It was the end of school. It was the beginning of summer.

249. Soccer. This is what happens when you are goalie and your team is good. You have to occupy yourself somehow! I love the picture of him talking with the fans.


and this is my favorite picture from the last day of soccer for the season. They let them play in the rain! This is Lou's half time.



250. Opera camp for a shelter. The local opera company did a camp for kids at a local shelter. They asked any kids that had gone to camp last summer to come and help sing. So - Sue and Lou showed up with three other kids. They had a great time. My favorite was the actor who played both the stepmother and the prince. With a beard.

251. Very last end of school stuff! Class picnics - check! Awards assembly - Check! Final final of everything at school - check! Report cards home - check! (Watch out Krispy Kreme!) Movies with friends to celebrate the beginning of summer - check! Some of the back packs cleaned out and resulting tonnage taken out with the recycling - check! Whew! And SCHOOL'S OUT FOR THE SUMMER!

Now the process of scanning in everything begins! Digital is awesome for the stuff you aren't going to want - but can't bring yourself to get rid of quite yet.

252. Memorial Day weekend. We took Friday and Saturday and went camping. Took a couple of friends. Great fun. Caught catfish. Swam in the lake. Went canoeing. Drank more soda pop than Mom will let us have in a year! (Thanks Dad!) Came back tired and happy.

After we got home we unloaded, cleaned fish, and the girls and Dad went to mow a lawn. Then we all went to the pool for an hour to cool off. When we got back and everyone had showered, Mr. C sat down. He said, "It feels early to go to bed, but I'm tired! So he went up and fell asleep just as soon as his head hit the pillow. Lou just laid on the couch with her eyes open. I'm not sure if she was awake or asleep.

253. Happy extended family news! Just as we were getting ready to leave on our campout - the final worms were being dug, the bug spray was being found - the phone rang. It was Mr. C's parents. Their mission call had come! They are off to see my aunt and uncle at the Family History Center in SLC! They will be there later this year! It seems the perfect mission for them. They know so much about everything you'd ever want to know about geneology. We know they will help lots of people with their family stories. Serving people as they find their stories will touch hearts. And those hearts will soften toward the church through their service. Congratulations, Grandma and Grandpa!

254. Look Mom, no training wheels! Mr. C threw in the younger kids bikes when we went camping. He took the S-Train's training wheels off. A very patient friend walked him around on it while we were setting up the tent. And - Voila! Second try and he is up and riding! I'm so in awe of my children's ability to learn to ride bikes. Almost always it's their first day out and they are doing great.

Once the S-Train knew he could ride he spent the rest of the camp out ignoring the fish in favor of the bike. His legs showed the effort he was making to learn this new skill. Lots of falls. Lots of frustrated growling. Lots of picking ourselves up and starting all over again. Lots of big glowing smiles and asking, "Mom, do you think I'm good at bike riding?" Darling, you're fabulous.

255. Protection from fish. I don't fish. I don't like to clean fish. So - When Mr. C was cleaning the 4 or 5 fish we caught, the kids came in and told me. "Mom, you don't want to go down there. It's gross." They are tough. I am apparently a delicate flower they need to protect. If I get out of fish cleaning, I'm all right with that.

256. Chance encounters at the jail. As a last hurrah to the fabulous weekend we took the kids up to Liberty Jail on Monday. Sad but true, we haven't taken them since we've been here. We decided to remedy that situation. Some people came in on the tail end of our group looking at the jail. They were all in yellow and green (even the cute baby!). It turns out that grandma and grandpa were up here from Brazil visiting a new grand baby! They live in what was Mr. C's mission. They didn't know each other, but they new some of the same people. Mr. C did an impressive job of pulling out the 20yr old Portuguese and communicating. Portuguese was spoken, and a good time was had by all. It was very cool. It's fun to watch our Heavenly Father bring people together to give them spiritual experiences.

How was your Memorial Day? Are you ready for summer?

Watch Out! It's a Funny World in there!

247. Help! There is a great group of sixth graders who are crossing guards for the half-day kindergartners. (I think they enjoy getting out of class.) Today's group was especially enthusiastic. They love to run and try to shut our van door. (not automatic, requires muscle strength unneeded on car doors for the last 10 years.) They did a big happy dance today when they got it on the first try. I always clap for them when they get it shut. Fun group.

