Last Day of School

Today was the last day of school. Finally! Last week Morgan realized that it would have been her last day if we hadn't moved. I had to drag her into the school kicking and crying. It was awful! And it has been a struggle to get her up and going every morning since.

Not today. She jumped out of bed and quickly put on her favorite shirt. She was the first one to the car and she kept telling Zane to hurry up. 

Zane said all the kids in his class cheered when the teacher announced it was their last day, except for him. He was hoping for a few more days and is anxious for 1st grade to start. His favorite thing about the last day - cleaning the desks. Maybe I can keep him busy cleaning the house.

Morgan said she was cheering all day. She is not so anxious for 5th grade. Her favorite thing about the last day - NO HOMEWORK. We all did the happy dance on that one. Even Zane was glad she didn't have homework.

Now, we are hoping it warms up a little so we can enjoy our summer vacation.

More Projects

Morgan wanted me to take some pictures of her favorite 4th grade projects.

 She was in LOVE with the stuffed beaver. Great! Now she wants a pet beaver because they are oh SO cute. This one was very large!

This boy has a father who is a trapper so he had lots of cool stuff. Zane was being a goof-ball but Morgan made him pose for a picture too.

Morgan's friend and classmate was killed in a car accident almost 2 weeks ago. The girls mother brought in her project to share as well.

The kids did a great job. I was impressed with how well they knew their topics. What a great way to end the school year!

Volcano Project

Morgan gave me the paper from her teacher explaining the Idaho History Projects each 4^th grader would be required to do. We reviewed the list of ideas and picked her favorite 3. Only one child would be allowed to do each project and it would be assigned on a first-come basis so, Morgan was anxious to get her sign-up sheet back to school. “Lots of kids want to do the volcano!” she insisted.

I tried to explain that she may not get to do it. We talked about some of the other fun projects and how they could be done. Those projects were fine but in her mind the only answer was that she had to be FIRST so she could get the volcano project.

She came home the next day with indescribable joy… She was the first to return her request and therefore we would be building a volcano. Yay!

We did some research and came up with a design that would contain most of the mess. Then we went to work creating one awesome volcano. I have learned not to save these kinds of projects for the night before they’re due. (Thank you, Brittany.)

The more it took shape the more excited Morgan became.

Then, we practiced for the big day so she would know just what to do.

Finally, today was project day. I helped Morgan carry her volcano and supplies to her classroom. I could feel her pride as we walked down the hall and other kids said, "Cool! A volcano!"

The class cheered! It was a successful volcano eruption!

Erupting Volcano

Morgan's Presentation:

Kitchen Makeover

Our 2nd home in Nebraska was in need of some repairs and updates when we moved in. Some things, like the carpet, were beyond our control. The dark green kitchen though, could be fixed.

I picked a nice, neutral, sand color in a high gloss finish. I thought I could simply remove the cupboard doors, hit them with the belt sander, and then slap on the new color. The hinges were silver so I decided to keep them and just replace the knobs with a simple, round, black one. So easy. So simple. So I thought.

The first two sets went fairly quick. I had to force myself not to get too picky. These were old doors and there really was no way to get them perfectly smooth without completely replacing them. They were very grimy and greasy but came clean pretty easy. 

As I started sanding the next set of doors I ran into a problem. Instead of gently buffing the surface, giant slabs of paint started pealing off. There was no way to sand the edge to make it blend with the now bare wood. My only option was to completely strip the old layers of paint. Funny how it came off so easy in spots but then was stuck so firm in others. 

We went without cupboard doors for more than a year until I worked up the desire to get it finished. I setup a painting station in my living room in November and finally got the rest of the doors finished. If you look close you can see the difference in color between those that were painted over the green and those that were stripped completely. I would recommend stripping the paint.

It's amazing how bright my kitchen was once it was all put back together. Why didn't I get this done sooner so I could enjoy it more?! I had a friend who wanted to get rid of a small kitchen island. It fit perfectly in the wasted space between the refrigerator and the stove.

Hooray for a new-old kitchen!