Memorial Day, School is OUT
We celebrated Memorial Day nice and easy with a lazy morning for most. I went grocery shopping for the week. I convinced Sara to come have a dinner picnic at Ann Morrison Park in Boise. I made a huge Chinese chicken salad, the one with ramen noodles. Sara made a pasta salad and brought cut up watermelon. We spent a lovely few hours basking in the glory of spring. Literally, everyone and their dog was at the park, including Furgus. He rolled around and ate grass, sniffed old dog poop, and played. The older kids got a kick toting him around in the wagon. Oliver was upset because his bike was left at home, honestly, I told Sara we were not bringing anything. The kids had other plans and loaded up scooters and bikes on their own. Josie biked a few miles on the Greenbelt with me, she got pretty good at yelling out, “on your left!” The Boise River is really high and fast, plus frigidly cold. The kids enjoyed playing at the park and dipping toes into icy water. Amelia roped the kids into playing flower shop with her. She had Evelyn delivering flower arrangements for a long while.
Going back to school for 4 last days was quite anti-climatic. We had the normal Tuesday schedule of counseling in the morning, clogging, hip hop (Evelyn), Activity Days, and drum lessons. In between Activity Days and drum lessons I had a parent choir meeting about the upcoming trip to NYC in March(ish) next year. We had a productive brainstorming session about raising money for the expensive trip. I volunteered to organize a spaghetti dinner fundraiser to preview the songs the kids will sing for competition. Yay.
Justin had a company overnight event up in McCall, ID to build relationships with each other. It was quite bonding. Josie caught a nasty cold so was feeling terrible from Wednesday thru the entire next week. She ran a low-grade fever for about 6 days, she was not her best self at all! Josie missed school on Thursday she was so sick. Ironically, I was at school volunteering most of the day while she was at home. Josie did a good job helping Furgus go outside to use the bathroom. The 3rd grade had a field day in the morning, I manned the water pouring game. The kids got completely drenched pouring water while standing on a chair into a cup on their supine classmate’s forehead. Mrs Campbell needed help serving hot dogs for a camp themed 1st grade lunch. They spent the week doing fun camping activities like reading with flashlights, making tents in class, and lots of pretend play. Josie was devastated to miss the lunch, so I brought her along with a mask on and lots of hand sanitizer. We were mostly outside for the event. Sara and I went to ward temple night. She had not seen the new video or changes.
Friday, Furgus had his first visit at the animal clinic for his 8 week shots. He was one calm pup the rest of the day. He started biting Josie’s toes, she is reticent to walk around barefoot when Furgus is not in his pen. Justin and I decided to hire a puppy trainer to come and help us out. Furgus is a Drama Queen (surpassed the Drama King level) when it comes to humans touching his mouth. Right after I went to East Valley for a couple hours to volunteer for the 6th grade “field day?” All I know is I signed up and arrived when I was told. No one knew where to send us volunteers. It was crazy chaos. I eventually helped Ms Randall keep her group playing kick ball or volleyball outside. A few of the kids were extremely rude, one kid got right up in my face when I directed him back to the group (he was trying to wander). Told me I was a stupid bitch, with bad breath. Is that all you can think of? At least make your insults more descriptive! The boys got to leave school an hour early! Yay. Justin went to Ronald Reagan for the Family Picnic with Evelyn and Josie. Josie chose to return home with Justin after the picnic. Evelyn wanted to stay as long as possible with Ms Gingerich. When I got home with the boys, Josie started crying because she missed Mrs Campbell. She did not get to give her a goodbye hug, sooooo…off we went to give her a hug. Josie was crying when she hugged her teacher, bless her heart! Josie joined the few classmates left in the classroom to play beach ball soccer in their empty school room! We learned Mrs Campbell is retiring early this year to tutor kids who struggle to read. I peeked in on Evelyn, she was happily cleaning and organizing the classroom with Ms Gingerich and 4 other classmates. She cried for the rest of the day, her little heart was aching to stay in 3rd grade forever.
Evelyn, yes Evelyn, slept until noon on Saturday. She was so emotionally worn out from grieving her teacher. Josie perked up and seemed to be on the mend from her cold. The only big activity was Ellie’s birthday party at 3 pm. Ellie is an interesting kid. She lives across the street with her mom, grandma and grandma’s boyfriend. Her dad died shortly after Ellie was born. She is a very headstrong, sassy, bossy, and cute girl. Most of the time she is at odds with Evelyn or vice versa. A few weeks ago I was alone home enjoying the quiet. Ellie flounces in, plops on the couch and demands our iPad to play with. I kindly asked her to go home until the kids got back. She said “my mom told me to come over, so I’m staying.” I said then go play in the yard. She was in and out of the tree poking at a nest of bird eggs, leaving the gate open, and coming in and out for drinks. I asked her repeatedly to go home. Even locked all the doors, little stinker came over the Ostler’s fence and snuck inside. She does not take No for an answer. Somehow she still loves to play with Josie and is quite resilient with the constant battles with Evelyn. She only had 3 friends at her party with Josie and Evelyn to make 5. I am glad we went just to help her feel more loved. I get the feeling she is more starved for attention than anything. The kids loved painting at a darling paint studio. Evelyn painted a sunflower and Josie made a horse. So fun. I made a swift trip to donate stuff to DI after dropping off the girls. After the party Ellie insisted it was her right to have a late night with Evelyn at our home. I said it was not a good night since we have church the next day and Evelyn was still dealing with large emotions. Ellie replied, I know you said no, but you need to change your mind because no is not the answer I was looking for. Yep! Justin got a motorcycle ride in to Kuna. The gardens are looking great, growing fast and lush. The tomatoes love all the sun in their new spot, don’t love all the rain gushes from the rooftop when it rains. I didn’t foresee the roofline issues until too late. Bah humbug.
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