Fri. & Sat. May 20-21, 2011

Friday (& part of Sat.) was a cleaning day (well--at least morning).  I started cleaning about 8 am and didn't stop until about 1 pm.  

 As I was folding laundry, I spied Callum in his room cleaning.  He had the little vacuum and was cleaning away.

 Pretty soon he came to me and said, "Since my room is clean, can I have a sleep-over?"  Zane was getting ready for an overnight camping trip with the scouts.  

As much as I appreciated Callum cleaning, I had to tell him no.  Rusty & I went on a date (and shopping trip) to town  & didn't expect to be back until close to bed-time.

I vacuumed, swept, did 4 loads of  laundry, put clothes away, made beds, and got the dishes done.  So at 1 pm, Zane left on his camping trip, and Rusty & I headed to town.  We ate at a Chinese buffet, and then went shopping.  Rusty looked for work boots and we also looked for a lawn mower (the one we've had for about 18 years "died" last fall after Rusty mowed out at our land).  Plus we did grocery shopping.

We got back about 9 pm.  And again--we had to unload the shopping stuff.  I sure wish that it could somehow put itself away!

Saturday I did more cleaning.  Emmalee asked if she could take some pictures with my camera.  Here are a few that I kept (she took about 50--had a blast!)

 Her book

 A balloon

 Yummy chocolate chip cookies

 The kids' couch

 Her play tent

 Benjamin

 Zane & their table full of "school library" books

 Callum

 A napping Benjamin

and the car "garage".

After lunch, I went & volunteered at our Bountiful Basket site.  Every other week we get a basket of 50% fruit/50% veggies for $15 (if you order the Monday before).  It is nice to have the convenience here--and it makes me eat/use more fruits & veggies.  

Thurs. May 19, 2011--Play Day

Actually it's "Track & Field Day", but they used to call it Play Day (and as far as the kids are concerned--they do get to "play")

 First we had the broad jump.  Here's Callum jumping like a frog.

 And Emmalee's turn.  It was a cloudy & windy day.  Most of the time the kids had their jackets on.

 Callum at the softball throw.

 Emmalee in action

 Next was the tug-of-war.  They had older vs. younger grades, boys vs. girls, and parents vs. kids.  It was fun & everyone had a chance to "win".

 Emmalee is in the purple coat (like I said--it was very windy)

 Callum throwing the ball during the obstacle course.  They run through the tire, around the swing sets, jump rope twice, go through more tires, and then back to the beginning.

 Emmalee getting ready to run--I videoed her race so this is the only picture I have for this event.  By the time they kids are done, they are tired!

 Then it was the 50 and 100 yard dash.  Emmalee didn't want to take off her coat.  And she didn't realize the whistle started the race so she stood there for a couple of seconds before she realized everyone else had started (the teacher said "On your mark, get set," and then blew the whistle.  Emmalee was waiting for "GO"!

 Callum hung in there--last week when he was swimming on his field trip, he hurt his foot when he was climbing out of the pool.  So he almost had to gallop.

 The long jump--Rusty was in charge of this event.  And it was our last.  

 Emmalee in action.

Nice landing, Callum.  When it was over, I felt like my face was wind-burned.  But the next morning I realized that is was also sunburned--along with my arms (I didn't wear a jacket most of the time).  I didn't even think of sun blocking me because it was so cloudy.  At least it was just a little bit of a sun burn & didn't hurt.

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Middle School awards were at 10:30.  After a couple of loads of laundry, Benjamin & I walked to the school.

Things started out pretty good--Benjamin was eating his snacks & playing with his Toy Story toys.  But the first 15 minutes was used to give the awards to the high school students who did not attend the awards night Wednesday night.  So by the time they started with the middle school, Benjamin was ready to go home.

He really wanted to sit with Brienna, but she ended up being in the middle of one section of bleachers, and Ben didn't want to have anyone else touch him to get to her.  So he had a few fits.

 Zane is the second one from the right.

 Last semester Zane had good (enough) grades, but he didn't put a lot of effort into school.

 He has finally decided it is better to do his best (and get all his work done) and be a good student.  

 And he earned a lot of awards.  His awards were:  Outstanding AR Student (418 Accelerated Reading points), 2 million word reader award (2,873,655 words), English Excellence Award for 7th grade, 

 Outstanding Life Science Student 7th grade, Leadership Award--7th grade secretary, 

 Oops--there goes Benjamin!  He was tired of sitting and took off a few times.  I packed the diaper bag full, but nothing was entertaining  to him.

 Not even taking pictures of himself and all of this toys.

So Benjamin took off down the hall & past most of the classrooms.  Thankfully he passed the front doors and came to the Jr. High doors that are too heavy for him to pull open.  Otherwise, I think he would have been out the back doors headed home.

While I was off chasing Ben, Zane received his last award:  Typing.

As soon as they were done, Benjamin couldn't wait to get home.

Just in time for lunch & then off to the elementary school for track & field day.