finishing out March

Kendal and Pete ended their basketball camp on the 14th of this month. It was a good way for them to keep up with some skills and learn new skills while they waited for track to start. Track started on the 18th. After having a wet / snowy week their first week of track practice was warm and beautiful! Both launched themselves into long distance stuff so Pete hasn't had much time to train in other things to see what he'll do this season. They had one week of track before we started spring break, but Casey still had them training and running during our break. Alice took advantage of the warm week to get a kite flying session in as well as learning to ride the bigger bike! 

We ended 3rd quarter at the middle school on the 15th, and started the new quarter on the 18th. I have Kendal for my library aid this last quarter. I indulged her and she's in there with two of her friends (Becca, and Alicyn). Kendal is also in GI to finish her school year. Pete got put in AG, and then PE for his last quarter. All three kids received good grades for this past quarter. Alice continues to blow numbers out of the water. (She topped her reading score at a 5th grade reading level.) Kendal got all A's and Pete got A's and one B! Below is Alice's current obsession when she's at the middle school - doodling on my Promethean. The other pictures are of art pieces that Kendal did in class 3rd quarter, and were displayed in the art show on the 18th. 

 St. Patrick's day was on a Sunday. We all wore green to school on the 15th, but didn't do more than wear green to church for the actual day. 

The middle school had a ro-sham-bo day the Friday before spring break. All of the students had a competition for beads playing rock, paper, scissors with each other at the end of and in between classes. It was a fun way to usher in spring break. That night we had an ice cream taste off to start off our own spring break! Mint won thanks to all three girls choosing it as #1 with fluffy peanut butter / chocolate as second which is what the boys chose. We also ushered in March madness by making brackets and going head to head to see who will win! Alice was taking her cheering very seriously last week as we watched games over the weekend.  Currently our standings are. . . 

 

Other pics from before spring break: Pete built a tank, my cute girls, and Alice being our su chef lately. 

Monday of spring break had us doing a spring cleaning around the house and Casey started on the cabinet doors for my book case. (He had started them last summer and I didn't love how the door sat so he scrapped it for a time.) I love how they look, just need to find handles. We ended our night with some family Wii time. 

Tuesday I did a de-clutter day while the kids finished cleaning the basement toy area. We dyed Easter eggs and had everyone had a movie night after dinner while I studied. 

Wednesday we headed to Logan to finish out our spring break with family! We got to see cousins at dinner and played at my parents that afternoon. Thursday morning I went to take my first ABCTE test up at the USU testing center. This was the content test (all of the subjects and their sub subjects). I have been studying since September and cramming this past month trying to learn and retain all of the things for Math, Science, History, and English. It's been overwhelming trying to learn all of this content with only having evenings and weekends to fit in study time. I felt ready, but nervous about the amount I needed to remember. I also thought there was an essay portion to this test and have been working hard writing practice essays in preparation. I said thought because I was wrong and found out at the testing center. After working on my test for 2 and a half hours I clicked end test (thinking an essay portion would pop up next for my last hour) only to have the system stop. I went into to the test proctor room and a TA told me I was done and I got a printout saying I passed. I was so confused about missing out on part of the test and was instructed that if I left the test was considered done - meaning I would have to re-do the whole test if I left. So I sat there an hour longer with 4 phone calls to ABCTE / test people only to have the USU test guy come back and say it's the second test (that I still have to take) that has the essay (not both tests like I originally thought). I was overwhelmed and stressed for that hour and it took some of the joy out of passing my test, but I did it! I passed test one and I'm ahead of the curve with all of my essay prep for the second test! Casey and the Kids played risk at my parents that morning after Kendal did a driving session with Grandpa, and when he got my first nervous text and came up to get me not knowing I was stuck in the building till things were figured out so he drove around campus for a bit. Everyone waited to celebrate with me and we all went to Chick Fill A for a very late lunch to celebrate. Casey and Grandpa took Kendal and Pete to do baptisms for the dead that afternoon while Alice and I went for a visit with Nana. We got to spend the evening with cousin time as well! 

Friday Morning Kendal went driving with grandpa, and I took my mom around to a few stores. After lunch Casey, My Dad, Kendal, Pete, Tony, and David went to the shooting range. They had a fun time doing something new with Grandpa. Alice and I played games back at the house. Casey took Kendal and Pete for a run after shooting and we got to spend more time with cousins that night. We also did a doughnut taste off. We picked four doughnuts and had everyone order their favorites. Lee's doughnuts won with Krispy Cream coming in at a close second. 

