Wrapping up 5th and 7th grade . . .

This has been a busy week.

And one more busy week to go.

We kicked off the week at the 7th grade honors assembly.   Matt got recognized numerous times; Straight A's, Beta Club, Top 10%, numerous math achievements, Duke TIPS scholar, outstanding 7th grade musician AND 2 years of perfect attendance.

We're especially proud of that last one.

Okay, confession:  Bassam and I kind of looked at each other and said, "He hasn't missed school in 2 years? Really?"

We clearly will not be winning "Observant Parents of the Year."

Love this kid to pieces.  But y'all, I am ready to wrap up the 7th grade.   NOW!

Meanwhile over at the grade school, it's been equally busy.   Last week, our principal, Dr. Webb, announced her retirement.  While I am so happy for her, the announcement meant the addition of a couple of large events to coordinate with my pals Colleen and Lanesia.  On Thursday, we hosted a retirement reception that brought in current and former students and teachers, colleagues from around the district, as well as students and teachers from previous schools she had worked at.  Dr. Webb is an avid photographer who is looking forward to traveling, so we had a beautiful travel theme with maps and an awesome spread of small sandwiches, desserts, fruit and cheese to feed 300. It was a lovely event and I think she was so delighted to see so many people to come out and wish her well.

As soon as that was finished at 7 pm, we cleaned up and then set up and decorated for the volunteer breakfast that was the next morning at 7:45 am.  It is a little odd for volunteers to set up the volunteer breakfast? Maybe.  But since the teachers have to get there early to set up all the food (they put together an awesome spread for all the parent volunteers), it was the least we could do.

Now we're in full-fledged 5th grade promotion mode.  That ceremony is Monday morning, with set up on Sunday afternoon.  My dining room is a staging area with things for the lunch and party, plus diagrams for the seating and numerous to-do and shopping lists.

Being so busy with logistics of promotion, I haven't really had a chance to let it sink in that Gracie is leaving elementary school.  Or that this wonderful school, that has been such a big part of my life, won't be a part of my day-to-day life.    I feel like she should still be a 2nd or 3rd grader.

Regardless, after 5th grade promotion, one more luncheon to host on Tuesday afternoon at Kenrose and one at Woodland on Wednesday.    And guess what?  On Thursday, Gracie goes to middle school orientation.

As much as I want to get through the next few days, I wouldn't mind time slowing down just a teensy bit.

Another "last" . . . .

Yesterday was my last Family Fun Night.   

I've had kids at the elementary school for the last 8 years and once I simply "attended" the event, which was when Matt was in kindergarten.  Safe to say, there  isn't an aspect that I haven't worked on over the last 7 years.    And while they've all been good, I think this may have been the best one yet.   

And it's OVER.   Whoo hoo!!

I caught a couple fleeting glances of my kids, one of which was Gracie in line at the photo booth, where she obliged me with a quick picture!

This morning, with the help of my kids, I finished up the last of the Family Fun Night duties and we picked up trash at the school grounds.  Glamorous!    #IhateDumDumSuckers  #GiveAHootDon'tPollute

Did I mention this was my LAST Family Fun Night??!??

This afternoon, while Bassam and Matt went golfing, Gracie and I made a quick trip over the Tennessee Craft Fair at Centennial Park.    As it was the 80-millionth day over temperatures over 90 degrees (maybe a slight exaggeration) we made just one loop, grabbed a lemon shake-up and were on  our way, minus a quick stop for a picture by Spirit of Nashville.   

I was on the look out for a cool statement ring, but had no luck.  I settled for three beautiful blown-glass pumpkins, which I hope to put out, along with the rest of my fall decorations, next week.

On the whole, the rest of the day was pretty lazy. Well deserved, I think!   College football, 4 loads of laundry and a NCIS marathon. 

Tomorrow I get working on Book Fair! 

Today was the "Back to School" bash at Gracie's school.  We already know our teacher, so there wasn't any official business to take care.  I was busy with PTO stuff, which meant Gracie was busy, too.   Of course, she found plenty of time to connect with all her friends!   I was happy that before things got too busy I was able to snap this picture of my 5TH GRADER.

I'm going to whip out one of those "old people sayings" and say that it really does just seem like yesterday that she was starting kindergarten.

Not only does this picture make me miss that sweet little girl, but also that awesome bus driver, Mr. Mack. 

Matt has his "Back to School day" tomorrow.  We've seen his schedule, but other than the band teacher and Science teacher (who is his cross country coach) I don't know a single one of them.  Of course, as soon as we finish with the formalities, I have to sell spirit wear and Matthew will get put to work distributing school supplies.  #PTOkidproblems

Back to school in 2 days.   

