Word Problems

Read the following word problems and write the answers on your answer sheet. (You may use scratch paper as needed)

If Sherpa digs a hole that is 2 feet wide, 1 foot long, and 2 feet deep, how many cubic feet of dirt would have been removed from that hole?

If Sherpa digs at a rate of three holes per hour, how many hours will it take for Sherpa to dig up the entire yard?

If Sherpa digs three holes per hour and Cara fills in two holes per hour, after 24 hours, how far behind will Cara be?

If Sherpa continues to dig holes at this rate and Cara continues to fill holes at this rate, approximately how many days will it be until Cara loses her ever-lovin-mind?



p.s. If, due to our current economic state, you do not have enough money for a family vacation this summer, don't fret. Just load up the kids and bring them to my house for your own personalized tour of the Grand Canyon. Sherpa will be glad to show off his designs.

"Have a Magical Evening"

So I just finalized our plans to go to Disney World this July!! I am very excited! Mindy, one of our Kindergarten teachers, gave me a ton of tips and advice today and it motivated me to get it all taken care of.

We will be staying at one of the 'value' hotels. This basically means 'You won't be spending any time in your room, so we won't do anything special to it".

So far we have made one meal reservation and I really need to decide on the others because apparently restaurants book up about 90 days in advance. Wow! And I am usually so prepared.

I've been impressed with how friendly everyone was over the phone. They constantly say "Will you be celebrating anything while you are with us?" and "Have a magical evening." So I told them that this was our anniversary trip (not quite a lie, we'll only be celebrating a month late). And after talking to all those nice people, this evening feels pretty magical. =)

"School's out for Summer!"

Yes, Alice Cooper, you're right: school is out for summer.

Yesterday was the last day for students. I have to go back next week for a few days, but we always have a good time on our work days. On our last day, there was a sense of relief mixed with chaos. Relief for teachers, chaos for students. The kids knew there was very little we could do as far as discipline goes. So I had students trying to sit on tables, play steam-roller in the floor, yell at me, etc. A few of those resulted in the 'Mean Mrs. Lawson' (the one the kids hate to see). But all in all, it was a fun day.

The weird thing about yesterday was the amount of crying. I had kids crying by 9:00am and it kept going until long after school was over and they were free to go. I have never seen students cry like that on the last day of school. We couldn't believe it. They cried for any one of the following reasons:

-"I'll NEVER see ANY of these people again."

-"I won't know what to do next year; I'll be miserable."

-"Robertson is the only school I have ever been to."

-"My life is ending! Everything after this will be horrible."

-"Middle School sucks."

And these are actual quotes

Although a few of these concerns were genuine, I think a lot of the kids were just feeding off one another. Apparently, crying was the 'cool' thing to do yesterday.



American Idol Update: HOORAY!! There is still hope left in this world!

I was thrilled that Kris Allen won this week. Totally surpised, but thrilled. Obviously, I was pulling for Danny Gokey with Kris being my second choice. But when Danny went home the week before, I put all my voting effort into saving Kris and getting Adam the heck outta there! A good friend of mine says that Kris Allen just seems like a guy who anyone could be friends with; someone simple and genuine. I agree. I think he really deserved the win. (I'm certain that Danny will still have a career in music, so we will hear from him soon. I am hoping that he goes the Christian/Gospel route, I think he would do great in that genre.) But a big congrats to Kris.

How many months until season 10 starts?





p.s. No one ever mentioned that his wife is as cute as a button! What's the deal with that?

Too Cute

Avery and her cousin Hannah.

Hannie is soon becoming Avery's favorite.

Rylee Graduates Kindergarten

Last Tuesday, Rylee graduated Kindergarten from Marrs Elementary in Skiatook. They sang numerous songs and put on a great show. There were 173 kiddos in 8 different classes; it was a huge group. Also graduating, was Forrest, the son of our friends Jeremiah & Roseanne.

Quote of the Week

"Ugh! I wish I had a clone of myself so he could massage my feet."

-5th grader who was tired from playing outside

Entertainment

When we opened the package for the volleyball net, we discarded the poles because we were using the trees instead. They would have ended up in the dump if it wasn't for my strange nephews. Jordan & Taylor proceeded to start a game of throwing the poles back and forth towards each other.

We are talkin' some serious javelin tossing here!

This was a very dangerous game. Which, now that I am thinking about it, probably shouldn't have been allowed. Taylor ended up getting hit a few times and has some marks to prove it. They tried to get me to play but that was NOT a success.









I would compare them to kids at Christmas who only want to play with the cardboard box and not the toy that came in it.

