Ganson Family Scrapbook: May 2022

May means the end of school! Micah had his last day of Challenge on May 4, and we all finished up math, spelling, and a few loose ends. Looking forward to a summer in which I don't have to prepare anything for directing/tutoring CC AND we're not buying/painting/moving houses!

Micah had to pick something to do as a Shakespeare project. He created a sample newspaper front page (of course with plenty of humor) and put it on a display board to present in class.

His "Cost of Living" Project was also due. Over the semester, he had to choose a realistic starting salary for the profession of his choice and then create a budget based off of that salary and the cost of living in the area he chooses to live. It was very eye-opening for him to realize how much it costs to be a functioning adult! And we even shot high for the salary of an entry-level financial planner - $60,000.

He quickly decided he needed a roommate to split the bills... Maddox got volunteered. :)

Look at that big green chunk representing taxes!....

We found another nest of bird eggs... this time in one of my ferns hanging on the front porch!

We played a lot of tennis in May while the weather was nice. This was once when I hit the ball and we couldn't figure out where it went... it was stuck in the racket!

The community pool opened in May, and was only open ONE DAY before it broke! 😩 The water somehow flooded into the engine room and destroyed all the equipment. So the pool was closed all summer while the HOA tried to figure out how to pay $30,000 for new pool stuff. We really missed the pool!

Micah headed off to his last day of Challenge I (9th grade)... he gets to drive himself for this last week!!!

While Micah was at CC, we worked on finishing up our schoolwork at Amelie's. :)

Micah's last race was also the last day of CC. The Region Meet was in Columbia at Spring Valley High School on May 4th. Micah was in a pretty tough heat!

Abby's dance recital was so fun this year! This was "dress rehearsal" on May 5th...

(These videos were from the next evening, the actual recital, May 6th.) The had two performances that evening.

Ms. Tabitha's daughter, Savannah, did an aerial silk routine that was AMAZING!

Thursday evening, May 5th, I rushed from Abby's dance rehearsal to go to Protocol with Micah. This is the formal event all the CC high schoolers have at the end of the year when they practice proper manners and table etiquette they've been learning about at CC. This year (Micah's first year to attend), we had a formal catered dinner at a church in Lancaster, and then they had swing dancing lessons!

I told Micah some of his dance moves look more like an athlete than a dancer. :)

The end of the night gets crazy... 😆

Dance competition between Mr. and Mrs. Pauling (he's the Challenge 4 director) and the instructors...

Cheering on the Paulings...

Friday's dance performance... There were also tornado watches that evening, and at one point during the dances, rain and hail was beating down so hard outside!

The Jettes came to see Abby dance! (Kaufmans were in Ohio, so they didn't get to come.) Ignore Micah in the background.🙄

Doing the bottlecap (on top of someone's bald head) 😆

I thought Micah had to wear a suit to protocol and the Spring Formal dance, so we went searching for suits to see what fit him. Didn't end up buying any, but he still looked handsome. :)

Cookie business is still booming!

Our screened-in porch is the place to be in May!

Studying microeconomics.... So funny story: Micah was enrolled to take Spanish 1 at 10:00 every day for three weeks at USCL during Maymester, starting on May 9. He got to class, and five minutes later, the professor walked in and said, "So I just found out this class has been canceled for the semester because only 4 kids signed up and we needed 5." Uh-oh. Because he was signed up for a computer class in June (required for high school graduation), we needed him to take a class in May to keep it free through the South Carolina lottery system. So Micah found the lady in charge of dual enrollment to find out what he could switch to. The options were an online sociology class or microeconomics in person at 8 am (And he had already missed the first day of class.) He opted for the microeconomics class even though it meant leaving our house every morning at 7:15... and he ended up LOVING it. And acing it!

Our little buddies in Haiti. We had a Zoom call with them the day before their 3rd birthday...

The birdies in the fern hatched!

