We're in the full swing of summer vacation now. It seems we've been on break forever, though it's only day 3, not counting the weekend. Not that it's been that bad, it just seems like so much has happened since they got out of school last Thursday.
The last day of school was one of those days I just want to sweep away and never remember again. I wish I could say it was because I was so sad it was my oldest child's last day of elementary school, but I can't. The youngest must have sensed a big change coming on, or something, for it was tantrum after tantrum in the most inconvenient places. It put me in a foul mood. The one plus side was our trip to McDonald's for lunch (it was a half day of school). The fact that all school-aged children in town were there, wasn't great, but that all my kids had a friend they ran into and made the very long lunch a fun experience for them all, made it worth it. The rest of the day can be swept away as well.
On Friday we went on a short camping trip, an hour away, to see what things we need for our longer camping trip with our pop-up next week. We had planned nothing special to do there except swim and play at the campsite, and that's what we did! It was very relaxing! If I had been in a better state of mind, I would have enjoyed it more. I was still on edge from the day before (I think I mostly had a bad case of PMS last week, which is unusual for me), and my phone has been glitching so I can't take pictures with it, my scripture study through instagram was screwed up, and many other less important issues. It was nice to let the kids choose what they wanted to explore around the campground. Here's what they did.
There was more swimming than we pictured, though they really did spend a lot of time at the pond, and sure loved catching all those creatures! I'm glad they got to relax and we got to see what we need for our upcoming trip to South Dakota. Turns out, that trip is more ready than the short one since I forgot three very important food items on this trip (pancake syrup, cheese for our Dutch oven pizza, and graham crackers for s'mores!!! Yes, my mind was very preoccupied...)
We arrived home in time for church on Sunday and a low-key Father's Day celebration. Happy Father's day to all the great dads in our lives!
Victoria graduated from elementary school on Friday. It was a nice ceremony with some good songs sung by the 5th graders and a cute video of the graduates with pictures from when they were babies and now. Another video showed all of the Miller Elementary School teachers and staff reading parts of the book Oh the Places You Will Go by Dr. Seuss.
There were some good photo ops at the end with friends and teachers and refreshments. The students we're allowed to check out early afterwards if they wanted. Victoria did! (It was a toss up, though. If she had any good friends staying at school, she would have for sure. She loves her friends!)
Walking in with style.
Receiving her certificate from her teacher, Mrs. Morrin.
Her class, or the 5th graders at least. She was in a 4/5 combo.
The happy graduate!
New friend from this year, Kajal.
Mrs. Morrin
Friends from kindergarten: Brynn and Janelle
Erik was at a friend's house while Jason and I enjoyed the ceremony. Jason had to go to work afterwards and I picked up Erik, but I got some Chinese takeout for Victoria and I to enjoy as we continued our celebration. She had learned some Chinese in school and was wanting to eat the food. We also watched The Sandlot while Erik watched Cars. Victoria had never seen The Sandlot and I thought it would be a fun one to watch together. It's not a chick flick, but something that I remember there being some words I don't want my younger ones repeating. We enjoyed that time together.
Lo mein and dumplings are what she wanted.
Finally, in preparation for her start of middle school, we went to rent her a violin. She wants to be in the orchestra next year and play the violin! I will start giving her some lessons this summer so that she can start in the intermediate group as opposed to the beginner group. With her piano background I don't think she needs to start at square one.
She is now at Howell for 3 days and two nights. It is the fifth grade end-of-year camp. She left yesterday morning and comes back tomorrow afternoon. I'm glad she has a chance to experience this time away from home. We miss her!
Austin has loved the number 7 for a while now. However, now that he's 7, he says his new favorite number is 17, which is his student number in school. I think 17 will come faster than I would hope for, but I will try to make the most of these precious years with my boy Austin.
He is really into Minecraft lately and it is hard to get him off, once he's on, but when he wants to get on I tell him his big list of things to do first and he does them all without complaint! He decided that the dishes weren't his favorite job to do, so he added vacuuming and organizing the shoe rack in place of the the dishes. Whenever I see something needing to be done in one of those areas, I remind him that he's doing those instead of the dishes, and he'll do it without much complaint.
He really looks up to his sisters and plays well with both of them. He also plays well with Erik. They are boys, obviously, and do more physical play (like wrestling) than I'm used to and of course have more violent disagreements, but I guess that's the way it is with boys. Poor Austin usually gets the raw end of the deal because Erik likes to have the final say or hit, scratch, punch, or kick. We're working on that.
Austin has a great sense of humor, is doing really well in school, loves to play with legos, ride his bike, and jump on the trampoline. He likes my undivided attention when I put him to bed so he can talk my ears off!
