Leisl's Butt Drivers

Leisl has loved pre-school this year, and as much as school she has loved riding the "butt".  She has a hard time with "S's" so it's called her "butt" and it's so funny the rest of us have adopted the term.  Her drivers and helpers were so very good to her all year.  I didn't get a picture with her morning driver but this is her afternoon driver.  She made it a habit to give him hugs and kisses when she got off the bus and always had a teasing remark for "Miss Holly".  Little things people, it's the little things that matter - especially to little people.

5th Grade Service

Kabe finished the year with another awesome teacher - I'm not sure how we lucked out but Mrs. Sweeney was wonderful to him and he thankfully kept his spark.  He's also become quite the leader.  Here he is with his class doing a service project.  They cleared the trail behind their school and carried a whole load of wood and loaded it into the truck.  They were good hard workers and I was impressed at how quickly they got it done (without any whining and not too many shenanigans). 

Finishing Strong!

This was a pretty big year for the big girl.  She started the year in homeschool which she quickly succeeded at and became exceedingly bored.  She then transitioned to her new school with grace uncommon for a 12 year old.  

She was nominated to the National Junior Honor Society for next year.

She actually competed in a school and then district speech competition (in front of actual PEOPLE!)

She was honored as a "high honor roll" recipient for her excellent grades.

She performed with her advanced orchestra group and the Honor Orchestra for the district.  Both concerts were excellent.  

What an impressive young lady we have!  And - she's even fun to be around.  An older man at church asked me, "is she really as nice and good as she seems?"  and I had to answer, "absolutely".  She is the real deal - how did we get so blessed?

Chess Club

Kabe joined the chess club this year and did well enough he got to compete at the district level. 

I was so impressed at how well he did - he won 4 out of 7 rounds and took a draw one round.  Good job smarty pants.

Tinkerbug

Ayvri had her final program for the year and did a cute little musical about a picnic.  "Picnic, come on let's have a picnic".  There, now it's stuck in your head.  

She was a beautiful little butterfly and knew every word to every song.

The best part was that she flashed me this toothy smile every time she looked in my direction.  Ah the smile.  Daddy should have been an orthodontist!

Science Olympiad

Kabe and Ayvri decided to participate in the Science Olympiad this year.

They practiced every Thursday after school and did all kinds of fun science projects and activities

Finally the big competition day arrived and they were excited and very serious.

Here is their school's team. 

 Here's Kabe doing his section of the pentathalon activity - he was the egg carrier and hula hooper.

Ayvri wasn't the only girl on the team - these three represented well.

Kabe in his forensics challenge.

Ayvri building her tin foil boat and seeing how many pennies could be floated on it.  They had to make a prediction first and it was so fun to watch.  

Dr. Seuss Week

Dr. Seuss week at school was so fun!  One of the days was "twin" day in honor of Thing 1 and Thing 2.  We decided we could easily accomplish this one - presenting Things 1-4.  They were so stinking cute.  Look how pale my babies are right now?  Soon there will be sun and we'll get them browned up.  We also had fun with "Who Hair" day and "sneetches" day where they got to wear Stars upon Thars.  I love Dr. Seuss books and impressed them all with my mad reading skills.  

Gross Science

It's that time of year - you know, the time that I LOVE where we get to do science experiments (and then the time I hate where we get to create elaborate boards to represent the science done).  Well, here goes Kabe's science project:  Growing germs!

First he prepared his petri dishes.  He was a little skeptical of this part, but mama knows jello!

Then we swabbed all the places in the house that he wanted to see.  There were a few funny ones like Brigham's foot and Noah's hand and Max's mouth.  Then there were some less funny ones like the toilet, the window sill, the tv remote, my phone and my mouse.

 And then we wait - and wait and wait.

The verdict?  Well this aloe vera plant that I'm killing grew some pretty colored things. 

My mouse grew some interesting life forms as well (gag!)

Thankfully, brothers foot didn't grow much at all.  Learning is FUN!

First Concert

Ksenya had her first orchestra concert and it was great!  I didn't know but she volunteered for an improv solo as part of one of their pieces.  She did a great job - way to be brave girly!

She was a little embarrassed to pose for a picture afterward but that never stopped this proud Mama Bear.  Don't I have the cutest kids ever?  And talented too! (Daddy left a little earlier with the little ones because Noah was not being quiet).  

Final Festival

I love the veterans day program at GPA - what a great tradition!

The kids sang some beautiful songs, had their breakfast with Grandpa Horse and got to show off some of their work.

Here are my handsome boys in the red white and blues.

Kabe did some awesome research on the air force and some of the planes.

We love our school and especially our awesome teachers.  We'll surely miss them.

I think Ayvri got the camera and took a few candids of our favorite Mrs. Waldman.  I imagine my boys have gotten this look a lot :)

Back to School

Every year.  It happens every. single. year.  It's so not my favorite but all good summers must come to an end.  This year we really prayed about what would be the best educational option for every kid and the answer terrified me.  

Kabe headed back to GPA school to be in Mrs. Waldman's class.  He was the first to start and started all by himself for the first time in his life.  

Darla started next, also at GPA for the Montessori Kindergarten program.  She rode the bus with Kabe and went all-day.  She LOVES it and is doing so well.  She was ready ready ready.

Brigham started at East Elementary as part of the dual immersion program there.  He learned how to say, "Yo Soy Batman" for his teacher on the first day of school.  He was a little scared to go by himself and it was killer hard on Mama, but with his love for language we felt like this was right (after our next big decision he moved back to GPA school for a few months to be in his comfort zone)

Leisl got into the Speech program at South Elementary Preschool and enjoyed every single minute of it.  Only 2 times a week it was a fun diversion for her (bus ride and all) and a nice little break for the Mama and Noah.

Ksenya and Ayvri decided to school at home this year through a program called MyTech High.  They were super self-motivated and did a great job on all their studes.  They are such smart girls and enjoyed all the extra free time it gave them to pursue other hobbies and interests.  

I love watching him walk her to the bus.  

Kindergarten is over!

Look who's finishing up Kindergarten?  Such a smart boy - he's learned so much this year and really has loved his year with Mrs. Lovell.  He's getting so big and looked so handsome for his open house where he had to show us around and perform.  Love this guy!

Going Gourmet

Daddy and I decided it might be best for Ksenya to finish out the school year in home school and she agreed.  One of her classes as part of her home school was "homemaking".  Call me old fashioned but I think it's super important for girls to learn skills like this.  She got to search pinterest for the recipes she wanted, work them into the budget she was given, help me shop for the ingredients and then prepare and serve this beautiful meal.  I also required that it be fairly healthy and balanced so she had to do a little research on nutrition as well. I was super impressed.  She chose a few things that I'd never made and incorporated a lot of food storage.  What an incredible thing for a 12 year old to do!  The kids were in heaven with all the party food.  Good job girly!

Smart School Days

Allow me to gush: I LOVE MRS. WALDMAN!  So do my kids.  She has been such a phenomenal teacher for all of them that have been lucky enough.  She "gets" them and me and is so supportive of our beliefs and my parenting style.  If I had a fortune I'd find a way to persuade her to become our Petersen Private School.  

Gush over.

Here we have Ayvri on volcano day - so much fun! 

Here she is all dressed up and painted for her "Geisha" report.  What a little smarty.

Here they are at the end of year festival.