Last Days of School

The last couple weeks of school were a lot of fun for the kids.  

 Break the rules day:  Sam chose to wear pajamas, have crazy hair, chew gum and sit where ever he wanted in the classroom.  He chose to sit under his desk. 

 The 4th grade had a program all about Utah.  Conner's class represented the railroad.  He had a speaking part.  They sang 6 songs all about Utah and they were pretty catchy.  Just last night at dinner the kids started singing the This is the Place song.

 Conner's 4th Grade Class.  I love the tshirts Mrs. Braegger got all kids.  They say I am Mrs. B's favorite student 2013-2014.

 I am so proud of Conner and Sam.  They both set goals and achieved them and received medals for them.  Conner set the goal to compete in the district level at the Math Olympiad and he made it.  Not only did he compete but he and his partner got 1st place in Ken Ken in the whole district.  He practiced a lot and it paid off.  It was a team competition and his and his partner's score were added to together to get their score.  Conner earned 27 points and his partner 10.  He earned a 1st place medal and was so proud of it.  Sam set the goal to finish IXL, a computer math program with 221 skills to complete.  It took forever and he finished on the very last day possible to earn a medal but he did it.  We had some pretty late nights those last couple days.  He also was so proud of his medal because it was a real medal, not plastic. 

 I was able to go on Conner's field trip to Heritage Park.  Thanks to Deet for watching the girls for me.  Lucy was so excited to be able to spend the night.

I was also able to go to Conner and Sam's field day and thanks again to Deet for watching Mikey, Lucy and Eliza.  The theme was Wacky Olympics.  In the morning I ran one of the games, Wacky Ball.  Boy was it wacky.  There was about 25 beach balls and the kids would just hit them over the net back and forth and it was crazy but one of their favorite games.  In the afternoon I got to chaperon Conner's class and that's why I got a couple pictures of Conner.

 Water Bombs.  I think Conner had the most fun trying to get me wet.

Sam has had the same teacher, Ms. Moulton, for the last two years and she is so wonderful.  I am so happy that Mikey got into the PAL program and will have Ms. Moulton for the next 2 years as well.  Having all 3 boys at the same school just made my life a lot easier.

 Mikey got out of school a week before Conner and Sam.  He really enjoyed Leadership Learning Academy and all the friends he made.  I don't really think he learned that much but does anybody in kindergarten.  He's really excited to go to Mountain View next year with Conner and Sam.  

Conner was a little emotional when I picked him up.  He is such a sensitive soul.  He's going to miss his teacher Mrs. Braegger.  She too was excellent.  It was a hard year for Conner, personally.  He struggled with time management and organization.  I'm hoping next year will be better but I've heard 5th grade is the beast with often 5 hours of homework a night.  I'm not sure I'll survive but for now I just want to enjoy summer.

Some of our plans for summer are to have our school time for about an hour.  I bought the kids each a workbook and they have just been itching to do them.  We're trying out the Summer Bridge series this year.  They only have to do 2 pages a day and takes about 5-10 minutes.  That's just enough to keep up their skills over the summer.  Today was their first day doing it and they all wanted to do more pages.  Yep, I'm raising a bunch of nerds.

They also need to practice 10 minutes of IXL and 10 minutes of typing and read for 30 minutes.  Conner has to practice piano for 10 minutes and Conner and Sam have to work on scout requirements.  After that they'll need to do their chores and then they are done for the day and can play.

I'm trying to simplify meals because we are spending way too much and with the summer I want it to be easy so each of the kids chose a meal they'd like to learn to make and they each will have a day during the week to make dinner.  The first two weeks, I'll help teach them how to make it and then on the 3rd week they'll try to do it all by themselves (except for Lucy).  Conner has chosen chicken pillows, Sam is learning to make alfredo, Mikey is quesadillas and  Lucy is pizza.  After 3 weeks we'll choose another meal to learn.  I'm kind of excited about it.  It will be so nice for the kids to have a couple meals they know how to make by themselves for those days I don't want to cook.

We did get tickets to Georgia and we are ecstatic.  The kids and I are going for 4 weeks and Neil will join us the last two.  That's pretty much our summer plans so while we're home we'll be laying low.

I am just so excited to not have a schedule and to not have to pick kids up 5 times a day from various activities.  It will be nice to just be home.