Thursday, March 31, 2016

Spring Has Sprung!

With such a mild winter (save a few windstorms when it was almost spring), we saw signs of spring early and continue to see them!


My forsythia was beautiful and I brought some branches inside to enjoy.


It made for such a nice little sitting corner.


I have made some progress weeding the yard and beginning to get things "spit spot" for Sarah's graduation open house.


This is the other half that hasn't been weeded...I have a long ways to go...


Need I say more? YUM!


The first week of March brought a windstorm with hurricane force winds and we were without power for about 18 hours. Elise didn't let that stop her! Her reading lights made it possible to keep practicing piano! I taught my students the saying "March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb" and this year it is true!






Saturday, March 26, 2016

Catching up 2016


During "For the Love of Reading" Week, Elise dressed up as the girl from The Lost Medallion for the Storybook Character Parade!


Most of my students dressed up as food from The Very Hungry Caterpillar! We had such fun!


Sarah took my class on a little trip to see the baby salmon at the Senior Biology fish hatchery.


It was pretty cool.


Some good friends had some baby goats and baby lambs born...we got to see them when they were pretty new! The girls loved it.





In February, Ed, Becca & I headed over the mountains to Yaki-vegas (otherwise known as  Yakima) for the All-State Youth Choir that Becca auditioned for and was selected to participate in for the 2nd year in a row! Last year it was in Spokane and that's when we combined a Whitworth visit for Sarah. This year we only had to go as far as Yakima and I had the opportunity to have lunch with my GEMS BFF, Tami!


Becca was pretty excited for her day of singing! And their choir sounded beautiful! They did an awesome job and the conductors make it SO FUN for them!





There were other girls she knew in our hotel, so they had some fun swimming together in the tiniest hotel pool ever. I'm not kidding. It was almost as big as my living room.




In February we also helped set up for the orchestra's fundraiser called "Suites & Sweets" - we've done this for several years now. When we came out on that stormy afternoon, there was a full rainbow over the high school!


Elise & her BFF Eliza got to sing in chapel a few weeks ago.


Bethany got her driver's permit and no, she isn't excited about it. Can't you tell? She has now completed the instructor's class and passed the written test, but still has several more drives with the instructor, plus a driving test to pass, before she can get her license after she turns 16.


I came home one day to "SBALLS" spelled out in goldfish crackers in front of the front door. This is Sarah's nickname in track. My neighbor came over and said, "Yeah, we saw some boys hanging around your front door, but they looked like nice boys." Yep - they are. Good teammates.


One more our neighbor had an owl on her driveway. I know. Random. It wouldn't fly away. My neighbor, who is a professional photographer, got some amazing shots. Eventually Code Enforcement came and captured it and brought it to the Northwest Wildlife Rehabilitation Center. It had some sort of eye damage/injury/illness they were going to treat before releasing it.


Belated Valentine's Day Fondue party!


And who can forget Wacky Wednesday in celebration of Dr. Seuss' birthday on March 2? Not this Kindergarten teacher! 



I just don't know how those truffula trees sprouted inside my classroom like that?

Thursday, March 24, 2016

Mary Poppins!


This year's high school musical production was Mary Poppins! Sarah was stage manager again and Bethany was in the chorus and had a part as Mrs. Corry. Mrs Corry is not in the Disney version of Mary Poppins, and the Broadway version depicts her differently than the original book. My favorite version of Mrs. Corry is the one played by Bethany! She could do the motions to "Supercalifragilisticexpalidocious" faster than anybody.











Bethany had a little solo during "Super"  and while her voice was pretty shot by the time performances came around, she did an outstanding job!






She was also a townsperson in other scenes...like "Let's Go Fly a Kite" and "Jolly Holiday", which were all super fun, as well!

One of the highlights of the show was the tap dancing during "Step in Time", but I don't have very good pictures of that...plus pictures don't do it justice, anyway. It was truly amazing. It culminated with these types of scenes:



Bert had the opportunity to do flips on the rooftops since we rented FLYING equipment!


Mary Poppins flew away at the end of both acts as well. It was pretty incredible.




Also incredible were these group of kids managing all the sets...which were enormous. It was like a jigsaw puzzle backstage, trying to move things in and out.



















Above: all the kids from Bethel involved with the musical!