Love Is In The Air

Both my laptop and my blog are being resurrected! Thanks to Aaron for helping me with my laptop. I have missed it.
Hopefully I will be able to catch up on my blogging a little easier now.
I will just start with what is going on now, picking up later what has happened for the last four months.

Today was the big sixth grade dance for Nathan. The teachers made the boys and the girls dress up in their nice clothes. They have been working on learning different kinds of dances since December. There was one dance where they boys and girls danced together: the Virginia Reel.


The rest of the dances were line dances (YMCA, the Bunny Hop, the Electric Slide).


Nathan insisted on wearing his suit.
He looked very handsome, but I was a little concerned that it would come home with mustard all over it and holes in the knees.Much to my surprise, he and his suite were both clean and in one piece when I showed up to the dance.
He was adorable (I am biased).
The girls were all so cute too. And tall.
It was a great afternoon to see him thriving and happy with great friends and an awesome teacher this year.

The First Day

Adrienne has started kindergarten.
It was bittersweet.
She was so excited.
So was I.
But a little wistful.
I am now a mother without a baby, or a toddler.
I don't even have a preschooler anymore.

WEIRD!

I love the freedom, but miss having my little sidekick with me through the day.
However, I just realized on Tuesday that I can go to the temple in the morning if I am so inclined.
Or I can go back to bed for a nice little morning nap.
Or I can organize my closet, if I were so inclined.
So far I haven't been inclined to do the cleaning or organizing that I need to do, and told myself I will do when Adrienne is gone.
I have been going to the doctor for light treatments.
I just got a sunburn.
It hurts.
But hopefully it will help.

Anyway, here is my big girl on her first big day:
She was so excited the night before she didn't sleep well.
She finally fell asleep at around 6 AM. I woke her up at 7. She was tired and sleepy and told me in her sleepy voice, "Mom, I am five years old now. I am big enough to go to kindergarten, so I am big enough to know when I should get up. I am too tired right now."
She managed to make it up for breakfast, a cute first-day hairdo, and had her backpack on for half an hour before the bus arrived.
This is my kindergartener coming home from the first day.


I am so proud of all of my children. It is a great blessing for me to see them grow up and learn new things and try different experiences.

My Boy

Nathan is my first born. He's my oldest child, and yet remains an enigma to me much of the time. He and I are very alike in some ways and complete opposites in others.
Which makes us butt heads more often than I would like.
But more and more I find myself being pleasantly surprised by his attitudes, opinions, and ideas.
And I like it.
He is growing up and we are finding interests we can enjoy together.
We spent the weekend up at my parents' cabin. Nathan inserted himself into an adult game of Pictionary.
I am sorry to stay he surprised me, but he did very well.
He was so proud and so am I.
It is nice to be able to associate with him in that way.

I think I am ready for the teen-dom. The good and the bad. Because the good is going to be a lot of fun, and the bad can't be too much worse than we have already endured, can it?

He keeps me hopping, that is for sure. Like yesterday when he brought home a progress report from school that had all A's. Except for vocabulary. Where he said he ran out of time (4 days) to look up definitions for his assignment in the dictionary, so he made them up. **Sigh**
Looking at the positive, trying to work with the negative; we congratulated him on his good grades and offered to help him learn how to use a dictionary more effectively. He took us up on the offer.

He started his first "job" this summer as well. He is mowing the lawn at our bishop's business with the bishop's son. The first time they went, it took them 4 hours. The second time was three. Mowing time has been speeding up for them and they finally did it in under two hours the last time. And were rewarded with a sundae.
He is saving his job money for an electric scooter. Not just the namby pamby kind. He wants the one with the most power (hear the manly grunting?).
He has been very diligent about saving, tithing, and putting some money in a long term savings account.
He is hoping to have enough money by the end of the mowing season. It should be enough, perhaps with a few household job ideas from mom and dad.
I am looking forward to seeing more goal setting from him.
He has told me he would like to run a 5k with me next year.
I told him to get his running shoes. His teacher gave his class an assignment to write what is called a Bio-Poem. I have never heard of one, but this was Nathan's:

Nathan
Small, nice, gamer, and smart
Brother of Kade, Annika, and Adrienne
Lover of candy, fun, and science
Who feels happy, entertained, and weird
Who needs fun, games, and candy
Who gives laughs, smiles, and winks
Who fears homework, death, and fire
Who would like to invent something, go to space, and get a job

We've Got Talent

***Warning****

Mother's bragging is to follow, proceed at your own risk.

