Last day of schoolio!

When the kids come home from school Kinlee always runs up to them and asks, "How was schoolio?"  So the word schoolio has stuck at our house.  It makes school sound like so much more fun, don't you think?  Today was Connor's last day of 2nd grade, Kadee's last day of 1st grade, and Kinlee's last school year before she starts preschool.  Where does the time go?  I am so super proud of my kids and all their accomplishments.  I have been blessed with very motivated, intelligent, happy children.  They work hard in school and the activities they participate in and it shows.  Both of them have done fabulous this year and Kadee finished off this quarter with 100% accuracy in reading and math.  She had 99% in spelling, she missed one spelling word this quarter.  Connor's teacher doesn't give us percentages but he finished with all 3's, which is above grade level.  Today they signed yearbooks and had an end of the year assembly.  I went to watch Kadee sing in musical minors one last time and enjoyed it thoroughly.  The school honored myself, Jenifer Stansfield, and Wendi Hicks with gifts and recognition for all the work we have done with the PTA, the new Student Government was sworn in, and the kids danced and sang their favorite songs they learned in choir.  Such a bittersweet day for this mama.  I know they have to grow up, but I will miss these times dearly.   Here are some end of school year pictures.

End of the year musical minor performance, they sang Disney songs.

 

Connor and Gavin at their Un-Birthday Party at school. Cheers!

Connor and Mrs. Judd

Kadee's first piano recital

Kadee & Mrs. Montoya

Singing to Connor at his Un-Birthday party

Yay for cupcakes!

Field Trips and Fun!

Life is always busy, busy busy.  Last week we had Kadee's 1st grade field trip.  I was lucky enough to get to go, it was in Castle Dale at the Museum of the San Rafael and the Pioneer museum, so my mom met me over there to help with Matthew and Kinlee.  I've never been to either museum so it was quite a treat.  I was in love with the pioneer museum, but I love looking at antiques and picturing what life was like for the pioneers.  So many of the items in the pioneer museum reminded me of my great grandparents house and my visits to stay with them in the summer.  I have such great memories. Anyway, back to the field trip, thank goodness my mom was there because there was no way to get the stroller into the Pioneer museum and I am positive Matthew would have broken something, but she took them to the park while we had the tour.  Our tour guide had a prosthetic leg.  I actually didn't even notice, but I guess the kids did, because they asked her what had happened to her leg.  I was really impressed with the way she responded.  Instead of getting upset she sat down and thanked the kids for asking her about it.  She took the leg off and explained to them how to put it on, and that when she is at home she uses a wheel chair.  She told them that it is okay to be curious and ask about a disability, as long as you do it with kindness.  She also talked to them about the Boston Marathon and explained that even though people lost limbs, their lives can still be normal.  It was a great learning experience for our kids and I'm grateful for her taking the time to talk to them about it.  After the museums we had lunch at the park and then played for awhile, then it was back to the bus.  It was a really fun field trip and I loved being there with the kids.

Friday Kadence had talent show rehearsals.  She is going to be playing the piano and has worked  hard to memorize the piece she is playing.  She will be playing Tale As Old As Time from Beauty and the Beast.  Connor's teacher has a ginormous incubator that she brought to school and hatched eggs in.  The kids whose parents gave them permission were able to put their name in a drawing to bring the chicks home. Connor got to bring a turken and a chick home and they are now living under a heat lamp in my garage until they get their feathers.

Monday was Kadee's park day.  Unfortunately I wasn't able to make it, but Rory took Kinlee and Matthew to the park and played for awhile.  She said it was lots of fun.  Her and her best friend Jordan are pretty much inseparable  so we are going to have to do lots of play dates this summer.  Monday we also got our brand new camp trailer.  I am so excited about it.  It has so much room and we got a smokin' deal.  

Tuesday was Connor's 2nd grade field trip.  I wasn't able to go on this field trip either :(   But Mike Miller went and took pictures for me.  They went to the museum in Price, the fire station, and the Dino Mine Park.  Connor didn't really say much about it, except that 3 kids threw up from heat exhaustion.  I guess that was the highlight of the day, lol.  He said his favorite part was the park and he hung out with Gavin and Chet for most of the day.  Connor was asked to play on a traveling baseball team and is so excited.

My grandparents have been staying with us for the past few days.  I hate seeing them get old.  My grandpa's dimensia is so bad he can't even remember the basic day to day things and has to constantly be reminded to change his clothes, brush his teeth, etc.  My grandma hasn't been doing too well either.  Her health is getting worse, she can hardly walk from the arthritis in her back and has lost most of her upper body strength.  It breaks my heart to see them this way.  We have always had a special relationship and I want to take care of them, but they may be to the point that they need constant care that I just can't give them.

