School's out for summer

We are on our second day of summer break, and Summer is on her way to Camp Lookout with her daddy.  She is wearing the tie dye shirt she made last year when she went to the camp.  I'm sad that I cannot be there with her this year, but I am glad her dad took off so he could go with her.  They need some extra time together.  Last night, Summer and I made rice crispy treats to take and share with the other kids from church.  It was the first time she has made them, and I think she enjoyed it.  She kept wanting to taste the melted butter and marshmallows.  Of course, once it was melted it was a little too hot for that, but she happily took my stirring spoon when I gave it to her after it was all mixed up. 

Our first day of break was mostly spent at home which makes Summer and I both happy because we like to be at home.  She played for hours with her Paw-Paw dragging him from one side of the house to the other.  She showed him some things on the iPad for quite a while until I had to literally make her get off of it.  I felt kind of bad him sitting there watching her play with it for well over an hour. I was also hoping she would get up and do something active, but it was a little too cool for her outdoors and she kept saying she was cold.  They played Candyland, and he got to watch her do some math from one of the workbooks she rescued from the recycle bin on the last day of school.  I got to get all prepped for VBS and Sunday school, take a hot bath and also had a short nap while they played.  After he left, it was my turn and we played Twister and Candyland.  I won both times at Twister, but she beat me at the other.  Another favorite game of hers right now is Sorry, but we did not play it. 

After deciding to head downtown for the evening, we ran to the mall to pick up a few things.  One thing we got that I did not intend to was a pair of high heels for Summer.  We ran in the shoe store to make sure there weren't any better shoes for her to wear in the wedding next weekend and what did we find???  Silver high heels!!!  They've got sparkles on the heels and a sparkly flower on her toe straps.  I was amazed at how well she walked in them.  And, despite my better judgement, I bought them.  She wore them out of the store and all the way through Walmart.  However, when we got to the condo, she was happy to trade them in for a pair of flip-flops before we walked to Cheeburger Cheeburger for supper.  We shared a chocolate peanut butter milkshake as we ate our food.  It was so yummy that Summer declared she was going to drink the rest of it and didn't want to share.  Of course, in the end she didn't drink it all and I got to have a few more sips.

I don't want to fail to mention her Kindergarten graduation which was Wednesday at 2:00.  It was very sweet and the kids sang:  Apples and Bananas, You're a Grand Old Flag, and some other song that is totally slipping my mind right now.  :(  Oh well, I've got it video taped which also means I wasn't taking pictures with my camera, but thankfully a friend got a pic of Summer with her camera.  The kids were called up one by one and handed a picture they had drawn of their favorite thing about Kindergarten.  Summer's was art.  I'm not surprised.  The kids then stepped up to the microphone and said what they had drawn/written.  Then they were handed their diploma and given a hug by their teacher.  After all the kids had been called, Ms. Tracy (Summer's lead teacher) read something she had written called 15 reasons she loves Kindergarten with each reason being a child and a special quality about that child.  Again, I am drawing a blank as to what she said about Summer.  :(  Guess I'll revisit those videos and possibly update this post when I have time.  The other class had a similar presentation by their teachers, but it was a song they had written about the kids.  Both were very touching, but no tears were shed by me.  I guess I have just come to accept the fact that she is growing up whether I like it or not.  Or, maybe they will come next week.  Who knows??  But, I've officially got a first grader on my hands now.  After graduation, Clint, Summer, myself, Mom, Tre, Dad, Amanda and Lexie headed to Longhorns for an early dinner (Summer's choice).  Summer had steak which is one of her favorite foods.  She also loves their bread and does not eat the crust like her daddy.  Instead, they just eat the soft bread off, leaving a big pile of crust on their plates.  Let's hope she doesn't acquire his hefty appetite!!  LOL 

The day after graduation, she still had to go to school for a half day.  To her dismay, it was not an out of uniform day like we had originally thought.  Although when we got there, quite a few students were not wearing their uniforms.  I almost let her just skip the day altogether since they were just going to spend their time playing, but then I thought it would be good to go see her friends once more before summer break started.  I ended up staying there too and watching her until about 10:00 when we decided to call it a day.  After saying goodbye to her teachers, we got in the car and headed to the library to sign up for summer reading.  At first, I told her to pick 5 books and I would pick 5 books for her too.  We both ended up with 6, but I'm not complaining because reading is good for her.  I've got a goal of 100 books this summer, but I may be pushing it a little.  Oh well, 50 for sure!!!  I'm also going to try to work in a few books that she will actually be reading to me.  She is so close to reading.  She can read some beginner books, but she gets frustrated easily when she comes to a word she doesn't know and just wants me to read it to her.  I'm hoping she will start using the sounding out method her teachers taught her in Kindergarten, but I'm not pushing her too hard.  I don't want her to dislike reading altogether.  I do love that time with her anyway and am not anxious for her to be a totally independent reader.

After checking out our bounty of books, we headed to the condo to see about going to lunch with Clint.  Summer really wanted to try the new sushi restaurant that replaced our old favorite which moved about 12 blocks away.  Although Clint had already tried it and was not a big fan, he let her pick it and we walked the meager 1 block to get there.  Convenience!!!!  It was pretty good, but the sushi is definitely not the same.  Summer loved their sesame chicken which was actually what I ordered.  She also like the beef on a stick that Clint had.  In her books, it was great and she may even like it better than the old restaurant.  To celebrate the end of school, we headed to the movies to see Mirror Mirror which is a rendition of Snow White.  We all liked it, even though I think Clint almost fell asleep at one point.  Afterwards, Summer had her 5th aerials class which she still loves.  It is such a blessing to get to enjoy life and to see her enjoying it too.  I just hope one day Summer realizes how blessed she truly is!