After what seemed like a very long school year (mostly due to snow days slowly chipping away at spring and summer break), the last day of school finally arrived on June 19. Molly and Leah were happy about this.
Oh wait, that’s not the right picture. Here you go.
Molly’s final picture with the sign out front of elementary school.
Back in June, we got a new nephew/cousin. Aunt EA gave birth to Max, and we got to see him that same day.
Molly was called on again to play in an ensemble at school. This time, it was to play Pomp and Circumstance (and some other songs) at the 5th Grade Promotion Ceremony.
Molly walked across the stage and shook hands with the principal, signifying the completion of her elementary school journey. She’s ready for middle school.
The 5th graders prepared all year for a major event - Simulated Congressional Hearing. They learned about government, and then invited community leaders to serve as congressional committees. The kids formed expert panels to testify in front of the congressional committees. Parents came to observe. I volunteered as a photographer (and Jen helped with the food). There were a lot of people there.
Molly and the rest of the 5th grade chorus sang Hats Off to America, including some custom made patriotic hats.
Here's the committee Molly testified in front of.
Molly's expert panel is ready to testify. They testified on the subject of why the American colonies went to war against the British.
After their initial testimony, the committees asked the kids questions to probe further into their subject.
The girls' school had a Volunteer Appreciation Breakfast to all the parents who helped out during the year. Molly was picked as part of a select ensemble to play for us.
This year, the elementary school went all out for field day. They made it Ninja Warrior themed, and we love Ninja Warrior. We even went to a Ninja gym back in February to work on our ninja skills.
Jen and I both worked Field Day as we have in previous years. It was a lot of fun. I don’t have a lot of pictures, but here’s one of Leah running the obstacle course.
Leah was a narrator and villager in Beauty and the Beast at school. Jen did a great job making her awesome costume.
Here are a few pictures. You can see more at Flickr.
And here’s the whole show.
Lastly, here’s Leah and her cheering section (not including the man behind the camera).
Jen’s been cutting my hair (with clippers) for almost 20 years, but she decided to expand her capabilities to cut the girls hair as well. She cut both Molly and Leah’s hair (just a slight trim) and did a great job.
Charlie stayed with us for Memorial Day weekend while Aunt EA and Uncle Scott were out of town at a wedding. It’s been a long time since we’ve had a toddler in the house, but we had a great time.
The marble track saw a lot of use.
We mostly stayed close to home, but we did make one special trip. Krispy Kreme had special blueberry glazed doughnuts, and we figured that might be an outing Charlie would like. He stuck with a regular glazed, and loved it. He had trouble understanding why he couldn’t have another one though, since there was a box full of them in front of him.
Molly and Leah read him bedtime stories both nights.
While Charlie was visiting, our area had the second major flash flood in 2 years. We got about 27 gallons of water in out basement, which was not bad compared to many others. We had twin rivers merging in our backyard.
While I as vacuuming up water in the basement, Jen was using water for more productive use upstairs. After his bath, Charlie was happy and clean.
Our garage was full of stuff, which was making it difficult for me to use it as a workshop in addition to parking Jen’s car in it. To give us some more garage storage, I built a bunch of shelves.
There’s a large shelf along the ceiling, then a few shelves down the side. It took 17 2x4 studs and 2 sheets of plywood. I also installed a workbench light from it so I can see better. Here’s what the back wall looked like before, for perspective.
