End of School Stuff

The last few weeks of school are always super busy.  This year was no exception.  Here are some of the fun things we’ve been doing lately:

Nate took Abby on her fishing fieldtrip for preschool.  It took Abby a while to catch a fish and when she finally did, she didn’t want to touch it.  Nate made her anyway and she ended up thinking it was cool.  When she got home she told me “It was trying to wiggle out of Daddy’s hand because every fish wants to get back in the water.”  I told her that maybe we should cook it up so everyone could try some.  She said, “No.  I’m giving it to Grandma Reatha.”  We’re not big fish eaters in this house, so all of the kids have given their fish farm fieldtrip fish to my mom.  Abby wasn’t about to break with tradition.  So, we stuck it in the freezer to give to Grandma.  She actually cooked it up when she was babysitting a few weeks later and made all of the kids try a piece.  They still are not fans of fish.

The kids signed up for spring choir and quickly decided that it was not as much fun as choir in the fall.  Between Joseph and preparing for the Christmas concert, they were always learning new songs in the fall.  Spring choir started in January and they got really tired of singing the same songs for four months before their concert.  The concert was cute with lots of fun songs, but we were all glad that it marked the end of choir for the year.

Abby and I went to a Mother’s Day Tea at her preschool a few days before Mother’s Day.  We dressed up and took some fancy tea cups and saucers.  We had cookies and lemonade and the kids sang a few songs.  Miss Jamee had interviewed the kids to ask them questions about their moms.  I liked that Abby guessed my age as 33 (lots better than Elise’s 500).  It is funny for me to see Abby at preschool.  She is super quiet and shy.  Her teacher and friends would be shocked to see Abby’s personality at home.  She is certainly not quiet or shy around here.

The fifth grade got to go to a Bees game as part of the DARE program at the school.  The first-time-mom in me was a little nervous about this fieldtrip.  There were no parent chaperones and the kids were taking three modes of transportation . . . school bus to Frontrunner to TRAX to Stadium and then back again.  Okay, so when I type it out that way it doesn’t seem like a big deal.  Ben is a good kid and a smart kid; he just doesn’t always pay attention.  I was afraid he might be left behind during one of those transfers.  Then some lady was hit and killed by a TRAX train the day before their fieldtrip and I really started to worry.  As usual, I was worried for nothing.  He didn’t get hit by a bus and he had a fabulous time.  He took his camera with him and got some fun pictures of his friends and the game.  They had really good seats.  His only complaint was that there was still ice in his water bottle at the end of the day.  Poor kid.

The first graders do a big program for their parents every year.  They alternate between a bug theme and an ocean theme, but with our kids being spaced every two years in school, I think we might only ever see the bug show.  That’s okay; it is a cute program.  Elise got the exact same part as Emily had two years ago.  She thought that was fabulous.  She actually got to do two parts since her class is smaller and there was an extra.  It was funny to watch how serious she was when she was up there on stage.  You could see the concentration on her face.  She sang and said her parts perfectly.  We had fun watching and the “Going on a Picnic” song was stuck in my head for days.

The first grade had a water party a few days before school got out.  Elise had loads of fun playing with her friends.  Her favorite part was the “crayon guns” (water guns shaped like crayons).  She came home with a pretty bad sunburn on her back.  She had her swim shirt on over her swimsuit when I put her sunblock on, but she took it off when they started the party.  Oops.

All three kids participated in their grades’ talent show at the elementary.  I didn’t see Ben’s or Emily’s since parents weren’t invited.  Both of them played the piano (Ben played Chariot Race and Emily played Fur Elise) and both got lots of compliments from their classmates.  I’m hoping things like that will make them more willing to keep taking lessons.  Elise played the theme from Star Wars for her talent show.  She actually played it better than she had ever done before.  Phew.  I love the first grade talent show.  It is a complete riot.  Anything goes.  My favorites this year were the kid who did 25 pushups and another boy who lifted up his shirt and did a little 7-second belly dance.  Hilarious.

