Friday, June 26, 2015

Celebration

June is drawing to a close very quickly, but not without much celebration around our house!

Yesterday was Jen's grade 8 graduation with a ceremony in the afternoon followed by a dinner for the grads and families in the evening.  It was a great day and a nice way to mark the conclusion of 9 years at the school - there are 23 in the class and 8 of them (including Jen) have been there since kindergarten.

The day started with me heading across town for an early client meeting (I skipped 2 others later in the day and didn't think I could ditch 3).  Then I circled back home to get the grad and take her to get her hair done, then back home and off to the school.  I even managed to sneak in a few minutes to wrap her gift!

Kris had spent much of the previous day helping one of the teachers with preparations, helping decorate the stage and get the certificates in their folders (of course he informed his sister that there wasn't one for her!).  On grad day he was ready to go, decked out in dress shirt and tie, to sing with the choir.

Grandma and Auntie Cathy joined me in the audience and the ceremony wasn't without it's tears for me.  Jen had the solo in the choir's song and one of her closest friends (and one of those 8 "lifers") gave the valedictory address - Karen would have been so very proud and I really missed having her sitting beside me to share in the day.

It was pretty amazing to see the group all dressed up in their party dresses and suits while looking at the class pictures from their early years - they've come a long way!  Jen and her group of friends headed off to 7-11 after the ceremony for Slurpees - slightly over dressed but they had a great time.

Today the middle schoolers ran the events at the early years field day and Monday they'll head off to Birds Hill for a beach day and Tuesday the year will officially end.  The grade 8's have truly had a great wrap up month with a 3 day camp out at Spruce Woods earlier in the month and canoeing at Fort Whyte (both were part of their outdoor ed practical arts term).  There were of course some exams in the mix (which went well) but there's been a lot of fun too, mixed with the wonder about high school fast approaching.  They visited the high school for "grade 8 transition day" and met the others they will be joining in school next year and had a school tour - it will be a bit different with 150 kids instead of 23 in their grade.

This weekend we'll celebrate Jen's birthday at the lake - the boat will have to make it into the water as the kids both tell me they will be skiing/wake boarding.  It seems the weather will cooperate so it should happen.

Kris has been busy too with his first year of exams (his also went well).  He didn't have quite as many out of class activities as his sister but did make his acting debut when his drama class (his practical arts subject this term) presented to a middle school chapel.

The rest of spring has been full with musical performances (Jen's choir, both of them in the school choir a couple of times and Kris in the school bands - he not only played with the grade 6 band but also with the gr 7/8 band when their pieces required another percussionist).  We've done birthday parties, been to the lake a few times and I've been busy at work as well as getting the yard through the spring clean up and fixing up a few things that were needing some TLC.

That's about it for now - we'll continue celebrating this weekend and head straight into Canada Day - July always means no homework for the kids and a lot less client work for Dad so it should be fun!

Take care and thanks for checking in - maybe we'll see you soon

Love as always,
Doug, Jen and Kris