all crammed into one blog post...

So aside from the ultra-depressing rain (and I know I have no reason to complain considering the calamities many other parts of the country have been facing), I actually have had quite a lot going on in my family that has kept me rather absent in the land of blog.

Let's see if I can cram it all into one blog post.

For Bookworm's final overnight fieldwork, their class went to the Krishna Gardens to perform service. For their learning expedition (It's a big long description - if you'd like to hear what a learning expedition is - email me!) the students were creating and publishing an urban farming manual. It turned out fantastic. They went to Krishna gardens, and all the kids ended up doing work in 2 days that it would have taken the monks a few weeks to finish.

Hubby chaperoned, and sent me a few pictures from inside the temple...

The temple from the outside.

The kids working (?) outside...bookworm is in the green shirt.

When Hubby went to the parent information meeting that the chaperons are required to attend before the trip...he came home and the first words out of his mouth were, "VEGETARIAN!! We have to eat VEGETARIAN while we're there!" It was pretty funny. But not as funny as when Bookworm got home from the trip and immediately opened the freezer saying "bacon, chicken, do we have ANY meat?? I haven't had meat for 2 days!" But my hilarity topped it all, when he got done telling me all about the trip and asked what we did, I said, "Oh, we watched American Idol for girls' night, and ate bacon cheeseburgers, and sausage pizza". He flipped out. But that's not really what we did.

Our Relief Society was putting on a mother/daughter night where they had different "stations" and you got to do different activities with your daughters. We went to the pedicure station. We were trained in administering pedicures to each other, first the moms on the daughters, and then the daughters giving their moms pedicures. Well, I teamed up with Monkey, and Cowgirl and Pixie paired up. It was a fabulous night for us girls.

Here my friend Kimberly (she was the pedicure station teacher) is helping Monkey administer the paraffin wax to my feet.

Now she is applying the cooling gel.

It was pretty funny, she got really into it, and was quite proud of herself.

This was on Wednesday night. Bookworm returned from the camp out on Thursday. Friday at the school was the Pedals for Hope kick off assembly. You can click here if you want to read all about what it is, but it is a big fundraiser for cancer research our school does every year. Part of the assembly is dedicated to Locks of Love. My girls donated 2 years ago, and were waiting for their hair to be long enough to do it again. Unfortunately Cowgirl's class had dress rehearsal for their Pioneer Musical on that day, so she couldn't participate. But lucky for Pixie, she had her fabulous, amazing teacher there to participate with her and give her courage!

Actually it was the other way around! Ms. T has ALWAYS had long hair, and was having major anxiety about chopping it off! Here the 2 of them are immediately after the big "chop". That's my sweet friend Kimberly (yes the same Kimberly that does pedicures!) in the background - she was one of the stylists who volunteered their time to chop the hair, then stay after school to style the hair of all those who had donated.

Pixie really loves her new short hair.

This brings us to Friday evening. Bookworm had been home from the school camp out for 1 night, and it was time to head to scout camp! So I had to have him all packed and ready again! He left Friday afternoon. Unfortunately he had to miss Cowgirl's big night. She had one of the leads in the 4th grade musical about the Mormon pioneers, which is what their learning expedition was on this semester. She was the mother of one of the families. The students wrote the script themselves and it was really, really fantastic. I couldn't be prouder of all of them, and Cowgirl did a wonderful job.

Here she is after the performance, Monkey couldn't let her have the spotlight to herself for a moment longer, and insisted on being in the picture with her.

I really feel incredibly blessed to be able to have our family involved in such worthwhile activities with amazing people helping to make it possible. I love, love, LOVE our school. It takes a lot out of me, and sometimes I complain about my involvement and the time it takes - but it is so worth it to have a voice in the way my children are educated. And our teachers are amazing, and incredible, and so dedicated. The way of teaching in an Expeditionary Learning school is hard. And demanding, and takes so much more than typical lesson planning, and I am grateful to have teachers who are up to the challenge, and put so much into making our school the amazing place that it is.

Anyramble....this brings us to Saturday. The girls final soccer games of the season. They both won! Woohoo! Cowgirl's coach pulled me aside and told me that she was good enough to play in the competition league, and that we should consider trying out. It was a great feeling to hear him say that. After looking into the expense, and time commitment, we decided that it wasn't right for our family right now. But it was still awesome to have him say that! For the team's final hoorah, he put together a moms vs. kids soccer game with us moms playing the team. They thought they were so tough, and we were so old. Guess who won? Even when they CHEATED, and the ref (their coach) cheated for them, we still won! I may or may not have biffed it one or three times. Yes there are pictures...and no I am not posting them!

I know there's more, but reliving this week through this post has made me tired all over again! So just know that my absence has been due to other worthy activities...promise!

And if you're still reading this - I know you must really love me, because it feels like I have been working on this post for HOURS...so it must be the longest blog post in history, right? So sorry IA, I know how you hate these!

I guess that's it for now, I'll post more as I remember more, because I know I left something out! I miss everyone and hope to be by soon to visit you!