Eli's Kindergarten Graduation

Yay!  Eli just started his summer!  We are all so excited!!  Unfortunately, Elina is still in school for another 2 weeks.  Boooooooo....definitely cuts into the excitement a little.  Just counting down those days...

Eli's graduation was really fun.  It wasn't too sad because I know he will be back next year for 1st grade.  It was such a fun year filled with lessons about anatomy, addition and subtraction, the solar system, life cycles, animals and insects, Texas...field trips to downtown, a bakery, the art museum, the produce market, the zoo, and the caverns.  We all had a blast learning and playing!

Of course, he had to add his Asian flair to the graduation pics--

Here he is during the procession--

Of course, 2 days before graduation day, Eli and Elina thought it would be a great idea to jump on the bed to try to touch the cords hanging down from the ceiling fan.  Doesn't that sound like a BRILLIANT idea??  Well, Eli bounced so high that he overshot everything and ended up crashing his cheek into the corner of the sofa armrest.  Luckily, that thing is padded...and luckily, he didn't get it right  IN the eye.  Seriously!  So he got a nice shiner just in time for graduation.  Life would be plain boring without a boy!  At least he wasn't hurt badly.

Lately, Eli has been really into basketball and the Spurs.  He went to his first game with Elina and B last month and he immediately fell in love with the game!  Look at this boy's face...he was so excited, that he looked like he was going to cry.  I LOVE these videos so much!  He gets so into it and even chants "Defense!"  My other favorite part is that Elina looks stoic in the videos.  I'm not sure they are attending the same event?

Now, why am I mentioning all this?  During Eli's teacher's graduation speech, she mentions some of her kids and talks about what they might be in the future.  She talks about maybe seeing Eli on the Spurs team.  He was so excited about that!

Here is Eli walking up to get his diploma--

So proud of him!

During the graduation, all the classes also performed songs.  Eli is such a great, loud singer...and so animated.  I love it!

Here is "Do Re Mi" from The Sound of Music-- And here is a clip from another song, "Big Heart"--
So during all the songs, Eulee was pretty close to the stage.  I was sitting right in the 2nd row, so I didn't mind her wandering to the front, but she was making me a bit nervous.  However, the videographer was right next to me in the aisle so I didn't want to keep getting in his way while he was videotaping.  So, I just nervously watched Eulee and waited for something bad to happen (awesome parenting...).  First, she checked out the wiring on the speakers...luckily, the teachers were close by so they called her over and she sat on their laps for a little bit.  Then she sat down on the first step by the stage and started picking flowers off of the plants...then she lifted up her dress and started sticking them into her belly button.  It was pretty comical...and no real harm done.  Then she watched the music teacher sitting on the floor cuing the students.  She watched the teacher, then the kids.  She figured out what she was doing, so she started cuing the kids too!  She would point at them and then do some hand gestures.  I laughed SO hard!  BUT then she noticed the iPad playing music and she started walking toward the glowing tablet, so I immediately jumped to the front, grabbed the back of her dress, and yanked her back into my lap.  She wasn't happy, but at least she didn't turn the music off!  Phew!  The music teacher was so nice afterwards and said, "We have a new musical director!!"  Ha!  Seriously, I love this school.

The next day we had Eli's End-of-Year Party at the splash pad.  It was a cloudy, drizzly day...but the kids didn't care!

This year I made photo books for the teachers again as class gifts.  I must admit, after making them for 3 years in a row, this year's turned out the best they've ever been.

We always interview the kids, but this year I added more cute questions...and the answers were super adorable!  Here were Eli's answers verbatim--

MY FAVORITE COLOR IS...gold.
MY FAVORITE ANIMAL IS...it's hard to say because I like a lot...I like tigers.
WHAT I LOVE ABOUT DISCOVERY SCHOOL IS...the playground.
WHAT I'LL MISS MOST ABOUT MRS. H.  Her really soft skin.  [This answer is so cute, but only acceptable because he's a little kid.  Ha!]
WHAT I'LL MISS MOST ABOUT MS. K.  Her always funny, curly hair.
MY TEACHERS LOVE ME BECAUSE...I'm helpful.
I LOVE MY TEACHERS BECAUSE...they give good hugs.
MY FAVORITE THING THAT I LEARNED THIS YEAR WAS...insects.
WHAT IS MRS. H'S FAVORITE COLOR?  Yellow.
WHAT IS MS. K'S FAVORITE COLOR?  Purple.
WHAT DOES MRS. H LIKE TO EAT OR DRINK?  She drinks coffee all the time.
WHAT DOES MS. K LIKE TO EAT OR DRINK?  She always eats chicken noodle soup.
MRS. H LIVES...in a house with her daughter.
MS. K LIVES...in a house.  She lives with boys.
WHAT I HOPE TO NEVER FORGET ABOUT KINDERGARTEN...lunchtime!
WHEN I GROW UP, I WANT TO BE...an entomologist.

We are so proud of our little graduate!  Look at this boy with his 3 sisters...he's such a wonderful big/little brother!

We love you, Eli!  Congratulations!!

(Of course, no picture can be perfect...Evie got a little treasure in her hand and was trying to show it to the camera, so she covered her face instead.  At least everyone's eyes are looking at the camera AND they're all wide open!  I couldn't really ask for more, right, B?)