6th Grade Promotion!

Today we are celebrating Anna's hard work as she has now officially completed elementary school!  Wow!  

The school had a drive through celebration.  Not what the teachers, students or families would prefer, but we were so thankful to see each of them one more time and say goodbye.  Matt decorated the car!

 You did it!!

When we got home, she was excited to see this sweet sign!  Moving from her elementary school colors to middle school colors! 

Each of the 6th graders got goodie bags with some special gifts and we had to giggle because Anna and her dear friend Lupe's stuff got mixed a bit.  They were together in kinder and are such dear friends for each other now! 

Also included in their goodie bags was a flash drive that had the 1st grade classes singing of a song with the librarian.  They traditionally share this during their promotion ceremony and it was wonderful that they still shared!  Love seeing their sweet personalities!

And they shared memories from over the years.

Thankful for the smiles now!  Not a nervous kindergartner any more!

We are so proud Anna!  Way to go!!

Much too soon...

Uncle Danny, we will always root on Cal Poly when they play your Grizzlies, but our heart will forever ache that you will no longer be here with us for us to razz at the game.  You have left us all much too soon.  

End of the school year

This week was the last week of classwork.  It is weird and doesn't feel real.  The librarian made a cute video of the kids who have read more than one million words, and ALL THREE KIDS DID!  We are super excited and proud!  Here is Olivier's slide:

And Mason!  Yes, there were only two kids in the whole school of over 600 that read 4 million words!

And Anna at 5 million!  There were two kids with higher word counts.  Super impressive! 

On Friday, Matt and the kids did some cool kitchen science experiments I found.  It was a great way to end the week!  And they made their own ice cream.  What better way to shake it up than on the trampoline!  :-)

And of course they got to eat it with all kinds of yummy toppings!

They made rainbow water!

And a lava lamp experiment:

And they are dissolving the shell of an egg.  Fun stuff.  I will need to do so research and find more experiments now that they will have a lot more time to fill...

Today, after Anna's horseback riding lesson, we stopped by her dear friend Lupe's house to deliver a birthday gift.  Lupe LOVES sloths and Anna painted this for her!

It was super hard to not hug but it was a welcome visit since they hadn't seen each other in person since March 13th!  Video chats just aren't the same as in person chats!

Each day brings new challenges but we keep moving forward, one day at a time!

Long weekend at home

It is Memorial Day weekend.  Although we don't normally travel on the long weekend, this year we really didn't want to be out and about, knowing it would be hard to socially distance.  We have tried to do things at home that we wouldn't normally do to make it a fun weekend.  But back to the start of the week!  

On Monday and Tuesday Anna had long days of testing to determine which Math and English classes she would be taking in the fall.  They were long days and her brain was a bit mussy but we are super proud of her because it is really stressful testing during normal circumstances, and very stressful now.  After testing on Monday, Matt and the kids went to the park by our house to get some fresh air and watch as they started the process of remodeling.  And yes, we actually got a bit of rain!  Very strange day!

We had a very low key week.  On Friday after the normal pizza and movie, the kids played Twister for a bit.  We are thankful for these moments when they enjoy being silly together. 

Yesterday Olivier was playing with his hamster and Matt got this funny slow-mo video of Pop running in wheel.  And at the end you can see how fast he is really going.  It should make you smile!

Today we played bocce ball in our back yard.  The shade of the oak trees was nice on the warm day and we all enjoyed the time together. 

We are planning on a movie on the projector in the backyard.  Nice way to enjoy the extra day off.  Next week is the last week of school work.  Feels weird to be ending the school year and we are heading into summer, with still so much unknown.  One week at a time...  And sometimes, one day at a time...

Week number...

Not sure how many weeks now we have been in the mode of shelter at home but the first school day that didn't happen was March 16th (easy to remember because it was my dad's 70th birthday!) and today is May 16th.  So roughly eight weeks...  Last Sunday the boys were being silly playing video game upside down.  Seems to fit the times!  

And we had a new member join our family on Monday.  Olivier got a dwarf hamster.  He is named Pop and seems to be settling in well. 

The kids had a great idea of a larger area to play with Pop that would keep him contained, the trundle drawer under Olivier's bed. 

Getting more friendly with Olivier! 

Not a whole lot of other changes.  We did get a note from the kids school that the last day of class will be May 29th.  Ending a bit early, it was supposed to be June 4th.  Lucky Anna graduates from 6th grade early!  And on Monday and Tuesday next week Anna has very long days of at home testing to see which math and English classes she should be in next school year.  Should be interesting do a proctored exam at home. 

Happy Mother's Day!

Today is Mother's Day, but I am going to start this post with something from last Sunday.  In the afternoon, Matt cut Olivier's hair.  It was a simple buzz cut which hasn't been his normal haircut but his hair was driving me crazy and thankfully he agreed to allow Matt to cut it!  And it went well!

We also had dinner a little early so we could enjoy an after dinner treat.  We donned our masks and picked up some tasty treats from the ice cream truck that made a timed stop in our neighborhood, then we enjoyed them in our front yard.  Made for a nice end to the weekend.  

The week has been quiet which nice.  Yesterday we did our Mother's Day deliveries to the Arnold mamas and today we are doing the Remillard mamas.  Thankfully everyone continues to remain healthy.  As Matt's mom said "All of my crew are healthy and safe.  This is as good as Mother's Day can be this year!  I sure miss their hugs!!"  It sums it up well! 

Beach almost closed...

Last weekend with the warm weather, lots of people went to the beach, and in many circumstances, too many people.  On Thursday we were expecting the Governor to shut down all beach.  Given that, Matt headed to the beach with the kids once all their school work was done for the day which was shortly after lunch.  The temperature was nice but the wind was very strong and very cold.  I was jealous because I was at work until Matt mentioned that, then I wasn't so jealous, but still a little!   

And thankfully our beaches didn't get closed, just the ones in Orange County.  They have warned us and hopefully everyone realizes the importance and follows those warnings so our beaches stay open.  Stay away from people you don't live with!

Other than that, we are just moving along.  Some days are harder than others but we are working together to get through all the uncertainty.  And we are now into May.  Crazy!