Kade had his talent show this past week.
He was so excited, but very nervous because he hadn't practiced his Kata (fancy name for a form) very much.
He performed well, but did panic a little about halfway through when he temporarily forgot what came next.
He figured it out and finished up with a broken board.
He was so afraid he would hit it and it wouldn't break.
In the end, he was tougher than the board.
He did a great job, and I am very proud of him.
We have more practicing to do, he has been asked to perform in the whole school talent show as well as Annika.
It is a surprising feat to have two of my kids in the talent show. They only choose five children out of each grade to perform.
Nathan also participated in his talent show. I missed it because of a miscommunication with his teacher, so I don't have any video to post. He did a couple of magic tricks that my own kids were very impressed with. I am hoping to try to get him to do it again at home so I can post it.
I am so proud of all my children for conquering their fears to perform in front of such a large group, especially of their peers. That alone should deserve a medal, it can be frightening.

Here is Kade's video with the beginning cut off because my camera is not working very well these days. (I seriously have to open the battery compartment and lick the battery, then push the on button about six times to get it to turn on. I wonder what Burke will get for Father's Day :)

Finally...Moved In

We spent Saturday cleaning out the garage.
Not exactly our idea of a great time.
But...
It needed to be done.
We had lots of stuff in there that we didn't need anymore.
Like moving boxes I wouldn't let Burke throw out when we moved in (5 years ago).
Because I hated it here. I had left my friends, my awesome ward, and my self-confidence in Michigan.
I just knew we were going to move again soon, so I didn't let him get rid of the boxes I would need.
I guess I have settled in a little better.
And I know I can always get more boxes if I need them... ;)

Annika was sick, so we let her stay in and watch the Disney Channel all day while we worked.
The boys also caught a few minutes of Snow White when they sneaked in from time time.

We got everything cleaned out, found the sandals Burke got me in Brazil, made two trips to the dump, one to the thrift store, swept, sprayed, and hung things up. Now we can walk around in there. It looks great. And now we have officially unpacked... for now.

As a side note, I ended up going to the maturation program with Nathan at the school two weeks ago. It was hilarious. I have never heard so many giggles from 10 and 11 year old boys in my life. The dads there were pretty giggly themselves.
After the program, they passed out little booklets for the boys to refer to for questions they may have had and not asked.
On the way home, I encouraged Nathan to read through the booklet and see if there were anything he had questions about. He rolled his eyes and said he would never open the book, it was too embarrassing. I checked my rearview mirror 30 seconds later and found him flipping through.
He felt comfortable enough with me to ask a few questions (thankfully) and then reminded me how embarrassing it all is.

Since then, we have tried to keep an open dialogue and keep it light. There has been a little teasing from time to time, mostly from me and his dad.

But Saturday, Nathan got a laugh.
We asked him to stack some 2x4's along one wall of the garage with some help from Kade and myself. It was hard work to get them just right so they didn't fall down. When Burke came and checked them, of course they toppled. We looked at Nathan and Kade (of course, I didn't own up to the stacking job). Nathan sheepishly told us that it was too hard for him right now because he hasn't got all of his grown-up muscles yet. We laughed and I told him I did have my grown up muscles and I still couldn't do it.

It wasn't a lot of fun, but when we walked out Sunday to go to church, the boys were so proud of themselves. I think the pride of workmanship is worth as much if not more than a day of goofing off.

Love those boys, even without all their muscles yet.

#45

Kade has to write in a journal at school on an assigned topic. Then he brings it home at the end of the month and I get to read it. I came across this entry and was impressed with it. Here it is with misspellings and all:

February 22, 2010

I would choose my Dad as the next president because he is the best man I have ever seen. I think he is always having fun and he never is that mean. I think he has a great heart because of my Grandpa. So he should be the 45th president. I wish he would be the president my Gradpa would be very proud of my dad.

I think I would choose him too.

Pizza, French-Fries

Nathan's class went skiing at school last Friday. Because he is so benevolent, Burke took the day off of work to help the teachers keep the kids in check. The resort gave the kids a free rental, lift ticket and lesson. Nathan got to learn how to make his skis do the "Pizza, French-Fries, Pizza French-Fries".

