Last Day of School and Party!

Yesterday was kind of a hard day for all of us. It was my last day of babysitting for Baby C and that was really hard for me. Eliana and I both cried after he left. He is such a busy boy and such a little joy and he has been our little buddy for almost a year now. It was also the last day of school and was full of very mixed emotions for the boys this year. On one hand, who doesn't like to be out of school for the summer? But on the other, it meant that they had to say goodbye to the school and friends they have loved so much for the past few years. I made sure to bring my camera and take pictures for them!

 

Here they are after school with two of their buddies. Danny and Marissa were some of our first friends here and their mom and I walked to and from school almost everyday the past couple of years until she went back to work. We will miss them!

Zakkai with our beloved Mrs. Shapiro. She was such a blessing to our family, as we had her for both S and Z!

She is a teacher we will never forget. Such a perfect blend of grandmotherly and firm with the kids. She commands respect and yet is so sweet with them, they all love her! She helped get our boys off to a really good start in school!

Here is Samuel with his teacher, Mrs. Davis. She is full of energy and gets the kids really excited about learning. She has been such a great listener and encourager and Samuel loved her!

 

 

Today we switched gears and got ready for our good-bye party! The boys were mostly excited about it. Again...the whole good-bye thing...This was the invitation. Very cute!

I made memory books for the boys from mini binders and had each of the kids bring a picture to the party and write a message on a paper for the boys. I will put them all together tomorrow, hopefully. I need to do it quickly since there is so much to do!

I think the boys will really treasure these. They took them to school a couple days ago, before I even had the covers finished and had their teachers write them a note. They were really sweet notes! I also put together small "stay-in-touch" cards for each boy to give to their friends. On one side, with a little soccer logo, it had some info to stay in touch with friends, including their very own combined email address! They are very excited to have an email address to stay in touch:) And on the other side, I put a picture of the boys (the ones on their memory books.) I laminated them and they turned out so cute!

It was a VERY low-key party. I made little soccer cupcakes. The soccer balls are actually rings. Eliana was thrilled about having another ring to add to her jewelry collection:) So the kids played soccer on teams, had treats, played some more soccer and kick and catch and then played on the nearby playground. Easy and fun!

Waiting patiently for cupcakes!

Samuel and one of his best friends, T.

T, Samuel and J. J moved here from China at the beginning of the year and has learned SO much English, it is amazing. He is the translator for his mom, who is very shy. He loves to goof around, as we have found out!

For instance...

Silly boys:)

And oh, we can't forget Mikey! He showed up at our doorstep within 3 days of us moving and has been a regular fixture at our backdoor. He is really a sweet boy and he is incredibly sad about the boys moving. We hope he will stay in touch!

LJ is our neighbor, who has come to/from school with us for the last 2 years and often comes to church with us. He says it will be very boring without the boys next door!

Ben got all the boys involved in a soccer game pretty quickly!

It was pretty warm out in the field so after 45 min, we had everyone come under the shelter for a break and lots of water and juice! And cupcakes:)

Cooling off. Samuel got really overheated and felt really sick for a little while:( We forced him to drink 2 water bottles and rest for awhile. Thankfully, he perked up after a bit. Poor kiddo!

Ben enjoyed some good conversation with one of our friends from church. They have a son in first grade also at the school and they are the nicest family!

The whole gang! We had several kids not show up, which was a little disappointing for the boys but they still had a really good time.

Samuel and his other best bud, R. These two and T (from the first picture) will be having a sleepover next week before we go. They can hardly talk about anything else!! Samuel is most sad about leaving these two. I really hope they'll be able to be pen pals.

It was a busy but good day! Now on to a very busy last week here....