That's a wrap!

Well, Evan graduated from Pre-K last Thursday evening!  It's hard to believe these are his last two days at Tutor Time.  We will officially be done with daycare!  Other than before care at the elementary school, we'll be done paying major checks to daycares!  Woo hoo!

But, more importantly, Evan will be starting Young 5's in the fall at Farrand!  We're so incredibly proud of him!  Even though he was shy at the beginning of the year, he's come a long way in Pre-K making friends, participating, and even with what he's learned.  He knows all his letters (both upper and lowercase), can count up to 30 (even though he always misses 15), writes his name, and knows a few sight words.  His teacher has been phenomenal with all their in-class experiences this year.  They just hatched butterflies and preying mantis!

The ceremony was adorable!  As usual, Evan refused to sing and stood still like a statue throughout the entire thing, but at least he snuck in a few shy smiles.  Poor kid hates being in the spotlight!

After the ceremony, we stuck around for some cake and treats.  The kids each received a sand bucket with a balloon, a pinwheel for our garden, his actual diploma, a book about Kindergarten, and a graduation stuffed dog with a sharpie for signatures.  It was really nice!  We snapped a few pictures (I'm bummed we forget to get one of us with Evan) and we were off to have dinner at Hermann's in Old Downtown.  We actually ran into one of Evan's classmates, Hayden, in the booth next to us.  They were having so much fun sneaking glances over the booth and drawing pictures for each other.  So cute!

On Saturday, Sean had his last soccer game of the season.  It was a really hot afternoon, but we made do with our cooling towels and misting fans from Disney.  It has been a difficult season.  We've been playing some really good teams that seemed bigger and older somehow.  But, on Saturday, it felt like the first game where we were evenly matched.  It was actually a competitive game!  And to boot, Sean scored his first goal this year!  We were so excited for him!  The Sharks ended their season with a victory, 5-3.

They received their medals and we had a team party down the road at a park with cupcakes and watermelon.  The boys enjoyed getting time to just play together and explore back on Hines Drive throwing sticks in the water and collecting rocks for their Kindergarten end of the year party.

We spent the rest of the weekend in our neighbor's pool letting the boys play with Nevaeh and Jameson.  The kids had a blast and it really felt like summer sitting out in the sun, drinking beer, and ordering in food.  I think it's really going to be one for the books!  Their "last day of school" pictures will be tomorrow morning and Sean's carnival tomorrow evening and after that, it will officially be summer in the Ferstle house!

We made it!

The last few weeks until summer vacation...

Memorial Weekend was a nice chance to slow down a bit and breathe.  Especially since this point in the school year is crazy on all levels.  Crazy at work, crazy at Sean's school, crazy at Evan's school, and spring activities are winding down.  We have so many fun things coming up this week and next week like Evan's preschool graduation and Sean's carnival at his school.  We've also had some exciting events over the past week, as well.  

The weather has been warm and pleasant now!  We finally put away our winter coats and I think it's safe to say they're not coming back out for a few months.  It's been nice spending time outside playing with our new bubble machine, eating lunch on the deck, and going down to the park.

This past weekend, the weather was gorgeous!  I was able to run to the Farmer's Market on Saturday morning where the boys and Scott met up with me at the fountain for a muffin.  We grabbed breakfast at Leo's and came home to do some work around the house.  Sean had a play date at our house with his friend, Corey, all afternoon outside.  And, the boys were able to play with the neighbors all evening.  We even had a bonfire, made s'mores, and later drinks by the fire with our neighbors.  It was quite a day, but it was exciting to have so many new friends in Plymouth after all these years of not knowing anyone.

After a busy weekend, spent mostly outside, we were all ready to just lay around and watch a movie Sunday evening.  Why not all watch one together in our bedroom?  Stuffed animals, blankets, and toys were also invited to our movie fest.

After the boys were in bed, it was time to binge watch Sons of Anarchy on Netflix.  I love that show!  So does Bailey.  

School has kept both of the boys busy.  Sean had his second field trip of the year and luckily, I was able to join him!  He went to the Real Life Farm in Canton, which we've never been to.  It was so awesome!  I couldn't believe how hands-on the kids got to be with all the animals.  Sean went horseback riding, went on a hayride, played on the playground, fed baby goats, milked a cow, and held a ton of different animals including kittens, bunnies, ducks, goats, and pigs!

He had a blast and it was really nice to be a part of it!  

Evan has been busy practicing for his graduation at school.  They're learning songs to sing and the motions of going through a graduation ceremony.  I think he's most looking forward to getting to throw his cap in the air.  The singing?  Not so much.  His class hatched butterflies last week and while his teacher hasn't sent the pictures yet, there's a really cute one she showed me of a butterfly landing on his finger.  Instead, I'll share a cute picture of Sean and Evan leaving Evan's school, holding hands.

Unfortunately, Evan had a bit of a health scare last weekend.  He woke up Saturday morning complaining that his elbow was in a lot of pain.  Since we were heading out to Lake Michigan, I took him to Urgent Care to rule out something broken or it being dislocated.  A quick trip confirmed it was neither of those things, so we packed a few meds and hit the road.  Over the weekend, we kept an eye on it and his elbow continued to get more swollen and red.  I took him to the pediatrician the Tuesday after Memorial Day and she diagnosed it as cellulitis, an infection in his arm.  

She prescribed some pretty strong antibiotics and we kept an eye on it for the next 24 hours, but by Wednesday evening it wasn't improving as much as she'd like.  So, we found ourselves on our way to Mott's Children's Hospital in Ann Arbor.  Despite being in the E.R., I was really impressed with that hospital!  He had his own room with a door (not a curtain!), a TV with tons of different movies, and unlimited snacks.  Even though he was a bit scared to be there and had to eat some yucky medicine, he avoided an IV and we were discharged four hours later.

He's on the mend now and seems back to normal.  So, that's a relief!  We had a real scare there!

As for me, it's been pretty eventful at my work.  End of the year events make for a crazy schedule with Prom, Senior Honors Dinner, Graduation, etc.  I was blessed to have one of my all-time favorite students ask me as her guest to the Honors Dinner.  Considering I hadn't had her since she was a freshmen, it was nice to know that I wasn't replaced by any of her more recent teachers.  Also, my advisory class won the Pasta for Pennies party that the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society does as a fundraiser!  We were eating good from the Olive Garden yesterday!

Sometimes that end of the year craziness it not always good-crazy.  Like students losing their minds or students being disrespectful.  At least I have my boys at home that can cheer me up by buying me flowers and writing a nice note after a hard week at work.

And in random news, the baby birdies hatched!  There were 3 very cute Robin babies cradling the fourth that had yet to hatch over a week ago.  It's been enjoyable watching them grow daily as we leave for work/school.  They've officially left the nest and I'm happy to report all four of them made it!

I guess that's a sure sign that spring is almost on it's way out and summer is almost here!  We are so ready for our summer break!  7 more teaching days!!