Adios August

Our friend, Julia G, is in the middle school band.  She let Caroline play her trumpet one day after school.

It was hilarious--Caroline puffing and spitting, trying to get the trumpet make a sound.

She actually got it!  A couple days later Brian let the kids blow his trumpet.   Lauren and Caroline thought that was great.

A little Play Doh button Caroline made.  She gets out the Play Doh and all the accessories now and then.  It keeps her busy for quite awhile when the big kids are at school.  This day she made Play Doh cakes and decorated them.  Julia made her hair flower, for one of the scavenger hunt items at Caroline's birthday party. 

Austin is always rigging things up and coming up with new ways to use stuff.  Here he is with Lego bubbles for eyes.  He (for not caring about clothes!!) wears his two Angry Birds t shirts every time they're clean.   They're his favorite!

Here's our little garden in our side yard.  Brian picked tomatoes one afternoon.  He gave Caroline one to hold, and told her, "Don't drop it on the ground..."  Weeeeell, look what happened.  Uh oh!

We have carrots, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, jalapeno peppers and zucchini planted.  The zucchini plants were huge when we came back from vacation!!  Then, a naughty, naughty gopher decimated the whole patch.  Grrrr...  We were surprised to see a few leaves sprouting from the sad, barely alive plants. 

Now there are two baby zucchini on one of the plants.  Brian put up barricades--extra fencing he found lying around, and spare roof tiles (there's a pallet of them that was left here).  I don't think they do much good keeping the gopher away, but they do help prevent the birds from pecking the tomatoes.  We have some friendly blue jays in this area of the yard!  They don't fly away when we come by and don't seem scared of us!

Caroline and Lauren had their tents set up outside for weeks!  Sometimes Bailey would sleep inside them.

Here they were pretending Lauren's tent was a rocket ship.

Doesn't it look like a rocket laying on its side like that???  Not sure why the car is there; maybe to prop up the rocket's nose???

 Relaxing, watching TV together on a lazy Saturday morning.

 Austin is very into Lego Ninjago these days.  He studies the Ninjago products online, reads the descriptions and reviews. 

He, Lauren, and Caroline play Ninja a lot!  He is Kai, Lauren is Nia, and Caroline is Sensei Woo.  Ha ha ha ha!!!  They showed me a picture of Sensei Woo one time, and he's an old man with a long white beard.  Not sure how Caroline became him???

The Barbies went camping.  There campout lasted days and days.  And days and days!!!!  Lauren got so mad if anyone would move the Barbies.  Finally they got so messed up, I made her clean up the campout. ;)

Giving eachother rides in the Cozy Coupe.  Lauren's getting a little big for this, no?

Caroline showing the stickers she stuck all up her arm.

Don't run into Lauren!!

Ok, if Lauren's too big, Austin's waaaay too big!

LOL at his long legs sticking out of the car.  He can't even get the door shut all the way!

Julia has homework for PE--for the first time ever.  Her PE teacher said he suggests, if kids aren't doing sports, that they practice sit ups, push ups, and what they're learning in class, if they want a good grade.  Well, Julia, ever the diligent student, asked Brian to help her throw and catch a football.

She did improve. Austin was glad to help her practice.  ;)

Of course the little sisters had to get in on the game too.  Julia is very conscientious, and always wants to do her best--even in PE.  She's been faithfully practicing sit ups and push ups too!  I'm not sure I would have done that, when I was in school.  She says herself she doesn't think most kids practice at home.  Probably not!

Caroline got this kitty, Ziggy, for her birthday from Aunt Colleen and Uncle Marty.  She was playing he was her Baby Ziggy for quite awhile.

The fairy and ballerina with Baby Ziggy.  They were getting ready to put on a dance performance.

Lauren tried to braid Caroline's hair.  She taught herself how to braid the Barbies' hair, after I showed her once.  Caroline's wasn't so easy.  Lauren, frustrated, said, "I wish Caroline was a Barbie doll!"

I've told Austin and Lauren over and over (and over and over and over and over!!!) to put their backpacks in the mudroom.  Well, they do not listen.  They have gotten into bad habits. ;) 

They will move their backpacks when I tell them, but then I don't think about it.  So.  Lauren's often sits on the floor, and Austin's is always hung on his chair.  Even Emily (who comes here in the mornings) has claimed a spot for her backpack.  Guess she must have assumed this is where we hang backpacks?  It looks like this almost every morning before school.

