Spring program

Yesterday was the last day of Options for this school year. :) Asher and Micah enjoyed their time with friends and the fun field day activities at the end of the day. Then I picked them up, got them a snack, came home so Micah could change (at his request) and headed back for the Spring Program.

At the program, we first wandered the halls looking at all the artwork. Asher had a few pieces up, and felt weird not to be performing. (Since he has no music classes this year, he didn't have any parts in the program...a first for him in the six years we've done Options.)

Micah performed with his piano class and was stoked to have a solo:

(Back story...he learned he had this solo last week. He was bored in class so was practicing for his private lesson (he has it memorized so was just playing it over and over while waiting for classmates to be ready to start). The teacher heard him and promptly asked Micah to play that in the Spring Program. Ta da.)

After he was done, he felt immensely more relaxed and nabbed a friend's cap to complete his outfit:

And that was that.

Whew. And thus ends the Options school year. :) It's great...as it's lovely to have one less thing on our schedule for the summer. But. It's also a little bittersweet...as I appreciated the day to get things done without the younger two boys in tow--and because we still have schoolwork anyhow, so it's not the end of our actual school year. 

Speaking of which...must now get back to that. We've just started our last six week session... ;)

Things I learned last Thursday

I took the boys bowling last Thursday during our "off" week...as we hadn't been bowling in years, and Micah had recently gone to a bowling birthday party (so was wanting more), and I found a "Kids Bowl Free" deal over the summer. :) (Note, you still have to pay for shoe rental and your own games if you bowl with the kids. Still, it's better than nothing.) Here's what I learned...

Noah has decent form and the ability to really wing the ball down the lane...

...and he can have a good time...(I'm so bummed that I missed the shot where he actually jumped for joy but I managed this one a few frames later). If he can just work on keeping his wrist from spinning the ball every time, he could actually do pretty well.

Asher could have decent form also...just needs some more umph to put behind the ball...(his brothers were giving him a hard time about the slowness of his ball going down the lane, but his accuracy was better than theirs)...

...Ash also really watches his ball all the way down the lane (and in a different contorted position most every time, lol).

Micah truly believes that he can influence the ball once it's on its way...

...See?

Also, Micah still lacks the strength to really bowl well...just kinda walks up there, stops and throws the ball, lol. With the bumpers up (which we did for the first game as we were readjusting to how to bowl), this worked okay. With the bumpers down (which Micah and Noah insisted on for the second game), this was a problem. ;)

And. Bowling shoes still aren't comfortable. ;)

Mostly, though, we just all need more practice. ;)

Seven on Sunday

Just some photos to catch up...

1. Photographic evidence that we had snow here on Mother's Day. (Not as much as other places nearby, I'll admit. But it's still snow, people. Course, it's in the 80s and beautiful today, so I suppose I'll forgive Mother Nature. For now.)

2. The big pot of mashed potatoes Noah made last week from scratch and then made me take a picture of. (He then proceeded to "snack" on the entire batch and guarded them well.)

3. Asher receiving his SOAR award last Monday. :)

4. One of Micah's proposed May poses.

5. Micah's other proposed pose. Silly boy!

6. Micah working on his illustrations...

7. The 200 twinkies (yes, that's what they're called by the manufacturer) that we bought yesterday. Will tackle some front yard work next weekend, probably. ;) (They'll be edgers.)

And that's that. :)

Ten on Tuesday

1. Bullet dodged. ;) Just had our regular check-in with the orthodontist for both Micah and Asher today. Both are doing fine, and apparently Asher's not quite ready for braces yet. For him, this is awesome news. :) He has at least six more months to prepare himself mentally.

2. During that time, he needs to lose the last four baby teeth. The orthodontist actually ended up pulling one of Asher's teeth today since it was more than ready to come out and had already split into two. Asher wasn't thrilled but I'll definitely take it...free extraction and no worries about it coming out in pieces unexpectedly, lol.

3. In case you were wondering, yes, Micah's still working on his haiku book. He's now decided to illustrate it as well so is working on that. :) (Pretty proud of him...he's even looking up online tutorials on how to draw certain things.)

4. Speaking of Micah's haiku book, he's serious. He wants to publish it and sell it and everything. So. Anyone have any experience publishing things with Lulu? From my minimal searching, they seem to offer the cheapest option for a black/white small softcover book. I've not used them before, though, and may use Blurb instead (since I have had things printed through them before and been quite happy). Any other recommendations are also quite welcome!

5. Asher and Micah both received SOAR awards at the Options award ceremony yesterday. SOAR is the program's action statement and stands for Safety, Ownership, Achievement and Respect. Teachers selected a student in each of their classes who particularly exhibited these characteristics.

6. I need this top today. :) (Yeah, boot camp was rough yesterday. Methinks it may have had something to do with the fact that my instructor's triathalon was cancelled. It was supposed to be on Sunday but was cancelled due to the snow...so he wasn't all worn out and had extra energy to work off, lol.)

7. For the record, this is our last "off" week of our homeschooling year. We'll do another six weeks after this then have a longer break for summer before starting up again mid-August.

8. During this week, I'm working on planning out our remaining weeks (which will be a good bit lighter than the last five sessions of six weeks each because I'm realistic like that, lol). Thoughts of the coming year are also percolating and taking form...annual homeschool review/plan posts to come...

9. Also, we're trying to tackle some yard work now that the snow is gone again. Will post pictures as things actually happen. Right now, we have a starting point and an initial plan...and the knowledge that there are plenty of unknowns still. :)

10. Btw, I'm still totally in love with my new bedroom. :) Seriously. Nathan and I sometimes wake up and just sit in the sunshine and discuss how much we love our renewed bedroom. Happy!

Okay, off to pick up Noah from swim team then do some reading with boys after dinner. Hope your week is off to a lovely start!

Happy Mother's Day!

Just wanted to send a quick shout out to all the mothers I know and especially my own. You all have shaped and continue to shape the mother I am today, and I thank you. :)

(I don't know the precise date of this but am fairly sure it was taken in 1976 shortly after I was adopted.)

(This one was taken in February of 2012 when my mom was out here visiting.)

Hope you all were celebrated today! No big deal here...just haircuts for boys and laundry and such...and watching the snow fall. (Yeah, Mother Nature didn't get my memo about sunshine, lol.) Nathan and Micah made me pancakes this morning, and Nathan brought me flowers with the grocery shopping, and I got to be mostly lazy and watch some tv...all good. :)