Here Comes the Boom!

As my kids get older, they really enjoy having their own spending money.  They each get an allowance and often request money for birthdays so that they can save for something that they want.  This Christmas they each ended up with a little money from grandparents and saved up allowances and birthday money.  William and Henry bought games to go with their new Playstation.

Tessa bought this:

It's a Furby Boom.  I don't even know what to say about it.  It talks to you in a mix of gibberish and English - the more you talk to it, the more English it speaks.  She named it Duh Bo (I think - it means Crystal Something or other in "Furby" but it sounds like Dumbo when it refers to itself.)  There is an app on the iPad that you can use with it - it bathes and feeds and lays eggs and all kinds of crazy stuff.  It seems like a cross between Elmo and a Gremlin.  It kind of freaks me out.

There is also a movie called Hear Comes the Boom that Jay has been wanting to watch for a while.  He coincidentally decided to watch it with the kids after we got home from the Wright Family Post-Christmas Extravaganza and they seem quite enamored with it.  I am hearing lots of laughter from the family room.  I, however, had had enough of the Booming for a while so I think I will abstain.

I wonder how long the Furby Boom will last until it accidentally loses it's batteries.  I don't think Tessa would fall for that trick.

Merry Christmas!

Quite alot has happened since William's birthday.  Tessa had her school opera (she was a dancing elf in Elves Got Talent) and her holiday dance revue.  Since I bug Jay to give me pictures and video of these events and it never seems to happen, he got me an iPhone for Christmas.  I guess this means that I will always have a camera with me and am now responsible for images and video.  Fair enough.

We have had a nice holiday.  For the past two years our little family has been felled by the stomach flu in the days leading up to Christmas.  Not this year.  I was ready - it was going around the school and other than Tessa having a little bout of it a few weeks ago on a Saturday, no one else was sick.  A Christmas Miracle!

The boys got a new Playstation and have basically done this all day:

Well, they played their new games all day, other than to take a movie break after lunch.

Tessa's big gift was the American Girl Campus Snack Cart.  It is pretty cute.

They each got a few books and two family movies.  Nice and easy and not too much.  It is nice that they are older now and Christmas doesn't involve cleaning out the family room so we can make room for all the stuff that they receive.

Jay is off the entire time the kids are off and we are having fun.  It finally stopped snowing and warmed up a bit.  Life is good.

Merry Christmas!

Will.i.am

Today is William's 10th birthday.  I worried a little that his actual birthday would be a little anti-climatic because we had done most of the celebrations over Thanksgiving weekend.  On Friday, we went out to lunch at Huhot, a Mongolian Barbeque place.  It is yummy and the kids love picking out all their noodles and stuff and mixing their sauces.  We also went bowling.  William has created quite the tradition of going out to lunch or dinner and bowling with the family for his birthday.   Every year I offer him the option of a party and every year he chooses otherwise.  Easy for us, that's for sure.

On Sunday, he opened his presents.  His main present from us was a 1886 Morgan Silver Dollar.  His request.  William is eccentric.  But he loves his coins.

Today we had a Coldstone ice cream cake.  He had to get checked out school this morning because he tweaked his neck somehow and wasn't feeling great, but an ibuprofen and a heating pad helped and he seems fine now.

Happy Birthday, William!  We love you.

The Jaymobile

We found ourselves unexpectedly in the market for a new minivan this week.  I was involved in a minor accident in the van which morphed into the other driver's insurance agency declaring our car a total loss (lots of body damage on an eight year old car).  We had thought we would drive the van another year or so and then replace it but were reluctant to do so since it was paid for and seemed to do the job but the accident pushed our plans forward a bit.  Anyway, Grand Caravan was towed away yesterday so we loaded everyone into the Camry and drove to Salt Lake to buy a new van.

We have been frantically researching replacements since Tuesday and had narrowed our search to a 2011 Toyota Sienna or a 2011 Honda Odyssey.  We liked both but wanted to drive them and see how they were.  Jay test drove a few on Wednesday night on his way home from a work meeting a few hours south of us and had a good idea of what we were looking for.  Our first stop was a place in Bountiful that had two Odysseys that we wanted to look at.  It was cold and rainy and Jay stopped in front of the first van we were going to drive and said, "This is the car.  It has to be."

This is what he was looking at:

Yes, it says Jay on the back.  It's not a sticker either.  Someone just thought it would be nice to put this on the back of a 2011 Honda Odyssey EX.

I almost didn't get in the van for the test drive because really?  But we drove it and really liked it.  It has alot of features we like, drives well, has good mileage and is in our price range.  We went down the road to test drive another van but determined pretty quickly that we like the Jaymobile better so we headed back to the dealership and bought it.  In a few hours we were the proud owner of a new-to-us minivan that we hope to have until the kids are out of high school.

Bonus - if we ever lose it in a parking lot we can always look for the personalized minivan.                        

Rockin the Halls

Tessa and William both Rocked the Halls at their elementary school yesterday.  At Summit, earning a certain number of AR points for reading earns you a reading medal and a run around the school while the other students cheer you on.

William earned enough points just before UEA break.  Tessa needed 10 more points but was nearing the end of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets so I encouraged her to finish and take the test before the deadline so she could Rock the Halls as well.  It was selfish, really.  If they could both Rock the Halls on November 1st, I would not be required to go back the next month for the event.  It's fun but very fast - they run by in a few seconds and are gone.

I did, however, get a picture of them with their medals:

Tessa is hard at work reading the next Harry Potter book and William goes through books so quickly that I don't even know what he is reading right now.  I am so glad that they love to read!  I don't care about the AR points but they do so I encourage them to set a goal to achieve the highest AR award every year, which is a special lunch with their teacher at the end of the year.  It gives them something to work for while reading books that they love.  Win, win.

Lamest. Mom. Ever.

To show you just how lame I am, I didn't even get Halloween pictures this year.  None at all.

Tessa was Hermione from Harry Potter - she is currently reading the third book in the series and loves it.

William was a basketball player.  I made him put on shorts to go trick or treating because it just looked like he was going to school wearing a Jazz jersey.

