Winding down

It's been a great school year for my boys. Nolan has loved Mrs. G for kindergarten (and he had Mrs. Shaw for the past 6 weeks while Mrs. G was out with a new baby) and Ezra has enjoyed preschool with Ms. Anna-Marie. They both had their graduations this past week. I feel bad that we really didn't capture much of Nolan's on camera. He was very far away on the bleachers. But I could tell he was singing his heart out! As the graduates did their walk around the gym, Nolan was very serious. Here's our kindergarten graduate! We're proud that you were such a hard worker this year, Nolan!

Ezra's graduation was quite entertaining. All week he'd been saying that he wanted it to be cancelled and that it would be "hideous." That's his favorite word lately. Well, it took some coaxing but he did participate and sing at least several of the songs. He had one little fit in the middle and Dad took him out, but luckily it was brief. We were threatening to cut his beloved blanket if he didn't participate, so I think that got him going again. Later he slipped into a grumpy attitude toward the end, but at least he's still cute when he pouts. It could have been worse. I'm glad that Ezra stuck with preschool even though he was getting burned out. For the past few weeks he's been saying, "When it's a school day, just don't take me because I hate school!" But he would go anyway. He's learned a lot about the letters and their sounds. What a smarty!

Here's how the graduation program went down:

1) Here is his class (Quincey, Sophia, Ava, and Ez) getting ready to start.  

 2) Just before the first song starts, Ezra flashes the thumbs down sign, making sure that we know he isn't enjoying himself.

3) He sings a song or two, making us think that this will all go smoothly. 

4) Somehow he manages to get through his parts. One talked about show 'n tell and how he loved to bring his blanket. I think he took his blanket almost every week. No wonder it was meaningful.

5) Later, he opts out of singing the songs in favor of chillin' with his goggles (of course, he always has his legs crossed). 

6) The situation continues to deteriorate... he stops to do a full-body sulk while his friend, Ava, tries to raise his spirits. 

 

7) Magically he hops up with a happy face and sings the very last song; I can only assume that it must have been his favorite: "There are 7 days."

8) He wasn't happy about walking across the room to receive his diploma, but in the end he was willing to take a picture with Ms. Anna-Marie (but he wouldn't smile because he didn't want to stop eating his donut). 

Here's the cute photo of his class that was taken a few weeks ago:

So overall, it worked out and now we'll look forward to a long summer break. It only took Nolan 3 days without school before I heard the first, "Mom, I'm bored!" 

T-ball season is also winding down. We've only got a couple of make-up games left. It's been a great time! Every now and then Nolan would rather play in the dirt, nibble some grass, or sit down on the job (see picture below), but when it was time to go, he was ready!

 
He's gotten great at hitting. He typically hits it just inside the 3rd baseline and on out into the field. Way to be consistent!
 
That's our happy, little baseball player!