School Is Out For Summer!

School is OUT for summer!

It seems as though it was only yesterday that I swallowed back tears as I slowly walked away from Madeline's pre-K classroom door, leaving her to the care of others.  And now, Madeline is zipping off a school bus, ready to start her summer, upon the completion of first grade!  For various reasons I am getting a true glimpse at how quickly time is passing.  When I apply this to the passing of future time, I am aware that these precious moments with both of my kids is whizzing by us as we go about our routines.  I try to hold on to these special moments and hope that pleasant memories are being made for each of the kids.

Craft time!

Dinnertime!

Madeline's last day of school was Thursday, June 6th.  Madeline enjoys school, so I don't believe that she was so much counting the days to her last day of school, but rather the play date that was scheduled for that same day.  And so, at approximately 4pm, the school bus pulled up outside of our house and dropped off Madeline and one of her school friends, Leah.

Puppet Wagon!

I love the picture that I captured of Madeline racing off of the school bus. By looking at this, you would think that she was

Watching the show

beyond thrilled about the end of the school year but Madeline was overflowing with excitement to show Leah around the house.  Madeline flitted around the house, going a mile a minute, jumping from thing to thing, showing off her room and toys.  She was really bubbling over with excitement!  Eventually, things settled down and the girls spent some time playing with a doll house in the basement.  They also danced around the family room, played a little with Jonathan (and he was loving the extra attention) and took some time for crafts - personalized and self-decorated foam sun visors.

Kick-off Party craft time

Madeline was also thrilled to have Leah eat dinner at our house.  A kid friendly meal was on tap and the girls enjoyed chicken nuggets, fries, veggies with ranch for dipping and fresh watermelon.  After dinner, we planned to meet Leah's mom around the corner from our house.  The city has a puppet wagon that travels from park to park for mini-shows throughout the summer.  The last day of school coincided with the puppet wagon's "kick off party".  We headed up to the kick off party for the season's first show and met up with Leah's mom & little sister.  Although Madeline & Leah are on the older side for the show, the girls still enjoyed the puppets and Jonathan was just plain mesmerized by the puppets.  After the show, the kids played on the nearby playground and enjoyed the craft stations set up for the event.
All in all, I would say this was an absolutely perfect way to kick off our summer!