Last day of Kindergarten and 3rd Grade

Wesley's Last Day of 3rd Grade

Curtis' Last Day of Kindergarten

 Comparison of first and last days this year:

Wesley with his TAG teacher

Curtis gets his fun teacher again for 1st grade!

Wesley's last year with his great 2nd-3rd grade loop teacher.
We absolutely loved her!

The boys even got to have great fun with cousin Erin on their last day of school! She stayed the night with us as she and I kicked off a great cousin reunion weekend! (Next post, of course.)

Wesley's End of 3rd Grade Activities

Wesley had a fun opportunity to dress up as well. The 3rd graders at his school do a "Living Museum" every year. Each student chooses a famous person from history and impersonates that person in a presentation. Each class lines up outside of their classroom and the rest of the school visits each 'museum' to learn about each historical figure. They even have a little "button" to push to get the living museum character to start telling about his/her life. I've loved listening to the kids each year, so it was so fun to have Wesley actually be in it this year. He chose to be Franklin Delano Roosevelt. I wish I could include pictures of all of his classmates, but that would be way too many pictures. They all looked so great. They were worn out after going through their little spiel at least 50 times!

Wesley getting all of his gear to school

All set up! Notice his red 'button' on the right

They practiced on their own classmates first.

Wesley with two of his best friends
(Shel Silverstein and Cleopatra)

 Wesley's team vertical party was similar to Curtis', but he ended up playing computer games for a lot of it. I got to watch Wesley in his hula hoop contest. I was impressed! They did four rounds, and he was always in the last 2 or 3 for each one! The teachers would tell them to put their hands on their heads or walk around to make it tougher and knock out more people. Wesley could hang in there pretty well. They probably went around 3 or 4 minutes on each round.

Wesley would never face me for a good picture, but here he is with hands
on his head doing just fine.

We also attended Wesley's TAG night where they presented the "lap books" they had worked on during the year. Wesley's focused on sound, frequency, how glass is made, etc. There were lots of things to unfold and little books to take out of pockets to help explain the concepts. He was very proud of his work, and he was very excited to share all that he had learned. 

Lastly, Wesley's class had an end of year party at the local recreation center. This was Curtis' first time to go down the big slide because he was tall enough (MUCH taller than last summer when we were here). 

Finishing up 3rd grade. Wow.

After going down the big red slide. I have a similar picture of Wesley from
last year.

Evie had a blast watching everyone swim.

Curtis' End of Kindergarten Activities

The day of Evie's finalization hearing was also a big day at school for Curtis. All of the kindergarteners got to dress up like a book character for the day and then be in a parade around the school to show off their costumes. Curtis chose to be Morris Lessmore from The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore. Gin-Gin made his hat for him the night before. 

The next day was the Kindergarten Celebration performance. Wesley had missed this when he was in kinder due to strep throat, so this was a first for us. As you would expect, they were so cute. They sang about 5 songs, mostly in Spanish. Curtis is on the top row in red. 

He spotted us!

After the program, the kids got a snack and a beach ball with a small sharpie attached. They got to go around and have their friends sign their beach balls. They seemed to love it, and it challenged their motor skills to hold a ball and write on a round, soft surface. :)

Curtis with his teacher

 We got Wesley out of class a little early once the program was over and headed home. I think I was feeling a little nostalgic (I really love the boys' school), so I took some pictures on the way out.

In front of the windows overlooking the cool
library.

The boys headed downstairs on one of their last
days of kinder and 3rd.

Happy Evie!

The next week was Curtis' play day with all of the kindergarteners. There were thunderstorms going on, so it got moved inside to the gym. They wore themselves out playing jolly ball (with the HUGE ball) and various races/events.

Jolly Ball
The kids crab walk around kicking the ball trying to kick it out of the border
of children all around them.

Plain ol' racing

Waiting for he next event

Sack Race!

Tug of War competition (Team Rojo did not win. Ever.)

The next day was Vertical Party where the kids get to party with all of the other grades on their team. They had a beach theme with hula hooping contests and playing games in the hallway. Curtis played Connect Four with some older boys. He actually won once!

And finally, they got to go run around in the gym on inflatables. Those things never let the kids down.

 Whew! A lot going on at the end of the year!

Evie's Adoption Finalization Hearing

May 17th was a very special day for our family. Our adoption of Evie was finalized and legal that day! This hearing had to happen at least 6 months after Evie had been placed in our home. The boys were still in school at this point, so they missed the morning of school to head to the courthouse for our 8:00 am hearing. We met with our lawyer first (the first time we had met her) and then had our time in the courtroom. 

Curtis burned some energy climbing the
stairs outside of the courtroom

Friends and family swearing to love and take care of Evie forever and ever!

 The process was very laid back and comfortable. The boys loved getting to see a real courtroom, and all of the kids got to pick out a stuffed animal from the judge at the end of the hearing.

Our little family with the judge

Everyone who gathered to celebrate the finalization! Our good friends
Mary and Jordan came as well as both sets of grandparents and
Kevin and Sara and family.

Jordan loves our Evie so much.

Outside of the courtroom

Curtis looked dapper crossing the street with his tie and stuffed animal. :)

After the hearing, our agency provided a coffee cake and bought the crowd drinks from a coffee shop across the street from the courthouse. It was a nice time of relaxing and enjoying time together.

Mary and Jordan

Cousins!

Our WONDERFUL case worker, Sharla

Misha, Gin-Gin, and Evie

Granddad, Golly, and Evie

This was a great day of celebrating our sweet girl. She is such a blessing.