School Begins

Before school started we picked up final prizes for Jet who was participating in "1000 Books Before Kindergarten." We'd finished 1000 books a while back (that kid likes books like the rest of the family). We just hadn't gotten around to recording them and picking up the last of the prizes. So we did.

He got a bag, certificate, sticker, and book from Orem Library and he picked a flashlight from the treasure box at Provo Library.

 

We went to Back to School Nights for Jr. Jr. and Lucky and Jet, and Kindergarten assessment for Jet.

I saw Jr. Jr.'s schedule and this is the conversation that came from it.

Mom: You're taking Earth and Space Science? How cool is that?

Jr. Jr.: It's out of this world.

-Later-

Jr. Jr.: Earth and Space Science. You can tell you're in the right classroom because it's always vacuumed.

He also had clever things to say after school started.

Jr. Jr.: When I get a homework assignment, I spend the first few days in de-Nile.

Mom: Is that a geography joke?

Jr. Jr.: Yes, because I'm doing geography right now.

Jr. Jr.: What river is labeled 8?

Mom: It's in South America.

Jr. Jr.: The river labeled 8 is where all your packages come from. 

 

What do you do when you have a child who loves school so much they are anxious for the first day of school to start?

Give them a task. Sharpen pencils. That will help when it's time for homework.

 

How does a child who does not like school combat the frustration of it? 

He takes juggling balls with him wherever he goes at school and at home. He impressed quite a few people who didn't know he could juggle, which he couldn't last school year. 

 

I got first day of school pictures for the kids (we had four different first days of school this year), except for Jr. I got first day at his apartment pictures. I had a little Nemo toy that I used to tell everyone, "First day of school. First day of school," that morning.

 

While the middle boys were at their first day of school (less kids in the house), I did something useful. I put together some freezer meals, using recipes that used ingredients we had at home so I didn't have to go shopping for anything. I put directions on the bags so I don't have to look up the recipes when it's time to make them. Go, me! Woohoo.

 

After one of the first days of school, we went to the annual Utah County Birders potluck. So nice to be around other birders. We've been so busy, we haven't been out birding much. Sigh. And the monthly meetings, I usually join online instead of in person. Also sigh.

I must say, though, my kids are awesome. They helped clean up after the potluck, even though they had school the next day. 

 

The first Saturday after school started, I did something for myself. I went to "my spot" by the lake to watch the "sunrise"- which actually means I watched the other direction from where the sun rose. I watched the light come across the lake from the mountains on the other side until it reached me then the sun was to my back when it came up over the mountains. That's how I usually like to watch the sunrise.

After Jr.'s first day of school, we picked him up and went to another BBQ/cookout. 

Jeremy: Do you want to go to this cookout? You don't have to figure out dinner.

I was in favor of that. Jeremy previously made a balloon arch for this cookout so we were able to get some pictures.

 

Another day, before Jet and Nichole started school, they went with me on a drive up Kyhv Peak Road. Nice drive and view.

 

I highly recommend this.

We keep a pocket sized copy of The Book of Mormon in our vehicle.

Now that school has started, that means more sitting around waiting to pick up kids. I get busy some mornings and don't get a chance to read my Book of Mormon. So even though I often have a physical novel in my bag, an audiobook on my phone, I realized I could get something even better out of my wait by reading what is always available to me.

A May Weekend

Still working on catching up. Let me tell you about one of the last weekends in May.

 

Friday, May 21, the elementary school had their dance festival outside. It rained just a little. Jet and I went to watch. He's not used to going places where he has to be still so some of my videos of the boys are a bit shaky with me trying to keep Jet with me. Overall he did a pretty good job, though. Yay for snacks! The boys also did a good job with their dances.

That day was also Pizza Party Day. We had individual pizzas like we had last year for that holiday.

We were also going to have a balloon quad party to help Jeremy with a balloon arch, but Jr. ended up putting together all the quads himself which was a big help. Thanks, Jr.

Even though Jeremy had so much going on, he brought me home some flowers. Aww. He's a sweetie.

Saturday, May 22, Nichole and Jr. went with Jeremy to finish putting together and setting up the balloon arch.

