Last Days of School, Let Summer Begin

I’m behind in life. I cried because my entire summer list was filled with cleaning all the things that got missed over the past year, that doesn’t sound relaxing. I know it’s ok, but still the feelings are overwhelming at times. It seems all the things I love to do are now more of a chore than something I love…like writing these family memories, photography, gardening, cleaning, exploring. So this entry will be mostly photos, the few that I have and a spot of commentary. 

**update: apparently I failed at only writing a little. Guess I'm prolific. 

The last week of school went by quickly. Sunday evening Amelia and I returned from our 9-day vacay to Utah and Disneyland. Everyone loved their gifts. I found leather bracelets and engraved the boy’s names in Star Wars language onto the bracelets. The girl’s got princess tiaras and Minnie heads. Add in the sippers and candy for a righteous haul. Justin’s Vader shirt was also well-loved. Josie named her Ewok stuffy, Chad. Yes, Chad with the three layers of teeth. It was EPIC. Monday morning came way too early. I pumped up the jams during crosswalk duty to imbibe some energy and vibes. Everyone was loud and very energetic all week. Kindergarten had their cute graduation on Tuesday. Evelyn contracted an impressive case of the hives during her field day, not sure what triggered that reaction. Wednesday the 5th grade had their graduation. They practiced Monday-Wednesday morning for their big graduation. If you think herding kindergarteners sounds adventurous try advising 5th graders to follow protocol. Phew. Sassy pants. The 5th grade program was cute and the perfect length. I loved the songs Mr McGrath had the students sing, “Have You Ever Seen the Rain” and “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” Evelyn earned the “Radiant Reader” award for her class. She totally crushed the iSAT this year, despite her reservations and nerves. She was able to choose all accelerated core classes for 6th grade. I love that she made some supportive, quirky friends just like her (Lyla, Maleena, and Sophie). Onward to middle school. 

Everett had the last week of school excused because he aced the iSATs again. What a motivator! He made a poor decision to play on the upstairs computer by himself, said Amelia told him it was ok…yah, NO! He was banned from electronics for about 7 days. Summer vacation is already boring for him. 

Amelia had 2-3 days of no-paid training with Cutco knives. She came home the second day excited but feeling overwhelmed at the task of finding her own contacts. We gently told her about our reservations about pyramid companies like Cutco. In order to do the job she needed to buy a set of knives and either buy a laptop or somehow borrow one. She quit, deciding it would be best to find a temporary job for the summer. 

The last day of school went by quickly. I spent half the day cleaning and reorganizing my lab. I moved some desks about so I could expand the STEM area, sorted toys, and got things ready for next year. Heidi had a fun idea to wear inflatables during our morning duty! That was super fun. Heidi and I manned the north entrance for the family picnic handing out stickers after participants signed the log-in sheet. I ordered Jimmy Johns using UberEats for our lunch. Justin came over during his lunch break with Everett to picnic with the girls. Most of the students went home after the picnic, last year I recall at least 150 students stayed compared to 65 this year. There are lots of teachers moving grades and or leaving Reagan this year. Mrs Curtis announced she is leaving the school, her health is suffering from all the stress. Mrs Villa, Julian, and Hill are also leaving for various reasons. I feel terrible for the way Ms Hill is treated. Once again the 5th grade girl club ostracized another teacher off the 5th grade team. Hill was moved to 3rd grade which was fine until more changes were made and she was moved to 4th. She told me she is applying to several other schools hoping to find a school with a better principal. Agreed! I wouldn’t be surprised if more teachers quit over the summer. The girls stayed and helped teachers clean and move stuff. It was a fun day. I worked Friday as well because Mr Obert decided to pay the Paras extra so we could be at the last staff meeting and be included in the staff BBQ (wow, thanks). I finished cleaning up, Amelia and Josie came to help and hang out. Evelyn enjoyed a really fun day with Lyla playing in the water, baking cookies, playing games, and watched a show. Josie and I went to Walmart to buy garden plants. It was finally time to get some vegetables and herbs in the ground. 

Phillip and Everett had an impromptu backpacking trip with the YM, just testing out their packs and supplies. Everett spent his free week researching how to DIY backpacking food. He had grand ideas to dehydrate entire meals like chicken curry and rice. I was too tired to help him, he had to make do with ramen and PB&J sandwiches. The boys both caught a few fish, Phillip still does not like feel of slimy fish, I’m with you Phillip. They came home excited for the upcoming backpacking adventure the end of June. 

I worked on the garden. Cleared off the dead stuff, churned up the soil, and deep watered the soil. Josie helped me plant seeds and our bedding plants. We were mud fairies. I almost left the house with dirt on my cheeks (the facial ones, not the nether ones). Josie reminded me she had a birthday party out in Meridian at Wahooz. Evelyn and went to the Lowe’s across the street for fencing and lucked out on half price raspberry starts. It took the rest of the afternoon to get the plants into the ground. I used the fencing to block off the garden side of our yard from our goofy dogs. They were digging up seeds before I could even cover them with dirt. Wilbur went through a growth spurt this year, he’s got hundred of peaches developing. So excited! Evelyn convinced me to get a container of ladybugs to eat up some of our nasty aphids. Those buggers are eating my roses again this year. Justin and Amelia worked on grooming Fergus. He started nipping after a while so he did not get a complete groom. Amelia accidentally…and fortuitously, shaved the state of Idaho into his fur. She also learned to use a guard while shaving him. Ha ha. Justin and I took Everett out for his birthday dinner, he greatly desired teppanyaki. It was quite yummy! Everett enjoyed trying scallops for the first time. I think the ice cream was even better…I tried huckleberry cheesecake. 

