Kids and Dogs and Hamsters and Horses

Grant gave a science fair presentation today along with a couple of his buddies. Here they are in front of their presentation board. Their subject was how smoking affects the lungs.

Grant has a love for all things science and math.  The other day while playing old maid he made a card holder out of some Clix pieces. He loves to build.

Grace on the other hand really doesn't like science or math.  She's more a reading girl.  She is still hooked on her Black Stallion books.  As of the end of the school year she has over a hundred Accelerated Reader test points.  She needed 32 for the year.  Getting more than 60 put her in the high points club.  I think she made it with a safe margin.  She does have some serious competition though.  One boy in her room had more than 300 points for the year.  I always tell my kids to enjoy reading but don't take the test on every book they read.  Someday they may need a few extra points and that way they can review a book quickly and grab a few quick points if they need them.  Strategy people.  It's not about being smart.  It's about being efficient!

Remington waiting patiently on someone to let him in the back door at the farm.  He bangs his paw on the door and then sits patiently.

And this?

This is not a new form of exercise.  We have not joined the CrossFit bandwagon.  This is Grace and Grant letting hamsters crawl around inside their shirts.

I kid you not.

Now if I EVER had a hamster crawling around in my shirt, you would find me looking something like this.....

 

This was Juliet after we finished riding her Monday morning.  She didn't appreciate being hot and sweaty.  Since we didn't take time to hose her down, she took matters into her own hands, er, hooves.

Goodnight!

We Remember

 

Once Again...

Guess who was first in the pool this summer!

Not that he had any competition for the title. Most normal people waited until the afternoon when the thermometer read warmer than sixty-one degrees!  Brrrr. 

He only lasted about fifteen minutes. Then he was ready to go home and warm up. 

Grace opted not to jump in. Wise move since grant so graciously shared his illness from Wednesday with her. She wasn't feeling well yet Saturday morning. 

And now we are off holding ducks. 

Well at least some of us are. The rest of us are working. 

Or takin pictures. 

She's all arms and legs right now. 

Stuff

 You might not be able to see her clearly, but Grace is sitting in the second chair in the front row...

 

This was at her band concert Wednesday night.

And in true Kentucky fashion, she had her shoes kicked off before I could get a picture after the concert that night.

Emily's last volleyball game of the regular season was Thursday night.

It is with great sadness that I report they finished the season with no wins.

 

Tournament starts Tuesday.  This will be over rather quickly I fear.

Look what I found on ebay.

 

I could not resist buying it.

Seeing it brought back many memories of childhood.

I have resorted to making pancake syrup for Grant.

He is obsessing over waffles right now and is burning through my maple syrup.

He is literally eating up our profits.

So I cooked up a batch of pancake syrup especially for him.

This seemed like the perfect pitcher to hold it.

Ahhh, memories!

Oh, and guess who is now home sick with a high fever feeling rotten....

Grace!

Have a happy and safe Memorial Day weekend!!

End Of School Insanity

And it begins....

John had an ROTC awards program last week.  Then Saturday night John, Emily and I attended the band awards banquet and dance at a nearby country club.  Their spring concert was also last week.  Grace had a spring concert Wednesday night this week.  She and Grant both have awards programs at school next week. All of this is in addition to soccer, volleyball, swim lessons and high school youth group end of year party.  Yup.  We've been busy.

I love this time of year because it signifies school is coming to an end and summer stretches invitingly ahead.  But I hate how busy we stay running back and forth to everything.  I guess I shouldn't complain.  I'm grateful my kids have the chance to participate in all of these things.

Okay you math people.  Here's a little math quiz for you.

John and Emily both take the ACT.  What score did each student get if the average score was 30.5 and the range was 5?
With a little thought you can get their scores from that information, but that is as close as I will come to divulging true scores.  You can ask them for exact numbers.  Both did pretty well considering they took it as sophomores.  With another year behind them, they should be able to take it as juniors and get a score sufficient to meet their college admission needs.  That's all we need.  Anything more is just bonus points!

Grant's latest project was a presentation to his class on Brazil. He picked that country because they have such talented soccer players there.   

 Now Grace is doing working on a presentation on Bill Monroe, who is a Kentucky native.  She's planning to dress up as him too.  I asked her if she wouldn't prefer to be Ashely Judd or some other woman from Kentucky.

She said no.

This could be interesting.  Stay tuned.

Fun And Not So Fun

Schools were closed Tuesday for primary elections in Kentucky. 

Although schools close for the political process, other places carry on business as usual. 

