Elementary Spring Music Concert

Christopher and Kelly had their last concert of the year. They both performed in the same concert because 5th grade is technically still in elementary school even though this year they were part of the middle school.

The concert started with the 5th Grade Band playing a few songs.  They did really well and I have a feeling we'll be investing a lot of money in black pants and white shirts - concert clothes.

Then the 5th graders sang a fun song.

Then the Kindergarten through fourth grades filed on and sang their songs all about animals.  I think Christopher's grade sang a song about peanuts.

A fun picture of Christopher in front of the decorations.

Adventures in Bus Driving

It rained. It finally rained and we got 1 1/2 inches on the farm. That will really help when John plants corn this weekend.

However....

RAIN + PARTIALLY FINISHED DRIVEWAY = AN ADVENTURE!

At 7:00 a.m., the bus pulled into the drive as usual.  The bus got stuck before it even made it to our brand-new sidewalk.

John got out the "big guns"... the 9320 John Deere Tractor (pulling a sweep, used for tillage - it would have taken too long to unhook the sweep so he just brought both).

I'm just glad John stayed home a little later than usual this morning.  Can you imagine what would have happened if he hadn't?  Can you picture me doing this?  I think not.

John and Joe, the bus driver, hooked the bus to the back of the sweep with a chain and John started to pull the bus out of the muck.

The bus, moving along nicely.  Look at the dirt it's pushing in front of the wheel.

Rounding the corner of what will be the circular drive (you can see the big pile of dirt to the left of the bus - it was excavated from the drive so they could lay gravel or some other road-creating material).

Rounding the corner... and the bus got stuck.  For a minute there I was worried the bus would tip over with my children inside.

John got out and decided to try to dig away some of the mountain of dirt.

He thought better of it and hooked up the tractor again so they could pull straight east, into the field.

Going over the mountain of dirt again, and again my heart was in my throat, afraid the bus would tip over.

John and Joe hooked the tractor back up again so they could head north back toward the road.

It worked and they made it to the road.

Thirty minutes later and the bus is on its way again.

Never a dull moment, for sure!

Eastern Colorado Elementary Honor Band

Kelly tried out for an made 1st Clarinet for the Eastern Colorado Elementary Honor Band.  It's a big deal.  They had a guest conductor and spent an entire day in rehearsals and then had a performance at night.  Kelly practiced and practiced and did a great job.

She had to wear black pants and shoes and a fancier top.  We had to buy a fancier top because she is a t-shirt kind of girl.  I love the top she chose.  I have a feeling that between band and choir we'll be spending a lot of money on performance clothes.  (Usually they will be black pants and white shirt so easy to plan for.)

Kelly is in the front row, fourth from left.  I am glad she was wearing the orange shirt - made it easier to find her in the crowd!

With Grandma and Grandpa Layton (and Leslie) after the concert.  We are glad they could stay for her concert.

Making Donuts

A few weeks ago, when Little John was home from school with pink eye, he begged, BEGGED for me to run to town and get him donuts.  Instead, I taught him how to make them, the easy way.  Kelly was jealous so we made them again when Grandma and Grandpa Layton were here.

 

Step 1:  Buy the cheap, Wal-mart brand biscuits that come four to a pack.  (I'm sure you could use any kind of biscuits, but I'm cheap.)

Step 2:  Use the lid to the vanilla bottle to punch a hole in the biscuits.

Step 3:  Fry them in hot oil.  Make sure the oil is not too hot or they will quickly burn.  We use tongs to turn them over so the other side gets cooked, too.

Step 4:  Make a powdered sugar glaze (powdered sugar and water) or frost them with chocolate frosting from the can (lazy!!!) and ENJOY!!!

8th Grade Cotillion

When I was in middle school we called it the 8th Grade Grad Dance.  Here they call it Cotillion and it's A BIG DEAL!  Many of the girls get their hair and nails done and lots of kids have dates.  Some of the boys rent tuxedos and it's just a big deal.  JJ didn't have a date and we didn't rent him a tux but he still had a fun time.  They invite the parents for the first 30 minutes when they take pictures of all the classes (middle school was 5-8th grade this year).  After the class pictures they have a mother/son and father/daughter dance and then they politely request that the parents leave so the kids can have fun.

Posing before he went to the dance.

All of the 8th graders.  In case you are wondering, there are only 27 kids in his 8th grade class.

All the girls.

All the boys.

All the boys doing a conga line.  They were not all excited about that.

The only picture we have of the mother/son dance (which lasted for less than 30 seconds for us before JJ decided he wasn't dancing with his mom anymore.  Stinker!)

John and his friend, Topper.... they are ready for the parents to leave.