First Day of School.....Sort Of

Why yes, school has started here. Over a week ago, as a matter of fact. But I could not get my act together to take pictures that day, or the day after that, or the day after that, or......

It's just so early. You understand.

But like I always say, better late than never!

T is a junior this year and driving himself to school. Hooray! And he's the Captain in Training of the robotics team. Next year, he'll be in charge and get to really exercise his leadership skills!

C is a 7th grader at his new middle school (did I mention that we moved across town so he could attend a different middle school?) and loving it so far! His new school is a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) so it is right up his alley!

In other news, the Fort Collins Mormon Temple opened last weekend for public tours and we have been busy taking many, many friends to see it during the open house. It is amazing and beautiful and I will share more pictures later, so stay tuned!

I only wish Ethan were here to see it! He seems to be doing really well, and shared this helpful information in his email on Monday:

People in this area think putting dryer sheets in your collar works like bug spray, but better. I forgot to put bug spray on a few nights ago and was given a dryer sheet by a member; I can now personally testify that this belief will be the cause of a Zika outbreak in the southern United States.

So, if you see something on Pinterest about using dryer sheets in place of bug spray, DO NOT repin that thing! You're welcome. 

First Days of School

Three kids, three first days of school. That's how it worked out this year. T started his sophomore year of high school last Thursday. So far, so good.

C started middle school (6th grade) on Friday. They get a transition day where they have the school all to themselves before they start going with the 7th and 8th graders. It all went surprisingly well! He was a bit more nervous this morning about his "real" first day of school, but I'm sure he'll do great.

Just don't ask me about the hassle of getting him into the advanced math class where he belonged. Apparently, unless you object, one low test score can negate years of very high test scores and land your kid (who has been identified as gifted and talented) in the exact same math class he took last year. Even when the body of evidence overwhelmingly indicates that repeating last year's math class would be completely unnecessary, and bore the child to death.

Finally, we sent E off to college today at Colorado State University! I think he's pretty excited. He informed me this would be his last first day of school photo EVER! Fair enough. But honestly, I think he should be thankful I didn't follow him to campus to take the picture there.

Perhaps someday our children will all start school on the same day. But maybe it's a blessing to have the trauma spread out like it was.

Or maybe I'm the only one who was traumatized?

Resident Artist

Way, WAY back in March, one of T's art pieces was chosen for the school district art show. But they hung his art so high up on the wall, I couldn't really photograph it. And I definitely couldn't take a picture of T standing beside his art.

So we had to wait until school ended and his art was returned to him before we shared. I felt it was important for you to believe that I'm not the kind of mom who would wait almost 3 months before documenting this achievement. But let's be honest. With graduation after graduation, it might have taken me this long anyway.

T's teacher told him he doesn't usually choose Freshman work for the show, but seriously, how could he not be impressed that T cut all of this out with an X-acto knife?

We figured, as long as we're taking pictures, we might has well show of a few of his other favorites from this year's class. Think of it as your own personal art show. Better late than never!

The End of an Era

We just can't seem to get enough of graduation around here. As of yesterday, we are officially done with elementary school at our house!

Thirteen years, 3 boys, 2 principals, and countless amazing teachers later, C graduated from 5th grade.

There are even a few teachers who have been around to teach all three of them.

I'm not sure if C will be able to put elementary school diploma on his first job application, but he did get awards for music and science, so that might be resume worthy.

He was a little melancholy about the idea of moving on, but I assured him that he'll make new friends in middle school, and that he also gets to keep his old friends.

He seemed relieved about that, like he hadn't realized keeping the old friends was an option.

Now a summer of fun awaits. And by fun I mean sleeping in and doing nothing.

Sounds to me like the perfect way to prepare for sending my last child to middle school in a few months!

Time Flies

I'm sitting here, staring at my computer screen, and no matter how long I sit or how long I stare, I just don't know what to say about this.....

Although I do have a much better idea what people mean when they use the phrase a roller coaster of emotions. I'm so excited for the next chapter in E's life, but a little bit nervous. I'm so happy he's done with high school, but kind of sad that he's all grown up.

