More Splash Pics

Relaxation...

I KNOW!!! It took this miracle-of-a-getaway in order for me to blog. I'll speak more about this awesome family place later. Suffice to say it did the trick in relieving school stress and teacher demoralization. It's the Big Splash Adventure Indoor Water Park and Resort in French Lick, Indiana. This place made me feel pretty young again! And the fall foliage down there was AWESOME!!

Minute to Win It

Here's Joel's hilarious attempt at "Bobble Head" from the Griffey Family Reunion. Sorry for the poor recording...it's hard not to bob with him!!

Brief Summer in Review Because I'm Lame

                   A visit from Gma and Gpa...Joel and Gpa are two peas in a pod with their breakfast!

                        Sunday at the Fishers Freedom Festival Parade...whew, a hot one!

Wading at Falls Park...one of their faves.

                                             Nate joined us for kids day at Bob Evans...

A night at the county fair...complete with rides and lemon shake-ups!

Mom and Joel braved one that spun and went vertical.

A new-found park that is now on their favorites list...

If Blogger starts cooperating, I'll maybe get the video of Joel from the Griffey family reunion. He participated in "Minute-to-Win-It" and was hilarious!! I lost my patience after the 4th video download attempt!

School starts in 4 days...can you believe it? I found out yesterday that I'll be teaching a middle school general music class made up of kids who were "put" there because all the connections classes were full. My promised prep period for this year is no longer. Now I'm scrambling...but I have good ideas and a plan to raise funds for guitars. We'll see how it all goes.

Adverse to Blogging?

No, just honkin' busy. The last 2 weeks have been c-r-a-z-y and I feel like I just now have time to breathe before returning to school on July 31st. So here's an update, in a nutshell... Gosh...where to begin...

 A HOT, long evening at 2 different places for ball pictures. Neither one came out stellar, but they love their ball and we love stockpiling those team photos! :0)

 Book given to me by current/former students - harkening back to 4th grade!

 Hanna graduates kindergarten!

 Ball Day 2012  Joel's team sponsor this year was Seals Funeral Home (2nd year in a row being sponsored by a funeral home!) So Andy's brainchild float theme was to do "SEAL TEAM VI" and deck it out with camo. We opted not to go with the joke slogan "You bag 'em, we tag 'em". LOL

 Hanna's team - The Diamonds   Her games are so relaxed and short! Love it!

 Even dad gets to ride on the float this year!

 At Ball Day, the families of our sponsors threw the first pitch to their teams. Joel was catching, so I snapped a nice pic of him in the gear.

 Some jousting fun after the first game of the day. Hanna vs. Joel Ratliff

 Joel Walton vs. Joel Ratliff    /////// Here's the gang at a froyo place before heading to SkyZone for Joel's b-day. Ruthie (Joel's girlfriend) is on the far left.  And now the update in a nutshell...

