Birthday party

Jayse was having a birthday party and the boys were really excited to go. When we got there they were even more excited because it was a construction party. We walked into the backyard and immediately they were each given a construction hat to wear and the smiles on their faces were even bigger. With their hats on, they ran off to play with all the construction trucks that were out.

While they were playing, I helped Beth bring out some of the items we'd be eating for dinner. When it was time, we all dished up some hamburgers or hot dogs along with all sorts of salads, chips, and fruit. They kids didn't eat much, they were more concerned with playing. However when it was time to bring out cake, they all came running.

After we were done with cake, everyone pitched in and helped clean up before it was time to head out.

Jurrasic World

Now that school was out and with Ben being gone, I wanted to start off the summer with some fun. I decided to take the kids to a movie. We went to see Star Wars Solo. They were really excited, the boy especially. I was just surprised that we were able to get tickets, since it was a holiday. 

After the movie was over we were heading back to the van and the Owen stopped me in my tracks. He said we weren't going to pass this again without getting a picture. So we stopped and waited for the crowds to pass and snapped a quick pic with the giant T-Rex movie poster. Owen couldn't stop talking about the other movies and how he couldn't wait until he could see this one.

He loved the poster so much that when we got home he got to making his own Jurassic park. He made enclosures for all his dinosaurs and everything you could think of that needs to be at an amusement park. He played with it the rest of the day and begged me not to take it down at bedtime. I told him he could leave it for one night. It's a small playroom and he needed to share. He told me that the other two were okay with it. William was, but Gabbi was hesitant. Either way, he had some fun with it.

Memorial day

For Memorial Day we decided to have some fun while making our visits. First, I was able to pick up some tickets to take the kids to go see the movie Solo. The boys were super excited and Gabbi was just along for the ride. When we got in the theater I think she changed her mind. She became as excited about it as the boys did. Popcorn, drinks, and a treat might have changed that. When the movie finally started the boys eyes lit up. They were on the edge of their seats the entire time. The cheered with everyone when the movie ended and then realized that it had ended and were kind of bummed. When the credits were finally over we headed to the van. The kids were still on cloud 9 with the movie. They talked about it and their favorite parts for the entire car ride.

Luckily our car ride wasn’t that long to our first stop. We first went to visit Jerika’s grave. The kids asked a few questions about her. I couldn’t tell them much, I wasn’t home when it happened. I was on my mission. They always find it funny when I tell them that she would have been older than J.D. Before leaving we also stopped to see a few more others that are laid to rest there.

Our next stop took us to go see Grandma Shupe. The kids love going to see her grave. Every time we sit or stand there and talk about all the fun things we remember with Grandma. All the fun times that we stayed at her house, all the fun trips we took with her, and all the holidays we spent with her. We miss her so much and this is just one way that we get to remember her. 

Our last stop took us to Garland. We first stopped to get some lunch and then headed to the cemetery. The kids made sure to get Root Beer with their lunch so they could have a drink with Grandpa. When we got there the kids grabbed their drinks and then quickly hopped out of the van. At first they couldn’t find it. After walking around for a few minutes we finally found it. The kids each told Grandpa that they were there to share a drink with him, then they “clinked” their cups, and had a drink. They all looked at each other and laughed.  It was cute. After saying our last goodbyes, we hit the road and headed home.

Last day BBq

To celebrate school ending, our friends Melissa and Brandon, invited us over to have a BBq with their family. I was grateful for the invitation and really looked forward to it. It had been a while since I've had a real fun adult interaction or conversation. It would be fun for the kids too though.

We planned to do hamburgers and hot dogs with all the fixings. Brandon ran the grill, while Melissa and I got the rest of it ready. Once it was, we all sat down to eat. It was really good too. I love a good burger.

When we were done cleaning up dinner, they had some fun games planned for the kids. They had a whole bunch of water balloons ready to go. They planned water balloon volleyball, water balloon relay race, and with whatever water balloons were left, just a plan out water balloon fight. The kids were at first worried about getting wet, but once they got started, they had a blast.

  When all was said and done, the kids had a blast, I had a blast, I hated to see it end.

ABC countdown to Summer

For a little bit of fun as the school year comes to a close, Mrs. Vigil put together a countdown to summer. Each day they got to something fun with a letter of the alphabet. Some day she took pictures, some days she didn't. I was able to copy some of the ones she posted or shared, otherwise all I had was what Owen told me about it.

