Air Show Video

Mike took the boys to the airshow today. They enjoyed seeing the Thunderbirds in action.

Emily is Now On the Road

It's official. Emily passed driver's ed and got her permit today. The Secretary of State office near our house was closed because the power went out around there from a storm yesterday. So we had to drive down to 28th street to get it. After waiting a really long time, Emily and Mike emerged triumphantly from the overcrowded, stinky waiting area (I had taken the boys to a toy store in the mall). Emily drove us to a restaurant near the mall, and then all the way home. She navigated well, and even had to deal with two major intersections where the power was out. She has a tendency to drift to the right side of the road, but she did really well overall. We now have to log at least 30 hours before she takes Step 2 of the drivers ed program, and then another 20 hours before she gets her license when she turns 16.

Cat Lounging

More Pictures of the Flood

This is the road where my parents live.

This isn't my parents' car, but a relative of their neighbor who was trying to navigate the road. My dad got in to their house yesterday with a four-wheel drive.

Video Post - Avritt Shooting His Bow and Arrow

First Video Post - Isaac Shooting His Bow and Arrow

My Parents' Farm

This picture was taken yesterday. The arrow is pointing to my parent's house. The road, which is under water, is running up the left side of the picture between the clumps of trees (there are houses in every clump). There's sort of a wavy white line where the road is, which means the water is flowing over the road with enough speed to make a "wave." My parent's farm is on the left side of the road, all around their house. The river is on the right side of the thicker line of trees. Pretty much on either side of the river is farmland. It will be really hard for my parents to return to their house and for them to see the damage from the flood water. Here is the link for more pictures of the area around where my parent's live: http://www.voy.com/99480/33580.html

Bows and Arrows

Last week I bought a book for Avritt called The Dangerous Book for Boys. I mentioned in an earlier post that it included instructions for making a bow and arrows. That has been the project for the last week. We first went to a friend's house who owns some property with woods and collected some branches suitable for making a bow. Avritt spent several hours shaving the bark off the sticks and cutting off the little knobs to make a spot to hold the bow. Yesterday we finally rounded up all the various parts we needed for arrows. I had a hard time finding feathers, and ended up going to a dollar store where I found an Indian dreamweaver. I bought two for $2, which included just enough for eight arrows. I went to Lowes and bought four 48 inch dowels for 53 cents each. We cut them in half, sawed a nock in the end to keep them on the string, and then attached three feathers at 120 degree angles from one another. That was the hardest part. I almost super-glued my fingers to the arrow. The feathers were curved, and that was a challenge because they had to be straightened out to get them to stay on the shaft of the arrow. Then we struggled with figuring out what to use for the arrowhead. I objected to using metal pointed tips for obvious reasons - projectiles, young boys, and sharp don't mix. I couldn't find anything that was suitably blunt. In a conversation with my physical therapist about it, he suggested that we just use a dremmel or a grinder to make a tip on the dowel, and not worry about gluing anything else on it. I called Mike on his way home and asked him where the dremmel was, but he wondered whether the 1/4 inch dowel would fit in the pencil sharpener. I replied that I doubted it would, but upon Mike's confidence that it would work, I got the sharpener and sure enough, it worked perfectly. We just sharpened the arrows and 5 seconds later had a perfect tip. The tips are plenty sharp, and could do some serious damage to a person, so some safety procedures have been put into place. The boys can only shoot with adult supervision. Our last challenge was a target. We found a pizza box in the recycling, and we stood it up on the ground. The bottom of the box had a small circle shape, so we had a perfect target at no cost. So far the boys have been having a blast. Even Mike and I tried shooting the bow, which was great fun.

Fun with Grandpa

My dad is here visiting after having to evacuate his house due to the flood in Iowa. We went to a local botanical gardens for the afternoon. It was a beautiful day (high 60's), although a little chilly when the sun went behind the clouds.

Parental Bragging Rights: Isaac

Round three and the last of the bragging rights here. Isaac received the top score on all the outcomes on his report card, and here are some comments from his teacher:

"Isaac is a great listener, has wonderful ideas to contribute during group time and uses his time wisely when working. He is very conscientious and enthusiastic about learning and seems to have a good attitude toward school. Isaac is a very cooperative, well mannered boy who is always kind to everyone. You can be proud of him. He continued throughout the year to make excellent progress both in reading and math. I look forward to hearing about all his accomplishments next year!"

Isaac was in an accelerated reading group this year in school. His scores on the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test placed him above 99% of his peers in word decoding and above 94% in comprehension. His total score placed him above 99% of his peers.

Of coures these scores aren't the be all and end all of assessing someone, but I'm excited that they are reading a lot and understanding what they are reading.

Parental Bragging Rights: Avritt

I also believe in equal treatment, so here's the report from Avritt's teacher:

I am enjoying having Avritt in class this year! He is a good friend to his peers, and a very hard worker. Avritt puts his personal best effort into his work, and frequently raises his hand to participate in class discussions and share his ideas. He is respectful and considerate to his peers and adults at school, and is very responsible. Avritt has a great sense of humor, and is very clever. He is doing well in all areas of the language arts curriculum, and is a great reader and writer. Avritt continues to demonstrate an overall strong number sense in math. Avritt has done a phenomenal job in 4th grade this year. He is a great problem solver and thinker.

Avritt took the Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test, and received a national percentile rank (he scored better than that percent of national students) of 93 in vocab and 97 in comprehension. He is scored at grade 10.5 for vocab and Post High School for comprehension. His total was at grade 12.5.

