the masterpiece

Ben said the cutest thing about the playhouse/schoolhouse last night. While I was gone to Bear Lake, Daren put the shingles on the roof to finally finish the playhouse. Well, last night we had gone to the aquarium and the park, and we had Ronnie with us. When we were almost home Ben was telling Ronnie about the new roof and said, "I remember when the playhouse was just a floor and we would play on it. I can't wait for you to see it now--it's a masterpiece!!"
I'm sure there are many who want to thank Daren for his hard work building this "masterpiece," including me, the boys, and all thier friends/school mates!! Good times!

messing around

I'm up at Bear Lake this weekend with all my girlfriends I grew up with, having a great time. We have eaten way too much food (who am I kidding--junk!), drank way too much Diet Coke, and played cards all day and all night. I spent the morning playing around with Michelle's Mac computer and messed around with some of my pictures, and wanted to include this one from Ben's summer school--I love the antique look of it. I can't wait until my current computer dies so I can get a new Mac! Did I just say that?! Until then, I'll be content.

ben's summer school

I decided to wait until the end of the "summer school year" to write about it and lump it all together, so this may get long!! So rewind with me to last year when Daren and the boys were building the play house. At one point Ben said that he wanted it to be a school house and teach all the kids in the neighborhood how to read and write. Well, at least all the kids younger than him. Since we were sick for most of June and were busy with the holidays in July, we finally got around to it in the middle of July. Ben was so excited about it, he made this flyer and delivered it to Jaycie so she knew what to expect.


So on the appointed Saturday, school began. The playhouse was packed with school supplies, ready to go. This whole thing from beginning to end was all Ben's idea. I supplied the yard, and he took care of everything else. I'm quite proud of him for putting it all together everytime he held school. It was a good thing we weren't a licensed school because we were always changing days and times when school was held, so we would have been shut down for sure!! ;) Ben, of course, was the teacher, and if Danielle or Ronnie were there, they were the principals. Ben was always trying to bust Jake and send him to the principal's office!!

Just before 1pm, the "bus" took off to gather the students. Every day school was held, the bus made its rounds to pick everyone up--that is, everyone who lives close enough. Somehow that doesn't seem quite right to all the kids who live farther away!!

Word must have really spread because we had a few more than just Jaycie show up!!

Ben couldn't believe how many showed up--8, including him. They started off with lunch first, and then recess. Then they visited the library in Will's room, had snack and another recess and before they knew it, the hour was gone! Ben said it was a perfect day. Not that I was expecting him to sit them all down in the school house--seriously, where would they fit anyway?!--and teach them math or writing, but I knew for future school days he needed more of a plan...

Archaeology Day (aka: Indy Day!)

...so Ben came up with "theme days." First off, archaeology (or arkeyoligy) day--and they added Adam as the newest student. Over time they also added Nathan, Thomas, Gregory, Ellie, and any others who wanted to join. It was the perfect plan to fill up a summer afternoon...playing with a purpose.

For archaelology day the students did paper rubbings on the rocks, trying to find remains of dinosaurs in them. Gregory said he found part of a T-rex bone! Who knew we had that right here in our backyard?!

The teacher always has to check a student's work!

Pirate Day

Pirate Day was a lot of fun for them because there was so much to do. And you can't have Pirate Day without a treasure map!

Once you find the map, you read it and follow instructions to find the hidden treasure.

Success after much digging! Technically school is only supposed to last an hour, according to Ben, but on Pirate Day they were having so much fun they kept it going for over 3 hours!!

Ben always has to include drawings in his daily agenda, so they all drew their own maps and he taped them together into one big one. Clockwise from top left: Ben, Danielle, Ellie, Jake, Jaycie, and Nathan.

Sponge Bob Day

In the middle of all this, we added swimming lessons for the boys to their MWF's, so school got started a bit later those days. On our way home from swimming this day I asked Ben what his theme for the day was going to be. He thought about it for a sec and then said, "Sponge Bob." Ben comes up with these great ideas, but it's always short notice so we throw together what we can. So, I stopped by the store to buy some sponges, and the kids put together their own Sponge Bob's. (Thanks to Shelly for the pipe cleaners and the googly eyes!)

I wish I would have gotten a picture of Ben's Sponge Bob--he colored a pipe cleaner yellow for the nose and everything!

Ronnie and Nathan's finished Sponge Bob's!!!!

I didn't take pictures everytime they had school, but obviously I did get quite a few days. I missed weather day and scooby doo day that I can think of right now, but I'm sure there were more. Oh, and Spiderwick day.

Last day of school!

Last Friday, after I got home from girl's camp, Ben held school--I think that was the Scooby Doo day--and they spent a lot of their time planning the end-of-school party for the next day. Ben, Danielle, and Ronnie made these really cute invitations that went inside a manilla pocket envelope, like the kind you find at the back of a library book that holds the library card. Well, that's how they did it in the "old days." It was real cute, and the three of them delivered them that night. Short notice, yes, but that's how it always worked for school--thank goodness for texting! If Ben was having school on a certain day I'd just text everyone what time, and whoever could come would show up. It worked good enough.

