Seven Days And Counting...

...till the kid finishes fifth grade and leaves elementary school.

It's going to be a whirlwind of picnics, waterballoon fights, choir concerts, fireworks sales, yearbooks, awards ceremonies, softball games and sock hops.

My grade school days were never like this.

I'm really glad that school these days are really making the effort to provide more than just dry, rote education. The teachers at her school work so hard, and put in gobs of extra hours and effort that I'm sure they never see pay for, just to show the kids a good time and make sure they have not just good memories of grade school, but awesome ones. I couldn't tell you anything about my own grade school end-of-year days, other than we were all sweltering in classrooms without air conditioning, bored, restless and counting down the days left till summer started.

I'm going to make a point of remembering the crossing guard and get her something, plus a card. She's johhny-on-the-spot with not only seeing the kids across a VERY dangerous main street, but intelligent in timing the traffic flow so that no one has to get held up and wait too long--she's pushed that button for my car so I could get out hundreds of times. She's awesome.