Today was the last day of school, for all of us!  We successfully completed 1st, 3rd, and kindergarten!  We may have gone a little overboard with the treats this year.

We made cookies for the classes.  I had in mind bright, sunshiny, lemony cookies, but time and ingredients dictated and we ended up with spice cookies in flower shapes.  Yellow, at least.  Not exactly perfect, but no one complained!  The kids wanted them for classmates and I wanted them as a thank you for the teachers at my school, so we divied them up three ways and there were plenty to go around.

We also made goody bags for the students in all three classes.  The bags had a jump rope, bubbles, and Starburst inside, then a cute note and ribbons on the outside.  They were pretty awesome, if I do say so myself, and the kids loved them!

We also made gifts for the teachers.  All eight of them!  The gifts were Pinterest-inspired and I loved them.  I got freezable tumblers with straws, put Lindt chocolate balls and a gift certificate to the local ice cream stand inside, along with thank you notes written by me or the kids (depending on who’s teacher it was!), then wrapped a Real Simple magazine around the outside and tied it all up with a ribbon.  A little obsessive, but super cute!

Alan is away this week so I brought the kids to school.  Probably a good thing because he would have scoffed at the ridiculousness of my last-day-of-school goodies.
I made the poor kids carry a ton, then asked them to stop for a photo directly in the sunshine. Lex protested and moved over to the wall, out of the direct sun. The background isn’t lovely, but the kids are smiling so that’s enough for me.

I dropped the kids and all their stuff off at school (and helped them carry everything in and deliver to the appropriate classrooms), then headed down to my school where I precariously carted in all of my end-of-year goodies.  I left a tray of cookies in the teachers’ lounge and sent out a lovely thank you note to the teachers and staff (via email), thanking them for their support this term and telling them about the cookies.

At lunch I went back to my first school and spent an hour with my fifth graders from the fall.  I watched a memories slide show my mentor teacher had put together and chatted a bit with the kids. They’ve all grown so much this fall!  It amazes me to go back and see them.  I got lots of hugs and it was nice to get to say goodbye to them.

Then back to kindergarten for the rest of the day.  Some kids were thrilled to leave for summer vacation and others were in tears.  It was an interesting experience.  I’m going to miss them all, 5th and kindergarten!

After school my kids came back happy with their new classes and teachers.  I now have 2nd and 4th graders!  Eek!  They are growing up way too fast!!  This afternoon we did karate, then home for the dinner and bedtime routine.  Then we snuggled in and read three chapters of the Lightening Thief book we’re reading!  Super fun way to start vacation.  Then, even more fun for me, once the kids were in bed my friend from UVEI came over and we celebrated our last day of school together with wine on the front porch!  She just left and now it’s almost midnight so I really should go to bed!  I’m terrible at putting myself to bed when Alan isn’t around.  I’m going to be tired tomorrow, but guess what, no alarm for me!  Whoo hoo!  We have one of Lex’s friends coming over to play, and one of my friends!  I haven’t seen Elizabeth in ages because our schedules just haven’t lined up this spring, so I’m excited to have her and Alistair come over to visit tomorrow as well.

Summer vacation is here!