I've been thinking about these wise words all weekend: Don't let yourself become so concerned with raising a good kid that you forget you already have one. 

Yep. I've pretty much had one since the day he was born.

And seriously, the grown-up thing is official. We called the doctor's office the other day to get his immunization records and they said we can't have them because he's 18 now. 

It doesn't seem like quite enough to say "I'm so proud!" Because I'm more than proud. But I don't know what the word for that is. So I looked up proud in an online thesaurus and found the term great-hearted. I think that's as close as I'm going to get to describing how I feel.

E received his diploma from his Robotics coach, Mr. Charters. Isn't it great that they get to choose a teacher to give them their diploma? They also got to sit with that teacher throughout the ceremony.

Because we love graduations so much around here, we had 2 in one weekend. High school graduation Saturday and seminary graduation on Sunday.

E and this awesome group of kids have been getting up VERY early every school day for the last 4 years to attend an early morning scripture study class at 6 am before school. Over those 4 years they have studied the Old and New Testaments, the Book of Mormon, and church history. If that kind of early rising doesn't build character, I don't know what will!

Not to brag or anything, but he's standing up during this part of the ceremony because he got a scholarship.

I'm pretty sure I've mentioned more than once what a great kid adult E is. Maybe it's just because I'm his mom, but I feel like you can tell what an amazing person he is just by looking at him. So I'll leave you with a few more (a slight understatement) photos of his graduation.

Science Fair, Science Fair.....Seek New Knowledge If You Dare!

C recently took part in the 5th grade science fair. And believe me, you're going to want to hear about the results!

That's right, he baked chocolate chip cookies on a variety of surfaces, so now you'll know how to get the best results when you bake cookies at home. Here's what he learned. Do not, I repeat, DO NOT use non-stick cooking spray. Those were the worst cookies of the bunch. They went kind of flat and got a little too crispy around the edges.

Surprisingly, stoneware did not perform so well either. The cookies didn't brown well and were way too soft and crumbly. The cookies baked on a steel pan, and on a steel pan with parchment paper, both came out pretty good.

But the clear winner was the silicone mat. And to think, I put off buying them for years, wondering whether they'd be worth it. Just FYI, I got a set of two on Amazon (a non-famous brand) for about $15.

Of course, the best part of this science experiment (besides the cute scientist) was that we got to eat all those chocolate chip cookies!

Do You Like Robots?

Another Robotics Season has come and gone, and as always, it was a lot of good, geeky fun.

Although T has been to his fair share of Robotics events, it was his first tournament as an official member of the team.

And it was E's last tournament as an official member of the team. Although I'm pretty sure since he'll be attending college locally, he'll be back next year as a mentor.

My fellow team mom Jessica is a real robot babe, don't you think? You'd never know she'd been in the ER two days prior. And me? Well, I had a little outpatient surgery on Monday, but managed to make it down to the tournament by Thursday to fulfill my team mom duties. Well, sort of.....

I couldn't do any heavy lifting, and neither could she. And we both showed up with heating pads and prescription narcotics. But we looked cute, and that's what really matters! It's also the reason I took all my photos with the iPhone. Because I just wasn't up to lugging my heavy camera bag around all weekend. But as long as you capture the memories, that's what really matters.

For example, a Robotics tournament is a perfect opportunity to wear your Stormtrooper helmet and/or your orange Afro wig. Everyone has a Stormtrooper helmet and an orange Afro wig, right?

C accessorized his cape with all of the robot paraphernalia he picked up from the different teams at the tournament.

And the Stormtrooper helmet definitely made the rounds. We even got the MC to wear it during one match!

Our team didn't do so well, despite feverishly working on our bot between matches.

But it's always a great time! The MC was incredibly entertaining and always goes above and beyond to make the tournament fun for everyone. Can anyone guess what song was playing during this photo?

You know it's a party when you do the YMCA. And thank goodness it's fun (or maybe that was the narcotics?), because I have a feeling I've got quite a few more FIRST Robotics tournaments in my future.