Southern Babies: School's Out for Summer

We had our last week of second grade last week. I can't get over how fast time is going. I swear we were just starting second grade and now it's over. Done. Forever. My babes are growing toooooo fast. I don't like it.

The week ended up quite busy with all the end of year activities. Will had finished his musical instrument and turned it in on the Friday before. He made a ukulele all by himself.   He imagined the whole thing himself and knew to put the rubber bands at different lengths to get different sounds. He made a pick to play the ukulele, too. He finished it up by painting it blue.

Lindy wanted some drums so we came up with a take on a set of tenor drums. Being the ever resourceful people we are, we used the big can from her Helen Keller project as the center drum. We got a bunch of other sized cans as well. She painted each can a different color and then we hot glued them onto the big can. We glued a ribbon on as well so she could wear it. She took it in on Tuesday but didn't get to present it that day. On Wednesday she told me that it got squished on the table and some of her cans were off. I went in on Thursday to check and she was right. Half the cans were off!! agagag! I ended up taping everything back on. I guess the hot glue didn't hold very well. I'm glad she said something so I could go in and fix it.

Monday we celebrated Lindy's summer birthday. I got doughnuts and took them to school and ate lunch with her. She wanted me to sit with her class instead of asking a friend to sit with us at the special tables. They had eaten s'mores that morning and she was full and didn't even eat her own doughnuts! We have worked hard on her saying when she is full so I was very glad she told me she was full (instead of eating one and throwing up!).   Mimo had also come that day to eat lunch with Will. She also sat at the table with him and his friends because there were so many parents eating with kids.

Another big event that took place at school was field day on Wednesday. It was a beautiful day for field day. The sun was shining and it wasn't crazy hot. I went over to watch some of the games and they were all new. The PE teacher has a rotation of games so that the kids never play the same games at field day during their time there. That is crazy but super cool!   The kids think this is one of the best days of the year!

The other activities of the week included swim lessons. We started them on Monday night and they go on Mondays and Wednesdays. We are doing them at the local YMCA. They are in different groups and in different pools. It's quite annoying. The first night I went back and forth to see both. Ever since the first night Drew has gone as well so we have one in each pool. I think Will will definitely learn to swim by the end. I think we'll still have to do some work with Lindy. I think it's hard in a group and she can't see or hear the instructor that well. Her pool is a little bit better in terms of it being quieter with less echo but it's still in a group with 5 other kids. We'll do a month of these and then figure out what to do next. Our neighborhood pool does lessons so we might have to keep those up in July. I think private may be what she truly needs. Those usually come with a hefty price tag but we'll do what we need to!

The last day of school came up on Friday. So fast!!!! Second grade came and went in the blink of an eye. They both had fantastic years of school.   They enjoyed their 2nd grade year out in the pod. It's the only grade out of the main buildings but it's kind of a rite of passage to get to spend a year in the pod. Lindy loved it because she was directly across from her vision teacher.   That worked out great! Now her vision teacher is moving into the new building so it works that Lindy is done in the pod, too. I picked them up from school on Friday and we headed to get frozen yogurt with one of Will's friends and his mom and sister. We continued the fun by heading to the see the Angry Birds movie with them as well.  The movie was actually pretty cute and funny. After the exciting afternoon we headed home for dinner and a night in.

Saturday we slept in and we hung around the house. We headed to the pool early afternoon and we swam for a few hours. I think we will enjoy our neighborhood pool. Between swim lessons and just being in the water more, I hope the kids are swimmers at the end of the summer. Saturday evening we headed to downtown to go to the Ribfest. We met up with Mimo, Anna and Brian. Besides eating dinner, Drew wanted to hear a band we had heard perform two years ago in New Orleans. It wasn't scheduled to start until 9:30pm but hey it's summer. We were sorely disappointed in the evening though.   I had a stomach ache (that lasted 2 days) and didn't feel well. There wasn't much for the kids to do so they were bored. We finished listening to one band and 9:30pm came and went.   We were unfortunately entertained by a very struggling magician and finally they came on at 10:30pm. The sound was awful and not working right and we decided to call it a night. The kids and I were more than ready. I feel bad Drew didn't get to hear the band but it was just a big disappointment.

Sunday we had church and then we went to a neighborhood potluck at the pool that evening. We swam for a couple hours before heading home.

Sweet girl!