And Henry didn't trick or treat this year.  We made the decision for him and told him no.  He isn't interested in dressing up at all and was just going to put on a jersey and basketball shorts again if a friend wanted to go.  I told him at some point that you are just a kid going around asking for candy and it wasn't cute anymore.  He ended up playing Wii with a friend until 8 o'clock while the trick or treaters came and went. We had some candy left over so he will still get some treats.

I did, however, let Henry go over to a neighborhood house that really goes all out.  They make scones!  I have never gone because Jay typically takes the kids out for Halloween but this is everyone's favorite - they make scones out in their driveway for one and all.  Very fun.

All in all, a fun Halloween in a fun time of year.  I guess it's the Christmas season now, at least according to my email inbox.  I swear every email from a vendor or retailer was Christmas themed.  I can only hope I will remember to take pictures on Christmas morning.  Sigh.

Mountain Goat Moo Moo

So you know how you give your kids really weird nicknames?  Well, Tessa has a couple that we all use alot - LuLu and Moo Moo.  I have no idea where they came from - I think when she was a baby I made up a song about Tessa Lou and it just morphed from there.  Anyway, that is what we call her in our little circle of Wrights.

She now has a new name - Mountain Goat Moo Moo.  She gave it to herself after a Fall Break weekend spent in Moab and Arches National Park.  She has now decided she loves hiking and is quite good at hiking around rocks and such, like a mountain goat.

We all had a lovely time.  We hiked around Arches and looked at Indian petroglyphs and dinosaur footprints.  William bought a fossil and Henry threw up after eating five cookies the size of his head.  Good times.

I'm sure there are pictures floating around of our adventures in Moab.  But I don't have them.  I do, however, have some pictures that He Who Has An iPhone finally gave to me:

Tessa's birthday on May 3rd - She got a scooter:

 Tessa showing her favorite dance pose before her Dance Revue in mid-May:

 Henry and Jay went to Scout Camp and did a 10 mile hike in June:

 William's awesome baseball team - they only lost one game all year:

 William hiked with Jay up Logan Canyon to the Wind Caves:

 Jay hiked with the Varsity Scouts from our ward to King's Peak, the highest point in Utah:

By Christmas I am sure I will have pictures of our trip to So Cal and our UEA trip to Moab.  Perhaps I should just start taking a real camera when we go places and, I don't know, take pictures.

Nah.

The Golden Question

Want a quick ego boost?  Go to Walmart and buy cold medicine.  They will ask you if you are over 18.

I know they have to ask.  The clerk asked and kind of rolled her eyes at the same time.  But still.  I actually got asked if I was over 18.  I haven't seen 18 in a couple of decades.

Still, it was nice to be asked.   

And, just for fun, proof that I, indeed, am over 18.

And another of the whole family from Disney:

OK, one more.  

September.....

I know I haven't posted pictures from our vacation yet, but I only have the ones we got at Disneyland.  I'll let you guess who has the rest of the pictures on their phone.  Said person is really busy at work though and I feel like a heel pestering him about them so they will have to wait.

September has been....OK.  Henry broke his arm last weekend while mountain biking at a Scout campout in Idaho.  He dislocated a bone and has a fractured wrist.  No surgery needed, thank heavens.  He gets his cast on Monday.  We're hoping for a shorter cast to allow him greater mobility.  Partly for his comfort and convenience and partly because he really, really doesn't like needing help for the simplest of tasks and Jay and I spend a lot of time taking deep breaths and counting to 10 as he reminds us just how unhappy he is about all of that.

William is famous!  Well, kind of.  He was mentioned in a newspaper article about his elementary school's PTA fundraiser.  You can find it at the link here:
http://news.hjnews.com/allaccess/article_9173ef58-1cfc-11e3-9ff2-001a4bcf887a.html

If you don't want to scan through the entire article, here is his part:

Nine-year-old William Wright, also from Summit Elementary, came out to the trot even though he didn’t have any sponsors.

“I’m here to show support for my school,” he said.

 I wouldn't say he didn't have sponsors - Jay and I donated to the fundraiser. But I was a good sponsor. I even bought him a Slurpee after the run, which is more than some sponsors would do.

And while I don't have all the pictures from our vacation, here is my favorite picture from Disneyland:

Back to School

Henry - 7th Grade

 William - 4th Grade and Tessa - 2nd Grade

Back to School!

The Abyss of Dentistry

William informed a neighbor that I took him to the Abyss of Dentistry.  I'm sure it feels like that to him.  And he only had to have one cavity filled.

Poor Tessa had to have two cavities filled and two more teeth pulled.  Bless her heart.  Her cute little mouth just isn't big enough for all her teeth to come in without a little help.  She did really well.  Well, kind of.  She resisted the nitrous oxide and then threw up all over the place after gagging on the numbing gel.  It was kind of disgusting.  Then she agreed to do the nitrous and didn't even flinch the rest of the time.  Not even when he pulled her teeth.  Magic stuff, I tell you.

Next up is Henry, who needs a cavity filled (I swear we brush our teeth around here) and two teeth pulled. His permanent teeth are coming in in front of and above the baby teeth and they need room to move into the right place.  He doesn't seem too upset about it - he is working on getting them loose and after seeing Tessa yesterday realizes that it won't be that bad.  He might even be able to get them to come out before his appointment in two weeks.  I have a feeling it won't be hard to talk him into using the nitrous oxide.

Then we don't have to go back until February.  Thank heavens.  Out of the abyss until then.

So Cal 2013

Another odd number year, another trip to Southern California for our little family.

Highlights:

1 - Three fun-filled days with the Royal's of Yucaipa, CA.  We played games, shopped, ate, and went to The Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach.  The aquarium was a big hit with everyone, but I would say William enjoyed it the most.  Who knew he would get such a kick out of petting sharks and sting rays?  He was so wet, he might as well have gotten in the pool and swam with them.

2 - For the boys (including Uncle Philip), a Yankee win at the San Diego Padres.   They got to see one of their favorite players, Mariano Rivera, close it out for the Yankees.

