Way-Back Wednesday

Time for a Way-Back Wednesday.  Since the olympic try-outs are going on . . . .

Arthur and I were in school at BYU when the 2002 Winter Olympics were held in Salt Lake City.  In retrospect, I can't BELIEVE we didn't make time to go up and volunteer or something.  Because how often in a lifetime do you live close enough to the Olympics to be a part of it?!?  But we were both wrapped up in school and trying to juggle classes and work, with being new parents, (Dallin was then just a couple months old,) and in the end, we watched it all on TV like the rest of the world, even though we were only 45 minutes away!

But we did get to see the Olympic torch as it was run right through Provo on a street not far from our apartment.  I was so excited to see the torch that had been passed from runner to runner and had been through so many countries and all over the United States.  So we bundled up and went outside to wait for it's passing.  It was cold, and Dallin was getting cranky.  I held him off as long as I could, hoping that the torch would come any minute.  The torch still didn't come, and Dallin was screaming his tiny little head off.  So finally, I decided to go in and feed him, and hoped the torch wouldn't come while I was inside.  And, of course, it did.

I couldn't find any pictures of the torch actually passing through, so either Arthur didn't take any, or they turned out so horrible I couldn't tell what they were--As you can see, the quality of our camera was rather poor.  That was way back when digital cameras had first come out, and all I can say, is that they have come a LONG way!

May Madness

I'm pretty glad I can check the month of May off my to-do list.  It gets pretty crazy with all the winding up activities. The fieldtrips, the parties, the performances and end-of-the-year recitals (two of which I hosted at my home).

Just figured I'd document a few things on the last week of school--the craziest week of the year in my opinion, and I only had two in school this year!

Sean's Kindergarten performance and picnic.  I got there at 11 so I could get a good seat.  I had to park around the block because apparently 1st grade was having some sort of soire at the neighboring park, and by the time I'd set up the stroller, and packed it with all our picnic stuff, and Hayden tripped and scraped his knee, and he was hastily comforted and then placed on my back so I could piggy-back him in, and we somehow hauled everybody around the block and to the Kindergarten wing, it was about 11:10.  I thought it started at 11:30, so I was doing AWESOME.

Well wouldn't you know it, I'd misread the email and it had STARTED at 11. (In order to get a good seat you should have been there before 11.)  As we got closer, I heard the singing and saw everyone with their phones and cameras out.  By the time we made it across the street, I caught just the tail end of their last song.  I felt awful.  When I showed Sean the 10 second video of his Kindergarten performance, he said, "THAT'S ALL YOU SAW?!?"  (groan--salt in the wound . . .)

I apologized profusely, and asked him if he would sing his kindergarten songs for me when we got home.  He said "maybe."  The cute thing about that is, he wasn't being a stinker, he's just very good at forgetting.  One day later that week, I found him sitting on the couch, deep in thought and mouthing some words. I paused and asked him what he was doing.  He replied he was trying to remember his kindergarten songs so he could sing them to me.

I still haven't heard his other songs, but enjoy "all I saw" of the last song of his cute kindergarten performance. (Sean's is right in the middle of the green t-shirts on the back row, and you can barely hear the kids over the wind.  sorry!)

Make a video - it's fun, easy and free!
www.onetruemedia.com

After the performance, the kindergartners all found their parents and we enjoyed a picnic lunch together out on the grass.  Julianne and her kids came to support Sean too, so it was fun to have them at our WINDY picnic.

The kids at the picnic

Sean with his cute little friend Jayden (who had a crush on him for a good part of the year.)  I was curious who she was, and when I asked Sean, he said, "Oh she's that tiny girl over there.  She's the smallest girl in Kindergarten."  She was pretty small.  And pretty cute, too.

And here is Sean with his teacher, Miss Phillips (R) and her teaching assistant Mrs. Hamlet (L).  We just LOVED them--they were such a great team.

Part of the stress of the end of the year is figuring out what to get the teachers for appreciation gifts.  We always give the teachers Books of Mormon at the end of the year, but I wanted to get them something else as well, (especially since Mrs. Hamlet already received a Book of Mormon when Daphne was in her class.)  So we did some gift cards, and I made these cute pencil holders for each of the teachers.

Ha!  Look at those crooked pencils.  Clearly, I need to refine my skills with a drill.  

This idea looked a little cuter on Pinterest.

Come to find out, some parent in Sean's class had organized a group gift because I received a thank-you email from the teachers about the wonderful group gift, and generous gift card.  Maybe that note is still at the bottom of Sean's backpack, because I never heard about it . . .

oh well.

I went in to help with Dallin's 4th Grade Banana Split party on the last day of school.  It was pretty fun. . . and sticky.

Dallin with a few of his friends.  I actually don't know who the guy on the far left is, but in the middle are his two greatest friends, Bobby and Cole.  They are both really good kids and it makes me so grateful for good friends for my children!