He still loves his breakfasts. Most of the time, he eats about three times as much as Victoria at breakfast, but she definitely out-eats him the rest of the day! He suddenly decided this past year that he doesn't like pizza. That's in addition to not liking hot dogs, mac and cheese, marshmallows, or cake- he's kind of a rare kid. I remind him when he goes to his friends' birthday parties that all the foods he doesn't like are what is usually served at birthday parties. He never eats at parties anymore, except the candy.
He played ice hockey most of this school year and is now playing soccer. In the fall he gets to start piano lessons! Here's a long-ish video of him playing ice hockey. It wasn't his best day, but it was the best video I got of him.
His soccer team this season. He's on the second row, second from the right.
Getting ready for warm-ups.
We had a Minecraft birthday party at the park for him. The weather was perfect! They went in the splash pad, played "creeper" tag, toss the bean bag, pinata, soccer, and ate chicken nuggets and strawberries (there's chicken in Minecraft, so it's a good thing he likes it!) we had a giant cookie for his cake. For his birthday dinner at home, we had breakfast!
Birthday morning with his new shirt.
The girls both got him some fun books for his birthday and really treated him well.
Blonde brownies at home for his "cake".
Focused on one of his gifts.
Creeper tag at birthday party.
Creeper pinata.
The cookie was easier to serve than cake.
This is at his field day yesterday. I got to volunteer at the frisbee station. He's in the green shirt running back.
At field day with some of his classmates. I recognize that stance... looks like something my brother did as a kid...;)
Erik just "graduated" from Mom Preschool. There were two groups from our ward and both met together each month for a field trip or party. This month the group activity was the "graduation" at the park. It's been a fun year teaching his friends and him. Here's some pics from the party and the field trip in April to the farm (which seems like 6 months ago as opposed to just over one month ago!)
Hey ride
We got to feed lots of carrots to the animals.
Alpaca ( we had just gotten an alpaca puppet at the library that week, not knowing they would be there!)
Erik is the one hiding in the back.
Steering the caboose.
Luckily, it was warmer the day of the graduation picnic.
Yes, they are the class of 2030. Erik wouldn't wear the hat...
He couldn't wait for the cupcake!
Diploma
A new turn of events has occurred. A job literally fell into my lap. My friend knows the owner of a well-known preschool around here. They were looking for a new 2/3 year-old teacher for the fall. After thinking it wouldn't work for me, I finally decided to just check it out. After one easy interview, they decided I was the one for them and I decided I liked the idea after all!
I was hesitant at first because my education degree is very expired and it's not even for early ed. I don't have to re-certify in anything right now, but all teachers there are required to take 24 hours online each year and take a test at the end. We start in January.
I was also hesitant because I have four young-ish kids, how can I work? Well, I can drop my kids off at school and get to Red Bell by 8:45. Red Bell is a day care also. The assistants manage the kids until I get there and learning starts at 9. Erik gets to go for free, every day. It will be a great way to prepare him for full-day kindergarten the next year. He will be in the pre-k class. At 11:30 they feed us all lunch (if I want to eat there, or I can pack my own. My friend is the cook and she is great!) After helping with choice time and seeing the kids off who leave earlier, I get to go home at 12:45. Every day the public schools are off, so is Red Bell school, though they always have day care there. If I want to go take my kids so I can prepare something, I can and they get to participate in the day care activities, or help, as will be the case for the girls. The same for the summer. They have camps there that my kids can attend, for free, while I get my things together. If my kids are sick, I get a sub!
2 and 3 year-olds are pretty young, but I've heard they're mostly 3-year-olds since they have to be potty trained. I subbed last week and today so Erik and I can get a feel for it. It went well. I can tell these kids have been in preschool most days of the week (some go MWF, or other combination of days), because even though they are young, they know the routine. Of course my little ones in September will need to learn it! It's a very affluent school. It's in a nice neighborhood and I know the parents pay good money for their kids to go there! The playground is awesome! My kids have been longing to play on it for years whenever we have passed it. I feel very blessed to have landed this job so easily. The owner is very family-oriented. He's hired about 4 other members of the church because he can see the value we place on families too. He knew Erik was going to need some adjustment and that he could possibly be a distraction, which is why I'm subbing these couple of times. Erik didn't want to go to his own class at first, but when he saw the room, he was hooked! He barley looked at me when we were at the playground at first and his teacher said he was "wonderful"! He still has yet to eat the snack or lunch, he just drank the milk. I guess he'll always leave really hungry, or, one of these days he might try the food they provide!