3 - Disneyland!  We did three days at Disneyland and it was great.  The weather wasn't too hot at all (it felt hot, but was only about 80 or so during the day) and we were there early every morning to beat the crowds.  We rode everything we wanted to ride multiple times, including the new fun Radiator Springs Racers.  You have to plan ahead to ride this without a long wait, but I stood in line every morning to get Fast Passes and we were able to ride it with only a 15 minute wait instead of the posted standby line wait of 120-150 minutes.   The favorite consensus ride among our family is Star Tours.  We rode it multiple times and had a blast.  William was even the "Rebel Spy" on one time through!

4 - World of Color at Disney's California Adventure is amazing.  We saw it our last night at Disney and it was a great way to end the visit.  Again, you need to plan a bit to get a good spot but ours was good and we really enjoyed the show.

5 - Our new strategy to drive back over two days was great.   We drove from Anaheim to St. George on Friday and from St. George to Hyde Park on Saturday.  Lots less pressure for us to hurry home and a much more relaxed drive.

Lowlights (because of course, there are some during a 9 day family trip):

1 - So Cal traffic.  On the day of the Yankees game Jay, Philip and the boys went to a restaurant in the Pasadena area for lunch and then down to San Diego.  It took them over three hours to drive what should have taken half that.  They actually missed the first have of the first inning.  It was crazy.  Traffic was just busy most of the time - it made us really appreciate our Cache Valley traffic.

2 - Crowds at Disneyland - It was a summer visit and we expected crowds but it seemed even more crowded than our last visit.  It wasn't unbearable or anything and we had a great time, but we noticed by 11 am every day it was really crowded.  Thank goodness everyone in our family was on board with getting up early on vacation because it really paid off in terms of weather (overcast and cool) and the crowds.

3 -  Motion sickness - Tessa got car sick on our way home.  Bless her heart, she has learned her lesson not to eat Spicy Doritos in the car, that's for sure.  She was fine afterwards though and fine for the rest of the way home.  Jay suffered a bit on our first day at Disney - he made the mistake of riding California Screamin with Henry and had to sit out a few rides afterwards until he felt better.  

4 - The mountain of laundry after a 9 day road trip.  I even did two loads on the road but it still took me a while to catch up.  Sigh.  I hate doing laundry.

I'll post pictures when I get them organized and sorted.  We used Photopass Plus at Disneyland so I have over 100 pictures that were taken of our family, including Tessa's official picture with Ariel at Ariel's Grotto and all the ride pictures from Splash Mountain, California Screamin, and Radiator Springs Racers.  We get them all on a CD that is on it's way to our house as I type.            

Next up, school starts!  Yay!

Big H Turns 12!

Today is Henry's 12th birthday.  I think he has had a pretty good day so far.

1 - He woke up at 6:20 (par for the course for Henry) and opened his gift from the family with Jay - a new NY Yankees jersey that he is saving for the big Yankees/Padres game this weekend.

2 - No party this year, but he did invite a few friends to the Logan Aquatic Center for fun and swimming.  We got pizza and had soda and snow cones.  The kids came home tired but happy.  We decided against the party because A-he couldn't really think of anything that he wanted to do for a party and B-we are leaving for So Cal on Friday and it just seemed like a lot to organize a big party (Henry usually invites 8 - 10 kids to his parties) and then leave two days later.  Anyway, this was a good compromise, especially for me.

3 - He is going to his last 11 year old Scouts meeting, followed by dinner with Jay.  We usually let the kids pick out a fun dinner for their birthday,  but William is going to be gone hiking with his Cub Scout group and we had pizza for lunch so we were just going to do something else.  But Jay is feeling bad that he had to leave for work early and hasn't been around for his birthday so he is going to take Henry out for a little Father/Son bonding time.

Henry is a great kid and fun to be around.

Happy Birthday, Henry!  We love you!

Camp Grandma

Camp Grandma has come and gone.  It was a fun two weeks with Grandma (and Granny) hanging out in Hyde Park with us.  Once again, no pictures because I am really that lame.  Sigh.

Some highlights - 

1 - Everyone got their own lunch with Grandma.  William picked Cafe Rio, Tessa picked Olive Garden and Henry picked La Beaus.  Not too shabby.  

2 - Despicable Me 2 - apparently very cute and funny.  We may have to get this one on DVD when it comes out.

3 - Bowling - Not one, but two games - followed by Pink's Shaved Ice.  Grandma has much more patience than I do to allow two games of bowling.

4 - Hyde Park Days Parade - Once again, the Hyde Park 1st Ward Primary showed up to ride on our awesome float.  This year we had music and bubbles and all kinds of fun.  

5 - Swimming - We went to the Aquatic Center and to Sky View pool for swim time.  Grandma just watched because she forgot her swimsuit but she enjoyed just hanging out.

6 - Games - we played multiple games of Uno and SkipBo and Life.   The kids played Mario Kart with Grandma on the Wii.  Tessa especially loves this because Grandma is the only person she can actually beat at Mario Kart - they usually come in 11th and 12th.

7 - Jay's birthday!  Jay turned 47.  He didn't want any gifts because he had spent thousands (not really, it just seemed like it) of dollars on camping and backpacking equipment this summer but we had a nice cake and ice cream.    Again, no pictures.  Come to think of it, I better find our camera before we leave for our vacation next week.

So a good time was had by all with Grandma and Granny here for a visit.  Although we are sad that they live so far away, it sure is a good time when they are here.

Oh and look what I found - a video that was emailed to me of our parade float.  The song that we played is from the movie The Croods and is called Shine Your Way:

So July is almost over.  Coming soon - Henry turns 12.  Gulp.

Scuba Steve

Who is Scuba Steve?  William.  Yes, William's new nickname is Scuba Steve because he is spending so much time underwater (in a good way) at swim lessons.

If you know William, you know this is nothing short of miraculous.  He has always been anxious in a pool and our attempts at group lessons through the local high school have been underwhelming.  He never even got out of Level 1 because, as one of his instructors said, he is too scared of water to move on to the next level, where they have to do stuff like, well, go underwater.

