The race to the finish line of this school year nearly kicked our butts, and eventually I realized it was because this was our first 'regular' end of the school year in three years! Last year we were 100% online and only a fraction of the usual end-of-year activities took place, the year before that the school year ended abruptly in March... it seemed that this year everyone was determined to do aaaalllll the things that we all missed out on over the last two years. Queue May-cember, the busiest time of the year that doesn't even come with presents. In no particular order, our May looked like this-
6th grade track day for Adam. He rocked the 100-meter dash and the 4x100 relay!
Leah's final orchestra concert
was the same night as Adam's baseball game, which was the week that Daddy was out of town. We had to lean heavily on our community to get through this week!
A taste of New York style pizza helped us through.
Not as tasty as the real deal, but we are officially a house divided between Chicago style and New York style pizza now.
Adam's sixth grade band concert!
I told everyone to stand up straight for this one to make it clear who's the tallest these days... poor Leah is having a hard time letting go of her position as tallest sibling.
I got to join Leah for a student recognition 'continental breakfast' awards ceremony one morning.
She was a respectful Tiger at Southwoods!
And was sorely disappointed when she realized that continental does not mean colonial- the sad little cup of fruit and water bottle was a poor substitute for the stuffed French toast served by maids in dusters that she had envisioned. Ha!
Leah wrapped up her first track season last month. Lots of lessons learned here- she made new friends, learned how competitiveness makes some people unkind, lost a jacket in a sad life lesson learned, and injured her ankle badly enough that she spent the last few weeks visiting the trainers instead of running. I'm proud of her for trying so hard- five days a week practices meant she was gone from 6:40 to after 5 every day for the last three months of school!
Adam spent a good chunk of May at the ball field- he loves baseball but it can be hard to fit all of the games into our busy schedule. Still, we love these slow nights together.
These two little Cupids shot arrows every Thursday night since November, and in March they competed in their first archery tournament! (To be fair, they could have competed every Saturday for those 3 months but we opted to only sign them up for the home tournament while they figured out what this sport was all about).
They both enjoyed it and Emma really rocked the fourth grade girls- she finished in the top five in her first tournament and we were getting calls from the coaches before the tournament was over asking if she would please consider competing in more tournaments. 
They both competed in one more and called it good for the season. We'll see who takes it up again next year!
Emma's 4th grade orchestra concert is a perfect example of how the year looked post-Covid. This is half of the fourth grade orchestra in the school district. They traditionally split the group into three concerts, but only split it into two this year, assuming that some students wouldn't participate due to Covid, but nope! Everyone was present and happy to be included, which made for a very packed stage and a fantastic performance. We are all happy to be together again!
Leah was photographed as well- she's not sure why she looks so gigantic compared to her friends in this picture.
She was there performing chamber music with a small group from her orchestra. We all enjoyed sitting and listening to them play, and I clapped enthusiastically after every song, much to Leah's delight! ;)
A happy surprise arrived in the mail one day- tiny Emma and Little Leah dolls! True friends are worth all of the frenemy challenges that fourth graders seem to have to go through.
Emma and Adam discovered a perfect relationship this spring- in math. Adam loves math and delighted in helping Emma with her homework (without ever getting frustrated at her questions like, ahem, her parents occasionally do), and Emma is delighted to have someone to help her through each question. Win-win!
Noah spent most of May in the water- he has come so far with learning how to swim!
Not pictured- Noah's field trip to the state capitol building, Emma earning a 100% on her states and capitols test(!), yearbook signing, or field day or any other end of the year that the kids participated in. I will say that the last two and a half days of school- the days after Memorial Day- I told the kids that school was optional. They were watching a ton of movies and when the AC went out in Leah's school, she finally texted me and I picked her up early. There was no reason for them to be in school but they all gave it mostly their best all the way until the end of the school year! And when the last day finally arrived, we were all ready for it!
I even got a daylight picture of Leah because there was no seminary the last three days. Ninth grade is it's own school here and Leah is looking forward to actual high school with curiosity and caution in the fall!
So long elementary school- Adam is headed to middle school next year! With toast in hand, of course.
Fourth grade is a BIG year, and Emma navigated with grit and grace. Lighthouse leadership committee, a monthly lunch book club, orchestra, Girls on the Run, archery, line leader, binder organizer and one of the best teachers any of our kids have ever had- what a year for Emma!
And my sweet second grader! Noah made great friends this year, wrote at least a dozen different comic books, and practicing all the math he could get his pencil on.
It's the end of an era- if the school continue in the way they are currently structured, the next time Adam attends school with a sibling will be his senior year of high school when Emma is a sophomore. These three have had a great year together!
Watching them pile out to the end of the driveway and climb on the bus together has not been easy on my mother heart all year long.
But watching them do it together has helped.
And I didn't cry when the bus drove away for the last time.
Which we celebrated with his request- Giordano's!
My big boy! We're all betting that he'll be taller than Jason before too much longer.
And just like that, our school year was finally at a close! Phew, this was a really big, really long, and really wonderful year for all of us! And we were SO ready for summer!
No more writing,
and we took a few pictures of the hard work that the kids did this year before tossing it all in the fire
