Our A celebration!!!

Because of the good test scores Mitch & Ali chose to go bowling! We went to the local bowling alley and played!!! It was funny because the place didn't look that old but, they didn't have electronic scoring and B and I didn't know how to keep score so i left it up to him and guess who won, Brandon of course!!!




after bowling we went to buffalo wild wings and had some appetizers,watched a little sports and just hung out and talked.



after eating so much really fattening yummy food, we decided it was time to go home and watch a movie. we all laid on the floor together and watched The Man From Snowy River. I hadn't seen it before. It was pretty good!!! We had a really fun night together! I wonder what we will do the next time the bring home A's. Good job guys!

Woo hoo, look at these tests!

So i've blogged a lot about how hard school has been for mitch this year so i had to post this test he got an A-!!!!! yea!!!!

and ali got 100% on her 25 word spelling test (usually they only have 10 a week)! yea!!!!

we are so proud of them that we are taking them out for a night on the town, not quite sure where or what we're doing but it should be a fun celebration!!!!!!!

Yeah, for Mitchie!!!!!

77 out of 77 on his Indian Chief Project!!!!!Good job Mitch!!!

FOR THIS IS HALLOWEEN....

I think everyone knows I love HALLOWEEN!!!!! We started the day off with the school parade which the kids were excited about because in Bonney Lake, they weren't allowed to wear their costumes to school :(



Ali's Class




One of the strange things about our community is that there is a specific time for TRICK-OR-TREATING. They only allow the kids to go from 6:00-7:30 that is it. Our neighborhood met in front of someones house at 5:45 so we could start with a few pictures and get to our first TREAT right at 6:00.





It was a little bit different for us this year because B had to work late and Mitch had a drum lesson that didn't end until 5:30 so we did our best to get to the neighbors house by 5:45 but were a little bit late.
The last few years we only had 1 or 2 trick-or-treaters come to our house so B and I took the kids out together but this year there are a milllion kids in our neighborhood so since B had to work late he came home and passed out candy for a while and I went out with Mitch and then we switched (Ali of course had to go with her friends).


(And this is only a few of the kids in the neighborhood!! )


Ali dressed up as a "MIDNIGHT FAIRY" and Mitch started out as a "GLOW IN THE DARK SKELETON" but decided at the last minute he wanted to be a "HARLEY BIKER" so he through on a leather jacket,some boots and a bandana and they were off.

Hope it was HAPPY HAUNTING for you!!!!

A DAY AT THE FARM.

Ali's class had their first field trip today and I wasn't going to go because they already had too many mom's going but, at the last minute her teacher told me they could use my help so I went.

We went to Hale Farm which is an area where the Hale family setteled and built their little community. They showed the kids how the pioneers back in 1832 lived.

It was pretty neat and some of the kids even said they would have liked to live like the pioneers did.

I thought the school house and the church were fun so I took some pictures..

Are you smarter than a 5th grader?

Now that the kids have been in school for almost 2 months here in Avon Lake, Brandon and I both are really learning what it is like to be parents of kids that really have to try hard to do good in school!!!!

Up until now, our kids have done very well in school and have not struggled too much other than the normal things most kids struggle with like homework, learning to read, and doing harder math etc.

Well, we are now learning that OHIO schools are much farther ahead of Utah and Washington schools and our kids are behind which really makes things hard for all of us.

Mitch comes home with at least 3-5 pages of homework a night (most of which Ohio schools taught the kids when they were in 2nd and 3rd grade and in Seattle he would have learned in 4th), on top of reading and studying for the 2 tests he usually has each week, and when I say test, I mean test. My kids have never really had tests like the ones they are taking here. These are very legit tests that even I have a hard time studying for.

We spend most afternoons from the time the kids get off the bus until they go to bed (sometimes we have soccer,drum lessons,football,piano,tumbling ,kids in the community,baseball in there as well) doing homework and studying. It feels so crazy to feel totally exausted by the end of the week and so happy that there is no homework or test studying to do over the weekend unless of course we know of a big test that is coming up or if one of the kids has a big project they are working on, which right now Mitch does.

Lets just say I am so happy when Brandon is home and is able to help with all they have to get done. He is much better at finding new and fun ways for the kids to learn.

Man, I feel like I am in school too but it is not a good thing when your 2nd grader brings home assignments that you don't know how to do.

Lets just say I'M NOT SMARTER THAN A 5TH GRADER (or a 2nd or 4th grader either).

Dance, Dance,Dance!!!

Tonight we went to the kids school for family fun night with a DJ and dancing. They had a lot of fun with hula hoops,the YMCA,hokey pokey and lots more fun dance songs. I couldn't get Mitch to go out on the floor and dance because just before we were heading to the school, he fell off his bike and the handle bars hit him in the mouth so he has been walking around the house (and school) with a big tissue sticking out of his mouth. Needles to say, he thought it would hurt to dance.





I did however get a few pictures of the Ali's back while she was dancing. She was so cute and fun to watch. She, like always is miss social and of course had to make sure not to miss any of the dancing with her friends!!