"I have no special talents, I am only passionately curious." Albert Einstein

Dawson wrapped up his Kindergarten year and I just can't believe he's a 1st grader now, complete with his first loose tooth. Unlike Ella's kindergarten graduation, in which I cried on and off for days, surprisingly, seeing Dawson at his ceremony for NWC Link made me proud, but not sad. And all I can attribute that to is that I home schooled? I didn't miss anything, and it didn't go by "too fast" and I got to be a big part of his kindergarten year, so even though it was bittersweet, it didn't hurt like I expected it to. We did it together and I am so proud of us. My all-time, most favorite, SuPer exciting milestone of his year was watching him learn to read! And knowing I taught him how to read and didn't screw him up by home schooling him was a major highlight {and relief}. Half way through the year he started picking it up and it's still clicking and getting more fluid, but to be there to see that moment when he really, honest-to-goodness "got it" was priceless. I will never forget how excited we both were and how loud I screamed:)

 This is our Domestic Engineering course at Ruff Academy. Not sure what's up with Charlie, looks like he had a mild stroke.

I love this acronym he did of his name. He wrote his bump on the wrong side, it's supposed to say "soda" which cracks me up. That is so Dawson, even though we only let them have pop on special occasions, he asks for it relentlessly.  

 Dawson and some of his classmates from Link. Just noticing that he's surrounded by girls, hmm...

 That was his K teacher at Link, Mrs. Strandy {for the 1st few months Dawson lovingly referred to her as "Mrs. Sta-wandy}

I was really proud of him, he received the Respectfulness award, love this boy.

Post awards ceremony silliness with his bros.

 We had fun watching our caterpillars form chrysalides then break out as beautiful Painted Lady butterflies. We waited until Ella got home from school to release them.

 Chasing our butterflies. For days the twins asked if our butterflies were "going to come home and drink nectar from our flowers?"

 I love this little butterfly life cycle we made at home, it reminds me of Dawson's transformation this year too. Cute little pupa > hungry caterpillar > all wrapped up in a stress pod of change and then, voila, beautiful and free and ready to fly.

 Dawson made this self portrait in art class at Link, I will cherish it forever!

Now onto Ella, my girl Mowgli forest child, who continues to amaze and exasperate me and her poor Dad. I ran to grab something from the store earlier tonight and when I got home, she was waiting behind the tree on the end of our drive way, with her homemade bow and arrow flung across her back. When I drove up she jumped out from behind the tree and scared me to death, then she just giggled and ran off. She is so full of life, and full of it in general. I'm really proud of her for just making it through this school year without needing therapy. Her work load this year was intense, and projects and homework almost did me in, so I can only imagine how hard it must've seemed to an 8-9 year old. Some of the math they did had me and Todd scratching our heads. And I thought grammar sucked when I was a kid but my goodness, so complicated these days. And their Bible tests had me looking things up in my concordance to make sure I knew half the stuff she had to know. They also had a 50 states test which I thought came around in 8th grade, guess not. Back when I was a kid we walked up hill both ways in the deep snow to get to school, but we didn't have pre-college courses in 3rd grade!

A BiG sigh of relief that we are on summer break, glory hallelujah. The Bean has lots to look forward to. Art camp at church with her BFFL {best friends for life, duh}, her riding lessons, swim lessons, a visit to Ninny and Papa's here and there, play dates, fishing, adventuring, ice cream eating, Green Bluffing, and being a flower girl in her big brother's wedding on the west side. She'll be busy making lots of happy memories before school rolls around again.

And to wrap up this school themed chapter, and as a reminder that there is hope that our children will someday be able to do homework on their own, drive themselves to activities, and pack their own lunch, our nephew, Adam, just graduated from Mead High School. I just love Adam, I remember every bit about the night all 10 pounds, 5 ounces of his cute little self came into this world and our lives. And since it's only been 6 months since he was diagnosed with cancer, we are so beyond grateful that God brought him through and that he was receiving his diploma, happy and healthy. 

I don't have any cool gadgets like an iPhone, iPad, Kindle ~ and that saved me at Adam's graduation because my kids were enamored with them! My Mom charged hers up and had Angry Birds Space, a cupcake and popsicle game downloaded, and I packed some little candies and snacks. All 4 kids were quiet as mice during the whole ceremony!

Todd was away on business so we'll have to Photo Shop him in:)

 Double Dynamic Duo

Now if we can just get these two goobers in a cap and gown someday, that will truly be an accomplishment. Our main goal is to keep Ella off the pole and get Dawson to stop sucking his thumb. Anything beyond that is icing on the cake.