8 May 2016

Happy Mother's Day!

We agree with Barack Obama when he said, "Nothing beats watching your kids become smarter and cooler than you are."  Here are four smart, cool kids!

Sofi's school had another dress up week.  Tuesday was Dress to Unimpress Day.  Mission accomplished.

Wednesday was May 4th, also known as Star Wars day (may the 4th be with you).  Sofi got to wear her Halloween costume again, but we didn't take a photo.  Thursday was Twin Day.  Sofi is interning for 2 weeks with the freshman English teacher and chose to dress like him, including his stubbly beard.

Thursday night was the Top 5% Banquet for Sofi's school.  Seniors with grade point averages in the top 5% and their parents are invited to attend.  Our high school is divided into three small schools and each school had 5-6 students in the top 5%.  This is a photo of the graduates from all the schools.

Sofi was honored as the valedictorian of her school and received a blue ribbon and medal.  Her friends, Joey and Bella, attend a different school and also received honors.  Bella is the valedictorian (highest GPA) and Joey is the salutatorian (2nd highest GPA.)  These girls have been friends since middle school and have been a great influence on each other.

Each student invites a teacher to honor at the banquet.  Each student gives a short speech of gratitude explaining why they invited the teacher of their choice.  Sofi invited her Chinese teacher, Zheng Ling.    Sofi has taken Chinese for 6 years and Zheng Ling has been her teacher for 3 of those years.  Last year, Sofi was the only student left in the upper level class after the rest of the students dropped out in the first month of school.  Zheng Ling continued to teach Sofi for the rest of the year.  This year there are 4 students in her upper level class and it's Sofi's favorite class of the day.

Helen and Gib's class finished their last passion projects for the year.  Gib and Caleb made another funny video.  Clara and Helen learned a duet to play together.  They also built a stage to perform on and made T-shirts for their band.  Here is a photo of them stenciling the name of their band on their T-shirts: Cut it Out.

Clara and Helen performed for their class on Friday.  They played the song "Nothing Like You" by Dan and Shay.  Since it's a country song, the girls wore cowboy hats and boots.  Clara played the keyboard and Helen played the violin.  They built their stage by pushing three workbenches together and decorating the benches with a painted backdrop and Christmas lights.

On Friday Gib and Helen's class also took a field trip to Sofi's school.  The high schoolers planned a fun carnival called "Bisapalooza."  It was fun to see Sofi.  She's dressed up for Hawaiian Day.

This is a photo of Sofi in action at her class's booth.  She's telling the elementary students they must free the Vulcans from the evil Romulons.

Helen was brave enough to try the zipline.  It was a popular activity with both high schoolers and elementary students shrieking in delight.  Becky noticed a sign on the door behind the zipline that said "Testing in progress.  Do not disturb."  We're pretty certain the test was disturbed.

Brandan and Helen built supports for our raspberries.  We moved our blueberry bushes and now have more room for raspberry canes.  The new supports are sturdier than our old stakes and support the canes on both sides.  Helen is filling dirt in around one of the supports.  After the supports were in, they strung wires between the crossbars to hold up the raspberry canes.

This is a photo of Brandan and Gibson making breakfast for Mothers' Day.  Our family went to see Twelfth Night Saturday night and didn't get home until 11:30 pm.  We didn't expect to see anyone awake before 9 am.  Everyone was awake before breakfast, though, and everyone helped make delicious breakfast burritos.  Twelfth Night was Abe and Gibson's first Shakespeare play to see.  We all enjoyed the excellent production and the best part was watching our kids' reactions and listening to them laugh.

We are grateful for the opportunity to remember the blessings from mothers in our lives.  Becky is a calming, steadying force in our family who daily provides little acts of love, delightful conversation, tasty food, miles of transportation and winds down each day for the kids with a bedtime story and song.