Moving On Up

  

Last Day of School

Rehm and Mrs. Kirby.  She will be teaching at his middle school next year.  He is thrilled and hoping to have her as a teacher again.

Rehm and Ms. Sills.  He had such a great year in her class. 

 

 

 

I can't believe it is the last day of school and Summer is finally here.  What I really can't believe is that Rehm is heading off to Middle School in the fall!  He is ready but I know he will miss many of his friends and many of the teachers and staff at the elementary school.

Did you notice that Eliza Claire is in her PJs?  She came down with a stomach bug last night and did not get to go to school today.  I did take her up briefly at the end of the day to say goodbye to her amazing Kindergarten teacher.  We have been so blessed to have Mrs. Johnson for all four kids.  I'm sad I'll never have another child in her class.  Maybe she'll decide to teach a different grade :)

Not Dog Treats

What is this you ask? These are cute little terry pouches that hold a bar of soap. I got the idea from pinterest, of course.



After making cute pool bags for the girls, I made several of these out of the scraps for the kids to use at home and for travel.



It appears that the dogs like the taste of ivory soap because I found them fighting over the remains of one of my filled soap pouches. When I went to separate them and take it away Baron swallowed the pouch! He is now regretting his latest doggie treat and has an upset stomach. Cross your fingers he's feeling better soon and the pouch passes without incident. I guess he'll at least have fresh breath for a fee hours.

Jenn- Posted from my iPhone

My Trusty Companion for the Day

This guy is older than me. I think it was the first sewing machine my Mom bought. When the kids came home from school they all exclaimed about how old it was. Rehm even commented on how few stitch choices there were. I told him that 99% of the time a straight stitch or zig zag was all you needed.
It may be old but it feels sturdy and reliable. And who am I kidding, no more than I sew it definitely meets my needs.
Jenn- Posted from my iPhone

Miss Pearl

I love that most of the time Miss Pearl's tongue sticks out.

Enjoying some outside time after being banned from the back yard for the last week due to a downed section of fence.  I'm thrilled we've had rain but am really glad to have use of the backyard back.

Getting some energy out playing her most favorite game - fetch.

 

Yes, half the yard is just dirt right now.  I'm blaming the drought.  Though why it has only affected half the yard is beyond me.  I think it probably has more to do with the sprinkler system but that is a problem for another day.

I'm so glad Pearl is part of the family.  She is a unique girl that always makes me smile, even when she is being bad, which luckily isn't very often.

Jenn

Rehm's Independent Study Project

Rehm did his project on the stock market. He was very excited about his topic. He even interviewed an expert via email as part of the project. As usual he did a great job getting up in fro t of everyone to speak.

He had no help with his project from his parents. He did it all himself. He did get it done a bit sooner than previous years but ran into some familiar obstacles. Time management and staying in task being the biggest. Two weeks into the project I asked how it was going. He informed me he had "found some great note taking web sites!" He came up several great ideas for work product, but never implemented them. Rehm is definitely an idea man but unfortunately not great on follow through.



He is so amazing speaking in front of groups. For his 15 minute presentation, he had a very simple single page outline. He stayed on topic and moved from point to point well. In fact his teacher finally had to tell him his time was up. He would have kept talking all day long if she would have let him.

Overall his project was fine. I would just like to see one that showed his best effort because it would be amazing.

Jenn- Posted from my iPhone

Craftiness

The last few weeks I've been feeling crafty. This is my latest project.

When my mom was visiting in January, I fell in love with a piece of fabric at a quilt shop and insisted we buy a yard to do something in Ruby's room.

My mom took it home with her. She sent me back two throw pillows made completely out of the fabric and a wall hanging that used the rest. The corduroy brown fabric with flowers was the piece I insisted we buy.

The only problem was the wall hanging was small and my rod to hang it on was very long, as I usually hang much larger quilts there. I needed to find some way to make the quilt look better on the rod.




Here is what I came up with. I was lazy and used glue dots to secure the loops on the ribbon. It is not holding so I will need to stitch the ribbon or find a different glue. I'm thinking hot glue will do the trick. And I'm still debating trimming the ribbons a bit at the bottom.




Ruby loves the new addition to her room and one day when it is actually clean I'll take pictures of the entire room do you can see how well this goes with the rest of the room.


Jenn- Posted from my iPhone

Independent Study: Whale Sharks

Charlotte chose to do her Independent Study project this year on the whale shark.  Second graders all chose an ocean animal.  She did a great job.  I think Michael videoed her presentation.  If so I'll add it later today.

Pointing out the life cycle

Close up of Charlotte's Whale Shark Habitat

I have to admit we stole the idea for the habitat from Rehm's second grade IS project on the wobbegong shark. It was a hit again this time. 

Moving Out

My oldest daughter has decided that she does not like living with me. Apparently, I am horribly mean and impossible to live with. So she's moving out.

Earlier today, I told her I would take her to her friend's softball game as soon as she finished cleaning her room. She came back a few minutes later to yell at me, "You are completely and totally to blame if I miss her game." She punctuated by a foot stomp.

I reminded her that I had not been in her room and thus could not be responsible for any mess that might be in there. Not so politely, I informed her that she would need to talk to me a bit differently if she expected to have any privileges including attending the game once her room was clean.

She did finally get her room clean but then decided she didn't want to go to the ball field after all. What she really wanted to do is play dress up with her Sunday dresses. I told her "no" as the last few times they did this every dress the girls owned ended up in a heap in the bottom of a closet and no one would clean up.

I have told her and her sisters that to have the privilege to play dress up they have to prove that they can consistently clean up after themselves. Since this is not happening(major understatement), there is no dress up.

