End Of The Year Blur

The end of the school year always comes with some crazy, busy days. May 24th was one such day. There were 3 kids that had something happening at 3 different times. Thankfully they were at different times and I was able to make it to each event.

We started our day at a picnic lunch with Ailey. Her kindergarten class had the opportunity to walk to a park near us and the families were welcome to join them at the given time. It was super important to Ailey that I showed up, so I packed her and Jace a lunch and we went and met up with her.

Ailey had the option to come home with me or go back to school to finish out her day. For some reason, she decided to go back to school. It worked out well though, because my next stop was the Jr. High to see Shaylyn get an award.

We didn't know what the award was going to be and I was thankful I found a seat next to some friends, who gladly held Zach so that I could get pictures of Shaylyn. They still ended up blurry and the award was for Honor Roll.

Shaylyn did want to come home after the award ceremony and because I was in need of a babysitter in order to attend Nate's activity, I let her.

I was only home for a few minutes before I had to leave, so I got the little boys situated and made sure Shaylyn was good to go, then I headed out.

Nate had a sort of read-a-thon thing, but where the parents could come and the kids could either read to the parent or the parent to the child. The teacher also provided some snacks. Nate was so excited to see me and we both read to each other. I kind of let Nate decide who read what.

While it was a busy day, it was very fulfilling as a mom. It was nice to have the chance to support 3 of my kids when they had something important happening in their lives.

What Happens Next...

R H I N O

Nate got to do an animal report and he was super excited about it. When I asked him which animal he chose, he responded with a Rhinoceros. I was a little surprised by his choice, but was glad to see him so excited about it. This was one homework assignment he wanted to get started on ASAP.

Most of the work they did for this project was done at school and that made me even more happy. The day FINALLY came to show off his work and he was super excited to see me. The teacher was surprised to see me, since I had had a baby only a couple weeks before. But there are things you know you don't want to miss.

Nate was working on another assignment when I showed up, for some reason, but he was all too happy to pause what he was doing and show off all of his work on Rhino's. Especially the book he wrote! 

What Happens Next...

Elementary Christmas Sing-In

So I totally don't get the title of Sing-In, but that's what our school calls it. They have each grade come and sing a song they've worked on and invite all the parents.

I'd normally have to be there for 3 kids, but Ailey ended up getting sick and getting pink eye the whole week before, so she wasn't able to go to school that day. Thankfully, she was on the tail end of it and had she not just started the eye drops for pink eye the day before - she could've gone. I was just happy to know she wouldn't miss her Christmas party.

Because I couldn't take Ailey out in public, I needed a babysitter and since pink eye is so contagious, I knew I couldn't ask a neighbor, so Shaylyn got a day off of school to watch Jace and Ailey while I went to the program.

My friend took me and I helped her out with her 2 year old while she tended to her newborn. Then we waited to see our kids. It was kind of fun and I'm glad that our school has one grade come in at a time and then leave.

So here's a look at the songs Lex and Nate sang. Nate was super excited about his song and it's pretty much all he talked about the whole of December.

What Happens Next...

All About Chad

One of the 'joys' of 6th grade is that they get to do a country report. They can choose any country and do a report on it. My kid chose CHAD! Why in the world he would choose Chad is seriously way beyond me. Had he consulted me first I would've recommended Brazil or England (either place his grandpa's served a mission). Sure things have probably changed since then, but we'd have more of a clue about the place than choosing somewhere as random as Chad.

Thankfully it wasn't much of an issue for me as they did a lot of the work during school time. IMAGINE THAT! So Lex did a pretty good job of gathering information on his country and did his report on his own without help. The only thing he wanted help with was the poster and I don't think he really even wanted my help, but I get a little OCD when they have to have something to present. Although, I'll be honest - I really didn't put as much effort into it as I have in the past. I was just too tired to worry about it.

We got everything down and good to go and he was super excited to go to school the next day to present it all. Parents were also invited to come view the projects. The problem for me is that the end time was 20 minutes before Ailey gets out of Kindergarten. I really didn't want go to the school, go home for 5 minutes and head back to the school. So I decided I'd go just before the end time so that I wasn't waiting for too long for Ailey.

When I got into Lex's classroom his first words to me were, "Took you long enough." 

At least he says what he thinks. I explained to him why I came so late and he was understanding and it made sense to him why I was late. 

I didn't really view many other projects, cause quite honestly I don't care about it - but, I made sure to get pictures of my kid.

{...The flag is upside down on the presentation board? Ummm, yeah - that was my fault...}

We then left and went outside of the school to wait for Kindergarten to be over. Thankfully it was a pretty nice day for November and Jace had tons of fun running around and I had a front row seat to an interesting situation.

The cafeteria outside door faces the front of the school where I was sitting and out of the corner of the eye, I saw the janitor on a walkie and then glanced over and saw a little girl standing by the building. The janitor was talking to the secretary and was asked to find out the girls name. The girl actually responded and then took off running. Two seconds later, the secretary comes out the front doors after her. The little girl paused for a moment and looked at the secretary, but then proceeded to cross the street. Once across the street she stopped again and glanced at the secretary. When she realized the street wasn't going to stop the secretary she took off again, the secretary had to jay-run to catch up with the girl. She got the girl and got her to come back to the school. Or so we all thought. Once back on school grounds, she tried to make a break for it to the parking lot. The secretary caught her before she got there and then the girls teacher came out. They took the girl back to the office to call her mom.