Funland: The official sponsor of Summer '09

I promised pictures of 'Funland'. First I will explain what it is. My parents have many projects around their house this month and all of the projects are geared toward summer fun (updating the swings, bringing back the volleyball net, setting up the new pool and adding to the fire pit). So we started teasing them that before long they would have to start charging admission. We somehow named their house 'Funland' and the name just stuck.

So far, they have added two new swings to the swing set, and fixed up the slides. Soon they will add the rock wall and sand box. The swing set was built for me when I graduated kindergarten. Now, 18 years later, Rylee is graduating Kindergarten and the swing set is getting a much needed make-over.

Here they are playing boat, sharks, volcanoes, and whales. The sharks were attracted to the color gray (which was a total bummer because Kevin was coincidentally wearing gray) and the mulch was poisonous. There was a lot of danger involved in this game! When I came around with the camera I was a shark and they had to run for their lives (as seen here).

The next addition to Funland is the volleyball net. This is a really big deal! When I was a kid, we have a volleyball net between two trees in the backyard and we played all the time. Anyone my age or older remembers the good ol' days of volleyball. But over time the net began to fall apart and eventually we took it down. Therefore the grandkids and new additions to the family like Kevin & Molly, never got to enjoy the joy of volleyball. Well, year after year passed and we never thought to get another net. Well this year, it is officially back! And we couldn't be more excited about it.



These will most likely be the only pictures with grass under the net. Grass doesn't stand a chance against our amazing spikes & dives!

Next, are the new picnic tables that my dad made for the fire pit. Finally hot dogs and s'mores don't have to be balanced on our laps.



I'm thinking that there is a lot of fun to be had this summer. Lots of bug bites, sunburns, and calories to burn!

So here is how the story goes: Rylee scratched her nose. Actually, Rylee was laying on the floor and Belle ran over her and scratched her nose with her paw. It wasn't much of a scratch but when you're six, scratches are life threatening. So we went to the bathroom to do some serious Neosporin/Band-Aid business. When Rylee got to put Neosporin on her nose, Avery wanted some. (keep in mind, Avery is perfectly fine) Next, Rylee wanted a Band-Aid; therefore Avery thought she needed one. So now, when anyone asked Avery what was wrong she would dramatically say "Belle scratch" & "Scratch, ouch". All the while, Rylee never tried to lay claim on the story (even though it was her story to tell).

What a great big sister!




Movie Pick of the week: Jane Austin Book Club

This was so, so, so good. It was sweet, witty, and heartwarming. Definitly a feel good film.

However, now my reading list is getting quite over-whelming.

Heartbreaker, Dream-maker, Love-taker, Don't you mess around with me

Oh why, thank you for singing my post title Pat Benatar. It was so kind of you.


Things that break my heart:

1. Co-workers who bring brownies and ice cream cake to work when I am diligently counting calories.

2. Kids & Drugs.

3. Danny Gokey leaving American Idol.

4. Kevin not loving my new creamed spinach recipe.

(Only a few of these things have made me cry this week)

Things that make my heart happy:

1. Anticipating a sunny weekend.

2. 5 days of school remaining

3. A sale on strawberries AND grapes.

4. Funland '09 (pictures coming soon)

(None of these have made me cry)

Odds & Ends, This & That, Here & There

Ok, it's time. Summer needs to get here and get here NOW! Are teachers allowed to be anxious about summer? I hope so, because it is sure happening here.

Recent & Upcoming News

Rylee graduates Kindergarten on May 19th
Cousin Neil graduates high school on May 21st
Joey got accepted this week into ORU's graduate school
Dad shaved his beard and mustache (what?!?)
Ashleigh finishes her freshman year at OSU tomorrow

I have been to two band concerts this week. Hannah's was on Monday. She plays the flute; she's so cute. Taylor's was tonight (Thursday); he plays the tuba. He is in a small ensemble and he is in the larger wind ensemble. He's pretty awesome when it comes to anything musical. We have decided that band directors should not be allowed access to the microphone. It never reseults well.

This might be the funniest story I have heard in a long, long time. So my grandmother is pretty famous at area funerals. She makes a point to go to any funeral of someone she knew. We tease her that it is a social-adventure for her. Quite frankly, she is really good at it. She knows all the lingo and which funeral homes are the best and so on. She is just very polite and a good friend so she respects her duty. Well, today she did something that I can't get over.
She had to go to a funeral home to visit someone she knew. There were a lot of other bodies in the funeral home, so she walked through all the veiwing rooms just to check and see if she knew any of the deceased.
I can just picture her peeking in each casket, shaking her head, admiring their lovely flowers, and moving on to the next room. She is hilarious.

They don't come funnier than Gigi!