All of the sudden it's too hot

It seems like as soon as June 1st arrived, the heat has crossed the line from bearable to miserable.  Just last week I was walking everyday at 2:00 and now I can't bear the heat.  What happened?  One thing I do know is that school should be out already, but the buses are still running.

This has been a very interesting and exhausting week; I can't believe it is only Wednesday.  So far we have had three field trips, two picnics (one at the school, the other at a park) and two awards ceremonies.  Tomorrow we have another field trip and awards ceremony.  The kids finish up on Friday with a half day.  We are all eagerly awaiting that day.

Here are a few highlights so far:

1. Andrew's awards ceremony was the first awards ceremony for the school.  Traditionally the entire grade level assembles in the cafeteria, each teacher says something special about the kids, and then hands out awards as proud parents look on.  Since we are in a "portable school" this year while the new one is being built, there is not enough space to get everyone together inside.  So someone thought it would be nice to carry this traditional activity outside.  A tarp was put up big enough for only half of the parents, and the children had to sit in the blaring hot sun for an hour and a half.  To make a long story short, a girl passed out from heat exhaustion and Andrew's face got sunburned (had I known they would be in the sun, I would have applied sunscreen).  They also went outside for PE and recess and to tell you the truth, I think Andrew had heat exhaustion last night.  The school decided to hold the rest of the awards ceremonies in each teachers classroom.

2.  Nicholas got a very unique award made only for him.  When his teacher called him up to receive his awards, she talked about the "personality" in the class (not just Nicholas).  She said that because Nicholas can talk his way out of just about anything, he gets "The person most likely to become a lawyer" award.

3.  Katie has been all over the Golden Triangle the past couple of days; the Stark Museum and Shangri La in Orange, and the Gulf Coast Museum in Port Arthur.  Each day they followed up with lunch and play at area parks.  Katie's awards ceremony is tomorrow, but she did receive a nice medal today for her musical competition that made it to state.  Her beautiful piano piece, Music Is.. was part of the national "Reflections" competition. 

                            Hopefully tomorrow it will rain!

Q is for Quiet, R is for Recital

Katie, Andrew and Nicholas were in a piano recital today, and they performed very well.  Since my mom is the piano teacher, they are highly encouraged to participate.  Katie loves playing the piano and has played in many recitals.  Andrew has taken a few years too, but last year could not perform because of his broken arm.  Nicholas dabbles with the lessons, partaking in them when he feels like it.  At the last minute he decided to play in this year's recital. It was a fun day.


Q is for Quiet

Silence is golden
treasure its gift
pray
meditate
be still;
the calm
before a storm
is quick.

Off to Disney World

I feel like I am in the process of moving. You know, the adrenaline rush from the chaos of all that has to be done. Only we are not moving, simply getting ready for our trip to Disney World. To make matters worse, Pete had a manager's meeting that required him to be out of town for two days. So I had to play single parent while packing a family of five, getting two dogs to the vet for boarding and having a piano recital in the midst of it all. But I survived, Pete got home earlier than expected and now we are packed and ready to head out at 4:00 AM. The hardest part of all of this was leaving Jake and Snowy at the vet (as you can tell by the picture). We usually only go out of town for one or two nights, so our neighbors and my parents help take care of them here at home. But since our fence is still not fixed after Ike and we will be gone a little longer, we felt it would be best to board our sweet pups. You should have seen the kids and I trying to get them into the van and through the vet's front door. The overly excited canines were yanking me this way and that as I tried to hold onto both of their leashes with all my might. At one point, they had me trapped inside their complex maze of intertwined dog leashes. To the outsider, I probably looked hilarious, but I was actually very stressed. I could just imagine them pulling too hard and getting loose. That would have been a nightmare. Luckily Jake and Snowie made it into the hands of their caretaker for the next several days. Hopefully they won't be too mad when we pick them up. In the meantime, we're off to Disney World. Can't wait to share everything when we get back. I hope the next few days treat you well, too!