Jeremy also helped out at the Create fair at Thanksgiving Point that day. It's like the maker fair he did before.

The kids and I waited for a delivery and while we were outside, we got out my unicycle and Jr. had some fun trying it out. It's been so many years but I did a little, too. 

That evening, I went to help Jeremy take the arch down, leaving the kids to make "mystery meat" pizza muffins since it was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's birthday and he wrote the Sherlock Holmes stories. There were several different kinds of meat and I told the kids to put different meats in different muffins so nobody would know what they were eating until they bit into them.

May 22 was also Maritime Day so we had orange jello with "navel" oranges in it. Get it? Get it? Jr.'s idea. It was also Vanilla Pudding Day so we had vanilla pudding. 

And it was Solitaire Day. It would have been fun to go out birding looking for solitaires (yes, they are birds) but we didn't. But Jr. Jr. and Lucky did play some solitaire that day (just not together- tee hee).

 

Lucky wanted to learn how to make chicken cordon bleu casserole so Sunday, May 23, he learned. He did a good job following the recipe and putting ingredients in. He had a little help with mixing from Mom because when you have a big bowlful of stuff, it can sometimes be hard. I am glad my kids are interested in learning cooking skills that will be a big help for them in the future.

Screen Free Week 2016

Screen Free Week this year was May 2-8.
Some highlights:

Monday, May 2, Jeremy made a balloon arch for the elementary school's mini marathon.  He managed to get a good picture before the wind picked up and knocked it to the ground, popping a lot of the balloons.  Sigh.

May 2 is also Baby Day but I didn't get any pictures of the baby carrots we ate with dinner.

Tuesday, May 3, I had a dentist appointment.  Since the dentist's office is on the way to a nice birding spot, Jeremy and the younger boys picked me up after my appointment and we drove to that spot.  There were quite a few cars parked there when we got there and we wondered why.  Since we weren't using the computer for the week, we didn't know what the latest birding news was.  People let us know there was a Little Gull there at the lake.  We'd never seen a Little Gull before so that was exciting.  A new life bird.  What we didn't realize until later however is that a Little Gull is very rare in Utah.  And we just happened to be there that day to see it.  So cool.

That evening, Jeremy went with Jr. and his scout troop hiking up to Battle Creek Falls.

Wednesday, May the Fourth, was International Respect for Chickens Day.  We had chicken pizza then decorated cards which we then took over to give to some chickens.
We got to pet and hold the chickens.  They're still pretty young, but their owners said they'd hang the cards in the chicken coop for them.  It was fun.

Thursday, May 5, Nichole performed in her school play.  It was "Disney Aladdin Kids" and Nichole was a food vendor, a skeleton, and a juggler. 

I'm so proud of her.  She did so well.  She did a good job with her singing, dancing, her lines, and Jeremy and I were very impressed with her juggling.  When she got the part of the juggler a couple months ago, she couldn't juggle very well yet, but she really put the effort in to practice and now she's learning tricks.  She's awesome.

Friday, May 6, I went on a field trip with Jr. to the Clark Planetarium in Salt Lake City.

May 6 is also International No Diet Day so we had ice cream in the evening.  Yumm.

Saturday, May 7, was National Tourism Day so we went to the beach.  Heh Heh.  We took the kids to a beach in the Southeast area of Utah Lake.  They were so happy because they had permission to actually throw sticks and things in the water.  We told them not to get their feet wet in the water, though, but they didn't listen and all got soaked.  Silly kids. 
We got to see a lot of birds including a new to us species.  We also saw a lot of dead fish.

Sunday, May 8, was Mother's Day.  I didn't take any pictures of the cards the kids made for me or the breakfast Jeremy made (or the clean kitchen Jeremy made while I was at the field trip with Jr. on Friday.  "Happy Mother's Day," he said.  My hero).  Oh well.  Instead here's a picture of the kids playing with Nichole's toy dog, having it do tricks.  That's something else they did this week while they weren't playing video games.

It was a good week.  We kept busy without movies or computer or Wii games.  And the younger kids only got into so much mischief.