Schools Out For Summer!

Well, we did it!   We finished 3 year old kindergarten and 1st grade!  Here are the pictures of the last week of school fun......

At the PTA fundraiser, Peter and I won Susannah a spot on the Old Town Alexandria Trolley ride to school.  She had been looking forward to this for weeks so she was all smiles when the day arrived.

It was the cutest event.   We met at a house in our neighborhood for donuts and coffee in the backyard.   

And then we all headed outside to see everybody off in the Trolley.

Look at those faces!

Several of us walked up to the school to watch them get off and it was so worth it to watch this excitement.   And this sweet big sister even went back on board to get a coloring book and toy bus for Sarah Avery.  It was such a sweet morning.

Meanwhile, Peter was in Israel for the week.   

Enjoying a nice, relaxing boat ride.  

This sweet little one had her last water day at school and made some cool dinosaur crafts.  

And then it was time for our last day of 3k!

We are so proud of her courage this year.   

I can't believe how much this little one has grown and learned.  

Checking for chipmunks 

Ms. Becky and Ms. Luz loved Sarah Avery so well all year and we will never forget them!

Here is SA's class on their last day, which was also flag day.  

That same afternoon was the first grade "Animal Museum."   Parents could come and look at the animal research projects the kids had been working on for a couple of weeks.   Susannah's animal was the dolphin.   She was so excited to answer our questions!

Susannah and her beloved Ms. Lyon

Sarah Avery finished up her gymnastics class this week too.   We celebrated with cookies from the vending machine and a walk to the playground.  

I have so loved my mornings with this girl.

On Saturday, Susannah had two birthday parties, so we let Sarah Avery invite a friend over for sprinkler fun and lunch.

These two had such a fun afternoon.

Fingers are crossed they will be in the same class next year.

Meanwhile, Susannah was scaling a 40 ft wall at a rock climbing birthday party.   

She loved it.

Sunday morning we celebrated our very favorite person......Daddy!

The girls had so many fun homemade gifts to give him.   

It was a relaxing day.   After church we had a lazy afternoon at home which is just what we all needed.   

Then last night, Peter and I went with some friends to see Robert Earl Keen at this awesome venue in our neighborhood.   We had to take a picture because these two were twins in their Hawaiian shirts.  

And then this morning, we all walked this beautiful girl to her last day of first grade.

I can't believe she will be a second grader in the Fall. 

We are so proud of all she accomplished this year.

Sweet sisters.  

When they aren't fighting and yelling, they really adore each other.  

We took a couple of pictures of Susannah with her friends outside the school. 

These girls are so grown up!  I can't believe it!

Ms. Lyon sent me this picture from recces today.   We will miss her so much!

After dismissal we went to a park for a picnic and playground time.   It was 1 million degrees but that didn't keep these girls from putting on a poetry presentation for all of us moms.   This was them taking their bow.   

And now summer vacation can officially commence!   I hope all of you are enjoying nice starts to your summers.   We love you and miss you all!

Coasting to the Finish Line

Our 2017-18 school year will be concluding in just a few more days so I thought it would be wise to post a blog highlighting all of the fun we have been having as we coast into summer.   Here are the photos:

This is a note I found in the floor of the girls' room.   It cracked me up because Susannah is such a mini-me with her reminders.   She will need a paper planner soon.

We joined a little community pool and have had the best time there already.

This was opening weekend.  Both the fun and popsicles did not disappoint.

One Saturday our neighbor came over for a play-date with Sarah Avery.   They had so much fun and played so well together.

We spent a Sunday afternoon at the park behind Susannah's school.   We shot a few hoops.  

Now that soccer is over, we have enjoyed some relaxing Saturday mornings in our pjs.

We all love the free time to read and relax.  

We celebrated Peter's 38th birthday with brisket sandwiches and brownies.   

It was a fun family party.

Complete with homemade cards that needed explanations.  

Peter's dream birthday right here in a photo.   

The fun that evening wasn't over yet though, because our church was presenting bibles to all the first graders.  

Susannah was really excited to receive her bible.   

She seemed so grown up.   So I made her sit on my lap for the rest of the service.  ;)

Susannah's school has been doing an ABC countdown to the end of school.   This day was lazy day and they got to take blankets to the gym and read during reading time.   

We squeezed our last soccer game of the season out right before the first thunder clap of a big storm.   

SA and I were so proud of our two Aggressive Rainbow Puppies.  

Susannah with her favorite coach.  

We've been enjoying leisurely afternoons at the playground after school with friends.  

And last Friday, I chaperoned the first grade field trip to the zoo.   

We got the best views of the panda eating breakfast.  

And the elephants

It was such a fun day.

The lions were out.  

As were the prairie dogs.   

Here are the scariest of all the lions we saw.

We grabbed a snow cone on our way back to the bus.   

And then spent the rest of Friday afternoon at the pool.   Our pool does Food truck Fridays and each week a different food truck parks at the pool.   It is the perfect way to start a summer weekend.  

Susannah passed her swim test so she can jump off the diving board now.   And she did......about 50 times.  ;)

Swimming is tiring!   SA needed to carb load with some pirate's booty before heading back to the water.  

Sunday at church we celebrated the groundbreaking of our new building project.   It was a fun party but SA got a little nervous about the crowd so she and I made a quick exit.   

Susannah stayed back with friends to capitalize on this photo op.  

Today was a special day because Susannah's Daisy troop had a bridging ceremony and they all became Brownies.  

It was so sweet.   They walked across an actual bridge and a few members of a Brownie Troop met them on the other side.   

It feels like another milestone signifying just how fast this growing up thing is going to happen.   I'm praying that the summer days stretch long and slow so I can soak up lots of memories with these two girls.   

And that has been our last couple of weeks.   We hope all of you are well and are experiencing a happy and safe start to Summer.   We love you and hope to see several of you during upcoming vacations!