School's Out!

Wow!  The day I've been waiting for all year (basically) came!  Another school year is under our belts and everyone is headed to the next grade. The summer holiday is HERE! 

First off, my randoms.  One night Elden decided all on his own to set the table for Cal.  So sweet and cute.  I love when they decide on their own to show love through service to their siblings.


Cal went on his first boy scout camp out!  He is now all registered for Boy Scouts and even completed his Scout Rank thanks to his awesome 11 year-old scout leader.  Cal had a really fun time at the camp out.  


Lee was able to spend the night with him, but left early the next morning to head back into work. Cal also was able to do so many things for Scout, Tenderfoot, 2nd and 1st class requirements.  Happy dance on my end! 


As I mentioned in an earlier post I was able to go to the temple while the kids had their last full day of school.  It was great running into my friends the Jeppsons and the Killions.


Shanna and I went on a little date to the school playground one night too.  Elden and Haley had gone with their friend to a playground, and she wanted to do something special.


Right before school ended there were three award ceremonies.  We didn't go to Clark's for a couple reasons.  One, it was FHE and we were going to have some people over, and Clark said he'd rather do FHE (we ended up being invited to their house instead which was really fun).  Two, it was soooo long last year that Lee and I decided just one of us were going to go.  But then Clark said he didn't want to go anyway, so that was that!  But Clark was recognized for being on the A honor roll all year, plus getting a PERFECT on his writing SOL, plus getting the highest grade in his math class.

The eve of the last day, we attended Cal's award ceremony (minus Lee, sadly). 




The choir sang two songs.


Cal was recognized for passing all of the physical fitness tests in gym.  I'm not sure if he was disappointed for not receiving any other awards.  But on his report card for this last quarter he earned all As and one B.  YAY!  I was really hoping for this.  He's had some Cs through the year so I was really proud of him for raising his grades.


He didn't want to stay for the party that night, which was fine by me.  Though it looked like they had the cafeteria decorated super cute!


The next morning I headed over the the school wide awards ceremony (the 5th grade doesn't attend).  I admit, it was fun seeing all of my kids being recognized.  Haley was up there quite a few times for winning Battle of the Books, high AR points, and AB honor roll.  Later that day her teacher told me that she got a PERFECT on her reading SOL!  She is the first third grader in about 4 years to get a perfect on the reading SOL. 


Elden received a Character award--my favorite--from his teacher.  And then and another gal earned a medal for being chosen as...how to word this...the top character person for 1st grade?  It was really cute seeing him up there.




Shanna and Haley receiving certificates for AB honor roll.


Don't get me wrong, with all these awards, there were definitely tricky times through the year with bad homework grades, low test grades, and even two kids came home with Fs on two different tests.  I am not a mom that pushes their kids to be ultra high achievers, which probably sounds bad.  I went to school, did somewhat of my best, and lived.  I mean I graduated from small, small high school with about 60 classmates, and no AP classes. I did do better in college, getting about a 3.8 GPA.  I want my kids to do well, but I am not striving for them to go to Harvard or Yale. And Cs are not okay in my book, just to clarify.  Anyway, we lived and ended the school year well.


The end of the year send off! I love this.  Everyone comes out to say goodby to the 5th graders, and then all the kids leaving on the buses.  Lots of crying girls.... 


It was Cal's birthday on the last day of school...more to come about that...  Later that day we went down to a river in town to hang out.  The kids loved catching little fish and eating ice cream cones. Clark hung out on the upper bank, getting some sun and a cat nap.  I think he did some reading too.


Yay to summer and all our fun plans and also to all of our "lack" of plans.  Yay to no more homework, or tests to worry about!  Well, for a few weeks.  Hopefully we haven't over planned our summer.  We have several big trips coming up.  Maybe too ambitious, but plans are set, and we'll see how it goes! 

Drills, Lights, Action!

Just a quick little house update.  We had some new lighting put in our house and we love it!  One night at Cubscouts I was sitting in on a Webelos meeting where the den leader was teaching the boys about electricity. I asked him, Ernie, if he was an electrician.  After he replied yes, I then went on to ask if he did side work.  Well, he came to our house a few days later and did some awesome stuff!  We now have better lighting in our living room, among other things.  He was prompt, worked hard and just got the job done right.  Loved the whole experience! 


So much better!  Bye bye floor lamp!


He put in a dimmer switch too!


He also installed a light in mine and Lee's bedroom.  So amazing to have a SWITCH in our room, and a light that it now turns on!


Now to redo this room sometime this year...


The old porch light, though filled with some fun character, needed to go. The wiring was bad and old. Lee actually installed the new one.




