August Recap by Photo #1

The rest of the landscaping will be finished this year.  so, the crew was out to start the final phase. 

Angelina, Zeke & Graham participated in the Missoula Children’s Summer Theater program again and they had a superb time!  It was the first time for Zeke and Graham.  I wasn’t sure if Graham, my shy guy, would be interested, but he replied, when asked, “I think I’d like to try that.”  So grown up.

The storyline was The Wizard of Oz.  Angelina was a Wizard, Zeke was a Munchkin, Graham was a Ferocious Flower.  Each had lines in the play.

 

The whole cast, above, and my Ferocious Flower, Graham on the left, below.

The whole group of Munchkins with Glinda, above.  Zeke is the Munchkin on the left, below.

The whole group of Wizards, above, and Angleina is in the middle below (with braids).

Both sets of Grandparents were able to attend on different nights, which meant I (pregnant as I was at the time!) didn’t have to go both nights.  I cannot tell you how thankful I was for the break in the heat during the two nights the kids were on stage.

Louis is just hanging out, below.

The 2012 School pictures!

Zeke, 9yo, and Louis, 2yo.

Angelina, 12yo, and Graham, 6yo.

And, of course, the teenager, Dash, 15yo.

Of course, it wouldn’t be complete without a picture of the whole crew.  And, that was enough!  I was out of patience.

Cool project

 

On Monday night, Eric and I attended a 4-H Rustlin Up workshop for leaders and teens.  It went through about five different subject areas that are under development or are newly developed for project areas in 4-H.  Eric attended sessions related to Energy and Crop Judging.  I went to the Shopping (not my favorite past-time, but a great project area!) and Robotics.

The Robotics class was great and is a special interest area of Dash’s.  I came away with three different baggies of ‘experiments/projects’ to let the kids try.  The robot was most fun.

In addition to the supplies pictured below, you’ll need masking tape.  Zeke had this mostly figured out quite quickly.  He needed help with the eraser.

Supplies can be purchased at the dollar store and at jameco.com. 

First day well done!

 

The first day of school has come and gone.  The notebooks, books, and binders are back on the shelves and ready for tomorrow …thank goodness all is corrected! 

And I didn’t even raise my voice today -- at all.  A few tense morning moments occurred when the busy toddler rode his noisy musical zebra into the schoolroom, but after a couple times I remembered ‘the toddler boxes’.  Louis played with elbow macaroni noodles, a measuring spoon and a cup the rest of the morning.

Pictures taken the night before.

As I’m a planner, I did lay out a plan for today.  The difference is that this year Eric and I talked to the kids about the plan last night.  This helped very much!

We’d all eaten breakfast, dressed, and had time for reading the paper and doing a few chores before our 7:40am rosary time.  The rosary went well.  Louis played quietly, and Graham has really grown up a lot over the past year because he’s now able to sit quietly.  I actually had the hardest time because my head and thinking are fuzzied up by allergies right now.  This has just been a nasty year and nothing seems to help for long.

By 8am, we were ready for pictures, Schultutes, and measuring (height and weight).  I saved the poster-board schultutes from last year and just used new tissue.  Easy – peasy.  The kids loved getting new school supplies, a few rare fruit treats, and one snack-sized candy bar.

We officially started lessons at 9am.  Everyone, but the high-schooler finished by noon (we expected this outcome and I had prepared Dash for more work). 

The Freshman:

The Sixth grader:

The Third grader:

The Kindergartener:

The Toddler:

Other photos from today:

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We ended the day with a JV football home game.  The Loboes won 22-0.  Dash now plays guard and is #66.

He’s at the right edge of the bottom photo.

4-H times three

 

Yep, three days, in a row, of 4-H activities.  If you count preparation in the preceeding days, we can up the total days pre-occupied with ‘things’ 4-H.  It’s June.  We kicked it off with a 4-H packed week and we’ll end the month with Achievement Days.

THURSDAY:

This past Thursday, the kids took part in the County Showcase, where Dash participated in the Project Expo and Eva participated in both the Sew & Show and the Buy & Show.  I had plenty of experience with the Sew & Show as a kid, absolutely no experience with Buy & Show or the Project Expo.  Thank goodness for our kind county agent, who willingly gave up her ‘registration’ card table for Dash.  We won’t forget a card table next year.

Dash reworked his Vibrobot science fair presentation for the Project Expo.  The exhibit must be related to a 4-H project; since Dash is enrolled in electricity, the Vibrobot exhibit was perfect.  He’s been given the opportunity to compete at the ND State Fair in July.

Mmmm …. forgot to take a ‘nice’ picture of Greg & his set-up. 

Angelina sewed a denim skirt for the Buy & Show.  She finished hemming it that morning.  I’d have preferred to have been done a month ago … to where did the month of May fly?  Anyway, sewing two days before the deadline leads to short-cuts.  I justified using white thread in the serger on dark blue denim with the fact that this is her first sewing project … and she isn’t experienced enough in changing the threads.  Next year.

 

Above: Sew & Show – the denim skirt

 

Above: Buy & Show – skirt & top

Her participation in the Buy & Show was a bit last minute, but since we’d just done a bit of shopping for her it made sense.  The information was fresh in her mind, so the comparison sheet was easy to fill out.  She’s eligible to compete in both contests at the State Fair.  Guess that means a trip to Minot in July.

What to the rest of us do during the down time???  Here’s a picture or two…

 

 

 

As for me, well I amuse myself by taking pictures.

FRIDAY:

Up early to head to the Bear Creek Lodge for the 4-H Communication Arts Contest.  Angelina and Dash participated in the Junior Serious Reading Interpretation.  Both wrote a longer introduction to ensure that their readings were longer than 3 minutes (they were a little nervous at the county event and trimmed over 30 seconds … thus needed to add more to the introduction).  Angelina did well.  She’s a little timid and needs to increase the volume a bit for next year.  Dash received an honorable mention! 

 

Dash receiving his ribbon (third from Left) and Angelina on the right.

 

SATURDAY:

Eric and the four oldest kids headed to a 4-H Showmanship workshop.  They learned how to fit & show beef, sheep, rabbits & poultry.  I think there were pigs, too.  It was an all afternoon event.  The kids learned a lot.  The knowledge will come in handy when showing and getting ready for Achievement Days later this month.