Out with the old, in with the new

This was Jacob's last official week of school (although has had little to no school work for the past two weeks). I spent all of Thrusday at Jacob's school to help with the two "end of the year" parties they were having. The first party was a pizza party sponsored by the PTA. I was one of the mothers assigned to serve the pizza. The 140 First Graders ascended upon us like locusts in a wheat field. Within 20 minutes, 60 large pizza boxes were completely empty. My favorite kid had a mohawk and he came back for "seconds" five times. I finally had to cut him off once he had his eighth slice. 

The next party was for Jacob's class. The teacher threw them an ice-cream party and they all got to watch a movie. It was also during this time that we were able to give the teachers their presents. I have to say, I was really excited to give my quilt to the teacher. It has been sitting in my family room for four weeks, and it was nice to finally place it in a loving home. 

The most touching part of the day was when all the kids loaded onto the buses. As I have previously mentioned, the buses for the American School are enormous (Grey Hound type) yellow buses. There were about 50 of them waiting to take all the kids home. Once all the kids were on board, the entire faculty came out. The buses all then honked their horns for a solid 30 seconds, and then began to exit (still honking) while the faculty waved good-bye. I get choked up just thinking about it. It is a tradition at the school and is very touching. The most emotional part was seeing the kids who will not be returning next year, sobbing as they waved good-bye.

Friday was an unofficial family day. Jacob was done with school, and Andrew was sick, so I had both the boys at home. We decided to celebrate our togetherness by seeing "King Fu Panda". We all loved the movie.

Today was Andrew's birthday party. Since we are always traveling on his birthday, we decided to have a party which all his friends could attend. Alright, watching 20 preschoolers bowl is one of the funniest things ever! I have never seen so many bowling balls slammed so hard onto the lane so consistently for so long. Scott said he thought they were going to have to resurface the lanes after our crew was finished with them. Another funny sight was a group of three little girls who would jump up and down and dance around in a circle every time one of them knocked down any pins. 

Andrew had a great time and was thrilled to have so many friends come to his party. 

When we got home, we opened presents. Andrew received one of the most interesting presents I have ever seen given to a small child...or any child for the matter. It is a game called "Down In One". It is a game where you try to not have little objects fall through a series of inserted sticks. Upon closer inspection, and after reading the directions, we come to find out it is a drinking game. The "little objects" are pints of beer, and every time you are responsible for making them fall, you have to "take a shot". Guess we have this week's Family Home Evening covered!

Today we attempted to go on a family hike to a suspension bridge. The total distance to the bridge was 4.4 km. By the first kilometer, Andrew said he needed to take a rest. At one a half kilometers, he asked if someone could hold him. When we finally reached 2 kilometers he had given up. Since we still had not even covered half the distance to the bridge (let alone the return trip) we decided to head back to the car. Jacob was absolutely devastated that we did not go all the way to the bridge - and I had the choice experience of hearing about it all the way back to the car. 

Jacob also wrote and illustrated his very first book this past week. He made it as a gift for his friend Etienne. I begged Jacob to let me make a copy to give to Etienne so I could keep the book, but Jacob told me I could keep the copy. Anyway, I took a picture of every page of the book. It is a story about Medusa and how she met her demise. The best part about the book are the pictures, I have included one of my favorites below.

Andrew has become quite the little needler. While we were in the car on Thursday night, Andrew was trying to get my attention. However, I was talking to Scott at the moment and could not respond to Andrew. Jacob attempted to answer Andrew's question which infuriated Andrew. I heard Andrew say, "I was talking to MOM, Jacob!" After a beat, Andrew starts to wave at Jacob, saying, "Hi, Mom! How are you doing, Catherine?" What a little punk! Jacob was smart enough to ignore the sarcasm and stare out the window.