Reader beware.... ranting ahead

Wow, 2013 has been a rough year.  Don't get me wrong, there has been a lot of good and there is so much to be grateful for, I am just struggling with the mean people who try to bring others down.  I usually turn the other cheek and try to be the bigger person, but lately it seems overwhelming.  I think the reason it bothers me so much is that a lot of the negativity has been directed towards Rory. He it's a good man, a loyal friend, a hard worker, amazing father, and caring husband. He volunteers in a community that he loves, has never been in trouble at work (which says a lot with the Carbon County sheriff's office, they have fired 6 employees in a very short period of time), he rescued a little boy from a terrible situation, and is a loyal friend and honestly a genuinely good person who always sees the good in others. Despite all of this, he is treated terribly by an employer, a parent on his baseball team, and others.  It breaks my heart. It's not just his situation, but just the way people treat others, like their feelings don't matter.  People are always complaining about the way I run PTA, we had talent show rehearsals and parents were mad because their song lyrics were inappropriate so they had to pick a different song.  We don't do enough, or we do too much. The negativity sometimes seems to overtake the positive at times, then I take a deep breath, and remember all the good in the world. I remember none if us are perfect and all we can do is try to be the best people we can be. I remember the Savior and the plan of salvation and His commandment to love thy neighbor as thyself. I remember that forgiveness is the only way. We can't control others, but we can control how we react to them.

Sorry about the ranting,  and sorry for any and all grammatical errors, I'm on my kindle and it is super hard to type long posts.  I'd like to share a few quotes that have put the last couple of months into perspective for me:

"Stop letting people who do so little for you, control so much of your mind, , and emotions."

"The only person you have control over is yourself. You can change how you see a situation or remove yourself from it, but you cannot change the other person."

and my favorite:

"I learned the hard way that I cannot always count on others to respect my feelings, even if I respect theirs.  Being a good person doesn't guarantee that others will be good people to. You only have control over yourself and how you choose to be as  person. As for others, you can only choose to accept them, or walk away."

Girl Scout

I have an awesome little girl scout.  This is Kadee's 2nd year of scouts and she loves it.  She is a daisy and has really enjoyed earning badges, the different activities, and especially selling girl scout cookies.  At their last meeting of the school year, they learned how to make adorable sashay scarves.  I made Kadee show me how and am now making one for our mom's and grandma's for Mother's Day.  They are really fun and easy to make and make me feel super crafty.

Kadee in her Daisy vest and the sashay scarf she made

Teacher appreciation week is here!  I am so grateful for the wonderful teachers we have at Wellington Elementary.  We really do have the best teachers in the whole county.  My kids have both done fabulous this year and have grown by leaps and bounds.  Myself, Jenifer Stansfield, and Wendi Hicks have worked really hard to make sure our teachers know they are appreciated.  We planned meals for them for the entire week, had student government decorate their doors, and got each teacher a gift basket.  Although our PTA presidency has worked hard to show we appreciate our teachers, I wanted to do a little something for each of my kids teachers.  Since I didn't have a lot of time I got on Pinterest and found this cute idea:

Opening Day

Today was opening day for Carbon Cal Ripken baseball.  We started the day off with a parade, it was so much fun.  I couldn't believe all the candy that they threw.  The kids had bags full and couldn't keep up with all the candy being thrown.  After the parade we took team pictures and then played our first game of the season (all the games before today were considered preseason).  The boys fought hard, but lost to the undefeated Cardinals.  Although we lost, the boys kept their heads up and I even heard one of them say, "I don't want the game to be over!"  I must say I am a total baseball mom.  I love watching my boy play and I love watching the camaraderie between teammates.  I admire Rory so much for taking the time to coach our kids in sports.  Everyone is so busy with life that sometimes they use that as an excuse as to why they can't help.  Rory works 2 jobs, is on Wellington City Council, in the Elders Quorum, and much more and still makes time to help not only our kids improve, but other peoples kids as well.  I think sometimes being a coach is a thankless job.  Parents yell at Rory for not playing their kids in the position they want, for not playing them enough, for not having enough practices, for having too many practices.  You name it, he has heard it.  I'm so proud of him for keeping his head up and remembering that he is there for the kids.  Go White Sox!!!

White Sox before the parade

Coach and son

First year in minors!

Favorite Foods

Tonight I asked our kids what their favorite foods are and how you cook them.  Here are their responses:

Connor
Favorite Food:  Steak and Corn Dogs

Corn Dogs: Put them in the stove for about 450 for 30 minutes.  Put a hot dog in the corn dog and then you wrap it around with a wrap.
Steak:  Get meat from an animal, you get all the blood off of it.  You cook it.  You get sauce and put it inside of the steak.  Put it in the oven for 450 and then you cook it for 45 minutes.

Kadee
Favorite Food: Pizza

Grab the bread, make it into one of those big bumps, the bread triangle.  Grab the sauce, put the sauce on it, then you put the cheese on it, then you cook it about 30 degrees and for 40 minutes.

Kinlee
Favorite Food:  Chicken Nuggets

French fries, once upon a time.  The fries chicken.  Then you put it in a pan, you get it on the pan, and mark it off. 

And that is how you make; steak, corn dogs, pizza, and chicken nuggets.  Just in case you were wondering. :)