Happy two weeks #8

The library had a play called Alice in Wonderland Jr.  It was very cute and the kids came out of there talking about all the characters and singing the songs.  They did a good job of it and I love that they cater to the community instead of only for ticket sales.

Seth and I watched Christian while his mom went to the doctor.  It's her first pregnancy since her D&C and they wanted to make sure that she was doing okay.  So we built forts and played hide and seek.

This cute piggy tailed and glasses girl at dance.  I really like that they have these classes available at the rec center.  We couldn't afford the hundreds of dollars that it costs to go to a dance place.

We did parent teacher conferences this week.  This was a cute thing from Ada's.  They each had a paper on the wall with their name on it.  Each student wrote a word that they would use to describe each of their classmates.  This was Ada's.  I loved that hers, Frankie's and Brendon's all had funny, nice and kind on them.  At Ada's conference, she made a slideshow with all the latest things they've been learning and how she feels she's been doing in them. She was so cute clicking the clicker after each self-analysis.  She says that she's amazing at art (agreed), that her PE coach pushes her too hard but that she appreciates it (me too), and that math stinks (which she might say that but her math teacher told me that she has a natural aptitude with math... just that she doesn't particularly enjoy doing it.)  Test wise she is scoring 651 when the benchmark for 5th grade is 357.  I think that's about a 6th-7th grade level.  She loves science, is not a fan of history and keeps coming back to the fact that art is her favorite.

Sam's conference, smart kid that talks too much during math class.  His teacher loves how much he writes when given an essay.  He's being a lot more respectful of his teachers lately and the kids that he usually fights with during recess have decided that playing soccer in the snow is not worth it.  Hopefully they can be kinder when the weather starts getting warm again.  Sam's dibels and math scores are more than twice what the state expects for someone in 4th grade, so I'm not worried about him school wise.

Evelyn is doing much better with school.  This teacher is good at being strict without being mean.  It helps Evelyn stay on task.  She can see much better with her glasses too.  She's reading and spelling on a 4th grade level.  Her retelling and comprehension was off the written chart for 2nd graders.  She saw that, giggled and told me behind her hand, "Mom!  I'm off the chart!"  She sure is!  Her math tests come back in the 90% but she doesn't like math homework and still struggles turning it in.  I told her teacher that when she does her homework, she never needs my help and can do it quickly when she actually sits to do it happily.... she just rarely will sit to do it happily.  Her teacher thinks that she's partly bored and partly something else going on.  She still really struggles with staying on task and loves to talk to all her neighbors... she doesn't need to be a friend with her neighbor to start chatting... she just needs to be a neighbor and she'll become their friend.   If you ask her who her best friend is, it's either whoever she played with at recess that day or her cousin Joshie.  Occasionally she will say Amelia, but I think is cute that she still loves Josh after not seeing him for three years.

We have actually had snow in the last two weeks as well.  The kids love to take advantage of it.  I took them to Cherry Hill park to sled because it's got a little for everyone.  Jer got to go for this one because he had the day off work!  He kept the older two there a while longer while I took Seth and Evelyn to our first kids fencing class for the year.  We have 4 students.  It's a small class, but I'm glad because Seth is having a hard time following instructions quickly or even at all.  We're working on it.

Happy two weeks #7

The State Capital only took half a day, so we visited the zoo for an hour before headed home.

These kids are crazy!

I loved watching the elephants trying to eat the trees.

"Holding hands"

Happy two weeks #6

Ada's field trip needed someone to come along.  Seth and I volunteered for this one too.  I wasn't going to because I didn't think Seth would behave very well, but they needed us.... We went to the State Capitol on the day that the Legislators were back in session.  We got to take a tour of the building and sit in on their session.  It was interesting and I'd never done it before.  Seth was pretty well behaved while being bored.  The Legislature also had the Navajo nation in to award code talkers with a recognition from the State.  That was fun to see.

These are Ada's really good friends, Tavea, Frankie, Ada, Luke and Brendon.  The 5 musketeers. 

This was really funny.  I love that this is something that was in the state building... yes we get delegations from all over the world.

Seth and Ada held hands for almost the entire time.  It was funny.

I loved the paintings and the fact that most of the decorations in the building were done during the depression to create jobs.  What a beautiful way of making a hard situation better.  This painting is one of Utah lake before all the construction around it.

I especially like this one.

Happy two weeks #5

We celebrated Grandpa Robertson's 71st birthday this Sunday.  He's such a good man.  He only wants the best for everyone around him and I've only seen him upset a handful of times in the last 15 years.  I love how he treats all of the grandkids like they are little adults.  He has very clear expectations that he expresses for them, even if he doesn't exactly think that they'll do them.  I asked once why he asked little kids to do certain things and he said, "If I don't tell them what I expect they have no chance to learn to do it."  I think that's true with our Heavenly Father.  As we learn to follow His commandments we are given instruction and we learn to do them.  We often don't get it all the first time, but we know what's expected.  I love the talk 'Be ye therefore Perfect, but not yet.'

