School's Out For Summer!

We are officially done with the 2012/2013 school year here at Doorframes Academy!  That's the name of our school in case you were wondering!  I am happy to say that we ended the year with everyone exactly where I wanted them for next year.  Which is really saying something considering we made a major move right as the school year was starting this year.  But by God's grace we made it through!  And now that I have made it through my first year of schooling three instead of two, I am able to look to the next year without trepidation like I did this last year.

We will be traveling a lot this summer, just like every summer, so I don't intend to even have to think about school again until the first part of August when we are home and I'm able to focus on that.  I've already purchased and received all of our curriculum that we need for next year so I literally don't have to do anything all summer--at least nothing that pertains to school!

So how do we celebrate the end of the school year at our house?  Well, normally we don't.  I'm not really one to make a big deal out of any celebrations/holidays.  But this year we are ending at the same time Hubby is ending his school year so I decided to at least pretend we were celebrating.  After all lessons were completed yesterday I played the song "What Time is it?" from Highschool Musical.  Everyone except #1 danced around the living room and we basically acted like a bunch of dorks.  I tried to get #1 to dance with us, but she refused to act silly with us.  Yeah, we're going to have to talk about that.  That was basically it yesterday.  It was shopping day so I had errands to run all afternoon long. 

But today, we went to the zoo here for the first time.  It's not huge, but I think it was worth the membership.  We ended up eating lunch in our car because they have NO outside tables.  And we figured if we have to eat in the car we're going to do it with the AC running.  And I'm not ashamed to admit we did!  It was hot and muggy!  And the great thing about having a membership is that when everyone is too hot and tired after lunch to walk around much more it is no big deal to wrap up the day playing for a bit on the playground and then heading home because you know you have a year to come back any time you want to!

Tigers Spooning!

OK, I know it's really heard to see--but that is the buzzard off of Jungle Book!  It is massively huge and way ugly!  Made my day to see it!

We made it home in enough time to start dinner.  My girls love this sweet and sour chicken dish that I make.  And I'll admit that I really like it too.  But it seriously takes me like two hours in the kitchen to get it all done, and that is with Hubby's help!  Not something I'm going to do very often.  So this was a celebratory dinner for all of us.  And we just happen to have leftovers for someone to fight over tomorrow!

And last, because it is still Friday night, we had family movie night.  We watched Life of Pi.  I could have sworn I read when it came out that it was a good kid's movie.  I think it was OK for #1 and #2, but there were some scary parts in it for #3 and #4.  Next time I'll actually check Plugged In before renting something I'm not sure about.  Oh well, hopefully no one wakes up with nightmares tonight!

So now all the children are in bed and sound asleep.  Tomorrow we tackle cleaning out the school room so that I don't have that hanging over my head all summer.  Hopefully I'll be able to put some of the curriculum I don't need anymore up for sale.  After that I can spend next week working on some projects I've been thinking about for months but haven't had the time or energy to work on them.  Then we have our VBS with our church here and then the girls and I are off on our travels the second week of June.  Life never really slows down for us, and yet we're not running ragged either.  God is so good, all the time!

Baby Girl #3's birthday

Poor kid has a birthday just over a week after Christmas.  Since my own birthday is exactly two weeks after Christmas I am aware of how much it actually stinks.  It's not that I didn't get enough gifts or attention growing up on my birthday.  It's just that everyone is always so partied out from Christmas that there isn't much celebration left in them when it comes time for your birthday.  The one good thing is that we're usually around extended family for Christmas which means I'm able to throw a celebration for her in there somewhere.  So far she doesn't seem to mind.

This year we were up at my parents' and my brother (D) and his wife and daughter were coming up a couple of days before our family Christmas.  #3 had told me multiple times she wanted to go to Chuck E Cheese for her birthday.  I really dislike that place.  I'm not exactly sure why.  It is entirely possible that I dislike it solely based on the cliche aspect of it.  And the fact that it always seems dirty to me.  And that I have never been to one where I did not see a child climbing on the ski-ball machine.  (Once it was my child--but that's another story).  Regardless, I did not want to do Chuck E Cheese.  Instead, I thought we could go to a place called Incredible Pizza, which as it turns out is now called Gatti Town.

Gatti Town is like a grown up version of Chuck E Cheese.  There is a Pizza/Salad/Dessert Bar that is all you can eat for as long as you are there.  And you put money on a card for the games instead of having to carry 4 cups filled with a million tokens.  There are also a lot more games that actual adults can enjoy like putt-putt and go-carts and miniature bowling.  But also plenty of kid games as well.

Baby Girls #1, 2 and 3 with Uncle on Bumper Cars.  Baby Girl #4 and cousin are looking on morosely because they are too short to ride.

Baby Girls #1 and #2 on the go-carts

 I had a good plan.  We went on a Thursday and got there about 3:30.  My plan was to play first and then eat and then leave, missing most of the evening crowd.  It didn't quite work out that way.  Which is OK.  One of my other brothers (S) was able to get off work a little early so he was able to come, so the extra stress was worth it.  But seriously, it is so stressful to me to try to keep track of 4 children, make sure they all get to play and do everything they really want to, count tickets, and then take 15 minutes at a crowded counter to decide whether they want a pencil or plastic ring.  I had 6 other adults there with me and I still left completely exhausted, and quite frankly, a little hungry.  All you can eat doesn't help when you're trying to make sure your children get everything they want.  Don't get me wrong, my family did most of the work for me.  But I try to not just assume they will handle everything so I was constantly jumping up to get another breadstick or refill a drink.

Baby Girl #3 actually enjoyed the little kid section more than anything

She loved this train

So we left a little later than planned.  And then we swung by my brother (S) and his wife's place so brother (D) and family could see their new house.  One does not simply "stop by real quick" in my family.  Our quick stops involve making a pot of coffee.  But luckily I have done this before so I knew to bring the girls' PJs for them to change in to.  We had an hour and half drive home.  Made slightly longer due to the fact that even though I have made the drive several times in my life, and was actually following my Dad, I was talking instead of paying attention and took the wrong exit.  Onto a turnpike.  For those of you who are not familiar with the Oklahoma turnpikes, suffice it to say we had to go several miles down the road in order to turn around.

We made it home around 11, all the girls went right bed and the adults were not far behind.  I was pretty proud of myself for being able to give Baby Girl #3 a celebration at a pizza/party place, even if it wasn't Chuck E Cheese, and even if it wasn't on her actual birthday.  That proud moment disappeared on her actual birthday when she asked me what we were going to do for her birthday and then got a blank look when I explained that Gatti Town was her party.  *Sigh*