Bang, What's Up With That Thing?

Our school has a rifle team.  Of course Isa joined.  She was amazing as always.  She's a little wonderful like that.  What doesn't come easily she is not afraid to work for.  They had an end of year parent/child shooting competition.  It was fun, Travis was better than me, neither of us were as good as we wanted to be.  Isabella impressed us ever more because of it.  Isn't life amazing?

It Wasn't That Miserable

Isabella killed it as a freshman this year.

She managed all honors courses,

about 15 extra curricular activities,

yay-that's not an exaggeration.

She maintained good grades.

Made new friends, stayed friends with many of the same ones.

She adjusted to new schedules at school and with seminary.

She worked longer days than most people gainfully employed.

And she did it with all the poise, confidence, and grace I could have ever hoped.

She has a certain joie de vivre that you have to see to believe.

She is so amazing.  And so was her first high school musical.

Pulling off Les Mis for your first musical is no joke.

But our school had the talent and chops to make it fabulous.

She did amazing and each night we were lucky to be supported by:

friends, family, ward members, community and class mates.

I hope her life is always filled with all the

energy and enthusiasm I've seen this year.

I love you BooBoo.

Band Mom

If I wasn't busy enough, I have now become a band mom. 

I've come to the conclusion if my child is in an activity than I am too. 

So now I serve french fries at our booster food stand at games,

I make alterations to the uniforms,

and I prepare snack bags for all the kids for after competitions. 

It's been fun. 

Band is different than anything we've done at our house,

but we are LOVING it!

106 bags of goodies

End of Year

It's the end of the year.  I have the same bittersweet feelings that accompany any ending or time of transition for me.  I just love my life and so each chapter closing fills me with sadness, the sands of time slipping away from me never to be recovered, but only remembered.  Likewise it is sweet as I anticipate the new beginnings and endless possibilities of the future.

Issac went to Kindergarten this year and flourished under the tutelage of an excellent Kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Durison-Stouch, who appreciated his every enthusiastic filled day and helped him to learn so much.  He has taken to school like a fish in water, more naturally than I could have anticipated.  This year they did this sheet.  It hung on his bedroom door all year.  But after a bout of croup this week and some serious humidifying of his room to prevent an ER trip, all the tape gave way.  I figured it was time to toss it anyway and so my picture journal of the kids school art continues to be recorded here for posterity. 

So I present - Issac (Kindergarten) age 5-6:

Issac you fill my life with unabashed joy.
Smile everyday for me and I will smile with you.

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.

Student Appreciation Day

Each year our school district's baseball team hosts a Student Appreciation Day.

Each child is given a coupon for one free drink, popcorn, cotton candy, and prize. 

 Every student gets an activity book and crayons. 

Aforementioned crayons ended up in my dryer, but we are not dwelling on that.

And you get to watch a baseball game, which for Issac is an interactive process as he stands behind the catcher's mound practicing swinging in time to every throw the pitcher makes.

And our family has a night of pure fun with free goodies. 

I love where we live!!!

Joining the MOB (Mothers of Barons)

"If" you were to be at middle school right below your house with your three sons riding bikes, when the youngest exclaims his urgent and pressing desire to relieve himself, you may suggest a tree. And after doing so, he may determine that he also needs to relieve himself in another way more suited for sitting down in one's own bathroom. At this point you would be faced with the decision to go home and do your business and return or use the schools. DO NOT USE THE SCHOOL'S BATHROOM!

Because if and when you follow the signs from the front door to use the gymnasium doors for after school hours and you see a propped open metal door where the gymnasium is and hear boys laughing and a ruckus type of noise, you may be just one door off from the gymnasium door.

And strictly hypothetically speaking, if your older son, who is 6, comes out and tells you it is not a bathroom or a locker room, you may not want to trust his judgement on that before you walk in a door you had been suspicious about. And after if you ask him why he told you it wasn't a bathroom or locker room, you'll learn that vocabulary really is important as he answers, "It was just a room where boys get changed for football or other sports." And that is when you might take the opportunity to tell him that is the definition of a locker room. Just Saying!

But these things would only be done after walking to the aforementioned door having an athletic coach pass your three young boys, size them up like a jungle cat assessing his prey and ask knowingly, "Are these future Barons?" The mascot of our highly skilled athletically inclined school district. "They look like they are going to be good team." And when you say yes, he'll have shouted, "Go, Barons!" while pumping his fist upward. But this is all just hypothetical conjecture, because can you imagine the shame of having walked in on a middle school boys locker room filled with boys right after a sports practice. Yeah, neither can I ;)