The End is in Sight

The final week of the school year is here. It started with Alyssa's graduation party yesterday afternoon.  A mom from school made Alyssa's cake complete with an edible photo of the girl.

Little Chloe who is 5 was very excited to get to eat a piece with Alyssa's face on it.  We didn't have as many guests as we thought, but this was a busy weekend for weddings, sports tournaments, and other graduation celebrations.  Alyssa's friends came in waves so they weren't all here at the same time. The weather finally warmed up and reminded us why we love to live here. Forrest manned the grill and cooked delicious burgers and hot dogs, my friend Erin made her famous beans, and Tracy brought a beautiful fruit tray.  I've finally learned to take help when it is offered.  I don't have to do all of the food prep when my amazing friends are willing to pitch in. Today Alyssa will attend several parties for her friends.  

Then tomorrow is the senior picnic and then graduation is Tuesday night. Michelle came up for the party since she can't make it to the mid-week graduation ceremony.  Forrest's mom arrives tomorrow night, and my folks will come to town Tuesday. Then we'll move onto Noah's events. All of the 8th graders will spend Wednesday at Wild Waves amusement park and have their recognition ceremony Thursday. My school year will end Friday with field day and a staff salmon barbecue.  I'm getting tired just thinking about all of this activity to come in the next few days.

Great News!

Here's the update I promised in my last post.  Scholarship night was last night at the high school.  The students at Arlington High School have earned more than $800,000 in grants and scholarships.  Alyssa was honored for being in the top 10% of graduating seniors in the state.  She also received recognition for the Presidential Scholarship she received from Eastern Washington U.  Last night we found out that she had earned a $2000.00 scholarship from the Kiwanis Club and $200.00 from the teacher's union.  She's a great kid!  It was amazing to see so many kids recognized, including some of my former students.

You might be wondering why I am posting in the middle of the day. Well it's that lovely time of year again when I have to torture my students with our lovely No Child Left Behind test.  Today is day two of writing.  The 9 and 10 year olds at my school have to plan, compose, revise, edit, and write a final draft of a 5 paragraph essay today.  We started at 9:30 this morning.   Most of the 4th graders finished by 1:30.  Now I have the final 11 kids from all the classes in a side room still writing.  They have had snack breaks and lunch, but no recess today.  That's part of our test security protocol.  Someone somewhere thinks that 9 and 10 year olds might talk about their test if we give them recess.  They don't know kids very well.  All of my students can come up with lots of other things to talk about.

Spring Update

I can't believe that it's been more than a month since my last post.  Sorry readers.  Yesterday all the fourth graders at my school spent a sunny day at the beach.  It was warm and sunny with no wind at all.  The Beachwatchers from the WSU Extension Service ran stations for the kids and helped them identify creatures. I'm posing here with my student teacher, Kate. The most exciting part of the day was siting a young gray whale playing just off the pier in Port Susan Bay.

Noah and Alyssa enjoyed fried ice cream for dessert when Mom and Dad came up to celebrate Noah's 14th birthday.  They got to see a track meet and try out our new bakery.  Very yummy quiche and lemon bars at the Blackbird Bakery.  

Noah has made great progress with his track events this year.  He has taken 12 seconds off of his 400m  time and has formed a 4x100 relay team with some of his friends.  Shot and discus were supposed to be his only events, but he decided to try some running events and found that he liked them.  We even bought him spikes which really seemed to help.  They make him run on his toes.  He has one last regular season meet and then district prelims. He should participate in the shot and 400m at the prelims. 

The march to graduation continues for Alyssa.  She has completed her AP calculus test so math class is just marking time.  They have no more work to do.  She has 19 school days left.  Noah and I have 24.  We are getting her announcements ready to mail this week.  The third week of June will be very busy.  Alyssa graduates June 15 and Noah's 8th grade recognition night is the 17th.  We're having a graduation party for Alyssa on the 12th.  We'll find out which scholarships she has earned May 18th.  I promise to try and post more regularly.

Senior Prom 2010

Alyssa's favorite thing about this dress is the back.  Apparently she didn't think my lace-up job was good enough so she had Amye fix her up. Since they were the only girls wearing white they made sure that they didn't stand near each other in the group photos. 

 Amye is considering Eastern Washington University and Alyssa is hoping that they can be roommates. 

Yuki invited everyone to her house for photos so that they could pose by the lake.  It was a great setting. 

I'm so pleased with the kids Alyssa has chosen to spend time with in high school.  They're all kind, smart, involved kids.  They are all National Honor Society members who put in lots of volunteer hours.  But they also know how to have a good time.   After the prom they went to a bowling alley for Midnight Bowling.  Alyssa got home at 3:30 AM and went to bed with rhinestones still glued in her hair.

The sunshine streaming in the window woke her at 9:30 and she came to Noah's game at the college. Group photo:

Adam and Mahonroi in the front row. Yuki, Alyssa, Charleigh, Nadia, Amanda, Amye, and Marie.