Abby’s preschool graduation was last week.  It was cute and (thankfully) lots shorter than Elise’s preschool graduation was.  Abby had been a stinker all day, but she was an angel during the program.  She sat quietly and did what she was supposed to do when she was supposed to do it.  Miss Jamee had split the kids into small groups to sing a few songs.  I was happy that I could actually hear Abby’s voice when it was her group’s turn to sing.  She has loved going to preschool and really loved Miss Jamee.  She is certainly ready for kindergarten.

This year’s field day was a big success with the kids.  The PTA had planned it really well and each class rotated through 11 different stations.  There were games, inflatables, a DJ, and snow cones.  What more could a kid want?  Abby and I went over to help with the morning session.  I took Elise’s class around to each station.  Abby joined the group and did most of the activities with them.  The kids had a great time.  I came home exhausted and wondering why anyone in their right mind would want to hang out with first graders all day.  :)  I skipped the afternoon, but I walked over to pick up the kids after school.  The fire truck had come over to spray the kids at the end of the day.  Emily got soaking wet.  She looked like a drowned rat.

We scored great teachers this year.  Ben had Miss Wallace.  She was his favorite teacher ever.  She held the kids to a high standard, but was still lots of fun.  Ben did great in her class.  We made it until December before I got a phone call from her (a new record for Ben) and had an amazingly smooth year overall.  We love Miss Wallace.

Emily’s teacher was Mrs. Swanson.  She was in a 3^rd/4^th split which worked out beautifully.  She was able to do math with the fourth graders and really made a lot of progress this year.  Mrs. Swanson is the queen of incentives with class money, market day, and rewards for reading and passing off math facts.  Emily was very motivated by all of those things and really pushed herself to do her best.

Elise was in Miss Carter’s class.  Besides being frustrated by her fellow classmates not keeping the rules, Elise had a great year.  They did lots of writing projects in class.  I loved reading the little stories that Elise would bring home; she has a funny sense of humor that comes out in her writing.  I also loved that Elise became a really strong reader this year.  It is a happy day when a kid makes the leap to being an independent reader.

Eclipse

Sunday night there was an annular eclipse visible from Utah.  We didn’t go all out and drive 5 hours to get to Kanarraville (the best place to see it), but we had a fun little eclipse viewing party in our own back yard.  We ordered some solar glasses on Amazon and Nate made a pinhole projector so we could see it that way too.  He actually made a second one in our family room window so we could track the progress from inside the house.  The kids were super excited about it when the moon first started to move in front of the sun.   Their interest waned as the night progressed, but they still thought it was pretty neat.  They were in and out of the house a dozen times to check it out.

Ben kept turning his head upside down to look.  When I asked him what he was doing, he said that he was making the sun look like the DreamWorks moon.  Crazy kid. 

We don’t have a solar filter for our camera, but Nate improvised and used a pair of our eclipse shades to get a couple of really good pictures. 

The leaves on our trees acted like tons of little pinhole projectors and created hundreds of crescents all over the back of our house.  It was really cool.

Soccer

We survived our first (and last) year of soccer with all four kids playing. It was actually less hectic than I was expecting. It helped that Elise was on Cecily’s team and Ben was on Korbin’s team, so we could carpool. With Nate coaching Emily’s team, I was in charge of getting the other three kids to their games each Saturday. Some weeks it was a group effort, coordinating schedules with Claudy and Emily, to make that happen. Thank goodness for friends. 

Ben got a new coach for spring season. He was a nice guy and Ben really liked him. I only made it to about half of Ben’s games. He was very hit-and-miss again this season. Some games he did great and others . . . not so much. There was one game when he was the only player on his team to score a goal. That was a good day! After six years, we decided it was time for Ben to hang up his soccer cleats. I think he is just as ready for a break as we are. 

