Pie in the FACE!

Thanks to some VERY generous donors, Ben and Sarah were top fundraisers for their grades and got to put a pie in the principal's face again this year.
Amazing.

This guy was also elected Student Council Class Representative for his class.  So proud! 

Thanks again for supporting our school in the Move-A-Thon!

School Pictures!

School pictures are here!  I love all pictures of my kids, but especially school pics because they are so...so...I don't know.  A good snapshot of what they really look like on a normal school day--yet dressed up a bit. 

Libby: big earrings, crazy hair, and a missing tooth.  Her hair looks so dark auburn here.  I love it.  

Only two kids left with me at MP.  Why did I let Ben leave on the USU sweatshirt?  No idea.  

My earring?  What is happening there? 

Ben.  Looking so dapper.  Love this kid.  

I am so happy to be at school with Ben & Sarah again this year and get hugs and even kisses in the hallway.
Sarah doesn't like her picture.  She's getting retakes.  I'll post when they come. 

Cross Country Champs Meet

Libby ran really well this Cross Country season.  Does she love running?  No.  What is her plan to stay in shape? "Ugh mom, I'm not going to actually run long distances."  She took 48th in the 7th grade girls.  Which was the 7th place Einstein girl--meaning she placed for her team. 
But as parents, our goals for cross country were:
To help her accomplish something that was hard.  At the first of the season she couldn't even run more than a lap.  She finished running two miles in 16:16, so...CHECK.
To make friends with a lot of great kids.  She said, "Mom, this cross country team is like my family."  CHECK.
And to keep her busy afterschool.  CHECK.  She was so busy that fitting in everything was tight.  But she LOVES to stay up late.  So she got her wish several nights when she needed to stay up late and do homework.
It was all around a WIN.
She is still debating trying out for volleyball.  It is a cut sport, so she might not make it.  I'm not forcing this one.  But I'm strongly suggesting it.
For all the same good reasons.

As for spectating, I'm not a fan of standing around in the cold to see your runner zip by occasionally.  But I am super inspired by runners...I even got a little teary watching kids really push themselves.  So I'm willing to be a little (or a lot) chilly for that. I'm looking forward to track season.

Bellingham Beauty!

Our niece Emma is going to Western.  We had her show us around campus last Sunday on our way back south after Birch Bay.  It is a really beautiful and interesting campus.  The kids loved playing on all the sculptures.  The views are breathtaking.  And we all know I just love a good college campus.  The air just reverberates with positive energy.  

And we got a shot of most of the crew that came for the weekend.  We missed Maren and Paige (with Margo), who left on Saturday morning.  Love my Norton Family.  

5th Grade Camp

This week was 5th Grade Camp @ Camp Orkila.  It was a lot of work to get this rolling.  I didn't even do most of it, but it was still exhausting.  And I think it was pretty much worth it.  It was good for the kids to get away and have some fun.  Sarah got to be with all the people she requested in her cabin.  And she spent time with them, but she also had fun just being Sarah.

They did a huge birthday song--a very full lodge on the first night.  She loved it!    

We had 5 cabins of girls.  4 of them had heat and electricity.  Sarah's did not.  She didn't complain though, just enjoyed herself.   

I got to be a hunter for Life in the Forest.  It was pretty exhausting running around trying to hit kids with pool noodles.  I only managed to catch a couple!  I also played about an hour of Captain's ball on the first night.  It was fun! 

On our only full day of camp, I spent most of the day with a sick camper.  My principal and I drove her to the ferry.  Then I walked on with her (on a ferry that was an hour late) and took her to her mom.  I then waited an hour and rode the ferry back.  I was highly productive though (as you knew I would be).  My principal and I had our goal meeting on the ferry.  I got lots of lesson planning done during the morning and on the ferry.  It was like a little gift of individual time.
It was also fun getting to know the other teachers better.  If I were going to be teaching 5th grade again (and that could happen if I don't get hired by the Middle School), I would tweak a few things--like go somewhere without a ferry!  But overall, it was a good experience.  Exhausting.  But good.  Luckily the rain held off. We had some crazy rocking on the ferry home.  And, it literally started pouring about 15 minutes after all the kids got picked up from the school.  We made it. Whew!
And then back to school the next day. 

Happy Birthday Sarah!

