This and That

I’ve kind of fallen off the blog wagon during the last couple of weeks. Here’s a quick post short novel to document some of the noteworthy happenings of the last few weeks.

Fieldtrips:

Elise had a fieldtrip to the fire department. It was a “parents optional” event, so I opted out. I showed up just in time to take a picture of her in her cute hat. She and Natalie talked over each other the whole way home telling me about the movie with the grandma that almost died and the little boy that called 911 (or 991 depending on who you ask). They were both very excited about that little part of their trip.

Nate went with Ben on his latest fieldtrip. They started out the day with bowling. Nate barely managed to outscore those third grade boys (he blames the bumpers for his poor performance). Then they took a tour of the Standard Examiner. Nate was slightly irritated with the newspaper staff’s quiet speaking voices and lack of knowledge (i.e. Tour guide: “Guess how long this roll of paper is?” Students: “300 feet.” “2 miles.” “1000 feet.” Tour guide: “I don’t know exactly, but it is really long.”) They were supposed to finish off the day with a nutrition lesson at Lee’s Market, but their tour was cancelled due to illness. They had a fun day together. I’m glad that Nate gets to share the joy of fieldtrips.

It was my turn to go with Elise to her Treehouse Museum fieldtrip (Nate hates the Treehouse). Once she got over her disappointment of me staying, we had a good day (Kylie’s and Natalie’s moms didn’t stay, so she didn’t see why her mom had to stay . . . I try not to take it personally; she’s just very independent). She got to play a goat in “Three Billy Goats Gruff” and I think we hit every display in the place in the hour and a half that we were there. Abby had a great time hanging out with the big kids. She would follow Elise and her friends from one thing to another saying “I coming; wait for me guys.”

Reflections:

Ben’s teacher required all of her students to do a reflections project. Ben was not thrilled. He eventually came to terms with the idea and did two entries, one in photography and one in literature. Emily thought it looked like fun and wanted to do a project too. She ended up doing three: photography, literature, and visual arts. They gave medals to all of the kids that participated. Ben threw his in his backpack and never mentioned them. Emily, on the other hand, came home from school with all three medals jingling around her neck and a big smile on her face. She earned honorable mentions in photography and literature. She was very excited about the whole thing and is already talking about all the things she wants to do next year.

Wedding:

My nephew Jeremy got married on November 5th. Chantelle is a super cute girl and we are excited to have her as part of the family.

Little Chef:

Abby loves being a grown up. Nate let her help with dinner the other night and she couldn’t stop grinning. We sure love that little girl!

Babysitting Swap:

We started a little babysitting exchange with some friends in our ward. Their kids are the exact same ages as ours and they get along great together. Our kids get as excited for our date nights as we do.

Piano:

Emily started piano lessons in September. She is doing great. It is amazing to see how different her learning style is from Ben’s. She is very much a sight-reader and can usually sit down with a new piece and play it through just following the notes. In the last couple of weeks she’s mastered the primer versions of Jingle Bells and We Wish You a Merry Christmas. She loves playing them over and over.

Winter Weather:

We had a little snow storm on Saturday. The kids were excited to get in their snow gear and play, but they didn’t last long. It was windy and they didn’t love the snow blowing in their faces. They were happy to come in and warm up with some hot chocolate.

New Toy:

Merry Christmas to me! I got a laptop last week as an early Christmas present. We’ve been waiting a long time to get a laptop, but there were other things higher on our priority list. A good deal finally came around at just the right time and we went for it. I absolutely love it!