Saying Goodbye to Grade 5 in 2020

Our elementary school has a tradition of sending its graduates out with an elaborate program, known as the Grade 5 Farewell. The kids--all dressed in their graduation shirts--perform a song, chosen especially for their year. They cross a stage in the gym--always decorated with balloons and ribbons--while their baby pictures and graduation pictures appear on a large screen. The teachers read out the kids' future aspirations, and one student from each class gives a speech about their years in elementary school. The students' work is displayed around the gym, and there are nice refreshments afterwards. It is a big deal.

Well, this year, all of that was cancelled for obvious reasons. The school, however, invited us to come to a drive-through farewell, where we could take pictures with Alaina and say goodbye to the teachers and principal from at least six feet away. We were not to linger or talk with other families, and no more than two people were allowed to exit a vehicle with the graduate.

So, we got Alaina dressed up in her graduation shirt and took a few pictures at home.

First with her hamster, Jo (Alaina put a little hat on him for the occasion),

then with Janae (we dug out Janae's Grade 5 shirt, just for fun),

then with Janae and Eric (Eric just wore his uniform shirt ... still 5 more years until his elementary school graduation!),

and finally with Ben. 

We couldn't find Ben's grad shirt, and thought it probably wouldn't fit him anyway ... but then the next day, I found it :)

(Ben's definitely a good sport when it comes to things like this!)

That evening, Jason, Alaina and I went to the school and waited in a line of cars for our photo opportunity. We had to fill out a health questionnaire before getting out of the car, but luckily we were all feeling well. 

Alaina had a picture with her teacher and principal,

with the 2020 sign,

and with some fun gifts--a water bottle with a tasseled cap and a cookie with her name on it, decorated as a graduation cap!

The event was pretty quick, but it did help us feel like Alaina was really graduating from elementary school, so I guess it served its purpose. We might have felt differently if it was a high school graduation, but for elementary school, it was okay.

Afterwards, we stopped at DQ to get Alaina her treat of choice: a fudge raspberry blizzard.

And now we are all on summer break!

A Father's Day to Remember

I don't know if I've EVER posted about Father's Day! There's usually not much to say....

This year we celebrated on Saturday by having Jason pressure wash our hideous deck, in preparation for painting (to hopefully make it look slightly less hideous). Jason hadn't used a pressure washer in a while and had forgotten how much dirt sprays up when you try to clean out the corners ... so he ended up splattered with mud :)  Our deck is still an eyesore--and about to fall off the house--but it is definitely really clean now!

We tried to make up for Jason's experience by ordering dinner from the Greek Islands restaurant--he'd wanted to do this for his birthday in March, but with Covid-19 still so new at the time, we weren't sure if it was safe to even order take out from restaurants. So, it was nice to have good food that I didn't have to cook!

On Sunday we had "home church" then played Settlers of Catan--a game I'm usually reluctant to play but enjoy once we get into it. This time Ben won ... by a lot. 

After that, we went for a walk and came home to have Hawaiian haystacks, one of Jason's favorite dinners that I hardly ever make (you might be noticing a trend...). 

Then for dessert, we invited my mom and dad over for brownie sundaes. I'd made brownies in the morning, as well as strawberry sauce, hot fudge sauce and whipping cream. We added some mini M&Ms and marshmallows and let everyone make their own.

Just before Mom and Dad came, we invited Tina and her family over, too, which was a surprise for Dad and also made for some wonderful entertainment. Tina brought her flute, and she played for us out of a new Broadway Songs book she'd recently bought. Then Janae joined in with her flute, and they played all of Janae's music, too. Then they pulled out the hymn book and Janae switched to the violin for some more duets. They played "Be Still My Soul" (which my dad knows as "Finlandia"), and it was really beautiful--Dad said it gave him "goose pimples," which brought some laughs. 

Before the cousins came, Alaina had also played some songs on the cello for Grandma and Grandpa, and Janae played her year-end recital piece on the piano. So, we had lots of music!

We haven't been together very much with the pandemic limiting group sizes, so it was especially nice to have everyone here. Definitely a Father's Day to blog about and remember :)

Our Week at a Glance

Janae's middle school teachers have been sending out a message every Monday titled "the week at a glance," giving us a calendar with assignments due, Google Meet times, etc. 

You can definitely pack a lot into a week!

So, here is our past week at a glance:

On Sunday we went to the temple in Langley to see all the flowers Jason and his crew had planted. They were, of course, beautiful. But what really made our evening were the baby bunnies hopping around the temple grounds. They were tiny, and we saw them everywhere, just munching on grass. 

               

Over the next few days, Eric worked on his bike riding. We'd taken the training wheels off his bike, and he'd made a lot of progress with balancing on two wheels. Then, as promised, we got him a new bike of his own: it's not pink and purple, and it's not covered in flowers, but--more importantly--its tires don't deflate after 10 minutes of riding! This has accelerated Eric's learning incredibly--he's zooming around and having a great time. It's amazing how quickly he went from falling down all the time to riding like he's always known how.

 

                                         

Eric also got his hair cut, finally evening out his bangs from when he cut them back in April. He had to wear a mask (I did, too, just to be inside the salon!), but it didn't seem to bother him. I think the results were worth it! Ben is still holding out until summer holidays.

                                                    

On Monday the library opened for pick ups, so now we can finally replenish our book supply! In March we ordered four chapter books from Chapters in a series Eric started before the pandemic (The Dragon Keepers) and read them ALL twice (some three times!), and I bought an eight-pack of Pete the Cat beginning readers at the grocery store, but Eric quickly had all of those memorized. We have also almost finished reading the Percy Jackson series, which we started in the middle of May--so we've really gone through a lot of books. We need the library! We only had one kids' book on hold, but now that we can go in to pick up requests, we've ordered a bunch more that will be ready for us soon. 

                                                 

On Tuesday we got together with our family through Zoom to celebrate our niece/cousin Summer's birthday, with Grandma and Grandpa here, too, and we all had pink-iced cupcakes. Unfortunately, we don't have any pictures! 

On Wednesday we celebrated Ben's 16th birthday, although he had to do science most of the day. A lot of the teachers have cancelled final exams, but not Ben's science teacher! She's keeping the class busy with assignments most days and a comprehensive final exam next week. Ben took a break for pizza and ice cream cake, though :)

That hair again!

Janae has been busy with school work, too. She and Ben are still doing their daily Goose Chase challenges, which this week included climbing--one of their favorite activities.

We also try to go for a walk after lunch most days, especially when the weather is nice.

  

On Saturday we finally did a project I've been promoting for the past several weeks: adding rainbow pool noodles to our trampoline :)  Our trampoline's pads were destroyed a couple of years ago when the trampoline got left out over the winter, and we haven't put it up the past few summers. This year we needed more fun things to do at home, but it's really a safety hazard--not to mention an eyesore--with its exposed rusty springs. On one of our walks, I'd seen someone with a rainbow trampoline and immediately started planning to do the same to ours. (Pinterest, of course, had detailed instructions.) 

Jason came with me to get the 10 multi-colored noodles we needed, and he got lots of comments like, "Do you need that many to keep you afloat?" and "They have bigger ones, you know!" and "You guys are going to have so much fun!"

I imagine the noodles will hold up fine in the rain, since they're made for water use--perfect for where we live!

But luckily the sun came out for a few minutes so Eric could try out the new jumping environment.

So, that was our week at a glance. Things are slowly getting back to normal here, and it's been nice to do a few more of our regular things. Just a couple more weeks and we will officially be on summer break, so that's something to look forward to, even if it's just less time on virtual meetings and assignments . . . and an overdue haircut for Ben :)