Emily’s heart just didn’t seem to be in the game this season. I had already decided that this would probably be the last time we signed her up, and by the end of the season I was sure that was the best choice. I was glad Nate got a chance to coach her. It was good bonding time for them and Nate really enjoyed it. Their team made huge progress. They won 2 out of 7 games in the fall and 6 out of 7 games in the spring. It was a fun way to finish off Emily’s AYSO career. 

Elise likes soccer lots more than any of the other kids and she is a pretty good little player. Her coach was a teenage boy (the brother of one of her teammates) and he kind of drove me nuts. He didn’t really work on any skills or strategy with the girls. Luckily there were some great players on the team, so they held their own during most of the games in spite of the sub-par coaching. I’m excited to see how she does next year with Nate as a coach. 

 Abby had a great game face and ran around the field like a pro, but she wasn’t a big fan of actually kicking the ball. She would do an awesome little run-in-place move whenever she was close to the ball like she was just waiting for someone else to get there to kick it. She’s lots more aggressive when she plays with her sisters in the back yard. It will be interesting to see how she does as she gets a little older.

Piano Recital

The kids had their piano recital on Monday.  Ben played Chariot Race and The Fly’s Adventure.  He was a little upset when he was done because he had messed up a couple of times.  No one really noticed, but he acted like it was the end of the world.  He felt better by the end of the recital after hearing the less-than-perfect performances by some of the other kids.  I don’t know where my kids get their perfectionist streak, but I sure hope they outgrow it.

Elise only started taking lessons in January, so this was her first recital.  She was pretty nervous and kept asking me questions while she was waiting for her turn to make sure she did everything the right way . . . “It says Rain, Rain on the program, but it is really called Rainy Day, which way should I say it?”, “Should I have the book open when I go up or wait until I get up there?”, etc.  I assured her that it didn’t really matter and that she would do fine.  She played a duet of Can You Feel the Love Tonight? with her teacher and then played Rainy Day.  She did a great job on both songs and breathed a big sigh of relief when she was done.

Emily was the last one on the program.  She and her teacher did a duet of Beach Party and then she played Someday (from The Hunchback of Notre Dame).  She played beautifully.  I love that the kids are getting good enough that it is actually enjoyable to listen to them play (even if it is the same song over and over 100 times).

I was really proud of all three of the kids.  They worked hard to memorize their songs and were really good about practicing.  They have loved going to Sister Bartholomew and have all improved under her instruction.  I was a little worried about switching piano teachers when Sister Shelton retired.  The kids were doing so well with her, that I didn’t want to rock the boat.  It turns out I was worried for nothing.  We are pretty darn lucky to have two excellent piano teachers within walking distance from our house.

3rd Grade SET Champion

Emily and her friend Sophie competed at the Weber School District Math and Science Olympiad yesterday.  There were a couple of qualifying competitions at the school and they had the two highest scores for SET in the third grade, so they got to go to the district competition.  (Emily also got one of the two highest scores for Krypto, but she could only compete in one event and “SET is lots more fun.”)  When I picked the kids up from school Elise came running up and whispered, “Don’t tell her that I told you because she’ll be really mad, but Emily won.”  Emily came up a minute later wearing a gold medal and a big smile on her face.  She and Sophie had taken 1^st place for the third grade and 3^rd place out of all the teams from 3^rd-6^th grade in the district.  I was so happy for her.  I felt a little guilty about not going to watch the competition.  I asked her if there were lots of parents there.  She said, “Probably about 1/3 of the kids had parents there, but you should be glad you didn’t go.  It was really boring.  We just had to sit around all day and wait for our turn.”  I’m glad she didn’t feel neglected.

Mother's Day

We are on a good trend at this house as far as Mother’s Day is concerned.  I’ve gotten lots better at going in with low expectations and the kids have gotten lots better at being super good on that one Sunday out of the year.  It’s a winning combination.  (Nate has been great all along.)

Here’s the recap of Mother’s Day 2012:

My mom came on Saturday afternoon to watch the kids and stay the night.  Nate took the kids to visit his mom while my mom and I went out for Chinese food.  Then Nate and I went on a date while Grandma Reatha babysat.  She cooked up the fish that Abby caught at the fish farm and made everyone try it.  Ben was the only one who really liked it.  Then she read 100 Dresses to the kids before they started their typical movie night.

