December activities

During Thanksgiving Break Jacob and I went on a date to the temple and Smash Burger. That was pretty much all we did to celebrate our anniversary. 13 years. It's been a good 13 years.

Rachel's friend, Chelsea, plays the trumpet in band. Rachel plays percussion, but wants to learn trumpet and switch over. She's apparently had Chelsea show her how to play a few things and can play at least one song...

Ryan signed up with his cousin, B, to learn tennis. And since it involves a ball and movement Ryan loved it. I was not super impressed with the instructor who obviously didn't have kids himself, nor much experience teaching children, and even though the class only had 4 boys, he had a hard time getting them to listen to him.

 But Ryan learned a bit about tennis, and isn't too bad. He was even asking to sign up for tennis again. I told him we'd wait until basketball is over. We don't need too many activities going at once.

Rachel has been a crocheter for a while now, but mostly just rectangular objects. I recently taught her how to crochet a hat and she made one all on her own to donate to Casa Alitas as part of a personal progress value project.

She did a great job (and was very proud of herself, judging by all the selfies that appeared on my phone).

I got to go on a field trip with Ryan and his class to the Planetarium.

They all had lots of fun, except for the one kid who hadn't eaten breakfast and fainted right in my arms when his blood sugar got too low. Made for an exciting twist. I had an orange in my backpack and once he ate that he started feeling better right away.

Same thing happened last year when I went with Ryan's class on their field trip, except it was a girl. Those crazy kids have to remember to eat on field trip days. I guess it's too exciting to eat?

Megan is super excited to finally be in gymnastics at the same time as Annie. She's been asking off and on for a while if she could do gymnastics, then I would forget to sign her up.

She is loving it and wishes she could go more than just once a week.

Grandma and Grandpa Campbell came to visit for a few days in December. The kids had fun having them around. (So did I; Janet went through my whole stack of clothing needing to be sewn or mended and did it all for me.)

The Saturday they were here we went over to the Pima Air and Space Museum. Unfortunately the Space Hangar was closed for remodeling, but we enjoyed the rest of it.

We rode the tram for the guided tour to get to go around the whole yard and get commentary about a lot of the planes we were passing.

The kids claimed they wanted to go see lots of other hangars, but by the time we got through the main one after the tour, we were all ready to go get some food to eat, so it was just the right amount of time.

We got to celebrate Grandma and Grandpa Knight's birthdays with a cake Savannah made. We're happy to celebrate another year with them.

I was able to make it to the awards assembly for Rachel's school. She is a stellar student and received the Principal's award for a second quarter in a row, earning a 4.0 GPA. She also was recognized as outstanding achievement in band.

Earlier in the month she was also recognized in the Cougar Call, the school's monthly newsletter, as the student of the month in her team (set of teachers). It said:
Rachel Campbell (Golembiewski/Jordan) - 6th grade can truly be a roller coaster with the ups, the downs, the increased workload, not to mention switching classes and having multiple teachers. It can be incredibly hectic! However, one young lady, Rachel Campbell, has found a way to navigate the middle school landscape beautifully. Rachel is an intelligent, hardworking, and determined young lady. She always puts her best foot forward with her academics and interacting with her peers. We know that she will continue to shine and grow here at DSMS. Thank you for doing your absolute best, Rachel!

It was a relief to make it to the end of school. December was pack jam full of activities during school and after school and on weekends. Christmas Break was a very welcome break.