Starry Art Night and Great American Road Trip

 Golda was going to do the Starry, Starry Art Night, but she had a (sudden) dress rehearsal, so I got to do it.  All throughout, I laughed at myself for thinking we were going to look at the stars toward the end.  It doesn't even get dark until 9:30, and the camp ended at 9!

 This craft actually turned out great.  We tried to make stars out of twigs, though, and that didn't turn out great.  The stars looked more like piles of twigs stuck to pieces of paper with massive pools of glue.  Ha ha!  The Pinterest version was much better!

 We talked about Van Gogh and made finger paintings of his Starry Night background, then did cutouts of some foreground items like houses and trees.  The kids were a crack-up.  I've never seen such hard work for such sloppy results.  Ha ha!  That's what you get for letting them finger paint!  Nonetheless, their artwork was wonderful.  I just love kid art, which is good because the very next morning, Ruby ran the "Great American Road Trip" camp.  The cityscapes she did with the kids, with the Brooklyn Bridge made out of string and paper, turned out so cute!

 Baseball craft.  As a general rule, kids will use as much glitter as you give them, even if they have to pile it in mounds all over their craft.  They are like little glitterholics.  They don't know when to stop.

 I wish I had pictures of all the cityscapes, because each one was so unique and perfect.

 Eric made a dragon instead of a cityscape.  He was so focused!  I love these kids.

See what I mean about the glitter?  These will NEVER dry!

The Real Last Day of School

Preparations for our pancake breakfast started early on the last day of school.  It started while my hair was still having nightmares.  This picture is for all of you rabid fans of "keeping it real."  Oh look, it's something less than perfect.  That must be REAL!  Because it can't be real if it's good.

By the time the children arrived, I was marginally more presentable, if slightly less "real."  Interesting which picture I put on Instagram, though.

I even edited out the messy spoons next to the griddle.  I'm so not real.

Here's something that really happened, even if we are all still at a loss as to WHY.  Freestone and Sam could NOT wait to dress as nerds for the last day of school.  Nobody knows why, but I think they look awesome, and I love that they don't worry about conforming to everyone else's idea of normal.  Their goal for the summer is to procure ironic t-shirts, their favorite being a t-shirt that says, "I hate t-shirts."

Ari, Freestone and Xanthe invited everyone in their classes to our pancake breakfast, which is about 90 kids.  I always have a moment of panic when we do this, that everyone will come.  It never happens that way.  It's always about 30%.  Ari says it's because she's "not popular" that so many kids didn't come, but it's a pretty predictable statistic that you can plan on 30% for any event.  I even remember my wedding caterer saying that.  Anyway, we had the perfect number of kids, the morning was delightful, and we will definitely do it again next year, if we remember.

My friend Lucy, who is a flight attendant for Delta on the PARIS route, helped serve drinks.  All I had to do was gab with her and crank out pancakes.  It was so much fun, it might not have even been "real."

Lucy and I were having so much fun, I was almost late for Ari's 6th grade graduation, especially since I had to hobble over to the school on my stupid ankle.

These are real pictures.  You can tell because my skin is dry, my surgery scar is ugly, my toenails are chipped and the whole foot is purple, green and yellow, which aren't colors that necessarily look good together.

Graduation was great.  Ari got an Academic Excellence award, along with most of the other kids, and Mr. Volmar said good-bye to the school.  I am really sad he is being transferred.  I have been a fan since Ruby was in first grade and I got a call from the robo school line, saying she wasn't at school.  That's scary!  I ran over to the school (ah, the good old days when I could run) and asked Mr. Volmar about it.  Cool and unruffled as a penguin, he said, "Ruby?  She's in the lunch room right now."  He didn't even hesitate; he knows each kid and where they are at any given time.  As he handed out graduation certificates, some of the papers were out of order.  He knew in one glance if the kid matched the name on the paper, without fail, on every single kid. 

Ari is ready for junior high.  She has a wonderful graduating class, full of enthused, friendly, smart and inclusive kids.  They are going to be fun to watch as they move on to the next chapter.

For now, our next chapter was SUMMER!  As soon as school finally ended, all the kids got their practicing done lickety-split, and we were off to enjoy the waterslides and mini golf.  Don't look back!  Summer is here!  And I have Scott and seven of the best kids ever to spend it with.  We won't waste a minute!  And THAT'S FOR REAL!

Unwinding

 After a 10-hour day at the band festival, those of us not going to the BYU-Utah game had to unwind at the pool.  It really was the last pool day.  I know I keep saying that, just like I keep saying "This is our last kid," but it's true this time on both counts.  When we left at 8 pm, it was almost dark outside!  Boo hoo!

 Golda got to dress up and be Disney's Belle today.  She is just as sweet in a sundress.

 "I wanted some little tiny s'moreos!  Get me some little tiny s'moreos!"

 Well, look who ate all the s'moreos.

 Milk and cookies never tasted so good!

 Do I have anything on my face?

 Here, let me take some pictures of you!

 Best friends

 Belle, off-duty

Xanthe and Esmae doing their "dance" moves, Abe and Ptolemy trying to copy.  We gave the kids unlimited cookies and Angry Bird crackers and found out that there really is no limit to how many treats kids will eat.  So we got them ice cream too.  Good-bye, pool.  We love you!