We got together for Grandma's amazing lasagna with our Hansen cousins and with Emma and Stephen.

These two are peas in a pod.  

Grandpa was asked to read Winnie the Pooh to everyone.  They really are funny stories.  I love watching him get a big of kick out of them as the kids are getting.

I asked to get a picture of these two and Amelia immediately smooshed cake all over her face.  It was so funny.

Happy two weeks #4

This last week, we were also able to attend our cousin, Lance's, baptism.  I'm so excited that they were able to get his records transferred over and that he was able to be baptized.  He was so sweet and happy. Sharon and Brad hosted everyone for a potluck afterwards.  It was fun to get to know Lance's family and just chat with mine.

Congrats Lance! (Evelyn was doing a selfie with him.... cuties.)

Happy two weeks #3

We got to celebrate Christian's 2nd birthday.  I can't believe that he's that old already.  His family is doing a lot better.  They went from pregnant momma sleeping on a couch in apartment with 4 other people to having their own apartment, driving themselves places, having their own tax numbers, etc... They still have some progress to make, but now they're in they're in a situation to make that progress on their own.  Now I'm just the friend.  I'm very happy for them.

Sharon was coming down to visit Janelle and they asked if I wanted to come hang out with them.  It was so fun.  We went to the kids story time at the library, to eat at Zupas and then shopping at Costco together.  I had to go to volunteer at Evelyn's class, so Janelle offered to keep Seth with her so that he could play with Vivien.  They sure love each other.  They giggle and tease each other.  I love it.

Evelyn has just started ballet again.  She's been asking for a long time, but now we have a reason for it.  After some research into skewed feet, I found that before a kid's feet have finished growing they still have fairly flexible skewed feet.  After about the age of 12 they harden and become inflexible.  The number one thing that they recommend is to spend about 45 minutes on your toes a day. That exercise will prevent their skewed feet from becoming inflexible.  So Evelyn is in dance and Ada is going to be doing barre exercises with me.  Ada has grown so much lately that I just hope that we didn't miss our window to help her have a more comfortable adulthood.

Our neighbor, Laurel, has been super bored lately.  Her best friend is in Jr High and in a play with play practice almost every day, her mom started a new job and works until about 5 every day, and her sisters are both in College and High School.  She said that she doesn't like coming home to an empty house and just sitting to watch YouTube videos…. so any time there is something that we have going on she asks to come too.  Sometimes it's something fun like the park.  Often it's grocery shopping.  She decided to come to Evelyn's dance class and it was the cutest thing.  She said things like, "Look at how excited she is! She's so cute!  You can tell she loves dancing." for the entire hour.  It was fun to have someone remind me of the joy that you can have from others having joy.

Seth and I went on a whim to the dinosaur museum.  It was good to be there with him again before our passes expire, but we stayed too long and made Ada late for the podiatrist to get her orthotics checked.  Whoops.  They were good sports though, and since I've never been to an appointment there that they were running on time, I'm guessing that it happens often.

They were supposed to be cleaning their rooms... and Sam, Evelyn and Seth were caught reading instead.... Awww cute, now get to work.

Happy 2 weeks #2

I love extended family get togethers.  I love to see these people that are part of me, but not quite.  This last week was my Great Aunt and Uncles' 50th wedding anniversary.  It was fun to visit, hug and catch up with all these Aunts, Uncles, second cousins and their families.  Congratulations Lynda and Doug!  (Doug is fighting cancer and Lynda has severe arthritis, but seeing them with their families you would never know it.  They are happy and Lynda even joined in dancing with her granddaughters.)

Seth decided that he liked Uncle Duck.  Doug has been talking to kids like a duck since I can remember.  He wins over any kid with his fun trick.

Ada has always liked Uncle Frank and Aunt Margaret.  In my mind they are always 50... but they are both seeing their ages.  I've never seen them as tired and willing to sit back and watch everyone else.  I did promise that next time I'm driving up to Idaho that I would stop to say hi on the way.

Happy two weeks

We've had a very happy and busy two weeks.  One of our happy things was Sam getting 4 loops and his Bear.  He sure loves Scouts.  He cried when they said they were changing programs.  I'm sure he'll learn to love the next one too.  I think more than anything, he loves spending boy time.

Evelyn had a field trip to the Children's Discovery Museum.  Seth and I got to help out.  It worked great because Seth has never been there and he loves spending time with Evelyn more than anything. 

Evelyn and her friend Donnell having a sack race.

The Kaleidoscope

Racing lego cars

I asked them what their favorite part was, and they both said the grocery store.  I think that's a popular one, it was hard to find any play foods to stock it with.

Seth also liked the new addition of a car in the shop.