One day after returning home from our walk to school, Caroline pushed the garage door remote button, then started laughing:  "There's our car with the funny fa-ace!"  Giggle, giggle.  She said the back lights are eyes, the license plate is the nose, and the car was sticking it's tongue out (trunk handle).

There was a bake sale and BBQ the night of Julia's back-to-school night.  Caroline and I made monster cookies for the sale (and plenty for us too!).  Yum!  She always loves to help put in the ingredients.

Emily is here for about 1 1/2 hours every day before school.  Usually the kids have lots of fun together!  Sometimes they argue, but mostly they get along great. 

 

Often they jump on the trampoline in the morning.  It's not even 8:00 and there they are, jumping and squealing on the trampoline.  Do you see Austin?  Often they play "Crack the Egg".  Sometimes they play inside, with toys or games, or have a dance party in my bedroom.  Emily said she is an athletic girl and likes hip hop dancing.  She said Lauren is a fashion girl and likes girly dancing, like ballet.  Lauren agreed!  They are pretty funny.

 

Emily likes to make Austin's and Caroline's beds and arrange the couch pillows nicely, when she comes in the mornings.  She says it's more fun to clean someone else's room than her own.  LOL  When it's time to walk to school, Lauren and Emily take turns riding in the jogger stroller with Caroline.  Both are old enough to walk--it's 1.3 miles one way--but both claim they get tired.  Austin wants to know when he gets a turn to ride.  Seriously?  He says he never got to sit when he was in the 2nd grade!  ;)

MWMW: Mental Wrestling Match of the Week

We bought these supplies for Julia according to the list we got before school started.  Once school began, we learned she wouldn't need the binder after all (this was from last year--glad we didn't buy a new one!), or the dividers.  The teachers have the kids use folders, one per class, so we ended up buying a few more folders, (one per class) and took back the dividers.  We also had to buy some index cards, not listed on the first list.  Not too bad. 

Julia came home from school last week and said, "I think my math class is going to be too easy for me..."  I thought about this all weekend, and Sunday at church, talked to my friend's husband (a math teacher).  At the end of 6th grade, Julia took a Pre Algebra readiness test, on material they'd studied that year, and scored 100%.  The kids that scored above whatever number went on to take the Algebra 1 readiness test, covering material that hadn't been taught.  Julia scored a few points lower than the cutoff score to automatically be placed in Algebra 1 (probably 2, maybe 3 problems).  At the time, I was relieved!  Everyone we talked to said how rigorous and strenuous Algebra 1 is for a 7th grader.  That there is no reason for a 7th grader to take it.  But yet, it is an option.

Julia's original schedule--new for her this year, for 7th grade!  Thought some of you might like to see how her schedule works.  They do block scheduling at her school.  They have Advisory (homeroom) every morning, 45 min., then 3 classes on Mon. and Weds., 90 min. each, and 3 classes on Tues. and Thurs.  Friday, they go to all 7 classes for 45 min. each.

Anyway, my friend's husband said Julia would learn in Pre Algebra, but not be challenged...  He thought, based on her Algebra readiness test score, and her STAR test scores, that she would likely do fine in Algebra 1.  He [basically] said they indicate she has the type of brain that "gets" math, and is able to figure problems out based on what she does know, even if she hasn't been taught the material.
 

Also new for 7th grade:  gym clothes!!  I love the hot pink sneakers!!

 I called my sister, who did well in math, and asked her what she thought.  Her advice sounded about the same as our friend's.  She also said that if Julia is taught how to do the math, she'll likely pick it up.  I was all ready to call the school Monday morning and get the class switched!

Monday morning I talked to the asst. principal about switching Julia's math class from Pre Algebra to Algebra 1.  I talked to her for probably 30 minutes!  The asst. principal said she wouldn't recommend it, that if it were her kid, she wouldn't do it... 

She said it was up to us, but she didn't think it was a good idea.  That by starting a kid in Algebra 1 as a 7th grader, they'd take Geometry as an 8th grader, and Algebra 2 as a 9th grader.  The math classes would continue to have a domino effect, and Julia would have to take Pre Calculus as a Sophomore and Calculus AB as a Junior and Calculus BC as a Senior.  That started sounding scary to me, as I only went through Pre Calculus!  The asst. principal also said Algebra 1 is a 9th grade course and would be taught as a 9th grade course. 

