End of Kindergarten

The last couple weeks have been crazy with all the end-of-school happenings, but we survived and now we're ready for summer! The end of kindergarten kept us especially busy - lots of activities, performances, and awards. First up was Field Day...

Kind of like a "3-legged Race", but with a ball instead of being tied together

Tug-of-War (Ben is in the back row)

Ben's cute teacher, Miss Swarts

Ben said his favorite activity was the Slip & Slide. Even Miss Swarts wanted to join in the fun...the kids thought it was hilarious!

Next was the "Kinder Kitchen" musical performance. All the kids wore chef aprons...

As you might have guessed, the songs were about food... "On Top of Spaghetti", "Peanut, Peanut Butter, & Jelly", "Apples & Bananas", etc. It was pretty darn cute, I must say.

The next day, Ben's class performed at the school's morning assembly. They sang "Hello, to All the Children of the World"...

(Ben is the 6th one from the left)

Ben representing Japan. Too bad we don't have any lederhosen...he could have dressed up to represent Switzerland!

Then there was the Kindergarten "Moving Up" Ceremony...

Each kiddo got to walk the stage and receive their certificate. They also played a slide-show of all the fun they had in kindergarten this past year...I'll admit it, I got a little teary-eyed over it. It's hard to let your baby grow up! And maybe a little bit of it was knowing that I was about to have all 3 kids at home ALL day for the next few months...haha!  Ben is actually much easier these days. It's the combination of all the kids (especially the boys together) that scares me.

Finally, we made it to the last day (I should really say, morning, because we were headed home at 9:30). After the morning assembly, we went to his class room for Miss Swarts to hand out her "Candy Awards" to each of the kids. Ben received the "Peppermint Award"...

It says, "Awarded to the classmate who takes our breath away with how hard he has been working in his writing journal."  Miss Swarts said she would have to tear him away from it when it was time to move on to something else. He has learned so much this past year and we are so proud of him!

After another slide-show with his friends (and more tears from all the moms) it was time to say good-bye...

Ben with one of his good friends, Grafton...sad he'll be moving this summer!

A shy good-bye hug for Miss Swarts...I could barely get a picture he was so quick!

You tired yet? I told you there was a lot going on... and we haven't even gotten to Matt Mo's end of preschool party yet. Guess I'll save that for another day!