Judah is fascinating even when he's asleep! :)

Pathways did an "Immersive Homelessness Exhibit" that was pretty cool... it was a chance to walk around and learn more about homelessness in our county.

The kids and I went to Landsford Canal to see the spider lilies in bloom. (It's the world's largest population of Rocky Shoals spider lilies.) It was very pretty... wish we could have stayed longer, but Micah had to get back to meet people to run.

Awards night for track. Basically everyone gets awards. I think it's funny how if you did track, you "lettered" no matter how you performed. In Trailblazers, you have to run under a certain fast time or have participated for 4 years in order to letter.

Abby trying a Hoffman Academy piano lesson...

Checking on the baby birds... we think it's funny that they must know to point their butts out when they poop because the poop ends up lining the outer rim of the nest. Gross!

At Lilly's graduation party!

Almost ready to leave the nest...

Abby went to breakfast with Ben and I (at Eggs Up)... (Caleb was at camp and Micah was at USCL, so it was a little treat for just her!)

While Caleb was at camp, we spent a day at Carowinds with friends since there are a lot of rides Caleb doesn't like. The Doan family hung out with me and Abby; Micah hung out with Helen.

Abby and Annabelle:

After the Doans left, Abby went on the Scrambler one more time, but my stomach was done for the day, so she braved it by herself. :)

At the Carowinds waterpark. It was insanely busy the first time we went on a Sunday afternoon! I took this picture of Micah to remind him what he used to look like someday when his metabolism changes. 😆

Memorial Day family bowling!

Guess who won the first round? 😀

Mom - 118, Micah 101, Dad - 98, Abby (with bumpers)- 75, Caleb - 72

Second round my luck ran out. Dad - 97, Abby - 82, Mom - 71, Micah - 70, Caleb - 68

Big news for May - We sold our Northern Ave. house in OHIO!!!! For the first time since we had been married for 6 months, we only own ONE single-family property. We are no longer landlords! We were able to sell it for $100,000 which is so much more than we thought we could sell it for just a year or two before that, but the housing market was in our favor! Granted, we had to put a new roof on it and replace a water heater and do a bunch of other stuff , but we still walked away with a good profit! ($78,813 after closing costs, paying back the lead department,etc. And then we still owed my parents roughly $30,000 back on the loan we had from them.)

Caleb went to camp!!! Camp Ridgehaven (in Brevard, NC, a little under 3 hours from home) had a homeschool special for the week of May 23-28. Normally, it would cost ~ $530 to go there for a week, but they only charged $150! I drove Caleb up on Monday (with Abby) through the POURING rain the whole way, and Ben picked him up Saturday morning. His friend Lukas Hoerschgens-Ham and Luke Mendenhall went too.

Caleb wasn't allowed to have any kind of electronics at camp, so we had to check for pictures on their website everyday. It was so strange to not have Caleb around for 5 days, but he had SO MUCH FUN at camp! He said one of the best parts was opening up the "mail" we left for him every evening.... we had funny cards and stuff like silly string, playing cards, etc. He also loved the free time they had where he could buy ice cream in the camp store and play games. Too bad for them, it rained almost every day at camp, but they still had a lot to do.

Morning runs...

Ben left at 6 am on Saturday to go get Caleb... he said Caleb had lots to say on the way home!

The twins turned 3!! We sent down money for a birthday party, and these are the pictures our lawyer sent us. As you can see, Marvel and Marvens are thrilled with their birthday hats. 😆

I love this video. They are playing with Monize, acting like they are feeding her...

Bedtime selfies with Micah...

Praying for Lilly as she graduates...

Evening at Ebenezer Park...

Micah's thoroughly enjoying his driver's license! One day he picked up Helen and Becca and went to Knowledge Perk for coffee.

He also organized a group to go to Crowder's Mountain for a hike one day...

Riley's 17th birthday party... they went wakeboarding and played around on the water obstacle course.

Micah was invited to join the "Palmetto Leadership Society" a couple months ago. This was their monthly "meeting" to close out the school year. Pool party!