Cub Scout Day Camp

Nate got to go to Cub Scout Day Camp again this year.  He had a love/hate relationship with it, as did I.  It is really hot, and sometimes the things that are done are boring, so I get that.  There were some really neat things that were done, however.

Nate got to shoot rifles.

And archery...

And they got to learn about wolves and reptiles.  They actually got to touch the reptiles.



I signed Michael up to go too, so that he could get some service hours.  He was a junior ranger.  He also had mixed feelings about this, but then he found that his friend, Ben Zufelt was there, and that helped him have a good time.

Only one more cub scout day camp left to go!

Mother's day

This is how the kids stand next to me- this year vs. last year.

And for reference, this is Marley this year...next year will be a treat!

Crawfish

We got to have crawfish 3 times this year, and everyone loved it.  We did a couple of crawfish parties ourselves.  Joe tried his hand at cooking crawfish, and it worked really well. We did our first one at the ranch with ourselves and the Penningtons.

The second one we did and home and Joe invited some friends and also some new investment friends. It was a lot of fun, and really yummy.

The third one was the annual crawfish boil with all the people who live on our street.  That's where we first learned that we love crawfish, and Joe learned how to season it and prepare it.

Nate's 3rd Grade

Nate had a great 3rd grade year.  His teachers were Mrs. Gerner and Mrs. Page.  He got straight A's for most of the year.  He, of course, didn't want to take a good picture.

He was on Broadway's Lego Robotics team, with the mentor of Mrs. Behnke.  They had a lot of fun and learned a lot, but they didn't make it to state.

You would think that I just caught a bad picture of Nate, but no, he won't look at me when I go to take a picture, he closes his eyes or looks away or frowns.  This was at the Christmas party.

Another time, he got into the Hall of Fame.  If you are caught doing something remarkable, you get a star coupon (the kids are the Broadway Stars) and if you get 10 of them, you get to go to the "Walk of Fame," where you parade around the school and get your picture in the hallway.


See-crosseyes...

This was his home base teacher, Mrs. Gerner.  He liked her a lot, he just didn't like smiling for the camera.

He was awarded the Hot Tamale award for always getting his work done so quickly.  Suddenly I understood a lot about why neatness was never part of his work!

Pinewood Derby

Nate had his first Pinewood Derby this year.  He made a car and Joe made a car, but only Nate's car got raced.



After all the work that Joe put in picking axles and wheels, no one was surprised when Nate came in first place!  His smile when he won was worth it all.

Ellie's 5th grade

Ellie had a great 5th grade.  She was at a new school, Cox Intermediate, which has 5th and 6th grades.  It is just over a mile away, so she got to ride the bus.  She could also ride her bike, but she quickly made friends on the bus and then always wanted to ride the bus.
She was mostly busy with gymnastics.  This was taken at the end of season awards banquest for gymnastics.  Ellie, Raquel, Rachel and Mia Harley. 

For her elective in school, she chose art.  She still wanted to do choir, so she went to choir club which was before school.She got to go to one of the performances as a cat.

5th grade is also the year that the kids get to do a wax museum.  They pick a famous historical person, learn about them, and then dress up like them.  Ellie picked Mary Lou Retton.  She actually stayed in the splits for the whole hour of the wax museum.

She did really well in school, getting straight A's all year.  She enjoyed it for sure!

Michael's 7th Grade

Michael had a great 7th grade year.  7th grade is at a new school- he went to York Jr High School.  York has both 7th and 8th grade.  For his electives, he continued with percussion and he also took theatre, which he thoroughly enjoyed. 

He was put at the beginning of the year in a percussion only class.  Then after the first semester, he was moved into a band.  At the end of the year, he got the award for being the most musical in his band.

He also got an award at the end of the year awards for taking the ACT and doing so well on it.

Here are some of the pictures of Michael in his band performances.

If you are in advanced science, you have to either do a science fair project or build a robot.  Michael built a robot with his friend Kael.  They had a lot of fun, and did well.


Just for fun, Michael had invisalign and they had to move some of the glue dots that hold the retainers in place.  This was in the middle of that procedure.


Michael did really well at school, getting all A's all year.