Matching Matching Purple Squared!

The girls were excited to have matching glasses for about 12 seconds:

These girls really do love each other!

Teacher Appreciation

Last week was Teacher Appreciation....WHEW!

I had almost an entirely new committee this year, which made this year really tough. We had a VERY steep learning curve. At one point I was really thinking we should throw in the towel.

This was the 18th year that Highlands Ranch has done this awards night. It was a beast to organize and execute, but in the end- it turned out incredible. Just like it always does.

Once again, I had the "delightful" honor of conducting the evening. I told some jokes and tried to keep it pretty light, which ended up working out well. People liked feeling a little more relaxed. I am not a big fan of conducting, but our local church leaders like the idea of having a woman conduct, as that rarely happens in our church.

We were able to get Jimmer Fredette to read the tributes that the students wrote to their teachers. Jimmer was a superstar at BYU and then went on to play in the NBA, and now plays in China where he has a ton of success. He actually lives in our regional boundaries, and his wife graduated from the high school I taught at, and that is how we were able to get him. He is incredibly nice! You would never think he is world famous- just a super down to earth, kind person. I was very impressed.

I was so incredibly tired when I got home! And, more than that, relieved! We had a last meeting the Sunday evening before the event, and everything was complete chaos. But, it somehow came all together and turned out simply amazing. I prayed and prayed that the Lord would magnify our efforts, and He did. Truly, it was awesome to be a part of such a great night. Our interim superintendent and two school board members came (and, don't worry- I was VERY nice). A reporter from the local paper came (which is the first tie that ever happened, and was fabulous!). HERE is the article in case you are really bored.

Camille's Caterpillar

This statue is at the library- it's so cute, and Camille insisted on getting a picture with it.

Easter!

Last night the girls asked us what time they could get up. For Christmas they have to wait until 7, but I don't really care if I see them get their Easter baskets or not, so I told them they could go downstairs whenever they woke up.

I did not expect them to be awake at 5:58 AM yelling and screaming.

Lesson learned. Back to 7 AM start time we go.

From the Easter Bunny, the girls got dresses and some toys/coloring books:

I made some crepes and cinnamon rolls for breakfast. We even splurged to let them have some apple juice.

Then,the girls got to go hunt eggs. They were pretty excited about that.

Camille's bunny mask:

Then, they got a second Easter hunt at Grandma and Grandpa's house, who spoiled them rotten:

The girls helped me make a Bunny cake. It turned out really cute. Ben didn't want us to make a cake after the cinnamon rolls and all the other sugar that we have in our house, but his vote was vetoed. After all, Easter is really the only day that a Bunny Cake makes any sense.

After we finished, Camille said, "That bunny looks great, Mom!"

It was a very tasty bunny as well.

Five Weeks!

It is hard to believe, but we only have FIVE WEEKS left of school! Whew! That just seems incredible.

This year has been fantastic, but I'm not going to lie...I'm feeling a little burned out. Granted, it doesn't help that I was in charge of a huge Teacher Appreciation event this past week, which I'll write more about later. It's just been really stressful with that and everything else going on.

That isn't to say we aren't having a great year- because we are. Just that I am excited that I only have 20 days of teaching left, and then it's summer! Yahoo!

I'm reading a really great book right now called Light Up Your Child's Mind. The premise is that all children are gifted, in that every child has unique gifts and talents to share with the world. I LOVE that premise! Anyway, it's about finding ways to tap into their interests and passions for them to get excited about researching and exploring their interests to achieve maximum potential. It got me thinking that I will let the girls each choose a unit for us to finish the year with. They haven't yet decided what they want to study, but I think it will be fun- whatever they choose.

One thing that was WILDLY successful was a Marble Run Challenge co-op that I hosted yesterday. Claire, in particular, was very meticulous about her marble run. She loved it- she wanted to add traps and ramps and all kinds of things. What I thought would take about 10 minutes and may end up boring the kids, turned out to take the kids hours, and Claire could have easily spent more time doing it. It was awesome.

On the three-tiered  marble run, I had the girls work together to build one big marble run. In my mind I thought they would do one really long run, but they immediately decided they wanted to do a tiered run. I thought their creativity was fabulous!

If you are looking for a fun summer activity with your kids, I HIGHLY recommend this! HERE is a link to the instructions.

Spring!

Once Spring hit, winter finally decided to descend upon us, so spring has actually been quite cold and snowy. But, we got a few days of spring this last week!

While Ben and Audra went for a bike ride, Claire and Camille decided to stop and pick some flowers.

Lady Justice

We just finished a small unit on justice. We talked about how the Supreme Court works and such. I had the girls act as lawyers, look at evidence, and present to Judge Camille and the jury whether or not Anna Anderson was really Anastasia.

They had a lot of fun with this. The lawyers even wore matching dresses.

Here they are posing as Lady Justice (notice the closed eyes to ensure fairness):

Camille loved having her hairbrush as a gavel.