In writing all these posts so long after the fact, I remember why I got so behind on my blog in the first place. We were BUSY!!! It’s nice to have so many fun activities to attend, but holy smokes, it takes over your life. Whew!
Anyway, the next day after Noah’s play, we went to the farewell party in Kindergarten. It is what they do instead of a “graduation”. The kids all made these adorable flower hats and sang a little song.
Here she is waiting to perform. Aren’t they so cute? There was also a delicious potluck buffet. I love these things, cuz Swiss women can cook, and some of my kids really like trying out new dishes. (Not all, sadly, but some.) It was quite the spread, and we all sat around eating and talking for quite a while.
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One thing that I had to learn very quickly was that all school functions involving buffets require you to bring your own stuff to eat off of. Plates, cups, silverware, the whole shebang. Providing paper plates for everyone is way too environmentally unfriendly, and so you bring your own dishes and take them back home to wash them. There have been a couple incidences where I forgot, as I am so used to them being provided, even at church. And then they did magically have a few throw away utensils for us stashed away, but only in case of emergency! 🙂 One of the best purchases I ever made were these tin plates the girls are using. They are sturdy, lightweight and the best thing ever for when we grill or go to buffets at school. Plus they have English writing on them, so no one ever gets confused about which ones are ours. ha!
After dinner, while the kids were outside playing, the adults chatted for a bit. Normally, I know more of the parents and don’t mind this bit, but Alexandra hasn’t been on many play dates and most of the kids in her kindergarten are the oldest in their families, so I don’t already know the parents through the other kids. Makes it a bit awkward, and of course, Chris hates socializing anyway, so he is always looking at his watch and wishing they would just finish up already so he can leave.
It started to rain, so the kids all came back inside, which helped to get things moving along in the right direction. 🙂 All the parents lined up to do the traditional kid tossing. 
If the child is a second year Kindergartener, they get “tossed” into first grade, and the first years get to run through the archway of parent hands into the second year. If any child doesn’t want to participate, they are not forced to, but most of these kids were game.
Some parents were getting way too into it, and the kids kept getting tossed higher and higher. Finally, one child did a sort of half flip in the air, and landed on a parent’s shoulders instead of the criss-crossed arms. That frightened everyone and they were much calmer about tossing afterward. Alexandra was so happy to become a “Grosse”, or big Kindergartner!