The latest favorite book of his is called The Dangerous Book for Boys by Conn and Hal Iggulden. Here is the beginning of the introduction: "In this age of video games and cell phones, there must still be a place for knots, tree houses, and stories of incredible courage. The one thing that we always say about childhood is that we seemed to have more time back then. This book will help you recapture those SUnday afternoons and long summers--because they're still ong if you know how to look at them." The book includes how to make a bow and arrow, the five knots every boy should know, making a battery, the rules of soccer, understanding grammar, famous battles, spies - codes and ciphers, astronomy tidbits, making a paper water bomb (this worked quite well), sampling shakespeare, the navajo code talker's dictionary, skipping stones, a brief history of artillary, and more.

Parental Bragging Rights: Emily

OK, I try not to do this too often. I have no interest in being the mom who has the "My Kid is an Honor Roll Student" bumper sticker. However, when it comes to grade point average, I have an admitted weakness, so I am going to use this forum to brag about my kids. Emily achieved a 4.0, straight A average this year as a freshman in high school! She took two honors classes, Advanced Algebra 2 and Honors English. She worked hard in those classes and it paid off. Her exam grades were all 92% and higher. I am very proud of her so today we are celebrating. We're going to the mall so she can find a new bathing suit and some shorts.

Flood Prediction Rising

The latest news is 21 feet by this coming Monday. Here is a good link to follow the predictions:

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/ahps2/hydrograph.php?wfo=dmx&gage=otmi4

Avritt's Fourth Grade Graduation

Mike and I attended Avritt's 4th Grade Graduation this morning. This picture shows him being congratulated by the school principal. Avritt received the President's Award for Outstanding Academic Excellence. Here is what Avritt composed about his future plans, which was read at the graduation:

Engineering, my future! Well, first I'm going to college at the University of Michigan. After college, I'm going to work at Applebee's until I get enough money to go into the business of engineering for Speedo or Lego. For Speedo, I will design goggles and swimming suits because I've spent a lot of my life swimming. I will get married and have any amount of children, up to 4. At first, my ride will probably be something cheap, but if I succeed in business, I will get the newest model from Honda. I have no idea what I will name my kids, but my wife and I will decide. There are three places I would like to live: Colorado, California or Michigan. If I live in Colorado, it will be next to a snowboard or ski resort. If in California, I will be next to the beach. If in Michigan, I'll stay just right here. There is a look into MY future! P.S. I want a nice house of 4 stories high.

Cat Under Umbrella

It's been raining here a lot, and some wet umbrellas have been drying off in our entryway as of late. One of our cats likes standing under them, I think because she thinks she's hiding. I couldn't take the picture without the flash, so this should be named "Demon Cat under Umbrella."

Isaac's Presentation on Archery

Isaac gave a presentation on archery this week in school. He did an excellent job. He created a display board showing the different kinds of bows, detailed information about crossbows, and other pictures like archers in the Olympics. He then took the class outside and showed them how to shoot his toy compound bow and crossbow.

Flooding in Iowa

My parents have been warned that the river near their house will be rising to flood levels this week.  They have already evacuated the farm equipment and all of my dad's tools.  They will be taking valuables and leaving the house in the next couple of days.  They will most likely lose the crop this year.  The last time this happened was the year Emily was born.  There was a widespread flood and water reached into their buildings and the basement of their house.  That was at 22 feet above flood stage, and I think the flood levels predicted this week are 16 feet above flood level.

Time Warp

These last two days have been strange for me, and I feel like I have been sucked into a time warp. My kids are still in school until Thursday, but I am free! Yesterday was a full day in school, but the rest of the week consists of half-days. After this last year of getting up at 6:15 and getting myself and the kids ready every morning, it is very strange to still be sitting in my PJs at 9:47 am. I have eaten breakfast, but that's about it. Yesterday I was able to take the time to read some books that were recommended for the boys (I have been trying to keep up on what they are reading more lately, and some of the books written for children are really good!). Today I took the time to catch up with a good friend's blog. In some ways, it's hard to enter a slower-paced life. I like to-do lists generally speaking, but now that I'm not teaching every day, a list of things that haven't gotten done for a long time keeps popping up. I plan on having a semi-structured day with the kids this summer, but for just this week, I am trying to detox from an addiction called busyness. I realize this addiction may not be as bad as others, but its grip is tight. Making a choice to become less busy was the right thing for me to do (I'm not returning to the high school next fall - just one job at the college for me) but replacing the busyness with the things that I value isn't as easy as I thought it would be. Taking the time to spend with people, enjoying a bike ride with the kids, reading a good book, spending the time to make some really good food for supper, or just spending some time thinking are things that are valuable, but not necessarily "productive." There are things that need to get done, and a big to-do list is forming in my mind right now for the summer. BUT...just this week no to-do lists. OK, that's not counting the five baseball games between the boys, the presentation on archery that Isaac did for which I needed to deliver the poster, toy compound bow and crossbow that couldn't be at school other than the presentation time due to the fact that they are "weapons," the after-school parties that kids need delivered to, the swim practice, the swim meet, the baseball game of our local minor league team, the 4th grade graduation ceremony for Avritt,....

It's Official

I'm done with teaching for the summer! Yesterday was my last day with any teaching duties until the fall semester starts up in August at the college. I am not returning to the high school job because I am returning to a more sane life. I need more time to keep up the house, do stuff with my kids, cook good food, and get my foot back to full health. I am ready to be myself again.

Piano Recital

Avritt did a very good job at his piano recital to finish out the year taking lessons. His biggest challenge was not to play the songs too fast. He kept his tempo really well, and his piano teacher complemented him afterwards. He accomplished a lot the first year. He will take at least one more year, and next fall Isaac will join him in taking lessons.