Family Prom and end of March

The first week back after Spring Break was busy! And Jacob was out of town all week, too. But we survived! We spent some time sorting through the boxes at Nicole's house to get stuff for the Diamondbuck Store and getting ready for Family Prom. We barely made a dent in the boxes, but at least we got a start. Here's Nicole posing with a Mario mask she found.  And me and her with crown barrettes we found. 

The PTA was in charge of the Family Prom and the theme was Under the Sea. A bunch of people came over Friday morning to start blowing up balloons and getting things ready because we only had a couple of hours to decorate after school. Check out all the balloons we blew up for the balloon arches:

It turned out really nice and we were able to pull everything together. Thank goodness lots of people showed up to help set up.

The kids didn't really know how to dance so we gave them some tips. The favorite was the conga line going all around the room. Of course they were just walking, not really dancing in the conga line, but at least they were having fun.

Rachel and Jacob weren't there (Rachel wasn't big on an elementary school dance and Jacob was out of town still), but we got a nice picture of the rest of us.

And a silly one:

The kids went back for more pictures a few times.

That^ is Sammy behind the emoji face.

We came home to a nice surprise of Jacob having arrived instead of coming home the following day like was the plan.

Rachel's goal for a while has been to get rid of the chocolate syrup so she could use it as a water bottle. She finally put her plan into action. She says she drinks a lot more water than she used to now because it's just funny.

When I was helping in Megan's class last week I had to snap a picture of Megan with her buddies playing a game. Apparently under the desk is the cool place to sit. 

Rachel did not get into Mica Mountain like she was hoping for high school, so she's going to Cienega High School next year. She'll be a Bobcat. I took her Thursday to get registered and pick out what classes she's taking next year. 

She didn't think it was cool to take pictures with mom in front of her high school. I guess I'll have to go with her on the first day of school and snap some then, instead. ;) 

Megan had big plans for April Fools. We had this Minnie Mouse decoration in a box of stuff from the PTA that would never be used, so she hung it in Grandpa's bathroom as an April Fools joke.

She also hung My Little Pony and other Minnie Mouse stuff up around our house as April Fools pranks.

No fooling, though, Megan finally got chosen for Subs for Subs at school. That means her substitute teacher thought she was especially helpful at school. She's been waiting for this day since kindergarten! 

General Conference was great this weekend. Now we're ready to jump into the last couple of months of school. Summer break, here we come!

Ryan turns 10!

 Ryan got basically 4 birthdays in a row. Friday we let him open a few presents to kick things off since it was his actual birthday. 

Saturday he had his friends over for a party. It was originally planned for Friday but we moved it because of the ward party the night before. He had Donovan and Derek come from school, and the Reimanns, Allens, and Knights to make it a fun party. Pizza and soda was first.

Ryan had his party all planned out with fun things to do. They played Fake Artist a couple of times before opening presents.

Ryan got a couple nerf guns and some other gifts he really appreciated. 

For his cake we went with a trifle this time. It turned out really tasty.

Ryan chose Ron's Gone Wrong for the movie portion of his party. (Maybe because he just wanted a month of Disney Plus?) The kids all loved the movie.

Ryan was a little disappointed that there wasn't much time to play Mario Cart afterwards, but at least they squeezed in a little bit. I think he had a fun time with all his friends.

Sunday he got all dressed up in his new Sunday clothes he got for his birthday. 

After church we celebrated his birthday with family. Jacob, unfortunately, had to leave that morning to go on a work trip and had to miss out. 

Besides getting a shirt that was very accurate (They say I have 2 major flaws: 1. not listening 2. something else), he also got an over the door basketball hoop, and other fun stuff.

Ryan had requested a coconut cake for his birthday since it's one of his favorite desserts we have at Grandma's house. 

Monday he had his last celebration as he went to school and shared some chips with his classmates to celebrate his birthday. We sure are glad to have Ryan as part of our family, even if he doesn't always listen very well and is constantly clearing his throat (doc is checking that out). He is a very caring young man with an enthusiasm for learning. He can make everyone around him excited about whatever he is excited about and is great about being inclusive and a good friend. Happy birthday, bud!

Spring Break

 There was only one week between Rodeo Break and Spring Break. It was a busy week with a PTA meeting, 2 basketball tournaments for Rachel, her banquet, and Ryan and Annie's band concert. 

We rounded out the week with field day. The last time they had field day was the last day of school before everything shut down for COVID, so it was kind of feeling like things are getting back to normal. But with the slightly irrational fear hanging in the background that maybe it would jinx everything and we'd go back to COVID lockdown again. Luckily that didn't happen.

With Spring Break came some spring cleaning! I left the kids at home with the task of cleaning their rooms really well in preparation for Rachel and Megan switching rooms so Rachel now gets a year of a room to herself and Megan now gets to share with Annie. Ryan wasn't changing rooms this time, which was good because he spent every morning of the first week of spring break at a sports camp with his best friend, Derek. 

While the girls were home cleaning, I went to the school to build a shed for the PTA. Thankfully a couple other ladies showed up and brought their boys to help out. It took several hours, but we were able to get it almost all the way done in one day. 

I just had to go back the next day to finish up a few screws, then I moved everything from the off campus storage unit to the new shed so the PTA no longer has to pay for storage. It was a bruising couple of days, but nice to accomplish something we'd wanted to do all school year.

Then I came home to more work with cleaning out bedrooms. It was a multi-day project getting things organized, out of the bedrooms, then back into the new bedrooms. 

Rachel wasn't too keen on getting the bed with the slide, and everyone was pretty much grown out of it, so we ordered a new captain's bed and assembled that the following week. It felt good to get the girls settled in their new rooms. And get rid of lots of stuff they don't actually need.

In the meantime, Nicole, the PTA secretary, had worked her magic with Party City and got loads of stuff they were going to throw away.  It was perfectly good stuff in new condition, they just weren't selling anymore. So I helped her unload stuff a bit and started going through it to find anything we might be able to use for decorations for the family prom. 

It has turned into a multi-week project, but it's been worth it to find so many things we can use for the school and will be letting teachers dig through it for their treasure boxes, too. We're still not even done sorting, yet. 

Luckily Nicole went out of town, so I was finally able to turn off my PTA brain for a week and actually relax and enjoy the second week of break. We went to Elevate Trampoline Park with Todd's family and Derek's family. It was so much fun. 

We wrapped up the week with a church movie night watching The Emperor's New Groove. The kids had a fun time and enjoyed the unlimited popcorn and drinks and Skittles. 

All that was left before heading back to school was celebrating Ryan's birthday.