4th Grade, Jr High, High School.....oh my!

Somehow, a few months have gone by without an update from me.

Sorry about that.

In the meantime, we've been to the lake, to a bluegrass festival, to at least 4 volleyball tournaments and 2 horse shows. Not to mention school.

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This is a big year for new schools. Mae in 7th grade at SBJHS and Henry in 9th at SBHS.

Really!!!??? High School.

So far, everyone is doing really well. Homework is a drag (do they really need more school after being in school all day?) but friends, classes and sports are great.

1st Day of School...and an old school friend

First Day of School 2nd Grade, 5th Grade and 7th Grade! 

My friend Lynn Jelly, whom I went to 7th and 8th grade with, was in Denver for a work convention (she works for Harley Davidson).  Chance and I went down to Denver and had dinner and drinks with her.  It was so fun to catch up and hang out.

Congraduations!

 This was a big graduating year for us, 6th and 8th grade.

Does anyone remember a graduation ceremony in 8th grade? Not me.

But anyway, Henry had one this week and now he is a high schooler! 

He should be, he is taller than the Junior High principal. 

That is how they decide who moves on, right?!

 Mae is happy to get her 6th grade promotion certificate. 

(Her school technically goes through 8th grade, so it is okay that she is shorter than the principal and yet still leaving.)

I think someone (or 4 someones) in the crowd cheered really loud just then.

How embarrassing!

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Congratulations graduates!

Happy Summer Everyone!

Catching up

 I looked back through my photos and I found a bunch that I need to share.

Above is Lucy (and a boy in her class who couldn't keep his wig on) in her class play, The Brementown Musicians. It was a fabulous show, great music and funny lines.

Mae was in Treasure Island a few weeks later, but I forgot my camera. Argghhh.

She was amazing. Lots of lines delivered with an accent and good timing.

 It was an epic year for wisteria. 

 I took lots of pictures, both with and without people.

 It was also an epic year for cauliflower. 

This one weighed about 9lbs and took 3 meals to eat it.

Good thing we all like it.

 Yep, scootering in a wedding party dress.

She would have been wearing heels if she had them.

Mae has been super sporty, she played basketball and softball again this winter and spring.

This is the only picture I took of either sport. I kept thinking I'll bring my camera next time, and before I knew it, it was over. Aarrghh!

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We also had a visit from Grandpa Dave and Grandma Carol, a few volleyball tournaments, an anniversary (15!) and a birthday (44!) and I don't have pictures of any of that. 

All were thoroughly enjoyed, lots of dessert (not at vb).

Science Fair 2013

 Another Science Fair has come and gone. 

This is our 9th year of science projects, that is 19 projects so far!

Lucy wanted to play with different liquids, so we found a project that suited her interest.

 Liquids that are different densities (mass per unit volume) will stay separated from one another when put in the same container (think salad dressing). We tried to see how many we could stack.

 Trial run; corn syrup (colored green), water (colored red) and oil.

We could easily stack three.

 This was a bit trickier - five!

I think the order starting from the bottom (heaviest) was honey, corn syrup, milk, tequila, and oil.

 Once we got out the food color, nothing could stop the rainbow. 

This is not related to the project, just colorful and fun.

 Mae's project was really cool.

She made vanilla pudding, divided it into three bowls, colored one pink, one brown and left the third natural. She was trying to see if color affected taste. 

She used another class at school as her test subjects.

The question was "What color is your favorite?"

 She recorded the results and peoples remarks. 

It was pretty interesting. 

Half the class chose brown as their favorite.

Maybe this class liked chocolate more than vanilla even though all the puddings were vanilla.

She decided that color does indeed affect taste.

One taster even said, "The vanilla is good, but the strawberry was disgusting."

Henry's project was about the insulative properties of different substances.

He heated water to a certain temperature, put it in a cup within a container. The space around the cup (inside the container) was filled with either air, sand, leaves, home insulation or wool. 

He waited 5 minutes and retook the temperature seeing which one stayed hot the longest.

Wool won! 

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The knitter -and the believer in sustainable natural resources- in me was thrilled.

Happy Earth Day!

Back to school

 Everyone was pretty excited about the first day of school. So happy that no one protested the requisite first day photos! Lucy has the same teacher as last year. She is in 3rd grade.

 New teacher for Mae, so far so good. 6th grader, last year at OAS.

 Henry, all new teachers (good ones!) 8th grade, last year at SBJHS.

New bike. I'll have to write about it separately (or he will) because it is worthy of its own post.

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I'm at the same two schools, but I'll be working with a few new teachers. 

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As great as all our schools are, the pace is a bit too hurried for my taste. I miss summer already. 

However, due to budget cuts, our school year is 5 days shorter this year. That means next summer is closer than ever! Phew.

First Day of School

We are just wrapping up our first full week of school.  Everything is going great.  I don't have a picture of Izzy before she headed off to middle school for the first time but she did great.  

Last Day of School!!!

This was a most wonderful school year. Everyone had great friends, good teachers, and did excellent work (John included- he took 6 classes this year). 

