School's Out For Summer!!!!!

I love that song and we tend to sing it only at this time of year.  And whenever we do sing it, I picture the Chipmunks singing it in a video we use to play for the kids when they were little.  But it is such a powerful song as it signifies fun in the sun and sleeping in and relaxing and playing and doing whatever.  I love summer when there is really no deadlines, no homework, and no committments.  OK, there may be some committments, but nothing too pressing.  It is the best!

This afternoon I attended K's end of school party and it was a nice way to close out the year's events----with ice cream!!  It was a simple party and that was nice since we have been running all week.  M and J went too since they were both done.  J got some more signatures in her yearbook and M had a good time seeing old teachers and just hanging out.

What a year and now it is over.  On with the fun!

Another Moves On

So today is J's day as she graduated from 5th grade and moves on into middle school next year.  I can't believe she is done with elementary school and I will only have one left there.  (ok, no dwelling on that...let's keep going)  I pulled M and K from school so they could attend--T had finals so had to miss it.  We were happy that my hubby's parents could join us, too.

She looked so pretty in her dress and stood taller than most of the girls in her grade.  She looked so grown up to me today.  I guess that is how it should be, right?!  BTW, this was the very dress that M wore when she graduated from 5th grade.  Kind of cool, huh!

She was happy to have her teacher, Mrs. Moothart, at the ceremony as she has been on maternity leave since April.  We have such great teachers at this school.  And with this being the 3rd child to graduate from here, I have gotten a chance to know each teacher very well.  It is fun when one child gets the same teacher that an older sibling has had. (T had this same teacher---before she was married or had kids)

J also received a certificate for being on the AP Honor Roll for her good grades.  At the end of the program, the kids were asked to stand if they had participated in certain extra things at school.  J ended up standing for almost every one of them:  basketball, Landsharks running, choir, drama, District track meet, student council and being one of the few that have actually been in the school for the whole 6 years.

 WAY TO GO J!

(you're a 6th grader now)

Her Day To Shine!

WARNING:  The following is a "brag" post, so I wouldn't continue if you don't want to read about a mother gussing over her child! 


There is no doubt, that today belonged to M.  All her hard work and accomplishments were acknowledged today as we attended two events at the middle school today.

First off, this morning was her 8th grade "Continuation" ceremony.  Not graduation mind you-she is not graduating......she is continuing on into high school.  They made sure that everyone understood that concept.  As they called each of the kid's name, they walked from the side of the gym to the middle to get their certificate.  And as they walked, the teacher would mention any other awards that they also got.  We were so proud of her when they mentioned not one, not three, but FIVE other certificates she had earned.  They were still naming them off as she reached the center and she had to wait for them to finish talking before proceeding.  She received.....Perfect Attendance (with a medal too),  Superior Achievement in French, Outstanding Science Award,  Certificate of Excellence US History, and Top Student in Geometry.  WOW!  That is so totally awesome and we were so thrilled for her.  

There were a couple of former students who spoke as well as the choir singing and a slide show.  They also gave out trophies for Athlete of the Year to 2 boys and 2 girls for playing almost every sport they could.  Then came Student of the Year trophies.  There are 2 teams of teachers and M is on the B Team.  So each team picked a top girl and a top boy student for the year.  We figured M had a pretty good chance at getting it since she excels in academics and also plays sports and is an overall good girl.......and she did.  M was awarded the TOP STUDENT for her team.  Again, WOW!  She has worked hard and it is nice to see her efforts paying off for her.  Way to go M!!

Second event was the "All A's" ceremony that was held this evening.  We have been to these twice before because M is so awesome that she has been on the A Honor Roll in 6th and 7th grades.  But tonight was special because it also represented her being on the A's Honor Roll for all three years at the middle school.  Never had anything less than an A- EVER while at Horizon.  That is quite an accomplishment....only 5 of  the 8th graders this year did that.  So, fabulous job girl!!

