"May your hats fly as high as your dreams" - Michael Scott

This turned out to be somewhat of a "do less" week, and it was enjoyed by all! We spent one afternoon painting, which the kids always love. I come across these little figurines in the market every once in a while for super cheap, and save them for a rainy day. We had several rainy days here (and I mean RAIN-Y, like don't get stuck outside with the kids or you'll be walking the 1km from the train in 2 ft. of water because if you could actually find a taxi, it would take at least an hour), so this makes for a good afternoon activity. I make my kids strip down and put on aprons. I've lost too many clothes when I've opted to keep them dressed. Plus, they're just so cute when they're naked!


We did very little outside of the normal, everyday stuff, besides our biggest day of the week... Friday! Jack's been talking about his "graduation" day for weeks. Friday is the day that Jeff usually takes Jack to school, but he was excited that all four of us got to ride the tuk-tuk to school together and STAY! Does he look a little bit excited?


In his music class, they started singing the Beatles song I will, to perform for graduation. I've sung this song to him since he was a baby, so he's been excited for me to see him perform it.

The whole event really was well done. I will admit that the word "excessive" came to mind a couple of times, as I felt like the whole event put any of my graduations (where you actually get a REAL diploma) to shame. It's just KINDERGARTEN, right? Well, you can imagine all those parents and teachers that were making such a big deal about it... and I'll admit, I was right there with them! It was just a fun event all together. Jack was so pleased to get up on stage, sing, get his diploma, and he was especially excited about the candy lei I made him instead of doing the flower thing like everyone else. What's a 5 year old boy going to do with flowers anyway? I'll tell you what. My friend, Taka, got roses for all of the children in his class, which was so sweet and beautiful, but Jack immediately came to me and said, "because I'm a boy, I'm going to give my flower to you!". He's learning already.

Jack has made so many dear friends this year. Because IPC only goes up to K2 (5 years), everyone is off to different schools next year. As I've said before, the expat life sure makes for a lot of goodbyes. If you were to ask any of these families where they will be in 1-2 years, most of them won't know because they go where the job takes them! What a life! Many of Jack's friends will return to their home countries or other assignments within the year. Sad thing is, we may not ever see some of them again. Good thing is, we'll have friends all over the world!

Jack and Sasha have gotten especially close lately. I can't remember if I wrote about this, but Jack came home one day and I asked him how he liked his Tae Kwon Do class. He replied, "Me and Sasha were holding hands, but we were hiding them so teacher couldn't see!" while he doubled over with giggles. What a nut.


We spent the rest of the day enjoying friends and the festivities, Jack picked out a new dinosaur book, and we enjoyed an afternoon at Ocean World. It was a fun evening, but we were all EXHAUSTED when we got home.

So, here's a video to share some of our favorite shots of the BIG graduation day! (On a side note: you know what worries me when we make things into such a huge deal? How do we move on from there? Do we celebrate every year we move up a grade? Does it always need to be bigger than the last year? The minimalist inside of me is getting weak knees just thinking about it! Nevertheless, I decided to not think about anything but the fun day at hand, and we all enjoyed ourselves. We're good... for now.)



I took this shot after church today. It was just a fun day altogether. Jack gave a talk about the temple in Primary, Jane loved nursery, as usual, and then enjoyed playing with her many, many boyfriends afterward. Dypu and Nappa took her outside to run for a bit, and she laughed so hard, I thought she would fall over. What a wonderful sound! Too bad I didn't get that on camera!


Overheard at our house:

"Mom, I'm going to have a first job like Daddy". I said, "Oh, that's great, sweetie!"

Jeff came around the corner to ask, "are you going to have your first job at McDonalds too?". (a fact Jeff is very proud of!)

Jack answers, "Yes!" Jeff and I both giggle, and Jack, not knowing what we're laughing about, defensively says, "I know how to fry stuff!".