School is out, and Family is in!

June 6 was my 45th birthday, and it was the last day of school! Woo hoo!!!! On the last day of school at Park Ave., we have a softball game, teachers vs. 5th graders. To begin, the whole school said the pledge of allegiance, followed by singing happy birthday to me (thanks to Mr. Dahlen). It was fun! Tony showed up during the game with flowers and left cupcakes in my classroom. What a sweetheart!
Thankfully, school ended on a positive note. I started reviewing math topics and retesting them. WOW! It really boosted the kiddos spirits when they saw they could do what we had learned. Most were scoring proficient while a few even scored 100% on one topic. On our last ELA unit test, some scored approaching which was fabulous! I had many kiddos reading book after book and taking Reading Counts quizzes, and they were passing them! This last trimester, they really took off, and I am so proud of them and their hard work!

Now that school is out, I am on to family matters. Wednesday, we get new carpet. YES! Next Tuesday, Megan and her clan arrive. YES! June 22, Mallory and Maddie arrive. YES! June 27, Melisse marries Wyatt Roberts. YES! This is a full month, and it's going to be busy. I can't wait to see Megan's newest addition, Kenzie Kate. She was 9 lbs. 10 oz., holy cow! She has a ton of dark hair and one dimple like her mama. Andrew and Carter are getting so big; they'll be such fun.

So, on Wednesday my class took a unit test, and I was sooo excited to grade them. This was the first test I felt confident they knew the content and would do fairly well. I'm sorry to say, my bubble was popped quite quickly. :( The kicker was that I happened to be grading them as I waited for a staff meeting to start. We were going to check out the SBAC testing my kiddos will be taking come spring. By the time I had driven home, I was crying. My below grade level students will not do well on the SBAC, and, even though, everyone is saying no one is going to do well, the scores don't count this year, and it's going to take a while for the kiddos to catch up to the testing, I am sad! I feel that I will not be able to help them even be close to where they need to be.

I know challenging them is the best thing that can happen, but will I be able to do it? How can I get my kiddos who are 2 grade levels below where they should be to move up? I will keep digging, studying, and pushing to challenge myself as well as them. We have no where to go but up!!!!

Today was our Gridley 1st ward Primary program, and they did fabulous! We are few on numbers, but the kiddos sang their hearts out. You could really feel the spirit as they sang too. The closing number was "I am a Child of God". They all came forward along the front of the stand and sang the first verse, and the congregation joined in to sing on the 2nd and 3rd verses.

I miss seeing my girls up and singing when they were young! They were always so adorable!!! When singing for Father's Day, Megan was still in Primary, but only by about 2 weeks. She turned 12 on July 3. She didn't really want to sing, but I made her go up there. She stood head and shoulders above Melisse, it was cute. All too soon they grow up though. Andrew will be starting Primary come January; he'll be a Sunbeam!

When buying groceries this month, I planned some freezer meals. I put some meat, veggies, and spices into Ziploc baggies for putting in the crockpot in the mornings. I pulled my first dinner out of the freezer this morning. I was soooo excited! I tried to put the frozen square into the oval crockpot, but it didn't quite fit. I decided to just leave it with the lid sitting on top of the pot and edge of the frozen dinner that was sticking out of the pot. Luckily, I came home to a finished dinner that only had a couple pieces of ham that had fallen out of the crockpot. It was very good and well worth it! I look forward to the future dinners.

So, this summer I worked really hard at exercising and was in pretty good shape. Then, school started! I neglected my running and P90x for the last 2 months, and I am in more of a round shape than anything else. I picked up walking/short jogs last week and am feeling much better. Getting outside helps release tension and worry, so it is more of a mental health issue. Losing weight/tightening up muscles are just side benefits.

I used to love taking the girls for walks along my jogging route. We had a double stroller that could fold down and make one long place for a few of them to sit. I would take off walking, and eventually they would, if they were old enough, get out and walk alongside the stroller with me. We would throw rocks into the ditches, pick wildflowers (weeds), and have such fun! I was lucky enough this last summer to take my oldest grandson Andrew on one of these walks. He too threw rocks into the ditch and picked flowers for his mommy.

During rice planting or harvest, we would stop and watch the big equipment do their jobs. On occasion we would watch a beautiful sunset before the mosquitoes would come out for dinner. A couple of times we even sat on the shed's roof to watch the sun set with all its glorious colors.

My friend Robin Olson is our genealogy person at church. She invited me to begin my family's work. I started a couple of months ago and have had a little bit of success. Mostly, I've developed a greater love of family, or extended family. My Aunt Claressa keeps adding more names on my mom's side, and my dad's side seems to have everyone's work done. I'll keep going and digging around. For now, I've started adding my siblings and their families since it is hard to go back and find cousins of relatives.  People will keep track of their family, but when it comes to linking siblings spouses and children, that's where the breakdown begins.  So, I'm typing in as much as I can, and will then begin emailing siblings and cousins to link in their info.
I go every Wednesday night for 1 1/2 - 2 hours, and I enjoy looking at the census records and such. I saw an entry when my Grandma Gertrude was 6 years old. It's weird to think of my grandma at the age of 6! Makes you look at old pictures as real people who had real lives. Families are forever!

I am told that I need to blog what we are doing, but I don't have cute little kids to post. I've decided I'm going to try anyway. I love reading and seeing everyone else's life, maybe some might like to see what is going on in mine. Lately, we've had Maddie attend the prom with Octavio, Melisse is now working 2 jobs, and Mallory is trying to decide what she wants to be when she grows up. (Little does she know that I'm still trying to make that decision!) Megan, Trevor, and Andrew are still far, far away in Alabama, but we are going to see them this summer. Can't wait!