular activity that the kids attended every Wednesday night, for finishing her lesson book for the year. It's kind of like VBS, and they strive to memorize Bible verses each week. She really wanted to go to the awards ceremony, so I took her.

When her group was on stage, we were both surprised when they called out her name for a special individual award for finishing the most sections! Her group is made up of 30+ K-2nd graders, so this was quite an accomplishment for a kindergartener, and the only solo distinction made. She got her name in big letters and a medal around her neck.

She also completely filled her pin with all of the possible "jewels" for things such as attendance, milestone tasks completed, etc., with minimal parental involvement. And she earned $40 AwanaBucks to spend at their end of year celebration; her brother had $3! 

Moving on to academia, Hadley "graduated" from kindergarten today. They sang an adorable song, "First Grade" to the tune of Frank Sinatra's "New York" and presented a slide show of their year.

It was a wonderful school year, and Hadley really blossomed as a reader and scholar. She loved going to school every day and hurried to finish her homework the day it came home. Her accomplishments in her own words were "I can do math and read big words." Her teacher, Mrs. Earnest, was amazingly kind and patient with all her students. She will be missed!

We got another pleasant surprise when we found out that Hadley had received the "Academic Achievement" award for Kindergarten. So proud of her! It was a surprise to her at the ceremony! Here she is getting the award from the principal.

She became even better friends with the girl down the street, Ella. Here's a dual-family photo we're hoping to reproduce every year. Ha ha!

Just look how much she's grown from the first day to the last! We can't wait to see what else she will accomplish when she sets her mind to it. She still wants to be an artist, but the sky might just be the limit. And next year, she and Owen will be going to the same school finally! Hallelujah!

Videos Galore

May is always a busy month. Owen wrapped up his 1st/2nd grade indoor flag football season with a 3-4-1 record for the pale pink team. Their record is deceiving in that 2 of their games were lost by a combined 3 points, and the two larger losses were on Monday evenings at 5 pm when the kids just looked tired. Anyway, it was a good experience, and Owen got to play lots of different positions. He made his parents proud, and Dad did a lovely job compiling his team highlights for each game; here's one where Owen scored a couple of touchdowns.

The kids also had their Let's Play Music recital to cap off their 2nd year in the program. This year they have been building their music skills on keyboards, which was a step up from the 1st year with bells. They were in the same class with another brother-sister duo. There was a lot of complaining about going to class every week and practicing 5 times a week, but through it all, I can tell they learned so much!

They performed several songs: on piano, singing, a musical puppet show, as a group, in contagion, and each did a solo. Owen played "I am learning how to skip, how to skip, how to skip. I am learning how to skip. It's so fun!"

Hadley continues to impress with her fierce performances in public. She rocked it as the youngest in her music class, and was the only one to do their song with both hands together! She actually played it 3 times, once together then once with each hand, just like she practiced it at home. "If I practice every day, lots of songs I'll learn to play!"

Additionally, Hadley got to lead a reading at the all-school rosary yesterday on the 4th luminous mystery of transfiguration. Again, such kindergarten-friendly vocabulary, but not a big deal for her!

And not to be outdone, here's Owen 'flossing', which is the new dance craze a la dab and his current obsession.

Kindergarten Finale

Hadley only has 3 weeks left of school. It has been a great place for her to expand her academic, social, and spiritual skills. The last month of school is packed with trips, parties, programs, and performances, so it will fly by. And aren't they so cute in their uniforms?

This week has been busy already with kindergarten doing the readings and leading parts of their weekly mass. Here's Hadley reading from the Acts of the Apostles. She practiced for a week to get all the big words just right, and she did so well! (I wasn't sure if the microphone and crowd would throw her off, but it totally didn't.)

Later the same day, they had their end-of-year musical performance. Along with catchy "hello" and "goodbye" songs, the kindergarten performed "How the Camel Got His Hump", where each child had an instrument and a cue on which to play it. It was pretty lengthy, but here's a snippet. H is on the front, second from left, and plays the tambourine every time the story says the word "man." Kudos to their music teacher for keeping their interest and silence for the duration of this performance!

The big day deserved to be celebrated with some fro-yo.

Another benefit to their central location: for PE this month, they're actually walking to the aquatic center 2 blocks away for swimming lessons! What a great idea, leading into summer! H is in the pink cover up because she decided she didn't need pants for the walk.