April 20th A day- Airplane day - We will be flying airplanes today
April 23rd B day- Bubble day - Let's blow bubbles today
April 24th C day- Chalk day - Be creative and draw with chalk today
April 25th D day- Drink day - Bring your favorite drink to enjoy during the day
April 26th E day- Extra Recess - Extra play time outside (Owen is in the blue, white, and orange stripped shirt)

April 27th F day- Fruit day - Bring a piece of fruit to school to eat
April 30th G day- Green day - Wear something green today
May 1st H day- Hat day - Wear your favorite hat to school

May 2nd I day- Inside out day and strategy reading - Wear your clothes inside out today

May 3rd J day- Just dance day - Dance with your class and friends today
May 4th K day- Obi Won Kenobi or Kylo Ren? - Star Wars day

May 7th L day- Lunch with teacher day
May 8th M day- Make Mother's day gift today - Shhh...It's a surprise
May 9th N day- No more homework day!!!
May 10th O day- Organizing and Oreo day

May 11th P day- Party day - Enjoy our spring party today
May 14th Q day- Question day - Ask Questions about next year
May 15th R day- Rainbow day - Wear your favorite color of the rainbow
May 16th S day- Super hero day - Dress as your favorite super hero

May 17th T day- Time day - Enjoy 15 minutes of FREE TIME today

May 18th U day- Unhealthy Snack day - Bring a treat just for you
May 21st V day- Video day - Enjoy a movie today
May 22nd W day- Walk day - Take a walk outside with your classmates
May 23rd X day- You are X-tra special - celebrate you today
May 24th Y day- YAY it's field day

May 25th Z day- Zip up your backpack and zoom home

Last day of school

The school year has come and gone a lot faster than I thought it would. I can't believe it's over and that they will end this school year and start the next school year all without Ben being home.

We got ready and headed to school early so that the kids could give their teachers a Thank You gift for all the hard work they put in during the school year for them. I have to admit I was worried this year because both of them got teachers that I didn't know and I wasn't sure how it would all work out, but the year went on without a hitch. The kids had a good year and their teachers really seemed to enjoy having them in their classrooms. Now on to the next year.

Hogwarts

The reading specialist at the school puts on a program to encourage the kids to read each year. They have to read 25 books in their age range and a few that are recommended by her in order to participate. Owen heard about this challenge and decided that he was going to get it done. He first picked his 5 from her list and started with those. Once those were done he started on the rest. He had his 25 books done by the end of January. That meant that he got to go to the end of year party. They had little parties along the way as encouragement, but if you didn't make the whole 25 you didn't go to the last one at the end of year. Owen was so happy that he reached his goal and was on the list for the party.

The day of the party finally came and he was so excited. It was a Harry Potter themed and they did activities that were modeled after Harry Potter. They even got to make their own snitch. He said his favorite part besides the treats was the picture. He said he tried really hard not to smile because he was supposed to be a prisoner. Overall he had a great time and said if they do it again next year that he was going to do it again.

Mayflower

The last few days of school was bringing all of their stuff home. Things from their desk, left over notebooks, folders, and even artwork. Gabbi got in the van with this really big art piece. I had no idea what it was supposed to be. She told me that it was the Mayflower. I asked her why she was just bringing it home now when you normally talk about it around Thanksgiving. She shrugged her shoulders and said she didn't know. I asked her what she wanted to do with it and she said it was too big to save and threw it in the garbage can and walked away. Well at least it was her doing it and not me telling her too.

PTA Convention

A few months ago I agreed to be the PTA treasurer for the upcoming school year. They told me that I would have a few things here and there, but once school started it would be a little more often. So I waited to hear from the President. My first official assignment was to attend the PTA Convention. They sent out a few texts and email giving us information on the convention and asked who all could attend. I told them it would depend on if I could find someone to watch William for me and that I'd let them know. I was lucky enough to find someone to watch him both of the days and told them that I would be able to attend all the convention meetings. For all those that could go, we would carpool to make it easier. 4 of us could go on Wednesday and 4 on Thursday. The President and I were the only ones who could attend both days.

When it was time, we met at the school bright and early. Once we were all there, we hopped in the President's car and hit the road. We were hoping leaving so early that we'd avoid traffic, but you can never really avoid traffic. It slowed us down a little bit, but still made okay time. We finally got there and found a parking spot with only a little time to spare. Sadly that time was lost when we went to check in. There was a line to do so. When we had finally checked in and got out bags and manuals we headed upstairs to the first meeting. They had already started, so we just quietly sat in the back.

After hearing the welcome and the introductions to the State PTA board, they told us what was going to happen both today and tomorrow. I felt like I was in over my head, but did my best to stay afloat. As treasurer, I had certain classes that I needed to attend. So we looked at the schedule, decided where everyone was supposed to be, made a plan to meet back up for lunch, and then headed to our classes.