Above is Henry's last 7th grade math assignment. I love the colors and design. I especially love that he didn't blow off his last homework, but instead stayed up late after baseball practice to finish it well and with style. I'm a very proud mama.

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Congrats to a new 3rd grader, 6th grader and 8th grader!

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I'm sleeping in tomorrow.....and then going to the beach!

Homemade

This is one of the many cool projects we did in the garden this year at school. Above are hand salves and lip balm. Lucy's class picked plantain leaves and calendula flowers. Both have medicinal properties and both are plentiful weeds in the garden. We steeped them in olive oil for 6 weeks. The olive oil was strained and melted together with beeswax and coconut oil. The result is a very soothing salve for any body part that needs a little more than lotion. It can be used on bites or stings, too.  Each child took home 3 of those little tins as Mother's Day gifts. The lip balm I made at home. Similar ingredients but I added some color from an old lipstick and some honey and vanilla. Yummy!

Camping trip

 Every year, starting in 2nd grade, our school goes on class camping trips. This year was Lucy's first year attending with her own class (she's been on a few sibling trips).  I went along for the entire trip. It was bliss.

 We stayed at Sage Hill campground along the Santa Ynez River, a great group spot with big trees and a nice cool river for swimming and boating. The tradition in this class is to make boats during the first 2 days of the trip and then have a regatta on the final day. Lucy's boat was pretty colorful. 

 One of the activities we all did was Andy Goldsworthy inspired art.  We also hiked, painted rocks, made friendship bracelets and cooked. 

Lucy shared our big tent with a classmate and I had our little tent all to myself. Usually, after camping I feel like I need a vacation. This trip left me energized. It was a vacation.

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Mae's class went to Montana de Oro State park, which is 1.5 hours north of here on the coast. They kayaked, hiked, mountain biked and went sand dune surfing. Sadly, I don't have any pictures of her trip because I didn't go.

5th Grade Graduation!

Sweet little Isabel graduated from 5th grade last Thursday.  It is such a fun day at our school.  The parents provide breakfast for the students and everyone eats together in their classroom.  Then the ceremony itself which consists of a speech from the principal, the 5th grade teachers and having your name announced and walking across the stage to shake your teachers hand and then a slide show.  After that there is time to take pictures with your family then off to a picnic on the fields.  After lunch they get changed and walk over to the town outdoor pool where they get to swim and hang out for 2 hours.  When they get back from that...the run a lap around the school.  All the other students in all the grades come outside and line up to give the 5th graders high fives as they run by.  Then one last time alone with the teachers in the classrooms (no parents allowed)!  It was a fun day.  Isabel got invited over to a friends house after school that had the Sweet Cow Moo Mobile there.  It doesn't get much better than that!  

Happy graduation Isabel, we are so proud of you...on to middle school.

School Garden in spring

 This has been a fabulous year for my gardens. Both school gardens are thriving. The weather through most of the winter was warm and sunny with brief periods of soaking rain. Perfect. Above are the artichokes. This is the first time I've grown them, so I'm super excited! We've harvested and eaten about 10 so far. 

 These are my 'weeds'. No joke. If I didn't plant anything, this is what I'd get. This year I left a lot of California Poppies in the garden, meaning I didn't pull them out as baby weeds. They make me look good.

Luckily, some of the vegetables managed to persist through the spring flowers. We've picked kale, peas, green onions, lots of lettuce and broccoli, all for eating with the kids.

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I love my job!

Field Trip!

 I was lucky enough to join Henry for a field trip last week. I go on field trips all the time at our elementary school, but there aren't many options when you've got a 7th grader.  They don't go on as many and parents aren't really invited. It was awesome to be with Junior High schoolers. 

 The field trip was to a creek and then to the beach where the creek meets the coast. Right up my rusty marine biology ally. Turns out, I still know enough to get by. 

My bike riding skills were kind of rusty, too. But I was with a pro. 

A very speedy pro.

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The stars were aligned as John had this day off. He, not only drove the girls to school, but also served as the family photographer. 

Mae's class play

Mae's 5th/6th grade class put on a play called The Myth of Perseus. You can't really tell from this photo (Mae is on the left), but it was about Greek Mythology. She was a townsperson with a hip-hop slant. It was a fabulous production; well acted, good songs and funny. I wish I had better pictures, but I don't. 

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Only 4 more weeks of school! C'mon summer.

me - Jane

It was Biography Day in Lucy's class a few weeks ago and she chose to research and report on Jane Goodall. Part of the day was dressing up as your person and telling the class about them. We all learned a lot about Jane and how important her work is, not just with chimps, but with young people and the environment world-wide. 

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Way to go Lucy and Jane!

Let's Go On With The Show!

Last week was the 2nd/3rd grade performance of Mr. Popper's Penguins. Lucy played the part of an announcer ( this part was not in the 2011 movie). The rehearsals were chaotic and hilarious, however, the final production was Top of the Heap, King of the Hill (they sang New York, New York!).

The stage is a comfortable place for Lucy, she was not shy about singing, dancing or acting. In fact, she loved it all.

Other songs included There's No Business Like Show Business, Chicago Chicago, and I've Got Rhythm. A pretty terrific score if I do say so myself.