Good Bye to 3rd Grade

Well, here it is, the end of May already, and my "Rock Star 3rd Grader" has had a crazy, busy year!

Aside from the fact that the 3rd grade teaching team spends half the school year stressing kids preparing kids for "the big assessments", they somehow managed to throw in some fun activities along the way. Kayli's teacher "wowed her" with Science, her favorite subject! She also loved Reading, and all the miscellaneous information her teacher shared along with the stories they read. Kayli's BFF, Megan, was in her class this year, which was thrilling for her. In addition, I was happy to see her expand her horizons by developing another close friendship with a little girl named Alyana. The 3 little girls were inseparable at daily lunch and recesses!

Towards the end of the school year, Kayli's teacher began a really suspenseful read-aloud book, and Kayli talked about this book daily. Mrs. M. always left them "hanging" when she stopped reading each day. Well, the end of the school year came, and Mrs. M didn't get to finish reading this book to the class. Kayli is dying to see how it ends, so I guess that's our segue to the public library!  Kayli also continues to love Music and PE. She really hates computer lab because she says that every time they get in there they have to do the same thing called "type to learn" over and over and over again. I imagine that "pales" in comparison to the ever-so-creative "Minecraft" app that Kayli spends so much time immersed in on her ipad ! 

So, my girl did some growing and learning, and her mom did some growing and learning, and as school years go, another one seemed to just fly by! Mrs. M ran a fast paced, busy, noisy classroom. (We discovered that my perfectionistic, only child, requires a bit more time and quiet in her environment to get things done to her specifications, in other words..."perfect" Oh Lord, how well I know the road of a perfectionist! So much pressure on yourself. So hard to measure up to your own standards. So hard to "just finish it already" when there are still revisions running through your head. So hard when everyone around you is done with their project and you have just become immersed in yours! ) Mrs. M had a genuine place in her heart for each and every kiddo in her room, working hard to help them succeed and pushing each of them to their limits! Kayli and I prepared this special parting gift for her...

...and she loved it!

Fire Hose Fun!

During your 3rd grade year at this school, the kids participate in a Fire Safety program where a group of firefighters come to school and teach various fire safety lessons to the kids. Early in the school year, Kayli and I had to complete (I had to draw it!) a detailed blueprint of our house, marking all the smoke detectors, doors, windows, and two potential exits from each room in the house. We had to identify the meeting spot, where we would meet if our house was on fire and we both made our way out of the house, and needed to find each other. I had to initial every marked smoke detector, indicating that we had checked it's batteries and made sure it was working. We read facts, and completed multiple choice answers about common starting points for fires, and common causes of fires, etc. Kayli ALWAYS unplugs the toaster after toasting her waffle in the morning! We don't want to be in the "club" of small appliance fire victims! Anyway, apparently it is traditional that the end of the school year culminates with a special visit from these firefighters, where they host a water bucket relay and fire hose spraying party for all the 3rd graders. I made sure to be outside when the fun began. It was a hot day, in the 80s, afternoon, around 2:30, and there were many little feet hopping around the hot blacktop while waiting for the firefighters to arrive...

They were late, (I was on a tight schedule today and was planning to take Kayli straight from this activity to another building where I had to attend a speech inservice starting at 3:30!) Well, they came, and immediately began the bucket relay, two long lines of kids, passing large cups of water down the line to see which line could get their large bucket filled up first...

 Kayli's group won!

Then, the firefighters told the few adults that were nearby to head for the "high road" as they were getting ready to turn on the fire hose on the kids on the playground. I hadn't seen Kayli's teacher out here yet, but how funny was it when I turned to see her walking around the corner of the building onto the playground right as the firefighters turned on the giant hose and aimed it at the playground! Mrs. M. went running, and all the kids ran in the same direction, screaming and squealing with glee!!!

Once Mrs. M was safely under the eaves of the school building, the kids were back out in the middle of the black top running amuck as the water from the hose went from mild to wild! I watched as one minute the water was a fine sprinkling over the kids' heads

 then suddenly it would become a force so strong that it literally knocked kids off their feet!!!

