Dinosaurs AGAIN

Yesterday I told JD he could do whatever he wanted after he went to the Doctor. (I thought shots were going to be involved and I would need a bribe.) He chose jumping and had tears when I told him we couldn't go to the dinosaur museum after that because it was closed. Today he asked me every 30 minutes or so what time it was followed by, "is the dinosaur museum opened yet?"
A promise is a promise --- so here we are in front of his favorite place in town --- The Dinosaur Museum!!

He decided the teeth on this saber tooth tiger statue were scary.

What dinosaur museum would be complete without bones? People bones are interesting too.

This exhibit teaches us that chimp DNA is 99% like people DNA. I have to agree! At times JD definitely seems like he is part chimpanzee.

No trip to the dinosaur museum is complete without a stop and the wall of plastic bugs in the gift shop.

We picked up our museum passport. When we visit 7 museums free pizza is involved. I think we can do it!

After we left JD wanted to go to the President's museum too. REALLY???? That wasn't part of the original plan but OK! Gotta balance that science with some social studies.

The Last Days of School

The last days of school are always a little happy and sad at the same time.
One of my favorite students Greg won this trophy representing my class at a school board candidate forum. He asked some great questions to prospective school board members.

Final exam days end early. I got to JD's school a little too early and found all the children still napping. Ahhhh, they're so cute when they are sleeping.

In preparation for summer they made "Hawaii" in their classroom.

We are saying goodbye to our two favorite teachers and moving on to the next class. Here is Ms. Kara and JD holding the squid he made. We love you Ms. Kara.

We are sad to leave Ms. Debbie too. We learned lots of important lessons from her.

After the doctor pronounced JD healthy at his 5 year old check up he got to bounce at the jumpy gym.

Happy Memorial Day!

We have had a very busy weekend.
It made JD a little tired to keep up with all the activities.

The end of the school year celebration at JD's school was a water day. Everyone had tons of fun and was very tired when they got home from school.

I stopped by during lunch to take a picture and got a very wet hug from my little boy.

I'm not sure how JD come up with the idea that we needed to make a dinosaur cake. I went online and looked up a pattern. It may not have looked exactly dinosaur like but it sure did taste good.

We visited Grandpa where JD played with his cousin Justin.

We visited Grandma where JD played with his cousin Sheila.

On Monday dad fired up the pit. JD was very excited to cook on the "train" and see all the smoke that a wood fire created. I would have taken a picture of the meat but I didn't want to make any of you jealous.

Monday was the first day of summer gymnastics. There was a very small class of TWO!! It made the class extra fun to get the gym practically to ourselves.

Coach Pablo helped teach roll ups. It's never too early to start working on your six pack.

Graduation

Blog disclaimer -- George was out of town for JD's graduation so I was trying to watch AND video AND take a few still pictures. I did the best I could but these are not by best photos.
All of the graduates were announced and then lined up for a song.

This picture is kind of fuzzy but JD was singing with gusto.

The graduates all marched out of the chapel together.

JD with one of his best fiends Alexander.

Everyone celebrated and ate cake. All the graduates have learned many important lessons. They know not to hit and how to share and most importantly of all they learned how to use the potty.

Noticings and Wonderings

I've been in a professional development workshop for a couple of days where we were supposed to have "noticings" and "wonderings." (Yes, I know those aren't real words!) Here are a few of my noticings and wonderings about the end of the school year clean up.
I notice that these posters have been hanging on my walls for more than 20 years now. They were actually put up by the teacher who had the room before me and this is my 20th year in room B-219.

I wonder why THIS YEAR I have to take them down. Is cleaning the walls on a 20 year rotation? If I put up new posters when school starts can I count on leaving them up for the next 20 years when wall cleaning happens again?

I notice that this poster was up to date and accurate when I first hung it on the wall.

I wonder if I should keep it or throw it out?

I notice that this brand new poster is VERY HIGH.

I wonder how I got it up there and how I am going to get it down without tearing it?

I notice that Trey in my 2nd period class is VERY TALL. (He's actually going to play basketball at West Point next year.)

I wonder what elementary school teachers do without tall children to help them with things like this?

Our Day as Lutherans

The Pastor at the Lutheran church where JD attends day care was retiring today. The children from the children's center sang at his retirement service. We are sad to see Pastor Fetter go. JD brings home lots of interesting stories of things he has learned in chapel. This week's lesson was on the Good Samaritan. JD told us all about how Pastor Fetter hit someone with a stick and knocked her down and then nobody would help. It's funny what a 5 year old boy gets out of these things.

Cars Cars Cars

We went to the car show this weekend.
JD has a fascination with red cars. This is one of the MANY red cars we had to drive at the show.

Dad and JD races some little cars.

We were really excited to find Bumble Bee.

Iron Man also made an appearance.

The car show just wet Dad's appetite for a new vehicle. We went to a REAL car lot and JD was lucky enough to find a bouncy house there. Car salesmen aren't stupid. They know you can't shop for a car unless the little boys are busy.