She said Calc. 1 is already an AP class, and there is no reason to take two AP math classes (2 years of Calc.) unless Julia really loves math and we think she is in the top 1% that will do well in it.  Yikes!!!!  She asked what Julia wanted to do career wise.  Veterinarian, but, she's 12 years old! Who knows?!?  Asst. Principal went on to say Julia might not even need that much math, she might need more science, like biology.  She asked me if I was good at math (that caught me off guard, no one asked me anything like that before!).  I told her I was, back in the day, but I forgot most of it!!  She seemed glad to hear that though, and said I could probably read the lesson in the book and help Julia, if she needed help.

Julia says her gym clothes are the ugliest clothes she's ever worn!  Well, the shirt's not that bad, but she hates the shorts!  LOL  At least everybody else is wearing the same thing, right?!  They're better than what I had wear for PE.  ;)  We had to write her name in that big oval, right in front, under Hawks.

By this time I was sure Julia should stay in Pre Algebra.  Everything else to consider sounded scary...  ;)   Julia wasn't totally convinced, however.  She still thought Pre Algebra would be too easy, but sighed, saying maybe it was the best place for her.

It just so happened (I rarely see her in the mornings at all, even last year) to run into Julia's 6th grade teacher (Miss H.) Tuesday morning.  She asked how everything was going, and of course I told her about the math class situation.  She told me if there was anything she could do to help get Julia in Algebra 1, anyone she needed to talk to, to let her know.  She said if anyone can handle it, it's Julia and so-and-so...!  Then, I started feeling sad, that by keeping Julia in Pre Algebra, we weren't challenging her enough.  What if she can handle Algebra 1 and subsequent math classes just fine?

I was quite conflicted. LOL  Well, now we can LOL, at the time, it wasn't funny!  Brian kept going back and forth in his thinking too, based on what we'd hear!  I even emailed Lauren's teacher from last year to see what she thought, considering she had 2 kids go through our local schools and high school.  She encouraged us to challenge Julia.  Goodness!  What to do?  What to do?  I want Julia to be challenged, but not overwhelmed!  Tuesday afternoon, the kids and I went in Miss H's class again, so Julia could talk to her, and that was helpful as well.

The asst. principal said Julia may do well in Algebra 1, and maybe even Geometry, but come her Freshman year in high school, she'll likely need a tutor b/c she'll have problems w/ Algebra/Trig b/c of not taking Pre Algebra, and they will assume she knows certain things that she hasn't been taught.  Ack!  Scary!  Miss H. said Julia may or may not need a tutor, that if she does, it's not a bad thing.  She also said, who knows, maybe Julia will be the one who's a tutor.  Who really knows?!  And also, that Julia shouldn't worry about her Jr. and Sr. years in high school right now.  Think about them, yes, but when the time comes, things will all fall into place.




Not sure what this expression is; I told her to look scared, scholarly, happy...  What is this face?!

Miss H. said she couldn't make the decision for Julia, but that she thought Julia should "Go for it!"  :)

Sooo, Wednesday I called and said we indeed wanted Julia's math class changed.  Asst. Principal called Julia into her office and talked to her about why she wanted to switch, and about her extracurricular activities (how much time she'd have to devote to math and still live a balanced life!!).  I had to write a letter that night to the asst. principal, and the next day, Julia's schedule was officially changed. 

We had been praying all along, that we should know which direction to take; we had to decide that week.  Asst. Principal assured us Julia's schedule would get rearranged; she couldn't guarantee any classes would stay the same, except Julia's Language Arts and Yearbook (I'd requested those stay).  The only schedule mess-up?  PE and math got switched.  PE!!  So simple--if you want a class to be "messed up", isn't PE one that wouldn't matter so much?  We took that as an answer to prayer!  The only "bad" thing is Julia's sweet friend, Rachel, was in her first PE class; now she has no friends in her PE class.  So when they had to find partners, everyone else had a partner and she had to go with a boy who had long hair and "looked weird".  Oh dear... ;)




Julia's wanted Toms shoes for awhile now.  We bought her some for school.

So now, Julia's in Algebra 1.  She had homework Thursday and Friday, and understood the concepts.  I did go over some of it with her to make sure she understood, but she said most of it was like what they did last year, just more numbers, more complex.  We'll see what happens.  The asst. principal said they'll monitor her, and if she carries lower than a B+, she'll go back to Pre Algebra.  And, it's normal to spend 1 - 1.5 hrs. a night on math; not 3 hours and staying up till midnight b/c you don't get it!