After four lessons with my good friend Nicole, he is actually starting to do stuff.  He picks things up off the bottom of the pool.  He glides, face down, through the water.  He is starting to actually, you know, swim.  It's quite something to watch.

The other kids are doing well also.  Tessa wouldn't put her whole face in the water a month ago and now she is going all the way under and doing great back floats - soon she'll be following in William's footsteps.  Henry, who started out a bit ahead of the other kids, is now learning to do the crawl stroke and breathe to the side.  It's not a really pretty stroke but he's doing it.

I know this probably seems like a silly thing to be excited about.  But we've never really made that much of an effort to have the kids learn to swim beyond signing them up and hoping that no one cried during the lessons so to see progress like this in just a few sessions is really exciting for me as a mom.

All of the credit goes to our great teacher.  She is a good friend of mine who I asked about doing private lessons and she has been fantastic.  My kids know and like and trust her and she is so great with them.  I'm excited to see where we end up by the end of the summer.

And William?  He informed me today that we wanted to learn how to play water polo.  Scuba Steve, indeed.

July Already?

How is it already July?  This summer is going by so fast!

Baseball is winding down.  A few more games and then tournaments for both boys and we are done.  We should be gearing up for swim lessons this month - I have the kids taking private lessons from a friend and I have high hopes that it will work out.  Grandma is visiting starting next week so the kids are excited about seeing her again.

Henry has found himself a little summer job.  My friend Melissa owns a Shaved Ice business and also does Sno Cones for special events and she has hired him to make sugar water for her a few days a week.  His pay is an old iPhone that they have laying around.  He won't use it as a phone but it will be a good replacement for the iPod touch that died a sorry death in our washing machine back in March.  He is excited.

Oh and every year I tell Henry he absolutely cannot start talking about his birthday until July because he drives me crazy with it.  He would plan his party in April if I let him and it really annoys me so I have given him a July 1st start time to even mention his birthday to me.  Honestly that's pushing it a little too because his birthday isn't until the 31st.  So guess who started yacking at me this morning at 8 am about planning his party?  You guessed it.

When It Rains....

Seriously, why does all the silly stuff happen all at the same time?

A week after Jay's trip to the hospital (for which I am anxiously awaiting our first payment requests), our stove died.  Actually it was the oven. We were making dinner on Father's Day and the bottom heating element started sparking.  We turned off the oven and one side stayed on and kept sparking, freaking everyone out, so we had to unplug the whole unit from the wall.  The whole thing smelled that horrible, electrical smell and we were scared to plug it back in.  So Monday was spent shopping for and ordering a new stove.  Jay is excited because it has a double oven.  Notice I said Jay is excited.  I guess I am.  I'm excited that he's excited.  But he enjoys cooking so he will probably use it more than I will.

The next day the van started making me nervous.  The digital odometer display has been intermittently flickering for a while now but it got worse and the radio started blinking out for a second or so at a time.  I have had enough experience with dying and dead alternators to get nervous about Jay taking the van up to Scout camp on Thursday so we took it in to have it checked.  Thank goodness it wasn't serious - just some corrosion on a battery cable and a loose connection.  It could have been much worse.

So, yeah, Scout camp.  Henry is there this week.  I wasn't that excited about sending him.  He's only 11 but turns 12 soon so they invited him to go.  He's never been away from home for that long before.  It's only an hour away but still, I wasn't sure about letting him go.  Jay kept saying, "he'll be fine" and he wanted to go so off he went.  My sources tell me he is having a great time which is good.  Jay is going up on Thursday and Friday so that will ease my mind a bit.  I'm just a bit of a control freak about my kids, I guess.  I realize as time goes by and they get older I will have to relax a little but I'm not quite there yet.

One day.

9-1-1

Want to know a good way to scare your neighbors half to death on a Sunday night?  Call 911 and summon an ambulance to transport your husband to the hospital because he dislocated his shoulder (which happens on occasion) and can't get it popped back in (which has never happened before) and is in so much pain from said shoulder dislocation that he can't even sit up, much less walk to the car.

So, yeah.  Good times.  I felt so bad for our friends and neighbors.  I know if I had seen an ambulance (and whatever other vehicles responded to my call for help - there were eight people crowded into my bedroom trying to figure out how to get Jay down to the ambulance) in my neighbors driveway with flashing lights and people rushing in an out of the house carrying all kinds of medical equipment, I would have been worried, too.  Good thing it was something medically minor and somewhat easily fixed.  The doctor was able to pop his shoulder back in after they sedated him and we were home a little after midnight.  Not sure what will eventually happen - could be physical therapy or could be surgery - but we have a plan and a diagnosis - Chronic Shoulder Instability.

The miracle - the kids didn't even wake up!  I was shocked, with all the noise and people going back and forth and in and out of the house.  I guess those cool-mist humidifiers that we use nightly are good for more than just humidity.

Deep Breath

The end of the school year is so crazy and seemed more crazy than normal this year.  It seemed like 90% of the things that I had signed up to do at the kids schools came around in May.  It was a lot of work - field trips to chaperone, meetings to attend, carnivals to organize - but it was worth it.   I have to admit I'm glad it's over and I can take a deep breath and gear up for summer.

So - summer.  We aren't big into water things - swimming and such - but I have a goal to do more this year. The kids are taking private swim lessons starting in earnest in July so hopefully they will make some progress.  Henry really needs to be able to pass his Boy Scout swim test so that he can fully participate in scouting stuff.  He is actually going to Scout camp this year.  Since he has a summer birthday they invited him to attend.  I am a little unsure about it but he seems excited to go.  He is even missing two baseball games so he must really want to attend Scout camp; it takes alot to come between Henry and baseball.

So - baseball.  Both boys are playing this year so we have four games a week most weeks.  As long as the weather is good, it's fun.  Poor Henry and his team had to play a double header last week in a cold rain and they were miserable, but normally the weather is OK.  The boys are excited because they have tickets to a Yankees game (vs the Padres in San Diego) in early August when we take a trip to Southern California.