She also had to pick a teacher and write something about how they have helped, encouraged, inspired them this year.  She picked Mr. Liddell, her Industrial Arts teacher and throwing coach in Track.  He is a great guy-someone that both my older kids have really looked up to.  We love him and hope that he sticks around for the other 2 kids to go through the school.

What a long day, but one full of great rewards as M leaves her middle school years and heads into high school next year. 

I can't believe I will have 2 in high school next year, but they will sure have a great time being there together I think. And now, we can officially call this day OVER!!! 

 

Never Miss It!

We love living here as we get the opportunity to see jets fly over our house almost daily.  Having so many Air Force bases nearby, there is always something to see.  And of course, the Air Force Academy and their graduation ceremony every year brings in the Thunderbirds to do their awesome flyover show. 

We always grab some lunch and whoever can go with us, we head out to watch the show from a field across from the stadium.  We love it when they fly over the top of us and we hear the roar of their engines.  There is nothing that compares to it.

It seemed like a shorter show this year and so we were bummed about that, but we loved seeing them again this year.  Maybe one of these years we will see it from the actual stadium--that would be unbelievable.

Silly FHE

We have been hanging on to these since Easter when the kids got them in their Easter baskets. 

There was a time when K would ask every night if we could have our silly string fight.  She gave up after  about a hundred, so she was thrilled when we said it was time for the big fight.  We always have a blast, even Duke gets in on the action.  This time, he got a mouthful and wasn't quite sure what to do about that.

Thank goodness the weather is finally decent so we can enjoy Family Home Evenings outside now.  Let the summer fun begin!

The First Camp of the Season!

It was opening weekend for Rampart Reservoir, so of course, we had to be there.  We went up last night with some friends and had a blast.....even despite the wind.  In fact, we were having so much fun that we decided we would stay an extra night and be home in time for church.  We were so excited to add that time away, but after being up all night because the wind was blowing soooooooooo hard, we opted out of that and came home as originally planned---tonight.  Besides, our friend's tent broke in the middle of the night from the wind so they wouldn't have been able to stay anyway.  It was quite comical to watch us trying to take down the tents and fold them up with the wind blowing....T had to stop helping and play with the rain fly of one of the tents. I seriously thought there was a chance he would take flight--it was blowing that hard.

It was a gorgeous day Saturday (even despite the wind) and we had a blast playing at the lake.....

fishing....... (the boys caught 4 and they were big ones)

throwing sticks for the dogs........

and even the "injury" wasn't going to put a damper on the fun.........(and man did it sting!)

My Eagle scout patched me up good as new.  What a wonderful son!!

It was so fun to watch those dogs.  Our dog loves the water and will go after sticks any time you throw one.  But this year, he would jump in the water just to take a swim.  Something else new for him....he would stand next to my hubby and watch him fish.  He would keep his eye on the lake and where his line was.  It seemed he was ready to pounce whenever a fish was caught.  And he was right there when my hubby snagged this one. He wanted to help T get it in the net (or did he want to eat it???)

It was very funny when both dogs wanted the same stick and they would race out to see who got there first. They were both so exhausted by the end of the day, that they both slept the whole way home in the cars.  We all were tired and were glad to be home to sleep in our own beds, but we sure had a blast and are anxious to go again soon.  This is going to be a great summer!!

I'm Feeling It!

Do I dare say that summer is finally here?????  It is suppose to be beautiful and hot this weekend and I can hardly wait.  I am so tired of the cold, dreary days that seem to have lingered far too long this year.  Hey, don't get my wrong....I love the rain too...but this is a bit extreme if you ask me.  So because the weather is gorgeous and school is almost out and vacation is just around the corner, I have changed my blog to get me ready for this awesome summer that we are going to have.

So dig out those shorts, throw on those flip flops and get out and, as Sheryl Crowe puts it.......

 "soak up the sun!" 

Normal with a Dash of Unusual

This week has been so  busy and it is only Wednesday, but the kids have had some fun things happening at school that I couldn't help but blog.  It will be nice to have this weekend for  family "getaway" time before heading into the last week of school. This will be a lengthy post since I have decided to combine all the events into one entry.  So hold on and enjoy the ride!

