The year is running away from me!

I am so far behind on everything it's not even stressful anymore - I've just given up!  Might as well let that pile of photos to be scanned sit there and ignore the unorganized pantry and blog some photos while the little monster sleeps. (And yes, monster is actually a compliment for her this week.)

We finished the end of the school year:
Strawberry picking with Bethany's family:

 Alee wasn't born yet and the twins were in a sling/stroller the last time I went strawberry picking, so this is a first for the three of them.

Bethany and I made jam that afternoon. I made a second batch using some expired pectin (which I didn't expect would hurt us, but might not set into jam)...and now we have 1 batch of jam and 1 batch of strawberry pancake syrup. :)

This one's not mine, but isn't she cute? She thought every strawberry dropped into her bucket was for her immediate consumption and thanked us.

Then, some end of the year traditional activities:

• Field Day
• Awards 
• 5th grade graduation for Seth

  Field day 1: K-2nd

They let Alee play with the equipment when the classes were switching stations or not using something. She loved it! (This ball is totally going on her Christmas or birthday list for this year - look at all that energy she's working out! Seth/Carolyn used to have them and loved them.)

Field day 2: 3rd-5th

 Two days of outtings for Alee was exhausting! (Me too, actually)

Then, awards...

 and finally, 5th grade graduation...I can't believe I'll have a middle schooler next year! AGH! :)

Warning: Brag minute!
Seth got the music award from his strings class (I think he progressed the farthest on his instrument- violin...and being the typical child in our family, wants to try something new next year! - so he's switching to cello - and taking lessons over the summer so that he can continue to strings II this fall...but on a new instrument)

Seth got the Presidential award (they read a canned letter from the Pres of US). He and 1 other girl got it.

Seth got top reader, having read more pages this year than anyone else in 5th grade (over 8000 pages at/above his grade level)...[I actually had NO IDEA he'd read so many - the teachers kept up with them after they had a book conference for each book they read. He was behind the beginning of the year on the 5 books/quarter requirement and I knew he'd caught up, but I didn't know he'd blasted ahead that far! Talk about going the extra mile.] He attributes it to our required weekend quiet time when Alee is napping. :)
He got a couple other things, but those were the most impressive to me.

Ok, brag moment is over. I'm done. :)

Then, Kaitlyn really really REALLY wanted beads in her hair like her friends at school (who, by the way, have a totally different hair type than she does!) I tried my best. This took much longer than my more complicated looking hairstyles, but I'm sure I'll get better with practice. :) It barely lasted 3 days...

And within hours of school ending on the last half day of school, we set off on our road trip vacation to NH (our purpose was to attend the burial of Rob's grandmother - I should say of her ashes - she died last November). Because we were representation for Rob's mom's line of the family, she offered to fund hotels and rental van (so we weren't squished in our little minivan for 40 hours of driving in one week). We covered the rest...including saving up patience!
I will save those pictures for the next post so that I don't overload you with "Here's what happened in the last month since I bothered to blog or write in my journal!" (Yes, I caught up my journal this afternoon too.)

Just keep waiting...(It probably won't be today), but I'll get vacation pictures up soon...hopefully before the next summer trip!