Screen Free Week

I'm so proud of myself. Screen Free Week was May 5-11 this year. I prepared early and had blog posts scheduled for while I wasn't on. Yay. 

Of course, there was a lot of screen time because everything with school is screens nowadays, assignments, emails (including me having to check emails), texts, etc. Sigh.

Back in my day (insert old person speak), we didn't send all our homework assignments over the internet. We didn't even have the internet when I was in elementary school and middle school. Why, I remember having to pull the encyclopedias off my dad's bookshelf to look up information for my report on cats. That's right. I did a report about cats- domestic cats. You know the reason cats always land on their feet? Well, I do. I had it in my report, my handwritten report that I turned into my teacher in class. These kids nowadays... they write a report and the teacher can instantly see it. All this newfangled technology. It's everywhere.

O.K. That's enough of that. This newfangled technology is actually very handy with family history. I was able to have blog posts scheduled and get caught up even when I wasn't on the computer myself. Nice.

 

So... about Screen Free Week.

 

Monday, May 5, was Cinco de Mayo. We had pork salad bowls (kind of like at Cafe Rio). Yummmmmm. I made tortilla bowls to put them in, had rice, beans, lettuce, pork, cilantro lime dressing, and whatever else. We didn't all have the same in our bowls. 

That day was also a rainy day (we've had several rainy days in the last couple weeks) so the snails were out. I actually found one crawling down the van door. That means it had to somehow get up for it to be crawling down. I moved it off before driving as I didn't know what would happen to it otherwise.

I went for a brief walk at the lake. Definitely stormy with all the choppy water. 

After dinner, we had Family Home Evening. Our activity since it was Screen Free Week was going to the Orem Library and picking out a book each (and some of the kids picked out a board game as well). 

Libby the Librantula was out so I said, "Hi," to her while we were there.

 

Apparently nothing of significance happened on Tuesday, May 6. The lake was still choppy. 

Wednesday, May 7, was a busy day. Both Lucky and Jr. had performances that day. 

Lucky joined a whole bunch of 5th graders to do "Hope of America." See him in this picture? Right there. Right there in the red shirt. 

Actually Jeremy could point out which one he was because they were there early enough he could see him before all the seats got filled and memorized which row and how far in he was. The students made an American flag.

And here they are all shining. 

 

Jr. had his last orchestra concert that same night. I went to watch him in that.

He also got a couple awards. One for being "Most Consistent Cellist" and a paper plate award for being "the beautiful newsboy" since he played in the pit orchestra for both Beauty and the Beast (twice) and Newsies.

 

Ha Ha Ha. Now that Screen Free Week is over, I haven't had as much time on the computer for blogging. This is all I'm able to blog about for now. I'll talk about the rest of Screen Free Week later.

 

Jet: Can I write for a little bit?

This is his typing (abbreviated by me).

9999999999999999999999999959999999999999....................000000000000000000///////////\\\\]]]]]]]]]]]]]]777777888888999999999222222222222220...........................................................+6666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666++

 

Cinco de Mayo 2020

Cinco de Mayo this year was on Taco Tuesday so we ate taco... salad. It got too late to make taco shells from corn tortillas but we had tortilla strips.

Catching Up- May

May is always crazy anyway with the end of school. This year, with the boys' school closing and combining with another, there was a week toward the end of the school year where they got out early every day so their teachers could pack up their classrooms and have everything moved to the new school building.
But for now I'm going to start with earlier in the month.

Let's talk about May the 4th. I mentioned about how in April, Jeremy did balloon sculptures for the Tulip Festival. For the Tulip Festival in May, Jeremy was asked to do something May the 4th related. This is how it turned out.  I love it.

Throughout the year, Orem is celebrating its Centennial. We celebrated the kickoff party in January. May 4th was the birthday celebration. Even though it was really close to where we live, I was having a day and didn't feel up to taking the kids over there.  We did, however, watch the fireworks that night.

We celebrated Cinco de Mayo with a new enchiladas recipe. Everybody liked it and we've had requests for it since then.

This year was the Museum of Natural Curiosity's 5th Anniversary. Jeremy made an arch with their monsters on them. I like how it turned out.

Our family joined in our ward campout and had a nice time.  The kids had been wanting to go camping since we didn't go camping last year. We all helped set up the tent, even the two youngest, until they got distracted with an earthworm.

The kids made me breakfast in bed for Mother's Day on May 12. Jr. was in charge and directed everyone as they helped. Jr. Jr. gave me a card he made at school.

The day after, Jeremy sent me off on a birding field trip with Utah County Birders.  It's a long day trip. I love it. It's a great Mother's Day gift. He did the same for me last year.

Nichole had another orchestra concert.  This time it took place on May 14 which is Dance Like a Chicken Day. We kept telling her she should get up in the middle and start dancing like a chicken but for some reason she didn't do it.

We were invited to an author's tea in Jr. Jr.'s classroom.  Each of the children wrote a book about an animal and was able to read it in front of the class and parents. The books were even hard bound and the children were able to bring them home. Jr. Jr. did a great job reading his book about seals. His voice was very clear.

Lucky and I took some time to play at the Museum of Natural Curiosity. Lucky went on all the rope bridges in the jungle by himself. I was there to meet him at the end. Great job, Lucky.

Jr. did a report about Switzerland. He had a lot of interesting information and afterward, he was able to share Swiss cheese and Swiss chocolate with his class. And us.

Just like at their old school in PG, Jr. and Jr. Jr. had a dance festival at their school here in Orem. They did a good job. Way to go, boys. You've got good rhythm.

Jeremy and I went on a few dates to celebrate special occasions in May.  We went to see Captain Marvel and Avengers: Endgame and Jeremy took me out to eat for my birthday.

We also spent an evening out birding, just the two of us. That was relaxing.

For my birthday, the boys helped me make cupcakes.  I wanted to combine my cake with scripture study (from The Friend, May 2019, "Family Night Fun"). The boys wanted to help frost the cupcakes.  It was fun to see how they decorated them.

I couldn't find enough candles for my age so I just blew out a scented candle. Then Jr. played "Happy Birthday" for me on his ukulele.

My ministering sister brought me flowers and fudge for my birthday.

We made a new friend in our yard.  A racing pigeon.  It showed up a couple times in our backyard and just casually walked around. It got close enough were able to get a good look at its band and report it to the American Racing Pigeon Union (AU).

For Memorial Day on May 27, we went up to visit Grandpa Telford's grave. We took time to talk to the kids about their great grandfather and a little about their heritage and namesakes.

At the end of the school year, there was an awards assembly at the elementary school.  Jr. received a few awards then participated in his 6th grade graduation. Great job, Jr.  Great job.

The kids went to their last day of school (I have pictures of the first day of school in my post on November 30, 2018) and the rest of that day we spent getting Nichole ready because the next day, her grandparents came to pick her up to take her on a trip with her two cousins her age to Oregon.

Farewell, Nichole.  We'll blog about you more in June... along with other things that happened.