Keepin' Up with the Joneses: Last Week of School and Catch Up

Monday, June 3, 2013

Last Week of School and Catch Up

It seems like the year just started, doesn't it? Hm, ask any kid and they'll say the opposite. The older kids have finals and half-days this whole week, so just about the time I get the twins off--Tyce and Mary reappear. Oy. The house is a wreck and I want to get several projects and workbooks ready for summer and I am apparently running out of time.

Here are some things that went on in April.

1. We dyed Easter eggs on General Conference weekend. Yes, a week late because that's how we roll. I'd boiled the eggs before we left for Utah but we never got around to coloring them.You may be noticing a trend here, that my little holiday plans aren't working out as expected lately.

Mary and Harrison are the meticulous ones.

Cam is just in it to be cool.

He's always the first one done and his spot is the messiest. But he's happy and that's all that matters, right?

Miss Mary and her pretties.

Tyce was around but was more than willing to let me take his spot at the table. I guess 11th-grade guys aren't as in to decorating eggs as Pinterest has led me to believe.

2. I went on the 2nd grade field trip to see a stage production of Skippy Jon Jones at UNLV. It was one of the strangest plays I've ever seen. The title character is an imaginitive chihuahua who wants to be a cat. The books are absolutely adorable, by the way. But I couldn't decided if the message of the musical was that being different is good, or that if you feel species dysphoria trapped inside your body, your family should enable your desire to change. Cute story or political agenda? I think this was all made confusing by the human acting.

This is, of course, my own overthinking. The kids had a great time.

Some of the class. Cam is the the middle of the pack.

There's Harrison.

Cameron and his friend Cody.

And Harrison with Cody.

Cam was my bus buddy.

3. Katie found an injured American Coot hiding in a bush in the park by our house. It is a water fowl and it was far from home (which I'm assuming was Lake Mead, although we read they also like golf courses). The poor thing had a broken leg. Of course our rescue vet (i.e. Mary) took great care of the creature until she and Bryce could drive it the bird sanctuary the next day.

They had quite a time dropping off the bird (which Cameron named "Duh", infuriating Mary). The Coot was not cooperative and when Bryce and Mary tried to smuggle it into the water, it freaked out and bit Bryce. So then there was a big kerfuffle of flapping and shouting which roused a worker's attention. He probably thought they were stealing a bird, not donating one, because he shouted, "Hey!" which was enough to send Bryce and Mary hightailing it back to the minivan.

In the tub with a piece of bread.

Posing for the camera.

Duh, ready for his/her close-up.

4. We went on a double date to Beauty and the Beast at the Smith Center. Tyce took a lovely girl named Jenny and she was such an easy person to talk to. She was in my seminary class her freshman year. The play was amazing and it was a fun night all around.