The Last Days of School

The last couple of weeks of school is always crazy, but lots of fun.....and this year did not disappoint.

Field Day is now down to just one...K!  I am happy to get to spend the whole time with her and her class instead of going back and forth between classes.  It was held on a day that was suppose to be rainy....and it was.  The kids were out for about an hour before it started to rain and they were ushered into the gym.  We stayed there for about 30 minutes before they decided that it was not going to let up and they would reschedule for another day.

Here is K on the last day of school with her teacher, Mrs. Abeyta.  She is the 3rd child to have this teacher for 3rd grade and so we know her pretty well.  K loved having her.

Also came awards......

M was honored at a special Athletics Banquet for playing in 3 sports in one year.  Which means she was always playing a sport cuz the seasons overlapped.  But she liked them all and will continue to play 2 of them over the summer.  She is one busy gal...add straight A's on to that and she is awesome!

J was also honored with "Perfect Attendance" for her first year in middle school as well as being on the A/B Honor Roll with all A's and B's for the year......complete with medals which she thought was the coolest thing......way to go girl!

There was the school Luau which is always a hit....even if we walked to the school in the rain and were drenched by the time we got there.

Add T's awesome grades (especially having 4 AP classes) and his score of 25 on the ACT, our kids all had a fabulous year......now on to summer!!

EIGHTY SEVEN!

This past weekend we helped my father-in-law celebrate his 87th birthday.  All my hubby's brothers and sisters were able to get together for a celebratory dinner, complete with cake and ice cream.

He has been through a lot of health problems the last several years and so we were all very happy to be able to spent some time together chatting and laughing and enjoying each other's company.  Unfortunately these  were the only pix I got of the party.  I usually get the grandkids behind granddaddy and then I get all the siblings since they are not always together and then everyone together.  But he was not up for all of that, so I settled for this one of him behind his cake as my mother-in-law was cutting it.  We love you Del!

Happy Birthday!

Sharp Dressed Man

I can't get over how good my son looks in his JROTC uniform.......just sayin!
Here are the two men in my life walking side by side......I say "men" because T is growing up so fast and really is a fine young man!

T had his annual Awards Dinner over Mother's Day weekend.  Which was great because my parents were able to be here and see first hand their awesome grandson!

It was held at the Falcon Club at the Air Force Academy as it was last year.  Same dinner, but a really good dinner as always.  We took M this year too...she was so excited to go. She adores her brother!

There are always a ton of awards to give out and so it is a long evening.  Last year, most of the awards were for 3rd and 4th years, so we figured that this year would be T's year to really rake in the honors (He is a 3rd yr)  But with each awards read, they had changed the requirements to include 2nd year, which most of the awards went to.  Let's just say that the military is VERY political, so JROTC is no different (brown-nosing is necessary most of the time) and for some reason this 3rd year class doesn't get the recognition that they all deserve.  It is heart breaking to see these great kids and see their leadership skills and because they do not suck-up to people, they get shafted.  Anyway, we were disappointed to see that T did not earn one award...and this is the kid that has gotten several awards every year and is the top cadet in his class.  Go figure???!!  We are still proud of him cuz we truly know him and know that he is a great leader!

However, at the end of the evening, they decided to announce the leadership for next year.....one by one everyone we thought would be up there was called as various officers.....except T!  The very last officer position was Group Commander....he is the main guy in charge.  The Head Honcho of all 140 or so cadets in the program....lots of responsibility and leadership........that's right.....my son is the Group Commander for his senior year.   YOU ARE AWESOME T!  They see those skills you have and we are thrilled for you.  Here is a picture of the group officers for next year......

SIDE NOTE:  A week or so after the dinner, we heard that one of the presenters of an award got lost on his way to the dinner and never made it.   T won that award....YES!

T-Birds!!

It is that time of year again when those magnificent jets fly over the Air Force Academy for graduation.

