Well today I am both really tired and really excited.  The last "real" week of school brings a lot of things to a close, and this year that is bittersweet for us.  (I say "real" week because the kiddos of Unit 4 technically have their last day next Tuesday... for 1 hour and 20 minutes... after a 3 day weekend) Lots of milestones this week!  Our Girl Scout troop's last meeting of the year was yesterday followed by their Awards and Bridging Ceremony.  Gwyn bridged and is now officially a Junior Girl Scout.  Celee even got to participate in the ceremony.  She got to take the girls Brownie vests for them before they crossed the bridge b/c she's our troop's resident Brownie.  I was thinking yesterday about how some of those girls (including my own) have been in the troop now for 4 years.  When we started, they were so tiny!  Only 2 of them could read independently. One by one they got their straw slots (lost their front teeth for those who aren't familiar) They were so cute in their little blue Daisy aprons!    They are still cute, but not so little anymore.  Junior Girl Scouts is kind of the 1st step where they are more Girl Scouts than Brownies or Daisies.  I don't know if that makes sense, but Brownies (and definately Daisies) are the "little" girls and everyone above that are the "big" girls.  I can't believe my Gwyn is now one of the "big" girls.  And next year in our house we'll have a Junior, a Brownie, and a Daisy.  Crazy.

     Last night was also Lyla's culminating event at University Primary School. (everytime I put UPS on things people always ask what that is, I guess it would be weird to send my baby to Brown for preschool each day)  UPS gets a lot of perks being so integrated into the University of Illinois and one of those is that for the past 2 years their culminating event has also been part of an exhibit at the Krannert Museum of Art.  So Lyla's creations were hung in a real art museum!  This semester the project for the Pre-K was "Children."  Lyla's study group was "Family Spaces."  It was neat to see the kids really investigating what family spaces could be.  They took field trips to each other's homes, studied the spaces in stories and pictures from other countries and created "spaces" from a variety of materials.  As a final project (that's so weird to say considering this is pre-k!)  Lyla got to take pictures from her perspective of things around and outside our house to put in a portfolio of her family space.  I must say it's neat to see what is important to her in our home, and what things look like from about 3 feet up.  She had a blast last night.  I'm so glad we made it there for her to be a part of it!  (We were dashing there after cleaning up from the GS ceremony and we had no idea exactly where it was when we got in the car to go!  Thank heavens for smart phones!) 

     So Lyla is about to graduate from Pre-K.  Celee is graduating from 2nd grade.  Gwyn is graduating from 3rd grade.  I know people don't usually think of the end of 2nd and 3rd grade as graduating, but it feels that way to me this year.  They won't be in public school next year.  They are graduating from Bottenfield.  Like I said, that is bittersweet for us.  One of the reasons we bought the house we did is because it is so close to Bottenfield!  We have had so many wonderful memories there.  Even though Lyla has never been an official student there, we've spent so much time there she feels like she is one.  She probably knows where more things are in that school than some of the students.  So it's a little weird to think that she won't be going there.   That and she will also miss out on the possibility of having one of the two teachers that I've had the pleasure of observing that I consider master teachers.  (one at UPS and one a kindergarten teacher at Bottenfield)  Thankfully I don't see us really getting away from Bottenfield, at least not socially.  Almost all of the girls in our troop are at Bottenfield, and a lot my girls' friends, so we anticipate seeing them regularly even if we aren't students there.
      The preparation continues for our homeschooling endeavor for next year.  I've repurposed the crib into a desk.  (that's actually so sweet to me b/c all three of my girls used that crib and now they can continue to use it).  I'm half-way finished turning some old closet doors into a room partition to separate the dining room from our home-school room.  I'm on the look-out for a table for that room as well.  And of course more importantly, I am continually searching through books and programs and resources for curriculum.  I am so thankful for the host of "expert" input I have access through in my friends, those who homeschool and those who are just awesome teachers and have great advice about different methods and products.  (I should say though that no teacher is "just" a teacher!)  I still haven't had the time (courage) to actually go fill out the withdrawal forms for the girls, but my plan is to do that Tuesday... if it doesn't get done this week.  ;)
     So we've got Bottenfield's field day tomorrow, Lyla's end of Preschool party at our house Friday and my parents are coming to stay with us for the weekend.  Busy times, but so fun!  I'm siked my parents are coming.  We all miss them and it's great when they get to come stay!  It's been really hard on us (me) the past 5 years without family anywhere nearby.  I think that's what may have fueled my desire to learn the dulcimer and listen to bluegrass music.  It makes me feel a little more like I'm in the South. (even though the entire time I lived there I did neither and the dulcimer is more an appalachian thing rather than a dirty-South Mississippi thing)  This will also be my first weekend since Nov. that I don't either have to work or do some other obligatory activity.  So I'm planning on chilling with my lovely husband, my girls, my parents, and our menagerie of animals this weekend.  Happy Memorial Day!