Sam's Baptism

Sam was baptized today! He was really nervous about it, and excited, too. He looked really handsome in his new white shirt and tie. All of our family that lives in the vicinity came, which was great. We've never been able to have that much family attend a baptism before. The Guthrie cousins came up and all the cousins sang "Baptism" out of the primary book. Papa gave a talk and Grandpa Steve gave a prayer. Trevor baptized and confirmed him with a lovely blessing. Afterward, we had a family dinner over at Tutu and Papasan's house. It was a very nice day.

He celebrate his 8th birthday a couple of weeks ago. We had a little family birthday party with his grandparents and then a week later we had a small party at the park with his friends. He's done lots of celebrating!

Ginny's preschool graduation

Ginny's ballet recital

Okay, this also took play way back at the beginning of May, or it might have even been the end of April...hopelessly behind in the pictures, here. She was a cute little ballerina. I am a new ballet parent, and was unaware of the tradition to bring flowers to the kids after their performance, so Ginny was the only kid not to get flowers, and she was DEVASTATED! So, we had to make an emergency trip to Walmart on the way home to pick out some flowers. She loved being up on the big stage at the Ellen Eccles theatre. A star is born!

Random Pics of kids

How about some Easter pictures in July?

Okay, I know I'm terribly late...but perhaps better late than never????

Ginny rides her bike!

This actually happened a few weeks ago, but here are some pictures! Ginny had been wobbling along on her less-than-functional training wheels throughout the spring, and finally Sam said that he thought it would be easier to ride without them. Sure enough, her big brother taught her how to ride a bike! I helped her around the block for the first time, and then she just took off! She's been zipping around the block ever since...

Happy 4th of July!

We had such a nice day today. For me, it literally felt like a breath of fresh air. We slept in, totally ignored our chores, and went to the Hyrum parade. That's actually really a fun parade. The kids love it because the firemen squirt water on everyone, and all the floats give out tons of candy, drinks, popsicles, etc. We explored the new Walmart in town as we bought some groceries, and then went on a picnic with Tutu and Papasan. It was great to just relax with the kids, playing games, frisbee, etc. and talking. It seems like ages since we spent a whole day just playing together. When it got dark this evening, we did a few of our own small fireworks in the driveway. The kids love those little pop-its, too.
Of course, the big fireworks for the city of Logan were done last night. For some reason, it is a tradition to always do this on the 3rd around here. The kids look forward to that every year. I think they have at least as much fun rolling down the hill at our favorite spot as they do watching the fireworks.

Out of school!!!

We're out of school! Wooohooo! Now I'm going to try to catch up on chores at home, get some kids practicing their instruments, help Trevor with some chem-flushes, and get ready for a workshop I'm taking at the end of June. A few goals of the summer--get to the bottom of my laundry pile, do a photo album for Ginny (notice I didn't say scrapbook, I'm way past that...)get the kids in a chore routine so next school year will be easier, spend lots of time just being mom! I think next year is going to be really hard with me going back to work full time.

New Job!

I was offered a new job this week as the choir director at North Cache 8th and 9th grade center. I'm really excited about it! It will be half-time in the mornings, and I will continue to teach band at Thomas Edison Charter in the afternoons. I think it will be fun to split my time between band and choir. A really great added benefit is that they can provide health insurance. Hallelujah! It will be hard to manage full-time work on top of my family, but I think we'll all just have to learn some important lessons about pitching in and helping. More home responsibilities will probably actually be good for the kids.

Emily's birthday and Mother's Day

We had a really nice weekend. Emily turned 14 yesterday. (Wow!) That means she is officially a Mia Maid at church, which I think she is excited about. She had a party at the park on Friday with her friends from school. (a few boys were invited, too, yikes!) But, I will say that it seems like she really has a nice group of friends. The girls spent the night at our house afterward. On Saturday we had 3 soccer games and a dance recital. Max is somewhat of a kamikaze on the soccer field--he'll throw his whole body into a kick and end up crashing at least 20 times per game. But, he's actually pretty effective with his strange tactics. Sam is also doing well. He likes to play goalie. Emily has really taken off with soccer this year. She is less stressed than usual and is tending to score at least one goal per game. It's really great to watch her play and have fun. Ginny was a darling little ballerina at her dance recital. What a cutie! The girls all wear black leotards, skirts, pink tights and ballet shoes and their hair in a bun--very traditional. She did a great job--I think her favorite part what flitting about on the stage after the recital was over. I wasn't up on the protocol about buying your dancer flowers, and she was pretty sad that she was the only dancer in her class who didn't get flowers so we made an emergency stop at Walmart to let her pick a small bouquet.

