Book Report

I just finished reading this book about a week ago. Fantastic!! Get on the waiting list at your library immediately. This book was an action packed adventure all the way through--It is the story of a young girl in a world changed by war--some sort of Apocalypse of some sort. All the old metropolises have been abandoned and everything ugly has been made or will be made pretty. The goal of society is to turn everyone pretty--so as to avoid jealousy, desire for power, anger, frustration, etc. etc.--all those things society thinks can actually be changed if only everyone was beautiful, so as soon as you turn 16 you are taken away from the rest of the "ugly" children and given a complete full body plastic surgery. But, what if you don't want to be turned pretty? Anyway, I highly recommend. Oh, and as an added incentive--there is surfing in this book!!

My Bathroom Jives

Okay, at last I have down loaded the pictures off my camera. The first week school was out I shanghaied my poor guy and made him tear down flowery purple wallpaper and help me paint our tiny bathroom. For the size of the project, it sure took a long time. And, by the way, who knew that the anti-wallpaper glue spray remover stuff was going to turn into blue goo as it disolved the glue. What a nauseatting mess. Several times I had to catch myself and remind my imagination that I was dealing with a non-organic mucus--as much as it appeared to be the real stuff--only blue.

Here are the befores:

I already said that it was a tiny room--as you can see.

If you can't make out the finished colors, they are bright yellow and lime. I thought they turned out pretty good. It was an experiment that didn't completely blow up in our faces. You can't ask for much more than that.

And here is the after:

Home

There is no place like home --oh, boy--there is no place like home especially after 12 + hours in a car with a hyperventalating, hyperactive, hypersonic six year old manic tease (who gave us all hypertension).
This weekend Andrew and I hitched a ride with Grandpa, Grandma and Matthew to Arizona so we could see Kennedy be baptised. Kennedy was just sweet and gorgious and she had such a serious look in her eyes afterwards. We were so glad we could be there to see her take this important step. It was fun to see LeAnn and Cris and to see how much all the kids have grown. What a fun little family they have!!
I asked Andrew what his favorite part of the whole trip was (I wasn't expecting him to say the car ride of course) and natually he said it was the Wii. Kayden and Andrew played for hours on the Wii and afterwards that is all Andrew could talk about. I'm glad he had such a good time with them. He told me he wished that we could move to Winslow so we could see them every day.

Let Summer Begin!!

We are glad summer vacation is here--at least we think it is here. The weather hasn't been exactly behaving has it? At least I haven't had to pull a hose since we put the garden in. There are positives everywhere you look. Andrew has been very grateful to sleep. He is not a morning person and I had about run out of loud annoying songs to get him up in the morning. See? There is another positive (for him too).

We had a good time that last week of school. Everyone was crazy and wound up as tight as noisy springs. Andrew had fun hanging with the big kids--which he had to do because the last two days were only half days for the kindergarten and he had to stay as long as the older grades. He helped Mrs. Perry (Steven's co-teacher) fill Steven's brand new, very shiny pick-up with very messy and finely shredded confetti--which he didn't discover until he had to get in it to go mow lawns. Andrew also got to go to the Rimrock Field Day which is kind of like an extended recess for everyone. The PTO provided a bunch of games and the fire station sent over a firetruck to spray all the kids. Andrew was very cautious and would not go outside and get wet because he didn't want to freeze. How very mature and all----thinking ahead like that. There were plenty of other kids wanting to call home for dry, warm clothes and they were DENIED.

Steven ran the two mile school race on a very sore foot and beat most of the kids--and Andrew ran 1/2 and played a little and then ran another 1/2. Though, I have to say the Kindergartners all ran about a mile before the race started with their silly antics and jumping around--what monkeys.

Here are the last minute thank you cards Andrew and I made for his two teachers.

Andrew had such a good year. He keeps saying he wishes school wasn't over. I must admit I miss my little hooligans too.

This is Funny!!

I love things that are ridiculous . . . This one cracks me up. Paper plates--cheap, just throw them away--no dishes--ya, right ...