Last Saturday Ben woke me at 6:45am to tell me he had already dusted and cleaned his room and would wait for everyone else to get up to vacuum. Ya, he was just a bit excited. He could hardly wait for Danielle to come over at 11am to finish planning the party.

Everyone was so excited for the party that they started it with a dog-pile on each other, with Ben getting squished at the bottom. Shelly was kind enough to bring over pizza for the kids.

Since I had just helped with an obstacle course at girl's camp last week, I thought it would be fun for the kids to do. The younger kids were at an obvious disadvantage, but they still had fun cheering everyone on. Ben (top left, then Thomas, Ronnie, and Matthew) was in first place for a few turns, but when he finally got beaten out he was pretty bummed. Then Ronnie came along and blew everyone away. I have never seen anyone go across monkey bars so quickly, but she admitted that she spends every recess on the monkey bars at school in leg wars (trying to get the other person off), and has beaten everyone in the 5th and 6th grade. She is so cute!

We got Dunford chocolate donuts for a treat, and Will could hardly wait! When he got his, he hid in the school house to eat it--as if someone was going to take it away!! The school house wasn't getting much use that day anyway.

It was a cool day that day, with a high in the upper 70's and plenty of clouds around, so we couldn't do any water games, but the kids still had a great time just playing around in the yard.

class photo: Ben, Ronnie (hanging out the window), Thomas (kneeling), Danielle, Will, Jake (sitting), Jaycie, Adam, Gabby, Matthew, and Nathan with a scowl on his face (I think it was his tough guy look!). Missing: Gregory, Ellie.

Like I said before, I really didn't have much to do with the summer school--Ben took care of most of it himself and did an amazing job. All the kids loved it so much that we had kids asking their parents when school was going to be held again. Summer school was the perfect way to get a bunch of neighborhood kids together and have a great time...

...but they can get a little crazy sometimes if you don't watch out!

This past Monday evening I was playing outside with the boys and we were talking about our day and how it was kind of boring because there was no school that day. It won't be long before they are all in real school again, but Ben is already talking about summer school for next year. In the meantime, his boredom has caused him to fill up his time with something else fun--his own blog! I don't know how long he will keep up with it, but he has already done 2 posts, and he can't wait for "everyone all over the world" to read it! You can click on "game 3000" on my sidebar, or go to http://www.usingmyimagination.blogspot.com/ to view it. He was so excited to start it he could hardly stand it. There is a learning curve, but he's quickly getting better at it. He said he's going to write in it every day. And he would love a comment or two if you want to leave one! He can't wait for his first one. By the way, when I was asking him what he wanted to name his blog, he thought about it for a minute, then said, "Boy Mom, you got a good one--Good Times. But I can't use that one so I'll name it Game 3000. Do you like it?! I just thought of that one myself!" His thinker is always going. Good job, Ben! Thanks for making it a memorable summer for so many kids! I love you hun!!

living the wild life

As you can see, I've been living the "wild life" this week--it was girl's camp/boy's week-to-play-while-mom's-away, and I think it's safe to say that we all had a great time, but it's good to be home all together again. I'm still working on laundry, cleaning the house, etc., but I'll try to get back to blogging again soon.

p.s. this was a buck that just walked through our camp everyday! Amazing!!

cub scout camp

Now that Ben is 8-years old, he not only has started the scouting program, but this summer he got his first taste of scout camp. I quickly volunteered to go as one of the parents, and it was a riot!! It was a 2-day camp up in Millcreek Canyon, and I went on the first day, which was Super Hero Academy.

This wild bunch of roughinans are most of the 8 and 9-year old boys in our ward, minus the two unknowns sitting behind Ben. They were so excited to be there!

First up, learning about thumbprints, then recording their own.

The Super Buggy was a crack-up! The person on the buggy was pushed all around a dirt course, which was a little harder than it looked, but they had a blast. First Ben pushed the cart, and then he got to be pushed--hard to say which he enjoyed more though!

Ben and Thomas--they will find fun with trains wherever they go! This day Thomas turned 8, so he got to spend his birthday at scout camp--woo-hoo!!

This was a fun game the boys played to pass some extra time away. Everyone stands in a circle and looks down at someone's shoes. When it's time to look up you look at the person's face whose shoes you are looking at, and if they are looking at you too, you scream. I love the look of Ben and Thomas screaming!

The infamous trip to the trading post. Who woulda thunk that the most coveted item in there were these big jewels?! Ben got stuck at the back of the pack, so by the time he got to the front the only jewel left was this beautiful "coral" one. Work with me here, it is CORAL, not pink!

After the trading post was lunch, and then the bb gun shooting range. I was a little nervous about a bunch of 8- and 9-year olds having a bb gun, but they did just fine and had a great time.

Batman's sidekick Robin taught the bb gun class. Boys will take any opportunity to show off their own guns!!

The water games came just in time that afternoon. Not that this one got them all that wet, and not that it was all that hot in the canyon, but the next game was another story...

We were with another troop all day, and this boy is from that other troop. He and Ben were on the same team, trying to plug up the holes so the water wouldn't leak out.

It was a muddy, messy game...and the boys loved every minute of it!!

All in all, the boys had so much fun they could hardly keep a straight face at the end of the day!