Funny kids this week

Wednesday, I had a meeting with the YW's presidency to talk about the new changes to the youth program.  That means that I left Jer making dinner, Evelyn doing homework and a reminder that Evelyn had to be dressed for dance before 6.  Jer reminded her to get ready and she was very upset that her hair was not in a bun.  Their dress code is a black leotard with no skirt, pink tights and pink shoes with their hair in a tight bun.  I've seen girls forget their shoes, wear white tights, and especially I have seen girls with pony tails and braids.  I think they encourage it, but they don't kick you out if it doesn't happen that day.  Evelyn took it to heart though and will only let me do buns in her hair.  Jer does a decent pony tail, but I don't think he's ever tried a bun before.  He tried and did a fairly good job, but made the mistake of telling Evelyn that he didn't know how.  Evelyn stormed off to sulk in the corner and muttered, "Really doesn't know how to do a bun!  And Mommy said that Daddy was so smart!"  (This is right after her fighting with Dad about waiting for me to help her with her homework instead of getting it done while I was gone.  I told her on my way out the door.... "Let Daddy help you.  Daddy is smart too.")

Ada, LOVES the Wings of Fire series.  She has very religiously read, re-read, purchased and shared all of her books with all her friends at school.  I read the first one and it was cute and clean.  I've just let her go at it.  The 13th book came out just before her birthday and I told my mom that Ada would love it for her birthday.  And she did!  She squirreled herself away and read for a couple days.  I asked her about it and she was kind of non-committal.  After thinking about it for a day, she came to me and told me that she was upset that the author had included a transgender dragon in this latest book.  Why?  No reason, just because it's the political climate right now.  Was it a big plot point kind of like Michael Vey's tics?  No.  Could it have easily have been left out like how JK Rowling left out that she thought of Dumbledore as gay?  Yes.
I get that people want children to be accepting.  I will tell you now that my kids already are, my kids have friends of different races, countries, values, religions, family status.  I have a YW that is non-binary and they can talk easily to that YW without hate or discrimination.  Many of my kids' friends have high functioning autism or ADD.  Ada has a friend at school in a wheelchair and another that is Downs.  I kind of think that they are accepting enough without people trying to add things to their children's books.  So sad.  I was very proud that she came to me on her own to talk when she was uncomfortable.  I'm very proud of the young woman she is growing into.

Jer and I have started playing Lord of the Rings Online with our three oldest kids.  They are only allowed to play with us and we all do the same quests.  The kids are so funny.  They were jumping down cliffs because they thought it was funny to watch their character limping afterwards.  Jer said that we needed to name our group something about always having broken legs.  The kids really liked that.... and they love giggling when dad plays something up a lot.... like summoning his pet bear while being silly about it.  They all get a kick out if it.

We had parent teacher conference this week.  It was a kind of funny one.  It's the first one that Jer has gone to instead of me.
 Ada is doing well.  Her teacher is so sweet and very science centered.  Ada loves her and was glad she got her for the second year in a row.
Sam is doing well.  His teacher is having a hard time with this particular group respecting those in charge.  Sam and 4 others have been set in a self-working group while the teacher tries to correct poor behavior in the rest of the class.  Sam loves it.  He and his friends sit in the hall with their laptops, finish their work quickly and get to read the rest of class.  The front office lady took a picture of their group.  Sam had taken a white board and written on it, "No, we're not in trouble." to put next to them while they worked.  I got a kick out of that.
Evelyn, like Ada and Sam, scored really well in the state testing.  Her reading comprehension and math are off the charts for a 3rd grader, but she's really struggling getting her work turned in.  Her teacher agreed with me that Evelyn understands all the content and lessons well. But I asked her and "Math is boring" and spelling is in cursive so it's "too confusing".  So.... instead of bringing all her homework home, she hides it until her teacher tells me.  Then she has to do 4 hours of math homework in a day to catch up.  Yup.  I had thought of talking to her teachers and trying to get her assignments reduced as long as she was testing well, but I'm not convinced yet.  I want her to learn cursive and that's one that comes with practice.  The reading homework and the math homework I will agree are alot.  The other kids finish theirs while waiting for carpool.  Evelyn doesn't want to.  The one thing that I do not do that her teacher is asking for is one of the reading assignments.  Not only does she have spelling and 1-2 worksheets that are brought home, but she's required to read out loud for 20 mins a day.  If she were struggling with her reading I would understand that.  She's reading on a 5th grade level so I don't make her do that.  I've tried to work with her reading teacher before, but he's been fairly impatient with me.  Her math teacher seems easier to work with, but we didn't find out until yesterday that she was missing 15 assignments.... so easier to work with in person but not as communicative as the reading teacher.  I want Evelyn to become self-regulating before she goes off to jr high, so I don't want to get rid of all homework, but I don't like her feeling overwhelmed either.  We'll keep working together at home and if nothing works, I'll ask the teacher to give her less work.
My favorite was Seth's teacher.  I warned her ahead that he's a handful.  She said she could handle it.  I've checked in with her several times and she always says that she's fine. Every time I pick him up from school he takes time to pick up and put away his stuff from his desk.  He told me once that, "My teacher told me that I have to leave my wiggles outside.  I can't bring them back in with me."  I got a giggle out of that one because he's very wiggly at home too.  What she didn't tell me is that she had to put him at the front of the room next to the smart board. (Seth says that we need to get one of those.... sure kid, I've got $5000, let's go pick one up.)  He's at a 4 person desk all by himself because he keeps distracting his neighbors.  That's new.  If I'd known that, I would have started spot checking him through the day to make sure he's listening to her.  She said that he's doing well enough to sit with neighbors again, so we'll see what happens.  She also said that he needs to practice his letters at home.... but I see him reading and writing letters already, so I don't know what he's doing for her.  We'll keep going.  He loves school, but hates getting dressed for school.  If he could go in his pjs, he'd love everything about it.

