For Peggy...

See ya in Vernal!!!

Spring 2012 Piano Recital

The boys had their spring recital last night. Personally, I thought they were both amazing. As I was discussing with Bruce that it seemed like their best recital ever, I realized that maybe part of that was due to the fact that we opted to leave Emmarsyn at a friend's house and were therefore, actually able to enjoy the recital. Emmarsyn seems to have a keen sixth sense for situations that require her to sit quietly for more than about 2 minutes. When she gets her first whiff of said situations, she turns into a possessed child. She is usually on the floor, crying, insisting that she will not be quiet. I took her to a child-oriented symphony performance and about 10 minutes in she was doubled over telling me that "All this music is making me want to be dead." She managed to survive, but there was considerable writhing on the floor with the sheer horror of having to be still and quiet for 45 minutes.

Love her dearly, but to be able to just sit with Bruce and enjoy the recital was great. I think this is the new plan until Emmarsyn is actually taking lessons as well and participating in the recitals.

On to the boys. Like I said, I think they both did a fine job. Spencer was completely unflustered when his music closed during his second song and his teacher walked up to open it for him. I don't think he was using it anyway. He said that he wasn't even paying attention to what he was playing and was watching the inner workings of the piano instead. Speaking of the piano, it is a 9' Steinway Concert Grand. Apparently, the same piano is used at Carnegie Hall and other such venues. It costs more than we paid for our house. But not to worry, they have a payment plan.

Click below to view the boys' performances.

Spencer

Matthew

Spencer's 9th Birthday Interview

How old are you? 9 years old
Who are your good friends? Carson, Noah, Ryan, Eric, Eli
What is your favorite thing to do? Build with Legos and Read
What is your favorite color? Red
What is your favorite food? Cherries
What do you like to do with your family? Camp
What is your favorite toy? Legos
What do you want to be when you grow up? A Scientist
What makes you happy? My Brother's Jokes
What makes you sad? Embarrassment
What is your favorite show to watch? Phineas & Ferb
What is your favorite book? Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
What do you love to learn about? Science and Social Studies
What was the best part of your birthday? Getting my new Cub Scout things and my Harry Potter party.
Where do you like to go? Cub Scouts
Who is your teacher? Miss Brynn
What was your favorite birthday present? Having a fun birthday.
What do you think about before you fall asleep? Science
What is your favorite treat? Maraschino Cherries.
If you could meet someone famous who would it be? Albert Einstein or Thomas Edison
What is your favorite animal? Tiger
What are you grateful for? My room even though I need to tidy it up a bit.

Matthew's 7th Birthday Interview

How old are you? 7
Who is your best friend? Conner & Sam. I have a lot, though those are my main ones.
What is your favorite thing to do? Legos
What is your favorite color? Green
What is your favorite food? Hamburgers & Fries
What do you like to do with your family? Play Games
What is your favorite toy? Legos
What do you want to be when you grow up? A lot of stuff – policeman, inventor, scientist
What makes you happy? Spencer
What makes you sad? When Spencer says “oh” when I tell him something.
What is your favorite show to watch? Phineas & Ferb & Lego movies, Harry Potter
What is your favorite book? Secret at Dolphin Bay and Lego Club magazines
What do you love to learn about? Building
What was the best part of your birthday? Classic Fun Center & Getting Harry Potter Legos
Where do you like to go? Classic Fun Center
Who is your teacher? Miss Emily
What was your favorite birthday present? Hagrid's Hut Legos

Easter Bunny and Tooth Fairy in 24 Hours

Matthew had a big day on Sunday. Not only did the Easter Bunny visit, but that night he had his very first visit from the Tooth Fairy. Matthew can be a little, (um can a 6 year old be neurotic?) shall we say high strung? So Bruce and I were a little worried that losing a body part - albeit one designed to be lost - might be a little traumatic for him. (Can't imagine how Matthew ended up so high strung.) But he took it very well and was actually thrilled when it popped out while he was eating ice cream. Not a bad way to go for a tooth. Mostly he was excited that he would have another dollar to add to his Hero Factory savings fund.

It is kind of hard to see where he lost the tooth (bottom, front, left - his left). It seems he has a kind of shark tooth thing going on. The permanent tooth came in almost completely behind baby tooth. Our nephew Braxton had the same thing. We called him "Shark Boy" for about a year. I definitely see braces in our future.

Emergency Specific Food Storage

So if a picture is worth a thousand words, then does this picture give you any clue how my weekend went? Yeah, it wasn't pretty. Anyway, as soon as I was feeling better, I decided that I needed to make a little corner of our food storage to be set aside for just those special items needed when our family is going through the dreaded tummy troubles. All your favorite "B.R.A.T." diet items and a few extras. You see, while my amazing hubby was able to work from home on Monday so I could have a day of recovery, he still had to work which meant being on the phone pretty much all day. So when I requested a simple cup of applesauce around noon it slipped his mind and he brought it after a rather pathetic reminder around 1pm. Really not complaining - he was very busy and was making sure the kids were fed and where they needed to be - and I am very grateful for that. But I thought that if we put all the supplies in a specific location, then next time maybe it will be easier to locate said applesauce. So my contribution to emergency preparedness for the month is to prepare for an emergency that unfortunately is almost guaranteed to occur on a fairly regular basis.

