8th grade graduation… on to high school!

Whewwwww this has been a WEEK.

Final week of school for Ethan:

The end of the school year has arrived for Ethan (Asher still goes until Tuesday; their school does this special thing where the graduating 8th graders get out a few days early), and it felt like a major whirlwind!

Last Tuesday was Ethan’s final day of class, and in the afternoon they had the “8th Grade Send-Off” on the playground. I went over to watch and it was cute. They all line up and parade around, high fiving everyone from the kindergartners up to the teachers and parents.

Wednesday was his final final day of school- as in, the last time he had to go there in the morning. They had a special event all day, so for all practical purposes, school was already done. But it was his last morning heading off to this school, ever, and his last time riding the bus.

I took his picture, of course. Here’s a side by side from the 1st day of 8th grade on the left, compared to last day on the right!

He has grown and matured so much!!

I also snapped a pic of him getting on the bus as I dropped him at the bus stop…. This was the LAST TIME he’ll ever ride a school bus to school, because his high school is not here in town and we will have to drive him.

Amazing Race:

I volunteered all day at the 8th grade “Amazing Race” event on Wednesday. It was really fun!! I’ll fully admit, I’m not the best “classroom mom”. Give me a swim meet or a soccer game to work any day over a bunch of rambunctious kids on a field trip. But, 8th graders are pretty cool, so this was actually fun. 😉

I was a co-team leader for one of the groups (5 kids in my group). It’s a neat idea; the kids have to solve clues which then lead them to various stations all around town (all fairly near the school). At each station they had to complete a timed challenge. They were all different and had something to do with the theme of the station. At the end, the team with the overall fastest cumulative time for completing the challenges correctly won.

For example, one stop was a grocery store. When they arrived, the parent volunteers working there gave them a $10 gift card and a long list of items to choose from. They had to go through the store and select a total of FOUR items, but they couldn’t exceed $10 in all. Obviously, 8th graders aren’t that well versed in what things cost, so it was comical to observe, plus, they were racing against the clock. They also had to do the math, while taking sales tax into account. I’m proud to say my group rang up their 4 items (after getting briefly tripped up by not knowing how to use a gift card at the self-checkout), coming in at exactly $9.98! I felt like I was watching an episode of, what was that old show? Supermarket Sweep? All of the items on the list were personal care items and would later be donated to the local food pantry, so it was a win-win. 🙂

They had an activity at a bank, the local history museum, a coffee shop, the fire station and more. It was quite the ordeal! It was so nice of our local businesses to participate, too.

Other fun recent school stuff:

• They had the parents (and any willing grandparents) write a “love letter from home” for each student to receive at school. Ivan and I each wrote one, plus my mom. They were supposed to be kind of sappy, you know… we talked about how proud we are of him, our hopes for his future, etc. I thought it was sweet! Ethan is not a very sentimental person, however, so he naturally did not have too much to say about our letters. hmph. lol. But I’m sure deep down he appreciated them.

• Then they had the 8th graders all write a “thank you” letter to us (which we received on graduation night). Ethan’s letter was wonderful!!! It was actually surprising heart-felt and touching.

• Earlier this spring they had an 8th graders versus Teachers volleyball game that the whole school + parents attended.

• Last week all the kids went out and did clean up in the nearby cemetery, picking up trash and polishing headstones, etc.

• Last Wednesday the middle schoolers all went to a Milwaukee Brewer’s baseball game! So fun.

• There was an Athletic Banquet for any kids who did school sports this year. Also very nice.

So many things!! But it’s all great stuff.

8th Grade Graduation

The big culmination happened on Thursday, his 8th grade graduation mass and ceremony at 5 p.m.

We ended up in a bit of a rush to get out of the house, so I just snapped this cute pic quick of Asher (NOT the graduate…) while Ethan was getting his tie on:

Here’s the only “before”‘ pic I got of Ethan, as we were dropping him off to go get situated:

We had a few minutes to burn, so here’s me and Asher:

I actually took this one afterwards, but here’s a nice solo picture of Ethan!!

There was a graduation mass and then an official graduation ceremony in the church, after. The entire thing was really beautiful!! From the mass itself + the music choices, to the speeches and messages during the ceremony, I thought the whole thing was great!!

The graduates did a special procession both in and out, complete with some funny antics and high-fives, etc. as they headed out. Their exit song was “I Lived” by One Republic, which I thought was perfect. (The chorus goes, “I…. I did it all…. I owned every second, that this world could give. I saw so many places, the things that I did, with every broken bone, I swear, I lived….” and the verses all talk about living life to the fullest, taking it by the horns, etc.).

It was kind of a madhouse outside after, but we did manage to get some photos. My only regret is that I didn’t get solo shots of Ethan with his best friends, all fancy in their suits… But at least we did get one big group shot of most of the 8th grade boys together.

Here are my faves from the family shots:

I LOVE this one, though!! So cute!!!

Dinner out

We had reservations for dinner out after at an Italian Steakhouse. It was a very nice time!

The food here is very good and I had (2!) glasses of wine that had me ready for night-night by the end, haha.

I got my favorite Taste of Italy trio combo.

I liked these candid pics of “casual Ethan”. He looked so cute with his jacket off and his tie loosened a little… made me have a “flash-forward” (?) to a grown-up version of Ethan, maybe having a post-work drink one day with colleagues. Hahaha.

I also love this picture of the boys with Ivan’s brother! The boys are quite close with him as he lives very nearby. They often go to the gym together, etc. It’s great.

Finally, a couple more family shots….

And that was the end! A great night.

I’ve always kind of rolled my eyes at the current trend of doing “graduations” from all the various stages. I guess it’s cute to dress up a 4 year old in a cap and gown for a “Pre-K graduation” (sort of…), but I’ve always thought it was a little goofy, honestly. When I was in school, we had high school graduation, and college. That’s it.

But, this 8th grade graduation hoopla felt right to me, in this case, because it’s a K–8 school. The kids are now scattering away to various different high schools, after a long time of being together. So, it really is the end of an era in many ways for these guys! There were no caps and gowns (and I’m glad for that- I feel that should be reserved for the BIG/ “real” graduations!), but the whole evening felt very special and like a perfect close to this chapter. 🙂

And, now we get to do it all over again next year for Asher. LOL. 😉

Daily Gratitude:

I am grateful for a) beautiful weather for all the end of school events! and b) a lovely graduation ceremony.