My sweet Ellabelle had her 6th grade graduation this week.
Which means she attended the last day of school in nice Sunday clothes.
Which means she looked like this while doing safety patrol:
It’s hard to believe that she’s all done with elementary school — no, scratch that. It’s actually quite easy to believe since we’ve been thinking about it for months now, what with middle school tours and choosing electives for next year. (The photos below are from the 6th grade band concert a few weeks ago.)
(Eleanor the Bored Percussionist Strikes Again!)
What really blew my mind is realizing that William will be in 5th grade next year. 5th! But he’s still in 1st grade, I could have sworn that was so!
The graduation ceremony was the same format as Jeff’s, only the pop song choice was far more appropriate for kids to sing (“Count on Me” by Bruno Mars).
Brian couldn’t make it to this one, so I brought her flowers from Trader Joe’s to compensate. She was tickled as pink as the roses.
Eleanor is looking more and more grown-up. I wasn’t able to attend her modern dance performance (that was the weekend I was in California) but the pictures from dress rehearsal were posted a few days ago, and they look so elegant and cool.
The graduation ceremony ended an hour before school ended, so Eleanor and I hoofed it over to Costco to pick up movie theater tickets and a pizza for lunch (annnnnd some books. Because Eleanor made me do it).
When the other kids came home, we snarfed down pizza, then headed over to Menchie’s for frozen yogurt (our standard last-day activity), then headed to the movies to watch Captain Underpants.
The day was topped off with the choosing of the Summer Cereals. William claimed Lucky Charms this year, and Eleanor was nearly distraught because that’s usually her choice. She eventually settled on Cocoa Puffs, a fine cereal in the mascot-with-no-pants tradition.
In other news, Jeff was awarded the Most Outstanding Digital Technology Student award at the middle school’s evening awards ceremony. Which was great for Jeff (his teacher is wonderful for thinking of him) but also meant Brian and I had to sit through a 90 minute evening award ceremony. Thank heavens I brought my knitting.
William finished his school year with a food truck simulation, which he found very interesting and talked about every day for weeks. His food truck is called “Taco Cat,” and he even made a paper model of it. He and Eleanor took some red yarn and had a ribbon cutting ceremony to declare it officially “open,” which just about made me die from cuteness.
On the last day of school, William also brought home the note that Brian and I wrote him back at the beginning of the school year. His teacher told me that he kept it on top of his desk all year long and read it every day. Sweet boy.
William also got to attend the Summer Library kickoff party, where the Emerald City Admirals came to teach quidditch to the kids, which he loved.
We also observed Father’s Day a few weeks ago. In addition to giving him the latest draft of my book, I also gave him many flavors of tiny pie slices, brought from my annual book club’s trip to the Back Door Bakery down in Olympia.
In other words, the end of the school year has treated us well.
Oh wait — can’t end without an official first day/last day comparison photo!
Although . . . that doesn’t quite capture the true spirit of the last day of school, does it?
How about we take another shot?
Casa Camisas 