248. Sneak Attack! Today we have a new installment in the never ending list of - who is the S-Train today? Today we are. . . A LIBRARY NINJA! (courtesy of the show Jacob Two Two) Dressed in patriotic pajamas with a laminated library card (the S-Train invented laminating with clear tape) the S-Train Library Ninja makes sure that overdue books are taken back on time. (So we really need him around here!) He also helps make sure people don't color in their library books.

Gear includes: Laminated Library card - scans books to see if they are overdue, gets you into the library ninja lab.

Laptop - looks like a piece of cardboard, but has everything a real computer does. Plus, you can carry it around.

Cell phone - Keeps you up to date on the latest library emergency. Helps all the library ninjas keep in touch. Plus, shoots laser beams.

Belt Buckle - Can be put on any belt. Comes with the initials NU for Ninj-Uh.

Can we never grow up? Please?

Fun night at school

246. Cool Videos. They made a cool video of the BBQ for Mason that we had at science night. Susan did a great job. You can find it HERE. You have to sign in to facebook to watch. It's an awesome video! So much love going out! (The S-Train watching water rockets will be another favorite thing when I get pictures! There are a couple on the video.)

Unexpected surprises

245. Blue Tongues. One minute you're sucking on a lollipop. The next minute someone says, "Hey! Your tongue is blue!" It's always fun while they last. (They were smiling right before I took the picture!)

Practice?

244. Practicing? I had the biggest laugh yesterday when I got home from picking the kids up from school. The oldest was apparently attempting to practice the piano. Or read. Or both.

I needed a good laugh.

Mega-Update post

It's about time I got back to this blog. I'm falling behind my goal of one a day for the year. So - here are a few things that have been going on while I've been out of the loop.

234. Concerts. The oldest has had - solo and ensemble for district and state, a band concert, junior festival, and a piano recital. She has one more piano performance for judges next week. Sue has had a choir concert and tour, a strings concert, and a strings group tour. Lou has had a strings group concert and a regular strings concert. The S-Train has had a kindergarten program to sing to parents. Lots of concerts. They have all done very well.
I love going to these. They feel like the pay off for the kids' hard work. It's fun to realize how well they are doing and how far they have come in a year.

235. Camp. Sue and Mr. C just got back from three days of camping with her class. They had such a fun time. Sue loved the food. Mr. C was in charge of the canoes. The kids weren't supposed to take the canoes past the bridge on the lake. They asked if they could anyway. Apparently his answer was, "No. There are trolls under the bridge." They loooooked at him.

236. PTA. It has been fun and it is almost over for the year! I think next year needs to be a little calmer. We have such great ladies there. A child in third grade was recently diagnosed with cancer. He is currently at St. Jude's. It has been neat to watch the community rally around.

237. Sue and her bake set. She saw it at the book fair and had to have it! She is having such fun with it. She's made mini mini muffins twice already. She loves cooking and we are glad to let her have at it!

238. Lawn Mowing. The girls have been mowing a neighbor's yard. Sue stayed inside while Mr. C and Lou started. She wanted to finish her mini muffins. Since Lou did a lot more of the yard she got paid more. She liked that! She said she's learning about having a business. That you have to keep doing it.

239. Walking home with the S-Train. We had a great walk home from school the other day. It was just the two of us, so we could take our time. We played tic tac toe in the sand and watched the cutest baby birds getting fed in a birdhouse nest. Then, as we are walking by an overgrown yard the S-Train surprised me. "Fescue!" he said. "Fescue?" Mr. C had told him the kind of grass and he remembered! We had this whole discussion about how wheat was a kind of grass...

240. Our Cat. Sleeps on its back.

241. Our Garage. Has recently been invaded by a raccoon. He pulled the nearly empty cat food bag through the cat door into the back yard. Also ripped a new bag trying to get into it. I saw him coming into the garage and slid the cat door closed after he ran away. Hopefully he'll find another home for food. On another note, our car apparently smells like wet dog when it is wet. On the outside. I'm wondering if that raccoon tried to mark his territory. . .

242. Home repairs are getting done. Hurray for tax returns! The washer decided the trap under the ground - that we knew was giving out - was done. So we got that fixed. And the next round of windows are on order! Yea! Progress!

