Yippee!! School's Out! (At least I think Yippee...)

That was one of the fastest school years on record.... right up until the last two weeks, which went painfully slow. There were some really good moments though. I have report cards for my elementary kids, and they are all straight A's. McKay and Taisha both earned Faithful Attendance awards, and Presidential Fitness awards. McKay did gymnastics in the 2nd grade talent show, went on a field trip to Walmart (ya, I know.... budget cuts made the field trips a little odd this year!) Taisha played the piano for the 6th grade talent show, and walked to Sonic for their field trip. Anaya walked to McCowin park for a picnic and had SO much fun on field day and the hot dog reading party.

Probably the coolest thing was Taisha was awarded the Hope of America award. It says on her award: "Presented with honor to Taisha Finlayson who has demonstrated during this school year capacity for leadership, ethical and moral character and outstanding academic accomplishment." (Incidentally Kayden was also awarded this when he was in 6th grade.)

(My camera takes terrible pictures in the gym!)

I worked on average 5 1/2 - 6 hours a day through this school year. This was new for me, and meant that things at home had to run REALLY smoothly. I felt like I was operating in some type of hyper-efficiency mode. I was never behind more than a load or two of laundry at any given time, dishes were washed and unloaded the night before, backpacks were packed, planners were signed, homework was done and corrected, lunches were packed (I hated that part), and laundry was folded and put away, all before I could go to bed that night. Trying to squeeze sports, homework, shopping, cooking, cleaning, and church responsibilities into the mix, made for exhausting days. But at the end of the week, I always had this feeling of accomplishment. I had to cut a lot of extras though. I didn't watch TV all year, not even the news. I have no idea what happened in the world or community this year. I didn't do anything with friends (I've missed that though!) I have eaten terribly this year, and what used to be a rare pop every now and again, turned into a once a day pop habit. I made it to the gym a whopping 2 times. I did a slap-happy job visiting teaching this year (lots of phone calls and just running a treat around quickly). But over all, I'm pleased with how the year went, and I loved my job at the school.

We've had our first day of summer break, and depending on when you talked to me, I was either overjoyed, or super grumpy. I was thrilled listening to Malia have time to practice the piano for 2 hours, while Taisha and McKay were on the couch reading the latest Friend magazine. And loved watching Anaya spend part of the morning drawing and coloring while Kayden was applying for jobs. But banning Kayden and his friends from the basement until further notice after an aggressive Nerf gun / Rockband war left my basement in shambles, and a foot and a half of wall that now needs to be repaired.... left me kind of grumpy. And scrubbing the words "McKay wrote this" which was written in ballpoint pen all over the kids closet doors had me a little frustrated (and as you can guess, McKay didn't write that..... ) And I haven't quite adjusted to the chaos level in the house.... but I got to sleep in!

Here's Anaya's dance pictures from this year. I love it!!

And Kayden brought home his prom pictures:

Kayden and Kristen

I sure do like that Kirsten girl (probably not as much as Kayden though!)