School really did end as promised

The last week of school was a very emotional time for everyone around here.  Unbeknownst to me (because I am dumb), my children had apparently sublimated all their feelings about leaving their school and friends in Doha, jumped aboard this school here, and clung on for dear life.  Fortunately, they fit in marvelously here; unfortunately, when this school ended, all those unresolved feelings came rushing to the surface in wave after wave of emotion.  It was a difficult time, to say the least.  E melted down one night, tearfully pleading with us not to take him to another school, to let him just attend the first day of first grade here, asking why do you have to leave the country when you lose your job, and asserting that he absolutely did not want to attend a school where he had to speak a language other than English.  For the record, his school in Doha was English-speaking, but all his anxieties were manifesting themselves in less than logical ways, of course.  J was a bundle of nerves, ready to cry in an instant, constantly bemoaning the fact that he wasn't going to see his friends here soon (which is sort of true, though we did give our phone numbers to several of them and encouraged them to tell their moms to call to set up play dates--but we are trusting second graders, so I'm not holding my breath).  It was all sorts of sad to see them grappling with the grief they clearly hadn't addressed when we were leaving back in February.

And yet.  The last week or so of school was actually very fun, as you can see from the pictures below:

E went on a walking field trip to a park down the street, and I came as a
chaperone.  Here we are taking a selfie while eating lunch.

E and friends made going down the slides much more exciting for everyone!

Here is E leaving school one day that week, clearly not sad.

J also had a field trip, to a local bird refuge and I was a
chaperone once again--here he is showing me the
poop identification station.

And here he is waiting for the next station to begin.

I think I wrote a little about the boys' teachers here in Utah earlier, but I have to say again I was very, very pleased with the ways in which they embraced the boys and integrated them into their classes so quickly.  Clearly, they did such a good job the boys were able to forget, at least temporarily, all the chaos around our moving, and for that I am grateful.  Their work gave me a few extra months to get adjusted to everything myself, so I was better prepared (if caught unawares) when their emotions finally rose to the surface.

Here is J with Mrs. J, who loves math and boys and hugs!

And here is E with Mrs. E (I only just now realized both their teachers'
names corresponded with the boys' names--again, as i said, I'm dumb!).

And on the last day of school, during a fun field day celebration,
a fire truck showed up right at the end of the day and sprayed all
the kids--clearly, we were not apprised of this tradition and did not
dress appropriately, but J thought it was pretty great any way,
if really cold!

And finally, because I can't resist, here is E's Kindergarten
 "graduation" picture.  Isn't this ridiculous??  Apparently, they came in
and dressed up the kids without telling the parents, and then
sent home these pictures as a surprise.  They are cute but silly!