Ben's Last Day of Preschool

Sigh. Ben is finished with preschool. I think it went extra fast for both of us since he only went this one year, and it's hard to believe that he's not going back in the Fall. The last day of school was also the art show, so he went to his class for 2 hours that morning, and then we all came to see his art in the gym.

I love when his teachers put photos into the art work. This is Ben's firetruck picture that says, "Ben holds the ladder". So cute!

Ben and Hannah, who lives right across the street. They were in class together this year, so cute!

And some of the other kiddos that live across from us. Little siblings had to be in the pictures too.  :)

We were walking out the door to leave, when Ben started to cry because we didn't get a picture of him with his friends Van and Micah. Luckily they were still there so we ran back in for a quick photo. He's still really sad that we didn't see his friend Colin that day, but Micah's mom made adorable class photo books, so we have all of his friends' pictures in there.

This is the director of the preschool, and she really helped us a lot this year. I think I've mentioned that Ben had some pretty severe fear of the fire drills they had at school this year. He asked constantly when there would be another one, and most days he was sad and afraid walking into school because of that fear. Luckily he was always happy coming out of school, but watching him walk in with his lip out and his head hanging low was just so sad! One morning the director got him out of the van at carpool and he immediately asked her if there would be a fire drill that day. She stopped right there and got down on her knees to talk to him in the parking lot, holding up carpool until she could address his problem. I listened to her talk to him about the fire drills, what would happen if there was one, how it would sound, what they would do before, during, and after. He seemed to calm down some and walked into class with his teacher. The next time there was a fire drill his teacher came over to my car after school and proudly told me how Ben hadn't cried, how he walked right in the line and recovered from it quickly. His teachers and I had all given him the same talk that the director did that day in carpool, but something about her stopping to talk with him that day made a world of difference. He didn't love fire drills from that day on, but he was able to make it through them and get on with his days.

And his sweet teachers, the same teachers we've had for 5 years at this preschool. They also worked with him so much this year, and he just loved them. They were lots of days in those last weeks where he was sad about "never ever" going back to them and his beloved Owl class. I think now that he's finished it's easier to get excited about what's new for next year instead of focusing on what he's not going to have. And as sad as mommy is that Ben is leaving preschool, I can't be too upset because we will be right back in the Owl class in 4 months when Kate starts preschool!

I have to admit I am sad that he won't be there though. I just love preschool so much! Since he turns 5 in July, there are no programs there that would work for him except 5 day a week Kindergarten, which is too much since he's just going 2 days a week when he starts at Anna and Noah's school. Because of construction at their campus they're not offering their usual Junior Kindergarten next year, so we're going to home school him for that, which I'm confident will be fun for us both. But I will miss his stories of his little friends and seeing what crafts he brings home in his backpack. I am excited for all of the fun things we will do together though, and I'm thankful for that time we will have before he goes on to Kindergarten. Ben and I will go to CBS Bible study one of the days that Kate is in preschool, and I know he will love that. It's not at our church, but it's one we went to 2 years ago and he remembers it well. They divide the kids by age and really function as little classes instead of just free play time, so I think that will be good for him. He learned SO much last time, so I'm happy to get back into that. I'm also planning to find some sort of little fun class or lessons he can get into one day a week to be with other kids his age, and of course there will be Fall and Spring soccer again. Considering Kindergarten is only 2 days a week when he does start, I don't feel a ton of pressure to have him in a group activity 5 days a week, but I think it will be fun. 

For now we have almost 3.5 months to relax!

Mother's Day

Mother's Day was full but nice this year. We went to the early church service and when I came downstairs to leave I was greeted with this cute breakfast from Anna and Noah.

After church we crossed the river to have brunch with my side of the family. We went to a new place and it was super yummy. After brunch we only had about an hour and half before we were supposed to meet Nathan's side of the family downtown, so rather than driving back home we went to the riverfront.

Love these babies!

