A Scrap of Life

I'm not sure we chose exactly the right summer to do this, especially given gas prices, but we have dedicated this summer to hiking. The kids are finally old enough to go on hikes for several hours with us. They enjoy it. We enjoy it. It's great physical activity. And we can sometimes take the dogs with us too. We've taken 2 hikes so far this summer. The first was out "trial hike" to see how everone would manage while hiking. We went to the Hoyt Arboretum, a beautiful hiking area near the Oregon Zoo. We learned two things: 1. The kids are going to manage just fine. 2. Hiking with the dogs when there are lots of other people and dogs is a pain in the rear. Regardless we had a good hike. We saw lots of beautiful flowers, plants and trees and found THE BEST climbing tree EVER. Our second hike was to Multnomah Falls. We've taken this hike once before about 2 years ago and it was really hard for the kids. But they have been asking to go again so we decided to try ...

What happened to my nice compliant children? The kinds who smiled and gave me cheesey grins when I was taking photos? The kinds who groaned a little at the thought of Mom taking photos? Now it's turned into this ... the kind who smile when they see the camera because they know as soon as I push the shutter they can sneak in faces like this.

Tonight was the much-anticipated premier of "Camp Rock" on the Disney Channel. Carissa, who loves all Disney musical movies, decided to invite over some of her closest friends to have a "Camp Rock" party. But a few weeks ago that "Camp Rock" party became a "Goodbye" party when Anwen and her family decided to move away. We decided to throw the party anyways and make it a final party for the neighborhood BFF's. I had grand plans ... recordering the movie on the DVR, making pizza, painting nails, glittering the girls up. But the DVR, with it's ingenious mind of it's own, decided NOT to record the early show of Camp Rock. And the girls decided they didn't want to stop playing long enough to get their nails done. Thankfully there was a later showing of Camp Rock, which entirely saved the day. And the girls were happy playing and eating pizza and then pigging out on their chocolate M&M Blizzards while watching the show. All in all ...

Citizens Academy is almost completed. Next week is our final night and our graduation. This week we had "Con-Sim's". I'm thinking that probably stands for Confrontation Simulation. Either way it was a fun and interesting evening. We all arrived and got searched and metal-detected before entering. This is just their way of ensuring that we're not carrying any "real" weapons on the premesis. Next we had a volunteer who got tazed to show us what that does to a person. Bravo to the fireman who volunteered to do that. It was really an amazing experience. To see him standing there, then hit with the tazer. One of the probes didn't stick so he had very little "zap" in the beginning, but then the lead fell and hit his leg, as it's designed, and the cirucit was complete. He was ZAPPED! I mean, his face controted, his muscles locked up, he lost control of his legs and fell to the ground. Once it really hit him you could see how imobolized it was....

Seriously. I love it! We're only 3 days into it so maybe I'm more excited about it then I will be in another month, but I'm totally loving it! Case in point: it's 2:44am. I've done 2 pretty awesome layouts tonight (if I do say so myself!) and I'm cleaning up my desk to start another. I can stay up as late as I want because I can sleep in - another thing of beauty this summer, along with having kids old enough to make their own breakfast. So I can stay up late scrapbooking and watching girlie movies. I love it! Speaking of girlie movies, I've been meaning to post a list of some of my favorite of all times and hope to get some input back with some of your favorites. I'm looking to expand my "girlie movie" library. Now, the ground rules here. A "girlie movie" is a movie that us girls love. Something you don't watch with your husband or significant other. Something with a love story, something with great music, something with a hunky ...

SUMMERTIME... it's our vacation. What time is it? PARTYTIME... that’s right, say it loud. What time is it? TIME OF OUR LIVES... anticipation. What time is it? SUMMERTIME... school’s out. Scream and shout! That's the first song we sang after we got home from school (on Carissa's new High School Musical Karaoke game). I couldn't have said it any better. Summer is finally here and I'm THRILLED. No more early mornings, no work for me, no picking up and dropping off. Maybe we'll actually have time to veg or something. Yesterday was the last day of school. The kids all had an award ceremony. Chase's teacher didn't do individual awards (grrr... yet another letdown from her) however Tristan received an award for creativity and Carissa got one for great spelling and for being kind. I had to smile at the kindness award, as it's the same award she received at her preschool graduation 2 years before. And I just happened to be sitting next to her preschool teache...

I know this. I know that I'm not writing. I know that I'm not communicating with the world. But right now I just have so little to say and even a littler amount of time to say it in. But I thought it was time for an update. Right now in the world of Pixley things are BUSY. We have just 3 1/2 days of school left and I am eagerly looking forward to that end. It has been a long year with many ups and downs but we're all ready for a little time off, especially me who is ready to say goodbye to my classroom for the summer. Tristan and Carissa will rest easily this summer knowing that they are returning to their same teachers and same school next year. Chase on the other hand will be starting anew yet again... well, anew but back to a familiar place. Chase will be attending the school in town for 6th grade. It's an unfortunate decision, as we LOVE the school on the island. But it's so tiny and there is just one teacher for every 2 grades. Mixed grade classes are great whe...