You've Got Mail!

Grandma and Grandpa Luke are so kind to send mail to our kids and the Halloween package is always a big hit.  It's the perfect precursor to the events to come.


My camera battery was on low when we started filming, so I asked them to hurry, which was probably unnecessary considering how excited they were to open it.

 Part of the package contained a huge bag of Chex mix with candy corns in it.  Nadia was in heaven because she loves candy corn and I never buy it.

The create your own monster stickers and the flutes were a big hit!  But my favorite part was when they all snuggled up and Rowan read them their books.

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!  We love you.

Priesthood in the Primary

Currently I am serving in the Primary in Rowan's class.  I've gotten to become great friends with the Primary presidency and we hang our together quite often.  Recently, we lost our primary chorister to the Elder's Quorum presidency, which was a shame because he was very engaging with the children, especially the older boys who can be a hard sell when it comes to singing time.  When I mentioned the loss to Steve, he mentioned how much he'd love to have that calling.  So I sent a text to my friend, aka the Primary President, telling her that Steve thought he'd be great in that calling and that I thought I would put a bug in her ear about the possibility of him filling in.  Little did I know how much she would love that idea and how she had been racking her brain for someone to present to the bishopric.  She loved the idea so much that she put together a convincing argument as to why Steve should be put in for the bishopric to hear during their weekly meeting.  The funnest facet to that was that she brought up that Steve was a psychologist and thus could use his ideas on memory and learning on the kids.  The bishopric apparently agreed with her and now the whole primary is Steve's personal trove of guinea pigs.

I've never seen Steve so engaged in a calling.  He's made pioneer wagons and other fun props to interest the kids.  Admittedly, I look forward to singing time every week.

 They had the kids dress up as pioneers on Pioneer Day.  My mom whipped out some bonnets and an apron for Nadia on the fly.

 Steve labored over this wagon made out of cardboard and PVC pipe only to discover we couldn't fit it in the van on Sunday.  So we tied it onto the roof for several Sundays worth of singing time entertainment.

While learning "My Body is a Temple", Steve made body parts (not to scale) and the best singers got to attach them to the singing time helper.  Surprisingly, he was able to keep it spiritual by tying the functions of the body parts to spiritual concepts and attributes.  I've never seen Valiant 11 so engaged.  He had a herd of boys approach him afterwards asking if he would do bones and other organs next week.


Lastly, this little Sunbeam is further evidence of Steve's effectiveness, as she knows "Hail to the Prophet" by heart. 



I think too often the priesthood gets dismissed as not being best suited for certain callings.  It is a shame as I think the primary children need to see men in these roles and the men have plenty to offer. 

Why it takes me forever to blog

More often than not, I follow my children's messes during the day trying to undo the daily damage they wreaked.  Some days I give up and try to get other things done.  When I do, this happens.

Elsa, so sweetly, attaches Sage's nursery coloring page to our fridge with an entire bottle's worth of Elmer's glue. 

Also, don't assume that snack time is a good time to snag some "Mom time".

Also, don't chastise the messes.  They will continue to happen with or without the tears.

Last Day of School!!

The start of a glorious and incredibly busy summer.  The end of eternal substitute teachers for Nadia and a pretty good year for Rowan.  Here's hoping for an even better school year in 2016-17!

FUNraising

Every year our school hosts an Extravaganza to help raise money for the school.  Our family has grown to love and anticipate going.  It is so fun for the kids!  They have cake auctions, bounce houses, games galore, super cheap food, treats, soft serve ice cream.  This is the way fundraising should be done rather than obligate parents to buy cookie dough or wrapping paper.  It's an event where we want to spend money and everyone comes out a winner.

This year I helped judge the cakes that are decorated and made by the sixth graders.  The best decorated cakes go to auction where the whole community can bid to bring one home and the remaining cakes are given away as prizes in a musical chairs game. We ended up with a cake from both.  Rowan won a cake in the game and I bid on a castle cake that Nadia was enamored with.  You can tell by the pictures that she was VERY pleased it came home with us.

It didn't take us long to get sick of cake. 

