Back to School Night 2011

Sariah has been working on her 1st grade rainforest project all spring. This is the final outcome! We learned tons about the Red Ruffed Lemur. The inside of the project has the habitat and interesting facts.
Jonah's big 5th grade project was on the state of Utah. His big state project filled his 1/2" binder and he also made a tri-fold project for display at the big State show where the rest of the school comes to see all the projects. In 5th grade everyone learns state capitals, abbreviations, spelling and position on a map. It's quite an undertaking learning all that information. At dinner we've been quizzing all the kids so everyone is learning state capitals.
Katie John has been working hard all year. Recently she put together a very big poster about Lynxs. She researched, printed pictures and gave an oral presentation. On her desk you can see an art project with clay that the class did just last week.

John and I are very happy the kids are doing well in school and that they have a great school to attend. Yay back to school night!

Happy Mothers' Day INSTALLED!

This is the OLD faucet. Probably a 1959 original! I have been wanting a swan neck faucet for... well a long time. See how our faucet is coming out of the wall? Well that presents challenges when you are short on money and can't order a custom faucet. I've looked at many home improvement stores and finally found ONE option for a replacement that would fit my vision of what I wanted. I quickly went home and told John that's what I wanted for mother's day. No fancy candy... no fancy gadget... I wanted THAT faucet. This is the NEW faucet! I can now fill big pots with water, pile my sink high with dishes and still fill a cup with water. Sometimes the simplest things can really make your life easier. I love my new faucet!

As you can plainly see, Lucas and Katie John are also thrilled with my new faucet! Truly a gift for the whole family!

Bikes and School

Jonah and Katie John are riding their bikes to school for the first time today! ACK! Of course they are tagging along with our neighbor and her kids, but I feel a little scared inside anyway. I'm sure they will be fine... They prepared and checked their bikes last night. Got up extra early this morning and were out the door and ready almost 10 minutes before they needed to leave.

Teaching independence can be scary for the parents!!

All Hail May!

Wild and wacky weather! This cold snap that came through this weekend was a real thriller for the kids. This big storm swept through with lots of drenching rain and hail. While we were at church it began hailing in earnest. By the time we got home over an hour later we found piles of hail. It must have been coming down in an easterly angle because the piles were all up against the east side of things; the fence, the green bin, the neighbors chimney, my squash...
Last night we'd had a game night at Tiff and Ed's house (and a gaggle of other friends), and we inadvertently left our bag o' games there. John said, "I had the game bag, but then I got the baby instead." Anyway we went there after church to get the games. We waited in the driveway for a bit. While we waited we noticed the large amount of accumulated hail in the crevices of their roof. That's what initially caught our interest and thus a quick hunt for our 0wn piles of hail when we got home. As it turns out, we could have just walked right in to get our games, literally. Their front door had been neglectfully left open the whole time they were at church!
If we had gathered carefully, we probably could have made a miniature snowman! Ah, the things you think of later! After church we got another drenching rain and hail session. Jonah thought it quite funny that the hail seemed to be popping up from the grass, like little bouncing white peas. With the rain mixed in, you couldn't see the hail coming down just dancing in the grass. I hope my new garden plants don't get too chilly!