Today's Pic

Mother Nature's dust bunnies

Made It!

We made it through another year of school! I have to say that this was probably the best year yet for both kids. They will both be heading to new buildings next year. Tyler will be moving into the Jr. High (with me!) and Danielle will be moving into middle school. I think they were both a little sad about being done. That is saying quite a bit for Tyler!

At Danielle's school they have a "clap out" for the 4th graders. All the kids and students line the hall and clap for the 4th graders as they walk the halls one last time. Danielle enjoyed getting one last hug from all her previous teachers. The clap out continued outside past all the parents, and then the kids were released. It's a nice tradition. (It was wacky hair day. Danielle's wackiness consisted of putting a single braid in her hair. She didn't want to detract from the dress.)

After school we had our traditional end of school water balloon fight. We missed it last year because of my job, but I had things under control a little better this year and managed to pull it off. Well, actually, I couldn't have done it this year without Ron. I stayed up late last night and filled 110 water balloons. Ron was going to finish another 50 for me today. When Ron went to fill the final 50, he found that all but 13 balloons had popped!! So, he hurriedly filled 150 balloons while I finished up at work. The kids didn't think we were going to do water balloons, so they were excited when they walked in the door and found this.

We had a lot of fun attacking each other. I have a few observations this year: The kids are now old enough to understand that working together to reach a common goal can be very successful, especially when that common goal is to soak Mom. Tyler throws a lot harder than he used to. Danielle plays too much softball. She attempted to catch almost every balloon so she could throw it back at me or Tyler. She was pretty successful at it, too! We had a really good time. We finished off our celebration with dinner out at our favorite Mexican place and a movie at home. I'm looking forward to a great summer with Tyler & Danielle!!

 

 

Zoo

Danielle and I went to the zoo after school one day last week while Tyler was at a party for his enrichment class. Our zoo opened a new section featuring animals from Africa. We only had an hour to spend before it closed, but we only had one goal - to feed the giraffe. Sadly...

At least we could see giraffe in the distance. We haven't had them at our zoo for a very long time. Since we couldn't feed the giraffe, we fed ourselves and shared a funnel cake. A daughter is good company.

Today's Pic

School Play

Danielle was in the school play again this year. She was on stage a lot more and she did speak, but she didn't have her own lines. They did the play Aladdin and she was a storyteller. She was really happy to be involved in it, and she had a good time. Personally, I am thrilled that practices are over now!

 

A Soggy Parade

Today was the official kick off of our town's baseball & softball season. It always starts with a parade, and today's parade was unforgettable.

Our morning started ok...

Decorating the float

Our team banner. I was the photographer & Ron was the graphic designer.

but then it started to hail.

 

 

The hail stopped but the rain kept coming.

Too wet to care about throwing candy. 

Dad to the rescue with an umbrella.

Danielle didn't throw any of her candy because her hands were freezing and she was too busy trying to huddle under the umbrella with her friends. It didn't really matter, though. Most of the candy I saw was floating in the deep puddles and streams running down the sides of the streets.

The rain stopped just as the parade finished up and the teams headed to the outfield for the opening ceremonies. Thankfully the rain held off long enough for our friends' daughter to be crowned Little League Queen and for the prizes to be raffled off (we won bleacher seats!).

The coach bought the girls hot chocolate to warm them up. It was only in the 40s this morning.

It started to pour again just as the opening pitches were thrown. We went home, changed out of our wet clothes, snuggled under the blankets, and watched some movies since our afternoon softball game and evening scrimmage were cancelled. Definitely a memorable opening day.

Our Camper

Ready for camp Wednesday morning.

Tyler made it home safely from 6th grade camp. He was exhausted and his clothes were a muddy mess, but he had a good time. Tyler would much rather spend his time with the computer than a group of people, especially when there's no way to get some time by himself, and he has never been one to enjoy songs and games, so it was a rather big deal that he not only tolerated camp but actually enjoyed it. I got a lot of details on the way home from the school, but he was too tired to say much about it the rest of the night. I'm sure we'll continue to get bits and pieces over the next several days. While they were there, there was a tornado warning and they had to spend some time huddled in a basement. God answered our prayers (and those of several other parents, I'm sure) and kept everyone safe. I'm glad he had fun, but it's good to have him home.

Softball Past

While looking for another picture at some point during the past two weeks, I ran across a couple pictures of Danielle playing softball when she was younger. I love these 2 pictures.

During softball practice tonight I talked to a mom of a sophomore who was telling me all about how to market your child to colleges and that you have to start thinking seriously about it when they are around 13. By the time they are freshmen or sophomores, they should be playing in tournaments marketed to college recruiters so they can start getting & making commitments. This mom was so serious about giving us advice (unsolicited advice, I might add). I watched her daughter crank the ball out a few times and she could really hit; however, she was mad at her dad for making her practice because she had just finished playing in a game and had a school project to work on. She did not look happy. It might have just been a bad night, but I couldn't help think of these happy, smiling pictures of Danielle doing something that makes her happy. I would love for our children to get scholarships and not have to worry about paying for college, but not at any cost. I just want them to do what they enjoy while they are young enough to get away with it. As long as she keeps smiling, we'll spend our summers on the softball fields.

Play Ball!

Danielle's first rec game of the season was last night. She had a lot of fun, and they won, which always makes it that much more fun! Opening day for her travel team is next Monday.

Last Concert of the Year

Tyler had his last middle school band concert last night. He did a great job. He is still the only trumpet player you can hear most of the time. His teacher told me once that he doesn't think Tyler realizes how much he needs him to be in band...since he's the only trumpet player that actually plays. And most of the time he plays well!

Most of the 6th graders (about 180 students) from Tyler's school are leaving for 6th grade camp tomorrow and will be gone 3 days/2 nights. He's stayed with grandma and grandpa for much longer than that, but I've been able to have contact with him...and he was with people who loved him as much as I do. This is very different. I hope he has a wonderful time, but I will miss him. They are staying in cabins in a wooded area, and we are supposed to have strong storms move through tomorrow night. Please pray for good weather, or at least for safety during the bad weather.

Happy Mother's Day

I had a very nice Mother's Day.

I am thankful to be able to celebrate Mother's Day with my mom. We met for lunch and then enjoyed a walk at the park.

Ron and the kids did a nice job making my day special. The kids picked out some hanging baskets of flowers they thought hummingbirds would like and surprised me with those. They are so big that I need to get stronger shepherd's hooks to hang them! I don't have a very good track record with hanging baskets, and these are so pretty. I hope I don't kill them too quickly!

Danielle made me this sweet paper at school. It was in a stack of school papers she gave me to look at earlier this week, and there were tears when she realized I saw it early. It doesn't matter to me what day I read it, though, it was special to me because she put a lot of thought into it. I also got sweet cards from both kids.

Once again, it was a good day to be Mom.

Recorder Concert

Danielle had a recorder concert last Thursday but I haven't been feeling well and haven't had a chance to post anything. Well, the wait is over. I'm even including a video so everyone can enjoy the melodic sounds of a hundred well played recorders. You're welcome.

Not a lot of diversity, is there? :)

There was also a Language Arts Fair afterward, displaying the students' work. This one is one of my favorites. The kids had to pick a famous person to make a poster about. They had to cut a hole out and stick their head in the poster while giving their presentation to the class. Although I think it's a rather odd way to give a presentation, I think Danielle's poster turned out really cute.