the last lidkid, hazelnut, is done with elementary school.
our k-5 years were pretty non-traditional… a few years of public school at two different elementary schools for ike, followed by several years of road school and home school for all three kiddos. but, the final three years of elementary school for hazel were spent at vienna elementary, which have been mostly wonderful for this third lidkid. this may brought the conclusion of this adventure, complete with one final epic field day, and our last (and technically first) fifth grade graduation celebration.
first up. field day. aka: the pfafftown olympics. it’s usually quite a chaotic fiasco, but this year was even worse. so many people. so disorganized. quite muddy and soggy. and, well, i can say it now, fifth grade wasn’t our favorite. third and fourth were magical, the teachers, her classmates, all of it. fifth has been meh at best. but, field day was still fun, i guess. but, less so than years past. i’ll spare you commentary about the individual events. well, except to tell you about how they lost in the first round of tug of war, a huge disappointment after last years underdog championship run.
on the way out, i caught hazel and her pal taking a selfie with mrs. brubaker, her BELOVED third grade teacher who is retiring this year. adorable. the teachers really have been so amazing at vienna. mostly.
the day after field day was graduation. or. fifth grade “moving up” ceremony. or recognition. or something about finishing there and moving on. haha. hazel had picked out a new dress and shoes and anna helped with her hair and we were ready to graduation/celebrate/recognize!
we arrived early to get decent seats to watch our hazelnut. super stoked for the rap break.
the little ceremony was cute. most of the admins and teachers gave really heartfelt and/or funny speeches. some cried. some had the kids rolling with laughter. some did both.
the whole thing wrapped up with a slideshow, put together by the kids themselves. we had sent in pics a few weeks back, and in technology class, they made their little graduation slide. the cheering and laughter of the kids as each classmate’s baby photos popped up was so sweet. then they marched their little processional on out of the doors for the last time. 🙁
in the courtyard, we milled around and took all of the obligatory photos. grandlidboms. teachers. friends. family.
beloved mr. nichols and her classroom teacher, mrs. faber.
??….
and. since it’s the thing to do. here’s a pic of hazel on her first day at vienna, in third grade. and a pic of adorable kindergarten crazelnut on her first day of the homeschool co-op we did before flipping covid. ?
