*Disclaimer* I wrote the majority of this post on the last day of school…3 weeks ago. Whoops! But instead of re-writing it I am leaving it as is.

Just a few more hours and the girls will be home.

When they left Natalie told me she was feeling “sappy”. She told us last night that meant she was feeling both sad and happy. She even cried on the way home from school yesterday and even though she kept telling me she didn’t know why she was crying I knew it was because she has loved her teacher so much and had so much fun in Kindergarten she’d love to stay there forever. I feel the same way. Lets freeze time and keep her a Kindergartner for ever.

Natalie has done so well this year and come a long way. She wasn’t reading before Kindergarten but by Christmas she was practically a pro. Now she’s breezing through chapter books and seems to love reading almost as much as her sister. She has made some great friends this year and just like last year she told me she would like them all to be in her class next year. I tried to explain to her that it was good to get to know new people and if classes didn’t change she wouldn’t get the chance to know some really great kids. She didn’t seem to care.

I teased her yesterday that maybe her teacher would just keep her in Kindergarten and I thought she actually might like this idea, but despite being sad at the ending of it all and the change in the next school year she assured me she is ready for 1st grade and all its challenges. I love that kid.

Bella surprised me this morning by saying that she too was “sappy”. She has reached the age where it isn’t cool to love school, so she says she doesn’t like it, its too much work and not enough fun. But, I have always known deep down that was just a show – I mean how can you say that and then be the student who ASKS the teacher for more work or if you can do projects that aren’t assigned?

Bella has really excelled this year. Her reading level has jumped almost 3 grade levels. And she reads like crazy. Most weeks she would finish 2-3 200+ page books in a week. I stopped keeping track sometime this spring but she got well passed having read 100 books for the school year. She also was very into a program at their school called AR. Its a reading program where the students take a test on the book after having read it that tests their comprehension. You receive a certain number of points per book based on its difficulty and grade level. Each grade has a goal for the year – hers was 50. In the beginning of the year I saw how quickly she was accumulating points so I challenged her to double it. But, she did more than double it, infact, she more than tripled it. And when she went to the party to celebrate those who had made their goal she was given an award of runner up – meaning she got the 2nd most points in all of 2nd grade and received a gift card to Barnes and Noble.

But it isn’t just reading. This girl seems to love practically every subject, and totally surprised me when she said her favorite is Math. (I hate math.) I think she is totally ready for 3rd grade and any challenge it may present. I am so proud of her.

And now its time for pools and beaches, friends and lazy days. We have an annual tradition since we have lived here that as soon as the kids get off the bus on the last day of school we head to the pool. That tradition may not happen today as it is pouring down rain right now and thundering and lightning. But, even if we don’t get to go to the pool we’ll try to find something fun and exciting to kick off our summer. 10 weeks – I wish it were longer…where do Phineas and Ferb get their 104 days?