Reenact the Battle of Bunker HIll - 5th Grade Style

Last week of school fun...so the whole fifth grade is assigned to be either the Colonists or the British and they must wear their color - red or blue on the next to last day of school.  They are then given wet sponges as ammo.  You can tell who has been hit and must be dead.  The battle continues and the teachers make sure to keep it historical accurate when 5th grade competitiveness may sometimes lead to a rewriting.  I bet the kids remember this lesson for a long time.  Plus it's tons of fun to watch.  And yes we even have our own drummers.  Our school is awesome!

Music Maker

Remember that time for music class you had to make a musical instrument?

Well I don't know that I remember doing this either, but Wyatt had too.

And although many kids did maracas, drums, or cereal box guitars...

Wyatt had to go and make a pipe instrument with PVC.

The end was beautiful and worked pretty well.

It's just in his nature to go big on creative projects.

Plus it's a great bonding time for Travis and him while doing.

It goes without saying, but I'll do it anyway, that he got a 100% on the project.

 Sorry there are not finished project pictures.

Playing and Partying

Bella and Wyatt just finished their last debut in iStage's, Shrek Jr.  Bella participated in this her third year and finally was successful in talking Wyatt into doing it.  Turns out...he loved it, plans to return next year.  I may have even been recruited to help with the music next year.  Hmmm.

After four great shows, Wyatt's parts were the same for all four: Baby Ogre and Little Dwarf and Bella alternating Young Fiona and deer, they had a cast party.  I help chaperoned and it was quite the learning experience into the teen brain/world, but mostly fun.

Man I can't believe how these kids keep growing, even if it isn't so much vertically.

Blah, Blah, Blah - This is What We Do

I may not love mornings...

or more accurately not sleeping,

but if you have to be up -

I guess a good sunrise is the way to do it.

Found a belated Mother's Day paper in Issac's backpack.

It's close enough and fairly flattering.

I'll take it.

Bella may be pint sized, but girl is strong.

She lifted this 50 lb bag of rice up from the basement.

I actually sent her down for a 10 lb. bag.

Travis and I suspect Issac may be rich.

Dude is not afraid of a little hard work.

So if his siblings have tablets and he doesn't...

but he wants one, he is not afraid to earn it.

Thanks to our neighbor who was changing,

he got a screamin' deal.

Look at that happy boy!

Likewise Kody is now feeling left out.

It didn't help when Issac won this learning Geo Safari laptop.

But alas, he sold it to Kody for $5...

 the last of the money he needed to buy the tablet.

And ironically Wyatt may play it the most!

 

All is well that ends well.

We are doing okay!



Run, Run As Fast As You Can

Running wasn't my thing.  I swear it wasn't.  But it did drop the pounds every time I did it. Then it became an outlet, a constant steadying ritual of my day.  Then it became addictive.  Then it became a lifestyle choice; one that I happily am passing down to my kids.

So I bring you Marathon Clubs, Rock N' Glow 5K's, Race for Education and other assorted running events that some or all of my kids have been participating in this past month.  I'm happy it's something we do together.  I'm happy they love the thing I love.

Philly Field Trip

Boys, boys, boys.  I had three boys - my son, his best friend and a brand new buddy this year.  It turns out I have known his mom for years, but didn't ever make the connection of mother to son until during the field trip.  We hit some of the old stand by favorites and classics like The Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, The Benjamin Franklin Museum (not to be confused with the Franklin Institute - which is awesome).  I did some new things too, which was a nice surprise.  I hit Elfreth's Alley, National Constitution Center and Union Fire Company - the first Fire Company in America as well as the United States Mint.

It's amazing that I have been to Philadelphia seriously no fewer than 30 times and I am still finding new stuff and tons of history I didn't know or haven't visited yet.  And I still have a list of things I would like to see, topping the charts is the Federal Reserve.  But there is never enough time.  And since I had little boys, we also ran around the city looking at graffiti, homeless people and leap-frogging over the metal posts and being chased by the gaggle of girls who loved the boys in my group. 

It was a good day.  His happy smiles are enough to make me love whatever we are doing!

This little chess lover and B. Franklin follower was so excited to be this close to his chess set.

Elfreth's Alley - the longest continuously lived on street over 300 years of history.  Several are for sale and not that expensive.  Would have loved to see some insides!

He couldn't help but be compelled to obey.

Camping ?!?!

Yes our family loves camping.  And not the camper style camping, although that's fun too, but the tent and sleeping bags, cooking over fire living in the woods style camping.  Some people like to camp but need to do it for a week to make it worth all the packing.  But I think that is where our family is different.

There's a bit of survivalist or fundamentalist that we can easily revert back to.  Sleep, eat and water it up and we are fine.  So we can escape for a weekend easily with a tent, sleeping bags, loads of junk food (hot dogs and s'more supplies) and a case of bottled water.

Travis took the boys for their first camp of the season.  I thought I would love them being gone and I did, but I also felt like I was missing out.  Good thing there are many camping trips in our future this summer (here's hoping - anyway).

It's Finally Warm

So Spring was a fleeting thought this year as, the assumed months, have jumped clear into the hot months of summer.  It's been filled with lots of great time in the sprinklers and friends' pools since our community pool didn't open until Memorial Day.