Robertsons

I'm sure this was at some reunion or another, but I love seeing old pictures.  I know which one is Jeremy for sure.  I love and appreciate this man more and more every day.  I didn't know when and if I would get married one day, but my patriarchal blessing said one line about it.  No more.  No indication of when or who I would get married.  Just, "You will recognize and be impressed with this fine man."  And I am, every day.  I'm not very lovey dovey, especially when I'm sick, stressed or overwhelmed, but I want to record how good he is for me and to me.  My Dad served as a Bishop or in the bishopric for many years.  He would come home and tell my Mom, "Thank you for being normal."  And I understand that!  

Saturday, while I was taking pictures of a family which is very loving and supportive of each other, there was a cute little family that just showed up to go hiking.  There were the parents and what looked like 6 kids very close in age... None looked older than 7/8.  I thought, oh cute, they're taking a family outing.  I said, "Yay!  Have fun hiking you guys!"  Most of the time when I say stuff like that I will get a smile or a wave out of little kids.  I'm not an intimidating person. NONE of the family even acknowledged I was there and the parents were horrible to each other!  One of the sons shoe laces were untied.  The Dad got after the Mom for not teaching him to tie his own laces yet.  Mom asked if Dad would tie them because she had a baby strapped to her chest and it's hard to bend without feeling like you're going to dump the baby out of the carrier.  The Dad started berating her and saying that it was her duty as a Mother and that she should be doing her Motherly duty.  UMMMMM say what?!!!!!!  I get that people get testy sometimes and snip at each other when tense things come up....  like taking 6 young kids on a Saturday outing... but WHERE does it say that a mother's duty is to tie their child's shoe laces when already doing something that prevents it to be done easily?  I'm sorry that they were fighting in front of their kids, but I was a teensy bit proud that the Mom didn't just take it.  That is definitely verbal abuse and unrighteous dominion.  Yes, a mother should nurture their children... and so should a father.  I wanted to strangle him.  If I were just out hiking instead of working, I would have said something even if it hadn't made a difference.  For the sake of the family I was working with, I did not.  What a lazy jerk!  He was using motherly duty as a reason for him getting out of doing what he didn't want to do.  I will say, my Dad cleaned the house, clipped our fingernails, got us dressed, fed us... just as my Mom did.  I chose to be a stay at home mom, so I do most of the cleaning, homework and feeding so that we can have time together as a family in the evenings, but Jer has NEVER told me no if I've asked for help.  He does dishes, night feedings with the baby, laundry, reads with the kids, carpooling kids to activities, etc.... When I'm sick, he takes a day off work and does it ALL.  And guess what, I'm more in love with him after 15 years because I don't feel like I'm pulling on my own.  I LOVE IT!

Twinners

These twinners share a birthday.  Ada loves that her best birthday present was a cousin that will give her huge hugs and is so much fun to tease.  My sweet sister made a gorgeous cake for each of the girls.  She really is talented. (She made my wedding cake too forever ago.)