I lucked out and my first class was in the same room as the opening meeting. So when they adjourned, I moved up closer so I could hear and see things better. The class presenter was the State PTA Treasurer. She was giving us all the in's and out's to being a treasurer. I did my best to follow along and took as many notes as I could. With all that was being said and asked I still felt way out of my comfort zone. I told myself that the best way for me to learn was to just talk to the previous treasurer and see how she did it.

After my first two classes, it was time to meet for lunch. We gathered down on the bottom floor by the exit. At that point it was time to decide what to eat. Since it was on the PTA I didn't really want to say where to go for lunch. It was decided that we would go to a Indian place. I really wish I had spoken up because I felt bad that they paid for me and i didn't eat much. It was so spicy that I could barely eat anything. I stuck to the bread and between that and rice, I didn't eat much.

When lunch was over we headed back to the convention center and decided to walk around the show room. They had all sorts of booths set up that were there to help out school PTA with things to do with our schools. We got so much "swagger" that I could barely carry my bag. It was a lot of fun.

When we were done in the show room, it was time to head home. There were still classes, but since we all needed to get back before school got out, we planned to head home. 

The next morning we met at the school again. We made it there with plenty of time and first hit the show room. The two new ladies that joined us today were excited to hit the show room after our President told them about all the "swag" we got. We spent as much time as we could in the show room before attending our first classes. I again had treasurer classes to attend. Again split up and planned to get together for lunch.

After our two morning classes, we again met downstairs to go to lunch. This time we went to a sandwich shop. It was much better than the Indian place yesterday. I could actually eat my sandwich without worrying about my mouth burning.

When we were done with lunch we walked back to the convention center and waited for our next class. It was a short one, so we were able to stay this time, but once it was done, we high tailed it out of there to again get home before all the kids got out of school.

After two days of "swag" I dumped out my bag. The kids ran over and started to claim stuff. It was a crazy frenzy. When all was said and done, each of them got something and were happy.

Guitar

Before Grandma died she was gracious enough to let us have one of her beginner guitars for Ben to learn how to play. It's been a dream of his to learn to play and now because of her he can start. He's been teaching himself and has been loving it.

Grandma had a ton of instruments in her basement when she passed. Some that were on loan for Grandpa were returned or sold to instrument shops. All the others were given to her children to decide what to do with. Ben had noticed one of the guitars that were left and told Mom that if her siblings would allow, we make an offer on it. After months turned into over a year of deliberating what to do with Grandma's instruments, it was decided that whoever had what, could do whatever with them. They all had a lot of different items of Grandmas that they didn't sale in the yard sale, but Mom had all the instruments, Ric had her rare coin collection, Cindy had her bell collection, and Hal had all the records and music. So after that was decided Mom checked one more time with her siblings and then told us that Mom was free to do what she wanted with the guitar. It was Grandma's guitar, one that Grandpa gave her and that they played together. Mom told us that she was happy to let us have it so that it would stay in the family. We told her that we would but it, but she didn't want anything for it. She just wanted it to get used. 

After I told Ben, he was so excited. He had taken the other guitar with him to Texas to start learning not that his evenings were free. He couldn't wait to get home and start playing this one. I told him I would do him one better. I would bring it to Texas with me when we came to visit. With that he looked up someone who could tune and bring back to life a guitar that hadn't been played in years. After a few days, he told me he had it lined up and scheduled with this man, but just needed some pictures. So I snapped some and sent them to him. He now had an extra reason to be excited for our visit.

Dance

Last week we went to Brooklyn's dance recital. Gabbi loved it and talked about how much she missed dancing. So when Christy told us they were having a "Bring your friends to dance" week, we jumped at the offer. It was a way to bring in new clientele into the studio without any pressure of actually needing to sign up for dance. Gabbi has missed dance so much, I didn't see the harm in lettering her attend some of the classes they offered that week for free. She was so excited.

The first class we went to was ballet. When we got to the ballet studio, I had no intention of leaving. I wasn't sure if I should. Christy and I were the only parents who stayed. I almost felt weird, but I didn't want the director to think I was treating this as a babysitting session. I'm glad I stayed. The boys were too. They got participate too. They felt a little silly, but they were having just as much fun as the girls were. They got to wear wings, tutus, and do a little ballet. At the end they did free style and that's where the boys really shined.

After getting a quick bite to eat we went to the next class. The next class was a jazz and tumbling class. This we a lot more fun for the boys, I don't think they liked the ballet class although they made the best of it. This time around they were so focused and did exactly what the instructor said. Even William and Ryker, who were not at all interested in the last one, where doing their best to do exactly what the instructor doing showed them.

All the kids had a lot of fun, especially Gabbi. She begged to be able to sign up for classes. I took some pictures of what they offered during the summer and I told her I would talk to Ben and we'd let her know. We had 3 weeks before we needed to worry about anything.