New School, An Accident, Homebrewed Beer, & A Date

Emerson and his unfortunate head injury

I know I haven't said anything about this on my blog but we have been very unhappy with my kids' districted elementary school.  I won't go into details but just know that the scores are horrible there.  When January rolled around this year, Clayton and I applied to every magnet and charter school that we could.  There is such a high demand for these alternative schools that everyone gets put into lotteries.  My boys got put on the waitlist for many schools before we finally got a phone call from our school district saying that both boys were invited to attend the new STEM magnet school that they were going to start in Fall.  Our county originally only had one STEM school (I will explain what that is, just let me get this story out first) but the demand was high enough to convert another regular elementary into a STEM school.  All of the kids on the current waitlist for the first one would be automatically accepted into the second one.  We were beyond thrilled!  Hayden was #2 for 5th grade so we thought he would get into STEM anyway but Emerson was #35 for 3rd grade.  Our prayers had been answered.  I truly believe my kids are meant to be in this new school.  It feels so right.  After we got this news, Hayden got accepted into a brand new charter school in Mooresville but we turned it down (it was crazy because he was drawn out of the lottery as #58 out of 69 future 5th graders and there was over 300 applicants for that grade).  We just know that STEM is the right way to go though so we didn't even consider it.

So, what the heck is STEM?  It is an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math.  They learn by doing rather than sitting quietly at a desk.  There is a heavy emphasis on project or problem based learning and it will be applied to all subjects.  My boys will love this method.  Math and science are their strongest subjects so it will be good to push them this direction.  Clayton is a chemical engineer and the boys will hopefully go the same direction in the future.  The thought is that there are too many kids getting degrees in the liberal arts and not enough getting degrees in engineering/tech fields.  Yes, it is a harder road but the demand to fulfill those jobs is shooting up.  There aren't enough kids wanting to go the extra distance in science/math to get those jobs.  This program is designed to help get kids interested in these fields in the future.  Yes, I want my kids to be NC State bound as they have a remarkable engineering program.  That would be a great thing!

So anyway, we went to an informational session at the new school last Tuesday.  While we were listening to the speakers in the gym, the boys were outside on the playground.  Emerson got hurt when a girl backed into him and it made him hit his noggin on a pole.  His skin split and a nurse said that he would need stitches.  He was brought into the gym to find us but he couldn't see us.  They stopped the session to ask who he belonged to (which I am sure embarrassed the poor guy).  I was shocked when I turned around to see him hurt.  Clayton took him out to look at him while I listened on.  He sent me a text saying we need to go to the ER and that sent me into panic mode.  We ended up going to urgent care and they closed it up with glue.  No stitches were necessary, thank the Lord!  

Clayton's custom labels are so cool

Hubby decided to host a beer brewing party with 3 of his fellow engineers from work in April.  They made an American pale ale that they named 5% (it's an inside joke amongst themselves).  It was bottled/kegged later that month.  It didn't last long at all!  Our keg ran dry quickly and now we only have one bottle (shown above) left from the 10 gallon batch.

new red ale fermenting in our guest shower

Clayton and Charles (an engineering co-worker) made the above red ale 2 weeks ago.  It's supposed to be like Fat Tire.  I am sure it will be kegged/bottled soon.  They made 10 gallons and it looks so good!

My cute date and my pretty Hawaiian martini

I took Hayden out on a mom-son date recently.  He loves Bonefish Grill so I surprised him with a trip to the one in Birkdale Village.  We went on a Wednesday because that is known as Bang Bang Wednesday.  We adore their bang bang shrimp.  Everything was yummy.  After we ate, we headed over to Barnes & Noble to get him a new book (he is an avid reader) and then to Ben & Jerry's for ice cream.  It was a fun evening.  He makes a great date. :)