May started out with a baby shower for Naomi's primary teacher, Caitlyn Visker. We had a great time eating and showering Sister Visker with presents. Afterwards, we went as a family to see the new Avengers movie. Naomi said it was the best day ever.
May 4th, Nick got 100% on his social studies test. He studied so hard and it showed. Hopefully he will remember the feeling of the 100% and be motivated to keep it up. He said it was because he had The Force with him. (Get it - May the fourth -- be with you). He is such a silly kid.
May 5, both vehicles passed inspection and we got the taxes paid on them for another year. Later that day, while working on some primary stuff and trying to print out a study guide for Jeremy, our printer died. It ended up being a rather expensive day.
May 10th we took a break from working in the yard to spend some time with the Mullers and the Todds. We had a great dinner and played Apples to Apples and did some Karaoke. Naomi REALLY liked the karaoke part. She rocked the Carrie Underwood.
Mother's Day the primary kids sang in sacrament meeting and they sound amazing, as always. Back at home, Steve and the kids fixed dinner and showered me with gifts. I got the stuff I needed for my "Wall of Happiness". Picture to come soon.
May 12-14 I worked in the yard to get the bushes trimmed, flowers planted and the lawn done. It looked much better when I finally finished. Jeremy had to stay late each one of these nights to practice for the spring production. Nick (and Steve, as a chaperone) got to go on a field trip to the White Water Center. The group included Nick, Matt, Ryan and Kate. The other boys didn't want Kate in the group at first because they thought she would slow them down. Much to their surprise and Nick's and Kate's pleasure, Kate left them in the dust on the ropes course and held her own on the bikes. Kate is in Nick's theater class so he knows that she seems quiet and shy, but she is so much fun when you get to know her.
May 14th was the performance for the Knight of One Acts. After seeing one of the practices, I wasn't sure if they were going to pull it off, but they did in a fantastic way. The audience was entertained from the start to the finish. Jeremy had a blast being part of the group and he was in several of the one acts as well.
Ben and Jeremy in "The Ministry of Silly Walks".
Malik, Kenneth and Jeremy in "Confronting Moriarti."
The full cast in "Summer Nights" from Grease.
Curtain Call.
Saturday the 16th we drove to Pigeon Forge, TN, to spend the day at Dollywood with Bradden, Sunny and the kids. Once again, while we were waiting for the whole group, a gentleman approached us and said he had free tickets from his work that he couldn't use. Did we want them? I love getting into places for free. Once everyone arrived, we came up with a plan of action and then split up. I took the older kids to the big kid rides while Sunny, Bradden and Steve took the younger kids to the kiddie ride area. The lines were so insane that we only got to ride two rides before it was time to meet up again. The first was an old, wooden roller coaster that was really jerky, but a lot of fun. The second ride was the "scariest" ride in the park. We waited in line for two and a half hours to get on the ride. It was one of those rides where your feet were dangling and the ride was attached from the top of the seats. To help you imagine it better the top of each seat section looked like an eagle with the seats attached on the underside of the wings. The ride started with a steep and slow ascent after which we plummeted 150 feet almost straight downward and the proceeded through a series of upside down, loop-de-loop and spiral turns. It was scary and exhilarating at the same time. Just as we were pulling into the load/unload area we heard the announcement that the ride we had just taken was the last run of the day due to a severe storm in the area. I was excited for us, but sad for all the people in line behind us whom we had gotten to know rather well during our two and a half hour wait.
Waiting to ride the Eagles' Nest.
We met up with the other half of our crew and rode the rides in the kiddie area. Nick liked these a lot better than the Eagle's Nest. It was much more his speed. I rode the scrambler with Olivia and we giggled the whole time. Just then the clouds started to come in and we decided it was time to leave.
Just as we got to our cars the sky opened up and poured down. While we were driving to the Buffalo Wild Wings the wind picked up and it started to rain sideways. During dinner we watched as the rain pelted everything outside. It was quite a storm and we missed getting caught in it by minutes. After dinner we headed back home and slept very well after such an adventure-filled day.
Just as we got to our cars the sky opened up and poured down. While we were driving to the Buffalo Wild Wings the wind picked up and it started to rain sideways. During dinner we watched as the rain pelted everything outside. It was quite a storm and we missed getting caught in it by minutes. After dinner we headed back home and slept very well after such an adventure-filled day.
Monday, May 18th I was at the middle school helping with iPad collection all day long. It was good practice for the last two weeks of school where we would be collecting over 600 iPads in five days.
May 22nd I subbed again at the middle school and this is only noteworthy because the new section of 485 isn't quite open and yet NCDOT decided to do road work on all the little streets that led to home. What is normally a 20 minute drive took us 1 hour and 20 minutes on this particular day. I cannot wait for 485 to open!!!!
May 21st and 22nd Naomi FINALLY got to take the EOG (End of Grade) tests. Third grade is the first year the kids are tested and Naomi loves tests!!! She felt really good about them afterwards as well.
May 23rd the girls camp food committee (me, Sabrina Lewis and Amy Biang) got together and cut up 55 pounds of chicken so we could freeze it in my deep freeze until Girls camp. It took us about three hours, but we had a great time chatting. Meanwhile, the kids helped Steve cut down the willow tree in the back yard. Its roots were starting to seek out the neighbors plumbing - YIKES!!! Jeremy went to his buddy, Mark's, house for the afternoon while Nick, Naomi, Haylie and I headed to the pool for some relaxation and fun.
Hanging in the hammock after cutting up chicken and cutting down a tree.
On Memorial Day we spent some good time relaxing at the pool and even got the kids new mattresses at one of the killer Memorial Day sales. They really needed new mattresses. Jeremy was still sleeping on the same mattress from when he was three. All three said it was the best night sleep they have gotten in years. We also had some down time at home. I was fixing dinner and went upstairs to get a can of beans. As I approached the bonus room I heard what sounded like crowds of people running and screaming. Nick was playing Zoo Tycoon on the computer. I asked him what animal had gotten loose. He looked at me and very seriously said, "My sabertooth tigers are loose. The crowd is not very happy. I guess I should have hired a few more keepers. Live and learn." I got a good chuckle over that one.
May 26th and 27th, Nick's EOGs went well. I was filling in as one of the tech teachers during the iPad collection at the high school. It was a busy couple of days. One of the temporary workers kept staring at me because I looked like someone he knew and he was trying to remember their name. About three hours later he said, "I've got it. You look like Tina Fey."' I had to laugh because that is not the first time I have heard that one. I take it as a compliment. On the Friday, after the day was over I ended up at the Urgent Care getting medicine for a raging sinus infection.
May 30th the whole family helped me shop for the girls camp food all day long. In case I forgot to mention it, I was asked to coordinate all the food for the stake girls camp in June and I had been putting together menus, budgets and shopping lists for months. It was finally time to get it all purchased. By the time we were done I filled the entire front area at my house with the non-perishable foods and my freezer with a good portion of the perishables. The kids and Steve went to the pool to chill and recover from the intense day. I rested.
This is the spreadsheet of all the ingredients of all the meals to feed 135 girls three meals a day for five days. I am so grateful Steve and the kids helped. I would have been shopping for days without their help.
May 31st, Steve and the boys took THE bike ride Nick has been wanting to do for months now. The new section of 485 was done and it was calling to Nick to be ridden. He wanted to do it before it opened in a week. They were gone for about three hours and had a blast riding on the new freeway before the cars were allowed on it.
Sitting under the Sugar Creek/Browne Road bridege
Massive Wipeout (staged of course. No Cannon children were harmed in the taking of this picture.)