No pressure or anything!  LOL  Brian said, what about the kid who struggles just to get a B??  Actually, there is no pressure.  If Julia does well in Algebra 1, she'll stay in the class, and go on that math track.  If she ends up going back to Pre Algebra, she'll just end up taking 1 year of Calculus instead of 2, in high school.  But at least she will have tried, and we'll know where she should be.  Brian and I think now is a better time to find that out than high school!  It doesn't seem like it would be an option in high school anyway.  So why not try now?

She chose red Toms.  Last year she had gray Bobs (Skecher knock offs), and they're almost worn out!   I know she'll wear these ones a ton and get lots of use out of them too.

When Julia walked in her new Algebra 1 class, there was only 1 seat left.  She didn't know anyone in the class except one girl.  She recognized a boy from 4-H, but only knew Jessica, my friend Marsha's daughter.  And wouldn't you know, the only empty seat left in the class was next to Jessica, and that is where Mr. Z told Julia to sit.  Julia said she thought that was a sign that she should be in that class; that God must have planned that seat to be for her.  I kind of think so too!  :)  Also, Mr. Z said if she needs help with anything, to let him know.  That was encouraging, b/c the asst. principal said this Algebra 1 class is full, and if you need help, the teacher won't have time to help just you, when there are so many kids (there are 32).

 

 

Julia likes school, and Jr. High with its newness is very exciting for her.  I hope this next week is more settled!

First Day of School

 
The three oldest kids started school August 16. Julia and Lauren were so ready.  Lauren told me about a week before that she couldn't wait to go back to school; that she loves school!  Austin said he'd rather have summer last a little longer; that he didn't want homework.  I agree with Austin!  Not b/c of homework, but that is part of it, I guess.  It is just that, with the school year comes a nice routine, but also life gets crazy busy!!!!

Julia began middle school, and was very excited!  She is at her own school now, with just 7th and 8th graders.  Lauren says she will miss having Julia at her school. :(

Julia's school starts at 7:54 am.  She gets up at 6 to get ready; I wake up at 6:05-ish to get ready and make everyone breakfast.  She could make her own by now, but since I have to make everyone else's, might as well get hers too.

Brian brought Julia to school the first day.  From here on out, her friend Julia G's dad will take the two Julias and one other girl to school on his way to work.  He comes to our house at 7:15.  He drops off their younger daughter, Lauren's friend Emily, to stay and play here and then walk to school with us.

We leave the house about 8:35 to walk to school.  I think this is going to be easy this year!  Since everyone is up and dressed, and eating breakfast, about a half hour earlier b/c of Julia's new schedule.  The elementary school starts at 9 am.

 New backpacks!  Last year, the kids all used their backpacks from the previous year.  Austin and Lauren's were trashed:  holes, ripped, faded, dirty!  Julia's was in fairly good shape, but faded.

The two Julias get out of middle school at 2:10.  I drive 8.4 miles to pick them up.  It takes about 12 minutes, according to Mapquest, and the few times I've driven it.  I had to look at a map and directions the first few times I drove to the middle school.  It is aways out, nowhere near the freeway, though I do take Highway 1 part of the way.  I have to take a few windy country roads to get there!  We get back home at about 2:35 - 2:40.

These two had simple math homework the first two days of school, and I got such a kick out of them.  I thought they'd want to go out and jump on the trampoline or visit or something.  But no--both of them got out their little bit of homework and set right to finish it.  Such studious girls!

Julia G stays at our house till about 3:20 when I leave to go pick up Austin and Lauren at their school.  Julia G comes with me, while Julia B stays home with Caroline.  Julia G gets dropped off to wait with her sister at the elementary school for their mom to come pick them up (she teaches in Santa Maria).

I actually woke up 1/2 hour late on the first day of school!  My alarm never went off.  I'd pushed a wrong button somewhere the night before, and the display was only flashing in the morning, when Brian woke me up.  Thankfully he helped get everyone ready, and we had a simple cinnamon roll breakfast planned.

I took this picture after school b/c we were too rushed in the morning!