I was thinking, seriously, this is so typical of these "firefighter grown up boys" playing with a fire hose! They were getting a little carried away. I kept thinking of my feather weight child and a few of her tiny friends, and hoping they didn't get in the path of those maniac hose wielding firefighters! I saw a few children slink off the playground holding or "dragging" a limb. Well, Kayli was having a ball right up to the end...

then, right as the waterspray ended, I looked at my watch and realized that we needed to leave if I was going to make it to my meeting on time. I headed over to the spot that Kayli was standing on the playground to find that she was limping and crying and holding her arm, and one firefighter was checking her over, then her teacher began twisting and turning her arm and leg, and it didn't appear that there was any blood, and I think they were both relieved when I appeared to take her away, and what happened was that in the midst of the pandemonium, somebody pushed Kayli down (or maybe it was the hose) and she skidded across the blacktop (why didn't they do this in the grass???) and because she was wet, we couldn't see blood until I got her inside and realized she had basically cheese-sliced a layer of skin off one arm and now it was bleeding. I was rushing her through the building saying "I am so sorry you got hurt but we've got to keep going because I have a meeting to get to!" I brought her in my room and helped her get out of her wet suit and into a dress and wouldn't you know, it's the end of the school year and being so efficient as I am, I have already taken my first aid kit back to the school nurse for the year, so no bandaids in here!!! The clock is ticking, Kayli is still wimpering, and I am dragging all my bags, Kayli's backpack, and Kayli down the hall so we can get the heck out of here before the dismissal crowd shows up, and so we can get to this "blankety blank" meeting on time! On my way past the kindergarten, I pop my head in the door and ask Mrs. R if she has a few bandaids to spare. Yep, she hands them to me, I hand them to Kayli, who is holding a kleenex on her arm. We get in the car, Kayli gets the bandaids in place while I drive to the meeting, we arrive just 5 minutes late, we are greeted with a few familiar faces, a fruit and veggie "buffet", and less than half the speech staff shows up for this meeting! What the? Well, Kayli was happy with the strawberries and grapes, and an opportunity to play Minecraft on her IPAD while I completed my last inservice of the school year!

A Friend A Park and a Mom with a Camera!

Kayli and her friends have been recently spending their recess time chasing moths through the grassy field just beyond the playground. Kayli has been talking and talking about how much fun this has been! Today, Friday, on our way home from school, she is begging me to text Megan's mom to see if I can take Megan and Kayli to the park tonight to run through the grass and see how many butterflies/moths they can stir up and catch! It has been a long week for me, I am thinking about how nice it would be to open some cheese and crackers, and pour myself a cold glass of wine, and kick back with my ipad. Hmmm...what to do, what to do. Ok, so, I'm thinking, it is truly a beautiful day. Fresh air and exercise are always a healthy option. Furthermore, a "session" with my DSLR always feeds my soul!!! So, the wine and cheese can wait. Off to get Megan, and head to the park...

life is so much sweeter when you have a friend along for the ride!

My HARD WORK!

So, I have been problem solving the situation of Sprinkles running up and down the fence, barking at the neighbor dog, and creating a "mud run" as a result. I had lots of people weighing in on the ideas, and the plan to just create a mulch bed won! I am soooooo tired of those muddy paws dragging that mud into the house!!! I went to the hardware store and bought 6 eight foot landscape timbers, I measured and marked off the space, I sucked up all the leaves, along with Lord knows what,  with my leaf blower. I carried these timbers to the yard, dug the trench that they would sit in, carefully placed each timber into it's spot, then discovered that the last timber was too long and I had to take it back to the hardware store to get it cut, and then back to my house, I got the last of the timbers down, and I hung in there til' dark, spreading out the mulch on top of the extra strength ground cloth, and once I was done, I was soooo proud! The next day, Sprinkles ran out to bark at the neighbor dog, and I was soooooo happy that she didn't come back with a speck of mud on her paws!!! Unfortunately, my joy was short lived. The next week we had some rain storms. One of those days, it rained sooooo much that this happened...

this is our sandbox and swingset. We have NEVER had this much water before... 

SERIOUSLY???

