Sunday, September 28, 2008

Calling All Ideas!

Well, I was officially transferred(?) from the Stake Primary Secretary to the Stake Primary Music/Nursery Leader today. What I am hoping to get from you are all of the wonderful ideas that you or someone in your ward have used during Singing Time. I have to do a Stake Primary Music Workshop, and it is mainly to share new ideas on how to teach and practice primary songs. So, please share all of your wonderful ideas with me!! I know I can count on you guys!

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Kidism

I was helping Kamae practice piano and she was getting really frustrated and almost started crying. I told her to stop playing, calm down and explain to me what she's not understanding so I could help her. She put her arm across the piano keys, laid her head down on her arm let out a huge sigh. I asked her again, "Kamae, you have to tell me what you don't get so that I can help you." She lifted up her head and loudly said, "F 'n G!" I just bust up laughing, but of course, I couldn't explain to her why!

Monday, September 22, 2008

First Day of Pre-School....A Month Later

Spencer had his first day of pre-school at Knowledge Adventure on August 26th. I got talking to the owner at a BBQ (she's actually a sister-in-law of a friend of mine) and we ended up trading piano lessons for pre-school! It's perfect! Also, Spencer gets to go with his best friend, Carmyn and it's only about 2 blocks from our house! He absoluetly loves it and his vocabulary and "team work" skills have grown tremendously!

*If you look closely, you can see on the very bottom of his chin where he biffed it! He tripped on a rock and abruptly introduced his chin to the tree trunk!

Robyn and I decided to take these two munchkins out to lunch at Carl's Jr. to make their first day of school even more special. My friend, Krissy, even agreed to hold on to Jack for a little while so that we could make it just about them (thanks, Krissy!) If you haven't seen Spencer and Carmyn together, you should...they are like an old married couple! They just crack us up! I have some more pictures of them together, so I'll elaborate more on it in another post.I was totally teasing Robyn on this morning because she was all emotional about Carmyn going to pre-school. I couldn't even mention anything about it without her getting teary. I was laughing and saying that she'll get over it real fast and that I have been counting down these days. So, I am walking Spencer down the stairs on our way into pre-school and he is holding my hand. I squeezed his hand and then he squeezed mine back. The flood gates immediately opened and there I was with tears streaming down my face. I was trying to hide it because Austin was right behind me and I know he'd think I was ridiculous and I know for sure that Robyn would have had a hay day with that!:) Talk about eating crow! I think I cried a little on Paige's first day of kindergarten, but other than that, it's pretty much been a non-cry fest for me. I was a little caught off guard myself, but when he squeezed my hand it was just like he was saying, "It's okay to let go, mom. It'll be okay." Ahhh...how am I going to handle my kids going off to college? I can't even think about that one...getting teary-eyed just thinkin' about it...

Sunday, September 21, 2008

First Day of School...A Month Later!

Sadly, I still haven't found my camera cable, but Austin borrowed a USB adapter from a co-worker that let me plug my camera card straight into my computer. So, I now have some of last month's pictures! Hooray!

The girls started school on August 18th and they go at 8:00 in the morning! If any of you know me very well, you know how much of a stretch that is, but once we got in the habit, it actually hasn't been too bad! In fact, I even find myself waking up at precisely 6:57am...even on the weekends...grrr... Don't fret, though. I am awake long enough to look at the clock and then I'm off to the land of nod again! I know...shocker!









Paige is now in 2nd grade and has a first year teacher, Mrs. Hendershot. She is adorable and I am impressed at her enthusiasm and confidence. We also have a brand new principal who was the director over the student teachers. I was told that he picked the cream of the crop to come and work at his school and so far, I can vouch for that! She's from Benicia, CA (one of our bitter rivals in high school softball), but I didn't hold that against her!:)


Kamae is in 1st grade and fortunately has Mrs. Hacking, who was Paige's kindergarten teacher. She's a veteran teacher (she's technically already retired, took a year off and now is back!). She knows what she's doing and is pretty strict, but loving at the same time. I was a bit frustrated with the lack of progress in kindergarten last year and I am glad that she has Mrs. Hacking to pick up the pieces. I know she'll make great progress this year!

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Let the countdown begin....

I have watched this numerous times and it just doesn't get old! I laugh just as hard every time! I do want to throw out a quick disclaimer, though. The clip I chose is clean, however it looks like you can link to other clips after it's over. I have no control over those and they seem to be changing, so view those at your own risk. But, enjoy this one...good stuff, baby, good stuff.

Friday, September 12, 2008

Big lessons from a little boy

Spencer walks upstairs with a handful of Honeycomb cereal. Jack starts grunting that he wants some so I ask Spencer if he will share.

Spencer: "Sure. Whenever Jack wants some, I will share."
Me: "Spence, that's so nice. Thanks for sharing."
Spencer: "I will always share with my brother and sisters whenever they want something. I want to obey."
Me: "You have been really good about obeying lately. That makes me so happy."
Spencer: "Yeah. I like to obey because I want to see Jesus. Mom, that's how you see Jesus, right?"

My heart just melted. Yes, Spencer, that's exactly right.

Monday, September 8, 2008

Retro Post- Utah Jazz Half-time Performance

Well, since I can't post anything current, I decided to go back through older pictures and see if there was anything I skipped over! Of course, I found some, but I can't believe I didn't post about this fun event!

The girls' dance company was invited to perform at the Utah Jazz game half-time last April! It was such a neat experience and I am so happy my girls got this opportunity. There were lots of extra late-night (well, late for my girls) practices, but all of the hard work was worth it! I took them out of school for the day and we headed up to the Salt Lake Energy Solutions Arena for their afternoon rehearsal. It was awesome because the arena was empty and we pretty much had the place to ourselves!





After the rehearsal, we went and got some lunch and then went to my mom's house to get them ready for showtime! We did hair and make-up and got them all dressed in their costumes!

They were so excited, but once we walked in and they saw how many people were there, the excitement got mixed with nerves! We watched the first quarter of the game from our nosebleed seats and the longer we were there, the more excited they got! After the first quarter we headed down to meet their dance team! They did so great! Unfortunately, not everyone there was interested in the half-time show, including a group of four men with front row seats. They decided to stand up and carry on a conversation, standing the whole time right in front of Paige. I wanted to walk down there and give them all a swift kick to the rear!:) Luckily, my mom got some pictures of her because I couldn't see her at all from where I was video taping!! Grr.... However, the camera man followed Paige on their walk off of the floor and she was on the Jumbo tron alone for about 10 seconds and I was able capture that on tape!:)