Maycember

The end of the school year is always a crazy, busy, full-on dash to see if we can cross the finish line of the school year still standing.  It was a wild ride, but we made it....barely.

As mentioned previously, Madagascar performances filled many evenings of our May.  This will have its own post so stay tuned.

Track was also a big, busy part of our May.  More to come on this too.

Staley had her final Bible Quiz-Off of the season.  It was a crazy day as Staley quizzed, ran in a track meet, quizzed some more, and then headed straight to the theater for a Madagascar performance all in the same day.  My stress level was high that day as I tried to make sure she could fit it all in.

Staley quizzed on the high school team again as their top quizzer.  Her team won 2 out of their 4 quizzes and made it to the tournament as the 6th seed.  They quizzed well, but lost in the first round of the tournament.  This actually worked out for the best so that Staley could make it to her performance on time without having to leave her team in the middle of the tournament.

Briggs got to participate in his classroom science fair.

He and his friend, Jadon, shared their baking soda/vinegar balloon experiment with all who came to see the science fair.  It was a great experiment!

Adelie performed in her final band concert of her middle school career.  After the concert, she said, "Did you hear all that clarinet squeaking during the songs?  That was me."  Maybe just as well she has decided not to do band in 7th grade.

Adelie enjoyed her class field trip to Medieval Times.  I was not chosen as a chaperone for this trip, which worked out for the best as I had to meet her bus in Pontiac to take her straight to the theater for a Madagascar performance.  Nothing is as easy as it should be in May!

Staley enjoyed her class field trip to Six Flags, although she had a track meet the next day so she tried to be responsible about the rides she did and the foods she ate.  Even so, she still had a great time with her friends.

Briggs participated in the Great Egg Drop at school.  Don't worry!  His egg survived.

In the midst of the crazy, we celebrated Mother's Day.

We enjoyed lunch and family time with Zach's family.

There was good food, time on the water, and visiting.  It was a nice way to spend an afternoon.  As long as I didn't have to cook or clean, I was happy.

Although my birthday was amidst the crazy, we enjoyed a birthday dinner with both sets of parents at my mom's house on my birthday as well as a dinner out with Taylor and James at the Pickled Radish.  Both my favorite meals...ones I didn't have to cook!

Briggs participated in the 3rd/4th grade track meet.  He got 7th place in the 800 with a time of 3:27 and placed 5th in the standing broad jump.  It was fun getting to see him compete in events he's watched his sister do over and over.  The morning of his meet, he asked Staley for advice.  My advice would have been possibly training before the day of the race, but he didn't ask me.

Staley made some time to bond with members of her 4 X 400 relay team with pre-race dinners and hanging out prior to sectionals and state.

Staley performed in her final middle school choir concert.  She was part of a trio that was featured in their Honor's Chorus song.  Choir was one of the 7th and 8th grade highlights for Staley, and she is looking forward to continuing with choir in high school as well.

Briggs and his friend Jackson performed a stick-man hoverboard and glow football routine for the 3rd and 4th grade talent show.  It was a highlight of the show!!

Adelie and Staley both had their middle school awards ceremony.  Adelie got awards for straight A's, map growth, and the #2 AR reader of the year (behind her friend, Stella, just like last year.)

Staley got awards for straight A's all 4 years, student-athlete award, and top MAP score for both literature and math.  So proud of both my girls and all their achievements and hard work.

We celebrated Lila's 8th grade graduation...

Olivia's high school graduation...

and, of course, Staley's 8th grade promotion.  (More to come about this too!)

We made it!!  High fives for making it to the end of the school year still standing.

April Throwback Post

Yes, I know it is June.  But our spring was crazy busy and blogging took a back seat to life, so it's time for me to start catching up on what has happened between spring break and the beginning of summer break.  To start off, here's a glimpse at what April brought our way...

We had to finish celebrating Adelie's end-of-March birthday.  She invited some friends over for an evening of friend fun and a sleepover with Everly, Stella, Bristol, and Anna.  Such a sweet group of girls!

They had dinner, they talked and giggled and played, watched Wicked, and got less-than-adequate sleep with their fun living room sleepover.

While Adelie enjoyed her sleepover, Briggs had a sleepover with Grammie and Grandpa while Staley slept over at Olivia's house.  So even though it was Adelie's birthday, everyone had their own fun sleepover time!

We also had the grandparent birthday dinner with Adelie's dinner choice (meatballs) and dessert choice (Oreo balls).

Adelie also enjoyed a fun day out with Uma and Papa for a little birthday shopping, lunch at Chick-Fil-A, and pottery painting.

Adelie always has the birthday that just keeps on going!

We celebrated January through April birthdays with Zach's family.

Once Adelie was done celebrating her birthday, it was time to start celebrating Zach's.  Zach took his birthday off work to enjoy some of his favorite things.  He went on a morning bike ride, returned to a breakfast that Briggs made for him, and then enjoyed a day out with his family.

We enjoyed family time at the Riverfront Museum for the custom car exhibit and a planetarium show that I napped through...

a stop at RC outfitters to look at running clothes and shoes...

and a jaunt through the Peoria Zoo with their Glow Lights exhibit.

With Easter later this year, Zach's birthday fell on Good Friday so we attended the combined Good Friday service at Cross Point.  Adelie was asked to do a reading for the Good Friday service this year.

And we finished off birthday celebrations with ice cream and Oreo balls to top off a fun day of celebrating all things Zach.

Zach and I also enjoyed a birthday lunch date the next day at Obed and Isaac's.  Always scrumptious!!

We celebrated Easter with church brunch, Easter service at church, and Easter lunch and hanging out with my side of the family at Aunt Bonnie's.

 

For our Easter family fun this year, we hid eggs for the kids to find in the basement with scrabble tiles inside.  They had to make an Easter sentence or phrase with their tiles in order to receive their Easter basket.  This was Adelie's phrase that allowed her to receive her penguin crochet kit and flutter shorts.

Staley came up with this dandy to receive her Chickn Legs running shorts.

This was Briggs' first try...except he meant for his phrase to say 'God is exciting' rather than exiting.  Oops!

With my help, Briggs' expanded his sentence a bit to get his Lego set.

Adelie also got the April excitement of getting braces.  She was the last of the Sancken kids to get orthodontic work done.  We may not have money left to send our kids to college, but at least they'll all have nice smiles.

Uma and Papa took Briggs to his last Davenport PTO Carnival of his grade school career.

EMS track was a big part of our spring busy-ness as well.  Staley had practice or meets every day, and I helped out with coaching the distance kids on a volunteer basis, which filled many of my afternoons and week-ends as well.  Track will have its own post, but it deserves an April shout-out.

NTA productions of Madagascar, Jr. got underway at the end of April.  Staley and Adelie rehearsed and performed and filled in and teched with many evenings over the course of late April/May spent at the theater.  More to come on this as well.

I finished off April by running the Illinois Marathon in Champaign.

The weather was perfect for running...50's and overcast.

I ran a steady pace, fueled well, appreciated having Zach run with me from miles 15-25, and exceeded the goal I had set for myself.

I finished under Boston Marathon qualifying time and celebrated at the finish line.

It was a good end to a busy month!

We crossed the April finish line, but that was just the beginning of the race to the end of the school year.  Hold on because that race is a wild ride!