Sunday was Mother's Day. Ginny and Sam brought me really cute things they had made for me. They both sang me original songs in my honor, and kept bringing me cute notes and drawings all day. Both Max and Sam brought me little vases of flowers on Saturday. Also very cute. Trevor and Emily brought me a pretty little bamboo plant. Emily and I decided to make cherry cheesecake for our combined birthday/mother's Day treat. Yum! We went to visit Steve, Suzanne, and Gladys out in Smithfield in the afternoon, and Tutu and Papasan to deliver a flower and cards. We also stopped by my mother's and Nana's graves to sing our favorite song, "Today" and leave some flowers, too. It was cute at my mom's grave, Sam and Ginny both said they wanted some "alone time" with Grandma as we were leaving. The knelt individually by the grave and talked to Grandma--I don't know what they were saying, but it was very sweet.

Patterns

Ginny:

"Mommy, is it always going to be winter, spring, winter, spring, winter....?"

I really hope that we'll eventually have spring for real. My poor little crocuses that were so cute are frozen!

I Feel Lucky by Sam

I feel lucky because I have a nice teacher.
I feel lucky because I have my name.
I feel lucky because I have a family.
I feel lucky because of my Heavenly Father.

Regional History Fair

Emily is really excited because she and her friends took first place at the regional history fair for their play about Nikola Tesla. That means they get to go to the state competition at the end of April. It's fun to see these girls work so hard and succeed.

old mother's day card

Found this old mother's day card from Max. I think it just from last year, but I got a giggle out of it this week.

Yo mom--

My mom rocks.
She cleans my socks (and underwear)

Emily's freewriting assignment--subject, tuna

I found this in Emily's English papers and thought it was quite entertaining. She said the freewriting topic for the day was tuna, and truly, what DO you write about tuna?

I love tuna. We don't have any. I am sad.
I think I shall go sit in a corner and mope.
Or maybe I'll fall apart where I'm standing.
Life. Don't talk to me about life. Or tuna.
I like tuna. We don't have any. I am sad...
You know, strangely, I feel like I've told you that before.

Sam's Essay

If I were a singer, I would do many songs. I would write a song called, "The Bird Without Wings."

I know you have no wings.
You know how it is so uncool.
I know I do not feel it, man.
So I feel. Oh. Oh.
I feel so like the way so
I know, oh.
I know, yeah.
I know. I know.
So it is what I know.

After I write the song, I will perform it in front of a crowd with my band. My brother Max and some of his friends are in my band. I am the singer. We are going to perform the song in New York City. Millions of people will be at the concert. There will be a hundred girls chasing me. I would be happy to be a rock star. I would travel all around the world to sing songs. In my house, I would have a mini stage to practice with my band, and I would have a glowing ceiling, and a very soft carpet, and a couch and band equipment. Reporters will ask questions. I wouldn't go to school because I would have concerts everywhere instead.

Kid Updates

Shall I brag a little bit about my children? My mother always really embarrassed me by telling all of my accomplishments to absolutely everyone, but I think inside I was secretly pleased... So, here goes...

We are very proud of Emily for being in the top ten percent nationwide in the Iowa testing in every subject, and the overall scores. Way to go Emily! She also has straight A's and feels a little miffed at receiving 97 percent instead of 99 or 100 in one of her classes. She also wrote a great play with her friends about Nikola Tesla for the school history fair, and took second place, therefore she will be moving on to regionals. Her photograph won 1st place in the school arts competition, too. She was also just selected to be in the middle school honor band next month. Indulge me...I'm a proud mother!

Max was invited to read his reflections poem in front of the school board this evening. He had received honorable mention at the district level, and so was invited to open the school board meeting with a reading. I think he was a little embarrassed, but he did very well. I think I've previously posted the poem--Wow! What a pumpkin. He has also earned his Webelos award in scouts.

Sam won 3rd place in his school arts competition with an essay entitled, "What if I were a singer?" I'll post this separately. Sam also had really good grades at his parent teacher conference. (can't report on Max yet, his conferences are tomorrow.)

Ginny quote of the week..."Mom, I'm little AND big." How true! Little enough to loved to be cuddled. Big enough to not be carried anymore. Little enough to love lullabies and stories. Big enough to be independent as she waves and runs into school. Little enough for band-aids and kisses to still make the hurts go away. Big enough to not want to be left out of the big kids' activities. Etc.