Fifth Grade Promotion

Lutece "graduated" from elementary school last week, and I keep wondering why we don't feel as nostalgic as we should (or as other parents seem to). It is probably a combination of reasons:

1. We are not nostalgic people.
2. Lutece only attended three of the possible six years of elementary school (2nd, 3rd, and 5th).
3. She only spent one year at this particular elementary school, having transferred in when we returned from China to participate in the Accelerated Cluster.
4. Fifth grade seems entirely too young to be leaving elementary school. What happened to sixth grade in elementary school?!

Marching up to the front of the auditorium while the graduation music plays.

Despite my lack of sentiment on her promotion from fifth grade (which is what her school calls it, something I appreciate since "graduation" seems to be overstating it), we are enormously proud of all the hard work she put in this year and of the wonderful person she is.

Shaking hands with her principal while her teacher, Mrs. Laborio waits her turn.

Also, even though it doesn't seem to be such a big deal that she's leaving elementary school, it is a HUGE deal that she is entering middle school. YIKES!!! I am freaked-out beyond what words can express that she will be subjected next year to the purgatory that is middle school. (Again, whatever happened to sixth grade in elementary school!?)

Lutece with her wonderful teacher, Mrs. Laborio.

Still, I have to remember that she blossomed and thrived under pressure this year. It wasn't easy going to a brand new school for 5th grade, having just come out of homeschool in China. She didn't know any of the kids, and she jumped from 4th grade work to 6th grade work.

Lutece with her best friend Erelyn. Sadly, Erelyn is moving to Indiana next year. Sob.

I have hope that she will do just as well next year (even though I know it will be hard). Just because something is hard, doesn't mean it isn't good for us.

Congratulations Lutece! We love you dearly.

Odds and Ends: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

It was a busy end of the school year, with some fun events, some sad situations, and some truly ugly disasters.

The Good: The kids landed us four free tickets to a Lexington Legends baseball game just for reading some books. It was a fun, child-filled night out.
 

The Good: Stayc and the kids treated me well on Mother's Day (although I wish Stayc hadn't taken pictures of me with a towel on my head). Pancake breakfast with flowers and cards, a peaceful afternoon with no work to be done, time spent with my children. Definitely one of my best ever Mother's Days.

The Bad: Lutece and Phoenix practiced their Spring Recital piano pieces for over a month, but when the day final arrived, Lutece was sick with the flu. Phoenix went and played extremely well (that was good), and he and I collected Lutece's many piano awards from the past year (that was also good). Sadly, Phoenix's teacher forgot about Phoenix's well-deserved "superior," so he didn't get an award (bad).

A week later, their piano teacher told me she simply couldn't teach Phoenix anymore. It wasn't working out. He was difficult and not receptive to instruction. Sigh. Stayc and I are sad.* Stayc is now teaching him again, like he did in China.

The Bad: The kids' school held their huge Spring Concert the week before school got out. Stayc and I had a blast; it was super fun to watch the kids sing. The kids, however, hated the whole thing. I bribed them to smile (instead of scowl the whole time) with ice cream afterward. It was good for us, but bad for the kids. They can't even hear the song "Happy" without gagging.

The Ugly: So many things have gone wrong with our house these last couple of weeks, it would be painful to detail them all here. This is the ceiling in the office/guest room where the toilet slowly leaked over the last couple of weeks. So. Fun.

So ugly.

I would say that things can only get better, but I know they could be much, much worse :). I will hope, instead, that we can get through this and find more good than bad and ugly.

* This is, of course, the barest and simplest version of the story. There is a lot more to it, but it's best just to leave it at that.

From Brown to Green

School is out. Summer has begun! In less than a week we leave for the beach, which means the blog needs to get up-to-date in the next couple of days.

Lutece and her friend Haley, a friend from Church AND soccer.

It's amazing that world can literally change colors in the course of a month's time. These are pictures of a hike we took at Raven Run way back in late April after a full morning of soccer.

By late May the trees had unfurled their new leaves, the ground cover had burgeoned, and the world was beautiful.

Granted, the location was different . . . one which is typically much greener. Still, the difference is vast, neh?

 These pictures were taken a couple of weeks ago on our hike at Anglin Falls.

Lutece even took pictures of Stayc and me. We were eating lunch at the time, and she kept taking pictures of us while our mouths were full of food. At least we closed our mouths for this one.

I definitely prefer the green. I think I'll soak in as much as possible for the next few months.