Cops and Robbers Mishap

Wearing his favorite T-shirt that says "Wasn't Me"
Hmmmmmmm

Apparently make believe games of cops and robbers can turn out to be really dangerous.

Ryder was at the neighbor's riding his bike.  The rules of the game kept changing - you can't ride on the street - then - you can't ride on the grass.  Trying to escape the law Ryder found himself riding towards the grass.  In a last ditch attempt to avoid the grass and end up getting captured he turned sharply at the last second and the handle bar got stuck on his stomach and he came to a quick stop.  The handle bar went right into his stomach.  Yikes.

That kid uses more Bactine and bandages than anyone I know.

Oh, and I think he may have strep throat as well.  Sigh.

A Christmas Visitor

Funny thing happened to me yesterday.  I think if I post the email threads, it will tell the story best.

Here is the subject line:

Quick Question

"I cannot remember if anyone is taking Sunshine over Christmas. Ryder has begged me to let him but I wanted to check with you first. If you would like for him to watch our class pet over the Christmas break please let me know. Thanks so much!"

Mrs. Kimberly Burch
3rd Grade Teacher

And my foolish reply:

"Sure we can.  Is Sunshine a hamster?  I ask because I had a pet hamster 36 years ago, and I named it Sunshine :)

I will be at the party tomorrow. Can we just take him/her/it home then?  Do we need to purchase any supplies ahead of time?

Thanks for letting us have this "privilege" ;)

Just kidding. Thank you. Ryder will be in heaven!"

Heidi

And her answer back:

THANK YOU! He is actually a parakeet! Very sweet and bright yellow. I have everything you will need.

Mrs. Kimberly Burch
3rd Grade Teacher

And my reply after I had already committed - not knowing really what I was committing to:

LOL - a PARAKEET?!?!?!?!

Totally didn't see that one coming :)


I guess the blessing in disguise is that I am ever so lucky that Sunshine isn't a python or boa constrictor!  And the real blessing is Ryder is so happy to have a friend staying with us for the holidays.

Memorial Day Parade

This year our neighborhood hosted a Memorial Day Parade and pool party.  The night before we decorated Ryder's bike for the event during Family Home Evening.  Nicole was our chief designer.  I think they did a great job!

Here's Ryder at the parade start waiting for go time.

And more little kiddos joining in.

And they're off!!! Yes, we had a police escort - sirens and lights going and all!!!

And there they go - it was over waaaaaay to fast.  But it was fun and a great memory for the kids :)

Happy Memorial Day!!

Campout

Just wanted to publish this adorable picture of Harrison and Ryder from the campout they went on with their dad this past weekend.  The last 2 Stake Father & Sons Campout have been rained out.  Last year they all drove home in the middle of the night when a huge thunderstorm hit them.  I'm told that Ryder slept through it all.  This year though the weather was FANTASTIC!!!  Sunny, clear and 80 degrees.  The night didn't get too chilly either.  They had lots of fun playing football and participating in a service project to clear the campground of its overgrown brushy areas.

They cooked on the camp stove (campfires were prohibited due to high fire danger - if you haven't seen in the news lately there are huge fires burning thousands of acres near Fort Worth).  Dinner was Dinty More Beef Stew with S'mores for dessert.

All in all it was a great trip for them - if you don't mind the creepy crawlies that were there in abundance.

A mass of daddy long legs hanging out in the restrooms.

There were also milledpedes everywhere - this one was resting. 
I suppose it is quite tiring making 1000 legs move all day long!

Another Year Another Derby

My cute cub scouts with their Derby Cars

We had another fun year at the Pinewood Derby.  Lots of participants with lots of cool cars.  Here is the pre race lineup:

Harrison and Ryder built their cars themselves with just a teeny tiny bit of help from their dad.  I am so glad that this is a dad project and not a mom project :)  They used lots of high tech and dangerous equipment, but the only injury was Ryder's thumb on the belt sander.  Let's just say it's a good thing he had a long fingernail, or more than just the corner of his thumb would have been sanded off.

Every car raced in 8 computer generated heats.  Both Harrison Ryder had plenty of 1st and 2nd place finishes.

Harrison's car - far right

Ryder's car - middle

When the racing was over, the boys anxiously awaited the awards ceremony.

Ryder's car won the award for "Best Police Car Design."

And Harrison's car won the award for (drum roll please). . .

Fastest Looking Car :)  I just love that.

Great job guys!

Shoppin' With My Boyyyyyyzzzzz

Well, actually we were shopping with Nicole.  What that means is that there is A LOT of standing around and waiting for everyone who is with her as she tries on tons of clothes.  It's hard to keep younger brothers from whining and getting bored while standing around in The Limited.  Fortunately, they found a way to entertain themselves. . .

They're striking some serious poses here.

I'm sure all the top modeling agencies will be calling soon :)

Will You Be My Valentine?

Do you remember way back in elementary school when you used to make valentines for all of your classmates?  You know, and you delivered them into a giant heart shaped "envelope" that had been painstakingly made out of pink and red construction paper in art class the week before and taped to their desk.  And if there was that special someone (or two or three) that you really liked, you agonized over what special words you could write on their card to declare your feelings? Good times. Great memories. Really, the fun and excitement of the first flutterings of a young heart are hard to ever replicate.  Thank goodness we have children who give us the opportunity to live vicariously through them.

This week Ryder was filling out his valentine cards for the kids in his class.  Now, back in my day (a.k.a "the good ol' days"), our teachers let us fill in the name of the classmate that we were giving the card to. This was great, because for our normal friends and classmates we could just write:

To: (classmate's name here)
From:  Heidi

Simple.  Done.

