year end wrap up

The school year officially ends today at 1:00 pm.  I say this with my tongue in my cheek because the kids quit doing educational things about 2 or 3 weeks ago.  The days have been filled with field trips, field days, going for "shape walks," visiting the public library, pajama movie watching days, and my personal favorite 'edible solar system making day.'  Since most of these things came with a $2-$5 fee, I am personally tapped out and happy to have them finished!  

And so with absolutely no sadness on my part, we say goodbye to first year of teaching, goodbye bus, goodbye to 3rd grade, goodbye to 1st grade! 

Goodbye to freshman year!

Goodbye to 7th grade. 

Hello to summer ball season, new babies to play with, goats to break for fair days, laid back  schedules, poolside afternoons, no socks, summer camp and a whole host of other amazingness.  

I do have some reflective thoughts.  Sorry/not sorry it is MY blog!  Someone once said the days are long, but the years are short.  Nothing has ever been more true.  This year absolutely flew by.  Life with a whole gaggle of kids takes a lot of teamwork and I am proud of the tag teaming that Jim and I (and occasionally Mallory, Madison, Andrew and a few other members of the family) do to get everything done.  Is it perfect?  Nope!  But it works for us, and I am very blessed to have Jim to journey through life with.  

I am also feeling blessed with the school our kids attend.  I sometimes take for granted the fact that my children have a great place to go to school, that they will be taken care of, and loved while they are there.  I am overall very happy to be raising our children here.

I am also very proud of Mallory for completing her first year as a teacher.  I have been stopped in the grocery store more times than I can count, by people telling me how impressed they are with her.  She certainly loved this year, and told me it will be hard to say goodbye to the kids in her first class!

And I am a definite type A personality.  I thrive on schedules, planning, calendars, bossing people around, and doing whatever necessary to get things done.  But every type A has an inner type B trying to come out occasionally I think.  My type B comes out in the summer.  I look forward to lack of a schedule, lack of endless planning, relaxed days into simple places, ballpark nacho dinners,  reading by the pool while I listen to my kids squealing in happiness.    Summer is my happy place and I am looking forward to it!