May - Mother's Day, School Field Trips, Awards Day, Sports Banquet, and The End of 4th and 9th Grades

May began with Katelyn being sick. She had a slight fever when I picked her up from school on Tuesday, April 30th, but she had no other complaints. The next morning, May 1st, she had a 101 fever so we stayed home. This was the day of the school-wide field trip to Rainey Ranch. One of the workers at the school and her husband have a ranch with lots of animals and they just recently opened it up to the public as kind of a petting zoo type attraction. Hunter got to go, but Katelyn missed it. She was so upset, but she really didn’t feel well at all. She spent most of the day in bed, which is unlike her. When I checked her temperature later that night, it was 103.8. Needless to say, I was concerned. After some Motrin, it slowly came down, but I made her sleep in my room that night so I could keep a close eye on her. She woke up around 2 am and it was back up to 101, so we took some more Motrin. I had already decided that a trip to the doctor was in order on the 2nd because her fever was so high. When she woke up at around 8:30 that morning, it was back up to 101. I gave her some more Motrin and we headed out to see Dr. Parker. When we finally got called back, her fever was still almost 101 so they gave her some Tylenol and took a chest x-ray to rule out pneumonia. They also gave her a strep test which came back negative. Dr. Parker said she had some mucus in her lungs but no pneumonia. He felt like this was just the beginning of step/bronchitis though because her fever had been so high. We left with a prescription for some antibiotics and after a quick stop at the pharmacy, we went back home. By that afternoon, she seemed to be feeling better, but the doctor wanted her to stay home again on Friday to give the antibiotics time to work before she went back to school. Byron was off that day so I went back to work. She was back to her old self by the time I got home on Friday.

We took it easy the next week and then headed to Russellville on the 11th for Mother’s Day. We have always spent Mother’s Day there since that’s when they have decoration at the cemetery where Byron’s father’s family is buried. His father’s side of the family usually comes over for lunch that day, but the crowd has dwindled over the years. It was just us, his parents, his sister’s family, and one of his cousins’ family this year. We still had a good time visiting with family that we don’t get to see often enough.

On the 13th, I took the day off of work and went to the Montgomery Zoo with Hunter’s class. They are such a great group of kids and we had fun walking around the zoo looking at all of the animals. We rode the sky lift over the zoo and then we rode the train through the zoo. We saw a black panther get mad and growl at a cougar. We fed giraffes too. The kids (and the adults who chaperoned) all enjoyed spending the day away from school and work. Katelyn went to DeSoto Caverns the next day with a group but I didn’t get to go on that trip. She loved it though and came back with lots of great stories about what all she saw and did. Maybe I’ll get to go on a trip with her next year.

Awards Day at NRCA was on the 20th. Katelyn got Most Improved in Spelling in the 4th grade! If any of you know what a struggle we have had with spelling this year, you’ll know how important that award was to her. Hunter got awards for being inducted into the National Senior Beta Club and the Senior National Honor Society. He also received recognition for completing the Presidential Physical Fitness program in PE. That afternoon, Hunter went to the orthodontist to have his braces tightened. He picked navy blue for his O-rings this time so he would be ready for football workouts at school this summer. Gotta love his school spirit! He did great again and didn’t complain at all about his mouth hurting after we were done. I confirmed that I am still as blind as a bat with the optometrist on the 21st, but I also confirmed that my laser surgery last year to repair the tears in my retinas was a success.

School ended with semester exams on the 22nd and 23rd. Both kids got out of school at 11:00 on the 22nd and Katelyn didn’t even have to go to school at all on the 23rd. She came to work with me that day since Hunter went ice skating with his class after their last exam that day. That night we all went to the NRCA Sports Banquet and watched all of our Charger athletes get recognized for the outstanding jobs they did in their various sports this year. Hunter got certificates for participating in football and basketball, and Katelyn got a certificate for being a Jr cheerleader. I made a point of telling both of our new basketball coaches what a fantastic job they both did this past year. I hope a lot more parents did the same. What they were both able to accomplish in their first year as coaches was excellent and I look forward to seeing what they do in the years to come.

On the 24th, we went to watch graduation at NRCA. I had the pleasure of getting to know most of the seniors this past year and they are a great group with a bright future. Just to give you an idea of how great they are, the 13 of them had over half a million dollars in scholarship money awarded. I found myself sitting there thinking how I would be the parent of a senior graduating in just 3 short years. I won’t be able to wear any makeup to the graduation ceremony because I’ll just cry it all off if I do. These next 3 years will surely go by far too quickly, but I intend to enjoy every second of them.

We spent the 3-day Memorial Day weekend doing some much needed spring cleaning around the house. We finished out May with an end of the year party for the NRCA Jr Cheerleaders on the 28th. We ate pizza and cookies and cake and lots of other yummy junk food and sized everyone for uniforms for next year. Most of the girls will be returning to cheer again (along with a few new ones) and I can’t wait to see them in action again in the fall.

The end of May brought the end of 4th and 9th grades for us. I now officially have a 5th grader and a sophomore in high school. That still doesn’t seem possible. At any rate, we are ALL ready for some summer fun!