Welcome to Summer

Thursday, June 28, 2012. The last day of school. (Technically Friday June 29th was the last day of school. The Maxter got to skip the last day so we could get a head start on holiday camping traffic for the Canada Day weekend.)

Grade Three was GOOD. It was a straight three class (no splits). Max had an awesome teacher, Mrs. Houghton. They clicked. He loved her. He loved going to school - never fussed once. And he did awesome in her class. Just what a mama bear wants for her little bear. :)

Doesn't he just look over the top thrilled to be heading out to school on his last day?

He brought in sprinkle rice krispie squares as a treat for his classmates. That is one little tradition we've done every year. I'm rather curious as to how long he will want to keep it up? I'll keep making them for as long as he asks to take them in. :)

End of school teacher gift for Mrs. Houghton...

Together, we talked about it and decided on some nice "berry pie" Canada Day handsoap from Bath & Body Works and a gift certificate to Winners. Cause she is an awesome winning teacher! :)

Max suggested buying her a "golden flute" because she is into music. A very good idea. But did you know that golden flutes can be a bit pricey? Indeed. Which is why we ended up choosing the gc option. ;)

We printed off some photos of the BMX biking class trip to Camp Belwood and made a personalized card for her. Pinterest is great. Just had to print off a little template of a "end-of-school-teacher-appreciation-card" that I had pinned a while ago, got Max to fill in the blanks and it was good to go.

So while Max was at school enjoying his last few hours, I was running around like a mad woman. Buying groceries for our big camping weekend...

Packing/gathering/accumulating for the camping weekend...

And decorating the house (a few inside and a few outside)...

Max looked a bit worried when we discussed missing the last day of school, at the beginning of the week. "But mom...what about the decorations? Are you still going to decorate the house and maybe buy some treats and a little present to celebrate the last day of school??" Oiye. What did I start?! A tradition, that's what.

Grandma and Vanessa stopped by on errands just before school was out. Unfortunately they couldn't stay to see Max as they had some appointments. But they loved the decorations. And I think Vanessa considered them her decorations as she had just finished up exams for grade eleven. Double duty decorations sound good to me. Welcome to summer Vanessa! :)

And he's home...big smiles all around!

One of my favourite things about the end of the year, is going through Max's backpack to see all the "treasures" that come home.

A page from his planner...

Art...

Daily Journal...

The essential pencil case...

Handwriting samples (something he learned this spring and loves to work on)....

Pencil crayons (his second pack for the year. By Christmas time he had already worked through his first pack)...

We can say goodbye to his "monthly calendar taped to my pantry door". We won't be needing you for the next few months...

The summer fun list is up and ready to go... (Although I must have been in a hurry and distracted when I wrote it up because I noticed that I've repeated myself a couple of times - swimming and fireworks seem to be very important. I mentioned them twice. Oops!)

Happy Canada Day to all!