We started this week with the 86th birthday party of my father-in-law.  It was a nice family dinner with ALL of my hubby's siblings here to help celebrate.  It was nice to see his sister and her husband come from Utah for the weekend.  I also was finally able to see a niece and her new baby.  They live in Utah as well and the baby is already 6 months old.  She was named the same as my youngest, so K has always thought that was just way too cool.  I meant to get a picture of both K's together...good thing Em did.  Anyway, we had a nice time visiting and having the cousins play.

The 2 K's

J was chosen again this year to participate in the District 49 Track Meet.  It is for 4th and 5th grades from all the schools in the district.  The kids have to try out and then the PE teacher picks who will compete in which event.  It was a nice day for it considering that our weather has been a little on the crazy side these days.  It was held at the high school near our home so the kids walked to the track.  This year J did the 4X100 Relay again and tried her hand at the Long Jump.  She jumped 9 feet 3 inches. For the relay, we have some very fast girls in 5th grade, J being one of them.  They placed 1st in their heat and went on to the finals.  Their fastest girl hurt her ankle so another girl was put in her place to run in the final.  She is fast too and was quite bummed when she wasn't chosen to run in an event.  So she was very happy to run and they did fantastic, placing 2nd by a hair!!!  I was not at the finish line since I was taking pictures of J handing off to the last runner, but the teachers from our school were and they said it was pretty close to a tie but that our girl was first.  But the guy in charge (not from either 2 schools) gave it to the other school.  That is okay--the girls did so great.

Now let's throw in some "unusual"----this was spotted going over a wall in my neighborhood on Monday...

Yes, that is a BLACK BEAR and yes it ended up at the high school's soccer field around the time school started.  Not sure what happened to it cuz I can't seem to find anything in the news about it, but it was definitely a bear and it was not far from my house.  I didn't see it, but the secretary at the elementary saw it on her way to school and took this picture of it. Crazy!!

Monday night as we were having FHE, all of a sudden we saw flashes and heard thunder and then rain and then hail......

Can we stop already with the bad weather--when is summer going to come around?  It lasted only about 30 minutes, but still.

Also, as I was driving home from seminary on Tuesday I saw this flying by......

A HERON.....I have never seen one of these in this area before and it looked quite bizarre flying in the cloudy, foggy early morning hours.  It perched on a roof peak of a house and I so wish I had my camera to capture his "largeness".

Now, back to the normal.......Field Days!  Yes, that is plural.  They divide up the grades and split them into two days so it is more manageable.  And my girls just happen to be far enough apart in their grades that they fall on different days.  I have done it when they were on the same day and I had to keep going back and forth to see them in their events and take pictures.  That was back when K was a toddler and so I had to keep track of her as well, so it was much harder.  Now, I get to spend 2 mornings out in the beautiful sun and I can just walk with one class.  However, K's field day was foggy and the ground was wet from the rainstorm the night before.  But the kids still had a great time and it ended up burning off and getting a bit warmer as the morning wore on. Now the next day for J's field day it was nice and sunny and the rain held off until after lunch-thank goodness.

K's Field Day

J's Field Day

Also, T had his Track Banquet where he "lettered".  He was so totally thrilled that he finally did it after only 2 seasons.  You have to go to so many varsity meets and throw well to get enough points to letter.  Since he qualified for districts last weekend, that put him over---Hurray! He also was voted Most Improved and got a trophy.  He really did a fantastic job this season.   He now has a sports letter to go with his academic letter he earned last semester for a 3.5 GPA or higher.  I didn't post about that, but after that assembly, we bought him his lettermans jacket and surprised him with it later that night.  He was thrilled and couldn't wait to get everything sewn on to it and his name put on the back.  He loves it and I must say that he looks very sharp in it.  To go along with that letter, he got 2 pins.  Good Job T!

To end with.......I had to take a picture of Pikes Peak Tuesday morning as it looked like it was floating in the clouds.  I am sure this storm dumped a ton of snow in the mountains.  More storms to come this week too.