Come, Mommy

At least in this family it is. There’s all the end-of-school chaos, and then we have several birthdays in the family this month so there’s something going on just about every day this month here. The boys and I have spent the week enjoying the first few days of summer vacation – they’ve done a lot of playing with their trains, and I’ve been trying to catch up on all kinds of projects around the house that have been left half-done during the school year. I’m hoping this summer I can actually do my Spring cleaning and reorganize the closets and the pantry.  That’s the plan anyway-we’ll see what actually transpires in the end.

Anyway, this is the post from last week with Liam’s last day of school and my birthday, along with a few snapshots of things that have been going on this week here at the Menagerie House. Last week on Liam’s last day of school, we had a sweet little festival to mark the end of kindergarten. We arrived at school and went out into the play yard. As the children romped and played, the parents worked on a craft project-a little butterfly puppet-that was meant to be a toy for younger siblings to take home at the end of the day. After the puppets had been finished, we formed a big ring together and had circle time for everyone. We then went inside to share a snack together. At the end of snack, the older kindergarteners-the ones who will be going on to 1st Grade in the fall-presented a puppet show as a gift to their parents and siblings.

The children had been working on this for several weeks. They made the puppets and the set. It was a story of a little boy and girl and the various adventures they had as they played through the year. There were a number of animal characters, including a little bird who always chirped exciting suggestions to the children when they needed a new idea for a game to play. Of course they had a loving mother and father who supported them in their adventures, and they always returned home a bit wiser and more worldly at the end of each day. The children worked so well together handling the puppets that I found myself getting lost in the story instead of just focusing on Liam – it is really amazing what children can do when they have the right support around them. There wasn’t a dry eye in the audience by the time the show ended.

At the end of the show it was time to leave, but Liam took a moment to give his teacher a gift he had made for her. Kevin cut a squirrel figure out of some poplar wood, and then Liam spent quite a bit of time sanding the little fellow down to silky smoothness. He then decorated him with Stockmar beeswax crayons all over the surface of the wood. The little creature is an “oven squirrel” – holding him by the tail, one can use the groove behind his neck to pull out hot oven racks, while groove over the paws can be used to push them back in. Liam made a squirrel for his teacher and one for each of the two assistants, so he really did a lot of work putting these gifts together, and I think the teachers thought the squirrels were very sweet.

A freshly sanded squirrel…

…and here is the very colorful finished product. The beeswax crayons make the squirrel smell like honey!

After Liam handed out his gifts, it was time to leave. I will miss this kindergarten scene in the morning next year, and I’m looking forward to doing all over again with Kieran in two years’ time.

After going out to lunch with friends, we went home and had a birthday party. The boys treated me very well with strawberry shortcake, ice cream, and homemade birthday cards. I really couldn’t ask for anything sweeter or more fun. Here are a few shots:

My boys!

(Aren’t all three of them adorable?)

Cutting the cake…

Mooching for crumbs…

And here’s Kieran mugging for the camera. I love his curls. I told him the other day he is so not allowed to get a hair cut!

So it was a fun day – the last day of school and my birthday all at once. Since then we’ve been trying to get into some sort of a routine for the summer. We haven’t quite figured out our schedule yet, but we’ll get there. We’ve been to the park several times, watched a couple of movies, played in the sprinkler, played hopscotch in the driveway, and gone for bike rides around the block. Typical summer stuff!

Kevin and I planted some snapdragons and marigolds in a small bed under our dogwood out in front of the house….

I think this bed will be really nice once the plants mature and fill things in a bit more.

The butterfly garden Kevin put in last summer is doing very well, particularly the echinaceas.

Back inside the house, my orchids are blooming really well this summer. The flowers are beautiful, and they stay around for weeks.

I love the deep purple of this bloom…

I just love these plants!

Moving right along to other lovely things, I present…

…Liam and Casey. Every boy needs a dog, and these two are best of friends.

Then, finally, to finish out the week, this afternoon was Liam’s first piano recital. He started taking lessons after Christmas, and today the teacher had her students present a little recital for parents. The children write their own songs and learn to play piano by playing their songs, so we were treated to a number of wonderfully named pieces. There was “The Little Frog”, “Princess and The Pea”, “Flying to the Moon”, and Liam’s final piece was entitled “The Cat Knocked A Marker Into The Piano.” The children played really well, and they seemed to really love sharing the pieces they had written with us.

Liam’s turn to perform.

Listening to his classmate play.

After all the children had performed their pieces, they finished with a parade of puppets.

Marching with their puppets…

Taking a bow at the end of the show.

After the performance was over, we went outside for refreshments. The children ran and played under the trees while the parents talked. It was a good show, and a good day.

It’s been a week of milestones here-the end of kindergarten, and a first piano recital. No wonder everyone looked a bit tired tonight. Now we are looking forward to a summer of swimming lessons, playing outside, catching fireflies, and listening to the crickets at night.

Life is good!