End of School Year Things

So much happened the end of the school year. Let me try to share some of it. This is not necessarily in order.

 

Field trips! 

Jet went bowling. Lucky went roller skating. The whole school went to watch Paddington at a movie theater. 

When I asked Jet what he liked about bowling, he told me, "I liked knocking down a lot of pins."

 

Reading Hall of Fame! 

Jet and Lucky both did enough reading for the Hall of Fame this year that they got certificates, posters, bookmarks, and a new book each.

Lucky got a special framed certificate and another book for doing the Hall of Fame all the years of elementary school.

 

Student Council Party!

Lucky was the secretary of the Student Council this year and they had a party at the end of the year. When I went to drop him and a friend off for the party, they started heading toward the door then all of a sudden ran the other direction and into the parking lot. A few other kids did the same. I realized, it was because they were helping carry food and things in for the party. No hesitation, these kids immediately went to help. I appreciate seeing this from these students. They are a good example to others (no wonder they were accepted into student council this year). 

Lucky brought home a service award "for outstanding leadership, character, and service."

 

Two of the aides in Jet's class retired this year so we went to a little retirement party held for them at the school and Jet made them cards.

Jr. Jr. also got a bunch of certificates for surviving junior high. He and I went to a celebration. Then we practiced some juggling afterward.

You saw the train he made, right? See my blog post from May 14, 2026. Jr. Jr. brought home a candy dispenser he made, too. 

 

I got to go to an assembly at the elementary school where Lucky was presented with a Hope of America Award. It was awarded to Lucky "who has demonstrated during this school year capacity for leadership, ethical and moral character and outstanding academic accomplishment."

I was talking with a mom of one of Lucky's friends who also got the award about how it was fun to see how several of these students were good friends. It's nice to know that they are good influences on each other. Keep up the good work, kids.

 

I went to the elementary school dance festival to watch Lucky and Jet dance. They both did great. Jet's first and Lucky's last.

What a cool kid.

Woohoo! We survived another school year. 

Read-a-thon

I'm not the only one who loves reading challenges. The elementary school recently had their annual read-a-thon. This year, a Book Bandit escaped from the book and it took reading so many minutes to get him back in his book.

Jet got very excited about it when they had their opening assembly. He came home and told us about the Book Bandit. He even decided he had a certain color shirt that was his "case solver" shirt to solve clues about the Book Bandit so he alternated between two shirts during the whole read-a-thon. Oh my. He is so cute. 

But let me let him share about it:

 

yeftefytrreggdytdyrtderfyg;lgblkghjghjbnhjbioiuio jioojuojujojiiiiiiiiiiiiikuiiooiuoyiiigtjjirtjrithgiirgthghtiththitgthhfthtrhfrjtgjrgihhrugrftbrth hjrknfrg fjrmfrnfm

 

Translation (as fast as I could keep up):

Mystery solver. mystery solver solved the clues. Boom, solved the clues.

something about the book thief.

Find the clues, mystery solver. 

 

Told you he was cute.

Daddy read a bedtime story (or two or three) to him every night then told me how many minutes they read so I could record it the next morning.

Lucky, of course, did his own reading, and read he did.

On the last day of the read-a-thon, he came home with a medal for being one of the top readers (reading the most minutes). Not really a surprise. This kid also loves reading challenges.

Lucky told me that Jet's team got the most minutes overall, though, so that's also fun.

Other August thins

Jr. Jr. really wants to make juggling balls so he and I have been working on that project- making juggling balls for everyone in the family. It's slow going but we'll get there.

Jet heard us talking about making juggling balls and told us he wanted to make "chocolate balls" so one day we made Oreo mint truffles like we did for St. Patrick's Day, except we didn't bother to make them green this time.

Jet is doing well at school so he's been able to pick something from the treasure box a few times. The first thing he brought home was a little water color paint set so I printed out a picture for him to color. He did a good job. 

I still try out new recipes from time to time, some from A Season of Family Meal Plans by Jordan Page, some from something I see on Instagram by my favorite food bloggers. I made Slow Cooker Loaded Chicken and Potato Casserole from Six Sisters' Stuff and it tasted so good to me. I didn't have whipping cream so I combined some sour cream and milk to get the creaminess (#shelfcooking).  

 

We had an amazing storm one night. I was concerned that my bedroom floor was getting wet. I went outside several times to check the window well. There were pools at the top of the stairs outside and in front of our front door. I checked my bedroom window and realized it was open. Rain was getting in and getting on my floor. Sigh. 

Luckily it dried up quickly after closing the window. I put towels down and kept checking them.

When I went outside in the pouring rain, the lightning and thunder were flashing and booming every few seconds. There was so much of it. 

 

It's amazing how calm the next morning can be after a storm.

 

 

When Nichole was the last one at home before she started school, she and I got to have some bonding time, going to the library and for a drive up the canyon to Bridal Veil Falls this time. 

I Forgot

I'm always telling my children, if I don't write it down I won't remember it. Unfortunately, even when I remember to write things down, sometimes I forget to read what I wrote. Sigh. This happens with my to do list as well as writing down what we celebrated to later blog about.

Here's an example. I wrote this down more than a month ago. Recently I was going through things I had written down to catch up on my blog and completely missed it even though it was right in front of me. I was blogging other things but not this. It's not a big thing but I did intend to blog about it. And here's the fun part about showing my personality while blogging. This whole introduction thing is longer than the whole thing I wanted to share.

 

Tell a Joke Day was August 16. 

On that day, Jeremy said this: Wow. That 30 seconds went really quick. It didn't feel more than half a minute.

 

There. I got it out of my system. And to leave you with another something, as Jeremy was getting ready for yet another trip, Jet wrapped himself in Jeremy's suitcase and insisted he was going. I told him he had to stay home because he had school. His response?

Jet: I'm going on a trip. Daddy's going to school. 

How Did October Start?

How did October start? It started on October 1, which was World Vegetarian Day. We had a salad bar for dinner without meat.

Since it was Homemade Cookies Day, we also had chocolate chip cookies from a recipe by The Food Nanny.

 

Lucky had his "Grand Lunch" at the elementary school. Jet and I joined him. He chose to have me bring him lunch that day instead of eating school lunch. He was very happy that I brought him Chicken Caesar Salad Wraps.

That evening, Jeremy and I went to Parent Teacher Conferences with Lucky and got to see some of the things he's been working on.

October 3 was Virus Appreciation Day. Lucky was sick. We were able to appreciate the timing of it at least.

He got better.

Last Week of School- Monday

We reached the last week of school for the boys. Busy week. It always is. Here's how it started out.