Test Time

Danielle had her standardized tests this week. Tyler has his next week. I found this on the table today. I assume it was a project they did in class, but I think it's a cute idea. I know the teachers struggle to find that balance between wanting the kids to realize the importance of doing their best and not being overwhelmed by the pressure. This is really the first year that Tyler's test matter to him personally (rather than just the school or teacher). We'd like to be sure he is placed in a pre-algebra class next year, so getting a good score on the math test is kind of important. Of course, his grades are good enough we would request he be placed in there anyway, but it would be nice if we didn't have to.

Under "good at drawing" it says "but not good at drawing noses". :)

Jump!

My brother marked an item off his bucket list today: skydiving. I invited myself along to take pictures and cheer him on. He went with a group of people from our area that he met online. It looked like the people doing it had fun, but I have no desire to try it myself!

Happy Easter!

We colored Easter eggs after church Saturday evening.

 

 

We had a great time at Mamaw & Papaw's annual Easter egg hunt.

 

They are getting older! It seems like Tyler's grown a foot in the past year!

Today's Pics

Make Your Own Pizza Night

One of our favorite things to make on the grill is pizza, but we didn't have a chance to make any after Ron got a new smoker grill last year. He got a pizza stone for his grill for Christmas, and we finally used that tonight. If you haven't tried grilling pizza, I highly recommend it. When we made it on a gas grill, we grilled it directly on the grate. It turned out good, but it was even better on the pizza stone on his new grill. And, since it annoys me when people tell me my camera takes good pictures, I should probably give a little credit to the griller himself. Ron did a great job grilling our personal pizzas to perfection. :)

 

Such a Gift

Danielle and I went shopping after school today. We needed to return some clothes we ordered online and find a pair of sandals for her to wear with her new dress on Easter. Of course, our first stop was for a rare treat of Auntie Anne's.

We had the best time together. I wish I could explain it better than that, but I can't. I am so thankful that God allowed us to have both a son and a daughter. They are so different and my relationship with each of them is so different. Danielle is such a gift, and I am so blessed to be her mom.

Today's Pic

Spring?!

Woke up to this today. I won't lie, it was depressing. So ready for April rain showers and May flowers.

Play Ball!

Danielle had her first scrimmage yesterday for travel ball. Actually, they had 2 scrimmages. Her team has been practicing inside all winter, and honestly, it's gotten a little boring. I'm sure she's glad to be outside on a real field again. We are still over a month away from starting actual games. (She is also playing rec ball this summer, and those games will start a little sooner, although that team hasn't had any practices yet.) They are still waiting for their real uniforms, but she got her new bag yesterday. It's almost as big as she is, although I can tell she's grown since last season! They won both their scrimmages.

More Backyard Wildlife

Our neighbor found this in her yard this afternoon.

We went out together and poked it...and took pictures of it...and encouraged him to visit other neighbors instead. It might be a garter snake, but I'm leaning towards a brown snake. Since brown snakes don't bite and just eat bugs and grubs and such, I'm choosing to believe that's what it is.

I do prefer the bunnies.

Bunnies and Sunshine

We found these cute little babies in our backyard this afternoon. They were hiding between some logs and the electric box. They were gone when we looked for them later. Hopefully they are somewhere safe, away from curious dog noses!

The sun was glorious today. Too bad the neighbor's yappy dog wouldn't stop yapping in the 30 minutes I had to sit out back and bask in it. Clara enjoyed the sunshine with me. She didn't seem to mind the yapping.

Totally unrelated, but noteworthy: Tyler had a follow up doctor's appointment today. He has grown 1 1/4" in 1 month! Good thing it's about time to switch to shorts! His pants are all going to look that short anyway!

Today's Pic

Dog fun...

Today's Pic

Cleaned the house this weekend...

Spring Break Project Follow Up

We picked up our finished pottery pieces today. They turned out great!! (Excuse the glare.) The kids were pleased. I'm looking forward to putting them in the flower beds later this spring.

Happy April Fool's Day!

Ron is out of town and Danielle had a fundraiser over dinner, so I didn't do anything special for them this year. I did decide to have fun with the lunch at school today, though.

This was the menu board, minus the selppa. I must have been too excited to get the apples ready and forgot to include them on the board. I joked with Tyler & Danielle that only the smart kids would be able to figure it out and maybe they could help the less intelligent kids. Probably not very nice, but sadly it was true. One kid wanted to know why we would write the menu in Latin. And he was serious.

This was what I was most excited about, though: WORMS! I found a "recipe" for jello worms shortly after April Fool's last year. I saved the recipe and decided to try it on a large scale this year. I tried it at home, and they turned out perfect. They looked just like fake fishing worms. When I made them on a larger scale, for some reason the whipping cream (used to make them look a little cloudy) separated from the jello as they set. That caused the worms to come out two tone. I was pretty disappointed, but they turned out pretty good once they were all cupped up with the apples.

 

 

 

It was a lot of work to make 900 worms and cup those up into almost 200 servings, but it was worth it. The ladies I worked with enjoyed it, and the kids enjoyed it. There is one girl who comes through the lunch line that always looks depressed. In the 2 years she's been at my school, I don't think I've ever seen her smile. Today she looked at the wormy apples and laughed out loud. That made the effort worth it.