It was a surprising sight for me to see as the girl was probably only in 4th grade, but she was determined to leave school. It was interesting to realize that the secretary's job involves so much more than answering phones and paper work.

What Happens Next...

Fall Band Concert 2015

It was time for the Fall concert at the middle school and while I should probably encourage my children to support their siblings, I totally took advantage of the kids not involved in the concert.
Because Tanis is now in high school, he doesn't have concerts the same day as Shaylyn. This really was a good thing. We also had enough notice so that Eric didn't have to go into the game store. Therefore, we decided to make it a pseudo date.

We lucked out and our good friends had been watching the Percussion concert that started before the band concert and somehow they got front row seats and gave them to us as they were leaving. This gave this pregnant momma plenty of room to adjust the way she was sitting.

We got excited at first realizing we actually chose perfect seats for where Shaylyn was placed...

...Then the band director moved all the kids into a different position and Shaylyn ended up in the 2nd row, behind another girl AND the band director. We couldn't even see her with our naked eyes. So while I got a video of their songs, there is no seeing Shaylyn, unless you are super lucky!

The concert was a little long, but I tried to just enjoy the time I had to support Shaylyn and to have a 'quiet' night with Eric. That made it worth all the noise that you encounter in a band concert. The kids didn't do too shabby of a job either.

What Happens Next...

October's Oddness

Now we'll take a look at the random happenings from October. There are a lot. October was pretty much chock full of random...

{...DADDY'S SOCKS...}

Jacen is a Daddy's boy in so many ways, but one way I've never seen in any kid I know - is a love for socks. Even if they are Daddy's and 20 sizes too big!

{...JUST BECAUSE IT'S FALL...}

I love surprises, even if they are in the form of flowers, so this special delivery was super exciting to me. Eric knows me so well.

{...JACK'S JACK O' LATERNS...}

Eric and I were called to teach the 10-11 year olds in Primary awhile ago and one of the boys in our class is named Jack. He stopped by one night and had this plate of cookies for us. He (his mom) had perfect timing as I was craving something sweet and these sugar cookies hit the spot. I don't think I'll ever stop being amazed at how different sugar cookies can taste depending on the recipe. I may have eaten all 3 cookies (not in the same night) and didn't leave any for Eric - but I was doing him a favor as he doesn't much care for sweets anyway.

{...HUNGRY, HUNGRY HIPPOS...}

Nate got Hungry, Hungry Hippos last Christmas from my brother. We had it put up in a closet and he never asked to play it much. Recently though, it made it's way down and it's been being used quite often. I was super surprised to see every age group in my house playing this game together. After Nate and Ailey had been playing for quite some time, Jace jumped in. Lex, Shaylyn and Tanis thought it'd be fun to play with him. I just sat in amazement that something so simple could entertain a toddler and teenagers. I was thankful for such a game one time in my life.

{...SUNDAY AFTERNOON ANTICS...}

We spent a lot of Sunday afternoons visiting with Eric's mom. The kids spent a lot of time messing around. One such Sunday gave us some good laughs. Jace had went into the play room and came out with a bucket on his head and one in his hand. He kept them on for a good 5 minutes or so and laughed right ablong with us.

This same Sunday, Eric mom's best friend, Kathy was also visiting. Kathy was kind of like a 2nd mom to Eric and his brothers when they were growing up and has since become something of a 2nd Grandma to the kids. Nate and Ailey especially like having her around. Ailey was playing a game on the Kindle and somehow convinced Kathy to sit down and play with her.

{...STUDENT OF THE WEEK...}

Shaylyn's never been a 'bad' student, but about 5th or 6th grade she got in the bad habit of not turning in her homework. It didn't matter too much in elementary school, but when she hit middle school, it did affect her grades a little bit. She still managed A's and B's because she does well on tests, but those B's could've been A's had she put forth a little more effort. For some reason we've seen a shift this year and she is on top of her homework and turning it in. So much so that her History teacher nominated her as Student of the Week. I was thrilled to see the award, I think she was just more thrilled for the free milkshake.

{...THINK ABOUT WHAT?!?!?!...}

Ailey was being a bit naughty one night and we sent her to her room to 'think about what she did'. Apparently Jace followed her into her room and instead of taking the time to think about her actions, she took the time to play artist....on her brother. Thank goodness for washable markers.

And that's another glimpse of the randomness that is our life in the Hardy household. It's never boring in these four walls.

What Happens Next...

Back To School Blues

Back to school time always hits me with many emotions. On one hand I'm sad to send my kids back to school and on the other hand, there are times when they've had enough of each other that they need the break.

This year was no exception, especially as I had a kid starting high school and one of my 'babies' was headed to Kindergarten. It really was kind of hard on this mom. But I did my best to keep my emotions in check and made sure we got their first day pictures done. (Even if I had to get up at like 6 to get Tanis taken care of)

Backpacks for the older kids came a day late, but I wanted to make sure I got a picture of backpacks too.

Ailey had to wait a week to go to school, but she was okay with that. it meant she could use the TV without anyone getting in her way. She was just as excited to go to Kindergarten, though. Her face shows differently as her Dad got after her for something just before we left.

{...Blame Mommy Brain for leaving the price tag on...}

When she got to the Kindergarten area she went to her teacher to get her name necklace. Smart teacher to hand these out before school started.

Then Ailey found her 2 best friends (who also ended up in her class) and life was especially good.

I'm really sad these kids are all gone and Jace is the only one left at home. But he keeps the time Ailey is gone filled with fun and it's nice to get a few things done with just one little person needing me.

What Happens Next...