Sarah's birthday is actually on Monday, but we got a jump start on celebrating her this weekend.  I was really proud of how she handled her campaign for Vice President this week.  Her speech was awesome, well delivered and fun.  So much positive energy.  She lost to a student promising "Teacher Student Switch Day."  His idea was VERY well received--even though that was the only thing he promised (and it is very unlikely to happen).  When I approved his speech, I thought he meant teacher switch day, which is something that has happened in the past.  Oh well.  She did very respectably, and handled the loss very well. 

She chose Old Spaghetti Factory for her birthday dinner with me.  Delish. 

Happy 11! 

Clark bought Sarah some sparkler candles.  She was a little nervous about them.  

Swimming in the dark/cold.   They are lucky to have a dad who will get out there with them. 

There was another disappointment for her this week.  I realized that she couldn't miss Nutcracker practice on Saturday, and was therefore going to miss the long awaited excursion to Canada.  I was super bummed, and so was she.  But we decided to make lemonade out of that lemon.  Derek took Libby and Ben to Birch Bay and Canada.  Sarah and I stayed and went out to dinner for her birthday, did some Target shopping (including buying some clothes and boots for camp), and packed for 5th grade camp.  While she did dance on Saturday, I did some much needed cleaning/bill paying at home.  After Nutcracker rehearsal, we headed straight to Birch Bay so we could have dinner with the Norton clan for her birthday.  She had picked pumpkin pie for her birthday treat, so I baked on Saturday morning (including a tiny one for her) and we drove them up. 

Today we will get a chance to go to church in Ferndale and visit the Western Campus with Emma on our way home.  It'll be fun.  Then tomorrow, off to 5th Grade Camp!   (Which I am alternating between being excited for and dreading.)

October is Here!

And all of a sudden it's October!  This week was a bit of a blur, again. Until 5th grade camp and Student Council Elections are over, it will be crazytown.  This week Sarah was selected by the committee to serve on the Executive Committee.  I was so relieved that they chose her.  I didn't want to have to tell her she didn't make it.  But now that we spent a few hours making posters, I sort of wish she hadn't...But she is really excited.  I'm excited that this is the last time (hopefully) that I'll be doing this.  I need a break from Student Council whether I move to the middle school next year or not. 

I'm quite proud of Sarah's posters.  I came up with the Vice/Nice rhyme and she got the best ideas!  

This is what Ben has been wanting to do all weekend.  He got a new book and wants to read all the time.  

I got a new iPhone.  Not the 11.  I waited until the 11 came out so I could finally get a 10.  Huge upgrade from the SE that I've been holding onto.  But literally huge.  I wanted an XS but ended up with an XR because I wanted more memory, not realizing it was the bigger size.  Sigh.  That's what I get for buying it online.  Anyway, there has been a bit of a learning curve.  I keep taking accidental screenshots.  Here's one of me talking to Libby on speaker.  

And one showing my partially finished podcast.  

 The transition was so smooth.  My old phone just loaded wirelessly onto my new phone.  The only problem I'm still having is that my van won't sync with the new phone.  So don't call me when I'm driving. 

Saturday I listened to conference while I cleaned out our tomato patch. It was a hot mess.  I have a lot of tomatoes to use up.  Once school started, I couldn't get out there to get them!  Then I cleaned out the fridge, and put up a new keyboard drawer on the desk.  And ran a bunch of errands in between sessions. 

 Meanwhile, Libby is in Utah surrounded by her awesome Grandmothers!  They went with Aunt Arvae to the General Women's Meeting.  While I was watching it, I got teary every time I thought about her being there with them.  So amazing!  It was also really quiet around here only having 2 kids to parent.  Libby did call several times.  I think she misses us. 

I woke up at my standard wake up time now (4:50 am) and started in on school stuff today.  My goal this year is to keep school work during the school week.  Not happening just yet.  But I'm hopeful?  I try especially not to have to work on Sunday.  But since I got in 5 + hours of church yesterday watching conference, I figured I could catch up on school stuff in before and in between sessions today.  I'm pretty excited about what I'm teaching this week.  And I'm reading a book called Powerful Teaching Tools (or something like that) that is giving me all kinds of good ideas to help kids actually remember what I teach. 
Next weekend we are heading to Birch Bay/Canada.  Then 5th Grade Camp.  Pray for dry weather.  Right now the forecast is 50 degrees and raining.  Who attempts to camp in WA?