Friday Night Dance Party!

Friday night was the 8th grade graduation dance which the 7th grade hosts.  As part of my duties as a 7th grade parent I was able to help decorate and get everything ready for the dance.  It was hard work but I think we pulled off a great dance! Peter had fun anyway!

However, because I was setting everything up for the dance and because Dan was travelling and didn't get home until 10:00 PM on Saturday, my parents had to fill in to help get Peter ready for the dance.

Peter has been sporting a nice little mustache for most of this school year.  However, a friend did him a favor and told him his payment was shaving off his mustache.  Peter gladly obliged so my dad helped him with that before the dance.

Of course, being a good blogger, I took before and after photos.  And of course, Peter being 13, made me promise not to post them.

However, I am going to post these pictures:

My dad helping Peter with his tie.

So handsome!

The 7th graders escorted in the 8th graders.  Peter was a little nervous about this task but I think he did a great job.  It didn't help matters that all the parents were there snapping pictures like crazed paparazzi!

Out theme for the dance was "glow" and here are just a few pictures of how we tried to transform the cafeteria:

Everything looked even cooler when the sun went down.

Peter said he had a great time.  I hope all the kids did - especially the 8th graders!  It was fun working with the other moms putting it all together!

7th Grade Field Trip!!

Peter came home Friday night tired but pleased.  His field trip was a success!

They packed a lot into their three day trip.

They left the school at 6:00 AM on Wednesday and headed to Gatlinburg, TN by chartered bus.  When they arrived they took a hike in the Great Smokey Mountain National Park and ate lunch.

Then they headed to Wonderworks, a hands-on science museum. While they were there, among other activities, they dissected a squid.

After this, they headed to dinner at Hard Rock Cafe.  After dinner they went to Ripley's Aquarium where they learned about sharks and actually spent the night underneath the shark tank!

Day 2 found them at Dollywood!  Peter had a blast.  He rode almost all of the rides and had a great time hanging out with his friends.  After a day of play, they checked into their hotel and then headed to the Happy Days Dinner and the Comedy Barn for dinner and a show.

On the third day of their trip, they packed up and headed to Damascum, VA where they rented backs and took a 17 mile bike ride on the Virginia Creeper Trail.

Whew!  What a busy group of 7th graders.  The trip sounds like a great mix of learning and fun.  Sarah's already looking forward to this trip next year.

Here are a few pictures from the trip:

I wish I had more pictures but that's one of the downsides to not being a chaperone!  (And a downside that I will gladly live with!!)

On Thursday night, I was at a PTO meeting.  When I got home from the meeting, the message light was flashing and I had a message from Peter.  The message went like this

"Hey Mom, it's just Peter.  Mr. Cancro wanted me to  call and let you know we got to the hotel and are checked in.  Um, so yeah."

Um, so yeah???  Where the heck is my I love you and miss you??

You can bet I gave him a hard time about "um, so yeah".

Although in his defense, when they were on the bus, he called to let me know the exact time they would be arriving at the school and once again I wasn't home. In that message he did give me a quiet "I love you", so I guess he's off the hook!

Sound to Sea!

Sarah attended the 6th grade's field trip, Sound to Sea last week.  She had to be at the school by 6:15 last Wednesday morning.

We pulled up to the school, she got her things in the back of the charter bus, gave me a quick hug and hopped on the bus with her friends.  I hung around and chatted with the other parents until the bus pulled off.

Sound to Sea is a program that's held at the Trinity Center in Atlantic Beach, NC.  It was a three day environmental program that included a lot of hands-on activities during the day, exploring both the sound side of the Atlantic Beach as well as the beach, challenge courses, and special evening programs.

One of the parent chaperones sent me a few pictures:

And here are some pictures of some more of her classmates.  (Sarah's group got to do these same activities.)

When I picked Sarah up on Friday night, she was tired and sandy.  But she said they had a great time!  And I was so happy that they didn't get rain because the weather forecast looked pretty iffy last week.

Peter probably isn't going to be as lucky.  His class left bright and early this morning headed to Tennessee and unfortunately,  I think they will definitely be getting some rain.  They do all their activities rain or shine so I guess it doesn't matter.

Science Expo!

Last night was the Science Expo! 

Sciene Expo is the culmination of  a 6 month long project where the middle school kids team up (or they can choose to do it alone), pick a topic, research it, create a hypothesis, perform an experiment, write a research paper detailing the experiment and their research and their results, create a display board and come up with an interactive experience for the lower school kids.

Whew!  And then finally it's Expo day!  During the day at school, the elementary kids go to all the different displays where the middle schoolers explain what they did and then do the interactive experience with them (a game or a demo).  Also during the day, a team of judges come around and groups explain their experiment.  In the evening, the whole school is invited back to see all the projects and then their are awards.

Sarah's group won 2nd place out of the 6th grade and Peter's group won Best Overall Experiment.

Dan unfortunately was out of town (Again!  This is the third week he's been gone in a row.)  But my parents were able to go. 

Here are the kids with their groups and their awards:

  

Hail Mary, full of grace...

I always try to get some pictures of me and the kids on the front porch on Mother's Day.  In early spring, the flowers on the porch are fresh and always look great.  In a few weeks, they won't look as lovely because I'll have forgotten to water them, or sometimes, I over water them.  My thumb is definitely not green.

But yesterday, as we were trying to take pictures, the sun was working against me.  Every picture I snapped had a few sun spots (large glowing orbs) right on Peter's face.  So we quickly took the pictures on the side of the porch to block the sun and in doing so, no pretty flowers.  Oh well...

 And then we took a few on my Mom's front porch after lunch:

 Check out Peter's mustache!  He refuses to shave it because he thinks it makes him look manly. 

Peter made me the sweetest card:

Peter loves languages so he wrong Mom for me in 13 different languages.  So sweet!

And Sarah took to Pinterest and made the cutest little 52 Reasons Why I Love You!

On each card she had written a different reason that she loves me.  But y'all, my favorite and the least accurate:

I remind her of Mary!!?? 

Oh, sweet Sarah, if only I could be more like Mary. 

Perhaps I will make that my mission in motherhood - be more like Mary - full of grace, loving, kind, trusting, faithful, generous, always willing to say yes to whatever the Lord asks of me.

I better start praying right now!

No more split ends!

I got my hair cut this morning!  I'm very happy with it.  It looks basically like it does every time I get my hair cut short.

My hair was a great length before I got it cut - not too long and not too short but it was getting unhealthy.  I get my hair highlighted every 7 weeks.  I blow dry it every single day.  And after I blow dry it I run the flat iron through it.  That's a lot of chemicals and a lot of heat on my fine thin hair.  And it causes it to split at the ends and break way up the length of the hair. 

And to me, that just looks gross.  So, it was time for a chop! 


Before:

See how damaged and frayed my hair looks? Not good.

After:

Much healthier looking!!  And who knows, I might even go shorter next time!