Rowan's Unbirthday Party

Sometimes I love giving unbirthday parties and sometimes it is easy to let it fall through the cracks.  Rowan has been pretty good about reminding me to have one though and this year it took a little frangling with our schedule and his friends, but we got it done.  Boys are easy.  Pizza, root beer, laser tag, dessert and done!

Jacob, Austin, Rowan, Mateo, Josep, and Cooper all digging in and playing around in the backyard.  Some of the boys really wanted to utilize the Barbie Jeep, but I think we finally discovered its weight limit.

 

 The girls helped me clean up while the boys took off to do laser tag.  Sage washed things and Elsa ate things. 

 Steve admittedly had a grand time with the boys.  I guess in a way, this was his birthday party too.  They had the whole floor to themselves and spent an hour in there giving each other a run for their money.  Josep, is the smallest boy and apparently that gave him quite the advantage.  He curled up behind an obstacle and  had a lot of success by squirreling himself away and shooting anyone who came near him. 

Happy Unbirthday Son!  You are worth celebrating twice a year.

Piano Recital

What I am most sad about missing on film this year is Nadia in a moment of sheer bravery.  While waiting for her turn to present her pieces, she was fretting about having to introduce herself to the whole room and saying what the names of her songs were.  There is quite a crowd that comes to these recitals, encompassing of many family members and all of the piano students of Krystal and her neighbor, Jenn Beckstrand. It doesn't seem to be a necessary part of the performance to speak before playing, but most of the kids do.  I told Nadia that she didn't have to do that if it made her uncomfortable and just to concentrate on doing her best while playing the pieces.  She calmed down a bit and I figured she was going to take my advice and just go ahead and skip the introduction.  So I was completely shocked and unprepared with the camera when she hopped up and introduced herself and her numbers on the verge of tears.  I almost started crying myself because I know how difficult that was for her and I was so proud of her for facing her fears.  She is so brave sometimes it blows me away.  I would have never done that at her age.




Rowan was also a bit nervous, but did a great job too.  You can tell the songs were a little faster than he normally plays them, but he makes me so proud.  I'm so grateful they have the opportunity to learn to play despite the grumblings I hear at times.  I know they will appreciate it later down the line.

Two Little Monkeys

I heard quite the commotion upstairs and went to go see what was going on.  Elsa and Sage were having a grand time throwing a pair of pants at each other.  I tried to catch it on tape, but as it usually goes, they were tapering off.





 These two are the greatest of friends and enemies.  Elsa often boasts several bite marks at any given time, courtesy of baby Sage.  She is my first biter and it has been difficult to curb.  I blame Spaz for putting the idea into her head that it is a worthy defense mechanism.

Thankfully, I can always count on Elsa to rat Sage out.  One day I heard Elsa calling for me and when she found me, she quickly told me "Mom!  Elsa is trying to be Batman!!"  I found Sage getting "Batified" in the kitchen.  Sage LOVES to color anything and everything, but she is her own favorite muse.

Preschool Recital

Elsa had a great year at Raya Grace preschool.  It is a music based program that exposed the kids to many different musical experiences.  They sang, played instruments, and did other typical activities involving letters and art. 6 months later, Elsa still talks about Miss Rachel, her teacher, and you can tell it was a very positive experience for her.  She made a lot of friends and hopefully learned early how a classroom functions.  At the end, they had two recitals.  One was in April and one in May.  The one in April was just Elsa's class and May's included other classes of children. 

This is the April recital.  Elsa is not a shy child, but she was a bit more reserved than you usually see her during these performances.  It may not be the greatest display of what she's learned, but she's so cute all the same.  She loves playing "Hot Cross Buns" as her homework everyday and singing the songs she's learned over the year.







May Recital

I'm so grateful that Elsa had this opportunity to go to this school.  As we were leaving the May recital, we had to carry her sobbing to the car, which is quite the contrast to what you see in the videos.  She loved her school so much, she didn't want it to stop and she knew that that was the last day for school.  We started the year with tears and ended on the same note, but there was a whole lot of happiness in between.

