Slime

For weeks Tanner mostly, but Ethan and Garrett repeatedly asked me if they could make slime. I told them they needed to wait until school was done because I couldn't handle another project that last week of school. Plus, I needed to get all the ingredients. Which turns out you just need school glue, borax, and water. Oh, and food coloring if you want it a color other than white. So, I just needed to get borax.

 I think I left somewhere and when I came into the kitchen I saw yellow slime. The boys knew all the ingredients by heart but what they didn't know was measurements. Ethan was the one doing all the mixing of that batch and was just guessing based on what they had seen on an internet video.

 His turned out pretty stiff and rubbery.

I followed the directions and measurements and mine turned out more goopy. Do you like the way the kids positioned it to look somewhat like Nickelodeon's tradmark?

This is what would happen if you tried to hold it for longer than a few seconds. It would slowly drip down.

This is what it looked like right after releasing it.

This is what it looked like after about a minute. Pretty cool stuff. The other name this goes by is "noise putty". They sell it in a little cup at WalMart for $1. Basically you push your fingers down into it in the cup and it makes a fart sound. Let's just say I heard fart sounds for an hour or so. What is it about that sound that instantly makes people laugh? I admit even I chuckled many times. I'll also admit that I was one of the ones trying to make the most impressively realistic and gross sounds from that goop.

Savannah's 6th Grade Graduation

It is really hard for me to believe that my first baby is all done with elementary school. It's just plain crazy that she will be in junior high in about 7 weeks. She's not even 4 ½ feet tall yet. (One more inch.) She doesn't technically need to wear a bra yet. Not even a training one. =D But she wears a sport style just for modesty. She has yet to use a razor. I still have to remind her (read: force her) to do some basic hygiene somewhat frequently. She still asks me to come down to her room to say goodnight.

I have mixed emotions. On one hand I don't want her to grow up. On the other I know she's 12 ½ now and should be doing, acting, looking like a 12 year old. When I was twelve I remember not really caring to dress to impress but I always wanted to be older than I was. I always looked forward to being that one year older. I wanted to shave my legs, wear makeup, babysit for a job, etc. Savannah mentions shaving here and there but other than that I think she's perfectly fine staying on the younger side of a twelve year old. I'm ok with that most of the time.

Well, the day finally arrived to say good bye to the elementary school days. The sixth grade classes put on a little program for their graduation. The D.A.R.E. graduation was part of the program. Some kids received special awards for D.A.R.E. and all received a certificate stating they finished the program. Some kids received special awards for the amount of Accelerated Reader points they had for the year. Some received a Presidential Award for excelling at good grades and for testing high on the end-of-level tests for 4-6th grades. Some received a "Hope of America" award. Savannah was a lucky recipient of this one. On the certificate it says, "Presented with honor to Savannah Hansen, who has demonstrated during this school year capacity for leadership, ethical and moral character and outstanding academic accomplishment." She was one of about ten kids to get this one.

This makes me stop for a minute. I've just read through the last paragraph and realized what Savannah has gone through this last year and all the previous grades. Savannah has a "high-strung" kind of personality. But a couple years ago this increased quite drastically, or at least noticeably, in a particular part of her life. Very frequently she would either wake up in the middle of the night or before she had even fallen asleep and tell me that she felt sick to her stomach. She would be shaking, breathing hard, and look panicked. She was terrified of throwing up and if the thought came to her mind even briefly she was done. It was all downhill from there. I have spent hours with her in the bathroom over the last few years trying to calm her down in the middle of the night.

I finally had enough, realizing that this was out of her control and brought her to a therapist. After about 9 months of therapy and it only helping a little bit we finally moved in the direction of a psychiatrist who diagnosed her with a general anxiety disorder (and a bit of o.c.d.) and prescribed medicine. Within just a few days her teacher told her that she seemed much more relaxed. (We continued therapy too.) We started the medicine at the beginning of December. By the next parent-teacher conference her teacher pointed out the improvement in her grades and test scores. Her teacher also pointed out again the difference she noticed in her overall disposition during class. Savannah has always done well and slightly above the class average but not to the point of accolades. (I was hoping it would also improve her willingness and desire to read but to no avail.) But not one time has she had anxiety during the night since starting the medicine and this has been a true blessing. I think had we started this medicine a couple years ago her school experience would have been a little different.

Savannah is the bottom row (of course; she's the shortest) in the middle wearing a bright pink shirt. They're getting ready to start the program.

Singing the D.A.R.E. song

I can't remember why she's up there for this picture. It might be for her award.

I KNOW this one is for her award. ;)

Mrs. Dahlberg, Paige (her good friend she developed over the last several months), and Savannah. Yep, she's 'fun-sized'.

Paige and Savannah. Their theme for graduation was 'fiesta'.

Taking note of the size difference.

I'm sad I didn't get a picture of just her. I didn't even realize it til I uploaded these pictures. I think it was because the program went on for just over 1.5 hours and it was hot and Jon was in a rush to get to work.

Junior high is going to be a new adventure for both of us. I'm worried and excited for her at the same time. If she can keep her anxiety and worry level down I think she'll do fine. Another thing she has struggled with is keeping good friends and I'm hoping that instead of it being harder that having a bigger pool of kids to choose from that it will be better for her. *Keeping my fingers crossed* Good luck, Savannah!

Magic Man

Ethan had a Talent Share at school that his music teacher put on. The students could do a number of things like show artwork, recite a poem, sing, or play an instrument. He wanted to do a magic trick or two and was hoping he would be allowed. He practiced a good portion of the afternoon and to get in the mood he donned this outfit. I thought he looked quite good considering it was just his church suit and a white t-shirt turned backwards so the pocket-logo didn't show. (Please don't look at the background.) Oh, and he was allowed to do it since he had the props with him and ready to perform. I guess he did well and kids were impressed so it was a success.

Commercial Look-Alike

Seriously, why do I even buy white clothes for my children to wear? And why do I even put it on them? Especially the infant through 8 year olds? It seems that Savannah is just now starting to improve on the level of soil and stains on her clothes and she's 12.

This shirt here is Garrett's. I'm sure this shirt wasn't even worn the entire day since he probably changed into a swimsuit at some point. I would've really liked to have this be one of his shirts that says "Trouble is my Middle Name" or something to that effect. But, I was still in such awe of the filthiness of the shirt that I had to take a photo.

Here's a different angle trying to capture the grime at the bottom. After putting my magic touch on it (and two wash cycles) it came out quite clean. At least clean enough for another round another day when I've forgotten how long it takes to clean this kind of mess. And I guess I wasn't gung-ho enough to take an 'after' photo to complete the commercial look-alike part of it all. Maybe next time.