I think the lesson was better than the one I got the first time I went.
With this guy I really liked.
I crashed. Bad. It hurt. Bad. I wanted to cry. SO Bad.
But I sucked it up and nursed a sprained thumb for a month.
**I digress**

My guys had a great time and even had some male bonding going on.
Burke said Nathan was pretty good by the end of the day. Good enough that they went back to the rental shop and got some poles. Nathan thought he looked cooler (is that a word?) with poles.
They had a fun afternoon and since Burke drove separately, they were able to stay all day. We are thinking of giving it another go sometime; Nathan really enjoyed it. I don't know if we dare take the girls though. They are truly fearless and would probably out-ski both Burke and me.

Growing Up

We had parent teacher conference last night.
At Nathan's conference we were presented with a permission slip for the big "Maturation Talk". The teacher laughed when she asked us to sign it right there during the conference. She said that when she sends the notes home and the kids find out what they are, the permission slips don't find their way back to school.
Nathan looked confused as we all got a laugh.
When we got home, he asked us what she was talking about.
After we explained what it is, he rolled his eyes and said, "Oh, I can see why nobody brings their notes back to school."
Then he said, "So I guess we talk about it when we get to college or something, right?"

Burke wishes.
Can't wait.
March 5.

What Goes Around...

Shortly before parent teacher conference, Nathan informed me that he had a project in his social studies class.
No problem.
He had to build a model of a Native American home. A teepee or a long house, etc.
No problem.
Then he told me it was due the next day.
And it was already 10 PM.
And he didn't have any of the paperwork for directions or requirements for the teepee.
And it had been assigned for a month, he thought.
Now we have a problem.

I was more than a little perturbed at his lack of responsibility, but had to keep my tongue in check because someday my own mother hoped that/warned me this would happen.

I was in Mrs. Achziger's class for 7th grade English. She was just as her name sounded: awful.
We had to do book reports once each month. The requirements for the reports varied, sometimes we had to do a simple description of the report, sometimes we had to do it verbally.

There was one way we could get out of it. It was by reading a book that was extra long. Then we could skip a month and there was one less book report to do.

I decided that was the way to go when I had procrastinated one month and didn't have time to read an entire book before the report was due.

Now I just had to find a book that would fit the bill.
I picked Jane Eyre.
Not a short book.
Very long, very complicated for a 7th grader.
But I read it, and mostly liked it.

For the next report, the teacher had decided that we were going to illustrate each chapter with a drawing.

I had to illustrate each chapter of a 600+ page book.
Plus, this happened to be over Christmas break. Who wants to do a stupid book report over Christmas break?

So....

I found myself doing some drawings the Sunday night before school started. I didn't realize how long it was going to take until I had been working for an hour and had only done about three pictures.

My mom was hanging around the kitchen while I worked, asking questions. When she figured out what a predicament I had put myself in, she had pretty much the same reaction I did when I found out about Nathan's teepee assignment.

Grrrrr.

She let me work for a few more hours, but finally took pity on me around 10 PM and grabbed some paper and worked with me to get it done.

We worked for a while longer, and finally finished the report long after my bedtime.

I got an A.

But,

I have never heard the end of it since.

Which is good, because it helped me have a smidgen more patience with Nathan as we worked on his teepee.

He got an A.
He will never hear the end of it.

And They Call It Puppy Love...

Adrienne has a boyfriend.

She is positive she will marry him.

But she says she won't kiss him until they are married.

That made daddy very happy.

His mom and I are friends and carpool to preschool together. Adrienne and her "boyfriend" really hit it off and get along well together. He is quite the little gentleman, he even asked to carry her backpack for her.

When a child has a birthday at school, they get to sit in the special VIP chair and wear the special VIP crown.

Sure enough, on her boyfriend's big day, Adrienne asked if she could put her chair next to his because she is his queen (her words, not mine). This photo is courtesy of Adrienne's future mother in law.

She does photography (not just a point and shoot like this photo, but the real thing), you can find her here.

Mom's Brag Blog

Okay, today is parent teacher conference, so I am doing this post to buoy up my spirits before I get to conference and hear about how Annika doesn't stop talking and Nathan doesn't pay attention.

**Sigh**

Annika and Kade both got the Citizen of the Month award for their class in September. The interesting thing is that they got it for the same thing: Great Attitude.
They didn't tell me about it until October when they brought home these pictures:


The other day I was in my bathroom combing my hair before an outing, while Adrienne waited for me in my bedroom. She was doing a puzzle that has simple words on it to keep herself occupied because I was "taking sooooo-everrrrr".
Then I heard something that made my heart sing:
She was sounding out the words!
I love that. A beginning reader is the most amazing gift! In my excitement, I offered to take her to the library and get a new book just for her.
We have expanded our horizons to Hop On Pop. She loves being able to pick out books for herself (with help from mom) just like the big kids.
Forgive my bragging. I'm just very proud.

