I can't believe that summer is already upon us, and that Friday was the last day of school. I am so excited for all we have planned this summer, but it is also freaking me out that Lily will be a 4th grader and Derek will be in 1st grade. Insane. They grow up too fast!
In honor of the last day, we tried to come up with the perfect teacher gifts. I scoured Pintrest for great ideas, and although I found many wonderful ones, I ended up just coming up with my own. You see, I helped a lot in Derek's class this year, and knew exactly what his teacher, Mrs. Cole, wanted/needed - a new stapler. Hers was awful, and so I bought her a fancy new one, and tried to think of something clever for the card - this was the best I could come up with :).
Lily, on the other hand, knew just what her teacher loved most - chocolate :). Lily told me that, "Mrs. Fisher loves chocolate, because it gives her patience." That sparked an idea, and soon we were putting together "Magic Patience Pills" for the gift. I took a pop top pill bottle, had a friend teach me to modge-podge the label on, and filled it with M&Ms. We even put a refill into the gift bag for when she ran out. My favorite part of the gift was the label I made that had a warning at the bottom to "always exceed reccomended dosage." :)
I sent them off to school, and then 30 minutes later, Kevin and I were back for Derek's kindergarten Promotion and program. They started off by singing all their favorite songs from class. Derek said his favorite was the "Pink" song, and listening to it, I could see why. It was pretty fun and had great actions :).
Then they each took a turn saying what they want to be when they grow up before getting their "diploma." Derek wants to be a doctor :). And he was so cute shaking his Mrs. Cole's hand - first with the wrong hand, and then with the right.
He looks so grown up! And he had such a wonderful year and a wonderful teacher.
His teacher surprised me with a gift to thank me for being the Head Room Mother this year. It was a lot of fun, and I loved being in the classroom every week. (And I wish I had taken my jacket off - I look terrible in this picture. Oh well.)
Then we took Derek home for an hour, before we all headed back to the school for Lily's end of the year party. They had tons of food and those kids ate, and ate, and ate. It was hilarious to watch. We also loved Lily's teacher, Mrs. Fisher, this year, and were sad to say goodbye to her.
We took Lily home early, since I was not going back to the school a 4th time that day. At first she was sad to leave early, and then when Kevin told her he would play Legend of Zelda, she was just fine. They played for almost 4 hours as their end of school celebration, and Derek was always grabbing his sword and shield to fight the bad guys while Kevin fought them on screen. So funny.
That night, I grilled steaks as a special treat, and then we had cheesecake for dessert while watching "American Ninja Warrior." It was the perfect way to end the school year.
PS. The kids first day of summer was pretty busy. We got up and Lily and Derek helped me clean the house - vacuuming, dusting, sweeping, mopping, and cleaning the bathrooms and their bedrooms and closets. They worked so hard and were amazing helpers. So that night, we took them to Olive Garden for a special dinner to celebrate their good grades and hard work all school year :).


