A Ton of Fun in 2021: Week 34 Recap

Mrs. Kristoff. We first met her the summer after Isaac's 1st grade year. I remember calling the school and asking if they had a summer tutor who would work with Isaac and his reading.  Mrs. Kristoff was who agreed to take her summer and work with him twice a week (and for the next three years btw, to help him improve). She had him as his switch teacher (and reading teacher) in 2nd grade.  Then she moved up to third grade and had him again! The women is a saint.  No, I'm not kidding.  She got him to a place where he passed the third grade test on the first time! Then she had Olivia her third grade year, along with some of Olivia's good friends.  So this summer when some where putting up Amazon wish lists and whatnot, I decided Mrs. Kristoff needed to be spoiled too.  I went to those momma's who also had the luxury of having her and asked them all to chip whatever they wanted to get her a gift card to the teacher store. With over $100, we presented her with a card and all the girls signed it! I hope Mrs. Kristoff knows how much impact she has made on our children and how much she is loved!

Monday was the last day of summer for me.  Tuesday I had to go back for 'teacher inservice' for lack of a better term. I can't believe summer is over. It always goes so fast. I think the older the kiddos get, the more we run around and faster the months pass. Mom stuck around on Monday and we all went to lunch at the Olive Garden. Kids had never remembered being there. Guess we don't eat there much!

Fair projects. Yikes, I took 20 of them and they're all due out to fairgrounds this week.  I quickly realized with the start of the school year for me, running kids to practices, and life, that all 20 would not be completed. That being said, I was able to finish most of them. Instead of posting about this twice, I'll just tell you how the ended up doing at the fair too, since they were judged over the weekend. I ended up with like $75 worth of premiums, but the joy of competition and sharing my love for the fair and all my creativity was worth even more! The night before the projects were due out to the fair wasn't cool. Especially when I saw 3am, but it all worked out. 

Dried Herbs- Took Mint (1st), Rosemary (3rd), and Basil.  Mint took Best of Show for all dried goods too!

Crafts- Stamped card (1st), scrapbook page- theme, it's a party (3rd), gift wrapping-theme was Harry Potter (1st) and the gift wrap took best of show!

Photos- B&W figurative, Old Doors, Silhouette- Isaac Steel Vengeance (3rd)

Cupcakes- Dogs (1st), nurses(1st), valentines day bears, llama(1st) and won Directors Choice

Baked Goods- Whoopee pies(1st), Pineapple Upside down cake (1st)

Pasta night- 1st place with Penne Rustica

Wednesday found us at our first volleyball practice for Olivia. Long story short, when I asked why I hadn't heard about it, I was told that it was 5-6 grade team.  After some additional probing and asking why some 4th graders were on the team, I was told that if I wanted to coach a team, then Olivia could play.  Ugh, I wasn't sure I had the patience for beginners. I mean like raw beginners. You know, the ones you have to explain what the out of bounds line is and why sometimes we chase it outside those lines when our team touches it, but we let it go if the other team send it out. But Wednesday was our first day and I thought practice flew by.  The girls were so sweet and eager to learn skills that it wasn't too bad at all. I enjoyed getting to know them and working on the fundamentals. 

Convocation happened at ONU on Thursday afternoon. I really do not enjoy dressing up in full regalia and parading around the freshman like we have some kind of magic powers. The entire idea of pulling them away from moving into their dorms with their parents still on campus just doesn't sound like a productive use of their time. But no one asked me if I wanted to sit there or not, so here I am.  

I flew out of the convocation like I was on fire to head out to the fair for Olivia's style review of her outfit. We were WAY early, but being our first time, we didn't know what to expect.  Well turned out only about 25 kids sewed projects, so the entire style review only lasted about 30 minutes. WOW.  Not what I was expecting. We had hyped Olivia up for the modeling contest (there was none) and also told her she might get a big ribbon- she did as she placed second in her category Sew Few.  Here pj's are adorable and I have no doubt she will get lots of use out of them. 

Friday night we headed out to the Elida Football game since they were going to announce the players of midget football and Isaac's name was going to be read.  (the said Isaiah Ahgozino and totally butchered it). The other part of the game was fun. Olivia had her bestie Lia hang with her and Isaac just sat with us to discuss some football, but mostly non-football topics. Elida won the game, but the scariest part of the night happened in the last three minutes. We stopped to talk to friends at the fence, and Olivia was begging to leave and go to the car. Well all of sudden she was missing. Jeremy went looking for her first and didn't see her.  I went the opposite way scanning the stands for an orange T-shirt- yeah, like Elida doesn't have that color on.  A good 10 minutes went by looking and texting momma friends and asking if they had seen her.  Finally one of her friends said she was down behind the band seating doing tricks in the grass. Sure enough there she was.  Wanted to kill and hug her at the same time.  

Saturday was HOT....Jamboree Football Scrimmage took place on our home turf and Isaac got to suit up and play in what came to be his only football game of the year. Long story of the mismanagement of teams, but all you really need to know is it's all good.  He played, we watched him, he left the field a champion and was delighted to find out, on his birthday no less, that he never needed to go back to practice. Jeremy was sad to let him walk away, but who changes kids teams after team photos, spirit wear orders were placed, scrimmages played and a third of the season done? Elida, that's who. Ah, we are not the NFL drafting and trading players into the season.  So with that, we allowed Issac to hand in his equipment and enjoy his last week of summer!