We go out every year to watch them do their stuff.  It is always during finals week at the high school, but we pulled M today to come with us (believe it or not, T did not want to come......getting friends to sign his yearbook was more important).  So we grabbed lunch at Five Guys and took our spot for optimum viewing.  We went to a new place that we have decided is the best one so far as they flew right over us several times.

I did get some movies, however with the sun glaring off my LCD screen, I was not able to keep them in the frame for the whole time.....but they turned out pretty good.

We love watching them fly....but somehow 2 jets left in the middle of the show.....6 flew in and only 4 flew away together.  I wonder if the other 2 pilots had to stop for a potty break???

So glad we live here.....best show around!

The Licorice Stick

J had her final Band Concert at Sand Creek last week  She has not had many this year, so we were anxious to hear how much she has improved on the clarinet. (I found out this year that the clarinet's nickname is the licorice stick...just fyi)  They decided to combine with the high school band and do their performance.  It was actually the best one we have ever been to in the 6 years we have had a kid in band.   I take that back.....T had some great concerts when he was in Jazz Band.

This was great as each group did a few numbers and then they did some songs all together....like "Sway" by Micheal Buble, and J played "Bad Romance" by Lady Gaga with the high schoolers.  It was pretty good actually.  I did get a movie of it, but can't seem to figure out how to post those (anyone have any helpful hints???)  Anyway, the high school band did songs by John Williams that was awesome.  He is the guy that composed Star Wars, ET, Close Encounters and Jaws.  They were good.  Too bad none of my children continue in band in high school.....but sports is a good thing too.

Vroom, Vroom!

So every year my kids get to participate in the RACE TO READ program at the school.  They read so many hours and get free tickets to a certain night at Bandamere.  Well, Saturday night was the night to watch all those fast cars race down the road.  We always have a blast.

This year was just us girls.........

The boys decided that they needed to go fishing (they haven't been this season and were itchin to go) so, not to disappoint J and K after they read all those many hours, I took the girls up myself.  We left early enough to stop at the Outlet Stores to do a little shopping and then on to Denver for some dinner and to watch the races.

It was a gorgeous night.....thank goodness cuz we heard it might rain.......

Our favorite race is always the jet powered cars.......(I had a movie, but I guess it was too big)  So this is a pix taken from the movie......They were going so fast, I was glad that I could get this shot.......

We had a great time, even though it didn't feel the same without the guys.  We laughed and cheered and laughed some more.  Then on our way home, we made it with a minute to spare before Krispy Kremes closed for the night.  Had to get some yummy donuts to take home.  Of course, we bought extras for the drive home.  YUMO!  It was a fabulous day!

It's All Mine!

So I had to just post these pictures of Duke.......

Awhile back, we had refilled his treat jar with the last of the treats from the big Costco box.  I had asked K to take it out to the big trash in the garage.  And before she could get it out there, Duke had snagged it and brought it into the family room where we were all seated.  It was the funniest thing to see him drag this box totally intoxicated with the smell of his treats.  He would stick his head inside and lick all over.  Then he would pick it up and take it to another spot.  He would lick it again or bite the side and then pick it up again to find a better spot to enjoy it.  He would not light for more than a minute.  We couldn't stop laughing.  Silly dog!

Mother's Day!

So much has happened this last week and I have not posted about any of it.....mostly because I was playing with my parents.  Yea, I was so lucky to get to have my mom and dad here for Mother's Day weekend.  I can not remember the last time I spent this special day with my awesome mom.........

They normally come over once a year and so decided this was the best time.  Actually it didn't even dawn on me until a few days before they got here that she would be here on that day.  I guess that tells you how busy I have been and I lost track of actual dates.  Good thing I didn't have to do anything to prepare for that Sunday.....it was all on my sweet hubby and kids to make that day run smoothly.  And they did....I had a fabulous Mother's Day! 

