Month: June 2009

Connor had his little graduation ceremony this afternoon at school.  And, let me just say that I love how his school did the kindergarten graduation.  I know lots of schools do a big evening event with caps and gowns and the whole nine yards.  C’s school did a 20 minute ceremony in the library with only one of the other classes followed by a simple little class party.  It was perfect.  It was short enough that Camryn and Logan didn’t get antsy.  And the kindergartners are all excited enough with the end of the year festivities and excitement of summer, they really don’t need anything else adding to the craziness.  As the mom a kiddo who a.) goes to bed very early, b.) gets over stimulated extremely easily, and c.)has two other kids, I totally appreciated the low-key but still fun kindergarten graduation.

So, looking at this picture of him lined up on risers with his classmates, can you guess the number one comment I get about Connor?

Here he is receiving his “diploma”.

His teacher was great, and I hope and pray his first grade teacher is as good.

I love his little smile.  That’s they way he always smiles for pictures now.  Oh, and just so you know, I’m not neglecting his hair. He wants to grow his hair long, like Anakin Skywalker in Episode 3 (which conveniently is the only episode we won’t allow him to watch but he still knows the hair.)  I have no problem with the shaggy, surfer look…I think it’s cute!  But the in between phase is a little rough…

He’s so big now, sitting at his table so confidently.

Here he is back in August at the table on his first day of school.

So that’s that! I now have a first grader!  Well, I guess technically he has 4 more hours of school tomorrow, but that’s it.  Then it’s summer….more on that later.

Is that an actual food?  I think it might be…maybe I’ll find out in a few weeks when I am in Germany!  Holy cow, I can hardly believe it myself, but I am going to Germany.  This has got to be the craziest, most spontaneous thing that I’ve ever been a part of.  I’d like to think that I’m a spontaneous, fly by the seat of my pants kind of girl, but truth be told, I’m just not.  I like schedules and order and predictability which is why I start to hyperventilate just a little bit when I think about school getting out in 2.5 days.  I thought I was going to need a paper bag to breathe into as I finalized my flight details tonight.

Let me just start at the beginning of this historic spontaneous adventure.  I know I’ve mentioned it before, but Derek travels a lot with his job.  He has a trip to Germany and a trip to China coming up this summer.  Today, he found out that he would only be home for a day or two in between the two trips.  He could just stay in Germany and continue on to China from there, but then he would be gone for 3 weeks straight, which is not good for my sanity.  And you know what they say…if mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.  So Derek comes home from work today and tells me about these travel plans.  I’m nodding and doing my best version of  “wife who supports traveling husband because he works so hard so I can stay home with the kids which is what I’ve always wanted to do.”  He sort of casually mentions me going to Germany with him since there will be a few days of down time between Germany and China.  We’ve talked about me traveling with him before, but it’s never even come close to working out in the past.  First things first, lets check flights.  Okay, that looks good…now let’s start making the phone calls to grandparents.  Yup, grandparents are a go.  Third, let’s check into the fact that my passport expired a year ago.  Then let’s talk some more…look at more flight options…hyperventilate…freak out a little bit that it might actually work out…drink a little glass of wine to calm down…freak out some more about leaving my babies while I gallivant around the world, but in the end realize that this might just be the perfect opportunity for a little adventure.  And we all need a little adventure in our lives.

So I did it.  I purchased my ticket to Germany.

Now let’s all say a little prayer that my expedited passport renewal will actually be expidited and arrive before the big day.