First Grade

Crew started first grade a couple weeks ago. He's loving it. It's a little rough to be gone all day long. He won't admit that. But we can tell a difference by the end of the day when he's really tired. He is doing great, has lot's of friends, and plays REALLY hard at recess! He's such a little sports boy. He's either playing basketball, football, or some other game with his friends at recess. And he comes back in to the classroom all sweaty! Such a boy! He loves taking his own lunch and getting to pick some of the things that are in it. Although, he really only wants what I consider once in a while treats, like pudding, chips, other treats. But he's working on being better about eating his sandwich too. And he has decided that there are occasional items on the school lunch menu that he wants to eat. I don't mind if he eats the school lunch occasionally but definitely think it's cheaper and healthier to make him his lunch. And since I make Rett's lunch in the morning, it's no big deal to make Crew's at the same time. He also loves riding the bus. He does not want his mom taking him to school! He has no problems getting up and getting ready, and is a great morning kid. His teacher is Mrs. Morrison. And she is awesome. She always has the kids so prepared to move on the next year and is super at helping them get good at reading. The school uses a reading program where the kids read books, and then take comprehension quizzes online. Depending on the level of book, they get different amount of points. Most of the beginner books are only worth 1/2 a point. Crew was the first one in his class to get 25 points and he was so excited that he got to pick a prize. His teacher gives him prizes at 25, 50, 75, and 100 point increments. Then, for every 100 points they get to "walk the hall of fame" where they walk in a parade with other kids who've made 100 points and the other classes watch them. We haven't seen this yet, but apparently it's quite the big deal and very motivating for the kids. His teacher also sent him a cute post card when he got to 25 points, and he was thrilled to get it in the mail. I'm hoping we can keep up the motivation for reading and he can develop a desire for lifelong learning and a good attitude about school. Drake misses his brother a little since he's gone all day long. But he's a pretty easy going boy and has always been good at playing alone, so he's adapting. So far, our experience with first grade is great!

More Photo Class Favorites

Digital Photography Class

I am in the middle of a digital photography class with a friend. It's once a week for a couple of hours down in Logan for 12 weeks. And I am learning so much about my camera and taking pictures. It's been fun and challenging. Sometimes I feel like I'm very successful and sometimes I really struggle with light, exposure, composition, and metering. I've learned, and continue to learn, about depth of field, blurring backgrounds, freezing and blurring motion, and shooting in manual mode instead of automatic! But I hope to be able to increase my abilities and take better picture of everyday life, the dogs, and our family. Here are a few of my favorites so far.

Little Buckaroo Rodeo 2013

The boys really wanted to ride in a rodeo this year. So we made one work. They both rode in the Little Buckaroo Rodeo in Grace. Crew really wanted to ride a calf this year. I will be honest, I was a little discouraging and not super supportive of this idea. But Rett was a good dad and said if he wanted to do it, we would let him. Drake stuck with the safer, slower, smaller, and lower to the ground sheep. They both did great. Especially considering I had them at Bear Lake in the hot sun with friends all day the day of the rodeo. They were sunburned and tired. But were good, tough cowboys. Crew really surprised us. He was third out of the 14 kids in his 4-8 year old age group. It's funny how the boys, especially Crew, are just cowboys. Of course we will support the boys in any worthy cause they want to pursue. But we have not pushed the cowboy thing. Crew however, is just plain old cowboy at heart. Such cute cowboys. And best of all, no one got hurt and they had fun!

Crew is 6

Crew turned 6 in April. It's hard to believe! And he finished up kindergarten last week! Right now he's really into basketball. So we had a basketball cake and took him to shoot hoops at the school. It was a fun evening with just the four of us. For his birthday he got a compound bow. He's loving shooting with his dad. Crew is our little social boy. He missed a whole week of school because of a bad flu bug. He cried every morning I told him he still couldn't go. I'm so excited for his teacher next year. He's nervous but will do great. She always turns her students into great readers. We are so glad Crew is part of our family and couldn't imagine life without him! Now we're ready to start our summer!