Sigh.

Musings on PTO

PTO is a double edge sword. 

Overall, I've liked being involved.  Are there times when it is a lot of work?  Yes.   And we're in one of those times now with the capital campaign and planning for Family Fun Night.

But they also do some pretty great things, too, and it's fun helping make that happen.   Plus, you get to be "in the know" about what's going on at school, which I think is a good thing.    

On the other hand, sometimes you have to sit through most ridiculous meetings EV=AH!!!!!

And my challenge is taking minutes about it that don't make it sound that way.

Crazy and sad end to the week . . .

Even though the start of school is still a week away, I feel like we got our first taste of the craziness that the school year holds.  The teachers had their first official day back and the PTO served up a pancake breakfast to say "welcome back!" 

For me and my crew, it meant being up at school at  7 am.  

Ugh.

It's not like I'm not up at that hour.  I am.

Up, dressed with make up on?  Not so much.

However, we managed to pull it together and it was great fun.   The kids refilled juice glasses and cleared tables and caught up with their old teachers.  A lot of new faces at Kenrose this year.  

A lot. 

We won't find out until Tuesday who the kids teacher will be.   Matthew's 2nd grade teacher moved to 4th grade this year and I discretely asked her if she had him.   She didn't, which will be a huge bummer for Matt who loved her.  But I've heard great things about the new teachers who are on board, so I'm confident the kids will do fine.

But I can't lie.  I want to know as badly as they do.

In other, and much sadder news.  My sister Amy lost a dear friend this morning.  Sharon and her husband, Joe, live in my sister's apartment complex and as far as I know, befriended Amy shortly after she moved in.   Sharon was a feisty and funny lady who was a bridesmaid at Amy's wedding, although I remember her telling me as we prepared to walk down the aisle, "I think I'm too old for this bridesmaid crap.   It's good thing I love Amy so much!" 

Yesterday, I tried to explain to the kids that Sharon was in hospice.  Safe to say, that conversation didn't go very smoothly. They love Sharon and Joe and decided they wanted to make their own video e-card for Sharon.   We sent it yesterday afternoon and Amy played it for them last night.  She said Sharon wasn't able to see it, but she knows that she heard it, which somehow made the kids take the news of her passing a little easier.

And before you ask, the shaky-handed videographer is moi!

More on the churtle front . . .

In a funny twist, I realized today that among the PTO Executive Board there are 6 other moms-of-third-graders.   Although no one else got the costume information quite as late as I did, there was definitely a shared belief that the lack of standardized costumes was a bad idea.  Very bad.  One of them went so far as to order a bunch of inexpensive dinosaur masks or hats from Oriental Trading for all the kids in their class to wear.  Unfortunately, there was no such luck in the churtle group, although I certainly would  have been happy to help coordinate costume efforts for all the churtles.

Had I not found out yesterday, that is.

In other news, the infamous chicken hat was on my front porch when I got home today, so Matthew is ready to go.  

I think this is going to be an interesting show.

Family Fun Night!

Another highly-anticipated Family Fun Night in the books.

I spent almost the entire day setting up at school. The early part of the evening was spent enjoying the festivities with my kids and the later part of the evening wrapping up the auction and doing check out.   We won only a couple items in the silent auctions, but managed to donate a nice chunk of change to the school with dinner and tickets for the kids to spend on Kona Ice, Cotton Candy, hair painting (Gracie) and other activities.  I think Matthew actually left with a handful  of unused tickets,  as he was perfectly happy to engage in all the free things, like inflatables, the mobile gaming truck, and other games.   Safe to say, they crashed hard tonight and I'm right behind them. 

In other news, I was feeling oh-so-positive about my kitchen when I learned that not only were my new chairs in (although I'm not having them delivered until next Friday), but my dining room light fixture was, too . . . a whole two weeks early.

We don't generally  use the words "ahead of schedule" and "early" when talking about our kitchen.

Admittedly, my joy was short lived when the hood installers and dude who does the duct work had their wires crossed (figuratively speaking) and did not get my long-awaited hood installed this afternoon as planned.   I'm sure it will happen Monday and the tile guy will get to work alongside them.  But I must admit, it stole my joy just a tiny bit when I arrived home and the hood was still sitting in my garage.

Sigh.

The good news is the last of the cabinets are supposedly to be installed early next week.   Assuming they can be painted and faux-finished soon thereafter, we have a fighting chance of having the kitchen pertneer finished next Friday.

And so I smile thinking about a  finished kitchen.  And a bigger smile for being able to use the word "pertneer" in this post, which totally makes me think of my Grandma and Grandpa. 

It's the little things.