June 3rd, and… you know I don’t have any words for this. Well, ok… I’ll say this much: If you see a shot like this on the blog, know that there are about 10 more of them in any one session. 🙂 See this image larger.

June 5th, Ian attends a graduation party at school, even though it is not quite his last day of Kindergarten. In this image, we see a message from Ian that tugged on our heartstrings. Most kids’ messages said something like toys or recess. See this image larger.

It is funny comparing these shots to present day. He looks like such a young pup here… still has such a sparkle about him. Recently I told a joke and got a full-fledged eye roll, which simply hadn’t happened yet back when this was taken. See this image larger.

Water balloons were carefully handled, as if made of glass… See this image larger.

Carefully son, carefully. See this image larger.

You did it! You were super cautious, and you saved the water balloons… See this image larger.

SO THAT WE CAN LAUNCH THEM WITH RECKLESS ABANDON! See this image larger.

Ian scouts ahead for targets, looking innocent… See this image larger.

and then strikes like a ninja! (That’s him flying on the right.) See this image larger.

June 7th, and this sleepy little bundle’s last day of Kindergarten is today. See this image larger.

I happily turned off the alarm clock for the summer… See this image larger.

Morning preparations were made… See this image larger.

On this beautiful summer day the whole family walked Ian to the bus-stop. See this image larger.

Couldn’t be more proud of my kiddos! See this image larger.

These are our neighbors, Aaron and his sons Jake and Brendan. It was interesting to have Brendan be a part of our morning routine, but that stopped abruptly for the summer, and didn’t happen again. It turned out that the boys joined their teacher-mommy Clara at a different school in the area. See this image larger.

Nina came along to say good bye as well… See this image larger.

I think that’s a present for the bus driver or a teacher. Melissa’s so good! See this image larger.

Quick hug and a kiss, and he’s off! See this image larger.

“Bye brother!” See this image larger.

But Ian wasn’t the only one moving up in the world! Nina moved up to the Preschool room! See this image larger.

He stepped onto the bus as a student… See this image larger.

And stepped off as a free kid. Here we are at the end of the day, Ian with a bucket of treasure in tow. See this image larger.

Ian mentioned recently (meaning in first grade) when this was written, that his current bus broke down, and as a result he got to ride in his old bus “Eighty-Four, I think it was?” And as you can see here… it was. The woman you can see driving here took her job very seriously and we really liked her a lot. See this image larger.

June 7th, Ian made me a model of Totoro from the movie “My Neighbor, Totoro” a film by Studio Ghibli that the family enjoys. So creative! The coffee filter is an umbrella! See this image larger.

The artist with his creation! See this image larger.

June 9th, “It is my distinguished pleasure to announce the arrival of her royal majesty, Princess Nina of Rockfordia.” See this image larger.

We were at Elena and Scott’s house for this evening. I think Melissa and I went out on a date and left them with the kids. See this image larger.

This is June 11th, and swim class! See this image larger.

And there’s that happy sparkle again. I think this was before Ian started giving us a lot of hassle about going. It is weird though, because even when he did start disliking it… he’d claim he didn’t enjoy it, but I’d always get a picture of him smiling. See this image larger.

Nina, after a successful leap. See this image larger.

Mommy dressed inappropriately for the toga party. See this image larger.