• Last week of April: Andy had a back spasm at work and was rendered incapacitated enough that we needed to call an ambulance to get him to the ER. Not pretty. Long story-short: all is back to normal, but we now know that my man's body is not cut out for the strong pain meds that were pumped through it during the ordeal. Oh, and he is officially in the "tease-him-as-old-man" club.
• May: a blur really. Spring Concert with the 6th, 7th, and 8th graders. Same night as Hanna's Kindergarten Graduation. Was able to make it there in time to see her sing a couple of songs and get her "diploma". At our concert, the main boy character (only boy in the 7th grade choir) for a girl group great medley was a no-show, so we had to have the principal step in. Was fun, but a complete mess that night, starting with a grandmother who fell down the steps into the cafe/commons right during line-up at the start of the concert. Medics, stretcher, the whole 9-yards. On our way into the gym, I overheard her say she was denying medical treatment because she was NOT going to miss her granddaughter sing!
• Late in May, Hanna performed in her class's "ABC Rodeo". It's something only her teacher does every year; she raises and rides horses, her classroom is all western-themed, etc... Hanna was so cute - she was "T" for 'trick-rider'. She struggled to keep up with her trick-riding fron half of the horse partner, but it was adorable! I had tears in my eyes the whole time...maybe because for the past 8 years, I've been helping with the event. Same thing happened at graduation when I saw the kids performing to music I had picked for last year's kinders and doing the same choreography... But it was also because my baby is a big girl now!
• 8th Grade Graduation was one of those "annoyances" that I needed to be a part of for most of the day, so I was unable to really take part in field day and awards at the middle school with my main group of kids. When it was all happening, though, I really enjoyed seeing the kids at the ceremony. The annoyance abated pretty quickly...  I was very proud of all their accomplishments, and the choir sounded great on their 2 songs. Earlier in the year, the 8th graders completed a career project for class - some groups picked music teacher, some did show director, some did budget plans, and others did singer/songwriter. They had to present the projects in class. One group of 6 kids composed and performed a spectacular song that was totally appropriate for graduation, so they agreed to sing it there. It went over beautifully.  Two of my girls who I had in 4th grade choir - so long ago!, presented me with a book that they had authored and illustrated. It was based off of the bookmark I gave them at the end-of-year breakfast in 4th grade. It said, "If you cannot teach me to fly, teach me to sing". They created a story completely based off of that bookmark quote! - It was amazing and of course I cried as I read through it.
• End-of-the-year brought the unfortunate news that I was not going to be allowed back into the elementary, even though one of the elementary teachers was retiring. The politics and ridiculous contract-bending-hoops that were placed in my path were too much to overcome. I have lost all faith in the corporation administrators and their ability to retain a backbone. So, I remain at the middle school doing 6th-7th-8th grade choir again, probably for a long stretch. Will still have to walk across to do 8th grade choir in the "not-my-classroom", but at least they will all be my former 7th graders and hopefully won't present me with as much difficulty as the last class. At least I was able to get a prep period scheduled for next year...that will be nice.
• This past weekend was Ball Day in town...a morning parade with all the teams on floats, games all day in the park, working the bounce houses, and tracking down your kids after they've wandered off with friends in the park! We had our annual team cook-out at our house the night before - happened to be the coldest day this season - and float building until about 10pm. Then up early for a 7:45am line-up in town. Joel's team got 4th place for the float! Hanna's team just piled in the back of a truck and waved. She informed me that she preferred being in the audience so she could catch candy rather than throw it! This whole weekend continued to remind me that my husband is a good man. He's a hard worker, he steps in and goes above what needs to be done, and he coaches our childrens' teams for the right reasons. We may not win all our games, but the kids are learning and having fun. Now if only we could take some of the parents out of the mix... :0)
• It warmed my heart to see all my former students at the parade and throughout the day. More than one float went past me with cries of, "Hey! It's Mrs. Walton! Hi Mrs. Walton...we really miss you!!" One of the 5th grade boys said, "I get to see you again next year, Mrs. Walton." I told him I'll be waiting and slapped him a high-five. So, not all bad I guess... 
• Ball season has been busy. Two to three games a week, lugging coach's equipment, playing dugout mom, keeping the book, snacks, making sure Andy has the right shirt for the right team he's coaching that day...HA! Wouldn't trade it for the world. We've got some pretty good little ball players. Today, we put gymnastics back in the mix after a 2-week break. Now, it will feel like the school year is back on again... Happy Summer all...

Walton Bracketology

Joel asked about filling out a bracket for the NCAA Men's Tourney and it turned into a little contest for the family. We all fill one out and the person who goes the furthest gets to pick where we eat out sometime. The sight of the fam so intent on writing in those teams just cracked me up!

 Joel's teacher sent one home, so he's actually doing two!!

Shirking My Blogging Duties

I cannot believe it's been this long since I last posted. Sorry! Let's see...basketball season went well. Both Joel and Hanna are done; Joel's team made it to the 2nd round of the tournament, but lost last night. You may notice some sad faces in the team pics. Both have a shiny trophy on the piano to show off. We really loved watching them play! The end of February brought the Joel and Mom birthday week. Can you believe he is 9 years old?!? He was thrilled with the cake that Aunt Cindy and Cousin Kara crafted for him. He's quite smitten with the Beast Quest books and asked for a "fire and ice" cake featuring 2 beasts: Tartok the Ice Beast and Ferno the Fire Dragon. Speaking of being smitten, his "love interest" (and family) invited us out to dinner last weekend to celebrate their birthdays. The twins, Ruthie and Emmie are sweet girls and it's a great family. Mom and I see each other, as she works at the HS, and we think it's eye-rolling funny/silly that Ruthie and Joel are a "thing". Third grade? Really??? I wish I would've had the camera, but alas, no pics of the girlfriend.

Let's see...what else is going on? I-STEP testing this week - BOO HISS! It stresses Joel out and I'm not so fond of the fact that I have to proctor the test to resource kids. It's not been too bad so far, but I know Joel's nerves are on edge this week. Tomorrow, I have my observation/evaluation with the principal, the talent show auditions are every day after school, and I finish the day tomorrow with detention duty. Bleh... Friday's looking awfully nice. Planning stages are in full swing for Abby's baby shower that we're hosting in 2 weeks. That's some fun stuff,a s far as I'm concerned. I can't wait to try my hand at a monkey-themed diaper cake! Well, sup's on the way so I'd better scoot. 'Till next time (which may end up being May!!)

Game Face

She looks the part, eh? Amazing how we just got this picture on Saturday and that very same day, we signed her up for Spring/Summer Softball! We think she'll do very well at that...and probably have more fun as well. Looks like we will be coaching again...maybe two teams this year - HA! No sign of Joel's pics yet...supposedly they were "misplaced". Will post when that mystery is solved!