Here Comes Summer
May had some ups and some downs, I was hoping for (at least) a more stable June. Nope. I’ll do my best to focus on the ups, though. Ready for June? Here we go! Of note, this entry starts with Melissa and I still feeling pretty sick, and in the worst part of the crunch and grind before NeoCon, the furniture conference. Usually one of us, or the other is in over their heads around this time of the year. This year it was both Melissa and I.
June 3rd, and Daddy insisted this dress be bought from a garage sale. I think Daddy was right! See this image larger.
She still runs up to me squealing “DADDY!!!” and it makes me happy every single time! See this image larger.
Playing with the mats. See this image larger.
June 5th, Ray and Barb came up to visit us, and help us celebrate an important milestone for Ian… he graduated from preschool!!! I felt bad that I barely got to talk to Grampa Ray and Grandma Barb… the deadlines I had coincided with their visit, unfortunately. See this image larger.
The kids performed several songs, and Ian did good singing along with the first one. He’s pretty much in the middle of the image. I’ll reprint the lyrics here for the first song, if I can find them. It was about how love grows… and seeing him hit another milestone really made that hit home. See this image larger.
During the graduation, even Daddy learned something, which one might think is an activity reserved for students on a day such as this. You see, the kids all performed a song called “A tooty tah.” At each step of the song, the kids get themselves cramped further and further into a more ridiculous and impractical stance, to the point that by the end of the song they can’t really sing properly. I believe it starts with bending the knees, double thumbs up, elbows in, butt down, tongue out, etc. The shutters were clicking away taking pictures of kids doing this number, but I didn’t take too many: My kid was up there not singing or doing any of the moves. He was standing there with his face in his hand. Later I lightly scolded him for making me the only parent in such a position. But as I found myself trying to explain to him that he should sing along when everybody else is singing, I realized I was wrong. I took it back a couple days later and instead said “There are times and places to sing along, and times when you’ll want to strike out on your own.” I went from being upset that he did this to being pretty proud. The world doesn’t really need another person that focuses only on marching along to the beat of its drum. And besides, look at how these kids look! No wonder he’s trying to hide his face! See this image larger.
There was a slideshow of all of the kids that ran from a projector while music was playing. The kids began calling out the names of the students that appeared during each slide, which was not meant to be part of the program, but made it more interesting by a longshot. You start to realize these kids may not be lifelong friends, but they really like being together. That’ll make kindergarten that much harder for some.
The one shot where they had Ian’s name up on the screen was from the day after the Super Bowl, when Ian wore his jersey to school.
Ian accepts his diploma, and becomes a man. Well wait, that’s a ways out yet. Doesn’t feel like that’s too far away though, the way that kid’s growing! See this image larger.
Every diploma comes with a free hug. See this image larger.
The walk back to the pew. I was already happy that they laminated the diploma, Lord knows what paper airplane we would have received for safe-keeping later.
His mind is already wandering to something about toys, I guess. See this image larger.
Grampa Ray and Grandma Barb pose with the big man on campus. See this image larger.
This was an awkward photo moment, too many people rushing by us to get to their cars… but at least I got Mommy smilin’. See this image larger.
Not bad for self-shot. So proud of my boy! See this image larger.
Another shot. Hey look, we got Grandma Barb and Grampa Ray in the shot too!
*I wish my brother George were here…*
Charlie hops into the fray and soon we’re scrambling to get the kids to stop pounding on the keys. See this image larger.
Home again, checking out Mommy’s flowerbeds. See this image larger.
And here is the official certificate! Can you hardly believe it!?!
June 6th, Ian makes this cool face out of blocks and shows it to me with pride.
“I added a smile!”
Ian and Nina have both watched their fair share of a pretty weird show called Yo Gabba Gabba. This book from the library had a part of the show’s host’s face on it, and with a little help from Ian, we had a pretty funny looking picture!
