How was your school year?

Ah, another late post...

Both girls had a GREAT school year at Great Lakes.  Leah enjoyed her 3rd grade teacher's personality and he really challenged her to become a better student.  She also had a male student teacher from Hope College that she enjoyed.  The kids in her class were super and she was able to spend 2 years in a row with a bunch of them.  When school was over she commented about how fast the year went!  Elizabeth absolutely loved her teacher this year.  She really grew as a reader and writer.  She got along with everyone in class and was always trying to keep the peace when needed.  Elizabeth had no idea school was almost over until the last week.  She is looking forward to being in 2nd grade in the fall.

Is is summer yet?

I finally feel like it is summer.  All of my school responsibilities (tearing down my room, completing report cards, entering data into the computer) are finished and I've officially checked out of school for about 3 months.  Since the last day of school I've also cleaned and organized a few areas in my home, caught up on some laundry, and just plain relaxed. 

Below are just some of the things that I am looking forward to doing this summer:

• sleeping in
• staying up late
• relaxing in a rocking chair
• spending time at the beach
• reading for pleasure
• making crafts found on Pinterest
• pinning on Pinterest
• catching up on scrapbooks
• attending my 20 year high school reunion
• spending almost a week in Illinois
• picking Leah up at camp in Wisconsin
• watching the girls take swim lessons
• living without a schedule

What have you been up to lately?

I am a bit late on posting about some of the recent activity with the girls, but better late than never! Leah ran in the Girls on the Run race in the middle of May and came in first for the school.  The girls and I enjoyed our school's annual field day on the last full day of school on June 7.  This past Saturday Leah participated in her first triathlon at Camp Geneva. 

Elizabeth getting drenched on Anchors Away.

  Leah anticipating the cold water.

Who is that silly monkey?

This weekend we celebrated Leah's 9th birthday.  Friday night we had her party with family from both my side and Tim's side.  Some of those family members spent the night and so the party continued into Saturday with fun around our house and at the beach.  Her grandparents even stayed until yesterday and the highlight of the day was when she learned how to play a fun family game called Aggravation!   

Today was Leah's real birthday.  She spent most of the day playing outside with the neighbor kids.  Then for dinner Tim grilled chicken and made mashed potatoes from scratch with gravy, one of her favorites.  Leah also got to eat her meal on the special red plate.  Just before bed we made a treat for her classmates to celebrate her birthday yet another day tomorrow!   

Have you read the Little Miss and Mr. Men series?

Sometime within the last year my mom brought a few of my old Little Miss and Mr. Men books to our house.  Leah was drawn to them immediately and since then she has been growing her collection.  Right now she has close to 40, but there are over 70 books in both series.  So when my mom showed us the kids meal toys she got at Arby's for my niece and nephews I just had to go get them.  Yesterday evening I pulled into the restaurant in Greenville and asked the cashier if we could buy the toys.  He wasn't sure so he asked a manager and she gave them all to us for FREE.  The 6 Little Miss and Mr. Men figures have all taken up residence on Leah's bookshelf near the books. Ah, the joys of toys!

Did you see us marching in the parade?

Yesterday Elizabeth and I dressed in old Dutch costumes and joined the hundreds of other children marching in the kinderparade as part of Holland's Tulip Time.  It was an absolutely perfect day.  By far my favorite part of the day was riding along as part of the 54 bus parade led by police officers down to the DeVos Field house where we were dropped off.   The students did a great job of playing the "hurry up and wait" game.  Most of the time on the parade route was spent waiting rather than marching.  To pass the time students dug through rocks in the street and one of the students in my class found a black one shaped like a wooden shoe.  Others chose to dance to the marching band that was waiting nearby.  I volunteered to escort a student into a Hope College building to stop a bloody nose. Once we started moving I had the job of keeping ten 1st graders in a straight line holding onto a pole.  That was not an easy task, especially when the boy on the end kept falling behind because he was too busy looking at the people watching the parade.  Although I have only marched two other times prior to this year this was definitely the best Tulip Time parade I've been in!

Are you addicted to anything?

I would admit there have been times in my life I've been addicted to certain things.  Take for instance Diet Pepsi.  I was never the type of person who would wake up and crack open a can (that would make my stomach churn), but there was a point in my life where I would need to have a DP everyday.  Then there was the time right before I got married I was addicted to exercising.  Quite frankly I think I was so stressed out with my current job and planning a wedding it was a great release.  Okay, I still have a little bit of denial about the whole exercising thing because back then the wind could blow and I would almost fall over.  14 years and 2 kids later I think it would take a tornado to make me even budge!  Then there was the time I was "86%" addicted to blogging.  I'm sure that percentage is down to about 10%.  Well, now I have a new addiction...PINTEREST.  I know that it became a craze awhile ago and I've been wanting to join.  However, I couldn't create an account because I'm not on FaceBook.  Just recently my principal encouraged his teaching staff to get a Twitter account to post all the good things happening in our classrooms.  Once I had a Twitter account I could join Pinterest and now I'm addicted.  I have spent way too much time lately just browsing all of the pins.  There is definitely a learning curve, but I'm learning and it is way too fun!