All the kids got new lunchboxes this year, b/c again, they'd used their's from last year for two years, and they are trashed!  Especially Lauren's.  Julia's was in the best shape, but she didn't seem too eager to take her purple and yellow lunchbox with a cute little, whimsical pink kitty on it, to Jr. High.  ;)  Lauren wanted her lunchbox, backpack, Thermos and soup container to all match, and was able to find all matching Barbie things!  She was quite pleased about that!

Julia and Lauren happily picked out a new outfit and shoes for the first day of school.  Austin chose an old t-shirt--so he wouldn't have to "waste time" cutting off tags!  Such a boy.  I asked him if he wanted to wear a new shirt.

Austin:  "...I don't know...."

Me:  "Do you want Birds or DC or stripes?"

Austin:  "...I don't know..."  I chose a DC shirt, and Julia said to choose the blue one.  Because blue is a good color on him. :)  Friday and Saturday he chose to wear new shirts, so I guess he must have decided it was worth it to rip off the tags!  He chose his camo shorts himself (they're his favorite).

Brian taught Austin to tie his shoes.  Yippee!  Should/could he have learned earlier?  Probably.  But he had convenient, easy Velcro and didn't need to!  So we never had to teach him till now.  Lauren said she could give him shoe-tying lessons.  LOL  She had to learn last year when she picked out Tinkerbell shoes with laces.  But Julia was also in 4th grade when she learned.
  

Lauren at her desk.  I haven't been in Austin's class yet, or met his teacher, though I've heard she is wonderful!  I didn't request for him this year, but she is the teacher I most hoped he'd get.  For Lauren, I just requested that she not get a certain teacher.  She ended up getting the person her teacher from 1st grade recommended, so I'm happy with that.  :)

All three kids came home happy and excited!  They were all full of news about their fun first day back.



June 1-9

The week before this picture, Lauren came in the house, crying, "Rachel popped!"  She pretends the balls are her babies...  Rachel bounced out of the trampoline, landed on a sharp stick, and POP!  Lauren begged me to get another "girl" ball for her. 

Sometimes Austin is the dad when they play.  Usually Caroline is the "big sister", one of Lauren's children too.  Caroline calls the ball babies her brothers and sisters. Ha ha ha ha ha!!!!

Here are the babies' names:  Big pink exerscise ball:  Taylor Julie
Red/yellow dot:  Andrew William B____
Big Blue:  William Jacob  B____
Big Pink:  Jessica Rachel B____
Small Unicorn:  Sarah Sienna B____
Small Bee:  Adam Jacob B____
Small Red Elephant:  Jeremiah Diego B____

Today Lauren was talking about the American Girl dolls (a catalog arrived in the mail yesterday), and said how Mckenna (doll of the year) is a beautiful name.  That she just loves it.  She said she also loves the doll Julie's name, that she evened named one of the ball babies Taylor Julie.

We had a ton going on the first week of June!  It was the last week of school.  The morning of June 5 Lauren had her 1st grade, 3rd trimester awards ceremony and performance.  The kids sang several patriotic songs and were supposed to wear red, white, and/or blue.  Lauren wore red, but refused to take off her turquoise sweater.  I guess it counts as blue.  ???  The kids made Yankee Doodle hats (on her desk) and wore those while singing.  Cute!

The little boy in the picture is Lauren's friend, Laslo.  They've been little buddies this whole school year.  Every time I'm in the class, and then take Lauren's picture, he wants a picture with her too.  He and his brother do karate at Austin's dojo, and one time when I was watching, Laslo asked, "Does Lauren know I'm here?"  Like maybe she would have liked to come, had she known!

May 24, I'd just walked in the door from doing errands.  The phone rang, w/ Lauren's teacher calling:  "Mrs. B___, there's been an incident today...nothing you have to come to school for...but I thought you should know, Laslo kissed Lauren at lunch."  She went on to say how the noon duty talked to him, as she did herself, and that Laslo denied it, but Lauren said it happened.  To which their teacher replied, "Usually you know when someone tries to kiss you!"  She said Laslo felt bad, like he didn't want to be doing anything wrong.

At home, Lauren told me Laslo kissed her on the lips!  Said she was eating lunch on the sidewalk, alone, because she likes privacy.  Laslo peeked around the corner, then ran over and kissed her!  Lucca and some other kids saw it and told the noon duty lady, who told Ms. N.  Lauren's response to all this:  "Well, I am a beautiful little girl!  Hee hee hee giggle giggle...  He really does say he wants to marry me, and he loves me.  But I can't marry him...because he doesn't love God...,"  looking sad about the last part.  Another day she told me she can't marry him b/c he burps w/ his mouth open.  Oh my!!  He's been quite a friendly little boy whenever I've talked to him. ;)

 Lauren makes up songs and performs them all the time.  She is constantly putting on singing and dancing shows!

