What Up!

Well Rob and I got out for a weekly walk for the first time in forever a couple weekends ago. Just went down a dirt road near the house, didn't go for long because rain was coming, felt a few sprinkles on the way back. Things have been rough, I emotionally bottomed out after the last run to mom's house, I'm now taking a regimen of multi vitamin, B-Complex and St. John's Wort it's helping me over the hump but I don't feel 100% at all. This too shall pass.

This is just a cute pix I took real quick of all the kids chillin' on the couch watching some Disney show, they love iCarly, Suite Life, Cloudy with a Chance, and Victorious. There won't be many times like this once Alex heads off to school so I've got to snap 'em when I can.

Stuffed mushrooms from the kitchen!! Used some leftover spinach dip, some bread crumbs, the stems from the mushrooms, and some parmesan cheese. Yum!! One of Ben's favorites!

Working on winning back the yard. The grass in some sections is waaaayyy high. Rob finally broke down and bought a new weed whip. Out with the old in with the new. He made that thing work for a good long time.

Ethan started Junior Golf Academy with week!

And Ben and Ethan are both doing swim lessons in Imlay City.

For the next couple weeks I'll be working a Creative Arts Camp in Rochester at the Paint Creek Center for the Arts....more details to follow!

I Survived

The first full year of all the kids in public school has just ended. We all made it although we had a pretty big loss along the way. Looking back it was in a way good they were in school while things went south with mom, it gave them something to keep their minds into and took the pressure off me in keeping up with their academics. I have enjoyed being a substitute teacher and look forward to taking on more in that area next year.

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Ethan and Ben received their final report cards today. Ben had all As and Bs and improved in virtually every area, interestingly his 2nd tri grades were the worst of the three which is not surprising considering all that happened but they were still decent. I was extremely happy to see that his reading scores greatly improved; going into the fourth grade year he was at a 3.8 (third grade, eighth month) and his final report was a 5.8 (fifth grade, eighth month)! Excellent Benny Boy! He is also continuing his advanced math status.

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Ethan on the other hand was all over the board with grades, mostly As and Bs, a couple Cs not in subject areas but skills & conduct, the worst being a D in neat and organized work. Geez. He is also advanced in math and his final reading score was a 5.3 (fifth grade, third month) which totally shocked me because he is sort of a stinker about reading with me. But obviously he's getting it done at school. E is the athletically motivated kid in the family and doesn't read much for pleasure like my older two who gooble up books, Ben can go either way and does go through periods of book reading on long rides or to kill time, mostly if the Gameboy is out of commission.

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Fox has not received his final report card yet but we know he has all As. He got a certificate of Academic Excellence at the Middle School Honors Night although Rob and I were a little disappointed they did not further recogized the kids by saying their GPAs and noting other activities the students were involved in. Although they took time to note the Spelling Bee, Art Work, and Student Council participants. Many of the kids that got good grades were in sports and other personal endeavors which in our eyes is always notable.

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There are some changes coming down the pipe for next year as the school adjusts to more financial constraints so I'm already purposing to think and speak that all will lead to a positive situation for each boy at their various grade level and also for Alexandra at college. Change is good overall, sometimes uncomfortable, but always necessary.

Graduation-Banquet-Performance

Pre ceremony snap of Alex, little brother Ethan, fellow NBHS classmates Nicole and Dakota (red shirt) who were ushering the big event, and A.J. a friend from the Lansing area who was kind enough to make the trip over to support her during this special event.
The gymnasium was a bit warm but it could have been worse, thankfully it rained all day and cooled things down a bit. We were impressed by the percentage of the class that graduated with honors, it was encouraging to see. After the ceremony the seniors were bussed over to the Rec Center in Lapeer for Project Graduation, an all-night party. Alex had a good time but as expected was exhausted the next day and she had to work at BK to boot.

Looks like we made it! Well, Rob almost didn't - the car died on him on the way back from Westland but thankfully his parents hooked him up with some wheels to get him back to North Branch for the night. What, is that somewhat of a smile I see on his face?

Also last week was the Junior High Boys' Track Banquet. Most of the medals went to 8th grade runners but it was good for Fox to see them get recognized, hopefully it will inspire him to up his game next year. He did get a certificate for being a Scholar Athlete which was nice. The coach was very happy about how many of the team kept their grades at 3.2 or above as well as improving their performances on the track and field. It was low key but a very nice event.










Friday the two choirs I've been working with, the Ruth Fox Choice Time Choir and the NBE After School Chorus presented their songs mostly to parents and grandparents. They did a nice job although the sound system in the elementary gym is not conducive to choral performance. The speakers are way out in the gym and there are no monitors on stage so they had a hard time hearing the accompaniment and kept rushing the tempos. All in all it went well and several parents made a point to thank me for my time and express their children's delight in being in choir. I'd like to do it again next year but be done before the end of the year craziness. There is so much happening in the last few weeks of school with sports, awards nights, performances, etc. things start to overlap way too much. I'm thinking October to February would be good.