Sister Titus came up to Amelia after sacrament meeting to tell her how much she missed Amelia conducting the music! She told Amelia how much she appreciates her dedication to properly conducting the music and singing loud enough for others to follow along. I loved hearing that! She is a good kid. Everett wanted peanut butter cookies for his birthday treat. I wanted to make peanut butter bars just to mix things up. Everett is growing up way too fast. He is a very kind, loving, spiritual, and smart young man. He can turn on the “angry squirrel” within seconds when his sense of equality/justice is challenged. He still challenges imaginary foes to epic battles in the backyard. It’s quite fun to watch.    

I spent most of Monday grocery shopping and catching up on some photo editing. Pretty boring. The kids are loving the trampoline and hose  with Logan and Oliver to play. Fergus apparently has an ear infection. He got his ears treated and flushed during his annual exam. He was a total butt-head for Amelia. Little stinker escaped his collar right off the bat and ran toward a busy street. Amelia earned some mud stripes when she dove to catch him. He had to be muzzled when the vet examined and treated his ears. Phillip had orientation with Seminis seed company for a roguing position. He apparently updated his availability based on the marching band calendar. The HR gal called me later the next day to let me know Phillip cannot work because he isn’t working for 5 continuous weeks. I was a little upset and relieved at the same time. Mostly relieved because I was able to find a corn topping for Everett that paid $16/hour. Last year he made $8/hour so this will be amazing for him. I texted Cori back to ask if she had room for Phillip as well, which she did. It works better that the boys have a bit of a summer break until after July 4th and I can take them at the same time. Phillip’s goal is to earn enough to pay for the $550 marching band fees. Amelia is also looking for a job but is not having much luck yet. She also has FSY next week and Girl’s Camp the week after so there is that to consider as well. 

I had a fun iSTEM conference at the Nampa CWI campus learning about Micro:bits and the classroom. I thought the conference would be amusing and interactive. It was more like listening to a few speakers drone on about technology and then hours of quiet time in our strand classes making a micro:bit lesson. I was hoping to learn more extensions for the micro:bits and how to better use them in the classroom without chaos. We did get a ton of useful supplies like copper tape, servos, clips, pig tails, books, and cases for 30 micro:bit sets! I quite enjoyed Teacher Joy, she was literally joy in a body. A thunderstorm rolled through right when she raised her arms to make a point about teaching with joy, BOOM! I loved how she presented ways to use music and silliness to enrich education. That is right up my alley. Our strand was able to visit two businesses where we learned about STEM in local businesses. Wednesday we visited Bastian Solutions R&D Labratory where our group toured an enormous warehouse where advanced robotic teams are developing warehouse automated systems. They developed a self-driving forklift from scratch (most convert fork lifts with self-driving tech), are developing a shelving system, and an AI-driven sorting bot. It was very cool! The take away was that students need to know how to communicate, use their creative brain with the end product in mind, critical thinking, and of course the importance of typing. Next day we visited HB Speciality Foods in Nampa where bread coatings and crumbs are manufactured. Many of the factory’s processes are automated but humans are in demand to do the complicated processes that are difficult to code and have a robot do. Once again, even factory workers need typing skills! Here is a fun tidbit…did you know that Panko bread is cooked by electrical current? The process produces a crustless bread evenly cooked with thick metal plates running through the dough. It makes the fluffy texture needed for panko. Friday, our task was to teach a 5 minute micro:bit lesson. I made up a lesson for students to play 20 questions using the micro:bit and it’s radio function to send a yes/no answer to their partner’s micro:bit. I even made a fun set of graphic instructions for students to follow. 

The kids are busy cleaning their bedrooms in preparation for musical bedrooms. I challenged the older kids to try on all of their clothes then thrift those they no longer wanted or that didn’t fit. Amelia also went through her closet memory boxes. We are avoiding the monster in the upstairs. I have not helped nor goaded the little girls to clean their room since the MCO concert. With the season change, lack to time, and honestly, the amount of clutter in their room we were all about ready to cry. I spent a couple hours on Saturday just sorting winter clothes and switching it to summer clothes. We chucked a huge pile of clothes to donate to cousins. The rest filled 3 large laundry baskets of dirty clothes. Yuck. If those two were playing House and McDonald’s they probably matched my and Jana’s efforts. It was quite impressive. Justin and I took the boys to Cabela’s to get Phillip hiking boots, Everett a hiking backpack, and some water purification stuff. I found some Teva sandals to replace my flippity flaps. I wanted to get Justin a “Blackstone” griddle grill thing. Guess what? Cabela’s had their brand of griddle for $250! The cheapest find on my radar was a $350 version at Walmart with no lid. The Cabela’s griddle came with a lid and double side shelves. He’s a beaut! Justin and the boys assembled the new griddle Saturday morning. We busted out Charles Xavier (the sun canopy) to provide shelter from the morning sun rays. Charles is really good at his job. The boys finally got a haircut, shaved that euro faux hawk off from the MCO concert. Phillip hated his with a passion. My garden now has a trailer park worthy set of garden fences. Once the fence posts came in I wrapped each box with wire fencing and metal fence posts. It looks terrible but will keep the dang dogs out. 

Happy Father’s Day to Justin. He is a good dad and husband. We sure love him. Got him a wookie card with Darth Vader crackers and spray cheese with new grill supplies to say we love him. Next week the older kids are off to FSY. Hopefully, I can balance work (cleaning) with some activities for the girls.