Outdoor Ed

Last week McKay joined the rest of the 4th graders from his school to attend three days of Outdoor Education. The school has been doing this program for 12 years now and all the kids look forward to it. I'll admit, I was initially hesitant about sending McKay away to a camp for three days and two nights. But he was so excited about it and I talked with his teacher (who I really like and who also happens to be LDS) and felt like it would be a good experience for him.

The camp was held at place called Ceta Canyon -- about a 45 minute drive from here. The camp hosts different groups year-round and is affiliated with a Methodist church.

Here's McKay all ready to go the morning he left:

The kids were divided into groups of about 8 or 9 kids per adult leader. They spent their day rotating through different classes and activities -- lots of science stuff. At night, they divided into different segregated groups (again about 8 kids per adult) and slept in cabins.

I was able to drive down on the second night for the parent skit night. I met McKay outside -- all the kids were wearing their tie-dyed shirts that night.

McKay was in charge of his team's flag that day (the "Blue Team"):

The skits were pretty typical from what you'd expect out of 4th graders (I was also reminded of Cub Scouts pack meetings...) -- it was fun to watch. The lighting was bad, so my pictures didn't turn out great. Here is McKay in his skit (he was being led behind the chalkboard by the "teacher" for supposedly misbehaving in their little class).

Here is his entire Blue Team with their parent leader:

And after the skits he got to show me his cabin where they sleep. Four sets of bunk beds per cabin, plus a bathroom and shower. (Apparently, they are the "nice" cabins that the school got to use this year because of a mix-up in the camp's scheduling.)

McKay also had his little camera with him for the week and took a few pictures. Many didn't turn out, but I thought I'd share a few that he took:

He told me his favorite thing was a hike they took on the last day up to a pond and waterfall.

Here he is walking under the waterfall:

I think this self-portrait pretty much sums up his experience!

Bloom

We've been enjoying the many blossoms and flowers that seem to have survived the winter and our remodeling. Many of them are simply wild and grow all on their own. Others were planted by the previous owners in some flowerbeds around the house. We enjoyed them last year when we moved here, but they got pretty neglected with our crazy summer. I was worried that between my neglect (and ignorance) and the kids walking over the flowerbeds and the construction equipment at times driving over the beds that they wouldn't come back this year.

So we've been pleasantly surprised! What a beautiful world!

How Does Your Garden Grow?

OK, I admit it. I'm apprehensive, overwhelmed, insecure and yes - even scared - at the very idea: growing a garden.

I know, I know, it's silly. So many of you grow gardens and have for years and enjoy reaping the fruits of your labors. I can't explain this phobia of mine. I guess I just feel so entirely clueless about the whole thing.

But this year I was determined to try. As I keep telling my family, there are no guarantees that we will get anything out of this garden. But I will try. I decided to follow my sister's lead in using the Square Foot Gardening method. I bought the book. I read parts of the book. I felt overwhelmed (again). I procrastinated. But by golly, I am going to try! So I bought the ingredients for the soil mix (still not sure if I figured it out correctly or bought the right stuff). And Brian shored up the existing box in the yard (larger than what is recommended, but we'll go with it).

And we drilled some holes and strung some pink string to mark our squares off.

And I have some good helpers who made me cute little stick markers.

And we planted some seeds around the edges and bought some tomato plants.

And we water and we wait. And we hope the bunnies and critters stay away (until we can figure out how to keep them away). And we notice the tomato plants aren't looking so great. Hmmm. But we do finally have a few tiny sprouts poking up here and there.

And now we have a garden! Whether or not we actually get to eat anything from this garden remains to be seen. I am hopeful, even if I am clueless. At any rate, it should prove to be a learning experience!

Toothless

Courtney got her front teeth knocked with a toy the other day and one of them ended up pretty loose. It could have been loose before, but after getting hit in the face, it was hanging crooked. :-) So she finally decided to let Dad try to pull it out. Voila!

(Wow, her hair is looking really blonde in this picture!)

I love the smiles of kids missing their top front teeth! Her other top front tooth got knocked loose as well, so it might not be too much longer before it comes out. If she's like Hannah and they came out before their time, she'll be toothless for quite a while!

Progress Report

I suppose it's time for a quick progress report on the work going on around here for those who are interested. Work on our house addition has slowed (stopped), but we hope to get moving on it again soon -- at least the windows have finally been ordered!

Work on the windmill includes Brian fortifying the base:

And then having a LOT of concrete poured this weekend to fill it in!

The past couple of weeks we have had Brian's brother-in-law Brandon here (married to Brian's younger sister), plus our nephew Corey (a son of Brian's older sister). They are here working for the summer on the house my parents are building. My kids love having uncles and "big" cousins around! Love this picture of Hayley and cousin Corey:

One of their first project was putting up an archway and fence to mark the entrance to my parent's property that adjoins ours. One of the first steps was digging the post holes. McKay loves to help whenever he can (and I love that he loves to help).

