66th Annual Elks Rodeo

~Proud to be an American~

Flag Girls Preparing to make their entrance.

Check out those clouds! The rain threatened, but never came. Actually, they help keep the temps mild compared to past years. (it is usually freezing and windy!)

Shianne and Cali, all dolled up! Although you can't see it, Cali is sporting a glitter butt.

They announced Shianne's name as "Shawnee"...LOL it is pronounce like Cheyenne... Ding Dongs!
And yet they got her last name right, which is really shocking, because we've heard every possible (and highly unlikely) pronunciations.

Rodeo Practice

I am really not in the mood to blog.. but I have some pics and video from yesterday's Flag practice..... (I may do an update later tonight.. if time allows~ after the dishes, rabbit cages, and living room are done)

The Project

Last week Noah came home with this note.... I will type an excerpt of this note, exactly how I see it on the paper...

The projects are due no earlier than Wednesday, June 3rd, and no later than Thursday, June 4th. ....This gives each student almost 6 weeks 1 week to complete his/her project.

So, basically these kids have 1 week to complete a project that they are normally given 6 weeks to do. AND it is a major portion of their overall grade! This is my 3rd child to go through the 4th grade, and we were anticipating this project coming up. I had new ideas rolling around in my head. And since this mission project is the same time every year, we 'collect' a lot of our supplies when we go to Nojoqui Falls for this event. But, when no notice was sent home, I just assumed, for some reason, Noah's class wasn't doing the 4th grade mission project. I guess that is what I get for assuming!
What makes matters worse, is I am SO frustrated with the school, and especially Noah's teacher. (you can read more about that here) Noah is supposed to have an IEP (Individualized Education Program) in place. And in it, it says he is to have a helper for writing things down, and just general help with classwork. MANY times over the last couple of months Noah has come home with his spelling words written in his homework planner, in his own handwriting, and spelled the way he thinks it sounds. This was ok, when in the same planner the helper stapled a list of the words, correctly spelled, and in legible print. But, I guess this is too much to ask! So, at home when Noah is to complete is daily spelling assignment, we then have to decipher the words. Many times getting it wrong.
So in protest of this ludicrous request to finish a 6 week long project with a learning disabled child, in 1 week, it became a family project! And since I had to work half of those days, and we had prior responsibilities, we pretty much only had 1 day to do it.

Shopping for supplies

Heading out in the hills for pieces to make fences and bushes

KC came along for the hike

Getting started

Building the teepees

10:30~ Noah is out... I hope his teacher has a horrible summer

Kaitlynn, even at this late hour, felt inspired to build a log cabin while the Indian village was drying, silly kid. GO TO BED

The finished product! So not as I envisioned it... it could have been so much better, with the proper amount of time to do it.

This and That.....

I really have nothing to post about today. So I will just drone on about nothing.... Ok ok.. I can give you a few updates, and maybe, just maybe I can bless you with a few pictures I took while doing my daily chores.

The Elks Rodeo is fast approaching, and if you have been reading my blog for any time now (or if you are a close friend and/or family member) you will know that Shianne made the flag sponsor team. So, for those of you not in the 'know', the Elks Rodeo is a pretty big event in our area. And the girls that open and close the performances are the "Flag Girls". They carry, while riding a horse (sometimes at a full all-balls-out run high rate of speed), a flag for one of the many sponsors of the rodeo. She has her final practice on Wednesday afternoon, and then her first performance is Thursday morning, for the kids rodeo event. After that she has events Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Saturday is also the parade, so we should have LOTS to post about, and with any luck, a ton of pics to show off!

School is almost over... can I get a WOOT WOOT?! We have 6 1/2 days left, and we are counting down the moments. This has been a very difficult year for Noah where school is concerned. (which in turn means, a very stressful year for Mom) Not sure if it is the teacher, or if there are other issues. I am not very happy with the way the school has been handling Noah's learning disabilities, and supposed IEP. (the latest event to occur will be in my next post, so stay tuned)

On to the fun stuff!

Hey lady, what's that you're holding? Is it food?
(almost, got my camera pecked!)

Kaitlynn's favorite after school activity. No, there is not a huge trampoline in the backyard, nor a brand new pool. (in her defense, we are smack dab in the middle of a looong stretch of June gloom, aka daily, major marine layer)

Ms. Suri and baby waiting for din din... don't ya want a bunny? We have tons of white ones!

Sorry, told ya' I didn't really have anything to post....

"Not me!" Monday....

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

When the power went out at my house, and I realized my cell phone was pretty near dead, I did not attempt to charge it by plugging it into the wall. Nor did I sit pondering why it wasn't charging, and no I did NOT jiggle the cord.... at both ends, to see if it wasn't connected properly. Nope, NOT ME!....

I surely did not call my friend on the fact that she was waaaaaaay behind in her blogging duties, who would do that? Not me!

What kind of reasonable, responsible, level headed mother would let her (and someone else's) children go swimming in an unheated pool at mid-night? Not me! ...ok see this post, I fess up

This is an oldie but a goodie (if it did happen, it was last summer)~ I would never be so tired from a loooong day at the fair, to decide to feed my youngest child McDonald's for dinner, then proceed through the drive-thru, pay for the food, and mostly certainly I would never drive off without the food!! NO!... And if this did happen, I would not make my oldest child go in to retrieve the food, because I would never be that chicken! Nope, Not me!

Why Not?

Sometimes as a parent, you just have to say, "why not?"






So naturaly, at 11:30 pm on Friday night, when our pool was 90% filled, that is exactly what I said to the question, "mom, can we swim in it, now?"














Never mind the fact that it was 54 degrees outside.















Never mind the fact that the dew was falling so densely that it looked like rain.















And never mind the fact that 15 minutes later they would all be running back in the house to get warm.....














They had fun!

Setting up the Pool Party...

The hardest part of the whole, setting up of the pool was the leveling of the ground. Which really wasn't a big deal, except this area used to be our garden, and somehow some of our gardening tools got eaten up by the earth/crabgrass! So we had to 'find' all the metal pieces before the pool lining could be place anywhere near the ground.



As you can see, this is VERY hard work, which requires some unnecessary texting breaks much needed break time. I see Caltrans in their future!

Just in case you were wondering....

Yes, it is necessary to hold the hose while filling up a 4,000 gallon swimming pool.





10 minutes later...

'This thing is taking forever!