Now...off to parent teacher conference.

More Rocks

We went all over the state looking for rocks this weekend. We got some good looking specimens to finish Kade's rock collection.
By the end of the day, however, the kids' desire for collecting rocks was waning. Burke and I were still going strong and were game to look for some more goodies, but succumbed to the whining and begging to go home.
Kade's collection looks pretty darn good if you ask me, and was hard won.
Burke and I both reminded him to make sure he tells his teacher he personally picked up every rock and crystal in his collection.
He rolled his eyes, but acquiesced.

Here are some pictures of the action.
This is where we found some beautiful agate.

This is where we found some obsidian. In the book we consulted, they were called "Apache Tears". The pieces were just lying all over the hills. It was a little depressing to think of them as tears.
Next, we stopped at my personal "Moby Dick".

25 years ago, I went to find treasures with my own family. My dad took a "shortcut" and we got lost.
It wasn't a pleasant experience, especially for my mom, who ended up in the back seat with my two carsick siblings. It was a barfin' good time for her. I never wore the blue coat again--thank goodness. (Any member of my family will now be remembering looking for shepherds to help us find the road. And remembering how "hungry" Rebecca was.)

This was the first time I had been back since then. I didn't let Burke take any shortcuts, and we did find some pretty clear-colored topaz lying all over the ground. We didn't find any of the golden or sherry colored topaz or garnets that we were looking for. After doing some more checking at home, we think we may have missed the exact area we needed to look in for the good stuff. Oh well, maybe we'll go back ...in another couple of decades.

Burke and the boys had the camera and hiked all over the mountain looking for the white stone that was supposedly hiding the goods. He never found it, but took this picture of the girls and I walking around at the base of the mountain. I'm the little speck to the right of our van.The girls had both followed the boys up the mountain, but were unable to get down. This was the end of the day, and they both got very upset when they found themselves bodysurfing. Having had that unfortunate experience myself, I ended up carrying Adrienne down, and helping Annika. By the time we got to the bottom, Adrienne was calling it "Pokey Mountain" because of all the stickers she got on her hands and ankles.

By the end of the day we had found some really interesting rocks.
One of my favorites was this: Isn't it pretty? There was a huge pit of the stuff. It had lots of different colors ranging from the pinks and whites here to golds and browns. I would love to have a countertop or floor made of this. Unfortunately, it is very brittle and feels a lot like sandstone. Definitely wouldn't hold up around my house.Fool's Gold. Technically, we didn't find this one on a mountain, but in Burke's old school stuff. He dug it out while trying to find a rock hammer he made in shop class in jr high. Along with his old pinewood derby car (first place, as he proudly informed us), his scout belt loops, and his slingshot. Didn't find the rock hammer. Ended up not needing it anyway.

Here is the final product of several weeks' rockhounding:

I don't think Kade is as proud of this collection as I am.
I have to say, rockhounding turned out to be really fun. I think we will be doing some more in the future, even though the project was due today. Maybe Burke and I can convert the rest of the kids.

Only if we promise not to go back to "Pokey Mountain".

Moby Dick lives on....

First Daze of School

We have officially started school. It is always an exciting adventure to begin another school year. New teachers, new friends, new experiences.... I love it.

This is a picture of them waiting at the bus stop with the other neighborhood kids. So cute.
It was a very special, very pivotal day for Adrienne as well.
Adrienne to began the adventure of preschool....

Of course, no little girl is really ready for preschool unless she has a pretty princess backpack, picked out all by herself!

She put it on first thing in the morning and wore it until I dropped her off. She even brought it to exercise to show her special friend there, Fred. Unfortunately, Fred wasn't there, so I had to reassure her that we can take it back next "preschool day" to give him the opportunity to see her beautiful princess backpack.

This is her trying to hang up her giant backpack on the peg way over her head.
Maybe I was a little bit photo-happy.
She had a little friend from her dance class who happened to be in her preschool class as well. She was very happy to see someone else she knew.

