School's out!!!

I got my final grades for the semester. I have a 3.6 GPA. I was a bit disapointed that the A I earned in math ended up as a P as in Pass/Fail. at least I passed.

I have enjoyed my week off. Playing with the little boys and working on a quilt. There are a lot of things I wanted to get done, however, I will have all summer to get them done and during the summer I will have the help of my children.

Today is my last day off, before my summer math class starts. It is also the last day of school for the kids. They would have been done last friday, but there were too many snow days, so they had to make one up. My math class will be on Tuesdays and Thursdays for a couple of hours each day, and my teacher wants to be there for longer than that, so we can get out earlier in the summer. It is supposed to go till July 17, so I would really like to get out early. I have talked to her already about missing during Girls Camp, and she was very agreeable.

Work is going good for Tom, We went to the company bonfire, (I think it is an annual thing) there was lots of good food, including smore's. There was a drawing for the adults. I think Each of the kids who are big enough to write put their dad's name in, but they only let him have one prize, katie and I are excited about it. It is a bird feeder. (For her B-day, Tom got her a pair of binoculars and a bird book)( She is very interested in the birds around here). Then they had glow necklaces, bubble swords, and kites for each of the kids.

Now what to do over the summer? Jim would like a summer job, but everyone wants someone 16. We will be spending a lot of time at the pool. Katie and I have been talking and I have assigned her the job of researching the Laura Ingalls Wilder homestead in Desmet, SD. to see how much it will cost, and what there is to do there, how long it will take to do it all. Echo has read the books more than once, but Katie is on herfirst time through them.

May 13th Celebration

Happy Birthday Lillie and Chet!!! Lillie - 35 Chet - 38 It seems like he's always out scoring her. Go figure.

Echo Back Through Spring

Months ago I was on the Emery Junior High quizbowl team. I placed fist or second and had a lot of fun. The funny thing is I was only signed up because Mrs. Rayman signed up either her math class or her reading class (Kyle Herrick is in math but not reading).
The other thing is Track and Field. The JH season ended last thursday at the conference meet. My relay team ended up in third place (we beat sombody too!) and in the two hundred I came in second to last in my heat which was awesome (I'm usually dead last).
Echo

Cinco De Mayo!!

Happy 9th birthday Katie!! there is a lot going on here. Katie loves living in a small town where we can make our own cupcakes and take them to school. Echo ran in her second track meet today but we didn't have the opportunity to go. Echo on the other hand just likes running so when she got home she didn't remember how she placed or her times. These are some pictures from her first meet. There are only 2 weeks left of school for the kids and for the college student in the family this is the last week and she will finish her first year. Next post we'll have some pictures of how spring comes to the Dakotas.

Spring and Chili and Camp

Fridays snow was mostly gone by saturday afternoon, and we were able to go to the
2nd annual Mitchell Branch Chili Cookoff. We invited our neighbor J.P. and his little boy Gavin (visitors got to judge). Our family took three different pots. Franks chicken chili with corn. Franks chicken chili w/o corn and a pot of Cowboy Beans. There were ten entries altogether. The sister half of our missionary couple won judges choice. Tom won the hottest, as well as the kids choice, for different pots. which was interesting because the the difference between the two was that one had corn and one did not. Tom now has a new apron and a chefs hat.

Sunday after church, Pres. Smith asked to talk to me, and issued the calling of Girls camp director. We will have three girls going this year. This is the first year that our branch is sending more than one girl. I am very excited about going. I will have to plan some easy dinners and such for the kids who will be home. Tom will be home evenings. I have already talked to the teacher who will be teaching my summer math class, which I will miss twice, she said she usually allows one missed day, but since I am letting her know so far in advance it will be o.k.

SPRING???????

For the last three nights I have been hot enough that I ended up tossing off my blankets, and quilt and sleeping with my sheet. Yesterday I took the extra blankets off my bed, and left the quilt on, but before bed, I folded the quilt at the bottom, just in case.

This morning I woke up to rain. To be fair, it did rain all day yesterday, before I left for school, It had turned to slushyness, as I got back in the car from dropping the little boys off at daycare, I decided it was sleet. It took me fortyfive minutes instead of my usual 25 to get to Mitchell Tech. I got there and had time to print out the paper due at the end of my second hour. Then right before my class got out at 9:50, my class was interupted by office staff telling us that Mitchell public schools were closing at 10:30 and MTI was officially closing at 11:45. by this time it was "sneeting" I went to my 10:00 teacher and handed her the paper, (I had planned on reading thru it and doing any fine tuning)(Oh, well). Then I left, I had to go grocery shopping on my way home. It took an hour. Then I drove home. It took 65 min. to drive home. My kids called when I was almost home -6 miles, away in Alexandria- to tell me that school was canceled and they were home, Jim and Echo went to the daycare and picked up the little boys. According to the radio as I drove home the visibility was 1/8 of a mile. and the wind was supposed to be increasing.

An interesting thing here in S. Dakota is the wind. even with a day of rain and then sleet and sneet and snow there is a side on all the trees that is dry.

The kids were supposed to get out of school on May 16, but they had too many "snow days" and now school gets out on May 19. They were told that since they started the day at school they will not have to makeup today.

Katie is hoping for a good day for her B-day on May 5, so she can play outside on that day.

I am planning on planting some bulb flowers, crocus and tulips and daffodil but what will this kind of weather do to them?

An AMAZING day!

Today started out as an ordinary school day, I got up, helped Tom get off to work, showered, dressed, The big kids got my little kids dressed. We were out the door about 10min. earlier than usual, which allows me more time to refocus on school, when I get to school. Jim drove Carie to school, since she is on crutches, this helps her start her day easier(but it only happens on my school days) then drove around the block to get to the day care at this point Jim takes his school bag out of the car and walks across the street to school, I take the little boys into the daycare - Mikey into the preschool room and Danny into the toddler/infant room- then back out to the car and drive to school.

At school I started with Business Law, then Human Relations. As soon as H.R. ended I walked down to the room where they were doing the school blood drive. They asked me if I was willing to give twice. I did. This took a bit longer, so I was late to Math. Mrs. Star welcomed me to class and told me that she was disappointed in everyones scores from the test on Monday, so the class was reworking missed problems for half points. But I only missed one so I was not eligible for this. So I started working on my homework, I could have left, but I felt a bit shaky and was not sure if I was ready to drive. By the end of the hour class, I was feeling lots less shaky, so I went ahead and drove home.

I stopped at the post office and found a package card in my box so I went to the window and presented it to the postmaster Reggie. He had me sign for the package, and then I took it home and opened it. It was an early b-day present, from Della. It was a wii. Wow! We have set it up and started playing it. I have wanted something for my kids to do at my house, with their friends, at my house (is there a bit of redundancy here). Now I have one.

I have also discussed with Della my concern of the S.Dakota alcoholism. So she wrote out an oath for my kids to take before playing:

I (name) hereby promise and decree that I will never partake of alcohol.
I do solemnly promise that when I am bored I will seek out positive forms of recreation.
I will encourage my friends not to drink.
I will be an example of what I believe is right, to stand up for it at all times, in all things, and in all places.
I also swear that under no situation whatsoever, regardless of embarrassment, loss of friendship, exposure to the elements, or any other painful or uncomfortable thing will I ever, ever get in a car with a drunk driver.
This I do solemnly swear and promise, because I value my own life and the quality of life that I enjoy, under the binding of my own word and integrity, so help me God.

Isn't that great!

I am so excited. It has been an AWESOME day.