So - SoCal.  It is our year to head back to visit my brother Philip and his awesome family.  We love to see our California cousins.  We were all going to try and go to the Yankees game but tickets are pretty pricey so just the boys are going.  The girls will have to think of something awesome to do as well.  We are planning to hang out with the Royals for a few days, then head into Anaheim and a spend a few days at Disneyland.  The kids are really excited about this as well.  We went in 2009 but so much has changed since then.  I think everyone will be tall enough to ride whatever they want so we won't have to split up as much for riding rides.    Tessa has talked Jay into taking her to Ariel's Grotto for lunch so I guess I'm stuck with the boys and corn dogs or something.  Oh well.  We'll be in Disneyland so it will be hard to complain.

So - Summer!  Yay!

Oh and I have been meaning to post pictures of Tessa in her cute dance costume from her dance recital last month.  Once again, Jay took pictures on his phone and since he deems it necessary to take his phone with him every day, I haven't even seen them.  She was adorable.  You'll have to trust me on that.

The Sorry Song

Sunday afternoons can be hard.  I wish I could report that our little family sat around and just loved each other all the time, but of course that's not what happens.  Most of the time we are OK but then we have days like today where it just seems like everyone picks at each other.  

After church Henry was finishing a school project and Tessa was trying to get him to move his stuff off the counter.  He got in her face and she scratched him, resulting in a trip to her room for some downtime until she was ready to apologize.  After a while she came and said she was sorry.  But then she took her apology a step further - she wrote him a song, complete with a poster of the lyrics:

The song goes:

I'm sorry! For what you say?  Oh Yeah!  I'm sorry for scratching you in the face.  I heard that you got a bump or two! (insert frowny face)  I just want to say I'm really sorry!  From Tessa To Henry.

You can say what you want about Tessa (and we had plenty to say, believe me) and her scratching antics, but she sure can apologize in style!

Election Day

Apparently the last few weeks of school in 1st Grade is pretty kick-back.  They don't do core testing this young so they don't have tests to plan around and seem to try and fit in some fun, different kinds of projects. Case in point - what Tessa calls "Community".

Apparently they set up their classroom as a mini-community.  Everyone has jobs.  Tessa came home and informed me that she wanted to be the Mayor and she needed to make some campaign posters.  Here is an example:

The election was today.  She lost.  She didn't seem too upset, although she did tell me that she was "sad in my heart" that she didn't get to be the Mayor.  The Mayor is a good friend of hers who gave out candy (!) as an incentive for voting for her.  No wonder Tessa lost.  It didn't even occur to me to send candy - I just got out the markers and poster board and let her color for a while.  

Oh well.  She is the Mayor's assistant.  She seemed relieved because she really, really didn't want to be the garbage man.

Animal Farm

The end of the school year is full of programs and fairs and field trips and field days.  It seems like every single day has me doing something school-related.  It's kind of fun and a sign that the school year is wrapping up.

Today was Tessa's 1st Grade Animal Fair.  The kids had  researched and written a short report on an animal of their choice.  They made a model of the animal out of clay and a background of the animal's habitat.  Then they all stood at their desks while we (parents, teachers and other students) walked around and talked to them about their animals.

Tessa's animal, if you can't tell, was a Panda.

Unfortunately the Panda keeps breaking it's head and ear off.  I keep hot-gluing it back together again and it is incredibly fragile.  But it's cute and she is very proud of it.

The Mother's Day Conundrum

I have mixed feelings about Mother's Day.  I mean, any day where I get presents is obviously a good day.  This year Jay managed to surprise me (again!) with a new computer chair.  Either he thinks I spend all day watching Netflix on the computer while the kids are at school or he noticed that the chair we had was slowly losing all it's foam stuffing and sitting on it to check your email was like sitting on concrete.  At any rate, I am now sitting on a very comfortable chair that I may not move from tomorrow, especially since The West Wing is streaming on Netflix.

Anyway - mixed feelings.  I love being a mother and I think I'm pretty good at it most days.  But I'm not sure that I need a special day to reinforce that being a mother is kind of fun and great.  I don't need or even want to be told how awesome I am by my kids on Mother's Day because honestly it feels a little forced.  "Mom, you are a great cook" after a week where sandwiches were the norm because everyone was always busy around dinnertime just doesn't have the ring of truth, you know?  I would rather be appreciated every day of every year than blasted by Mom Love for a day and then ignored for the other 364 days of the year.  And to be fair, maybe I feel that way because I do feel appreciated.  I know that Jay appreciates what I do as a mom.  He tells me, just randomly.  I know that my kids, in general, think I'm OK and I don't think I have messed anyone up to badly yet.  I'm lucky.  Not everyone has that.  So when Jay asks me what I want for Mother's Day, I honestly don't know.  I feel pretty fortunate and don't feel like I need a gift to make me feel good about myself.  Don't get me wrong - I will enjoy this new chair a lot.  I loved the cute little gifts that my kids brought home from school and church today.  We had cupcakes.  I just don't feel like it's necessary, at least for me.

Also, there are many women in my little sphere of existence that don't have children for whatever reason.  I hate that Mother's Day, no matter how hard we try to make it inclusive, can be a painful reminder of something that they may want but do not have.  I hate that.  And I hate that there is absolutely nothing that I can do to change those circumstances and nothing that I can say that won't sound trite and cliche.

So I'll celebrate Mother's Day because it's just what we do in our culture.  I will call my Mom and make sure she knows I was thinking about her today.  But I won't make myself feel guilty because I'm not Mother of the Year and I won't pat myself on the back for all the sacrifices that I make as a mom. I'll just go about my business, like all mothers do.  And that's how it should be, I guess.

7th Heaven

Today is Tessa's 7th birthday.  She is a great little girl who is funny and smart and sassy and a wonderful addition to our family.

She celebrated her birthday with a scooter and some new doll clothes and a trip back to USU's Aggie Marketplace with it's Mongolian BBQ and Nacho Bar and All-You-Can-Eat Aggie Ice Cream.

To celebrate Tessa's 7th birthday, I thought I'd share 7 Great Things About Tessa.

