Pioneer Girl

I have several posts sitting in the drafts folder but haven't had time to tackle the multitude of events that are happening in these last few weeks of May so I decided to post little snippets of our month before summer is here.  Reina's class was supposed to go on a field trip last week but it was canceled because of snow.  That's right - too much snow!  So they moved the Pioneer Days celebration to school and I volunteered to help with the trading post. 

My pioneer girl in full costume.  For comparison's sake, on this day in his fourth grade, Will agreed to wear jeans and a nike shirt.  

The students had a variety of pioneer themed activities besides the trading post.  They did a craft, ate biscuits and gravy, learned how to square dance, played pioneer games and learned how to rope.  It was a lot of fun watching all of the activities. At the trading post, the kids could use buttons they had earned in class to barter for old fashioned candy, pickles, cards and giant wooden flutes. I asked the teacher if she was mad at us parents.  She was happy to tell me that there were enough flutes for all of the kids in both classes.  

Reina brought me a thank-you note home on Friday.  

Dear Mom, Thank you so much for helping with are "feild trip."  You were the greatest bag hander ever! You should get a job were you just hand out bags! I hope your ready for when the flute comes home, I am planning on having a concert!  P.S. Prepare to be smashed in Slap Jack!  Sincerely, Reina  

The morning that Reina was getting ready, she decided that Coco needed to get dressed for Pioneer Days too.  As you can tell, she's really excited. I didn't realize it until I posted this picture, but our new cat to be named later is sitting outside.  She's not an outside cat but more on her later.  

6th grade program or The Last Time You'll Catch Will Singing in Public

I was worried that Will wasn't dressed up enough in his short sleeve polo and khaki pants but I didn't put a fight because frankly I've learned my lesson.  However, the minute I stepped into the gym, my worries were for naught because even from this small sample size, you can easily see the uniform of choice for 12 yr old boys.  

Last night was the 6th Grade Program and the official Beginning of the End of the school year.  Will's last elementary music program, suppressed sob sob.... I'd say it's the last time we have to argue about dress clothes but who am I kidding.  That's going to happen for at least another decade.  Will had warned us (well, me specifically) that the program might make us feel a little sad because they were singing a bunch of Disney songs.  I didn't need to hear "You've got a Friend in Me" to get teary-eyed about the fact that my little Bobo is headed off to junior high next year, but seeing him with his arms around these boys I've known since they were nervous little kindergartners.... well let's just say that a little bit of moisture seeped out of my eyeballs. 

Ladies and gentleman - that's Will singing and doing the hand signs.  DOING THE HAND SIGNS! The group was singing "Be Our Guest" from Beauty and the Beast and it was adorable.  

Will participating in the kick line for the grand finale of Be Our Guest!  A KICK LINE?!  

Singing "Hakuna Matata" and having scarf trouble.  

I love this picture because without any type of photo touch-up, Will has crazy vampire eyes and looks like he's about to cry/fly off into the night.  

"Under the Sea" with bubbles!  Bravo!  Encore!  

 I didn't get any good pictures of the grand finale because I just ended up watching my kiddo sing with his friends and soak in the moment.  We have about a month left of 6th grade-ness and then it's on to the summer.   I have a lot of happy memories of the last seven years and I can't wait to see what he does next. 

What happened to April?

One little blog post in April?  Lucy, what is your problem?  Well, in my defense it's been a hectic but fun month.  We've had lots of weekend activities and practices at night.  Aunt Vicky has been pushing through her last month of chemo and needed some extra help with the little cousins now and then.  Glenn's been super busy at work and I've had a few out of town trips to add to the fun. We packed a lot into April and I'll do my best to adequately recap it. 

The weekend before his actual birthday, we celebrated Glenn's 50th with a party.  It was a fun chance to bring friends together, celebrate the greatest guy I know and have a lot of fun.  We kept the menu simple and invited a lot of people.  We had kids of all ages and friends from all corners of our lives and it was a really special evening.  Glenn was touched by all of the attention and I think it was a great way to kick off his next decade. 

Little cousins super interested in the birthday pie... more on this to come.  

Singing happy birthday.  As part of the decorations - well really the only decorations, I hung up pictures of Glenn from his teens, twenties and thirties.  Many of our friends have only known him in the last decade so it was fun to see college aged Glenn ... he was into body-building.  Hubba hubba.

The whole family getting ready to sing and a photobomb from a cutie.  

 So we all sang happy birthday, Glenn blushed, leaned down to blow out the candles on his blueberry birthday pie and saw that somebody blonde and little had beaten him to it.  Toddler Cousin politely waited until "Happy Birthday" was finished and blew out the candles for Uncle Glenn.  I giggled for the rest of the weekend thinking about it. 

The little helper and big sister.  

 The next weekend was Easter and the weather mostly cooperated.  We got up early to help with the breakfast at church and came home for an Easter Egg hunt after lunch. 

Glenn barking egg hunt orders or something like that.  

Reina being engulfed by a pine tree.  

The kid who at first said he didn't need an egg hunt this year and then luckily changed his mind.  Tweens, am I right? 

Just casually eating candy, looking for eggs, looking cool.  

Someone in the family still takes her egg hunting very seriously.  

She didn't get to participate in the hunt but she was a very interested observer.  We've had crazy weather - 70 one day and 7 inches of snow the next.  Coco likes her time in the cat tent.  

Summer is right around the corner.