School's out!

The strangest school year ever is over at last. The official last day of school was Friday, June 19th, but elementary school report card pickup was Tuesday, June 16th. Jay and Rose finished their last assignments on Friday, June 12th. They each had one last class video meeting on Monday, June 15th before they were officially DONE. Confused yet? Welcome to "distance learning!" Hah. These ambiguous end dates wreaked havoc on my traditional "last day of school" pictures and end-of-school survey worksheet, so we decided to call Friday, June 12th our last day of school. We took our front porch pictures and filled out my homemade worksheets a full week before Jeff was officially done with his school year as a teacher. 

Jeff survived various online meetings and lazy last minute students asking "how can I get a better grade" on the last day of school after having done zero work for the past three months. The school district mandated that no student could fail this last term, but if they wanted a grade higher than a C, they had to actually do some work. Right after Jeff's final online meeting on Friday, he gave himself a haircut. 

Amber is registered for kindergarten! A massive milestone: my youngest child is registered for kindergarten! The entire process was online, and we finished registering her back on June 5th. We had to upload pictures of her birth certificate and immunization records, but the hardest info that they wanted was proof of address via a utility bill. I spent close to 45 minutes doing battle with Pacific Power's website trying to log in. The problem was, we "went paperless" with our power bill years ago. I created our online username with the power company when we moved to Grandview ten years ago, and with each move we have simply transferred the same service to the new address. For some reason the website didn't like my attempts to log in and I ended up having to create a new username and it was a whole annoying mess just so we could get a PDF of our latest power bill to prove that we live in the school district. After much trial and tribulation, Amber was registered for kindergarten. She was not happy when she learned that kindergarten wouldn't start for several more months.

In other news, my sprained ankle is healing up nicely and I was able to go for a bike ride on the third day after my injury. Pretty much the only way I will get on a bike is to stay sane while healing a sprain! Meanwhile, we are more than halfway though our pre-trip self-quarantine, and let's just say we will all be so glad to get out and go for that lengthy 20 hour drive when the time comes.

One more memo: happy Father's Day! Jeff is our favorite kind of father. He plays actual games with the kids, both computer games and board/card games (the current craze in our house right now is Mancala). He lets Amber sit on his back during every family prayer--twice per day. He rides scooters with all of us. He is patient. Our home is happier with him around!

Photo collage from the last week:

Goodbye, fifth grade. Hello middle school!

Goodbye 3rd grade, hello 4th.

Goodbye truncated preschool and monotonous home-life, hello Exciting New Kindergarten!

Our multi-purpose unfinished basement: finding a quiet corner to sign into a class meeting was often a challenge in our small busy house. Rose chose the basement next to the washing machine for her final meeting.

Filling out my required homemade school year review worksheets.

Jay signed his name  "jaysef" because he thought it was funny, but I made him write Jay too. The YouTube cursive lessons the kids took did not cover uppercase letters. I taught Jay how to write a big J after he signed this paper.

The three hooligans

Jeff showed Rose how to make crepes.

Jay is still running a mile a day five days per week. (Shoe tie pit stop.)

Amber, climbing for huckleberries. Huckleberry season ended this week, and the berries are gone. 

Someone (Rose) practiced piano with huckleberry juice fingers, or possibly marker ink fingers (I think it was a combination of both). When I sat down to play the piano later that day, I saw these awful purple fingerprints and I wilted in defeat. I was tired and this was one obstacle too many. Jeff noted my distress and cleaned the keys. 

Jay made his best batch of mac yet this week! Every time he makes it, I feel less nervous and he needs less reminders and less help. Coaching kids into kitchen skills is stressful!

Everyone loves mac and cheese night! (except my lactose-intolerant tummy. I need to teach one of my kids to make something that I can actually eat so I get a real night off from cooking when they cook!)

Sunday afternoon fingernail painting. The rule is they have to use all nail polish outside because it smells up our entire house and I don't want any stains inside. They spent a happy half hour on the porch painting each other's nails.

Amber's top front tooth is so loose it looks crooked!

I showed Rose how to French braid yesterday and let her practice on my hair. She was shocked when I told her that my youngest sister learned how to braid my hair when she was only 5 years old.

18 years ago, my little sister Mel practiced braiding my hair while I did my homework.

Speaking of hair, behold the mullet! Jeff has been looking forward to giving himself a nasty mullet haircut for weeks. He waited until the school year was over. This teacher is officially on summer break!

My run replacement on Saturday was not comfortable (bike seats!), but at 11 miles it was my longest bike ride in close to 15 years, since a certain ill-fated half ironman triathlon back in college. 

Amber's tooth is getting so loose! It gives me chills when she wiggles it.

Elevating my sore ankle and working on the computer. It really is almost better already. I am relieved. Injuries are boring.

Jeff's three little ducklings will follow him anywhere.

The annual White family father's day challenge: lift all of your kids! This year the total kid weight topped 200 pounds, but Jeff managed it in the end due to his super fine super strong hammies and quads.