Sunday morning started with Nate making yummy crepes for me and my mom.  They were well worth missing a few points on my super in six score.  So was the bacon.

Church was good.  It was fun to have all four kids sing the Mother’s Day songs in sacrament meeting (even if Abby was kind of hidden behind some taller kids).  It was Ben’s last chance to sing with the Primary on Mother’s Day.  I’m a little sad about that; Ben is not at all sad about it.

Nate made quesadillas and the best smoothie ever for lunch and then I opened all of my fun presents.  I feel like I got spoiled this year.  Each of the kids gave me their presents from school and Nate gave me all of the things I’ve bought in the last couple of months and put away for Mother’s Day . . . a camelbak backpack, a lasagna pan, a wireless mouse, new gardening gloves, a gratitude journal, and some sugar-free candy.  After presents, I took a little afternoon nap.  Then Jody and Sarah came.  We hung out and Jody and I played a few hands of SET with Emily and Elise so Emily would be ready for her Math and Science Olympiad competition today.  Nate made cream cheese chicken with salad and French bread for dinner.  So good!

We took a little family walk through the neighborhood and finished off the day by watching the slideshow that Nate made for me a couple of years ago for Mother’s Day and some home videos from when Ben was a baby.

All in all, it was a fabulous day.  I’m sure grateful for these four little people who call me Mom and for the things they teach me every day.

Never-Ending Laundry

This is what laundry day looks like at our house. And this is just the kids’ stuff; it doesn’t show the sheets or towels or mine and Nate’s clothes. I guess it wouldn’t be so bad if I didn’t let it pile up. I’m just hoping to go 7-10 days without hearing “I can’t find any clean socks” or “I don’t have any short sleeve shirts in my closet.” I’m thinking this summer I will let the kids hang out in their pajamas all day or wear the same clothes for three days in a row. Or maybe I will just teach them how to do the laundry.

Cousin Weekend

We didn’t have any big plans for last weekend, but it turned out to be a fun cousin weekend for the kids.  We headed out to Jody’s on Saturday night to help her burn a big pile of branches in her back yard.  Nate used clippers to break up the branches and the kids all helped to throw them on the fire.  Backyard bonfires are pretty cool.  We had a great time.  It was interesting to watch the kids work.  Ben and Jacob were 100% about the fire from start to finish.  The girls quickly moved from throwing the branches into the fire to using them as props . . . reindeer antlers, unicorn horns, American flag, picture frames for their faces, etc.  A good time was had by all.  Next time I’ll remember to take marshmallows.

Holly and 4/5 of her kids came out on Sunday so I could help her do some photo montages for the graduating seniors on Nathan’s soccer team, and Jody and Sarah came for our weekly Sunday dinner/Amazing Race party.  So, the kids got in a few more hours of cousin time.  The girls spent most of their time working on super secret Mother’s Day gifts down in their bedroom.  Ben and Jacob watched a movie, played Wii, and took turns passing a ball over the roof (Ben threw it over; Jacob hit it over with a baseball bat) until it got stuck in the rain gutter.  I love that the kids can totally keep themselves entertained for hours, and I love that they can spend all day with their cousins without any drama.  It’s lovely.

Lawn Care Ads and Notebooks

I just found these papers from last Sunday in our church bag.  This is how Ben and Elise kept themselves busy during sacrament meeting.

Ben designed an ad for the lawn mowing business he wants to start next year.  I’m not really sure that he’ll be ready to go into business for himself that soon, but I’m glad to know he has a plan.  My favorite part is “Don’t worry, I’m a proffesional.” 

Elise writes me notes during sacrament meeting almost every Sunday.  I loved her little joke from Fiddler on the Roof (even though I didn’t immediately get what she was talking about).  It is fun to see the kids’ personalities reflected in what they write.