It started out great cuz I got to sit next to my mother for all 3 meetings at church.  In the past when they visit, I have to be in the nursery, or the primary room, or YW...anywhere but Sunday School or RS....so this was a treat for me.  We had great talks by the youth who are graduating this year about their mothers (I will have to wait to here T speak in a couple of weeks).  We came home and took pictures.......I have to get pics with my kids every year.

And because I didn't get enough time to finish my mom's gift, she and I were able to work on that all afternoon.  I was very unsure how it would turn out (you know how you have this picture in your mind how you want it to look) but I thought it looked great.  I wanted something my mom could look out and think of ALL of her family.

Then came the really good stuff.....food!  My honey and my wonderful children made the best dinner ever...so far anyway.  Doesn't it look good?

They grilled up some BBQ ribs (my favorite) and made a salad and rice and M even made this cut out specially for me (ok, my mom got one too)

I was very impressed with my gift this year.  I mentioned awhile back how much fun it would be to have one of these and he remembered......

So this was our dessert for the evening and we had a blast.  The kids even did the clean up without being asked. 

And on Saturday, these were delivered to me.....Thanks honey!  They are gorgeous.

This was the best Mother's Day ever.  Thanks to my family for making it memorable!  You are all the best!

Scorpion of the Year!!

You heard me right......T got Junior Male Scorpion of the Year tonight at the Teacher's Choice Awards Ceremony.

Could you all hear us cheering for him?  We were so excited.  We knew he had a good chance to get it and so we were just hoping he would.  All through the night when kids were getting other awards, the teacher would say...and he/she was runner up for Scorpion of the Year.  Or.....he/she was a finalist for Scorpion of the Year.  And when T received his other award from JROTC (he was the top academic cadet-highest grade for his class) they said nothing like that.  So it was a 50-50 chance.  So thrilled that he finally got it.  He was runner-up his freshman year...lost to his best friend.

What an accomplishment...he is shooting for it again next year.  Wants another plaque to hang on his wall.

WE LOVE YOU T!!!!

Drillin' and Dancin'

Last Saturday was a busy day, mostly for T.

In the morning was the last Drill Competition of the year for JROTC.  But it was an important one....his first one as a Flight Commander.  He is in charge of his flight and it was great to see him in action directing G Flight!

He called all the commands and he did a fabulous job....so much so that his flight won 1st place for this part of the competition.  WAY TO GO SON!!!  I took a movie of the whole thing, but I will not bore you with it on this post....it is really long......but it is so awesome to hear him taking charge! Here are some still pictures taken from the movie.......

After their inspection and their drill, comes the Drill Down.  We love to watch this part....it is when all the cadets compete to see who is the last one standing.  They are given commands and if they do it correctly, they stay in, otherwise, they are out.  They are called fairly fast and they can not hesitate or they are out.  When it is down to a few, the judges get in the cadets face to try and get them to smile or break concentration....they are ruthless sometimes.  T has done fairly well in the past with his best being like 12th place.  That is good since there is usually over 100 cadets.  This year he placed.............4th!  That's right.  He did so awesome!!!!  There were a couple of times we thought he had messed up.  Isn't that just great!  We were so excited for him.  In fact, 1st and 3rd place were from his flight, so that says a lot about T as their commander.  He got a medal and everything......so cool!  Again we took a movie, but at almost 10 minutes long, it is too long to post.  I am happy that my camera lets me take stills from the movies, so here are some......

(Here is a guy whispering over his shoulder trying to get him to move)

He did awesome and we are so proud of him!

Now comes the DANCIN!........PROM PART 2............

Yes, he went to prom last Saturday.....yes he went with Mel.........yes it was at the same place.........but this was Sand Creek's Prom.  T had to go to his own school's prom.  The theme for this prom was Ocean's 11. 

They went to PF Chang's for dinner with his friend, Brandon and his date Melinda.

T said they had a blast and it was far better than Vista Ridge's prom.  He sure did look sharp in his tux!