Last Days of School

June 4th was the last day of school (this year went SO fast!) and the weeks before that were bizz-y wrapping up all the school events.

Ella's art was in the school art show.  She had a Picasso...

 And a self-portrait in clay

Ella and Silas both got to give a hand in making ice sculptures

There was Field Day, which I got to volunteer at.  What a blast for all the kids!!

 (picture taken by Si's mom's friend, Lori - (Studio Williams)

I was stationed at the "devil sticks" - they were fun - but hard!!

We had a wonderful Kindergarten picnic at the school with Si's class.
 We took a delicious picnic dinner of fried chicken, cole slaw, cheese/olive/pepperoni kabobs,
lemonade and watermelon.  It was a perfect picnic (except no wine! :)

Si's pals - Ben and Joey.

The last day of school...last day as a kindergartener and 3rd grader!!
I wasn't able to get Mason before he left the house :(

Walking Siley to his classroom  :'(

 And a last picture with one of the sweetest kindergarten teachers ever.
What a fantastic year she made for Silas and her class!!

He just exploded with learning this year. This was her comment on his report card:
I am so proud of Silas and all that he has learned this year.  
In his quiet way he contributes
great things to our class. He has become such a proficient reader and is ready for almost any beginner reader you can find at the library!  He is also such a great math thinker. It is amazing to watch and listen to his thinking as he solves a problem.  He loves numbers!!  Silas is so ready for first grade!  He is going to be awesome!  Thanks for sharing him with me this year...what a treasure!!

I'm so proud of him in his first year of school.  They all 3 had a great year - we've got a little bit of time and summer fun to prepare for 1st, 4th and SENIOR year!!!

Out with the Old...In with the New!

Time for a Trade-in! 

old...

new...

Okay, not really...

but I did make a trade-in.

We finally got a new van.  I really liked the old one, but with 127,000+ miles on it and things starting to

go...and we were looking at making some long road trips...

decided it was time to take the plunge.  

It's a Volkswagen Routan - and we love it.

Within 2 days of having Minnie (short for Minivan) we broke her in with a drive from OH to NY and then from NY to NC and then back to OH again.  Several thousand miles, several pukes (Ella gets car sick), a gallon of sand, lots of crumbs and one speeding ticket later (not me) - she feels like ours...

but I haven't actually made a payment yet though so that might change by May 1st...

I am extremely sentimental though, and it was very difficult to clean out the old van (it was such a pigsty!). We got the van in April 2002, before we even had Ella or Silas. I love our new Minnie but still miss the old van - I get a little weepy when I see similar vans out there. But don't get me wrong, I wouldn't give Minnie back - she's got a lot of great features that I've gotten used to - mainly a great stereo and power doors. And a DVD player with 2 screens.  And I love that the middle row windows roll down, and there is SO much more storage!  That is actually the best part. We don't have to pack in like sardines when we go on road trips.  

I'm hoping Minnie is as reliable - that we get another 8-10 years out of her...that should give us enough time to pay her off!