Field Tripping - It's a Verb

 I love my kids. 

I love them so much I go on all their field trips and volunteer all the time. 

I want to be near them. 

I like to have shared experiences with them. 

I like to be able to talk with them and this is the thing that sparks lots of conversations.

 I love my kids so much that I do the same field trips over and over again.

I've seen our town's wetlands, gone to County Envirothons,

and Philadelphia has nothing I haven't seen. 

But I love being with my kids, and we do talk.

So I think my plan is working.

Field Trip Season

It's just begun, well middle of May.  I love chaperoning them.  It's a great way to bond with my kids.  I love their teachers, their friends and so usually it's a good day.  We (both Travis and I) went to Rohrer's Quarry with Issac for 4th grade last week.  So much fun with both of us.

Then this week, I went to the Philadelphia Zoo with Kody.  What do you do in the Spring?

Survivor - On a Small Scale

A group of students in our school go on a series of field trips starting in 3rd or 4th grade.  Each year they go to Lancaster County Central Park, where they learn a series of outdoor and survival skills: edible plants, identifying water sources, building shelters, starting fires, using non-natural resources, etc...

This year Bella had the culminating fieldtrip where the kids had to prove they were paying attention and teams competed to finish all the tasks.  Seriously I was help making fire by rubbing two sticks together.  It had rained tons the day before and was sprinkling off and on that day.  Not conducive to fire building and as soon as we left our fire it went out.  It was insane, but tons of fun.

Hershey Chocolate Lab

Field trips are tons of fun.  The chocolate lab at Hershey is pretty cool.  The kids get to make their own chocolate creations. 

I'm just glad I'm lucky enough and that we've chosen to let me be a "stay at home mom".  I may never be at home, but I am almost always with at least one of my kids!

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)

In Breaking News:

1.  The birth control came in on Saturday, before I ran out.  Hooray.

2.  I am selling a big old bird cage and a children's train table with all the parts if anyone is interested in buying them or just one or the other.

3.  Manheim had Community Days at Pleasant View.  Bella danced - May 5.  Man she is a gorgeous angel of grace.  I'll never know where it came from, but she amazes me constantly.  The boys played on bounce castles, all rode the barrel wagons, we ate junk food and won free stuff.  It was a good day.

4.  Travis was home last week.  I finally am uploading some of the pics.  The kids riding bikes, Wyatt relearns riding a training wheel free bike.  Bella and Wyatt rock climb a dirt mountain from the builders.  Travis returns to Wyoming :(

5.  Bella has an orchestra concert, two field trips, and it was a crazy busy week this past week.  So busy that my mom came over to help me stay afloat.  Aren't moms great.  She also got to see the said orchestra concert, the boys play baseball - May 10, and me run a million miles a minute.

6.  In other news I am up to six kids.  Like being single mom to four kids isn't enough, I can't help but adopt all the strays.  Having been PTO president we had an influx of neighborhood kids this year at our house.  Two have stuck.  Without going into all the details, these two probably could benefit from a little extra TLC.  I've always wanted foster kids, who needs all the paperwork and home visits when you can just do it this way.  They are over every day, eat dinner with us at least three nights a week, and wait patiently for us in the backyard for us to return home when we have gone out.  I love these boys. 

7.  Mother's Day was a lot of fun and I acquired oodles of plants and some fresh flowers too.  See my own greenhouse.