Easter/Conference/Grandpa's Birthday Extravaganza

Josh and I took the boys to go to my parents' home overnight in Utah for Easter at the beginning of April. It had been 2 years since we'd all been together as a Perkins family (due to the pandemic). It was also the momentous occasion when Easter and General Conference converge: those are my mom's favorite Easters when that happens.

We drove down on Saturday afternoon. We had planned to color Easter eggs when we arrived, our old tradition the boys always did with Grandma on the Saturday before Easter, but it didn't work out. Truth be told...I don't even remember what we did after we arrived. I'm getting old and forgetful, and there's no photos, and it happened 6 months ago, so I don't remember! 

On Sunday morning, the boys woke up and wore their church clothes to listen to conference from the convenience of my parents' living room. I was impressed with their commitment--but it doesn't look like they're too thrilled about it! ;)

I love listening to the Prophet of God speak!

That morning, the boys also found their Easter baskets--which were outside of Grandma's front porch. Each boy got some new frisbees for our disc golf course at home, some of their favorite flavored milk from Gossners, and some of their favorite snacks. It's getting both easier, and more boring, to gift them items at holidays!

After the morning session of conference ended, family members began showing up for the Easter festivities. Thankfully, it was a beautiful day outside (mom had been fretting about what to do with the Easter egg hunt if we couldn't be outdoors). Instead of eating the traditional meal of ham and potatoes, we had soups and salads, so people could eat whenever they showed up, which eased up a lot of mom's stress about making sure the meal was prepared for everyone at the same time. Since we haven't been all together for a couple of years, it was stressing mom out to suddenly make a large meal and have it prepared at the right time for everyone, when she didn't know when they would be arriving exactly, so although Easter was structured different this time, it was a lot more relaxing for mom, and I think it turned out just fine! 

I told everyone that I really, REALLY wanted to have a family photo. I was dismayed it didn't happen at Easter of 2019, and I was persistent about having it this time. Although everyone is not here in this photo, it represents our family getting back together again after the long pandemic! We are missing Lisa and her family, Cody and his family, and Ammon. I'm grateful that everyone complied with my request. I love having family photos to document our time together.

After the photo, we started the Easter egg hunt. It was a simplified hunt this year, which was just fine too! There were 2 gold and 2 silver eggs this time, and the kids got to hunt with the adults, which is a first I believe! Mom and Dad's new yard is a lot smaller than the old yard, so dad had to be creative when he hid the eggs. He did a good job! It was a fun hunt!

Gold Winners: Aspen and Jonah (his first time!)
Silver Winners: Mick and Sunny

After the egg hunt (and money exchange for the eggs we'd found), we had dad's birthday party. His 80th birthday was two days later, but we celebrated all together on Sunday. We had a family zoom meeting with Lisa and her family so that she was able to join us, too. I made a Kahoot for dad's birthday, just as I'd done one for mom's birthday in January when we were still having our monthly zoom family meetings. It was a trivia about some of his favorite things, from childhood to now. It was SO much fun, especially because we got to be together as we played. We all laughed and laughed! I made a few of the questions challenging, and although Tawna and Bryce had won my previous 2 family Kahoot games, mom came out victorious this time at the end!  

After the Kahoot game, Dad opened gifts and we ate cake and sang happy birthday to him. It was a memorable birthday; Dad said it was a special party with thoughtful gifts and he liked the fun Kahoot game. I'm glad we could celebrate it together. 

One Heckuva Hectic Work Week!

The week in between Spring Break and Easter was a super crazy one for me at school! 

I absolutely love project-based learning, but we only do it a few times a year because it takes a LOT of time. It's worth it, though! The kids retain the learning, and they get excited as we near its completion, because they can recognize their own growth! Since I taught 2 new grade levels this year, the projects were different sometimes between what the 3rd graders did and what the 4th graders did. However, in March, ALL my students worked on biographies.

I bought lots of biography books early on in the year with some grant money, and then I checked some additional ones out of the library. At the end of February, I gave each student the choice of which person they wanted to research and learn more about. Everyone either got their 1st, 2nd, or 3rd choice. They read the biography book, and filled in a 2-page graphic organizer (that I created) with information to find more about their person. Then we turned that information into a 2-page essay, filled in timelines about their famous person, and had a resident artist come to class several times to teach the students how to draw realistic faces and they drew and colored their celebrity, too. We compiled all the research onto a tri-fold screen (that was originally supposed to be attached to desks for COVID, but we re-purposed them) and then we had a presentation day on Tuesday, March 30th. We called it the "Historical Heroes Museum" and students had 8 different showings throughout the day. Each showing lasted 30 minutes, and they presented to students from Kindergarten to 6th grade, as well as adults in the school district and family members. It was my first time doing something like this, but it was a HUGE hit! The students tracked how many times they gave their presentation throughout the day (they gave a condensed version of all they'd learned, plus asked for questions and answered whatever their audience wanted to know more about), and most gave over 100 presentations and had it totally memorized by the end of the day!!! They really enjoyed the experience, too! I was BEYOND proud of them for how well they did on this project! 