Our traditional Election Day trip included a stop at our favorite donut making store. 

If you recognize those paper hats, then you've probably eaten fresh hot donuts from Krispy Kreme. 

Mmmmmmmm.

Next stop. Louisville Zoo. 

Emily tagged along. John chose to stay home and miss

One of their favorite things to do (other than look at animals) is to play with manual type writers that are part of an African Safari display.

 Why?  No clue.

 

The not so fun part of the day came right as we were leaving the zoo.  By the time we returned home, Grant was feeling very ill.  His temperature climbed as high as 104.6 by evening and never got below 101 even with medicine during the night.  He is obviously home from school today and feeling much better now.  He is feeling good enough to beat me on the Wii playing Mario Kart.  Stinker.

I'm guessing he will be back at school tomorrow.  Whatever he had seems pretty fast moving.  I just hope he keeps it to himself and doesn't share.

Signs of Summer

First calf of the year. Two weeks old now. 

Today's motivational speech from the coach...

The last soccer game is Monday night. I'm not sure how we finished the season compared to other teams since they don't officially keep score at this age, but I know we have won a few, tied a few and only lost one. That's a pretty good season. 

 I'll let you in on a little secret. I really like this  soccer mom gig!

Saturday was spent at a picnic visiting with families who have adopted through our agency. We saw a few familiar faces. 

And made many new friends...

John and Emily were great to pitch in and help entertain the many little ones running around. Entertainment was limited to inside the fellowship hall since the day was rainy and dreary outside. 

Fun Stuff

I'm liking this soccer mom gig.

Grant really enjoys playing too.  I predict he will play soccer again next year if possible.

He has shown a lot of improvement during the season.  And he isn't shy about getting in there and trying.

The high school bands put on a concert called Across The Decades.

John and Emily had a lot of fun dressing up for the performance.

They had a lot of fun hamming it up for the camera too.

Say What?

Me - No Grant. We cannot go to the playground right now.

Grant - But why?

Me - We are taking care of Khylee right now.  You're going to have to sacrifice some fun for now while we have a baby in the house.

Grant - What does sacrifice mean?

Me - It means giving up something for yourself in order to benefit someone else.

Grant - Oh!  Sort of like an OPPORTUNITY COST.

Me - Ummmm.  Yeah.





So where does an eight year old learn a term like opportunity cost?  Learned it at school of course... along with other microeconomic zingers like natural resource, human resource, capital resource, scarcity and barter.

Okay.  So it's better than some words he could learn at school, but why is my eight year old son learning such grown up terms?

I have no idea, but I would guess it has something to do with standardized achievement tests and trying to raise school scores.

Just a guess.

So here is a test question for those making the decision to alter the curriculum to include microeconomics in second grade....

What is the opportunity cost of teaching to the test instead of teaching old fashioned things such as grammar, computation, penmanship and history?

Never mind.  I can see that answer all around me as I look at a society that is increasingly functionally illiterate and unable to perform basic mathematical tasks.


OKAY - Stepping off my soapbox now....

Kids and Dogs and Cats and More

Kids and cats

(no idea why they were wearing black robes and viking hats)

(we do not belong to any cult....that I am aware of)

As if holding the cards closer to his brain made him a smarter card player!!

Yes.  Those are playing cards under his hat.  He still lost at rummy.

You know how incredibly lazy your dog is when you realize he has to lie down to eat.

Further proof

Big sister helping little sister learn her flute solo for the spring concert

Grant's favorite book

He now knows who, where, when and how he will propose marriage someday.

He can explain it all to you in great detail.

Just ask him.

Emily at volleyball practice.

 

She ought to win the prize for most improved this season.

She's learned a lot.  She has even scored some pretty good points in a few games.

Her goal now is to be on a winning team at least once!  Her team has lost every game though some of them were heartbreakingly close!

Photo Dump Time!

 Our syrup now has an official label.

 

Some of our finished product....

With farmers' markets beginning to open for the season, we are ready to get our product out to sell.  Two markets have already agreed to sell our syrup.  Right now I am waiting to hear from Kroger about putting our syrup in their Kentucky Proud section.  That would be a quick way to move about thirty gallons of syrup a year.

Things I don't miss seeing.....

ponies with snow up to their bellies

sunsets on a snowy field

(photo courtesy of Emily Shupe)

frozen creeks

and snowy bales

I will not complain of ninety degree days and yard work again (or at least until August).



Don't know if I ever posted these pictures, but they were still languishing on my camera.  I decided I should share (or reshare) again before filing them away.