We Finally Have Them All Home!

Eric and I have been having fun since he graduated from preschool a few weeks ago, 

but what we've really been waiting for is to have all the other kids home as well! 

Finally, last week it started to happen.

School ended for Ben last Friday, with a 4+-hour science exam and a few other less stress-inducing presentations and projects due. He was pretty happy to be finished, even though Jason recruited him to his work crew for the next Monday. 

Besides the forced labor, Ben has been crafting away on models, playing with Eric and enjoying evenings without homework.

He got his report card yesterday and was happy to have done pretty well in everything.

This was a little feature about Ben in his school's yearbook.

Yesterday was the last day for Janae and Alaina. We had been told last week that Janae would be receiving her school's most prestigious award for her grade: a Renaissance award for excellence in academics and the arts. I had to keep this a secret, which wasn't easy.

Janae's teacher is leaving the school to get married and move to Europe, so there were a few tears at the assembly. 

Last week Eric, Alaina and I attended Janae's class play, where she played an opera singer--and actually sang "Mio Babbino Caro" in its entirety, in Italian.

Earlier that day she'd got a perfect score on her music final exam, where she'd played a song on the ukulele that she'd had to teach herself. Her teacher had asked her afterwards to play it again behind her head, which she'd also done without any problem. Her teacher went and got her a box of donuts as a reward, since she'd also been helping other students in the class to learn the song several days after school.

She was a little reluctant to repeat the performance at home ... or at least to have it recorded.

Attending a fine arts school has been such a great experience for both Ben and Janae, and seeing them end the year so successfully really confirmed to me that we'd made the right choice in sending them there.

Alaina was sad to have her last day of Grade 4. She has really loved her teacher, Mrs. Peters, and had a great year in every way. She spent the afternoon hanging out in the classroom with her friends, since the annual family picnic had been cancelled due to some heavy rain earlier in the day. 

I brought the girls a giant chocolate chip cookie to celebrate the last day.

Now Eric and I finally have them all home!

Our Second Visit to the Scandinavian Festival

We were back and forth on whether to go to the Scandinavian Festival this year--we had been last year and loved it, but we were thinking maybe we should do something different instead last weekend.

But Janae would have none of it. We had to go to the Scandinavian Festival! She had been looking forward to the waffles with strawberries and whipped cream, the European hot dogs, and the Finnish chocolates. And when she put it that way, how could the rest of us resist?

This time we got there later in the afternoon, so the Midsummer pole was already up and we didn't get to join in all the "Hey-ing" and "Ho-ing." 

Instead, we went straight for the waffles. After that, Janae and Alaina made some crowns with flowers and vines.

Alaina's favorite part of the festival was looking at all the little booths with arts and crafts from the different Scandinavian countries: Denmark, Sweden, Iceland, Norway, and of course, Finland.

She ended up buying a set of nesting dolls from the Sweden tent.

There were some fun photo ops that we hadn't seen last year

 and also a little walk through a troll village for the younger kids.

This year my sister Sheri and her family came, too, so we enjoyed being there with them. Eric got to play a little grass hockey with Tyler and Trevor, and all the kids explored the viking village together.

Before we left, we got some Finnish chocolates and a couple of Finnish newspapers to take home for my dad.

In the end, I think we were all pretty happy Janae had talked us into it!

Our Last Preschool Graduate

This year Eric became our last preschool graduate.

I can't really say that Eric LOVED preschool, although he liked playing with other kids his age and was always happy when I picked him up afterwards. He had to be bribed to go in on several occasions, though, and he said he didn't really like "circle time." 

The few weeks before his graduation, Eric would be very embarrassed when I asked him about the new songs he was singing around the house. Songs like, "I'm a graduate woo woo woo."

Finally, the big day came.

Eric's class sang all the embarrassing songs, and then the children crossed the stage to receive their diplomas as their teacher told us what they wanted to be when they grew up: a police officer, a mom, a builder, a mermaid, a Power Ranger . . . Eric said he wanted to be a scientist. He explained later that he wanted to protect animals in the ocean. Such a good little environmentalist! 

Eric with Miss Angela

Then there was a slide show of the year's activities, followed by treats in the gym.

We even got Grandma and Grandpa to come!

Eric's report card showed he is a happy, social guy who is progressing well and should be very successful in kindergarten. 

A few days later when we went to the library, our nextdoor neighbor (who is also our librarian) told me that Eric had called out to her from his bedroom window, "I GRADUATED FROM PRESCHOOL TODAY!!" 

It was a pretty exciting day for Eric and the end of an era for all of us. Now, on to kindergarten for one last year, too.... 

Some Firsts for Alaina (Seconds and Thirds, Too....)

Being the third child in our family, Alaina might feel that she never gets to do anything first. She's gone to the same school as her older brother and sister, having lots of the same teachers and doing many of the same activities.

However, Alaina definitely has her own personality and interests, and she's really shown that this year in Grade 4.

In Grade 4, the classes have a big unit on poetry, and Alaina--being the bookworm that she is--really got into it. She memorized her weekly poems and recited them to us several times at home, adding actions and voice inflections to make them interesting and memorable. 

She was the first of our children to be chosen to recite a poem in the gym at the school's annual poetry and public speaking assembly, a great honor in Grade 4! 

Eric and I were able to attend and see Alaina get her medal.

A few weeks later, Alaina competed in her first track meet. We had been told by Alaina's teacher that she was amazing at hurdles, so it was great to see her in action. She also did high jump and the 100-meter run, where she came in second.

A week later, we returned to watch Alaina compete in the "challenge" track meet, which is much more competitive. It was 32 degrees outside, and everyone was worried about the students becoming dehydrated. Alaina was scheduled to run in a 4-by-400 relay near the end of the day. I'd seen Janae compete in the 4-by-100, where each member of the team runs a quarter lap, but Alaina would have to run an entire lap before she passed her baton to the next runner.

How did it go? Well, Alaina was the second runner, and she moved her team from third place to second during her lap of the track. Eric and I watched her keep up her pace throughout the run, despite the heat. She was amazing! Her team ended up coming in third (typical--right, Laina?). 

She has also signed up for cello lessons this fall, which will be a first in our family.

She was the first of my kids to dress up 80s for Decades Day at school, too :)

I have enjoyed seeing Alaina have a chance to do a few things first and know that there will be many more opportunities to come over the next few years.