A few days after our trip to Tennessee over spring break, I celebrated my 40th birthday. It was not fun to feel middle aged. My parents wrote on a birthday card they sent me that I was still young and to enjoy "my youth." When Derek and Lydia read the card, they kept telling me that Mimi and Mormor were confused because they thought I was young. The kids corrected that Lydia and Derek are young and in their youth, and that I am old.
The tulips and daffodils I planted in the fall were in bloom.
Karina celebrated her 12th birthday with some friends. From top to middle are; Sophie, Saarah, Karina, Ainoor. The bottom row, left to right, is Ruby, Mabel, Maeve. Her friends came over first for games and lunch. Then we headed to an escape room about a dinosaur lab. I think they all had fun.
On our way out of the mall where the escape room was located, the girls decided to revisit their younger years on the motorized rides:
Opening presents at home:
The day before Karina's birthday party, we began dog-sitting a full-sized 3 year old golden doodle named Cash. He was big and energetic. Here he is showing off some tricks for Karina's friends:
Cash was very photogenic and loved to be around people. He did not appreciate being left alone.
Lydia loved to wake up to Cash jumping on her bed. It would bring a smile to her face.
Since Cash didn't like being left alone, I brought him to the car loop when I picked up Karina every day after school. He was excited to see her!
Cash was fun to have around, but Nate and I were relieved when he left. He was just too big, energetic, and clingy. The kids probably disagreed.
Derek and Lydia performed at the school talent show on different nights. There were so many participants, that the talent show was split by grades into 3 nights. They both did great. Below, you can see Lydia's performance of Toccata in D Minor by J. S. Bach.
I helped during Field Day at Ilchester Elementary, mostly in Derek's class, though I saw Lydia briefly.
Derek with his friends Eleanor and Hudson:
They are all in yellow because 1st grade was assigned to wear yellow shirts, to make it easier to move between activities. Lydia, in 4th grade, had to wear red.
Derek and Aydin during an activity reminiscent of the Hungry Hungry Hippos game where they pushed each other around and had to trap balls in the laundry basket (and then keep them in the basket as they moved around):
Too cool for school.
A few weeks ago, Derek's class had an Author's Tea where they presented the "All About Me" books they have been working on for a couple months. That morning, Derek wanted to wear his sister's bunad so he could be 'fancy.' We finally settled on this bat cape and red gem-stoned glove, so he could avoid the bunad. He seemed pleased.
Karina had her Chorus concert.
Lydia had her band concert. The kids had improved a lot from the winter concert several months ago.
I decided I didn't like the shoe bench I had previously made by the front door. Instead I combined the kitchen bench I had made some years ago, that we weren't using (because the kids like chairs better now), with some pieces from the shoe bench. Derek helped me sand off the stain from the top and 2 vertical pieces of the shoe bench. He now thinks that Nate's earmuffs for power tools and lawnmower are fun toys to play with and tell people that he can't hear them when he is asked to do something.
After sanding, cutting, disassembling, staining, and assembling, here is my new shoe bench. I like it a lot.
Karina went to her first middle school dance. She and some friends got together beforehand for dinner and to do hair. Left to right: Mabel, Ruby, Meghan, Maeve, Karina. I heard from other parents that at the dance, there was not any boy-girl dancing, just group dancing and occasional kids using glow sticks as light sabers in the dark school gym.
The kids all played soccer this season. We didn't get a picture of Derek with his team, unfortunately, but here are Karina and Lydia with their teams.
There was an end-of-year festival at school. Lydia with her friends Caeleigh, Rebekah, and Aaron:
Lydia had a double digit birthday!! She is 10! Her birthday also coincided with the last day of school which was a great birthday present for her :-) She woke up very early, so that she would be awake for her birth minute, at 4:57am. When I finally came down that morning, she could open up her presents.
We got the large amount of balloons from someone who was giving them away after celebrating a graduation or something. Lydia remarked that with that many balloons, Nate didn't have to blow up any for her this year.
Schools dismissed 3 hours early for the last three days of school. Our bus stop always has a big water balloon/water gun fight on the last day of school, and Derek loved it!! I couldn't really get pictures because he was running around full speed the entire time, with no breaks. Karina and Lydia didn't want to be part of the water fight this year.
All the kids from the water balloon fight:
To continue with our busy day, Lydia had her birthday party on her actual birthday, the last day of school, right after the water balloon fight. Her friends came over for lunch and brownies, and then we headed to Kidzville, an indoor playground. From left to right: Aaron, Scarlett, Lydia, Rebekah, Caeleigh, Derek. Derek was very happy to be included and was very concerned about whether he was getting a party favor too:-)
Lydia's goal was to be 5' tall by her 10th birthday. We measured this afternoon and she is 5 feet even:-)
I measured the other kids' heights to be complete:
Karina: 5' 4.5
Lydia: 5' 0
Derek: 4' 6.75
And so ended the school year and the kids finished 1st, 4th, and 6th grade. Now for our summer travels to begin!
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