The trickiest part I think was figuring out how to lift the heavy thing once it was all welded together. This didn't quite work:

So they went this route instead:

McKay is a careful observer as always.

It got painted and looks great!

There is also some excavation work going on for the basement of my parent's home.

A great place to run and explore!

It's going to be a busy summer!

Metamorphosis

The butterflies have emerged! Today the last of the five painted lady butterflies in Hannah's butterfly "habitat" emerged from its chyrsallis.

First, we watched the caterpillars form their chrysallises.


When they were all formed, we could move the paper lid from the jar and pin it to the side of the mesh habitat.


We waited another week or so and out came the butterflies! The girls even got to watch one "hatch" right before their eyes yesterday.


So exciting! (Sorry the pictures aren't that great -- it's hard to get a good picture through the mesh fabric.) Hopefully we will release them into the great outdoors soon!

Writer's Workshop

Last week I was invited to Courtney's kindergarten class for their Writer's Workshop presentation. The kids have been working all year on writing and publishing their own stories. The parents were invited so the kids could show and read their stories to them.

Courtney had a folder full of stories! On some she had only done the covers but hadn't started writing the story yet. She is quite the little author and illustrator, just like her big sister.

She wanted me to take pictures of her holding all of her stories - here are just a few:

(I don't know if you can see it here, but it made me smile to see that she misspelled her name on two of the covers -- must have been in a hurry!)

And you can even hear her reading one of her stories to me. This one is called "The Runaway Milk."

Way to go, Courtney!

Fairy Tale Theater - Part 2

The second little play Hannah was in as part of her 2nd Grade's class production was "The Brementown Rappers".

Hannah had the part of the rooster, or "Da Roosta" as she is come to be known by.

She told me initially that she was so embarrassed that she had to wear the "chicken hat," but she seems to have accepted it as part of her costume.

Again, I tried to edit the video so it was only her parts (and not so long). This for the grandmas and grandpas that couldn't be there in person!

Fairy Tale Theater - Part 1

Last week I was able to visit Hannah's 2nd Grade class to see their class productions of some "mixed-up" fairy tales. I knew she had been practicing her parts for quite a while and she was excited to perform!

Her class did three little plays -- Hannah had parts in two of them. First, she was the narrator in "Slurping Beauty."

She did such a great job! I loved the expression she put into her voice -- and as you can see in the video clip when I had the camera on her, she used a lot of facial expressions too.

I tried to edit the video clip down so it is only her speaking parts and not quite so long -- that's why it might seem a little choppy in parts.

Here she is taking a box with the cast at the end. Bravo!

Piano Recital

Last Sunday afternoon the kids had a piano recital. Both McKay & Hannah did really well! McKay has really been fighting me about piano lessons lately -- he practically refused at one point to even go to the recital. But he did go and he did really well -- got a lot of compliments afterward. I'm not going to make him take lessons over the summer, but I hope he'll decide he wants to continue on his own. (I'm keeping my fingers crossed!)

Here is Hannah practicing at home before the recital:

Their recital was held at the other church building in Amarillo (not the one we go to for our meetings). Their teacher is in one of the other wards. Here they are with their teacher, Sister Funderburk:

Hannah went first. She decided at the last minute to play two songs: "Lone Star Waltz" and "Malaguena".

For McKay's song, he and his teacher decided that he would accompany the congregation in singing a hymn. He has said that one reason he wants to play the piano is so he can play at church (in Priesthood or on his mission, etc.) He likes to play hymns and Primary songs, so his teacher thought it would be good for him to play for a congregation. He picked the hymn "We Thank Thee, O God, For a Prophet" and his teacher led the music while we all sang two verses.

(And yes, since I'm the one holding the camera, that's me you can hear the loudest -- yikes.)

We're so proud of our little pianists! I hope they keep improving their talents.

Mother's Day Pictures

I realized it's been quite a while since we've had a whole family picture taken, so on Sunday, we took one! (And thanks to having our brother-in-law Brandon here, we didn't even have to get out the tripod!)

Here are a few more pics from Sunday with my girls in their new spring dresses. (I took them shopping for summer shoes and somehow they all ended up with a new dress too...)

Me and my crew on Mother's Day:

I had a nice Mother's Day if you don't count the mini-flood we had after church. We had a toilet get plugged up in the kid's bathroom -- this in itself is a fairly common occurence with kids, but unfortunately on this day the toilet decided to keep running instead of shutting off. Hannah discovered the mess some time later with an exclamation of "There's water all over the floor!" I thought someone had just spilled something, but when I went around the corner, she wasn't kidding. A nice layer of water coming out of the bathroom and into the family room. Got the edge of the carpet into the kid's bedroom and underneath a couple of bookcases. But we managed to get it cleaned up and don't seem to have too much lasting damage, thankfully.

One nice part of my Mother's Day was getting to hear two of my kids play in a piano recital. They did great -- hope to put up pictures and maybe a video clip soon!