Saturday morning we followed David and Anica to the Lee's around the valley so the kids could do a simple Easter treat walk through each store. Nothing epic, but the kids got some goodies and cousin time in. Casey and I took the girls to see Nana before lunch while Pete got some play time at David and Anica's house. Andy and Kim came up for an early Easter lunch and we all had a nice afternoon together eating, hanging out, and playing Farkle and Apples to Apples. It's my Mom's birthday this coming week and we got to sing to her yesterday as well! We got talked into eating at Culvers before we left and got home late last night. 

Easter Sunday! The kids were up early to find their baskets, and goodies. They knew they couldn't collect eggs until their baskets were found, and they had no luck finding them; however, they did a scavenger hunt that the bunny put together and found some hobby rockets that we've spent part of this afternoon putting together. We went to church and had a beautiful sacrament meeting full of the spirit and messages of our Savior. I love all that was shared! Before we came back home we did a mini testimony session together sharing our testimonies of Christ together. The kids came in and ended up finding their baskets and eggs (with a lot of direction from Casey on how to thoroughly look for things, because heaven help them they were being very casual with their efforts). We're now having a casual afternoon together to finish out our Easter Sunday / Spring break. 

(The palm leaves we made last Sunday and have had them up all week. We wrote on them what we would say to Christ if we saw him today.)

  

Beginning of March

 The week of February 26-29 I put up and ran a book fair for the middle school. It was busy between classes and at lunch with students (who mostly wanted trinkets - aka junk). Tuesday and Wednesday was parent teacher conferences. The middle school does not typically have a great turnout for conferences so while I had some traffic in the book fair, it was so small compared to what I'm used to from Stricker. I talked to more of Kendal's teacher's than Pete's but both are doing well and getting good grades this quarter. I also found out that week that I was February's wordle champion in the middle school. (I'll have to take a picture of my trophy and add it later.) Each Wednesday the staff has a specific word to start wordle with and we try to beat each other with the least amount of tries. I ended up winning for February and will gladly enjoy my top spot for a month. I still try to beat Casey every day. It' honestly pretty split about who wins between the two of us each day. 

(this is the book fair broken down - wish I would've remembered a picture when it was set up.)

 

Because of conferences we had Friday, March 1 off of school. Peter got to go hang out with friends and make a movie in the rain. I caught up on cleaning the house since I had neglected it all week because I was at parent teacher conferences past 8 the two previous nights. Kendal got to go to a friend's birthday party Friday night. 

Saturday night I went on a friend's mini trip. We grabbed food and headed out to Miracle Hot Springs. It was a nice little break for the evening. Kendal and Casey went to a Stake Dance that Casey had to help decorate / chaperone / clean up. Kendal danced with a hand full of boys and had a fun time hanging out with friends. 

This past week Kendal and Peter got to go to the temple Tuesday night with the youth. Kendal wants to go more this year, and hopefully we can find more opportunities to get her there. 

Kendal got to go to Boise Wednesday on a field trip to an Art Museum. She enjoyed the museum and got to make a little creation of her own to bring home. She had a good time overall, but wasn't thrilled being stuck in a bus for over 4 hours that day.

Casey also left early Wednesday morning to a PBIS conference that was held in Chicago. He got to explore the city a bit each evening and hit some cool places to eat around the area - getting a bit turned around with the different "levels" that Chicago has above and below ground. 

On Wednesday he flew from Boise with 5 other teachers. After a stop in Salt Lake, they got to Chicago where they got on a train to get them to close to their hotel.  Their first night in Chicago meant deep dish pizza. It was delicious. 

Thursday morning they started the conference going to meetings till 5:00. Lunch was at a pancake shop and dinner was at a South African place called Nandos. Some exploring took them to Ghiradelli's for some ice cream and a different view of the city. Who knew Chicago had 2 layers of roads beneath the main level?? 

 

  

Friday morning meant breakfast at Yolk and more meetings. It rained a lot so lunch meant getting wet on the way to Billy Goat Tavern (and getting lost on the way), a neat historical place with connections to SNL and the Curse of the Cubs. After finishing the conference, dinner was at Brown Bag Seafood Company. A quick self guided tour of the city visiting the Bean (it was fenced off) and Lake Michigan, as well as some different views, finished the day.

In order to catch a plane, Saturday morning began at 3 am. An early morning walk, another train rides, security lines at the airport, and a quick walk to the right gate meant making it with 2 minutes to spare. A stop in Minneapolis and a couple hour layover meant lunch and some rest before the final flight to Boise and the drive home, exhausted and glad to be home. 

The kids and I got by, and went to work and school. I took them to Pizza Pie Cafe Friday evening for dinner. Kendal and Pete had gotten free kid's buffets from their basketball camp that they got to every Monday and Thursday. They have this week left in their camp and will start track next Monday (18th). 

Our random pictures. 

I'll label this oh Pete and our loose tooth beauty

Fresh hair cut for Mr. Pete and documenting a good hair day 

Had a morning chat with Casey while he was gone to Chicago and little spider lady