Birthday Interview - Emmarsyn 4 Years Old

How old are you? 4
Who is your best friend? Paige, Cannon, Corbin
What is your favorite thing to do? Play with princesses.
What is your favorite color? Pink & purple
What is your favorite animal? Puppies
What is your favorite food? Orange cheese (Cheddar), grapes, peanut butter & jam sandwiches, cream cheese bagel
What do you like to do with your family? Play and make silly jokes and silly faces and games.
What is your favorite toy? Games
What do you want to be when you grow up? Every job that you do in the night and morning.
What makes you happy? When I ask you to play with me and you say yes.
What makes you sad? When I don't like to eat the stuff that you tell me.
What is your favorite show to watch? Dora and Barney and Strawberry Shortcake
What is your favorite book? Strawberry Shortcake Books, Pony Books, Pirate Pete Books,
What do you love to learn about? Letters
What was the best part of your birthday? My Princess Party
Where do you like to go? Preschool
Who is your teacher? Miss Nicole
What was your favorite birthday present? Rapunzel

(The image is Emmarsyn's Star Student poster that we made for her preschool class.)

Spencer's 8 Year Old Birthday Questions

How old are you? 8 years old
Who are your good friends? Eli, Matthew, Emmarsyn, Ryan, Corbin, Eric, Carson, Jack, Isaac
What is your favorite thing to do? Build with Legos
What is your favorite color? Red
What are your favorite foods? Cherries, Chicken, Mashed Potatoes, Gravy
What do you like to do with your family? Go to the beach in Pensacola
What is your favorite toy? Legos
What do you want to be when you grow up? A scientist and an inventor
What makes you happy? Seeing my family
What makes you sad? When my brother is hurt or sick
What is your favorite show to watch? Tom & Jerry
What are your favorite books? Harry Potter, Magic Tree House, Bailey School Kids, A to Z Mysteries
What do you love to learn about? Geography, American History
What was the best part of your birthday? Being baptized
Where do you like to go? Church
Who is your teacher? Ms. Kirsten
What was your favorite birthday present? My art kit from Grandma Leeann
What do you think about before you fall asleep? Stories to write.
What is your favorite treat? Chocolate cake and maraschino cherries
If you could meet someone famous who would it be? Thomas Edison, definitely
What is your favorite animal? Tiger
What are you grateful for? Legos

Best Conference Packets Ever

I was a little late in my General Conference prep this time around. The boys actually asked me for a packet about 10 minutes in to the morning session today. In my search, I came across these on the Scriptures for Kids website. There are separate packets for Nursery, Jr. Primary, Sr. Primary, and Youth. As you can tell from the post title, I think that these are the best I have ever come across. I got them printed and into packets about a half hour in and the last 90 minutes of conference have been lovely.

Spencer's Baptism

Spencer on Saturday right before his baptism. It was a great day for him. We are very proud of him and couldn't be happier with how it all went!

Converstion Between Bruce & Emmarsyn

This was a little long for the "Say What?" side bar, but it was too good not to post...

Emmarsyn: Daddy, you are cute.

Bruce: Thank you. What else?

Emmarsyn: You are smart.

Bruce: And what else?

Emmarsyn: You are pretty.

Bruce: Well, I guess I can't ask for anything else.

Emmarsyn: You could be funny.

Four First Days

Emmarsyn started preschool today so we have finally completed our "First Days" for this Fall. Each child thoroughly enjoyed their respective firsts although Matthew's first day of Kindergarten was noteworthy.

Here is how it went:

• Drive boys to school in a sizable thunderstorm - my favorite.
  
• Get to school. Walk through the downpour to Matthew's classroom.
• Am met at the door by the teacher and am informed that the office does not have a copy of his birth certificate or proof of an eye exam. (Perhaps the glasses on his face should count as proof of an eye exam. Perhaps they could have notified me before the first day of class. Perhaps not.)
• Am told by the secretary that technically they should not allow Matthew to be in class, but they will let him stay if I am frantically driving around the valley to obtain the documents which, by the way, I turned in last spring.
• Panic slightly because I could not find Matthew's birth certificate and had given my only copy to...hmmm...oh yeah...his school.
• Call Bruce on the way to the eye doctor. He finds out how to get a new "original" birth certificate.
  
• Get proof of eye exam and head to a county health facility to get the birth certificate.
• Things are looking up - completed half my mission, rain is stopping. Put keys, cell phone, and wallet on front seat of van while I take off my sweatshirt.
  