But if we had a crush on someone (or they on us), you could write something really fabulous like:

To:  Shawn

I really like you.  I think you are nice and funny.

From: Heidi

Your heart would race and flutter at the thought of actually giving it to them, and you would wonder (and worry) about what they would think when they read it.

Oh, and when I pulled each valentine out of my heart envelope, I would read each one carefully to see if anyone liked ME. What was really mysterious was when someone wrote me a love message and didn't sign their name.  The excitement and mystery of trying to figure out who my secret admirer might be was thrilling.

Well, nowadays teachers are much more valentine card savvy.  They have the kids write just their name on the card and bring enough for everyone in the class.  Like this:

To:  (blank)

From: Ryder

This is smart, because it:  1. eliminates having to send home a list of class names, 2. ensures that everyone in the class gets a valentine (kind of a Valentines Day "no student left behind" policy), and 3. saves a ton of time passing the cards out.  Do you remember trying to read what you had written on each card, and then trying to find each desk to deliver it...

Unfortunately, it also eliminates the opportunity to declare your true feelings to that really cute girl or boy in your class that you secretly admire.

When Ryder asked me if he could write a "special note" to a little girl in his class, I told him I thought that would be fine.  He could just keep it separate from the others and make sure he delivered it to her.

I am sooooo glad I let him write that special note, because it reminded me of what I love about Valentines Day.  Here is what he wrote:

Carlee I kinda like you i'm so scared about sendin this.
I'm shivering

Seriously, is that cute or what? The simple, heartfelt declaration of admiration from one 2nd grader to another.  THAT is what a good valentine card looks like.

So, to all you teachers out there: 1. send home the class list, 2. bring some extra valentines just in case someone gets forgotten, and 3. set aside an extra 15 minutes for your classroom parties so there's ample time for the kids to sort and deliver their messages.  Let their little hearts flutter and shiver as true love blooms.

Oh, and "Will you be my valentine?" Because I think you're awesome!

I'm so scared about posting this. I'm shivering.

6 Day Weekend

Well the kids went to school exactly 1 day this week - 1 day out of 5!!!  Now I know what you're thinking, "Those Texans just don't know how to handle snow."  Unh uh.  We handle snow just fine.  It's sleet and ice that really slow us down.  Monday night ice started falling from the sky.  Trust me it was really loud on the windows. By Tuesday morning there was a nice thick layer of ice on everything, and no one wants to drive in that.

I didn't really take any pictures of the ice, because well, it was just roads with ice.  I do have a video of Ryder doing some skating on it though.



The temperatures stayed around 0 degrees (wind chill factored in here) so the ice wasn't able to melt.  So the kids got to stay home on Wednesday and Thursday as well.  We were able to enjoy lots of family time together - board games, puzzles, TV, Wii, baking and some crafts.  Harrison, Melanie, and Ryder put together these little wooden craft kits that I had picked up for $1 each the week before.  My thought at the time was that I'd just stash them away for a rainy day or next summer when the kids are bored.  As fortune would have it, we got to use them much earlier than that.

These little kits were awesome.  As I mentioned before only $1 each, and they included all the wood, paint, glue, paintbrush, sandpaper and rubberbands needed to complete the project!  I think the boys can get some scouting achievements signed off for this too :)

Then Thursday night and Friday we got SNOW.  Probably a good 4-6 inches.  And it stuck.  In fact it's still here.  Unheard of!

Here is a picture from early Friday morning.

And snow or not, poor little Blossom still had to go outside to, well, you know. . . She got icy in the process.

Blossom's mad because her paws are cold!

The fun part is that snow is waaaaaaay more fun than ice! You can go sledding.

Or eat the snow (only pure white fresh snow please).

Or if you're me, you can slip and fall.  I know, cool huh.

The neighbor kids had been begging me to sled the ditch with them.  We all know how that would've turned out.  I kindly declined, and so today I can still say I have never broken a bone!

It's also quite beautiful to see our lake almost completely frozen over.

So as we enter our 5th day of isolation in our home, we are grateful for this little window of time where we could just relax and spend time together.  We are also grateful for food storage, and that I had just purchased milk, eggs, and fresh produce on Monday night!

Thanks for a wonderful break Mother Nature!



UPDATE:  Of course all good things must come to an end. . .

Coolest Field Trip Ever!

This past week I went as a chaperone for Ryder's 2nd grade field trip to Elm Fork Education Center at the University of North Texas.  What a great day!  I have attended quite a few field trips over the years with my children, but this was one of the best ones.  They were so well organized and kept the kids actively involved and learning the whole time we were there.

When we first arrived, our group watched a show in the planetarium about seasons.  Next we went to a class and learned about archaeology and how to set up an archaeological dig site.  Once they had learned how, the kids got to go be archaeologists and unearth discoveries in a mock dig site. Here they are getting some last minute instructions:

And starting to dig.

Ryder recording where his partner discovered a fossil.

Ryder discovering an artifact.

Then each group put their map of their unit of the grid on the larger dig map.  The collection shows what was found in the entire dig site.

The kids also participated in an aquatics study where they were assigned either the waterfall, pond, stream or wetland.  They used instruments to measure flow rate and oxygen saturation, then analyzed their data to see if it supported their hypothesis.

It looked something like this, but I was helping the kids and didn't get a chance to take pictures!

At the end of the day they searched animal statues on the site and categorized them as predator, prey or both. Here are Ryder and a classmate discussing how they should draw and categorize some prairie dogs.

Wish I would have taken more pictures!  It was a great day :)