CONGRATULATIONS JOE!

Because Joe is going to be a 6th grader next year - his last year of elementary school (which is hard for me to believe that he and Hailey will be in Jr. High soon), the 6th graders at Jessup are offered a chance to run for Student Council office. Joe came home on Monday and informed us that he wanted to run for office. He had a hard time deciding whether he wanted to run for VP or for Treasurer. He chose to run for Treasurer.

The school has a very thorough process to run. Once a student decides to run for office they have to get at least 5 students to sign a nominee paper. Once they sign that they then are eligible to run. Joe said originally 9 students became eligible for Treasurer. Then the 6th grade class picks 3 of the nominees to run for that office - Joe was lucky enough to be part of the three that could run for the Treasurer for the school. So, Joe did some campaigning last week, hung some fliers, posters and had to give a speech to all of the classes. The school voted on Friday and Joe won!

He is now the Jessup 2009-2010 Student Council Treasurer.
Congratulations Joe!

Happy Mother's Day

Although I am late posting this....Happy Mother's Day to all of the Mom's out there!

On Mother's day we all rode our bikes to Omi and Opasan's house for dinner. We had a great time and enjoyed ourselves. The kids got me a book and 8 golf lessons. I am looking forward to the lessons. I enjoy playing now but am not very good so the lessons will help me play a little better, or at least that is what I am hoping will happen. My first lesson is today!

Here is a picture of us all on our bikes in the driveway!

Spring Break Vacation

It seems like it has been forever since I have blogged and I have missed it!
We have been so busy that I haven't taken the time to sit down in the evenings and update all on our lives.

Over Spring Break we took a family vacation to Steamboat Springs, Colorado. We stayed in a Friend of the Family's condo right off of the ski area. It was Beautiful! While we were there we went to the Hot Springs pool. It was even snowing outside the day we went so it make it even more neat. We went shopping down town one day and we also took the kids ice skating and we watched the Springapalooza Cardboard Craft Race. The day we went home was Easter Sunday and guess what??? The Easter Bunny visited us there too. The kids were worried since they didn't tell him we would be there. But, he knew! Imagine that!

(Click on the collage to get a close up view)

Surgery

On Wednesday morning, bright and early, Omi (Clint's mom) had surgery. She has been afflicted with diverticulitis. She has had two bouts of it since January; with each a batch of antibiotics and a liquid diet. With two attacks coming so close together, her doctor thought it would be better to have the part of her colon afflicted removed. So, in she went Wednesday morning. The surgery took longer than expected due to her small frame, that's what her doctor said, but everything was successful. She had about 12" of her colon removed. We asked her if she was going to do what Joseph did when he had his tonsils removed -- save them in a jar! That was not her plan, thank goodness. She had a few painful days in the hospital but is feeling much better now, and should be returning home tomorrow (Monday).

Saturday night, we entertained Opasan for dinner. It was wonderful having him over. The kids took particular care in making sure he felt at home.

During Omi's stay in the hospital, she had friends and family visit but we want to especially thank the Cowboy for looking after her!!!! We love you Omi and are glad will be coming home.

FARFEGNUGEN

FARFEGNUGEN = The Joy Of Driving

After Clint bought his truck I thought "Right On" now I can have a car that doesn't HAVE to have room for everyone but if fun and has the Joy of Driving feel! Well, as you can see ~ I bought a Volkswagen Beetle and I LOVE IT!

Not only is it smaller but it is much cuter than my old car - the funny thing is I am calling a car CUTE! I must be crazy! But this gets much better gas mileage and if we all are going somewhere we can take Clint's truck!

I have never really named my car before now but it's name is FARFEGNUGEN - NUGEN for short! Clint decided to name his truck too - you'll love this one, Al! Some fancy name isn't it??? We can't help but laugh - it makes life even more fun!

Click on the collage for a closer look!
Two weeks ago Joe received his "Arrow of Light" award in Cub Scouts. This is the highest achievement that can be achieved in Cub Scouts. Once a boy earns his "Arrow of Light" award he then crosses over to become a Boy Scout. The collage, going from left to right, indicates the different things that were done that evening. The WeBeLos II boys started the meeting with posting of the colors, all of the cub scouts groups earned their awards for the year and then some older Boy Scouts led a skit on what the Arrow of Light meant. The boys then accepted the honor and crossed over a wooden bridge - indicating the crossing over from cub scouts to boy scouts. Joe really enjoyed the evening and is proud of his accomplishments in cub scouts. He has not decided whether or not he is going to continue with boy scouts next year. He already has so many logs in the fire with Orchestra, Competitive Baseball, Basketball, and Football that there is hardly room for any more - plus with two other kids Clint and I are spread pretty thin. But, if he decides to continue on in scouting we will support his choice.

The last few pictures of the collage show him crossing over the bridge, posing nicely and dorky with his fellow scouts and then him signing the bridge - leaving his mark!

Jessup Reading Celebration

Every year Jessup Elementary has a reading celebration at the end of approx 8 weeks. Each child is required to read a certain amount of minutes per week (the number of minutes needed to be read depends on grade)

Joe and Alexis both read the required amount of time over the 8 weeks and each earned a medal for their accomplishments.

*The pictures of them receiving their awards came out really dark