1 -  She is a great reader.  She loves to read her cute little chapter books, like Amelia Bedelia, June B Jones and American Girl.  She has over 80 AR points and loves seeing that number go up as she takes her tests.

2 - She loves to dance and perform.  She is on her third year of dance and is looking forward to her recital in two weeks.  She was in the Opera club at school and recently performed in the Summit Elementary original opera "King of Candy" as a licorice.

3 - She doesn't like the wind.  She loves to play outside, but if it's at all windy, she stays inside.

4 - She loves popsicles.  I buy the cheap "Fun Pops" because if I bought the pricier Otter Pops during the summer we'd go broke.

5 - She is a sweet girl.  Her teacher at school is always telling me how nice she is to the kids in her class and how much she tries to help them at school.

6 - She loves to play games on the computer but doesn't like to play on the Wii.

7 - She wants to be a dance teacher or an inventor or a school teacher when she grows up.

Happy Birthday, Tessa!  We love you.

Any Excuse Not To Cook

I'm not a good cook.  I mean, I can cook.  We eat.  No one is starving.  But I'm not good at it.  I don't enjoy it.  On a normal week, I cook Monday - Friday and Jay cooks on weekends.  He is a much better cook than me and generally enjoys it, so to say we eat well on weekends would be an understatement.

My cooking could be described as fairly utilitarian.  I tend to go through the same 8-10 meals on a regular rotation because they are easy and the kids will eat them. So it is with great joy and happiness that I find reasons to not cook dinner on any given night.

This week was Summit Elementary McTeacher's Night at the Smithfield, Utah McDonalds.  The teachers at William and Tessa's school took turns hanging out at McDonald and the school gets a portion of the proceeds from the sales that evening.  We were the first ones there - just after 5 pm - but the business was fairly steady and by the time we left it was pretty busy.

We've done a few other fundraisers like this.  We ate at Chick-Fil-A for Henry's school last fall and just last month we ate at Noodle's and Co for Summit Elementary as well.  I don't know how much Henry's school made, but Summit made about $500 from the Noodle's and Co fundraiser.  It doesn't sound like a lot in the grand scheme of things but every little bit helps.

Plus I don't have to cook.  Win-win!

Photo Bomb

Here are some pictures of the Jay and the boys in Moab:

Henry at Delicate Arch:

 Apparently there was some drama getting William up for a picture at Delicate Arch.  Oh, William:

 He rallied for more fun later, however:

 This is at Dead Horse Point State Park.  Tessa thought it was the Grand Canyon at first and was mad that they went without her:

 I can't tell you how awful this sign is to me.  Charging for food by the scoop?  Really?  Thank goodness they didn't see this place until after they had already eaten or I shudder to think what dinner would have been:

William is jockeying to go back to Moab so he can get a proper picture at Delicate Arch.  We'll see what we can do.

A Good Time Was Had By All

This week was Spring Break.  Boy were we ready for the kids to have a week off school.  Poor Tessa has been sick off and on the entire month of March - I think being a first grader and all it entails has finally caught up to her.  She just seemed so tired the last little bit.  All three kids had a bout of the stomach flu before Easter so it just seemed like a good time to air everyone and everything out and have a little downtime.

The beginning of the week was pretty laid back.  The weather was pretty good - warmish with a few showers mixed in.  It was nice enough at the start of the week for the kids to spend a lot of time outside and with friends.  One afternoon I took Henry and William and a few of their friends to the baseball park and they worked each other out with hitting, pitching and fielding.  Tessa and her friend played in the playground while I sat on a park bench and read in the sun.  It was nice.

Jay wanted to introduce the kids to Aggie Marketplace, a full-service eatery up at USU.  It has about a million different options for eating and is set up like a buffet - you pay your fee (which was pretty good - we all ate for under $30) and you could eat as much as you wanted.  They had pizza, pasta, burgers, tacos, Asian, and much, much more.  William seemed quite enamored with the whole concept and we had to physically cut him off from making a trip to the nacho bar because he had already eaten so much.  The kids ended their meals with Aggie Ice Cream:

The end of the week split us up.  Jay took the boys to Moab for a camping and hiking boys weekend.  I hate camping so I stayed home with Tessa.  While the boys in our family were in Moab (hopefully Jay is taking many pictures), the girls went shopping and out to eat and watched videos and just had a quiet weekend.  Tessa's videos of choice were her LaShar's Dance Recital videos from 2011 and 2012.  She watched the videos and danced around the family room.  It was quite the performance.

Kids go back to school on Monday.  Only 8 more weeks until Summer Vacation!

He Is Risen!

I love Easter.  I love the time spent during this season studying the life of Jesus Christ and remembering his sacrifice for us.  I spend my time at church with children ages 3-11 and I love teaching them that Jesus loves them and died for them.

Today we went to church and then went to Ogden for a family Easter dinner.  Nana organized her yearly Easter Egg Hunt and everyone had fun.  The kids had a Silly String Fight and we took our annual Easter picture of the cousins (minus a few who don't live in Utah).

We take this picture every year at Easter (either at this spot or on the back steps of Nana's porch) and so I thought it would be fun to look back and see the picture from just a few years ago:

This ^^^^picture was from 2007.  Tessa wasn't even a year old.  Henry and Olivia were 5.  William was 3 and Colin was 2.  Boston isn't in the picture because he was just a baby - not even 6 months old.  And Kate and Cameron weren't even born yet.

I actually have a super cute picture of Easter the year after Henry was born.  He was maybe 9 months old and Olivia was maybe 4 or 5 months.  We propped them on the couch and took the picture and it's adorable.  I should scan it in - that was before we had a digital camera but I love the hard copy.

My other favorite thing about Easter is spring.  Fall may be my favorite season, but Spring runs a close second.  There's just something about a sunny, 65 degree spring day that makes me happy.

Happy Easter!

Planet Henry

Only Henry can go to the doctor and have him say the words "I'd like to see you gain some weight."  Seriously, that was our takeaway from Henry's appointment with his pediatric endocrinologist.  We see him because endocrinologists deal with thyroid issues and since Henry is so young, we were/are concerned with how his growth is effected by his cancer.  I mean, he's clear and everything still and there is no sign of cancer, but he takes medication every day and he did have a fairly large dose of radioactive iodine a few years ago so we need to watch for anything that could be causing quality of life issues for him.