Anna carried Kate like this for about 30 seconds.  ;)

See that sticker on Ben's shirt? The silver foil smiley face? They gave that to him at church because when we first went into his class he was feeling sad, but then he got happy. After we walked around the riverfront, we went ahead and drove back across the river and had dinner with family. There was also a college graduation being held downtown, so parking was rough, and after dinner Nathan and Noah ran to get the car while I stayed at the restaurant with Anna, Ben, Kate, and Nathan's parents. We were standing outside talking and Ben said he didn't want his sticker anymore. He handed it to me, and I handed it to Kate. She played with it while I talked, and then I heard, "Mommy, see? See?". Kate had shoved the sticker up her nose. I immediately had flashbacks to our last nose episode.

I could see it right at her nose, so I tried to grab it with my fingernails, but it was just far enough in that I couldn't get it. I tried a few times, but decided to stop since I knew as long as we could see it well then we could most likely get it with tweezers when we got home. But by this point Kate was super upset and she shoved her own finger up there twice trying to get it. We got home and looked, and although we could see a tiny edge of it, it was too far for us to safely get it on our own. There was nothing we could do that late at night, so she went to sleep and we called the ENT first thing the next morning. Luckily they worked us in and he had it out in about 10 seconds. Kate was elated when he showed it to her. She literally jumped up and down and clapped and cheered, "No sticker nose! All gone!". She kept sniffing and sniffing, so happy that her nose was clear again. As we left the doctor offered her a sucker and said, "I would offer her a sticker, but maybe we'll hold off this time...". Good call. She celebrated all the way home.

So that little evening surprise certainly made for an exciting Mother's Day. But I loved all of the in between times just walking along the river and stopping at the playground for a while. I don't deserve one single second of time with these four precious little souls, so I am beyond grateful that I've had 10 years so far as their mama! 

It was a real gift to have all four of my children home this year too, although I did spend a large part of the day thinking about Kate's birth mom. I don't think that day was any different for anyone in China, and I really do think of her every day, but Mother's Day just reminds me of all the joy she's not able to share. I will forever wish she could see how amazing her girl is, but I can only be thankful that she chose to give her life and that God let our family be the ones to watch her grow. Mother's Day was the last big holiday that we hadn't shared - in less than a month we will celebrate one year together!

Derby

Man, this time of year gets busy. We are in our last week of school and I can see the light at the end of 25 ceremonies and events! Tomorrow starts our last week of school and Noah's class has pretty much wrapped up all of their work for the year. The next 2 days will be spent mostly reviewing and practicing their memory verses/ poems and songs for the closing ceremony on Thursday. Anna has about a million finals in the next 3 days, along with getting ready for the last day events. But we're so close now! Even little Benji only has 2 days left!

But in between all of the busy, we've had some fun. A few weeks ago we went to a friend's house for a Derby party that has become a yearly tradition. The kids (and adults!) love this party, and when we pulled up and saw the bounce houses they were busting out of the van.

I love this jumping picture!

Notice how Kate got her tiny self into both the dads' and moms' photos.  ;)

Nathan's pick won the Derby and we were able to put his winnings back into a family there that was taking donations for their adoption from China. A win win for sure!!

Art Show

I love the art show at school. Not only is it fun to see all of the kids, but their art work is always really cute. And I'm not gonna lie - I also love the art show because it means the school year is almost over!

There's always a big floor to ceiling banner at the back of the room that all of the kids have worked on for the last few months. Noah worked on this T square with his friend Eli.

And Anna did this lion surrounded by flowers and rainbows with her friends Grace and Peyton.

Noah's class piece was a stained glass drawing titled, "God and the two lions". See those lion heads on each side?

Anna's watercolor was called, "Battle of the Leopards". Of course.  ;)

A change this year was that each class also did a short musical performance. For Anna's class (some of them, anyway), it was the recorder...oh yeah, every mom's favorite. They did 6 or 7 songs (!) but they were all short. And really, they were adorable up there looking all serious.

Here's a snippet:

The little siblings really enjoyed watching. Kate burst into applause after every song.

But for Anna and Noah, and now Ben, the real draw is what's going on outside - basically just running wild around the front field with all of their classmates.

All we have left is closing school ceremony. In fact, Anna has only 9 days of school left, and Ben and Noah only have 7. I am sliiightly nervous about how we're going to stay occupied and happy this summer, but I am also completely thrilled at the idea of over 3 months with no carpool or washing uniforms or doing nightly homework. Last summer really was a complete blur with China and jet lag and general adjustments. We're looking forward to zero plans this year!