Sir Francis Drake

I forgot to put this post before the graduation post.  The 5th graders worked very hard researching the Revolutionary War.  As a final chapter in their unit everyone chose a significant person from the era and learned everything they could about them.  They compiled a written report and then had to memorize it.  This was all in preparation for the Wax Museum. 

Eric chose Sir Francis Drake (frankly I didn't know who he was really or what he did).  He completed his report, made visual aids and created a costume.  The 5th graders posed around the gym and the rest of the school came to look at them.  The other classes were given tickets to give to the "wax" models.  When they received a ticket they told all about their character.  I was so proud of Eric when he told me his bio.  He did great research and memorized it all. 

5th Grade Promotion

I really hate to admit that I'm old enough to have a child going into middle school.  Why do those two words make me cringe when I say them?  Because it's MIDDLE SCHOOL that's why!!  I had a tough time in middle school and it only consisted of 7th and 8th grade kids and there were only 40 some kids in the entire Junior high.   Deep down inside I know that Eric is a good, tough, resilient young man and he will most likely be just fine, but as a mom I can still worry. 

At the end of May he moved on from elementary to middle school.  There were three classes of 5th graders and they put on an awesome program for the parents.  They changed the words to "In the Jungle" and learned a cute little dance that went with it.  I was in the back row crying and trying not to show that I was crying.  One of the girls wrote a poem (which won a literary contest) and she changed it into a song that she performed. To end it all there was a cute slide show and diploma ceremony.  He had a great teacher, Ms. McCloughan.  He absolutely loved her. 

When it was over Eric told me he saw me crying in the back of the gym.  It wasn't too long until he was in tears as well.  He was so sad to leave Grant Elementary and his friends.  They ate goodies and signed each others t-shirts.  It makes me sad to think about now. 

 He had a great teacher, Ms. McCloughan. He absolutely loved her.

Track Day May 2012

I'm still playing catch up on what's happened so far this year.  By the way, I can't believe it's already more than half over!! Yikes. 

Eric and Charles both had great track days this year.  I sure wish I had posted this when it happened because now I can't remember what place they each got in their events.  However, I just called them over here to rack their brains. 

Eric participated in the obstacle course and placed second, the high jump and placed 2nd, 100 yard dash and placed 4th, and Javelin and placed 6th.  The next day he was chosen to help with the younger classes.  He helped the first grade teacher operate the obstacle course. 

Charles participated in the 100 yard dash and placed 4th, obstacle course and placed 2nd, standing long jump and placed 1st and finally the running long jump and placed 2nd. 

Katie came along as chief cheerleader and nacho eater. She also fell backwards off the steps of a really high slide. Luckily there were no broken bones just scrapes.

 

Katie's 5th Birthday

When it comes to birthdays for the kids I like to plan well in advance.  Months before their big day I start probing about what they want for their birthday and what kind of cake they want.  Making birthday cakes for them is one of my most favorite things to do.  I really should take a class on decorating so mine don't look quite so homemade.  But no matter what they always love them.  I'm proud to say that I have only bought one cake for all 25 birthdays they've had (it was Charles's 1st birthday cake, sorry Charles). 
So anyway, back to Katie's birthday.  She wanted a princess castle cake.  I looked online a ton and watched You Tube videos on making a castle cake.  In the process, I got her hooked on watching these how to videos.  She still watches them and runs the battery on my phone down every time.  She did learn a lot.  Whenever she plays with play dough she throws our things like "cutting the dome off your nine inch cake", "put a piece of plastic wrap or parchment paper over your fondant to roll and smooth it".  She's a hoot.
I thought the cake would be easy peasy after watching the tutorial a hundred times.  I was wrong.  It kept falling apart while I was frosting it but Katie kept cheering me on telling me it was OK.   Her special job was to put the sanding sugar on the cones. The cake  looked alright if you weren't too close. 

 She received great gifts that she loves and uses almost everyday. She was given everything she needed to learn how to swim from lessons down to the towel and flip flops.  The swimsuit had to be given a test run in the tub that night.  Here are a few pictures from her special day. 

Easter 2012

Next up, Easter.  We had a great Easter.  I love this time of year.  We get to celebrate the resurrection of our Savior, Spring has sprung, and I love the decorations, baskets and coloring eggs. 

We tie dyed our eggs this year.  It was fun to see how they turned out each time.  We also used this metallic gel dye in a plastic bag.  It looked awesome but the gel never really dried.  Whatever though, the kids didn't care they just wanted to keep coloring egg after egg after egg. 

Katie and I made sugar cookies and a lamb cake also.  She is my little helper in the kitchen for sure.

Saturday night I put the kids to bed and was getting out a few things to "help" the Easter bunny.  Katie wandered out of her room to find me with various Easter paraphernalia scattered around.  "Mom, what are you doing with our Easter baskets?"  she asked.  I scrambled for an answer and sent her back to bed.  The next morning she announced to the others that it wasn't the Easter bunny who left the baskets, it was mom. 

The kids loved their baskets regardless of who left them.  I made a set of resurrection eggs.  Each egg had a scripture and an item that told the story of Jesus and his crucifixion and resurrection. It's a fun way to tell the story.  We got all dressed up in our new Easter duds and went off to church.  After church we had an egg hunt and nice lunch. 

Long time, no see...

I have not blogged in such a long time.  I got so far behind that every time I even thought about catching up I became too overwhelmed with the task at hand.  It has been so long that Blogger has changed entirely and I had no idea.  I couldn't even figure out how to write a new post.  I had to turn to my friend Google to figure the darn thing out. 

So here it goes,  I have to think back to January.  January 29th to be exact.  The day our cute little Charles turned 8!!  What a milestone birthday.  Charles is a Bronco fan and with Tim Tebow and all of his fame of course he wanted that to be the theme of his big day.  He wanted a cake that looked like a Tebow jersey.  Too bas Tebow isn't a Bronco any longer.  Any way, Charles loved his cake.

We celebrated his birthday a few days after the fact to incorporate his baptism.  I can't even remember the exact date (I think it was February 5th or whatever the first Saturday of the month was).  We had his party and then that evening Charles was baptized by his daddy and confirmed by my dad.  It was a special day.