Maira's last year at Rio Terrace Elementary has come to an end. She's been with most of the same kids from Kindergarten through Grade Six and has some very close friends. Some of the moms arranged a year-end hot dog roast at the park in June and we all had a great time visiting and playing.
Maira with two of her very best friends. AKA Ursula, Ariel and Scuttle.
The farewell assembly got pretty emotional as all these kids realized their elementary years were over in a blink and they're all heading off in different directions next year.
With their music teacher, Mr. Duiker
With her grade 6 teacher, Mlle. Giles
Maira with her BFFs since kindergarten. Only two of them are going to go to the same junior high as her!
Connor's three years at Parkview have come to an end. We attended his Grade Nine farewell as well as his final spring band concert in June.
Here he is with Ethan and Mark, his two D&D buddies. They've been spending hours at a time every few weeks at Mark's house all through Grade 8 and 9 playing Dungeons & Dragons with Mark's dad as the Dungeon Master. They're also in band together - Connor plays the trumpet and Mark and Ethan play the trombone.
At the farewell ceremony, Connor was recognized for being on the Honour Roll as well as for winning a bronze medal at the city-wide science fair back in April.
It's off to high school at Jasper Place H.S. for him in the fall!
At the end of May, I went to pick Hudson up from his rock climbing class and he told me his elbow hurt from a fall. He'd been bouldering early on in the class and when he was at an overhang about six feet off the ground, with his feet up by his hands, he lost his grip and fell down onto the mats below and landed on his right arm. His arm looked fine to me - no swelling or bruising - and he could still bend his elbow so I sent him to bed with an ice pack and some ibuprofen. The next morning I forgot to ask him how his elbow was feeling and he rode his bike to school. When he got home after school, he was in tears from how much it hurt his elbow to ride his bike so I decided to take him into the ER for x-rays just in case. Four hours later, we went home with his right arm in a half-cast. Turns out he'd fractured his ulna bone right by the elbow in the growth plate area.
I assumed he'd need to leave the cast on for about six weeks. He was sad because it meant he wouldn't be able to swim when we went to Raymond for Canada Day or when he went to Scout camp at Impesa in early July. But he wasn't sad that it meant he had to quit piano lessons for the year!
We went back to the hospital two weeks later for a follow up visit and further x-rays. And much to our surprise, the doctor said the fracture was all healed and he could throw his cast in the garbage!!
Maira turned 12 in January and wanted to have her friends over for a murder mystery party. I found a Hollywood themed murder mystery game online that I could download and Maira helped with the prep work. We invited 7 guests and assigned them each a role. Only I knew which was was going to be the murderer and which one the victim. The premise was that they were each famous teen stars who had just attended an awards ceremony and they were at our house for an after party. They all came dressed up and excited to play their roles.
Part way through the party, I had them sit down for a dinner. The menu was especially challenging as we had one guest who was allergic to dairy, another who was celiac AND allergic to peanuts, and a third guest allergic to artificial food colouring. Trying to find a cake that was safe for everyone was the hardest part! (I ended up going with meringues topped with fresh fruit). But I managed and I think everyone went home full and without any allergic reactions. They had a great time although I think everyone's favourite part was when I let them take the balloons down from the ceiling and they had a girls vs. boys contest to see who could pop the most balloons with their feet, ha!
Most of these kids will be going to the same junior high as Maira and it will be fun to watch them as they grow up and go through their teen years together.
The music teacher at Maira and Hudson's elementary school is a huge musical theatre enthusiast and puts a crazy amount of work into putting on a top quality musical with the grade six classes every spring. Maira has been looking forward to her turn to be in the musical since Kindergarten and this May, her turn finally came. And not only that but she got cast as Ariel in The Little Mermaid! She spent months practicing her lines and her songs. And I also spent months helping make costumes for the play. It was really fun to help put the show together and to get to know a great group of kids and watch their enthusiasm and dedication to the show. It was an amazing experience.
I sewed the costumes for Scuttle, Flounder, Sebastian, King Triton, Ariel, and the six mersisters. I also helped with sewing the seagull costumes, the ocean pieces, and the eel sidekicks, Flotsam and Jetsam. The only main character I didn't do was Ursula although I did help with her makeup backstage. Here are some shots of some of the costume work:
I sewed King Triton's costume but Shae volunteered to make his crown:
After the first dress rehearsal, I had all the kids whose costumes I sewed pose for me on stage (I somehow missed King Triton in this photo though):
With all the fittings I did, and all the time backstage during performances, I got to know this group of kids really well. I sure love them!
