Kindergarten Certificate Celebration

Today was the Kindergarten "Celebration Day".  They don't call it a graduation because it's kindergarten for crying out loud.  Here's Serafina waiting to go inside the classroom.  

 The kids were all set up to perform some songs.

The kids sang four songs.  It was cute, but also pretty boring.  Serafina was an incredibly good sport and sat politely through the performance.  Here's a little bit of one of the songs.  

Leo looked a little bored through the whole thing too.

The teacher cried through all the songs and through the ceremony to present the certificates.  

 She called Leo's name to receive his certificate, but right at that moment two of the trouble makers in the class had to be dealt with.  Leo waited patiently.

 Then it was time to get the certificate.

Like I said, the teacher did some crying (okay, a lot) and so did a few other moms.  I didn't feel like crying.  I'm proud of him, but I'm relieved this year is over.  He has become a good reader during this year; he's polite and engaged at school.  His teacher is sweet, but she's intense and demanding.  This sometimes sets Leo off since he gets tense when he feels the pressure to perform tasks in her precise way.  Anyway, we are both ready for summer break and I'm hopeful that next year will be a good one for him as well.

Crazy hair/wacky clothes day

Today was crazy hair and wacky clothes day at school.  It's all part of spirit week to celebrate the end of the school year.  The kids love it; most parents find it exhausting.  

Leo had been excited about it, but when I was spiking up his hair, he started having second thoughts.  He was worried he would be the only one dressed up in his class and all the kids would stare and laugh at him.  I knew that wouldn't be the case and I convinced him to go with it.  I planned to help in his classroom a little later in the morning and told him I'd bring him a change of shorts and a towel to wash out his hair.  Of course, by the time we got to the end of the street we saw a kid walking to school with green hair.  He relaxed and didn't even mentioned the change of clothes when I got to his classroom later.  That was a good thing because I completely forgot to bring them.  

Tomorrow is celebration day and the parents were told to bring cameras and kleenex.

Last baseball game of the season

Tonight was Leo's last baseball game of the season.  Before heading to the ball field, we hit up the team's sponser for some dinner.  They had a plaque with the team photo displayed, but it was last year's team.  I guess they haven't updated it.  Maybe we'll go back next year and we'll see Leo's team up there.  

 The last three games this season were played on the big diamond.  I believe the league plans it that way for kids that will move up a division next year get a chance to experience it.  Leo won't move up next year and neither will the coach's kid so hopefully we can have the same coach next year.

He played catcher one inning.  I don't think there was a single game that he didn't play catcher.

Here's a hit.  

One last post-game chat with Coach Dan.

Leo's first swim class

After being on the wait list for two months, Leo finally got to start swim lessons today.  It is great to have them both in the water at the same time.  

 Even though Leo can swim, his technique is severely lacking.  The teacher struggled to get him to kick with his legs straight and keep his head in the right position.  Leo has a huge advantage of being able to practice at home though.  I'm hoping we'll get him up to speed soon.

 He complained that the teacher was mean (she's just a temporary teacher while his real teacher is on vacation), but he didn't cry or say he didn't want to go back.  His sister screamed bloody murder for almost two weeks of lessons and now she can't wait to go to lessons, so he'll be okay.  

Kinder Water Play Day

This is Leo's last week of school and also spirit week.  Yesterday was pajama day, but I didn't get a picture.  Today was water play day.  Serafina and I arrived after lunch to help and the squeals could be heard from blocks away.  When I entered the kinder yard, I found this.  A mass of little bodies running in the spray of the hose manned by a kindergarten teacher.  

It's not the kind of chaos my kids are into. They weren't too thrilled with the running, screaming and spraying.

Leo ended up retreating to a corner of the yard to play in the mud with a couple of friends.  

 Here's Leo's teacher taking a turn at the hose.  I think the teachers took some pleasure in spraying these kids after a long school year of dealing with them and their personalities.

 Leo decided to take a break from the mud to do some balloon tossing.

Serafina's dance performance

Serafina's dance studio puts on an end-of-the-year performance on a big stage at a local middle school.  Unfortunately, we'll be out of town when that happens.  She isn't the only one missing the recital, so the teacher had the kids perform the dance in class today.   She's smiling so big in this picture because her dad came to see her dance.  It was pretty awesome.  

Here's the performance to the song "In Summer" from the movie Frozen.  

We were so proud of her!

Seeing friends and miserable hikers

Tom went to Denver Thursday afternoon to celebrate Maggie's high school graduation.  We've managed to stay busy while he was gone.  Yesterday Leo had a baseball game and his team's end-of-the-season party.  I made some mini-cupcakes and decorated them in Giants' colors.  It's convenient that they happen to be Halloween colors.  I definitely worry I might be crossing into crazy baseball mom territory, but they were cute.  

Today we met up with our friends Addison and Riley (and little sister Paige who's not pictured).  We haven't seen them in a while and it was nice to catch up and play.  

 They had to head home at noon for Paige's nap, so I decided to head to the Stanford campus to do a popular hike.  The kids started out in good spirits.

But walking up hill caused things to go downhill fast.  Serafina clung to the strap of my backpack and cried in protest.  

 Though Leo spared me the tears, he was still clearly miserable.

Once we got past the steep inclines and found some flat patches, their moods improved some but they were still eager to turn around and be done with it all. 

We picked Tom up from the airport and went to dinner.  The kids were so excited to have daddy home.