And he's skinny.  Like his BMI is barely on the charts and while his height has stayed on a consistent growth curve, his weight has dropped as far as percentages go.  So we are trying to help him out by changing his medication to allow his TSH to creep up a bit (his is currently 0.02 so there is a bit of room for it to go up and still be below normal, which is necessary for people with a history of thyroid cancer) and getting him to gain weight.  Of course Henry rubbed his hands together and started dreaming of milkshakes every day.  Jay and I are trying to figure out a way to add healthy fat and calories to his diet.

And, can I just say, wouldn't that just be the ultimate day at the doctor?  Having them tell you that you need to gain weight?  I'd buy a bunch of Cadbury eggs and a Slurpee and lay off the treadmill for a while.  No problem at all.  

Limitless

Today Henry attended the Young Writer's and Artists Fest at USU.   He, along with about 200 of his peers from middle schools around the valley, were recognized for their talents in the visual and written arts.  The theme was Limitless, as was the title of the short story that he wrote as an entry for the festival.   He was able to have a book signed by his favorite author, Brandon Mull (who wrote the Fablehaven and Beyonders series).  He read his story to a small group of students where it was critiqued by some guest responders and students at USU.  He got out of school for the day.  He had fun.

I went up for the program and went to the sessions with Henry, a couple of his friends, and a few of their moms.  It's interesting watching 11 and 12 year old boys together.  They are so silly about some things but so mature about others.  I can't quite get a read on what they are thinking.  I mean, Henry seemed OK with me being there.  He seemed happy to have me and Jay there to hear him read and have lunch with him.  I offered to stay and attend the final "celebration" with him and he didn't seem to care if I did or not.   I sensed, however, that he was ready to run wild and free so I left him to his own devices with the admonishment to please make his bus back to Cedar Ridge and off he went, without a word of goodbye.  

Lest anyone think that I labor under the assumption that Henry is such a super-special-snowflake that he has no flaws or faults, we should rewind to Tuesday afternoon.  Henry needed bloodwork done - again, like he does every 6 months.  He hates getting bloodwork with the passion of a thousand fiery suns but he typically takes it as well as I could want.  Not Tuesday.  He knew it was coming - which was a mistake but not one I could rectify since he has a doctor's appointment next week and it has to be done before we go to Salt Lake to see his endocrinologist for a follow-up.   By the time I picked him up from school, he was simmering and ready to boil over.  He was an absolute mess, blaming me for every ill ever inflicted on him.  The details of the drive to the hospital, the walk up to the lab and the actual drawing of the blood are ugly and not something I care to relive.  But that wasn't the end.  He was so worried about it that he had neglected to eat lunch that day at school, meaning he hadn't eaten at all since breakfast at 7:00 am.  By the time we got home, we was shaky and nauseous and started throwing up.  He fell asleep on the couch, woke up and started throwing up again.   He bounced back and was fine by about 6:00 pm but not after a long, messy afternoon - one that could have been avoided if Henry had A-eaten something for lunch and B-not worked himself into such a state that it took two people to hold him still so the poor phlebotomist could take his meager sample of blood.   

Guess who is taking Henry to get his next round of bloodwork done?  I'll give you a hint - it won't be me.

March Medical Maladies

I always look forward to March.  The warmer (albeit still cooler than I like) weather, the increase in daylight, the melting snow.  It's a good month to say goodbye to winter.

So far, this March hasn't gone too well.  Tessa had to have two teeth pulled on Monday and it was ugly.  Jay texted me to see if the "bloodbath" was going well and I can't tell you how appropriate that description was.  I honestly had no idea that baby teeth had roots - one of her teeth looked like an elephant tusk.  As I have a serious aversion to the dentist and it's all I can do do hold myself together when I myself am in the dentist chair, sitting on the edge of the seat while my daughter is crying and distraught and bleeding isn't my idea of a good time.  Of course she rallied quickly and by early afternoon was BORED with a capital B.  She goes back in two weeks to put in a spacer for her bottom teeth.  Let's hope there is less blood involved.

Today she is home again. With pinkeye.  She has had a cold (which she thoughtfully shared with me) and her eye was a little irritated Wednesday morning but I didn't think too much of it.  By lunchtime she came and found me at the school (I was working at the Book Fair in the library) and her eye looked horrible.  A quick trip to the doctor confirmed the diagnosis so we have eye drops and another missed day of school.  She feels fine.  She has watched a movie, read books, played on the computer and helped me clean the house.  She is now playing school with her dolls and writing on the windows with magic marker.  Whatever gets her through the afternoon.

Of course William and Henry don't want to come near her for fear of contracting pinkeye and she is teasing them mercilessly.  She actually backed William up against the wall yesterday, waving her hands in his face to threaten him with her germs.  When her teacher at school tells me what a sweet and wonderful girl she is, I just smile and nod, knowing that she saves most of the sassy for home.

Jimjams

Jimjams, according to the dictionary, means jitters.  Which is appropriate, I guess, considering it is the word that William missed in the Summit Elementary spelling bee this past week.

Being the experienced mom that I am, I tried to prepare him.  It is much harder to spell out loud than it is to spell on paper.  It is harder to spell words you aren't familiar with, even if you have studied and spelled them successfully before.   It can even be hard to spell words that you know, because you have a tendency to rush through them and make silly mistakes.  Which is exactly what William did.

He wasn't upset, though.  He took it surprisingly well.  I had warned him that it would be hard for him to win the spelling bee because he had never been in one before and he didn't have the experience that the older kids had.  And he learned.  He learned that you really need to study hard to do well in the spelling bee and that it's the luck of the draw as to what word you have to spell.  So now he has a goal to do better next year, assuming he gets in the spelling bee from his class.

As long as he doesn't get the jimjams too badly, that is.  Then all bets are off.

