How We Got Ready For Our Summer Vacation

Besides the girls' dance recital, May was full of several small "end-of-year" activities that kept us occupied. Here's a recap of a few of them!

Aurora's last day of co-op preschool.

Aurora's cooperative preschool this year was really more of a glorified, pre-scheduled playgroup. It was not very organized, official, or even educational, I'm afraid. Most of the moms who participated (we averaged four to six kids throughout the year) just needed a morning away from their kids to get some things done; we didn't particularly care about the curriculum. Can you tell that all but one of these kids is the youngest in the family (ie, the moms just don't care anymore)? Fortunately, the kids got along for the most part. I was particularly fortunate because Aurora's best friend Shelby was part of the class; those two girls almost always get along well and it's easy to pair them off. Unfortunately, they sometimes left the other kids out of their private fun times! It was a tricky balancing act as a teacher to keep all the kids mingling.

We managed to pull together a few fun activities for the kids throughout the year; hopefully they learned something, even if it was by accident. For the second-to-last week, Caleb's mom (my friend Shannon) took cute "graduation" photos of all the kids and made them into a nice collage for all the parents to save. Then, the Tuesday before the end of school, everyone met at our house for cupcakes, playtime, and our final goodbyes.

All these cute kids will be attending different preschools next fall (Aurora is going back to Smart Scholars Preschool, with Ms. Nichole, which is the same preschool Celeste attended a couple years back). Hopefully they will have a great time in a more structured environment, and we won't have ruined them for a "proper" education! But I'm glad I got this chance to do preschool one more time, even if it was more about fun and games.

Nathan celebrated a birthday, and much food was consumed.

Nathan's birthday is May 23rd; this almost always puts it at the same time as Memorial Day weekend, the dance recital, and the end of school. Luckily, Nathan always manages to find ways to make his birthday matter. My husband takes dining out very seriously, and he studies and prepares obsessively for each new restaurant we consider.  I find it simultaneously exasperating and cute. This year, we decided to try out Poco And Mom's, a New-Mexican style greasy spoon in Tucson. New Mexican-style food relies heavily on Hatch green chiles in most of its dishes. In addition, New Mexican-style enchiladas are prepared not with the tortillas wrapped, but with the tortillas laid flat and layered, with the fillings spread between them. It's such delicious, sloppy, spicy goodness. This restaurant is a little out of the way, but with any luck we'll be going back again.

After the restaurant, Nathan and I walked around some of our old stomping grounds...specifically, the LDS chapel we used to attend when we lived in Tucson. We still miss it some days! We wandered around in the park just north of the chapel, and managed to find a couple of geocaches in the process (thanks to Nathan's geocaching app on his phone). After that, our date got a little spontaneous when we visited a nearby BevMo. For the most part, this store sells alcoholic beverages, but they have a whole wall of the store filled with a lot of "boutique" sodas made by a variety of different companies. We decided to pick a bunch out and have a taste-test with the family later!

Nathan and I each picked three sodas. Nathan really went for the bizarre flavors, while I was a little less adventurous. You can probably guess who picked which, for the most part! In the end, most people chose either the "Leninade" or the lime-hibiscuis-clove soda as their favorite. The least favorite was the bacon soda...yuck (although the "Rocket Piss" was pretty gross as well)!!!

And it wouldn't be Nathan's birthday if there weren't a lot of pies to eat...

...specifically, mixed berry, pumpkin, peach-blueberry, and strawberry-rhubarb. Dee-licious! Let's just say, my goal to lose weight this summer was not adhered to on this weekend, or even beyond (our family went out to dinner the Tuesday after Memorial Day as well...we have really been making pigs of ourselves!).

Lorelai got her own bedroom...finally.

Ever since Celeste was a small baby, Lorelai has shared a bedroom. Even Aurora had her own bedroom for a short time when she was younger, due to her erratic sleeping habits. But now it's time for the "big girl" to have her own space! Over Memorial Day weekend, Nathan and I slowly moved all of Lorelai's clothes, books, and toys into the middle (and smallest) of our three smaller bedrooms. I warned Lorelai it was the smallest bedroom, but she didn't mind at all...and as you can see, she has plenty of room to grow into the space!

It had taken us a few months to get this bedroom completely ready for habitation. We had to get Lorelai her own clothes dresser (which we luckily inherited from some neighbors that moved away), bookcase (which I found during the April community yard sale), and ceiling fan (which we bought and installed when my parents were in town recently). With all that out of the way, the move could proceed with a minimum of fuss!

As of this writing, we've already rearranged the room once; the bed is now next to the window

Besides keeping her new room clean, Lorelai is also responsible for doing all her own laundry, from beginning to end! She is just tall enough to reach the laundry soap, and she's able to extricate all the damp clothes from the washer, so she's ready! Let's hope she remembers to do it once in a while...

It's time to go back to the pool!

Memorial Day weekend is when the large splash pad and water slides at our clubhouse open up for the summer. So of course, we have to go "test-ride" them and make sure they're ready for all the kid action they'll be experiencing this summer!

