Pomp and Circumstance

For my poor sister in Washington state, school has only been out for like, two days.  Fortunately for us Nebraskans, we've been in full summer swing for over a month now.  While that may make this next series of photos feel like ancient history, it's never too late to celebrate surviving all of the year-end pomp and circumstance.

Read to Succeed
Here's Brooklyn with her combined 5th and 6th grade Read to Succeed team.  They earned gold medals in their first level of competition, allowing them to move on to the district competition, where they survived one round of single elimination before getting ousted in round 2.  Well-done, readers!  Brooklyn's favorite book this year was probably "Because of Mr. Terupt," as it reminded her of Mr. Wiles, her own inspirational teacher.  (From left to right, we have Jaden, Aiden, Brooklyn, and Lexi.)


Sokol Gymnastics
Talia's gym held an in-house gymnastics meet where Talia placed first for her level.  Well-done, Reddi-Wip!  She will certainly miss practicing with her Sokol friends.

Crestridge Talent Show
Talia performed her gymnastics routine once more for the Crestridge talent show to "Cheerleader"--this year's grade school popular fave.  As for Eli and Brooklyn, they played an adorable violin and cello duet to "1, 2, Chicken."  Super cute!  Eli's sixteenth-sized violin got all sorts of oohs and aahs.


Crestridge Field Day and International Parade
 I sure will miss this amazing school with its global focus.  Truth to be told, I got all teary eyed watching all of the students walk around the track with their flags held high.

Eli certainly enjoyed participating for the first time.  Here he is with his friends, Roman and Gaby.

Girl Scout Bridging Ceremonies

Brooklyn and Talia alike worked hard in Girl Scouts this year, earning all sorts of badges and patches with their troops.

Their vests are sure getting full, and I haven't even sewn everything on yet!

Here are the Jefferson Brownies.  These gals spent a lot of time doing cute crafts this year.

And here are the Jefferson Juniors.  From back to front, left to right we have: Isela, Brooklyn, Sydney, Hannah, Rayna, Madison, Mara, Makayla, Morgan, and Brooke. 

One more time, goofy style.  I got to know these fun gals a bit while helping out with their Zombie Apocalypse all-nighter and five-day Platte River camping trip.  Their troop leader, Angie, is an amazing fount of endless energy.

Since many of the girls moved up to the next level of Scouting this year, they had a balloon bridge set up.  On the left is Christine, Talia's leader, and on the right is Angie, Brooklyn's leader.

Both Talia and Brooklyn bridged up to the next level of Scouting this year.  Here's Brooklyn becoming a Cadette.


As for Talia, I'm afraid I didn't get a good photo of her bridging to Juniors.  Sorry sweetie!  I was too busy chuckling about your handsome Daddy who was really tired.  This is what an architect looks like as a major project deadline approaches.  At least Annika was polite enough to encourage everyone to hush so he could snooze.  (Not really, but we can dream.)

Kindergarten Graduation
The month of May also brought Eli's kindergarten graduation.  Apparently they practiced the ceremony three times.  All that repetition must have paid off because they picked up their scrolls very nicely and smiled proudly on stage.  Here's Eli with his friends and teachers, Mrs. Yaro and Senora Hofsommer.

While I confess that I find the idea of kindergarten graduation wearisome (unlike most mothers, I did not bring a giant balloon bouquet), I enjoyed witnessing the friendships that formed over the year.  Here we have William, Eli, and Henric.

Here's Eli with Evi, Gaby, and Walden.

A picture with his great teachers...

...and one more with our very favorite principal, Ms. Schmid.

Papa Kay deserves some major credit for enduring many of these year-end activities with me.  It takes two to wrangle Annika, plus the kids loves it when grandpa comes because there's a better chance that we will grab ice cream after to celebrate.

When the last day of school arrived, we had dozens of people to thank.  Unsure of what to give, we left three of Jason's famous cheesecakes in the staff room, which must have been pretty well received, based on how quickly they disappeared.  This special thank you, however, was reserved for our fantastic bus driver, Craig.  The kids designed the candy-gram all on their own.

I think Mr. Craig may miss his "blond bombers" almost as much as they will miss him.

During our time in Omaha, we have crossed paths with so many extraordinary people who have guided our children with love and kindness.  While we can't replace these friendships, we hope and pray that we will likewise find some special circles in Salt Lake to nurture our family in the years to come.