End of Year Madness - Oh My!

If you had doubts about my sanity before, well then let me assure you I am for sure insane currently.  Every mother feels a little frazzled at the end of the school year.  I am exactly one week away from the last half day of school; it's so close, but still unreachable or at least it feels that way.  So I just keep breaking it down to smaller chunks of time so I don't get overwhelmed.  Each morning, I repeat the mantra: "I just gotta survive today."  And it's been that way the whole month of May.  Here's what we've been up to:

Women's Club of Manheim Adopted a Block
Softball and Play practice galore
Softball games every Tuesday and Thursday
Math Night at Doe Run
Temple Trip to Washington DC
Graduation Parties (x3)
Cinco De Mayo Party
Celebrity Scoop Fundraiser
Board Meetings, Monthly Meetings and Presidency Meetings (WCM, PTO, Primary, Library, etc...)
- that's a whole lot of meetings if you get my drift
Weekly volunteering in the boys' classrooms
Spring Cleaning
Foster Care Training
Foster Care Recertification
Choir Concerts, Orchestra Concerts
First Grade Musical
Day Camp planning
Taxes finalized - ugghhh
Teacher Appreciation Week
Thank you gifts for officers (Order, prep, deliver)
Working at the School Store
4 Newspaper articles and photo shoots to Promo different events
Parental Visits galore
Lots of end-of-year Field Trips
Special Auxiliary Training
Middle School Book Fair
End of Year Carnival at the Elementary School
Dental visits
Many abandoned Book Clubs "Ain't nobody got time for that"
Relief Society Socials
End of Year Banquet
Order, Sort and Deliver Yearbooks (add a final sale for those who forgot to order originally)
Field Day Instruction
Scholarship Banquet
Activity Day and Scouts
Sporting Tournaments
Barnstormer Baseball Game
Memorial Day Picnic
Hiking
BBQ's
Planning, helping, and/or running fundraisers (Manheim Rock n' Glow 5K and RAINN em in)
Buying, making, sewing costumes for RAINN
Regular and Skype Assembly at the Middle School
Breakfast with Friends (a girl has to take a break every now and again)
Attend Bella's musical 3 out of 4 Show times
Run a mile fun run with younger kids, turn around and run a 5K with Bella
Clean Up Race starting at 11pm
Bake for a bake sale
Bake for end of year parties
Race a human powered horse for hours while eating and playing with friends

So that covers May through the end of the weekend June 2nd.  And next week...well I'll let you know how it went if I survive.  (Pictures to come)

Signing Autographs

I was at the kid's school today helping in Wyatt's class.  His teacher says to me, did you see the newspaper yet.  "No?!?!" 

And he asks "It's today, right?  Bella's story in the paper."

"Oh, yeah.  Today is Tuesday."  You see they had told me that my daughter had won third place in an essay contest among all the fourth graders.  I just sometimes forget things.  Okay a lot of things.

After walking down to Bella's class to drop off some stuff she had forgotten at home, I encountered her teacher.  The classroom was empty.  And she told me that Bella had taken on the role of celebrity at the school.  Each student had been given a newspaper, since a whole section had been devoted to Newspaper in Education, and as they received their paper, they would rush Bella asking for autographs.

Her teacher told me she was very humble and super gracious and kind, simply signing away.  Now don't get me wrong I love that she won 3rd place.  But I love even more that she is a level-headed girl.  Because to paraphrase Kathy Lee Gifford from the other day - I really never thought this day would come - Talent is something you are born with, character is something you build.  Congrats, Bell ba doo.  I think you have both talent and character.