I taught the students that they are superheroes of our day, too! All 
year, they each had a week where we learned more about them, and I
kept all their posters for this specific week. Their posters were on
display during the Museum, and then I hung them in the hall
afterwards. They also did a timeline for themselves, and it was so
interesting to read about what they thought were the most important
parts of their lives thus far. 

Originally, the Historical Heroes Museum was going to happen the week BEFORE Spring Break, but then we had a COVID closure, so it got moved to the week AFTER Spring Break instead. However, I'd already planned to do the Schoolwide Sneetches Party (the prize they earned from Dr. Seuss week at the beginning of March) that same week, so it was a very stressful week for me to get my classroom ready for the Museum, have 8 tours in my classroom, clean up afterwards, and get everything ready for the school-wide party just 2 days later! 

The prep work for the Sneetches party was a big undertaking, and I worked on a lot it during Spring Break, since I knew the week of the actual party was going to be stressful. There were 18 game stations overall--enough to let the students spread out and have a variety of activities. I tried to think of the easiest way to set up--I used the PTO storage room, and I had a bin or box for each outdoor game. I made posters and taped them to each box, and created lists of what I would need for each activity. As I got those items (either from my home, or from the store, or from the P.E. closet), I put them in the designated box. The night before the Sneetches party, I pulled all the boxes out and made sure EVERYTHING needed was in each box. The boxes would also be used to mark where the stations were in the open fields, so the students knew where to go for each game and where the lines would start at each game (I mapped it out so I would know where to place all the boxes but I didn't mass produce the map for the students). I had clipboards placed in each box with instructions for how to play each game, in case I couldn't talk to each person before the event started. Logistically, it was a big event to plan for and make sure I had enough people to help, but it all worked out! The last step was to pray for good weather--it was the biggest factor that I couldn't control.

Our Sneetches Party was on April 1--April Fool's Day! It was an outdoor party that lasted an hour and a half at the end of the day. The students could go to any of the games in whatever order they wanted, and they also rotated as grade levels through the meal station where they could have a hot dog, chips, and a drink. I made up little cards for each student that listed all 18 activities, and they were allowed to go to each game only twice, so that more kids could have the opportunity. I asked for volunteers to help with the event: some were parents, and some were older students who manned the stations. When the students came to their station, they gave them the instructions, took their cards as the kids played, marked off that section of their card, and then returned them after the game was done. I told the students that if they made it to at least 12 stations, they would be rewarded with an ice cream when it was done (an incentive for them to actually GO to the stations, not just sit around, and also an incentive to KEEP a hold of their card, not lose it!).  The afternoon of the party, Mr. H brought his speakers out and played loud music, which was so fun! Mr. Kimbro took time off work to grill for us, and he even brought his own grill from home to grill the hot dogs for the kids. The lunch ladies brought tables outside for the kids to eat on. My students helped me sweep the area for the scooter obstacle course and carried all the boxes outside for me. Volunteers who arrived early helped set up the equipment after the boxes were set-up. I had extra people show up last minute to help, thankfully, since some others couldn't come at the last minute, and I had exactly the right number of people to help, which was a blessing. Thankfully, the weather turned out beautifully too! (You never know in Mud Lake--it's usually cold and blowing!) The party was a HUGE success!!! The kids had a LOT of fun! Everything worked out and I was elated to have it over and done! 

Happy kids eating!

Happy kids playing!

Ms. Blake & I both wore our Dr. Seuss shirts for the special event.

The kids showing me their completed cards at the end of the party
before they received their popsicles (kindergarten students had pink
cards so the volunteers would know who to make accommodations
for during the games, like stepping closer to a target).

A few days later, our school secretary surprised me with a giant thank you card signed by the elementary students, a bouquet of flowers, chocolates, and soda pop. I was blown away with the generosity!!! I cried some happy tears when she gifted it to me on behalf of the school. I'd wanted to do a field day of some kind ever since I started working there, and I'm glad I finally accomplished this activity before I left. It was my pleasure to direct, but it feels so good to be appreciated, too! I sincerely loved working at West J School District. 

Spring Break 2021

Thankfully, both Salmon School District and West Jefferson School District had the same spring break this year, and we were all off of school the last week of March together. Sadly, though, we didn't have any major family plans. Instead, we basically worked a lot (the boys helped Josh at the golf course), and we also got a lot of projects done around the house. 

