10 Things I've Been Meaning to Write About...

There are some things that have been on my mind but I just haven't had the time to sit down and write about them.  I figured I'd better do a little catching up before I forget what a fun and busy Spring we've had this year!  Rather than put them in 10 separate posts, I've grouped them all together here.

3rd Grade Spelling Bee

1. The Spelling Bee - BC (my third grader) asked if he could compete in the city-wide spelling be this year.  We signed him up and he studied the list of words that they were given, anticipating the big day.  They divided the 3rd grade contestants into two groups, (of about 18 entries each) and the top two contestants from each group then had a "Spell-Off."  I am so proud to say that BC made it into the Spell-Off and then got 3rd place over all.  What an achievement!

Night Glow

2. Balloon Stampede - Every year Walla Walla has a weekend event called Balloon Stampede where several hot air balloons take off in the morning and land at night.  We went to the "Night Glow" portion of the weekend and watched 9 hot air balloons being blown up and then light their fires to show the beautiful colors/pictures on them in the dark.  So much fun!

3. My Happy Mother's Day - This year for Mother's Day all I wanted to do was NOTHING!  I slept in and the kids really stepped up and let me just relax.  I also received several precious gifts that they made for me at school, a giant Mother's Day card from all, and a special Mother's Day balloon.  (Which we sold over 200 of in our store this year.)

CD, Me, and Funny LR

4. Registering my baby for Kindergarten - If anyone knows me or you've read some of my other posts, I am the mother of 5.  Next year, my baby goes into kindergarten.  I have had the joy of having him at home with me during the school hours all to myself for 2 years now.  I sure am going to miss taking him to work and playing with him around the house during the day.  I can't believe he's all grown up and ready for school.  *Tear, Sniff*

5. Explorers - BC was tested and got into a program called "Explorers" next year. In grade school it is Math and Science based and he will be bused to another school twice a week to study some advanced topics.  We went and viewed some of this year's science projects and he is super excited for next year.  I just know he's going to love the program.

JS on Recorder (red shirt, black shorts)

6. Spring Assembly - I went to the 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade Spring concert.  RL had a guitar part with some of her peers in one of the songs.  She practiced so hard and really hard and loves playing the guitar.  We may have to further explore that passion!  JS had a recorder part in the 4th grade song with some of his other friends.  By the time the concert came around, he had that part perfected!  Each grade had a song where they did a little dance.  It was BC's first day back after being home sick with the flu all week, but he was a trooper and put on a good smile for "Lean on Me."  They do some really fun things at our grade school.  I have been impressed this year with the staff and the curriculum.

7. The Break-In - We suffered our first burglary to our store last week.  The crazy part is that it wasn't the first attempt.  No, just three days before someone had tried to break in the back door, but there is a bar on it.  I won't go into details here for obvious reasons but I will say that it could have been worse.  Thankfully, they didn't trash the store.  There were two break-ins in the same night.  The first one broke the window and the second took advantage of it.  It has been a long haul for my husband.  The aftermath is ongoing and he's taking care of it all.  I sure do love that man!

LR & CD Help the Plumber

8. The hole in our back yard - Adventures in home ownership!  Since we bought the house "as-is" we purchased a home warranty to fix any problems we might come across our first year here.  So far we've had a leaky pipe fixed, a toilet re-set, and a shower valve cleaned out.  We found a leak in our main pipe but it is OUTSIDE the house, thus, not covered by our home warranty.  Go figure.  So we took a plumbers advice and started to dig a 4 ft hole in the front yard to find the leak.  My generous husband dug through mostly rock (did I mention how much I love him?) until he thought he found the source.  Then this past weekend the kids came running in yelling "Daddy, Daddy, the hole is filling up with water!"  Yup.  He found it alright!  We ended up turning off the water at the main meter at the street and we went without water for 24 hours until we could get a plumber out to fix it.  What an adventure.  I'm glad we don't live in Pioneer days.  Just sayin'.

Max

9. Max, our quirky dog - So we have this little dog named Max.  For some reason he doesn't like to drink water out of his water bowl inside.  For that reason I keep one outside that I've trained the kids to put fresh water in every day.  Last weekend (before we had to shut the water off) we were running the sprinklers and I was outside on our deck reading.  One of the sprinklers sounded kind of funny so I went to investigate.  Well, to my amusement, Max was standing at the sprinkler, moving his head back and forth, lapping up the water.  I laughed so hard!  What a funny little dog!

Me and My Girl RL

10. My baby girl is going into middle school - RL is turning 11 this Summer.  I will officially have my first middle-schooler in the Fall.  Where has the time gone?  I remember holding her in my arms when she was a baby.  She has grown into such a delightful young lady.  Last night we went and explored Pioneer Middle School together.  (6th-8th grade)  She's excited and nervous all at the same time.  I can hardly believe we've arrived at middle school.

Speaking of school, we're done for the year on Thursday of next week.  We're kicking off our Summer with my Brother-in-Law's wedding.  Then we head into all the Summer activities, including 7 birthdays, our wedding anniversary, and a family reunion.  It's going to be a great Summer! 

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend everyone!
~Melissa