Memorial Day

We had a really great Memorial Day. We spent the morning with cousins at the Antietam Battlefield. We did some hiking around Burnside Bridge and even brought home a few little critters with us (Abby found two ticks on her....yuck!!)

At 11 a.m. we headed over to The Antietam National Cemetery for their Memorial Day program. It was such a great moment to reflect upon the freedoms that we enjoy because of the ultimate sacrifice that so many have made before us.

It was somber indeed to see men dressed in military gear from many different generations.

And these headstones always give me a moment to pause on their great sacrifice for our country and how they fought for the protection and freedom of others too.

The final part was the laying of the wreath and the playing of "Taps". I was in tears by the end, but good tears that made me remember the joy that living in this amazing country brings to me!

After the Antietam Battlefield visit, we headed out to lunch at Chick-Fil-A with Tasha's family, came home for a quick minute before heading over to our friend's house for a Memorial day gathering. It was a full day of gratitude, food, and fun!

Field Day

On Friday, May 26th, the kids all participated in Paramount's Field Day. This is their most favorite day of the whole year. It had been kind of rainy all week so they were a little nervous about what Friday would bring, but the rain stayed away and it ended up being a great day to be outside. 

Nolan had field day in the morning. They had fun doing all of the different stations and eating some KONA Ice!

That afternoon they made these cute pillowcases to help them remember their amazing Kindergarten class.

The pillowcase says

"Now I lay me down to sleep,

I count these hands instead of sheep.

I'll dream of every lad and lass

From Ms. Austin's Kindergarten class."

Then every child put their hand print on each pillowcase. Such a fun idea!!

That afternoon it was the 3rd-5th graders who went out to do Field Day. Abby actually got to do it all day since her 5th grade class won the design challenge for the obstacle course. They got to be out there to help run it for the smaller kids in the morning!

I was able to snap a few pictures of Abby doing part of her famous obstacle course!!

Landon quite enjoyed the obstacle course too when it was his turn. He did get pretty competitive and emotional about it at one point though. I had to remind him that we were just there to have fun!!

I helped run the obstacle course in the afternoon so I got to hang out with Abby and Landon for a bit!

Our principal Mrs. Wolford was very brave to participate in the dunk tank!!

Especially when you have boys like Landon who can really throw. He had four balls and ended up dunking his teacher twice!!

Landon really loved the tug-o-war game!

His class ended up beating the other 3rd grade class and he was very proud to have those bragging rights!

This giant soccer ball made quite the hit too!

Gotta love that pose from Landon!

Sponge races is always popular, especially on hot days. This year was pretty cool weather wise but the kids still enjoyed soaking themselves! 

There was also human bowling with this giant ball...

It was definitely a fun day for all the students and a great last Paramount Field Day for Abby and her 5th grade class!

 

Home Improvements

Every winter, when the weather is too cold to be outside much, I try to take on a few home improvement projects. My first project this year was our master bathroom.

Here is what it looked like when we moved in. It's a nice space, but lacked our personal touches. We hadn't done anything to it in the 7 years that we have lived here and it showed!

The first thing I did was paint it a nice beige/grey color. This really helped the space a lot and made all the white cabinets and tile really "pop." I also removed the nasty sliding shower door. It always looked gross no matter how hard I tried to keep it clean and it was time to go. For now, we have this cute shower curtain covering the space but eventually I would like to get a nice set of glass doors when it fits into our budget!

In the toilet area, I painted the top half and then added wallpaper wainscoting to the bottom along with a chair rail. It give this small space a bit more appeal.

We changed out the "Hollywood" lights for a nice brushed nickel fixture and replaced the brass faucet fixtures with something more updated. A few nice accessories add to the look!

I framed out both mirrors to give it a more finished look. added some hooks for our towels and a floating shelf with some decor in this corner. The biggest change was the new flooring. We went from dirty, white linoleum to a nice dark vinyl wood floating floor. I think this bathroom now has my favorite flooring in the whole house!

After the bathroom was complete, I tackled our Master Closet. I painted it the same color as the bathroom and added some printed vinyl behind the shelves. 

Added a few storage items and replaced our plastic hangers with thin velvet ones and this room was done!

A small project above our stairs...a picture collage and a new light fixture!

Next up was the pantry. I panted the walls (grey, of course!) and painted the shelves a nice crisp white that is easier to clean than the white flat paint that was on them. 

 I added a few organizational items and the pantry went from disastrous to functional!

The last project was merely painting our dining room. I loved the red pop of color when we first painted it, but my love for it had started to dwindle and I was ready for a change. 

So what color did I paint it?

The color that I am really loving right now....grey!! This is the same paint color in our basement, master bathroom, master closet, and pantry. It may soon take over our whole house!!

This room is the one you first see when entering our home and I like how the grey gives it such a different, more modern feel. I sure do enjoy these home improvement projects!!

Kindergarten Happenings

This week all the students at Paramount are working on STEM projects to finish out the school year. Nolan's class is busy making owl habitats.

I love receiving these little updates throughout the day. I can't wait to see what Nolan's habitat ends up looking like!

They also spent time this week looking at owl pellets. 

Owl pellets definition: Indigestible material left in the gizzard such as teeth, skulls, claws, and feathers are too dangerous to pass through the rest of the owl's digestive tract. To safely excrete this material, the owl's gizzard compacts it into a tight pellet that the owl regurgitates. The regurgitated pellets are known as owl pellets.

Kind of cool and disgusting all at the same time!

Nolan also got a little shiner this week. He ran head on into another student during P.E. and was left with this swollen and black eye. Poor kid!

Economic Fair

All the 3rd graders at Paramount are feverishly working on their Economic projects. They had to come up with a product to sell, either buy or loan out for their materials and then price them for the 1st and 2nd graders to "buy" this week with their classroom bucks. Landon and his partner decided to make catapults. 

They were able to find most of their supplies at home, making their production costs very low. 

They held the Economics Fair on Wednesday, May 24th. They sold their "catipults" for $3 each. They didn't sell very many, but they sure had a great time making their pitch!

Landon did his best to lure in those 1st and 2nd grade customers!

What a fun way for these kids to learn about the business world!