Spring Volleyball

 For 4 weeks this Spring, Erica and Cara learned volleyball fundamentals under the guidance of Coach Borgmann.  She leads this camp each Spring to get girls interested in volleyball and to get them started on learning the game.

 This was Erica's first time to attend volleyball camp because it starts in 3rd Grade.  After the first night of practice, Mrs. Borgmann came up to me and said that she didn't realize that Cara had a younger sister.  She was even more shocked to learn that Cara has two younger sisters and a younger brother.

 Erica had fun getting to learn the game and hanging out with her friends.

 Cara practicing setting the ball over the net.

 Cara bumping the ball over the net.

 Cara serving the ball under the watchful eye of Coach Fisher.

 Erica and Mikayla practicing.

Take care,

Michelle

Wordless Wednesday

5th Grade Popcorn Sales

Mrs. Jessen's Fantastic 5th Graders started their unit on popcorn after Easter break.  They were put in pairs and assigned a time to go and make a sales pitch to each classroom in the building about buying bags of popcorn from them.  The students were given order forms and also a free sample of the product.  Then order forms were collected and tabulated.  On Monday and Tuesday of this week, parents came in and popped popcorn to fill the orders.  Lastly the orders were delivered to the students and staff by the 5th Graders.

I helped pop popcorn for one hour on Monday morning and two hours on Tuesday morning.  Each parent received a reward from Mrs. Jessen for helping of fresh baked dinner rolls and a small jar of apple butter. 

The 5th graders broke last years record of the number of bags sold which they were very excited about.  The money they earned will help cover the cost of their father and mother's day parties before the end of school.  It was great fun for the students and the parents.

Take care,
Michelle

5th Grade Biblical Plays

 Mrs. Jessen's Fantastic 5th Graders presented some Biblical plays to other grade school students and parents before Easter.  Justin and I went to the first performance and after taking one photo my camera battery went dead, so I had to take photos when I attended the plays later with the preschool class.

Cara, Charli & Shelby doing the Apostle rap.

 The Biblical stories presented were "Pentecost", "The Final Judgement", "The Seed and the Sower", and "Samson".  The whole class was in the first play "Pentecost" with most of them playing the part of one of the apostles.

The Final Judgement play with Audrey playing the referee between the sheep and the goats.

 The plays did have a narrator telling the story and the characters acting out the story would say parts on occasion.  There was also crowd participation; therefore, you had to pay attention through out.  The plays were on the comical side, but help the younger students better understand the Biblical stories.

The Seed and the Sower - Elliot portraying the sun, Audrey & Raymond are seeds and Conner is the sower.

The "Samson" play - Joe acting as Samson with Cameron & Cara as Philistines.

Samson & Delilah - Joe & Charli

Taking Samson captive.

Samson flexing his muscles for the crowd.

After the plays were over, Justin did not want to leave.  He wanted to stay and watch the next performance because he thought they were so funny, plus he knows quite a few of Cara's classmates.

Take care,

Michelle

Spring Storm

 We experienced such a mild winter here in Nebraska this year that you just knew that we would get a BIG spring storm.  We did not get hardly any snow this winter and the temperatures were above normal.  The BIG storm hit this last Saturday afternoon.  We had spent the morning at a 4-H meeting and at two soccer games.  The sky started to get really dark during the last game and the wind had really picked up toward the end.  I was glad to get home.  Then about 1:30 p.m. it started to rain and shortly after the hail started. 

 At first the hail was pea sized and then it got bigger to maybe a quarter in diameter.  The hail continued to fall and fall making the ground look like it was covered in snow, but in reality it was hail.

 The rain and hail were coming down so fast that the gutters were getting clogged by the hail and the rail was spilling over the edges.  The water was running and swirling down the street very fast.

 The kids were all in the basement because they are afraid of storms and tornadoes.  Keith and I were upstairs watching the storm when suddenly Erica started screaming and crying for help.

 The water was coming through the window in Erica's room.  The window had water gushing out of it like a waterfall.  The water was running down the wall and forming a lake in her bedroom.  I do not have photos of the water gushing because I was too busy trying to deal with the water.

 As I am using the small wet/dry vac that we have to get water off the carpet, Cara was calling one of the neighbors to see if we could borrow a larger wet/dry vac.  Jeff and Elliot came to the rescue fast.  Keith was also working next door to get water out of the neighbor's basement because they were gone for the day to a funeral.  The carpet and pad had to be completely removed from Erica's room.

