The end.

We have closed the books on yet another school year.  The last few weeks came fast and furious.

Brooke had a presentation on wind energy that she gave in front of half the 5th grade.

She also graduated from the DARE program.

Emma and Leah had a major social studies project that created some major drama.  Behold, the final result.

A medieval castle.

And an abacus.

Do not let the smiles fool you.

The actual day itself could not have been any more crazy.  First off, it was 90+ degrees.  Which is not going to make anything any easier.  After some meltdowns (by both children and adults) as people were on their way out the door, I headed up to Brooke's school to get field day set up, stopping in her classroom first to drop off presents and take pictures. 

I left there at noon to grab some lunch on my way to sub at another school for a friend.  When I got home, our contractor was here to inform me that they would start installing our new windows that afternoon.  OK, I'm really happy that it is FINALLY happening (that post is coming...), but now I have to scramble around trying to get window treatments down, pictures off the walls, and a little straightening done so that the workers don't think we are complete slobs.   After some bent brackets, a splash of salsa on my white shirt as I chowed my burrito, and realizing that my window treatments are in need of a serious cleaning, I made it out the door in time.

I had to rush home from the sub job to be here when Andrew got off the bus.  There I was, waiting eagerly on the front porch, camera in hand, and here is what I got:

Nice tongue.

Brooke got home, a half hour later, but I was tied up on the phone dealing with some church business, so I missed getting her picture. Emma and Leah had ridden their bikes from school straight to swim practice. They texted that there were a lot of "other" kids at the pool, which got me thinking--is the pool already open? I didn't think it was because of swim team, but lo and behold. So on the fly, I decided to take Andrew and Brooke to the pool and surprise the girls.

A perfect way to spend a blistering afternoon.

The evening was crazy because we had to get the upstairs ready for windows the next day.  The workers would have to be able to actually cross a room to get to a window.  That meant that the floor needed to be clear.  And, of course, there's no way anyone (workers or otherwise) would be coming upstairs without a little light cleaning first.

Oh, and we had to run to Lowe's to pick out a new front door.

Since Andrew's room was (miraculously) already clean, he came with Glenn and me, and the girls stayed back to get their rooms under control.  Not the way a kid wants to spend their first evening of no responsibility, so I promised I'd make it up to them.

Mitchell's will make any day great.

The day ended with the kids crashing in the basement to escape the heat and the impending demolition that would begin early the next morning.

And today, on the first day of summer, we closed the school year with one last trip to the school to say good bye to a teacher that has made a deep and lasting impression on all my girls--and me.  Believe me when I tell you that this teacher is the epitome of perfection in education.

I am so grateful that my girls all got to have her.  And thanking her for all that she's done was the perfect cap to our year.

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