Celeste and Lorelai thankfully seem to have retained most of the basic swimming knowledge they received in their swim lessons last year. Aurora is still a little nervous in the water, but luckily our life jackets still fit her just fine, so that helps her navigate the waters with added confidence. It's a strange feeling, to be able to go visit the pool...and then sit back and watch the girls from a distance! For many years, one or more girl has clung to me desperately every time we've gone into the pool. I have often ended up exhausted and stressed out after such visits. Now they are so much more independent and confident, and it's great to see. I still keep a close eye on them, of course, and don't go too far away, but we feel more like "equals" in the water than we ever have before.

There were a few other happenings in May that deserve mention (even if I have no photographs to share):
-I took a trip with the sisters from our LDS ward to the Mesa Temple. It's always nice to visit the temple and partake of the calm spirit there, and it was especially nice to go with some wonderful friends. Afterwards we went out to lunch at Rudy's Texas BBQ, because...yum.
-I had a movie party with a couple of my girlfriends, Shannon & Tabatha. We watched Catching Fire (the second film set in the Hunger Games universe), and ate a lot of food while doing so. We'd invited a few more moms that morning, but sadly a few of them fell sick, so it was only three of us. However, we had a lot of fun commenting, laughing, chatting, and clarifying numerous points in the movie (I learned I don't remember the books all that well! Thank goodness both my friends are avid book-readers). Plus, I am lucky that Shannon and Tabatha are crazy good cooks; I enjoyed all the food they brought.
-Our family attended a birthday party for a friend of ours. It was in a park in Madera Highlands, a neighborhood southeast of our own that we don't visit too often. The birthday boy, Danny Garcia, and his family used to be in our LDS ward several years ago, until the Madera Highlands neighborhood was split off from our ward into its own congregation. Sadly, we don't see each other much any more, so this birthday party was a good opportunity to relax outdoors and get caught up with some old friends.
-We had our friends the Powells over for Memorial Day dinner. We cooked a bunch of ribs, hamburgers, and hot dogs; the Powells brought a bunch of salad. Everyone ate, played, talked, and had a nice time. Now that the Powells live in Vail, it's a little harder to see them. This get-together was especially bittersweet, because it was my last piano lesson ever for Hyrum, one of Lorelai's good friends. I have been teaching Hyrum piano for three years now, and he's been one of my favorite students. He always works so hard and has made such great progress! I am genuinely sad to see him go. It just means our families will have to be more diligent at keeping track of one another.

Beyond the usual (piano lessons, church callings, etc), there was just one more major event of May...

That's all, folks...school's out!

I can't believe my beautiful Celeste is getting so big. On the second-to-last day of school, Great Expectations Academy held a special Kindergarten Promotion ceremony. Both kindergarten classes stood at the front of the cafeteria, wearing their cute caps (that cost $10 each! Seriously, school?? Couldn't you have just had them make some paper ones?) and singing a sweet song about life and the changes it often brings. I've heard Celeste singing this song repeatedly at our house over the last few months; I was impressed she knew all the words (especially because most of the other kindergartners didn't know them all!).

She even got a "diploma" from her teacher and the school's principal, Mr. Topp:

I was one proud mama! Wow, she will be a first-grader next year. I can scarcely believe it.

Celeste's clas

Lorelai's class

The following day was the "official" last day of school for everyone. Last year there had been a large assembly in the church next door to the school, and it went on forever. This year, the assembly was a refreshingly low-key affair. There was a small assembly featuring all the students this year. Each class prepared a short musical number; when all the classes was done, that was it! Parents could pack up and take their kids home for the summer. It was probably short due to its being held outside; no one wanted to be out in the hot summer sun any longer than necessary.

It was time for the girls to collect all their things and say goodbye to their teachers...

Celeste with Ms. Cordts; she was too sad to smile!

Lorelai with Ms. Wolf

Lorelai with Ms. Welch, her full-time class assistant

Being the sentimental creatures they are, Lorelai and Celeste both got teary-eyed at saying goodbye. On the way out to the car, Lorelai said in a low trembling voice, "I miss them already." This, after weeks of whining about how tired of school she was! Kids' minds definitely work in funny ways.

Just after school, we went to nearby Anamax Park, to say goodbye to the Shaffer family; they've been friends ever since Lorelai and Elnorra met in kindergarten. Windy, the mom, has been a good friend for years. Her husband just graduated from law school, and they're moving to Utah to start a job. We'll miss them but we have their contact information and will definitely keep in touch.

This set of goodbyes was just too much for poor Lorelai. She wept loud and long in the car; this summer will be a hard one, since many of her school friends won't be returning next year (Elnorra's moved, Joey is moving, Hyrum has moved, and even her friend Clark is changing schools). I certainly hope Lorelai will be her usual friendly self and meet some new kids this fall. I hope she doesn't spend fourth grade being too lonely. Sometimes it's hard watching your kids grow up and deal with friends departing. I remember how much that hurt, because it happened to me several times as a kid! But Lorelai is tough, and I will be praying for her to enjoy the coming year.

After eating lunch at McDonald's, we had a quiet afternoon before attending one more party: a T-shirt decorating/ice-cream eating party at our friends the Nielsen's.

LOTS of kids eating ice cream

It was a good way to socialize and cool off a bit, after the hot afternoon. The girls are all very proud of their shirts, and it will be neat to see them wear them all summer.

And with that, summer vacation was HERE! What excitement will it bring? (hint: so far, it has involved lots of swimming). I'll be sure to update the blog periodically with some of our adventures! Wishing all my readers a fun, safe summer break.