Sleep Smooching

Today after church, Tessa played school.  She set herself up as the teacher - Mrs. Wright - and taped pieces of paper all over the window in our front room as the whiteboard.  Her students were Star and Lizzy.  They even had their own lunch cards.

Here is the spelling list.:

 Here is Lizzy's math assignment:

 This is the WAIT sign.  Apparently in Tessa's classroom at Summit, if you have to stand by the WAIT sign you are essentially in a Time Out and have to stay in that spot until the teacher talks to you.  She has adopted this discipline strategy for her own classroom at home.

She was busy being Mrs. Wright all afternoon.

After dinner we watched an episode of House Hunters International.  It featured a woman relocating to Australia.  She was trying to find a house with a roommate and they were discussing who would get the larger bedroom.  William noticed that one of the women moved two twin beds together to make a larger bed to sleep in and this prompted of discussion of why she would do that.  Henry said she must just want a bigger bed to sleep in.  William then said that he thought she wouldn't sleep with anyone else until she got married because then you liked sleeping with someone.  Tessa wanted to know why and Jay and I held our breath waiting for his answer.

William's reply - "when you are married, you like to sleep together so you can sleep-smooch."  He then made kissing noises and Henry and Tessa started laughing.

Sunday afternoons are fun in our house.

Family Fun Night (?)

Hmph.  It's cold and snowy and if spring doesn't come soon, I may implode from the dreariness.  You know it's bad when I rejoice in an inversion that allows the day to be classified as partly sunny, just because there is a shadow on the ground.  I don't think I could live any further north than we do - winter seems so long.

Today was cold and snowy - imagine that - and we hunkered down at home.  Henry had a basketball game but was done at noon.  We decided to take advantage of the downtime and get some scouting and homework stuff done.  William has been very negligent about working on his Bear badge so we knocked out a bunch of stuff that could be done with the family.  Add to that Henry's FACS (Family and Consumer Sciences) project that requires him to do some light cooking, laundry and child care (snort) around the home and we had ourselves a productive day. 

Both boys needed to make cookies, so they made cookies together.  They actually turned out better than most of my efforts so maybe I should have them become the family bakers.  They both also needed to play a game with the family, so after dinner they played Monopoly. 

We actually play Monopoly alot in our house.  We aren't that big on board games - we prefer card games like Uno, Skip-Bo, and Phase 10 - but the one board game we play regularly is Monopoly.  I guess I should clarify that Jay plays with the kids alot more than I do.  Oh, I've played my fair share.  William went through a phase a few years ago where he wanted to play Monopoly literally every day.  I had to limit him to two afternoons a week after school and Jay would usually play with him at least once on the weekend.  We played all the time.  We don't play as much anymore, but tonight even Tessa joined in the fun:

They played and ate cookies and it was nice until it started to drag on and the kids started arguing about trades and properties.  Tessa started acting silly.  William adopted a covert personality and added extra syllables to all of his words.  Henry kept sneaking out his iPod to check the score of the Ute game.  We ended up calling the game.  Everyone seemed a little relieved. 

Is it spring yet?

Say What?

Jay took the boys down to Salt Lake City tonight to a Jazz game.  Santa brought tickets and they were happy to have a fun night of basketball.  Jay texted me a picture of William with two of the announcers so I'll have to post it when I get a chance.  Hopefully the Jazz will win and the boys will have fun.

Since it was another sports event for the boys, Tessa and I went out to dinner again.  Again, she chose Apple Spice Bakery.  We shared a salad and she ate a grilled cheese sandwich and two cookies.  I don't know how she stays so skinny - she eats more than her brothers at times. 

On the way home, she was chattering on about wanting to live until the year 9000 so she could set the world record for the oldest person ever.  We laughed about that and then she said that she thought she'd probably die when she was 89.  I told her that everyone dies at some point but most people don't die until they are pretty old so 89 was a fair guess and a nice, long time away. 

Her response?  "Well, I think I won't die until I'm 89.  Unless I'm murdered." 

And I almost drove off the side of the road.

The Blahs

I've got The Blahs.  I often get The Blahs in January.  January is boring and cold and not fun at all.  This year, January is particularly cold.  I think we've had one day above freezing since Christmas and most days top out around 12 degrees.  I always feel like I have a chill.  I want to eat soup all the time. 

The kids are doing well, though.  They play too many video games and watch too much TV but I console myself with the thought that the weather will turn eventually and they will once again be outside.

I have no pictures of the kids because The Blahs prohibit me from doing anything like picking up my camera and attempting to document something like Henry yelling at the Wii because he missed a field goal on Madden 13.

Mexico is looking pretty good right now.

Later, Alligator

Another Pinewood Derby has come and gone. Henry aged out of Cub Scouts and so we just had William at this year. This year's theme was Animals. His offering - an alligator head shaped car that he dubbed Later, Alligator.

 

 

It certainly wasn't the prettiest car around - Jay mentioned that he thought we'd reached a new aesthetic low with our offerings - but it was pretty fast.  He came in third overall and had the single fastest time in a race.  You can see him pointing to the time - 2.9622 seconds.   Jay was pretty excited since our boys cars generally aren't that fast.  Jay credits it to the axle that he bought from the Scout Store on Monday.  I think it's just luck.  I mean, come on - those cars are all within tenths of a second of each other.  The difference between first and last is pretty minimal. 

Still, William was happy.  All the boys seemed to have fun.  They did a good job of cheering for each other.  It was a good night.

Brrrrrr

It has been incredibly cold here.  Like, highs in the single digits (and not 8 or 9 degrees, 4 or 5 degrees) and lows well below zero.  As I type this, at 8:08 pm, it is currently -2 degrees with a projected low of -12.  Say what?

It's also foggy.  And icy.  And I don't ever even want to leave the house.  But school started back last week and as nice as it is to stay home all the time when the weather is not fit for humans, things must be done. 

Tomorrow we start church back at 9 am.  Part of me is happy to have Sunday afternoons free and to be able to set up the Primary room before church starts.  Part of me is dreading having to crack my whip on Sundays to get everyone ready and out the door at a good time.

Especially when it's So. Stinking. Cold.