243. Mothers' Day flowers. Aren't they pretty? I got two vases full of irises and daisies! The irises came out of our neighbor's yard. They told Mr. C to come and cut a whole bunch. They had too many. The daisies are from our yard. The flowers were so pretty we took them to church to share.

Anyway, that's enough of a mega post update. More later!

Keeping up with the End of the Year craziness!

Hopefully we are near the end of the crazy busyness and back to normal busyness.

226. The Oldest is enjoying being busy. She says, "There's something to do every night! We're never at home bored!" I know I felt the same way when I was her age. Enthusiastic, ready to bounce to the next thing, and not at all bored. - There wasn't time! She's looking forward to a June packed with activity.

227. The Oldest and her quintet got a I (one) at both district and state solo and ensemble competition! If you haven't heard about their quintet - it's unique. They don't fit into any normal category. There is one baritone (oldest), one french horn, a bassoon, and two clarinets. They couldn't find music for the longest time. They would ask band teachers for music and the teachers would say, "For that combination? . . . Sorry." Finally a step-mom/band teacher gave them some low brass quintet music to try. It worked! And so they went on. They kept coming over to practice, and it was great fun. The Oldest also played a solo at district and got a II (two).

The group began as a quartet. One of the girls (N) was telling someone about her quartet that got a one at state! Then she named the people in her group. The other person said, "Isn't that five people."
And then she got teased. "Guess how many people are in N's quartet?. . . five."

(Oh I can so see myself doing that! One slip of the tongue. . . )

228. Mr. C is enjoying taking kids to soccer games!

229. The kids are enjoying getting paid for stuff. Last year's sugar challenge, dandelions, mowing the neighbor's lawn. We are enjoying them paying for their own stuff.

230. Lou had a fourth grade strings ensemble concert. They sound amazing for 4th grade.

231. Giggling at the scriptures. I was reading a little in the old testament the other night and I started giggling. The girls wanted to know what I was giggling about. Well. . .

In Numbers everyone is complaining to Moses about what they have to eat. (Numbers 11: 4-5) Nothing but manna miraculously sent from heaven in the middle of the hostile desert. They say - "Who will give us flesh to eat?" And they remember that in Egypt they had fish and cucumbers and melons and leeks and onions and garlick. (It actually lists all those things.) Of course, if I'd eaten nothing but manna for years and years and I remembered all the other kinds of food there were, I might do the same thing. (As the veggie tales song goes - "it's filling, but bland!")

Anyway, Moses is fed up, and talks to the Lord and says, "Why me? Do you really hate me so much that I have to deal with these people? Why are they my job? They aren't even my kids! I feel like you want me to carry babies to the promised land. And, where am I going to get them flesh to eat anyway? I can't do this. Instead of making me deal with all these complainers, if you really like me, just kill me now. Please." (Numbers 11:11-15)

So the Lord says,"I will help you out. I'll give you help from others in your group. And about the food, tell them," "the Lord will give you flesh, and ye shall eat." You won't eat for one day, or five days, or ten days, or twenty days. You'll have flesh to eat for a month! Until you're so sick of it that it comes out your nose! That'll teach you to complain about coming out of Egypt!" (Num 11:16-20) It sounds much nicer in the King James English, but that's what it means.

Moses wonders how on earth that's really going to happen this far out. And the Lord says, "You think I can't do it? You just wait and see." (Num 11:21-23)

So then Moses talks to his leaders and lots of people run around prophesying and in verses 31-33 they get all the quail they can eat, piled up two feet deep for a day's journey on each side.

Anyway, Moses' speech to the Lord just cracked me up.

232. The S-Train is cleaning like crazy! He has taken a personal interest in making sure the table is clear and things are picked up. I think he figured out that this is something that makes his mom happy. I am happy to encourage such industry!

233. Mothers' Day. The S-Train keeps hinting at a great surprise. In Primary they asked the kids about what they had done for their mothers. The S-Train was so excited to tell about how they had made me breakfast in bed. Mothers' Day memories are sometimes as much for the kid as the parent!

The primary children were practicing "I Often Go Walking." Sniff. Sniff. I'll be a puddle next week!