 We also had to remove pad and pull back carpet in about 1/3 to 1/2 of our play area in the basement.  The concrete was wet and things had to be moved to start the drying process to prevent mold.

 On Sunday the sun came out and the wind was blowing pretty strong, so we hauled the pad and Erica's carpet outside hoping that would help it dry faster.  I joked that this is what "rednecks" do.

 Two nights last week I covered about 80 percent of my plants so that they wouldn't freeze and then on Saturday some of them just got demolished and broken by the hail and storm.  My clematis was to the top of the trellis and it is so broken.  I hope it recovers because it is beautiful when it blooms.

 My bleeding heart plants were blooming last week and this is what was left on Sunday.

 This is the north side of the house where I have hostas and bleeding hearts.  All are broken and smashed.

 We received over 4 inches of rain and hail in a short period of time.

The city of Norfolk was hit hard by the storm.  Many people had water in their basements, roofs damaged, and house siding damaged.  The streets were flooded with water and hail.  The city used snow plows to clean up the hail and unclog the streets.  People driving were stuck.  Some businesses were also extremely hit with damage, especially our hospital's emergency room.  The damage at our home compared to many was minimal.  We were just glad that we were home and that everyone was safe.  This was a storm that we won't forget for awhile.

Take care,
Michelle

Easter Part III

 One last Easter post and then I have to move on to other posts.  I was hoping to get this posted last week, but didn't get to it.  This post is about Easter at Grandpa and Grandma Leader's house.  The kids could barely eat the awesome dinner that Grandma provided because they were so excited to hunt for eggs.

 Aunt Jodee with her empty basket after hiding eggs.  There were so many eggs for the kids to find.  I think they each got a bucket full.

 They had to hunt high and low and under and in things to find all of the eggs.

 They dashed from one end of the backyard to the other end of the yard.

 Justin complained after going in the rocks to get a few eggs that his feet hurt.  I told him to put his shoes on, but he didn't want to take the time.

 Grandma and Aunt Sus watching the fast action of the hunt.

 Opening the eggs to find out what great treats were inside.

 A friendly game of H-O-R-S-E was also played during the beautiful afternoon.

The sandbox cover had to come off and the toys had to be retrieved from the storage spot in the garage.  They played quite awhile in the sandbox.

Take care,
Michelle

Easter Part II

 Easter morning the kids were up bright and early to see if the Easter bunny brought them anything interesting.  Erica and Ashlin were up at about 6:30 with Justin close behind.  They couldn't wait to hunt for eggs.  I told them to get ready for church while they were waiting for Cara to wake up.  Justin told me that he didn't want to wear the "fancy" clothes.  I still do not understand what is so hard about taking a picture of all four of them together, but each time it turns into a fiasco.

 Erica and Ashlin waiting for the "GO" to start the egg hunt.

 Hunting fast and furious for the eggs that the Easter bunny left all over the main floor.

Take care,
Michelle

Easter Part I

 Late Saturday afternoon we headed to my parents to celebrate Easter with them.  Grandpa and Grandma Korth always hide Easter eggs for the kids to find outside.

 Justin and Ashlin each had 14 eggs to find.  Each grandchild is assigned a color of egg to find.  Justin had to find orange (his favorite color) eggs.  Ashlin's eggs were in the back of the house and Justin's eggs were hid in the front of the house.

 Grandpa supervised their part of the Easter egg hunt.

 Cara and Erica go on a scavenger hunt to find their eggs.  Cara felt that she was too old to participate this year, but Dad told her to find the eggs and he would eat the candy. 

 After reading each clue they had to figure out the next location.  At the next spot they would find 3 eggs, one for Erica, one for Cara and one egg holding the next clue.

 Justin picked up a few of the scavenger hunt eggs and they had to be put back.  Grandpa kept telling him that he could only pick up orange eggs.

Inside one of each of their eggs was a note to go see Grandpa for a prize.  The prize turned out to be $10.  They each felt rich after receiving their prize.

The girls took turns reading the next clue.  Grandma said maybe next year Ashlin could join in the scavenger hunt.

After the egg hunt was over, we ate a roast beef supper and played Family Feud and Yahtzee.  It was an enjoyable evening.

Take care,
Michelle