Ezra made a sign on the table with the Wikki Stix last night.
Let’s not dwell on the fact that says is spelled “ses” and just take a look at that punctuation! A colon, quotation marks and an exclamation point all used properly! That’s my boy!
Finn got to choose the restaurant for our graduation celebration last night. He was very excited that it was his choice and no one could say, “We can’t go there.” He’d originally wanted to go to Slaw Dogs (the local hotdog place) but I gently reminded him of the make-your-own sundae option at La Grande Orange and then he was adamant that that’s where we were going. (I have to admit a selfish reason for my trickery, of course. I’ve fallen in love with their brussels sprout salad.)
Anywho, we finally got our act together around 6:00 and headed to the restaurant. Finn made sure he brought his Cottage key with him.
He and Ezra gobbled up their dinners and finally got to the much-anticipated sundae portion of the evening. They are expert sundae makers.
With only a small delay from the resulting sugar high, Finn, who was incredibly tired from such a long and exciting day, fell asleep like a rock. And made sure to find his Cottage key first thing this morning.
Well, today was the day — our very last day at Cottage. We weathered the emotions pretty well; I didn’t break down until the very end.
First, there was the potluck. Finn and Bruce played rock, paper, scissors instead of eating.
A little later, everyone gathered around and the graduation ceremony began. First of the three amigos to get called up was Kai.
Then Charlie.
And finally Finn. He got his certificate and folder from Sahar.
And a hug.
And he got his key from Angie.
And the book Not a Box from Art.
He was very proud and happy.
After the commotion, I managed to get a picture with Finn and all of the teachers.
What a journey our wonderful little school has been.
After three years at Cottage, Finn graduates tomorrow and will head off to Kindergarten in the Fall. Teacher Sahar sent me this photo she took of the two of them yesterday, their last real day of school since tomorrow will be mostly filled with a potluck and graduation festivities.
It got me thinking about his first year in the Mulberry class and I dug up some old photos. These first three are his first day of school.
Here’s one more from later that year.
And one from his second year when he was in the Oak Tree class.
To say my emotions about his graduation are a mixed bag is an understatement.
We spent Memorial Day Weekend with the Bannings in Laguna and had a perfect weekend with shockingly little kid drama, lots of fun activities, good food, and tons of laughs from kids and grown-ups alike.
Of course, about five minutes after we arrived at the house, the kids were clamoring for walk down to the beach. And so we went. Happiness ensued.
On Sunday Rob and Bruce took the kids down to the beach while Cari and I took a long walk. The kids returned to have lunch on the deck.
And ice cream cones.
Next up was a very elaborate road drawing with sidewalk chalk. First, Finn did some urban planning.
Although I think by the time he got outside the road was at least partially drawn. But it was definitely a work in progress, complete with a monster, a jail, weeds, a bat, a raccoon, etc. By the time I came out, they were starting the races. Of course, there’s always lots of discussion before the race.
And Ruby and Finn showed the course to the participants.
Finally they were off.
Ezra took an early lead.
The course was a bit quirky. You had to stop to jump on the monster’s eyes.
And pull some weeds growing by the side of the road.
And say hello to the bat and pet the raccoon.
Once running became commonplace, they had a bike race.
And then a bike/scooter race.
And then the kids decorated Bruce with chalk.
And that’s it for the pictures I have. Bruce and Rob took the kids to the beach on Monday morning as well where they all took turns riding on the boogie board while Bruce pulled them. I think it took all of them out of their comfort zones, which is great. Alas, I wasn’t there so there are no photos.
Thanks again for a great weekend, Bannings!!!
Ezra lost yet another tooth on Friday, necessitating another visit from the Tooth Fairy. But this time, she just sent Tootho alone in her stead. I didn’t get pictures of everything, but Tootho apparently shimmied down a string through the attic access door in Ezra’s closet and then walked across the room to Ezra’s bed. He left some footprints.
He ripped the envelope Ezra had left for him and took the tooth.
He also left a short note.
And a new self-portrait.
I’m not sure who is more delighted with this whole Tootho thing, Ezra or Bruce.
