Some pics I found on my camera...

First Day of School 2014/15

4th Grade

2nd Grade

Preschool - 2nd year

C and H are continuing to attend our neighborhood public school, "Norte".  However, because C was so unhappy last year (and the year before) and after having some conversations with other parents who moved from Norte to other schools, I seriously considered moving them to a more suitable school. In fact, I even got them excepted to the school.  C's main complaint with school is the behavior of the other kids.  Norte is a title I school, which means many of the kids are coming from a lower socio-economic status.  They are bused in from South Phoenix and few, if any, of them come from nuclear families and most, if not all, are minorities.  We have always had great teachers at Norte.  But I can understand why C is unhappy.  In addition to being unhappy with the behavior of the other kids, he has been unhappy with homework and the lack of recess time.  I absolutely understand that.  C is also a "the glass is half empty" kind of kid.  So, I wasn't sure he wouldn't find fault with another school.  In addition, as I said, we have always had great teachers at Norte and Norte is our neighborhood school.  I didn't want to give up on it.  It is also super close and H is so happy there, she didn't want to move.  So, I pray and hope for the best.  Both kids got great teachers. We were especially excited about H's because it's a MALE!

Update -  4 weeks later.  After about 2 weeks, C started complaining about school, not wanting to go etc. He hates "close" reading. Close reading is simply annotating.  He is again frustrated by his classmates' behavior.  He feels like he is not getting ALL his recess time.  And he is not.  I was at the school, so I timed it and they got 10 minutes when they are suppose to have 20.  But while I was there timing his recess, I saw the most disgusting behavior from the duty teacher.  For some reason, the duty teachers feel like the kids need to stand in a straight line, remaining perfectly still and quiet before they head in for lunch.  I think that is an unreal and unreasonable expectation.  So, this teacher was yelling at the kids.  A mean, ugly, hateful yell. I didn't want to complain or get in her face before I had more evidence.  So, I went back the next day. I started with 2nd grade to see if she treated the 2nd graders the same.  She did not.  And she was not there for 4th grade.  I think she knew  I'd be there since I was there for 2nd grade.  By the way, they got 12 minutes of recess.  The next day, I sent Chuck to observe.  He said they got 15 minutes and this teacher was very pleasant.  And interestingly the next day, C came home with a Cougar Paw from this teach. (A Cougar Paw is recognition of good behavior.)  Surprisingly, C has not complained too much about homework.  Of course, it really only take a couple minutes.  I am concerned about C's spelling.  Even when we practice and practice, he still has trouble spelling the words we practiced.  And although, we keep hearing about how rigorous Common Core is, I am thinking C is not being challenged in the classroom.  These are a couple things I plan to talk with his teacher about.

Our Summer 2014

This summer we spent time....

Backpacking

 With cousins

 Running

 Biking

 Reading

and Swimming 

As well as, playing with neighbors, hanging out with Lily and Emma, going to movies, staycationing at the Arizona Grand, taking a yoga class (Hannah and Mom), taking gymnastics (Hannah), taking Jujitsu (Hannah and Cameron).  And of course, fighting...a lot.

Summer Backpacking 2014

Ellie and Hannah

Xander and Lily

Cameron

Tim, Emmett and Preston Royalty

Christian (first timer)

Cameron and Darien

Ellie, Hannah, Annie, Darien, Emmett, Cameron, Christian, Regan, Xander
Chuck, Jonathan, Tim, Preston, Derek, Pyper Lily 

for the first time ever, I got Chuck to journal the summer trip!

Summer Trip 2014

It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.  We did an encore of our 2009 adventure due to its high adventure and sweet memories.  And the train.  Starting at Vallecito Reservoir, we hiked about 27 miles and a vertical mile up Vallecito Creek, Johnson Creek, over Columbine Pass, and down Needle Creek to the train.  Did I mention the train?

This year’s team included most of The Usuals: Tim with Preston and Emmett; Jonathan with Darien, Annie, and Ellie; Derek with Regan and Pyper; and Mud with Lily, Cameron, Hannah, and Christian.  And the dog, Xander.  Ellie and Christian were long-trip rookies, as was Xander.  Did I mention the dog?

Since I was driving extra-careful to make up for last year, we didn’t get pulled over by any angry police officers.  But the Swagger Wagon decided to spit out its last precious drop of engine oil—30 feet from a Jiffy Lube!  Turns out that oil filters prefer a gasket that makes a whole circle, not a half-moon.  Who knew?  Well, actually, I did.  But it was so hot in Tempe when we left that I sweat-smudged the “check oil filter gasket” line on my pre-trip check list.  Dang it.