It was definitely a strange sensation to know I was in the house alone. Alone in a way I haven't been for 10 years.
A little bit liberating, a little bit lonely. I am sad that my babies are all gone, but I am excited for the new stage we are entering as a family.
I haven't gone anywhere with a diaper bag for nearly a year. I don't have any bottles, and my sippy cup supply is dwindling. I just gave a bag of baby clothes and shoes away, and when I go out, I generally know where all the public restrooms are within a 100 yard radius.
It is fun to be able to joke around with my older kids, and have them joke back. It is fun to be able to have a thoughtful conversation during scripture reading and answer thoughtful questions with equally thougtful answers.
My babies are gone, but I am happy with the children I have found myself suddenly surrounded with.
It is an amazing, joyful, sorrowful, worrisome, exhilarating, exciting, and educational experience to be their mother.
Adrienne's preschool teacher sent a sweet poem about shedding tears on the first day of school, but that is not me. I side with a missionary mother in my ward who told me she has sent three missionaries out, but never cried at the MTC. When I asked her how she kept her emotions under control, she told me she didn't feel sad, just really excited for her children and for the knowledge, experiences, and growth they would see during their missions.

I believe that is pure mother's love. Always loving the stage that has passed, and joyfully entering the next.

The Future

Annika brought home her last journal from school. It is usually entertaining to read, but as she is moving up to first grade, I found this entry to be especially poignant.
And cute.

It says: I can't wait to grow up and live my life.

***Sniff***

Puppet Show

Annika had a puppet show at school a couple of weeks ago. Her puppet was suppposed to be the magic mirror in Snow White. She initially was assigned the wicked queen, which she was really excited about, but a little boy in her class was really sad that he couldn't be that, so she decided to exchange assignments with him. What a sweetheart. Here is some super-short video I took, since my memory card was full. Darn!

She was able to fill the spot of the baby bear in the next production of Goldilocks and the Three Bears as well. Which was good, since her mom was late to the show and missed the beginning of her Snow White production.

The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

The title says it all...
It was parent teacher conference on Wednesday. Each time we go, I am reminded how different my children's personalities are.

Annika likes to chat, but she is very smart and miraculously gets her work done.

Kade is extremely helpful, has lots of friends, and is very smart.

Nathan is very creative, smart ...and challenging to teach.

I am grateful to those teachers who tackle the students like Nathan. Anyone can take a child like Kade and show him the wonder of learning. It takes a true teacher to get a child like Nathan to see the worth of new knowledge and the joy of learning. (It usually involves some sort of bribery and/or showing him how it will improve one of his experiments or inventions).

Keep up the good work, teachers!

Finally....Kindergarten

Annika finally had the big day she has been waiting for. She finally got to go to Kindergarten! She was beside herself with anticipation. There was the bus ride to get there, the excitement of new friends and the joy of trying to take over the class from her teacher. I am thinking of getting caller ID, just to be able to steel myself for the phone call...
Anyway, here she is on the first day.

The First Day

Today is the first day of school for Nathan and Kade (Annika has another week, I remembered from last year). They were so excited that they got up and were dressed with backpacks on by 6:30 AM. I was not quite so chipper so it took me a bit longer to drag myself out of bed. We had a nice hot breakfast (they wore their backpacks the whole time), I made them brush their teeth (Mooooommmm, we're going to miss the bus!), comb their hair and then we had to do pictures.


The girls already miss them. As the bus was pulling away, Adrienne sobbed to me "I will never see the boyses again!"

Winding Down

The final week of school is here. I feel like there should be some sort of death knell played. Kade actually shed real tears when I told him he would only see Mrs Penman five more days. He perked up a little when I also told him that he would be starting full day first grade in the fall. I am so glad he loves school. For now, Nathan is thrilled to be done. However, I give him about two weeks and he will be begging for something to do and wishing he were back in school. Unfortunately, staying home with a two year old is not his idea of a good time.
Annika had her little preschool graduation today. It was so cute. There was a little program where she had a part to say and everything. The best thing was that Grandma Terry and daddy were both able to go to see her. She felt pretty special and made sure to seek out plenty of praise.
After her graduation, we went to the store to get the things Burke was in charge of getting for the Father and Son's campout this weekend. They are really going to have some adventures because the campout is at the ....wait for it.....wait... STAKE CENTER! Woo hoo! How they ended up there is a story I am not at liberty to discuss because Burke believes in Thumper's mantra: "If you can't say anything nice, don't say nothin' at all."
Anyway, the boys are there right now, the girls are sleeping and the house is ...quiet. It is so strange. I am looking forward to watching the History channel until I fall asleep. What a bachelorette I am turning out to be.