How about designer porcelain paper plates?

http://www.showlifestyle.com/index.phpmain_page=product_info&cPath=8&products_id=129

The End of the Year

Yea!! Only two and a half days left of school. We are all so ready for school to break up for the summer--Well ........ maybe Andrew isn't. He told me he doesn't want school to end. Kindergarten is the best--I know. How can you get over the upbeat teachers, the fun projects, the cool songs , twenty new friends who play with everyone, and being away from mom and dad for the first time in your short life?! On Tuesday he gets to go to two Bar-b-Ques for the morning and afternoon kindergartens. What a way to end the year!! He finally had his name announced over the intercom for his AR (accelerated reading) points--68!! That is over 136 books read in half a year! We have just about covered the entire early reader section of the school library. What a job. He was so excited to be famous for two minutes.

Steven also acheived a little bit of fame this week. The school district set aside $50,000 to give out to teachers as a sort of merit bonus and Steven and his co-teacher, Mrs. Perry, both received a $1,000 of it and a plaque naming them teachers of the year. It was such a nice honor. He has worked so hard getting up at 5:00 each morning and staying at school until 6:00 each day, working through lunch time, creating exciting activities and fun memories for his 6th graders. He also had the extra distinction of having the highest Accelerated Math and Math ISAT scores in the whole district. I am so glad they took notice. He is an awesome teacher.

As for me, I love my silly boys, all 15 of them and the 4 girls that drove them all to distraction. We have been through a lot together---lice and more lice, walking in the rain while they dare eachother to eat worms, sickness, fighting, struggling to read and do math, playing jump rope at recess and lightening---Lots of good memories and shruggings of disbelief. They all come with adult problems and kid know how and yet they always manage to have a smile and a sparkle in their eyes. We all need a break, but it will be sad to see them go.

Yea!! Only a 1.23 weeks left!!!

Yeah!! We are down to our last full week of school. Can I just say what a relief it is to be down to the wire. Friday was something. Our poor little boy with the lice problem was sent home once again with a major infestation. His father was ready to sue the school because he thought everyone had a vendetta against his dear boy--until the counselor actually showed him what a louse looked like--a little like dandruff but with beady little black eyes (or black spots. The dead ones are pure white almost like dandruff but in the shape of a grain of rice. Geez I have learned a lot.) Well he was very cooperative after that and apologetic and probably relieved that school is almost out so his son need not be sent home too many more times this year. I am being sarcastic, but really that poor child has been dealing with this problem for months. If whatever the father is doing isn't working, he should try something else or ask for some help.

In other news, we also had a student kicked off the bus at the end of the day before the bus even left because he was so mad he wasn't allowed to watch for the bus (and this is due to further previous bad behavior). This student threw a terrible temper tantrum and our principle had to sit him down on the grass outside the building while he waited for his family to come get him (the grass was torn up in chunks and heaved at anyone close enough to be a target). I feel so bad for this kid. What a long road he has a head of him.

Andrew discovered dew Saturday morning. We were up early--heaven knows why when we could actually have slept in until 7:00--and we were all sitting on the back porch enjoying the nice morning weather and, well, it was just nice after such a long time of it being not nice. The dew was thick on the grass and the morning sun was making it shine like broken up sunshine. I told Andrew he should run through it in his bare feet, that it would feel so awesome. No, he didn't want to--until his dad told him it would feel like he was running through sunshine. Well, up he gets and dashes out into the grass--and then he lets out a huge scream-- AAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaggggggggggghhhhhhhhh! "NO it doesn't!!! It feels like water!!!!"
I laughed until my stomach hurt. He is so innocent and believes everything his daddy says. I am sure this will not last very much longer.

I just finished reading "The Host," the latest Stephenie Meyer book. It was awesome!! It took awhile to get into just because you have no background and all at once you jump into a story about alien invasion that already has taken place and the aliens have already won and there is so much to catch up on before you really know what is happening--but then the story grabs you and it doesn't let you go until the last page. Can I just admit without shame that there was sniveling and bawling involved in several places. She just really knows how to write real characters and how to get to the heart of things. I was so sad it was over.