Goodbye 1st & 2nd Grade

Well, it happened. SCHOOL IS OUT FOR SUMMER! Yeah!!! Our family is so happy! Michael and Claire are just so happy to be free from the structure of school, I am happy to rid myself of uniform/lunches/homework duties for a while, Matthew and Emily are excited to have two more playmates around the house, and Damien just loves everything about summer and is happy it has commenced! I have a feeling there is going to be a lot of pajama wearing past lunchtime, Beach Boys CDs playing, water fights, popsicle eating, and fun activities on our horizon!

Today's school schedule was a little silly. The kids started school at 9:00 a.m. and ended school at 10:30 a.m. Basically, it was just enough time for them to go to school, participate in the end of the school Mass, say goodbye to their teachers and friends, and get their report cards. They had to wear their "Sunday's Best" to school today and both Michael and Claire were happy to not have to wear their uniforms! It seemed like no sooner did I drop them off at school did I hear a knock at the door when they came home with our carpool. I quickly changed them out of their nice outfits and into something summery! Woohoo! Summer vacation is finally here! I told Michael and Claire to pick a place where we could go have lunch and celebrate! They chose Damien's favorite restaurant Red Robin (please notice the sarcasm in my typing). I love it there but Damien pretty much loathes it. It kind of makes me laugh when the kids choose that restaurant because I know that Damien will put on a happy face even though he is dying on the inside! We all loaded in the car, rolled down the windows, threw on some Beach Boys, and off we went!

We actually had a great time at lunch. The kids expressed what they loved most about 1st and 2nd grade. Claire said she loved her teachers Mrs. Ahlers and Mrs. Duncan. She is sad to leave her teachers and first grade all together. She really had a great year and is so sad to see it go. She did say that she is looking forward to not having to get up in the morning. Amen to that! Michael was very sentimental. For the second year in a row, his teacher is leaving the school. So . . . for the second year in a row he had to say goodbye as opposed to saying, 'See you in the halls next year!'. Ms. Zisko was a great teacher and really guided Michael to success this year. We will miss her next year. Michael is so looking forward to sleeping in and staying in his PJs all day. Good for him- he worked hard to get almost three months off! I couldn't be happier for Michael and Claire. Summer is here and they deserve every last lazy minute of it!