Saturday was Vivien's birthday party.  I had a family photoshoot, Jer and Sam cut up and hauled old wood to the dump for his parents, Ada, Evelyn and Seth did a decent job getting some cleaning at home done.  Then I took Ada to her best friend, Frankie's, birthday party.  I finished some cleaning in the house, then picked up Ada and we all went up to Ogden.  Between running 20 minutes late ourselves and really thick traffic, we ended up an hour late for her party, but the kids had a blast.  I tried and failed to take a nap before driving home, but it almost worked.  Jer did his 8 mile training run while we were there.  He said that the path was gorgeous and that 10 deer ran in front of him at some point of his run.

I love that my kids would choose to go to a cousin's birthday party over their best friend's!  Cousins are so much fun.

more pictures

Jer was able to get us tickets to the Saturday morning conference.  I was so nice.  I didn't get a chance to shower before, but it was neat.  Sam was so excited to go, but got hungry half way through and "couldn't" make it.  Evelyn was so grumpy about going, but in the end she told me that she could feel the holy ghost.  Ada took really good notes. I think I already wrote about it, so I won't go into huge detail, but it was a neat experience and a first for all of us.  My parents very graciously took Seth for the time.

We went on a bike ride and ended up at the park for a minute.

Ada's bacon and Grandma Robertson's birthday card.

Evelyn finished her summer paint by number kit.  It's now hung up in her room.  Sam is about an hour away from finishing his, and Ada needs more time than that but is enjoying it immensely. 

The YW put a birthday sign up for Ada and the sushi owner gifted her a piece of cheesecake.

Seth still likes to cuddle daily.  I think it's sweet even though he's half the size of Jeremy now.

Our school did a family skate night.  It's a really good fundraiser for the school.  We pay $200 and anyone can come and pay just rentals.  Then the school ends up with 450 free skating passes to hand out for prizes throughout the year.

ada's class did the Show what you know.

Marg took pictures of Judy during her new chemo.  This new chemo is different and more people are sensitive to it so they have to take more time for it.  Judy said it is 6 hours each time.  It's a good thing that she has projects to do.  I remember going with her to buy this fabric.  I love it, and I love  how she's piecing it.  This chemo has the side effect of losing all the rest of your hair.  So she might lose her eyebrows and lashes this time.

This is my favorite of her wigs.  I think it looks very natural and beautiful.  I like her blond one too.

My parents had a tractor in their backyard the day they had Seth.  He couldn't have been happier about it.

For Ada's birthday, I did very little.  I put out invites, cleaned the house and bought root beer floats.  Dad set up the TV for funny youtube videos and Ada entertained all her friends.  I'm very happy with her group of friends.  Even though two of them are not members of the church, they have very good standards of dress and speech.  Some of their other friends were swearing at school and between Ada and her non member friend Frankie, it was mostly curtailed.  Occasionally she'll tell me that she's felt uncomfortable with this person or that, but she's not afraid to say stop.  All but one person has.  I really like Austin, Brennan, Luke and Brendan too.  They are all silly and happy.  They are a good fit.

Picture catch up

I haven't been able to get the pictures off my phone for a bit.... I finally was able to.  These are pictures from the last 3 weeks.  The roof, the Springville art museum with Silvia, the YW's hygiene night, soccer, date with Daddy and Seth, etc.... 

They had a room full of trains this time.

This exhibit was an interactive one.  There were two mirrors with the words I AM on them.... then you put up post it notes with your own thoughts.  Ada thought it was funny that someone put their phone number and put "single male" on it.  I kind of hope that someone called him and dated him for that reason.

Silvia drew Ada a dragon too.

We were reading scriptures.  Seth usually likes to cuddle with me, but he chose Ada and my heart melted.  How sweet the sight of your teenager holding her brother and reading the scriptures.  Happy momma.

Jer was working at the Family Search building for a week instead of his office in Riverton.  Seth and I drove out and had a lunch date with him.

Sam told Ada that she was really tall in her skates.... so they asked me to take this picture.  I love these cute and fun kids.  

Sam's sweaty hair always makes me think of an anime character and how some people pay a lot of money to have a look like this.

Gunderson Family

These guys are sending a son out to serve in California.  I'm so happy for them and it was my pleasure to take family pictures for them before he leaves.  I especially love this woman.  She has a gift to love and lift everyone in her path.