The kids at Aveson have been working on a musical show for months now and the first performance was this morning. Each class sang a song; Ezra’s class did Bob Marley’s “Three Little Birds.”
Ezra wasn’t easy to see because he stood behind two kids, but occasionally his face popped into view.
For the last part of the song he got to play a kazoo.
Of course I took a video of part of their performance.
And later Finn and I were treated to a solo rendition at home.
We had a lot of outside time in the afternoons this week, with the sidewalk chalk playing a big role. Ezra was sort of obsessed with “sugar-free banana ice cream” one day. (He says he made it in Kindergarten and it’s mashed up frozen bananas and it “gives you a burst of energy.”)
He also made a secret code that he was going to teach Jack.
(sa = split up; saba = act like a normal kid)
Finn drew a map and then led me to the place in the garden where Ezra had peed. Quite a treasure.
Today, Ezra decided he was going to teach Finn to spell and have a spelling inventory. If I understand correctly, he does this in his literacy class. His teacher says a word and the kids write it down how they think it’s spelled. He had three words for Finn, but we got interrupted to do a concert. (More on that later.)
Finn did pretty well!
Finn was home sick on Wednesday, missing a precious one of the four days he has left at Cottage. Part of the way he passed the time was iPad drawing. He drew a flower for Teacher Sahar. There were three iterations — every time I took a picture and got ready to send it to her, he said, “Wait, wait! I need to add something.”
First, it was fairly simple.
Then he realized there wasn’t any dirt. And how can a flower grow without any dirt?
Finally, he added his name. But he wanted to make sure that I told her, “The Finn words is the roots.”
Ezra lost another tooth last week. And by lost, I mean really lost — we never found it. (We’re assuming he swallowed it.) The Tooth Fairy came, bringing the usual four quarters and a letter.
But what really caught Ezra’s attention was the envelope.
He was so excited about “Tootho” that he wrote a letter to the Tooth Fairy and left it under his pillow last night.
And, of course, the Tooth Fairy responded posthaste.
Oh, and here’s a shot Ezra’s crazy mouth.
We enjoyed a great viewing of the solar eclipse on Sunday evening even though we didn’t have proper eyewear to look straight at it. We started out with two pieces of paper, one with a small hole. That was fine. But then Bruce brought out the old binoculars and that worked better. The boys were interested sporadically.
First, here’s Bruce’s visual explanation for the boys.
And here are some shots of our viewing.
Today was the third installment of Bruce’s woodworking class series; the kids made boats. It was by far the most involved of the three projects and we were both a little worried about how it would be executed. Due to some great organization and planning on Bruce and Rob’s part, it came off without a hitch.
First, there was the usual instruction from Bruce.
And this time a written list of the steps.
He made a sample of what the main part of the boat would look like after the first step, which I thought was funny.
He fit in a little demonstration about gluing wood. Here’s video in two parts.
There were lots of stations set up with a parent helping the kids at each one. There was gluing with Jon.
Drilling with Allen (everyone loves the drill press).
Sawing with Ian.
Nailing/sawing with Rob.
More nailing. (Finn’s here with Mark; lots of parents helped with this one!)
Of course, the hot glue gun made an appearance.
And general chaos.
Once they cut out their sails and had a grown-up help them attach it, they could decorate. Here’s Finn.
And here’s Ezra working on his string railing.
While the glue dried, we had lunch and the kids ran around, played with the hose and the trough (originally built for boat races but a little too narrow), and generally had a good time.
Finally, in a quieter moment, Finn, Chapin and Ruby floated their boats (and themselves) in the pond.
Ezra’s teacher, Thea, sent me a couple of pictures from her iPhone the other day. Apparently, he was feeling a little squirmy. First this:
Then this:
Bruce said he looks like an amoeba. Ezra got a kick out of seeing what he looked like. I like that Thea didn’t send the pictures in order to have us reprimand Ezra, but rather she sent them with a smiley emoticon.
Before:
After:
Sorry, Jamma, but it’s getting way too hot for all that hair.
Last class picture from Cottage and it’s a doozy!
Finn looks like he’s in full Class President mode (as Teacher Art calls him).