She thinks I am horrible and unreasonable because her room was cleaned an hour ago, before she changed her mind about going to the game. In her world she should now have any and all privileges she can dream up. She has already forgotten the drama that went along with cleaning her room and is completely missing the "show me you can clean up after yourself point."

So she has decided she should move out. Move to somewhere she is more appreciated. I have wished her well and offered her room to one of her sisters. Now that they are no longer hysterical that she may really leave, Ruby has called dibs on her room.

I wonder if I'll have to follow her around the block before she comes to her senses?

Ah, there's never a dull moment when you are a horribly mean mommy.
Jenn- Posted from my iPhone

Crazy, Dusy Day

Oh my word, what a crazy day! I am so tired I can't see straight. It was such a busy day that I don't even have one picture to show for it.

Here is the day in a nutshell:

Michael left the house at 6:30 am to go run his first 5K. At about the same time Ruby crawled in bed with me.

I left with all the kids at 8:30 to take the bigs to choir dress rehearsal. Then I took the twins to my in-laws to meet Michael. He showered and then took the twins to a birthday party.

While they were at the party, I went to breakfast, my last quiet moment of the day. Then I did our much needed Sam's run. I loaded the cooler with all my bounty and went to pick up the bigs.

We met Michael, the littles and the in-laws for lunch at Chuy's. After lunch Michael took Charlotte to warm up for her team's second tournament game of the day. She missed the first due to choir.

I made goodies for the cookie party that follows the musical. I made Cake Batter Fudge because it is quick and easy to make. Unfortunately, it does not hold up well to sitting out in 90 degree Texas heat for even a few minutes. We kept it refrigerated until the kids were ready to eat. I have some ideas on how to make it more heat resistant. When I try them out, I'll let you know the results.

I intended to fix my hair and put on make up before going to Charlotte's game but realized it would be a complete waste of time given the temperature.

Charlotte's team won their game which meant her team would play again at 8:30. We left the ballpark and headed to church for the Children's choir musical.

The kids did a great job. The musical this year was Are We There, Yet? It is the story of Moses. Rehm played Pharaoh. I think he might have enjoyed being the bad guy a little too much. He did an awesome job. Charlotte led the frog plague. And Ruby and Eliza Claire were diseased cows. Yeah, I know. They were adorable diseased cows.

After the musical the kids got to gorge themselves on cookies and then we all headed back to the ballpark for the game. Both teams played a good game. Unfortunately we lost. It was a really close game.

We made it home at 10:00 pm. The kids are now all in bed and I am beyond exhausted. I honestly can't believe everyone got everywhere they were supposed to today, that we didn't lose anyone, and that I didn't yell once.

I'm now blogging from my phone because the router needs to be reset and I'm too tired to go upstairs and reset it.

I don't plan on leaving the house tomorrow and if I'm lucky wont be getting out of my pajamas!

If you happen to have any pictures of my kids from today, please let me know. I'd love to see them and possibly post a few, with permission, of course.

I really want to do my nails as they are a chipped mess but I don't think I have the patience for that tonight. Maybe I'll read for a bit...

Goodnight!
Jenn- Posted from my iPhone

Crazy Hair Day

Today is crazy hair day at school. No one had a specific hair style in mind but the all wanted something crazy and not like their siblings.
Here is what we came up with for everyone.




































Jenn- Posted from my iPhone

Take Me Out to the Ballpark

I had to run to the craft store this morning to grab adhesive so the kids can finish their independent study projects. I got side tracked and walked out $77 later with supplies to do a couple of craft projects I wanted to try.

Project Number 1 is now complete. I got the idea from
here and here. Yes, it is all Pinterest's fault.

I used a wire wreath, one softball, a whole bunch of baseballs, a ton of hot glue and some ribbon. I found all the balls in my garage. I was disappointed to only find one softball and no yellow softballs. I knew if I waited until I located different softballs I'd never get the project done. So I went ahead with what I had.

Here is the finished product.









So do you like it better with or without the hat?

Jenn- Posted from my iPhone

Kindergarten Field Trip

Today Michael and I went with Ruby and Eliza Claire on their kindergarten field trip to Sweet Berry Farms.  It was a fun day.  Our poor middle child also had a field trip today.  Her class went to the Zach Scott theater to see a show.  Due to the non-interactive nature of her field trip and a limited number of tickets, neither of her parents attended her field trip.  To make up for missing her field trip, she and I will be having a date in the morning.  I don't know what we will do yet.  I'm guessing we will go to breakfast.

The strawberry patch was a perfect field trip.  They were taught all about the different jobs of being on a farm.

The kids ate lunch.

Ripping open her Lunchable.  Both girls were thrilled to get a "real Lunchable" as their horrible parents typically refuse to buy them.

They planted a seed (pumpkin).

They used the strawberry blaster - they got to shoot rotten strawberries at a banner.  I couldn't get a good angle for action shots so I had to settle for these while they were waiting their turn.

Waiting in line

Ruby and the amazing Mrs. Johnson

You can see the banner they are shooting strawberries at in the background.  They get to hang it up in their classroom.

They learned about good and bad bugs on the farm. Then they each got to let a ladybug go.  The ladybugs live in the refrigerator until it is time to release them.  The kids were told to shake their container to wake them up.  Most of the kids decided the more vigorously the better.  I think there might be a few lady bugs with concussions.
 

Letting a lady bug go

They fed the goats.

I love Ruby's expression

They picked fruit.

Then it was time to get ready to go back to school.

And time for Michael and I to go have lunch and pie at the Bluebonnet Cafe.