STEM and Strawberries

Today Kindergarten went on a field trip to the strawberry patch.  It was pretty fun.  It was humid but the kids loved it.  They loved the pig, they loved the chickens, they loved the goats and picking the strawberries and running around the sandbox.  Pretty fun.

This evening was 6th grade open house and STEM introduction.  R and I went with Bub.  It was pretty neat.  Rigorous.   It will be good for the boy and in Jan. they get to go to Huntsville to Space Camp.  Pretty darn awesome.

little things

It's not the big stuff that gets to you and wears you down.  It's the little things.  I have had kids crash cars, well no one is happy but you kind of expect that it might happen and you are pretty happy no one was hurt.  You get a phone call from the school, someone is misbehaving.  Again not happy but you deal with it and the child improves and it's part of being a mom.  Someone throws up in the car, breaks a dish, tells a lie.  All these and many other things happen and I have to say Rob and I are good at patiently dealing with them.  It's a speed bump, usually unpleasant, but can be dealt with.

Then there are the little things, the fact that when anyone opens a cupboard or drawer they leave it open or that they squeeze toothpaste all over the sink everyday and expect a magical clean up to happen.  It's that when they take a towel out of the cupboard and 5 other towels fall down that they do.not.pick.up, or that they take their shoes off in the car and can't find them the next morning and that they leave a pile of debris behind them regularly.  These kind of things make me want to scream.  Seriously.  If you have a chore and then I have to go sweep up, put away the windex, or close the cupboards behind you then you have not done a good job.  You have not helped.  If you run out of TP put a new roll on the spinner, if you watch TV put the remote back, if you take off socks put them IN the hamper.  If you make a sandwich put the bread away and the knife into the sink.These are not hard things.  If you break the rules and eat on the carpet for goodness sake clean up the evidence.

Be respectful and responsible.  We teach that in kindergarten...why don't we do  it at home?

weekend recap

I covered the big events in their own posts however I didn't want to forget the rest of the weekend awesomeness.

Friday Grace slept over at Arden's house.  She was super thrilled to go and had a great time.  Maggie also slept over.  They all went to Maggie's to watch movies and then back to Arden's to "sleep".

Also Friday night Rob and Ethan went to the father/sons camp out.  They both reported that it was okay.  Ethan enjoyed running around with the other small boys.  Rob stood by the edge of the water with his fishing poles.  They slept in a tent, ate breakfast and headed home.  Not a glowing success but it was okay.

Also on Friday right after school Ethan went to the Ray's a Chris helped him get some skilz in the batting cage.  Ethan had a most excellent time and thought that Chris was a hero.

Saturday Ethan had a soccer game.  His team lost.  He also went to a birthday party for Eric on the beach that had a treasure hunt and pizza and a bonfire and he thought that was LOTS of fun :)

Hannah had friends stay over after the dance and then went to baby sit the Ray's little girls.  She said they were very cute and easy to watch.

R and Lu went fishing.  R worked in the yard.  I cleaned the house.  The kids did some chores. We walked the dogs.

Sunday was church day.  Love the church days.  It was high council Sunday and the talks were great.

Sunday night was our Palmyra kick off fireside and it went well.  We had donuts and root beer after, lots of excited youth attended, the talks were good, the singing was good, we are excited!

On the drive home I chatted with Tate and Dani and Sierra.  It was a good drive.

We also taught Z a new trick, smart little puppy :) and talked to Abba on the phone and ate dinner around the table and had some nice family sitting around the living room talking time.

and then all too soon it was over and a new week has begun.

more brownie fun

 With their cookie money the girls wanted to go horseback riding and ice skating.  Today was horseback riding day! And it was awesome!!

 Grace got assigned Chester to ride on and they got a long very well.  We thought we'd get rained out but it turned out wonderful, overcast and cool but no rain!

She was one happy girl!

8th grade dance

Shannon, Hannah, Julia and Gabby

 It's the winding up time of the school year, although we still have three weeks to go.  Tonight was the 8th grade dance.  Hannah was super excited.  We haven't let her go to any evening dances yet.  She's only 13 but she is super close and in 6th grade I made a deal with her that if she didn't bug me about dances then I would let her go to this last one of her middle school years.

When I got home I found the girls getting ready.  They had been at it for hours and seemed to be enjoying themselves if not making a lot of progress when I got here.  The last 5 minutes of getting ready though were a blur of activity!

 The first thing we did was go to dinner.  We went to Cafe de Artist which was yummy.  There were 4 moms and 6 girls and I enjoyed getting to know the other moms better.

Gabby, Hannah, Melissa, Shannon, Hannah, Julia

 Then we went down to the wharf to take some pictures.  This was not an original idea and the girls saw lots of friends there.

 They posed, and practiced their moves, then we went over to the school.

 The moms went in to check things out and see the beautiful decorations and the beautiful young people.  They didn't need any help chaperoning so I ran home to "do the dishes" read: blog.  But I will go back soon and see the end of the dance and then deliver the girls safely to their homes.

Chelsea and Hannah

piano recital

Last night Lu had her end of the year recital.  Hannah helped her get ready and she looked so pretty.  More importantly she played well and was pleased with her effort.

After the recital Dad took her out for a treat.  I would have gone but I had a presidency meeting.  We often meet late and by conference call  because that's when we can get together.  I am grateful for the technology we have at our finger tips.  It has changed our lives in many good ways. I am grateful for the best counselors in the world and their hard work and wonderful ideas and always cheerful attitudes.  I am looking forward to camp and youth conference so we can spend a whole week together and with the young women.  We have fun plans!!

FHE

they lit the fire without matches

 After school today Arden came over and she and Grace hung out by the pond all afternoon.  Hannah, who is the Beehive Class President went with Sister Marsh to visit Ellie, who is turning 12 this week and will be the newest beehive!  Bub and I worked on dinner.  When dad got home Lu and Bub walked Arden home then everyone headed out to the fire pit to start the fire for FHE treat.

We ate our dinner outside and read some stories from the New Era and made Smores.  It was chilly so we had to huddle together a bit for warmth but dinner was good and a roasted marshmallow is always good.

Hannah wearing the best jacket ever.