I look forward to the first flowers blooming every spring!
The crocus plants opened up during Spring Break this year.

One of the first projects I tackled was purchasing and installing (with Josh's help) two new exterior light fixtures on the backside of our house. The previous lights were terrible and hardly illuminated anything. For years, I've thought about having an electrician come to install more lights on the back of our home, and even talked with our cousin electrician about it once. But I thought of an easier, cheaper solution to just purchase better light fixtures instead. They're so much better and brighter! And they have motion sensors, too, which is helpful to save power. 

Kanyon and I cleaned out the closets and drawers in his room. The seasonal clothing event in our house usually takes place twice a year (spring and fall). It was a long ordeal when the boys were little, and  would take a couple of half-days to complete the process: the boys and I would sort through all the hand-me-down clothes in the grow boxes, box up the clothes from their drawers and closets that were too small, and donate the clothes that were smaller than the youngest boy. Now that the youngest boy is in high school, the process is SO much quicker than it was when all the boys were little! It only took us less than two hours altogether! The twins have been the same size for a few years, so they don't do this process any more, and I only have to go through one size of grow boxes that are bigger than Kanyon. We just go through all of his clothes, then go through the grow box to determine what to keep and what to give away, and bag up everything in the donate pile. This spring, we got rid of one bag of trash, and had three big bags for donation! It always feels good to clean stuff out of the house! 

 

The boys also helped me prune the two apple trees, which is an annual spring break event. We worked on it for several hours one afternoon, pruning the new growth and picking up/hauling off the cut branches. I love the way the trees look after they're freshly pruned! 

I also pruned the raspberry plants in the garden that same day. It's not my favorite job, but I'm the only one who does it every spring. I always get so scratched and torn up by the plants!

Before

After

One of the projects I really wanted to do this spring was remove the old netting and chicken wire that surrounded our garden and replace it. The fencing material has been falling apart and wasn't deer-proof any more. It's been bothering me for a few years, and I decided this was the year I was going to tackle that project. I saved up to buy new netwire to wrap around our garden posts, but knew I'd need Josh's help to put it on. We decided that if we were going to take down the fencing, it would be the perfect time to remove the peach trees from inside the garden. They haven't produced for a few years now, and they block sections of the garden from receiving the water from the sprinkler. I pulled all the old fencing material off myself, threw away what was un-salvageable, and gave away a large roll of chicken wire. Josh brought home his small Kubota from work, and dug up the two trees and removed them from the garden while the area was accessible. We had planned on putting the new wire up during spring break, too, but it didn't happen due to weather and our schedules. 

The upper end of the garden had old netting that was falling down.

And since he had brought home the Kubota, he decided to tackle another project that's been needing to be done for a few years. One portion of the ditch that runs along the edge of our property hadn't been cleaned out in a few years, and there were some small rock slides and some downed trees that needed to be cleaned out of it. Josh took the Kubota down the ditch, and worked for several hours to clean it all out. It looked SO much better!!

This is the view looking back towards our 
house and our "Triple S" corner by the ditch.

Our Spring Break wasn't ALL work, though! I wanted to make sure we had some fun times, too!! One evening, we made our own Miniature Golf Obstacle Course inside the house. The 5 of us played one round, re-did the obstacles, and played a second round. It was so much fun! I absolutely loved being at home and doing something creative and sporty with my boys!

Amanda and Ryan came to Salmon to visit over Spring Break, and they came over one night to play games with us. We played my new favorite game "Codenames". I love playing games with Amanda and Ryan!

And my favorite part of spring break was going on an overnighter trip with Josh to Haven Hot Springs. Neither of us had been there before, but I'd heard good things about it. It was close enough to not be gone for longer than an overnighter, and a place that we could go relax. We both loved it! It's located near Lowman, so about a 2.5 hour drive from Salmon. It was their off-season, so they didn't have any food available in their lodge (which I didn't realize before we left), but thankfully the pizza place a quarter of a mile down the highway was open, so we ate dinner there. It was such a laid-back place. They only had a few items on their menu, which was fine. We ordered, and played battleship while we waited for dinner to cook. I was elated because I totally CREAMED Josh!!!  Our dinner of their handmade pizza was super delicious! We headed back to our hotel after that. I had reserved the big hot pool to ourselves at Haven for an hour that evening, and the two of us soaked just as the sun was setting. It was SO peaceful! We watched as a herd of elk moved in closer to us on the hill surrounding us until the sky grew completely dark. I loved every moment of it! Our room also had its own soaking pool out our back door which we soaked in the next morning before we left. We'll definitely be back again!

Meanwhile, Ammon was having more fun than all of us! He joined Gabbie's family in Seattle for a fun Spring Break trip. He hadn't been there since the 8th grade music trip we went on with the school, and this time, he got to see so much more!