Miles's 5th grade awards

Earlier this month, Miles got 2nd place in the District Math Olympiads competition.

He also got an award for his puppet show version of Shrek that he performed for the 5th grade talent show. When his official 5th grade award ceremony came, I knew he would be getting a lot, but I didn't know he'd outdo Damon from two years ago. Miles decided to wear a suit for the day of the ceremony, and people saw a lot of it as he was called up many times.

One of the awards was missing, so Mr. Whorton had to bring it by the house later.

All in all, he got trophies for choir and strikers (doing all years), outstanding choir member, outstanding striker, 2-year choir participation, 3-year strikers participation, choir soloist, musical lead role, and news crew. He got medals for choir and strikers participation for this year and for getting top 10% in Math Olympiads, and he got certificates for A Honor Roll, SOAR, and Math Olympiads participation.

I'd say he made the most of 5th grade, and we're pretty proud of him.

Heather and Rachel visiting

My niece Rachel is moving out of Arizona. Heather is helping them drive, and on their way to Canada via Virginia they stopped at our house. Their RV broke down along the way, so they ended up being a few days late, but we made it work.

We invited Dan and Hyde's family over. They were dealing with a tree that had just fallen on their house from a recent derecho, so I went and at least got Dan and some of the kids.

We had dinner, and Hyde was able to make it later that evening, too.

And of course, we couldn't have Heather here and not play Boggle and do a puzzle.

Carmen lifeguarding

Carmen started lifeguarding earlier this month.

She is working at our two neighborhood pools, so of course we had to swimming while she was on duty to bother her.

Miles as Lord Farquaad in Shrek

Like his brother before him, Miles auditioned for and got the role of Lord Farquaad in the 5th grade Shrek musical.

The show was fantastic as always and Miles did a great job as Farquaad.

It's sad that this is our last ESE musical, but I feel like we went out on top.

ESE Color Run

After having a great time at it last year, we did our second and last Color Run at ESE this year. The whole family ran again.

It was delayed a couple of weeks because of weather, and they changed the course so it only went around the parking lot instead of the whole school.

 Amber and Damon left early because Damon had an orchestra concert that same night.

I didn't get any pictures after that, because my shorts pocket ripped and my phone fell out and went scraping across the concrete, totally destroying the screen. I was debating on whether to get a new phone anyway, so this makes it an easy decision.

Damon's birthday

Damon had his 13th birthday this year. He's starting to stretch out and get taller, I think his growth spurt might be coming. He was very excited to open presents, as always, because he has to wait through two other birthdays right before his.

He got Lord of the Rings playing cards, a puzzle, the entire collection of Zits comics, and Carmen crocheted him some dinosaurs.

He also got some space Lego sets, and a remote control car.

His big present was his own Arduino kit.

He requested halušky for dinner and strawberry cake for dessert.

Olivia's prom

Olivia wasn't originally going to go to prom, but about a week before she arranged to go with Lucas. He's a friend of Christian Larsen that she met at a party that she's been going on dates with.

Amber did her magic and created a dress for her in time for the ball.

They had a few activities in the morning, then went to the church prom, but of course before they left we had to take pictures.

It was a good group of kids and she said they had a good time.

Olivia's birthday

Olivia turned 17 this year. Her birthday was on a school day, so she opened presents as soon as everyone was home. For some reason, it seems right to get her weird things, so in addition to new shorts, she got cat butt magnets.

And along with her hair dryer, she got a pickle bag and a duck bag.

She also got some cat shoes, a water bottle, Lego set, and a puzzle.

Her big gift was her own microphone, so she'll stop stealing mine.

She requested brains and bugs for dinner, and pumpkin pie instead of cake.