• Watch van door close in slow motion while in even slower motion I figure out what is happening.
• Call my mom to bring the spare key.
• Sit in rain ( yep, it started up again) while I wait for an hour for my mom.
• Realize that she is likely lost and call Bruce.
• Sit in rain while I wait a half hour for Bruce.
• Get birth certificate. My mom shows up with key. Turn in documents 5 minutes before kindergarten is over and Matthew gets expelled. Things are looking up.
• Go home. Kids go over to a friend's house while I reflect on the fact that it was just one of those days.
• Hear banging on the door. Go upstairs to find the neighbor bringing Matthew home early. He fell off the couch and got some cuts on the bottom of his foot.
• Discover that the "cuts" are actually puncture wounds from landing in an art bucket and several actually still have significant pieces of pencil lead in them.
• Go to doctor. Have leads removed and wounds cleaned. Get prescription for antibiotic to ward off staph infection.
• Go home and hope that the next day would be better.
• It was.

Matthew's Birthday Questions - 6 Years Old

How old are you? 6
Who is your best friend? Spencer
What is your favorite thing to do? Play with Bionicles and Hero Factory
What is your favorite color? Green
What is your favorite food? Scrambled Eggs
What do you like to do with your family? Go on a trip to Florida.
What is your favorite toy? Legos
What do you want to be when you grow up? An inventor.
What makes you happy? Bionicles and Hero Factory
What is your favorite show to watch? Sponge Bob
What is your favorite book? The Cat in the Hat Comes Back
What do you love to learn about? Bionicles
What was the best part of your birthday? Presents
Where do you like to go? ToysRUs
Who is your teacher? Mrs. Hillyard
What was your favorite birthday present? Hero Factory

It Never Gets Old

Every other year (at least that is the plan) we go to Florida to stay with my dad and step-mom. Bruce comes for about a week and the kids and I hang out for a couple of weeks longer. As I have mentioned before in a previous post, one of the coolest parts the trip is seeing the Blue Angels practice. How awesome is it that my kids get to stand next to the runway and wave flags as the pilots taxi back after landing? The previous Blue Angel post has more pictures if you are interested. This time I just took a few and actually got to watch most of the practice. As always, they are amazing! I think I get at least - if not more - excited than the boys.

4th of July Photos

We had a BBQ with my mom, my brother, and our niece and nephew last night. These are the fireworks pictures. My particular favorites are Bruce helping Emmarsyn with her sparkler and the close up of Matthew plugging his ears. Of course, the sparkler poses are pretty awesome too.

4th of July Artwork

Spencer created this using Paint yesterday. I thought it was pretty cool so here it is. Happy slightly late Fourth of July!

Father's Day Gift

I saw this idea for a Father's Day gift and tweaked it a bit to come up with this...

Bruce loved it and the kids loved being part of making something special for him. We framed it and it is going to have a prime location on his desk at work.

Because Your Kiss, Your Kiss, Is On My List

If you sang that title in your head instead of simply reading it, YOU ROCK! If not, you need to brush up on your early 80's pop music. Matthew had never heard the song before tonight, but this post is about him.

A few months ago, he decided that - in his words - "nobody kisses me and I don't kiss anybody either." I have tried diligently to repect his wishes, but I did slip up several times. I mean sometimes you just kiss your kid without thinking about it. Well, I used to anyway. Now, I find myself pausing slightly before kissing Spencer or Emmarsyn just to reassure myself that I am not violating any rules when kissing that particular child. When one does "accidentally" kiss Matthew, you are required to remove the kiss. This is done by grabbing it with your hand and putting it back on your lips - kind of a kiss eraser. Isn't parenthood great?

Anyway, recently we have entered a period of kissing detente. It started with some sanctions for some undesirable behavior. Who says diplomacy doesn't work? (Not sure how I got on the foreign policy metaphors, but it's working for me.) Matthew went through a growling phase. These growls were pretty much a verbal eye roll. So I told him, that everytime he growled at me, I would kiss him. I got a few kisses in and he even growled at me on purpose a couple of times just to get a kiss. Then about a week ago, we had our biggest breakthrough. We are now allowed to kiss him...but each time we do our names go on his "Kissing List". Kind of like the Terror Watch List, he's got his eye on us but he is still letting us through security. So now I get to kiss all my kids, but I have to be careful about timing. If we are in a hurry to get out the door, it is not a good idea to kiss Matthew because he has to stop and add my name to the the list again.

The other problem is that I can't get that song out of my head!

A Suessical Day

Matthew has been all about Dr. Suess lately. We listen to his books in the car and read them every night at bedtime. Since we have such a fanatic in the house, we decided to celebrate his birthday this year. March could use an extra holiday anyway.

The Unofficial First Day of Spring

While I know there are technically three more weeks of winter, March 1 felt like the first day of spring. It has been rather warm here - if you can call upper 40's warm. Matthew and Emmarsyn spent about an hour and a half playing in the backyard - they were collecting, swinging, and cleaning Emmarsyn's "house" (the swingset). I am looking forward to more and more warm days when kids can go out to play without putting on full snow gear and then coming in after 15 minutes because it is too cold. Yippee!