Ernie also disconnected the power to our lamp post outside so the breaker won't flip every time we turn the porch light on.  Something is wrong with the wiring and we decided not to do anything about it right now. We love the new lights!

Along the light lines...found these pictures on the emergency "kid" phone. 




These last two of Elden are funny and creepy, ha ha.


 

Memorial Weekend and Pre-End

We had an adventurous Memorial Day weekend.  Before the weekend....

Haley's group won the third grade Battle of the Books.  I wondered if Haley was reading enough and doing well with her list.  She surely did!  Her prizes....


Elden had a book feast one afternoon.  I stopped in for a little bit.  All the kids sat outside, read books and ate snacks.  Love it.  He had a great 1st grade teacher.


Also before the weekend started we did our monthly pack meeting at my friend Sarah's home.  She has a great backyard.  We did a couple little games, roasted hot dogs, and had a program.  Cal received his Webelos badge!






Quite the outfit.  A pj short, jeans and slippers.


One of the den leaders found a snake while he was at work that day.  He killed it and still had it in the back of the truck.  Anyone want to pet a dead snake?


For the pack meeting I made little s'more kits-a sandwich bag with marshmallows, graham crackers and of course chocolate!  The local grocery store here, Martin's, will donate a $25 gift card every three month to local organizations for their events.  Thank you Martin's! I used the gift card for cups and s'more fix'ins.


When I did some copying for a teacher I saw a letter Haley had written.  I enjoyed the part about having no pets because "My mom does not like pets."  Sorry pet lovers, it is true.  I do not like pets...but I should clarify: in my home.  I like animals fine enough.  Though I am not avid an animal lover. I enjoyed having a hamster when I was little, and a family dog while growing up. While on my mission in LA I just had too many encounters where pets ruled and a clean house didn't, which grossed me out.  On Haley's letter I did correct two things before I copied it....he he. Now I see one more correction I could have done....


Lois and Jeff celebrated their 10 year anniversary and their three boys hung out with us for the weekend.  They came on a Thursday evening.  The kids had fun sleeping in all sorts of places.  The box that Rhett slept in was as hot commodity that weekend.


On Friday my kids had school so the boys and I did a few activities like water the garden.




Went to the library....




Ending with a picnic lunch at the park.....


Saturday we did jobs around the house.  The boys loved helping me wash the Chevy. 


Doing a little shopping for a girls' night that Haley and Shanna planned for them and their cousin Rachel.  Quite the height distance!


Daniel and Amy and family came for a quick visit that weekend too.  So great having them here! The girls at their party! They had play clothes laid out, plus treats, along with music for the occasion.


Some of the cousins together.  That same night Lee and I went on a walk with Amy, Lizzy, Ila and Rhett.  Before that there was an incident with a dirty diaper, Reed, Elden and our neighbor's dog.  Not sure what stories to share or not share!  But maybe it will be funny...someday.....


Daniel, Amy and family came to church with us, and spent the evening at our home.  We had a great visit and enjoyed being together.  I wish they could have stayed longer!

Monday morning I found Cal and Reed like this.  Too funny.  Apparently Reed woke up Cal at 4 am, or some time really early.  I guess sleep got the better of them at some point.  They were in Cal's room when I went to bed the light before so it was funny coming downstairs, seeing them asleep on the chairs.


Monday we hung out at home and Lee worked.  He's always taken Memorial Day off, but since we didn't have any plans we decided for him to work.  Let's just say, we won't do that again.  I think he saw one person, maybe two?  He went on a bike ride after that, arriving home early. 


We did go on one outing with everyone to my friend's place.  I visit teach her.  She has a fun cabin style house with a terrific yard.  The kids loved running around outside. 


That afternoon we decided to head up to the Shenandoah National Park for dinner and roasting marshmallows. Lois and Jeff met us up there.










Lee found a hollow log and he and the kids got the fire to come up through the top.  Pretty cool.




That day Clark had a game of Monopoly going.  The kids went "electronic" free for the weekend and it was quite nice.  Clark said that since they had so much time on their hands that they should play, ha ha.  Clark beat everyone.


Overall it was a good weekend.  We enjoyed hearing about Lois and Jeff's adventure to Charleston.  I tried to keep grocery spending low for the month of May.  I did go over budget, but stayed under $500.  Really no clue what I spent, but around $460?  Slashing the grocery budget used to be a way for us to allocate money elsewhere, but I am just not good at it anymore.  The kids were quite excited when I did a big shopping trip for June. 


And eggs for $0.89?  Sweet! 


Even though Clark isn't quite as tall as Lee yet, they now wear the same size in clothes. Though Clark's feet are bigger than Lee's.  There are a few things that I've bought them double of for summer. 


And speaking of the summer holiday...ahh...so glad it finally came!