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Finally! The last day of school!

The kids, of course, were in pretty fine moods this morning.

I knew that Ella, especially, had a fun day ahead of her.  Her teacher had sent home a note, requesting that each kid bring in a treat from home so that the kids could have a lunch together, an end-of-school party. Ella, apparently with pressure from her classmates, didn't even give us an option of what she'd be bringing.  The class wanted cookies, Daddy's chocolate chip cookies, the same ones that Ella'd brought in for her birthday.  I don't blame Ella's schoolmates: Dennis's cookies are divine, and there's nothing in Switzerland like them.

Her teacher, the killjoy, told Ella she was allowed to bring in no more than fifteen (too much sugar!), so we sent Ella off with her too-little packet.  And Dennis also baked a batch for Alex's beloved Frau Langen.

Setting off, one last time.

Joey and I followed Alex to his school, since he was feeling a little uncertain about giving his teacher a gift and also since, although he bravely walks to school on his own, he vastly prefers company.  While we were there, we grabbed a few more last-day photos.

Alex and Frau Langen

Changing into his school shoes

Joey and I continued on to do some grocery shopping, and then we intended to proceed to Joey's little playgroup.  But, after I paused at home to put away our food, I was unable to pull Joey away from the little lego castle that Ella had made this morning.  Not that I blamed him: it was kind of awesome.

And not that I pushed too hard: it occurred to me that this would be the last time, for five weeks, that I'd have just one, quite, contented kid on my hands.  I started reading a new book.

And then, long about 11:00, Joey and I set out to take the long route to Alex's school, the one that goes by three playgrounds, so that we could be there at noon to pick him up.  I'd offered this morning to take Alex out to lunch: a special lunch for just him, since Ella would be eating a picnic with her class.  He loved the idea of going to a restaurant and eating fried rice, his favorite.

But, when noon came around, he was tired and stuffed from all of the treats his teacher had brought him, so we just went home and played card games and ate pineapple and berries, instead.

The two Ellas, now sophisticated third graders.

I was awfully glad we'd had our change of plans when, at 1:30, Ella returned home, quite unexpected by me. Perhaps there was a note that I never saw, or maybe her teacher had told the class in advance and Ella didn't understand, but she dismissed the class early for the last day.  But no harm done.

In addition to almost a dozen completed exercise books,
the teacher sent home a bound booklet of all of Ella's work-
sheets for the year. Such organization.

Like Alex, Ella, too, didn't want to do anything but stay home, now that school was over and a burden was lifted from her thin, 8-year-old shoulders.  

(Although she did get the unfortunate news, yesterday, that she needs to work through a cursive handwriting exercise book over the summer, to be returned on the first day of school.  Sigh.  And Dennis and I mean to keep her reading a little German each night, which actually seems to be pretty fun for Ella. I feel bad making her work at all over her too-brief break, but hopefully the last few weeks will be the easier for it.)

The three kids scribbled on the sidewalk with chalk for a while, and then they moved the party inside, where Ella fiddled around with her legos some more. Both Joey and Alex started looking a little dazed (Joey, especially, seems to be coming down with a cold) so I thought we maybe all deserved to really take it easy.  

And so we gorged ourselves on German cartoons: Pippi Longstrumpf, Die Gummibären, Jake und die Nimmerland Piraten (with special guest stars Captain Hook and Mr. Smee), and, Joey's and my favorite, Jojos Zirkus.  And then, since we couldn't join you all at the Harry Potter VII premier, we drifted on to watching Harry Potter I for movie night....

Ah, summer!