March Little Things

March flew by and now we're headed into STAAR testing season at school.  Here are a few more little things we did in March:

Lily's class got to go on a quick field trip to the local theater to watch "James and the Giant Peach".  She has been so blessed with sweet friends in her class this year!

Now that the weather is getting warmer, we often find Maggie sitting in her chair on the back porch sunbathing.  She can sit there for hours enjoying the sun!

The 4th graders had a market to learn about economics.  Each student had to make 10 items to "sell" to the other students.  Eden worked very hard making keychains and was so proud when they all sold.

Spring baseball season started this month with a tournament in Stephenville.  They didn't win but Parker pitched well and they learned a lot.  I know the next tournament will be better!

March was good to us and now we're getting ready for a big birthday month.  Five of the ten cousins have birthdays in April, including Parker! It should be a fun month!

Math Pentathalon 2019

At the beginning of the school year, Lily was asked to be on the Gerard Math Pentathlon team.  This is the first year our school has had a team and only two students from each class were asked to join.  The team was made up of 2nd and 3rd graders and the goal was to learn 5 different math strategy games well enough to be able to compete in the Math Pentathlon tournament in March.  The team met once or twice a week every week in order to learn the games.  Our sponsor, Mrs. Smith, needed help from parents so I volunteered to attend the meetings every week and help the students learn the games.  

Yesterday, Lily and I attended the tournament, which was held at a high school in Mansfield. There were over 300 students participating in the tournament.  Each student was paired with another student with the same level of experience and they got points for either winning/losing/tying each of the 5 games. 

Lily did a great job and won 2 of her games.  She lost three of them which gave her a final score of 11 points.  She was one point away from earning a medal in the tournament.  She was a little disappointed that she didn't medal but I was very proud of her and thought she did a great job since this was her first time to participate.

Our Gerard Pentathlon team

I was so proud of all of our students who worked so hard learning the games this year!

I hope Lily will decide to be on the team again next year.  Now that she knows the games, she will really be able to work on her strategy and come away with a medal at next year's tournament!

4th Grade Field Trip to Austin

Two years ago, I had the privilege of being a chaperone on Parker's 4th grade Austin field trip.  Today, I got to repeat the trip with Eden and her classmates.  There were a lot of parents who asked to go, but only three were allowed so Mrs. Adams put the parent names in a hat and drew three names.  I felt very blessed that I was one of the names drawn.

We arrived at the school bright and early and loaded the buses promptly at 6:30am.  

The tour guide company had several activities for the students on the bus ride to Austin, including a movie on the excavation of La Salle's ship in the Gulf of Mexico.  The students would later see the actual ship at the Bob Bullock Museum once we arrived in Austin.

Our first stop was the Bob Bullock Museum.  They had added several new exhibits since I was there with Parker two years ago.

La Salle's ship

After the museum, we went and toured the State Capitol.

During the tour, we saw the House of Representatives chamber.  Unfortunately, the Senate was in session so we could not go into their chamber.

Mrs. Adams' class

Our final stop of the day was the Texas State Cemetery.  We didn't visit the cemetery on Parker's trip, so I was excited to see and learn some new things.

We saw the graves of Tom Landry and Chris Kyle.

The cemetery was beautiful and a great end to a fun day!  I am so thankful that I had the opportunity to spend the day with Eden and her class.  Hopefully I'll get to do it again with Lily in two years!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I wasn't planning on doing anything today but Emily convinced the girls and me to go with them to the annual Pickle Parade in Mansfield.  We parked at Uncle Jon's fire station and walked to the parade.  There were so many people lined up on the streets but we were able to find a place to stand and see the parade.

It wasn't exactly what I had thought it would be and I probably won't ever go again but I can now say I've been to a Pickle Parade!

The girls found some old St. Patrick's day props and took some cute pictures.  Even Maggie got in on the fun!!

Spring Break 2019

We had a very low-key spring break this year.  We spent most of the week relaxing at the house but I wanted to take the kids on one fun outing.  They all agreed that they wanted to go to Main Event for bowling, laser tag, and video games.  I let each of them choose a friend to take.  Parker chose Cole and Lily chose Ellie.  Unfortunately all of Eden's friends were gone so we asked Emily and the cousins to join us.  I knew that Main Event can get very busy during spring break so I told the kids I wanted to get there right when they opened in order to beat some of the crowds.  

My strategy paid off!  We got right on a bowling lane and let the kids bowl first. 

After bowling, they played several rounds of laser tag.

We ended with an hour of video games.  Cory and I even played a few games!

We finished up games around lunch time and, just as I had predicted, Main Event was starting to be extremely busy.  I'm so glad we chose to come early.  We finished off the outing with lunch at Chick Fil A.

It was a fun day and the kids had a great time!  I hate that spring break is over but that means that summer is just around the corner!