After I spent a few weeks dealing with my feelings about this whole fiasco, a guy at the hardware store told me that lots of people use rebars in their landscape timbers to prevent this from happening,and so there begins another project that involves buying another drill bit, drilling some holes, and hammering the rebars into these logs...6x2=12 and I was pounding in the last rebar as the solar lights went on...

Happy Mothers Day to Me!

We couldn't have asked for better weather on this Mother's Day Weekend, and my lavender lilies have suddenly burst open, and are calling to me "C'mon, we're the perfect backdrop for your family picture!" ...and so we did...

and just look at this Spirea in full bloom...

Kayli knows by now how photography "feeds my soul", so on this Mother's Day, she let me move and pose her and Sprinkles from here to there and there to here without a single complaint! Thank-you, sweet pea! Kayli's Aunt Eileen had taken her out shopping yesterday with her allowance money to pick out some very special gifts just for me. Kayli just couldn't wait to give them to me, so we broke the unwritten rule (something I always love doing) and opened my presents a day early! Now that's what I call living on the wild side, haha! First up, there were bracelets and a fabulous hand-painted frame...

then, this delicate heart shaped glass dish...

and inside, was this tiny red sack with a tiny rock (she said she took it from her rock collection that she mined for at the museum in Texas)...

so all I have to do is get it shined up, cut down, and mounted in a ring or necklace, or just display it in it's rough form, as is! Then, there was this package containing two leather bracelets that you could call Mother-Daughter bracelets because one goes to the Mother and one goes to the Daughter, haha...

Finally, Kayli chose these peppermints because she remembers that I always have peppermints on my desk at work...

originally I had told Kayli that I would be happy to take her shopping for a present for me, but she was not content with the fact that I wouldn't be totally surprised. So, when the opportunity came up for Eileen to take her, Kayli was thrilled! Now, as for the rest of the day, Kayli said we could do whatever I wanted to do. It was soooo hard to decide! I am not one that enjoys going out to eat on days that the rest of the world is doing the same thing. Shopping is usually fun to do, but I am also thinking about how beautiful the weather is, and how unpredictable it has been, and how much I just want to soak up this perfect sunshine, so I decided that we would head over in the direction of one of our favorite parks, where there is an antique mall nearby. We will go flea mkt/antique shopping first, then end up at the park! We will first, take our time, browsing through the antique mall, something we both love to do (Kayli loves "old stuff" and often asks "was that around in your time, Mom?" ha! I remember asking my mom the same question!) Anyway, wouldn't you know, as we made our way through these booths containing quite an eclectic mix of items that range from valuable antiques to garage sale caliber items, where there really is something for everyone, there in this tiny little jewelry case, I spotted this ring! It was so pretty. Opal and Amethyst (Kayli's birthstone) It would be a perfect "Mother's ring". The guy that worked there suggested that he call the vendor and offer a price, one that was quite a bit lower than I thought I'd be able to offer, and guess what? They said "yes!" and the ring is mine, woohoo!

and now we're off to the park to soak up that sunshine and fresh air...

then, we topped off the day back home in our relaxing yard where I grilled bratwurst and hotdogs. I just bought these fabulous pillows, lantern, and indoor/outdoor rug to add a splash of color to our deck...

now, for some more flowers in pots, and I say "Bring on SUMMER!!!"

A Trip Back in Time

The Mahaffie Stagecoach Stop and Farm Historic Site was originally a stop along the Oregon and California Trails, where a number of westbound travelers rested and replenished their supplies, in the 1860s. This farmstead has been restored and preserved as a teaching museum. This weekend, they were hosting a family day, the weather was beautiful, so Kayli and I decided it would be a perfect day to experience life on the farm in the 1800s! 

Lots of chores! Kayli decided that churning butter would have been hard on the arms and really boring...  

jeez, even getting a drink of water was hard work!

and helping with the laundry was more than just tossing the clothes into the washing machine...

Kayli got to "pan for gold"...

she became the BlackSmith's apprentice for a short while. Whew, it was hot in there!

she even got to help hand stamp a design on a leather bracelet for herself...

she just added it to her other handmade bracelets...

the grand finale was getting to make a clothespin doll. Kayli was thrilled!

what a perfectly wonderful day on the farm!