Spelling Superbowl

A few weeks ago, Rowan came home and let me know he qualified from a class competition to be in the school spelling bee.  I had never been in a spelling bee, but I thought they looked fun.  A while back I had a friend who told her daughter that she would give her an American Girl doll if she placed in our annual schoolwide race.  She hated to run and didn't want to participate.  With the motivation to get a AG doll, she went on to get second place.  My friend was stunned.  I told this story to Rowan and then told him that if he placed in the top three, I told him I would get him a 3ds game or two.  He studied every night with me and above all I was so proud to see him be diligent about a goal.

The day of the spelling bee came and Rowan was a bit nervous.  We encouraged him to do his best.  He competed with 27 other top spellers in our school, including the upper grades.  I was hopeful that he would be the last fourth grader standing.

 Getting prepped while the students got situated in the audience.

Sage was a trooper.  It took about 2 hours from start to finish.  Elsa, thankfully, was at preschool.  I don't think she would have been as patient.

I took a video of each round he participated in.  Here they are in order.  The sound isn't that great, but I had to be in the back so it is what it is.



















They went back and forth between the two of them for quite a while.  They had to get two words correct in a row before they could be done.  I was on pins and needles the whole time.




By then end, I was texting Steve, "top 5!", "top 3!!!", "top 2!!!"  It was insane and so fun.  I'm not a sports person, but I imagine that's what sports fans feel like at the close of a tight game.  
Needless to say, there's a trip to Gamestop in order.  I'm so proud of Rowan for studying words that I can't even pronounce day after day.

Next he gets to go to the state level I think.  There's another one at UVU in March.

Provo CIty Center Temple

Yesterday, our whole family had the opportunity to go through the Provo City Center Open House.  No one in our family has gone through a temple open house before, so it was a first for us all.  We are so blessed in live in the one city in the world that has two temples.

It was a little hectic.  We had dentist appointments right before, but luckily we all made our way out of there with flying colors.  No cavities and Elsa handled her first dental experience like a champ.  Rowan even got x-rays for the first time.  He has a really bad gag reflux and hasn't been able to get them done before.  Apparently, Nadia's front tooth that has been missing since she was 18 months is finally growing in too!  We're all excited to see her with a full mouth of smiling teeth again.

Since you aren't allowed to take pictures of the interior, we only have a couple pictures.  This first picture is prior to watching a movie about the temple's purpose.  Elsa was rather enraged that she had to wear white covers on her pretty shoes.  A nice lady behind us noticed the commotion and patted Steve to tell him she heard that some ushers will let little kids go through without wearing them.  Steve replied that if she learns to listen now, perhaps she'll be able to come back to the temple someday.

Once we put covers on Sage's shoes, Elsa seemed to settle down.  A bit.  I ended up carrying her throughout the tour and if you've seen the stairs in that temple, you can appreciate the effort that took.

After the video, we proceeded to the tour.  The experience made me miss living in the historic part of Champaign, Illinois.  They really made an effort to stay true to the workmanship of the original building.  The woodwork in the furniture and the walls were exceptional.  I was amazed that even the interior part of the door hinges had decorative elements.  Nadia loved the murals of wildlife in the endowment rooms.  She was very excited to point out all the wolves and the moon.  It was small, but incredibly beautiful.  I look forward to going back. 

 I love both of their poses here.  It captures their personalities.

 At the end of the tour, we were allowed to take a picture by the exit.  If the exit is this beautiful, you can imagine the rest!

Nadia was really struck by the displays they had downstairs where they showed original elements of the tabernacle and how they tried to keep them consistent in the design of the temple.  She especially liked the contrast between the old burnt post and the new one.

 I'm glad we made the effort to take our family and I hope it's a memory that stays with our kids.  As we were exiting the grounds, we decided to do one last pose and it turned out to be my favorite.

You know how some people post pictures of their pinterest fails?  This is a picture of my family fail.  It happens on a daily basis.  But I wouldn't trade it for the world.

Afterwards we went to Los Hermanos and Sage discovered a love for salsa and knocking over drinks in restaurants.  Our waiter didn't like us much.