Meanwhile, back at the cabin, Larry, Ann, Kami, and Camera were preparing to be excellent hosts.  They threw us a cabin rave, complete with hypothermic lake jumping and a living room, sleeping bag mosh pit.  They also shuttled our cars so we didn’t have to stay up until midnight after the trip was over.  That was very cool.

It turns out that Jonathan, Lily, Darien, and Cameron had PTSD’d all of their memories from our previous trip and convinced themselves that it was the easiest trip ever.  After our hardest day, I arrived at camp to hear Cameron say, “Dad, everyone is mad at you.”  It turns out that the same thing happened every day.  That was just the first time that I was actually aware.  And that was when they changed my name to Mud.

It turns out that Tim forgot how much he hated to fly.  He forgot his booster seats.  TSA stole his stove and empty fuel bottles.  His rental car had a flat tire.  It took Walmart 3 hours to put on a new one.  Somebody stole his credit card and spent the week on a spending spree.  He had to get the boys up at 4:30am to go to the airport.  And for the grand finale: TSA stole his new booster seat on the way home.

The most adventurous part of the trip was “The River Crossing.”  It looked about thigh deep.  It looked pretty lazy.  It looked cold as melted ice.  It looked like something you wanted to cross as few of times as possible to keep your legs from freezing off.  It looked like something that Lily and I could chain 3 boys together and lead across.  It didn’t look like there was a monster hole in the middle where most of the river water was rushing through at a million miles an hour.  It didn’t look like the boys would lose their footing and have to be plucked, one at a time from death-grips on the guide rope, soaking wet from head to toe.  It didn’t look like the dog would jump in to save us, only to be swept downstream, perhaps never to be seen again.  Did I mention the dog?  At any rate, we eventually managed to get the whole group safely across.  And the dog got swept back upstream in a side-eddy.  Christian was upset that a quarter-sized plop of water splashed him.  He called me Mud.

Columbine Lake was still frozen!  It was the coolest campsite ever!  It thunder-hailed on us while 50 mph wind gusts blew hail everywhere while we sat inside the tents with our backs to the walls to keep them from blowing flat!  After the storm, it got calm and beautiful, but it was still the coolest campsite ever.

Nobody really believed us that the half-molted, inbred, cross-eyed mountain goats in Chicago Basin would fight to the pain over who had the honor of eating the dirt that we peed in.  They would group around you and watch you.  I had performance anxiety.  It was hard to get it started.  They just stared.

Hannah said before the trip that she wouldn’t go if Xander went.  That seemed to be because every afternoon she would crawl into the tent with just her and Xander for cuddle time.  Hmmmmm…

The kids all did awesome.  We had some long hiking days—although no matter how long, within 4 microseconds of getting to camp, the kids would fully recharge and literally start running around the camp, playing without any store-bought toys until bed time.  We hiked around a lot of fallen trees.  We hiked through a lot of deep snow.  We ate unsafe quantities of candy.  We had a great group.  We took in unbelievable scenery.  We celebrated Regan’s 12^th birthday.  We grew closer together.  We changed my name.  We had a great day on the train.  Did I mention the train?  Did I mention that I was ready to reload and go back after about 30 seconds in Silverton?

It was the worst of times; it was the best of times.

"I'm sorry for screeming at the dintest."

It was time for both Cameron and me to go to the dentist.  So, I asked the girl down the street to watch H and little C for me while we went.  Well, H wasn't happy that I didn't ask our other babysitter, so I told her she could go to the dentist and sit in the room and wait for me.  But on the way to the dentist after we had a conversation about the babysitter, (I thought she liked her, it's convenient to ask her because she just lives down the street, she can't always have her way when she is in a family of 5 etc.) she changed her mind and said she wanted to go back.  But I would not let her.  She had made up her mind and I didn't have time to turn around.  However, if I knew the magnitude of the fit she was going to throw, I would have turned around.  She screamed all the way to the office.  She continued to scream once we were there.  I stood outside with her trying to calm her down until they came and said the needed me for full mouth x-rays.  She had to stand outside the room, so she continued to scream while I had 16 of the 18 x-rays taken.  And during that time, the lady who works at the front desk and is not a very nice lady, very rudely told Hannah she had to stop screaming. Hannah replied with a "stop talking to me then."  It went back and forth until the lady finally gave up.  H did stop screaming and was very quiet and patient the rest of the time.  I apologized for her behavior and on the way home, I told her I have never been so embarrassed in my life.  When we got home, she went straight to her room and only came out for dinner.  And I told her she needed to write an apology note to the office.  She also wrote one to me.  I had to take C back to have a cavity filled, so I took both the kids with me.  And the lady at the front desk had written H a little note saying thank you for the apology and she understood she was just having a bad day.  She also gave her some markers and a coloring book.  She really isn't a very nice lady, but I guess I learned that I should talk so bad about her.

