Quiz Trip

Last weekend was Katie's quiz trip to Jenison Bible in MI.  She did an absolutely fantastic job, and the trip went well.  Unfortunately, I did not get many pics at all.  Maybe next time Chad should go instead of me, because he doesn't forget the camera.  I did get this one very cute pic, tho!  It's Logan, Caleb, Boden, and Heidi at my parents' house after the busload headed off to the hotel.  Katie and I stayed the night, and Natalie was able to hang out, too.  Mom had cooked an enormous amount of food, so everyone (48 of us)was well-fed.  The teens had a terrific time exploring the hay loft and house, playing pingpong, hanging around.

 

 Above are Katie's shoes. : )  Nice pic, huh?  Below, when we stopped at Dairy Queen in Breezewood afterward.  Katie's coach bought her a free blizzard because she quizzed out... actually, she quizzed out 3 times and was very close 2 other times!  As several of the other quizzers have said, she was a "quizzing machine". :)  190 verses from John she can quote with hardly any helps in about 35 min. 

IBC went with 6 teams this year, and they all did very well.  One novice team even got first place!  3 other teams were also right near the top.

And what did I do?  One the way out there, I read a book about the Hungarian Revolution.  Helped mom with the big meal and cleaning up.  Cheered on Katie's quizzes.  Visited a little with much of my fam.  Stayed overnight in a hotel in OH, and I chaperoned 4 great girls.  Read 1/10 of Les Miserables (1,400 pages!) on the way back.  (Maybe I'll finish by Christmas.)  I also loved spending time with Katie, getting to know that great group of people better, and listening to some fantastic guitar music. 

The Bees

I want to put this in here for records sake, but it's maybe best not to ask them about it. :)

Last week, Jenna and Claire both had class spelling bees. I was able to go see Jenna's-- she did a terrific job! She and Grace were the last 2 spellers, and they went back and forth MANY times. I was wondering how long we'd be at this. I guess I'm impatient-- had I been running the bee, I would have jumped to the HARD words quite soon. Anyway, Jenna won-- on the word OFFERING, I think.

Parents were not allowed to observe the 2nd grade bee, but we heard about it. Oh, yeah. Claire is a very good speller, and also a bit competitive :) so I had made sure we talked about how to act if she loses, etc. She didn't seem at all nervous ahead of time. However, during the bee, when it got down to just her and Rachel, and they went back and forth for a long time (maybe 25 words?), Claire probably got more and more uptight. Finally, she blurted out that she felt sick, that she thought she was going to have a heart attack (her heart was beating hard), and "WHEN IS THIS EVER GOING TO END??" Her teacher's response was, "When you get one wrong," so she did. She purposefully spelled OTHER with 2 T's. Just so it could be done.

Claire just can't do things quietly. :) Some other kids would have just gotten silently sick, etc. Later that day, she was in the sickroom a couple times, and even took a nap once; but she was not ill. Just recovering from the ordeal, I guess.

And, truth be told, I have a feeling Rachel probably is a better speller at this point, so it probably turned out accurately.

Thankfully, she and Rachel are still very good friends. They played together at recess later that day and lots since.

Claire's Riding Lesson

Riding lesson with Michele Ketchum on Saturday. Gorgeous weather and setting. Placid pony. Wonderful teacher.

See Brownie trot? Claire's balance had much improved since last year-- Michele thought it was related to learning to ride a bike. Claire was able to do a lot more on the horse because of it.

Rock Drainage

Some of the rocks our parents helped us arrange. Looks good, eh? I hauled dirt from the woods (composted leaves, of which we have plenty). We planted grass seed. Let's see what happens! Mom and dad, see the drainage tube?

Other PA pics

While Anita, Katie, Jenna, and I went Christmas shopping, Chad took Claire and Micah to a park. Flew a kite and made immediate friends with another little girl.

Claire, a bike-riding pro!

Happy 4th, Big Micah!

One of the best parts of the day-- Micah graduated from his carseat to a booster seat, and BOY are we all excited!













After our great Easter service at church, we changed clothes and headed up to PA. Stayed til Tues morning (no school because of snow day). Great time, as usual. Terrific food!










Easter egg hunt planned by Grandma and prepared/executed by Katie and Jenna















Totally enjoyed by Claire and Micah.














Egg in the tree...

I think we left a few eggs around the yard.

After supper, we had bday cake and presents for Micah.

Claire gave him some great homemade gifts and a little giraffe. She just loves making and giving gifts.

A homemade lion pillow from Gma

Scooter given and assembled by Gpa and Gma.

Giant M&M cake

Easter/Micah's Bday

April 8 was definitely a big day around here-- Easter and Micah's 4th birthday all at once.

It really was a chilly morning, so Micah was having issues with standing outside to get his picture taken. Then he wasn't too happy about it inside, either...

Our children's choir sang in the morning service, so I and all the girls were busy practicing in the morning. Micah did this while Chad practiced with the orchestra...

In his Sunday School class, the teacher gave him a Bible and a birthday sticker, and they all sang happy birthday. Next week, he'll be in a new class. This was an exciting event-- esp since a few of his friends had recently turned 4 and he got to watch it happen to them.

Art by Katie

"Race"

Saturday, we all did the Race for Ryan held at our school. Ryan was a 4th grade student of mine many years ago; he died in a motorcycle accident 4 years ago. His family holds this event yearly to remember Ryan and raise money for a scholarship in his name.









At 8:30am, there's a 2K run/walk. The girls got a hold of the camera, as you can see. You can probably also tell that we didn't try very hard to be the first to finish. :)











Micah walked/ran almost the whole way. Beautiful sunny day.





















































At 9am, there was a 6K race, which Chad did, after he did the 2K. Did a great job!

Another bike-rider!

Last week, Claire finally figured out how to ride a two-wheeled bike! Yippee! She inched along with it this spring, but it finally clicked-- and within a couple days, she rides smoothly and for long distances! She took bike rides with both gpa and daddy over the weekend-- more than a mile long.

Micah's gift

The birthdays are just running together... We started celebrating Micah's 4th bday with Papa and Grammy's gift on Sunday. He loved the glasses, tops, and quarters. So far, esp the glasses. :)

Mom and dad were here for just the weekend, but we fit in a bunch of things... Don and Anita came, we rearranged rocks in the yard, dinner at the Michaels, church, they got to watch Katie quiz Sun afternoon. They left Mon morning for TN and KY. Oh! And my dad was able to help Chad fix a leaky pipe! Wow! Turned out to be an easy and cheap fix-- let's hope it lasts a LONG time...

Jenna's party

On Friday, Jenna had her bday party with friends-- she wanted a simple party (yippee!) with only a couple really good friends. They had a great time!



Supper was pizza, chips, fruit.

Grace, Jenna, Isabella, McKenzie

A couple of the girls were able to sleep over. Papa and Grammy had arrived just in time for cake, so we had a full house! Worked out great-- Micah slept in our closet while P and G had his bed.

Concentration

Jenna's school project-- she made a model of a concentration camp and a book about Anne Frank.

Hair