Skip to main content

School's Out!

It's finally here...summer vacay! The kids wrapped up their final days of school with some really fun activities. Ava had an advisory cookout, an 8th grade celebration (she was on the #trends committee), as well as a final 8th grade field trip to Bowlero! They managed to squeeze in some final tests and projects, and now 8th grade is a wrap! We have a high schooler...where did the time go??

1st day of 8th grade 


Last day of 8th grade


1st day of pre-K...from a mermaid to a designer!


G's school had fun activities like yearbook signing, kickball, and end of year festivities. 

1st day of 2nd grade


Last day of 2nd grade


They were both home with me on Thursday and Friday, and while they enjoyed some down time, I also put them to work on Friday. Ava is taking over the chores of watering the outdoor plants, and I also had her clean out her nightstand, in preparation for her massive bedroom rearrangement that will be starting shortly. She has a LOT of things to sort out. Look what happens when you get a kid a bigger bed...everything has to move around!

G did a great job of cleaning out his bookshelves, and deciding what could be recycled vs donated to the Little Libraries all over town. He has inherited a bunch of books from Ava (and some Minecraft books from one of Ava's friends), so he was ready to donate his "little kid" books, and make more room for chapter books on his shelves. We didn't have quite as much luck sorting out his toys, but I may need to step in and help with that one for the next set of chores.

They are both going to be taking on more chores around the house to help ease my burden. In fact, today, they learned how to clean a bathroom - hooray! We also set up new summer screen time contracts, and discussed a fun bucket list of things we can do together this summer. 

I took Ava to see Top Gun: Maverick with me on Thursday night. She really enjoyed both Top Gun and this sequel, and wants to watch them again at some point in the near future. She ended up going to Bowelro again with a friend on Friday night, and is heading over to a friend's house for a party this afternoon...and has a bonfire planned with the trumpet section on Monday night. She is so excited to hang out, meet new friends, and be social. It's amazing how much she has changed in this past year!


This doggo is really enjoying her multiple walks a day, and then flopping down in the grass for belly rubs. During our frigid winter walks, I promised her that it would get better here...and I have fulfilled my promise. She is one happy pup! Scott added the tie-down to our front yard, and now she can have a bit longer lead while exploring the yard.


Our first strawberry of the season!



We're off to a grad party this afternoon, and then I have book club. I think G is coming with me to the book club, so Scott might have the whole house to himself tonight. Lucky guy! I'm sure he doesn't mind the quiet that comes along with it, haha!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Exploring Local Places

Last Sunday was the perfect day to explore an area that neither Arya nor I had been to before. We headed east to walk around the Vermillion Falls/River and Greenway area. The path was nicely paved, with lots of overhead shade from trees; there were so many families out on bikes and walking, and we had a nice view of the Vermillion River. Arya got some great pics, and I enjoyed spending time outdoors with my sweet girl. This weekend, G and I will be heading out to explore a creek area in a few towns just south of us. And I've already got an idea for another creek I want to walk by next month (it's a bit further away, and I'd rather put that aside until Arya is off at college) The tree leans to find the sun On the way home, we stopped at the DQ in another town (we have a love/hate relationship with the DQ in our town, so I wanted to avoid it.) The warm weather felt great, and we enjoyed some sweet treats while watching the world drive by. We're counting down the days unti...

What a Week

The weather has been unseasonably warm this fall, so we've been able to extend our outdoor projects just a bit.  This past week Scott's been working in the garden, cleaning everything out, and repairing the back wall of our garage.  Ava was such a good little helper, scooping up dirt, but still trying to keep her hands clean while doing it! I swear, a box is all she needs to make her happy. Princess Darla. Princess Darla has had enough.  I personally like how she and Ava have the same expressions in this picture. Apparently Spanky was bored - check out that yawn in the background! We went down to Grand Meadow this weekend, and as always, it was so fun to see Ava and Isabel play together.  They actually had several little conversations with each other - and they were so polite while doing so!  We even had them share a room last night...boy, that was a challenge.  I think they finally fell asleep around 10:00pm.  And of course, Ava wa...

All Done!

We made it! May was extra busy this year, leading up to Arya's graduation. And now that we are a week out from the chaos, I'm happy to report that we survived and are enjoying a slightly less busy pace in our days and nights. On Friday, May 29, 2026, 601 Rosemount High School seniors graduated, with the ceremony held at the University of St Thomas campus in St Paul, MN. It was a new venue for graduation this year, and it went really well. We were allowed six tickets in total, but were provided with a link for others to stream it on YouTube. We ended up parking at St. Kate's and shuttling over to St Thomas, so the parking situation was easy peasy for us. The ceremony was so well done, focusing on the triple A philosophy: academics, arts, and athletics. We are so proud of Arya, and can't wait to cheer her on in the next phase of her life! We did a pre-graduation photo shoot with a few friends from school Last day of high school! Red Pine is a special school in the distric...