A Happy Birthday...

to Hannah and Chuck!

Hard to believe my little princess is 7!  For Hannah's birthday we took her good friend, Kendra, with us to play at Pump-It-Up.  We had family dinner on Sunday and she requested tacos and nachos.  She asked for cookie dough ice cream and when I asked if she wanted a cake, she said, "Well, I'd like to go to the store to look because sometimes they have good cakes."  And she did pick a good one!  Hannah got a new sleeping bag for her birthday and a new leotard to wear to gymnastics and yoga.  Grannie Annie gave her some money and with it, she bought a book and a stuffed bunny rabbit.  Because you can never had too many stuffed animals.  From Grandma Kitty and Papa, she got twin porcelain dolls.  Each day, H becomes a little more sassy and a little more outgoing.  She loves to read and often starts the night with a big pile of books on her bed that she works her way through.  She also loves to write.  She writes "to do" lists, apology notes, tattle telling notes and so forth.  She is a good helper and especially enjoys helping in the kitchen.  At age 7, Hannah is 3 ft 9 inches and weighs 44 lbs.  We love our Princess Hannah!

It is even harder to believe that Chuck is 50!  Chuck didn't want a party for his bday and we weren't able to get away, so I asked his closest friends and their wives to join us for dinner at the Landmark.  It was a very nice evening.  I had no idea what to get him but Cameron wanted to get him an Arizona cycling jersey.  So, with that we also got him a Ohio cycling jersey and a new pair of cycling shorts.  Chuck is such an amazing husband and father.  And no one would guess that he is 50!

2013/14 School Year

Cameron had Ms. Lunn as his third grade teacher.  Cameron is and always has been an excellent student.  He excels in every subject.  However, going to school is not Cameron's favorite thing to do.  He says, "It's so boring."  He also complains that "the people are so slow at learning."  Cameron would start getting the Sunday Blues on Saturday and most mornings he would complain about having to go to school.  Although, he really liked Ms. Lunn, he had a hard time with some of his classmates and the duty teachers.  The duty teachers were "mean and rude."  And I can verify that.  Some of this classmates were less than obedient and too, rude making it hard to get work done and quickly move on from one thing to the next.  Cameron did enjoy science, social studies and P.E.  He played intramural ultimate and capture the flag.  He was also on the student congress and in the buddy club.  His favorite memory is the last day of school.  Cameron enjoys reading and being read to.  I have read several of the 39 Clues books to him.  His daddy has read the Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring with him.  On his own, he has read all of the I Survived Series, all the Bad Kitty books and many of the Calvin and Hobbes comics just to name a few.  We are really hoping for a fun and exciting year in Fourth Grade for Cameron!

Hannah had Mrs. Tolmie for 1st grade.  She is the same teacher that Cameron had.   Hannah is also an excellent student.  Hannah thought Mrs. Tolmie was "nice and did nice stuff for her students".  She was also a "good teacher".  She taught Hannah "good math skills, good science skill and good reading skills."  Hannah's favorite subjects were science and math.  Her favorite special P.E. Her favorite memory of 1st grade is field day and her field trip to see School House Rocks.  And she made many good friends in 1st grade. Hannah is reading really well and loving it.  She will often read in her bed well past when she should be asleep.  Together, we have been reading the Little House on the Prairie series.  We are so proud of Hannah's progress and so thankful she enjoys school.

Christian had Teacher Laura and Teacher Shelley for his first year of preschool.  All the kids have had Teacher Laura.  Christian loved school!  He liked his teachers because they helped him make things.  He favorite parts were playing outside, playing with his friends most specifically Davis and RJ.  He liked making things (they did a craft each day).  He didn't like sitting at the kitchen table to color because it took a long time.  That is were they worked on their letters and numbers.  If there were preschool in the summer, Christian would be the first one to sign up.  He keeps asking me when he gets to go back to school.  He'll be so happy to be going 3 days next year.

Last Day of School

Art thru the year

Hannah's art

Christian's art

Cameron's Art

My favorite writing assignments