Anna playing the cello in her school concert

As school is winding down for the year, we went to the last concert of the school year. Both Jude and Anna played their instruments with their class for the last time, and Jude even got to play the drum for When the Saints Go Marching In. It was a bittersweet moment because both kids are moving on to new schools next year. Anna is heading to Ricks Center and Jude is heading to the International School of Denver. So, this was our last event with the school where we have been for eight years..

Jude playing the clarinet in his school concert

One of the funny things about ending at Waldorf is that both Jude and Anna’s teachers are leaving. They announced it after we had already made the decision to leave. After five years as the teacher for Jude’s class, the kids decided to throw a surprise farewell for Ms Faustina. There was a lot of crying and even Jude was sad that she was leaving. For Anna, Ms Gaillot had been their teacher for three years, although Anna also had her as an assistant teacher in kindergarten, so there was sadness there too.

Anna with her teacher since kindergarten, Ms Gaillot

Jude’s half birthday happened on Wednesday this week but we all forgot about it. Jude reminded us on the following day. So, as we do for every half birthday, we went out for donuts but we waited until this weekend. Jude is now less than six months away from his 12th birthday, a fact that feels a little surreal sometimes.

Jude enjoy his LaMar’s bar donut to celebrate his 11 1/2 birthday

This weekend we had no major plans. Marcy worked in the garden for a lot of the weekend. On Saturday she took Anna to see the new Star Wars movie, Solo, while Jude and I stayed home to watch the Champions League final. It was a really hot day and we rode our bikes to one of favorite sushi restaurants on Saturday night.

Anna and Reed working on creating a birdhouse

On Sunday, Anna had her friend Reed over for a play date that ended in a 24-hour sleepover. They were busy beavers working on creating a birdhouse for a good chunk of time. They actually slept surprisingly well sleeping in past 7:30am.

Jude showing his golf style at the Kennedy Par-3

On Sunday afternoon I booked a tee time at one of our local Par-3 courses. We invited one of Jude’s best school friends and his dad and so we had a foursome. Jude had a great time, as did all of us. We had a bit of a rain delay so we went back to the clubhouse which worked out for the best because when we restarted we had the course pretty much to ourselves. Jude had some great shots sinking a 20-foot putt and striping a drive about 120 yards down the fairway.

Anna on the velcro wall at the Gaylord St fair

Every Memorial Day weekend they have a street fair just four blocks from our house. I took the kids along as well as one of Jude’s school friends who came over for the day. Anna went on the bungee and all the kids enjoyed a few of the other attractions. Their favorite was the velcro wall where they donned a special suit and jump on to a wall and stayed stuck.

It was a good long weekend and the kids now just have 3 1/2 days of school left for the year. And then it is summer break for 10+ weeks.

Anna hard at work on the farm

Anna had been looking forward to this trip for weeks. It was her first ever overnight field trip with her school and they were going to a farm. This is something that the third graders at Waldorf do every year. Marcy was one of four parent chaperones to take the trip as well. They drove to a farm just outside of Boulder, less than one hour from the school.

They had a lot of chickens on the farm

The trip did not disappoint. Anna had a blast. They rode horses, shoveled compost, milked a cow, planted seeds, made butter by shaking cream in a mason jar, collected eggs, camped out with a fire and s’mores, and learned about life on a working farm. While Marcy and Anna were away, it was only one night, I stayed with Jude who had soccer practice and we went out to dinner afterwards.

This weekend was cold and dreary in Denver. It rained quite a bit on Saturday but Jude had a soccer game in Laramie, Wyoming and the game was going to be on rain or shine. Luckily it was an 11am game so we didn’t have to get up too early for the more than 2 hour drive. It was a good game, Jude had his best game of the season, but his team lost 3-1. He was voted MVP of his team for the game, the first time he has received that award so he was pretty happy with the game overall.

Doing Mommy-Daughter yoga on Saturday night

On Saturday night Marcy went to a special Mommy-Daughter yoga class with Anna. Not only did they do yoga for an hour or so but they also got a henna tattoo, a temporary design that Marcy and Anna got on their arms.

Today, we spent the day around the house. Marcy worked in the garden, Anna and I did grocery shopping and then we made macarons this afternoon. We are all motivated to do baking after continuing to watch the British Baking Show.

Jude shooting baskets in the basement

Finally, Jude plays a lot of soccer in the basement but we also have a kids basketball setup and he spends significant time doing that as well. This evening he was down there for almost an hour playing games against himself.

Jude getting ready for the Pentathlon

Every fifth grade class in Waldorf studies ancient Greece. And part of that study involves the ancient Olympics that began in Greece almost 3,000 years ago. They learn about the different events in these Olympics and they train all year for an all day ancient pentathlon. There are five events: sprint, long jump, roman wrestling, discus and long run. They also do a javelin throw at the end.

The Denver Waldorf School 5th Grade singing to Zeus and Athena

Six Waldorf schools from all over the region went to Boulder on Friday for the Pentathlon. They traveled from as far as Kansas and New Mexico. Jude was only lukewarm on the whole thing although he did like missing a day of regular school. I took the day off work, so Marcy and I drove Jude to Boulder very early while Anna went to a friend’s house before school. All the kids do not compete for their school, rather they are divided into five ancient city states – Jude was in Ithaca. His favorite event of the day was the long run. He did really well here. He came second in his heat, second in the semi-final and then third in the final. A pretty good effort out of 100 kids or so.

Jude showing his determination near the finish line of the long run final

Today was Mothers Day and Jude was the first one up. Without any prompting he made Marcy yogurt and granola and cut up some strawberries as well. Anna got up to make Marcy coffee just the way she likes it. Marcy went to the gardening store to buy some plants and we worked in the yard most of the day. We have some nice pots filled with flowers on our back porch now.

Marcy wakes up to coffee and breakfast courtesy of Jude and Anna

Jude in action this weekend for the Colorado Rapids

As we do pretty much every weekend in Spring we went to see Jude play soccer. He had another solid game and he was easily the best offensive player on his team. But they played a good team and lost 3-0. Jude was the only one on his team with some good opportunities on goal and one hit the post so he was unlucky not to score.

Anna showing off her baking skills

Over the last month Anna has started watching baking shows. The Great British Baking Show is her current obsession and we all watched the season finale of Season 1 tonight. It has also really motivated Anna to start baking herself. While she has always shown some interest in this it has reached a new level since she watched the show. She bugged Marcy for days that she wanted to make a cake so on Saturday she made one all by herself. It was actually pretty good.

Jude enjoying his special sundae as his reward

In fifth grade the big project they had to do was a state project. Jude was assigned Mississippi and he had to write a report and do a presentation on it. He worked hard on it and was excited to find out his grade. We said that if he got an A he would be rewarded with a special treat at Glacier, his favorite ice cream place. Well, the grade came in on Friday and he got an A-. So, we were off to Glacier today to celebrate.

Anna showing off her no hands skills on her bike

We have tennis courts about a quarter of a mile from our house. One of the neighbor kids asked Anna if she wanted to play. So, she got out her backpack and racket and rode her bike to the courts. She has been doing both golf and tennis lessons this spring and she likes tennis the best.