Spring Vacation

Alyssa and I spent the first couple of days of our spring break in Portland.  We enjoyed lots of amazing restaurant meals, the art museum, and shopping for prom dresses.  Mom and Dad are great hosts.  We also got to spend time with my wonderful siblings.  Michelle went prom dress shopping with us and Jim came over for dinner.  Unfortunately we didn't get to see Paul, Enid, or the Worman boys. 

Forrest and Noah held down the fort. Noah spent 3 of his first 4 days of break at his friends' houses.  Noah also had a basketball game at Skagit College while we were gone.  His team won by 40 points.  Forrest worked in the yard and enjoyed some well deserved peace and quiet.

I read three books this week.  One classic; Their Eyes Were Watching God, one food book; Comfort me with Apples, and a sequel to Pride and Prejudice, Mr. Darcy's Great Adventure.

I finished a few spring cleaning chores including cleaning out and reorganizing my pantry, sorting through Noah's clothes and figuring out that he's outgrown 2 bags worth of t-shirts, shorts, and sweatshirts, and I filled one bag full of my clothes for Goodwill.  I was hoping to do some yardwork, but the wind and rain made that nearly impossible.  I did prune back my lavendar and cleaned up the sideyard, but that was the extent of the yardwork. 

Endings and Beginnings

Daffodils in Skagit County. They're almost done and the tulips are right behind them.

An early field of tulips. The rest are not far behind and they will be followed by crazy tourists who block traffic, swear at Forrest's flaggers, and park where ever they want to. The weather forecast looks promising for early crowds. Forrest might have to work next weekend before the official start of the season April 1.

Noah's social studies fair project on the history of the signal corps. His teacher was in the gym to 2:00 AM grading them. I think it deserves at least a B. We'll see.

Our last AAU end of season team party at the Bryson compound. We've watched most of these boys play ball since 4th grade. Now these young men are in the home stretch of 8th grade heading towards high school. When they started playing together Alyssa was taller than all of them and she's been a surrogate big sister. When I requested this photo with all of her "brothers" she got teary since she'll miss most of their freshman season while she's away at college next year. Today Noah had his first spring ball game as part of the high school program at a local community college.

Taco time during the party. Tyler, Noah, and Kaleb.

Watching the 2 on 2 tournament that the boys organized during the party.

Presenting photos of their past championships to Coach Bud and Coach Jeff.

Final AAU Tournament

Last weekend was the league tournament for Noah's AAU team.  They didn't place in the top four in the regular season standings so their only chance to play in the next tournament against another league was to win the WESCO title.  They played three amazing games, but only came away with one victory.
The first game against the Knights was their only win.  The Eagles won by more than 10 points.

They lead the second game against Mount Lake Terrace till early in the fourth quarter and lost when Terrace got a slim lead and went into a stall offense.  Our boys managed to steal the ball back and tie it up, but Terrace won on a last second shot.  My favorite picture is the one where Noah is blocking the ball.  Although Noah was quick to point out that he was called for a foul on that play. But the Terrace kid only made one of his free throws so it was a good foul.

The third game of the tournament went to overtime and was a great game personally for Noah.  He played with lots of intensity and his future coach at the high school was there to see it.  He emailed me at school to pass along his compliments to Noah, and he spoke with Forrest too.  The upside of not qualifying for the next tournament is that we have a sports free weekend something we have not had since the middle of August.

Noah has started lifting weights with the high school team and starts a spring basketball season on Sundays next week.  So our break is very short.

On the Alyssa front, she has made her commitment to EWU official by sending in her deposit.  She should be receiving her housing packet soon so she can try to get her first choice of dorms.  She is looking forward to prom (pricing limos, picking out hairstyles, etc.).  Since she is 18 now she can close at work so she is picking up more hours at the daycare. Alyssa has received her first scholarship from EWU for $2500 a year for the first two years.  She is in the process of applying for others.  

Forrest has his third furlough day of 12 coming up this Friday the 19th. He enjoys having a day off here and there to get some things done around the house, but doesn't enjoy the cut in pay.

The administrators in my district are getting ready to lay off more staff this year.  I'm very fortunate to not have to worry personally about this, but my former student teachers are in jeopardy again.  They were laid off last year and then rehired in the fall.  We just got news that another teacher is retiring so maybe that will save someone's job.  Work is very hectic now with getting ready for the statewide testing in May.  My grade level has a strange composition of kids.  Fourth grade at my school has more special education students than 2nd, 3rd, and 5th combined.  Basically that means we're in jeopardy of not meeting the No Child Left Behind standards again because we have so many students with significant learning disabilities. These kids are all making steady growth but at a slower pace than their peers, yet they're expected to pass the same tests on the same timeline.  It's maddening!  I guess this is enough ranting for now.  I should start enjoying my free Saturday.