The afternoon of June 5, Julia competed in the 5th/6th grade spelling bee.  We hardly practiced at all.  The word list was the same as last year (where she won the bee!), and she felt pretty confident that she knew it.  Not arrogant about it, just confident.  Well, she ended up getting out on the second word, "dialogue".  Which, she did know how to spell, just slipped up.  She was a little disappointed and said we should have practiced more, but was pretty much ok with it.  A friend's mom, "Didn't she win the last two years?"  LOL  They probably all thought it was time someone else won.  ;)

Austin also made it to the final 3rd/4th grade spelling bee!  Each class has their own bee, and the top 3 spellers go to the final.  Austin did not want to practice at ALL!!!  Believe you me, he had better things to do!!  At least in his opinion.  I had him spell every word on his list correctly, out loud, at least once, just so he'd be familiar with them all. I told him the letters might swim around in his mind like alphabet soup when he to spell out loud (no problem for him on paper!).  He told me if he didn't win a Barnes and Noble gift card (for the top 3 spellers) after all that practice, that I had to pay him $5 for doing all that work!  In this picture he'd armed himself b/c I guess he was afraid of getting a spanking???? for being such a stinker about practicing!!  That never was a threat, but this is how he walked around that afternoon, mad about practicing.

Austin's spelling bee was Wednesday afternoon. He spelled "desperate" correctly, then missed the first "i" in electricity. Which, of course, happened to be one of the easier words on the list. He said he thought he just didn't focus enough. Oh well... We told him there's always next year. Julia told him the word list would be the same. LOL And no, we didn't pay him $5! I think all the kids got ice cream though.?  What impressed me about Austin and his bee?  When he got out, many, many of his classmates extended their hands to give him high (low?) fives as he walked past.  Back in May, Austin came home with an invitation to have breakfast with his teacher, and other kids and their teacher, two from each calss.  He said each kid in his class had 4 votes and had to vote for the friendliest, best-behaved kids.  He ended up getting the most votes!!  We are so proud of him.

Lauren also made it into the 1st/2nd grade spelling bee! So, Tuesday morning, June 6, I went to Austin's awards presentation.  Then ran off to vote in the primaries. I'd practiced a lot with Lauren too, and she was willing and ready to memorize those words. She has a great memory, and I figured if she could just memorize the list (or at least most of it), she'd have a good chance. They were not easy words for 1st grade! Automobile, magician, hurricane, moccasins, Wednesday were all on the list... really, for 1st graders?!  What happened to "dog", "cat", and "run"?  LOL  Some easier words were sister, rough, squint, and whale.  And yes, you had to know both kinds of whale/wail!

Lauren's bee was Tuesday afternoon.  She said she'd be nervous; I agreed, and we discussed how she'd never spoken, sang, etc in front of an audience before.  The little 1st and 2nd graders were so cute.  A lot of them didn't know many of the words, and when they got out, they looked so sad; some cried.  :(  This was the only age group where I saw that--the older kids looked disappointed, but "got over it" quicker.

Anyway, she spelled "already", "canyon", "different", and "medicine", correctly!  And then she missed "accident", spelling it "accacent".  She was the 2nd remaining 1st grader up there, and ended up in 5th place!  Lauren was sooooo disappointed she wasn't in the final three, and disgusted with herslef, totally discounting her 5th place accomplishment.  She was so sad, even at school, and came and sat by me and cried quietly.  A little 2nd grade boy in front of us whispered to us, "She did really good.  I couldn't spell those words..."  But there was no consoling Lauren!  At home, she yelled and fussed about her situation for quite awhile!  She was washing her dirty feet in the tub after school and we heard yelling from the bathroom, screaming over and over, "I want to win!" and "All that hard work!", more mad at herself than anything!

The next day, Lauren's teacher told her she did really well, and she was so proud of her.  Ms. N was won of the judges at the bee, and told Lauren she wanted to have "accadent" be correct, but she had to be fair.  ;)  On her report card, Ms. N wrote that Lauren is very talented and should be tested for GATE in 3rd grade!  Ms. N was a great teacher for Lauren this year; she really encouraged her, and took time to understand and get to know her.  I really noticed Lauren grow more confident and just come into her own this year.

