Archive for July, 2018

Last day of school

Posted in Leah, Molly, School on July 11th, 2018 by c-had – Be the first to comment

After what seemed like a very long school year (mostly due to snow days slowly chipping away at spring and summer break), the last day of school finally arrived on June 19. Molly and Leah were happy about this.

Last day party

Oh wait, that’s not the right picture. Here you go.

Last day of school

Molly’s final picture with the sign out front of elementary school.

Sign picture

Max

Posted in Family visits on July 11th, 2018 by c-had – Be the first to comment

Back in June, we got a new nephew/cousin. Aunt EA gave birth to Max, and we got to see him that same day.

Max

New cousin

New cousin

Holding a baby

Holding a baby

New grandson

New grandson

5th grade promotion

Posted in Celebrations, Molly, School on July 10th, 2018 by c-had – Be the first to comment

Molly was called on again to play in an ensemble at school. This time, it was to play Pomp and Circumstance (and some other songs) at the 5th Grade Promotion Ceremony.

Promotion ensemble

Promotion music

Molly walked across the stage and shook hands with the principal, signifying the completion of her elementary school journey. She’s ready for middle school.

Shaking hands with the principal

Simulated Congressional Hearing

Posted in Molly, School on July 10th, 2018 by c-had – Be the first to comment

The 5th graders prepared all year for a major event - Simulated Congressional Hearing. They learned about government, and then invited community leaders to serve as congressional committees. The kids formed expert panels to testify in front of the congressional committees. Parents came to observe. I volunteered as a photographer (and Jen helped with the food). There were a lot of people there.

Simulated Congressional Hearing

Molly and the rest of the 5th grade chorus sang Hats Off to America, including some custom made patriotic hats.

Patriotic chorus

Here's the committee Molly testified in front of.

Molly's committee

Molly's expert panel is ready to testify. They testified on the subject of why the American colonies went to war against the British.

Expert panel

Testifying

Testifying

All done

After their initial testimony, the committees asked the kids questions to probe further into their subject.

Answering questions

Volunteer Appreciation Breakfast

Posted in Molly, School on July 9th, 2018 by c-had – Be the first to comment

The girls' school had a Volunteer Appreciation Breakfast to all the parents who helped out during the year. Molly was picked as part of a select ensemble to play for us.

Ninja Warrior Field Day

Posted in Leah, Molly, School on July 9th, 2018 by c-had – Be the first to comment

This year, the elementary school went all out for field day. They made it Ninja Warrior themed, and we love Ninja Warrior. We even went to a Ninja gym back in February to work on our ninja skills.

NinjaBE

Jen and I both worked Field Day as we have in previous years. It was a lot of fun. I don’t have a lot of pictures, but here’s one of Leah running the obstacle course.

Ninja Warrior Field Day

Beauty and the Beast

Posted in Leah, School on July 8th, 2018 by c-had – Be the first to comment

Leah was a narrator and villager in Beauty and the Beast at school. Jen did a great job making her awesome costume.

Narrator and villager

Here are a few pictures. You can see more at Flickr.

Beauty and the Beast

Beauty and the Beast

Beauty and the Beast

And here’s the whole show.

Lastly, here’s Leah and her cheering section (not including the man behind the camera).

Fan base

Haircut

Posted in Leah, Molly on July 8th, 2018 by c-had – Be the first to comment

Jen’s been cutting my hair (with clippers) for almost 20 years, but she decided to expand her capabilities to cut the girls hair as well. She cut both Molly and Leah’s hair (just a slight trim) and did a great job.

Hair cuts

Visit from a little cousin

Posted in Family visits on July 7th, 2018 by c-had – Be the first to comment

Charlie stayed with us for Memorial Day weekend while Aunt EA and Uncle Scott were out of town at a wedding. It’s been a long time since we’ve had a toddler in the house, but we had a great time.

House guest

The marble track saw a lot of use.

Marbles

We mostly stayed close to home, but we did make one special trip. Krispy Kreme had special blueberry glazed doughnuts, and we figured that might be an outing Charlie would like. He stuck with a regular glazed, and loved it. He had trouble understanding why he couldn’t have another one though, since there was a box full of them in front of him.

Sweet outing

Glaze face

Molly and Leah read him bedtime stories both nights.

Bedtime stories

Bedtime stories

While Charlie was visiting, our area had the second major flash flood in 2 years. We got about 27 gallons of water in out basement, which was not bad compared to many others. We had twin rivers merging in our backyard.

Flooding

While I as vacuuming up water in the basement, Jen was using water for more productive use upstairs. After his bath, Charlie was happy and clean.

Bath time

Garage shelves

Posted in Uncategorized on July 7th, 2018 by c-had – Be the first to comment

Our garage was full of stuff, which was making it difficult for me to use it as a workshop in addition to parking Jen’s car in it. To give us some more garage storage, I built a bunch of shelves.

Shelving project

There’s a large shelf along the ceiling, then a few shelves down the side. It took 17 2x4 studs and 2 sheets of plywood. I also installed a workbench light from it so I can see better. Here’s what the back wall looked like before, for perspective.

Shelving project before