Last Day of School

Wow. It sneaks up on me every year. I am continually amazed at how quickly a school year flies by. I'm afraid I'm going to wake up one June morning not far off and find that I have a child graduating from high school. Connor is nearly halfway through his school years. His former classmates in New Brunswick graduated from elementary school last week. Because the public schools here include classes from JK to Grade 8, I get to ignore that milestone and pretend I don't have a middle school kid yet. But I do. Grade 6 next fall. How did that happen? And my baby in Grade 3? Grade 3 kids are big kids! She isn't a big kid! Although her monster crush on Justin Bieber would lead me to believe that she is growing up much faster than I am ready for. School years fly by way too fast. Kids grow up way too fast. But we are enjoying the ride as they grow!

Connor and Janelle both had a great school year. Connor loved his teacher, Ms. Beaulac. She is a wonderful Grade 5 teacher. She calls her class "The Grade Five Hive", and they have their bee mascot decorating most surfaces of the classroom. Monday I joined the class for absolutely the coolest field trip I've been on. We started at the John Labatt Centre, and had a tour that included the London Knights' dressing room. You can imagine how pumped all those 11-year-old boys were about that! After the JLC, we began the "Mystery Tour", which was an "Amazing Race" type scavenger hunt through downtown London. We were divided into teams and had to complete 100 tasks before meeting for lunch at a park by the Thames River. We even had team t-shirts. We were the red team, and I had four very excited boys, who narrowly missed coming in first (I still maintain that we won -- those pink team girls stole the victory from us!). After lunch we headed to Labatt Memorial Park, which is the oldest active ball park in North America, and three members of the London Majors baseball team met us at the gate for a tour and a catch on the field. So cool! Connor was in his element. He loved every minute, and I loved Ms. Beaulac all the more for all the work she put into creating such a special memory for my son.

The Red Team, in the London Knights' dressing room, in front of former Knight Corey Perry's jersey. Soooooooo coooooool!!!!

One of our Scavenger Hunt pics, in front of the Thames River fountain, not spraying this day.

The Red Team at Labatt Park.



Cleveland Brownlee signing Connor's ball glove.

Janelle loved her teacher, too, and she loved that I was able to become part of her class by volunteering with Ms. Butler two mornings a week. Two weeks ago, the parents were invited to attend "Japan Day", the culmination of a unit on Japan the class had been studying for several weeks. We started with an authentic Japanese lunch, and then moved on to a program presented by the students. There were songs and dances, and each student spoke about an aspect of Japanese life. Janelle talked about Japanese gardens. She was so proud, and she happily proclaimed it the "best day of the whole year". Once again, I was enormously grateful to Ms. Butler for the tremendous amount of work she put into making a memory that Chris and I were able to share with Janelle.

At home, all ready for Japan Day!!!

Soooooo Excited!!!!

The girls all wore chopsticks in their hair.

Not so excited about eating the Japanese food (it was really yummy though!)

I am truly thankful that my kids have been blessed with such awesome teachers; teachers who understand that kids learn best while they are having fun. Connor and Janelle learned so much this year, and they really enjoyed school. In the van this morning, I asked them and their friends who was sad that it was the last day of school. First there was a loud chorus of "Nobody!!!!" And then Connor followed up with "Well, a little bit, because I am going to miss my friends, and my teacher". My heart swelled a little bit. Less than ten weeks, Connor, and it starts all over again!