The last week of school, papers, and artwork, and old crayons, and tiny pencils, and used-up workbooks started coming home.  This is just part of the pile.  I should have taken a picture of it towards the end of the week!  It was higher than the toaster.

Austin's collection of teeny tiny pencils.  Oh my!  Notice how he sharpened both ends of some of the pencils.  And how some are shorter than his pinky finger...  Julia said kids would get in trouble in her class for sharpening the eraser ends...  Oh, Austin...

Thursday afternoon was Julia's last awards ceremony ever, for elementary school!  Lots of the girls decided to wear dresses.  Julia received a medal for Perfect Attendance all year.  She received a gold Presidential Academic Fitness award and letter signed by President Obama for carrying at least a 3.5 GPA every quarter 4th - 6th grade.  Wow!  (Then there was Brian, saying, "Who signed that award?  Bozo?")

I thought it was interesting how many of her class earned this award.  A couple years ago, their principal commented how this class was the highest academic achieving class during his time of being principal there.

There was a slide show after the awards, then the 6th graders got to party the rest of the school day!  They had a class BBQ then played a Survivor game.  All the girls changed out of their pretty dresses for that.

I had a dentist appointment later that afternoon, so Brian came home a little early to watch the kids.  Julia can (and does) stay with the younger kids, but the two middle kids fight sometimes!  And they don't listen when Julia tells them to stop, so it's best if Brian or me is with them.  They'll even tell me, if I leave them all to go to the grocery store for a quick trip, "Can we watch a show so we don't fight?"  If they're engrossed in a show, they won't bother each other!  Crazy!

After school, the last day!!!  The kids had field day all morning.  The 6th graders got to run the games.  Lauren gave Austin 3 of her tickets, then he wouldn't give them back when she wanted them.  Lauren told Julia, and she gave Lauren more tickets (than she even got to use!) from her game booth.  Benefit of having an older sister running a game, I guess.

The kids had a half day, so I picked up a Subway sandwich and took them to the park where some of Julia's friends and their moms get together every year on the last day.  I wonder what will happen next year?

To celebrate the last day, Brian and I planned a picnic at another park for dinner.  We were the only people there for most of the time.  A nice family with a friendly dog showed up.  Caroline was excited to pet him; Lauren was freaked out.  Wouldn't you know, the dog, trying to play, knocked Lauren down, and of course she ran off screaming and crying!  Goodness.  The dad apologized, but that didn't make Lauren much happier.

I'd bought black bean burgers at Costco to try, and most of us liked them.  Though Brian kind of wondered about them.  And there were some comments like:  "There's corn in my burger!",  "These are spicy...", "There's beans in my burger!"  Ha ha ha  We went to Yogurt Creations for dessert.

Saturday, June 9, we drove up to Paso Robles for the 4-H Chicken-Q.  Every year, we have to pay a fee, which covers insurance, and two tickets for the Chicken-Q.  Last year we skipped it since we were busy with moving.

Our community leader gave us 4 more tickets, then we found 4 more lying on a brick wall at the fairgrounds.  We ate some meals there and took some to go.  It was definitely worth the hour or so drive up and back!

Julia could have entered her projects, but we didn't know we were going till the last minute--too late to register them.  We looked around at other projects and saw some animals.  The kids built toothpick and gumdrop structures at a booth...then proceeded to eat most of the gumdrops while waiting in line to get lunch.

Good brother, Austin.  He loves his little sisters; though often pesters the middle one these days.  But he always takes good care of the baby.  Everybody takes good care of the baby.

We drove home after lunch.  Julia immediately went across the street to her sewing teacher's house to work on the quilt she's been making.

After that, the older three kids and I went to Avila Beach for a beach birthday bash for one of Julia's good friends, and two other classmates.  Their moms decided just to have one big group party, so no mutual friends would have to miss a party.  It was fun!  Though we only got to stay for an hour and a half or so (b/c of sewing).

Then we drove to church where we met Brian (Caroline was in the childcare) for movie night.  In May (I think), the church showed Courageous, then in June, they showed Soul Surfer.  It was fun.  The kids in childcare watched Veggie Tales.  ;)

One more picture of Caroline, who was cute, cute, cute in her little romper!  It was hot in Paso Robles; perfect for this outfit.  :)


Whew!  What a week!