And here is Dallin with his teacher, Mrs. Fortescue.  Totally different than Sean's loud, outgoing teacher, but a really great teacher also.  

(And look how stylish she is with her orange "duty" vest that even matches her top!)

And that's the end of Sean's Kindergarten and Dallin's 4th Grade experience.

I blinked and it's over.

Another post will follow highlighting some of Daphne's achievements in homeschool this year.  

yes, that definitely needs its own post.

May Quotes

Earlier this month I took Hayden and Sydney in to get their immunizations.  When we'd talked about it before, Hayden told me,  "I'm not thcared of anything.  Not even chickenth." So when it came time to get shots I said, "Let's have you go first so you can show Sydney how to be so brave.  Because remember? You told me you're not scared of anything!" Hayden replied,  "Well, I think I'm gonna return that."

Playing games on my ipad together, Hayden gave me this advice:  Try not to die, Mom.

Sean:  We missed the cleaning hymn!  (aka, the closing hymn.  What he meant was, he was so occupied with his coloring, that he forgot to clean up all his stuff during the closing hymn, so he could dash out to primary as soon as the "amen" on the closing prayer was said.)

Dallin:  Hayden, good job!  You win the prize for not being the naughtiest.  I thought you were but it's actually Sydney.

Daphne:  Mom!  Hayden's whining is giving me a headache and it's making me feel like I'm gonna explode.

Dallin:  Daphne, that's how Mom feels every day.

Hayden (regarding Blues Clues):  I like "Steve"  more than "Joe"  because "Joe's" eyebrows bother Mom.  (I guess I need to be more careful about what judgements I pass on characters in the shows my kids watch . . .)

Daphne:  But Mom, what if you're wrong?

Hayden:  Mom's never wrong.  Right, Mom?

Sean:  The waffles are burning, get them out!

Daphne:  I'll get them in a minute.  They aren't burning.  When they pop up they are stabilized.   . . .  I don't even know what I just said.

Upon returning home one evening, we noticed the garage door was open.  (I wasn't worried because Arthur was home, and he'd probably just forgotten to close it.)  Dallin said, "Whoa.  This is like the perfect jackpot of awesomeness.  Someone could have stolen tons of stuff from here."  And Daphne said, "Um, it's not that awesome.  Just a bunch of food and junk."

Arthur:  Maybe I should get a new job.

Daphne:  Yeah!  Get a job at Disneyland or Hawaii!!!

Sean:  Sydney, that little rascal!

Sean, pointing to the Quaker Oatmeal box: Who's this guy? 
Me: I don't really know.  I think he's just the guy they put on all their boxes because he's a Quaker. 
Dallin:  What's a quaker?
Me:  It's a kind of religion, and they used to wear plain clothes, like that hat he's wearing.  (and maybe they still do wear plain clothes . . .  I have no idea.)
Daphne:  Oh, well I just thought he was the guy who discovered oatmeal.

Incidentally, this sparked some curiosity in me about the Quaker Oats Guy.  Who is he?  And why is on a cereal box?  So I googled it, and learned that back in 1877, one of the partners of Quaker Mill chose the symbol of a Quaker after reading about them in an encyclopedia.  He admired the qualities Quakers tried to embody--integrity, honesty, and purity--and decided a Quaker would be a good identity for his oats. (And in case you're wondering, I learned all this from "The Straight Dope--fighting ignorance since 1973.")

Hayden:  Can I have thome of that crathy (crazy) crunchy bread?  (those would be croutons)

Sean:  I'm very good at forgetting.

Sean's First Lost Teeth

I'm behind.  This happened over two weeks ago.  But here we go anyway . . .

Sean lost his first tooth the weekend before his last week of school.  He was excited to tell his teacher so he could be on the tooth chart in his classroom.  His two bottom permanent teeth were growing in behind his baby teeth, and as a result, his bottom teeth didn't get very loose.  But Sean was very persistent in wiggling them until this first one popped out.

The funny thing was, the next day in church, Sean was bound and determined to get that second baby tooth out.  So right in the middle of sacrament meeting (and with his nice white shirt on) he twisted and pulled on that second tooth until he got that one out too.  I had a ziploc bag of bloody tissues in my purse, and his tooth wrapped in a special tissue and stored in a safe place in my zipper pocket.

And Sean went to primary with blood smeared on his shirt, and a big ole smile on his face.  He told everyone who would listen to him about his two missing teeth.

Annular Eclipse

On Sunday afternoon, we started to get excited about seeing the Annular Eclipse that evening, whose prime viewing spot would be Albuquerque!  We heard there would be four locations for public viewing and where people could obtain solar glasses.  We drove to two of the four Albuquerque sites where they would be handing out free solar glasses for viewing the eclipse.  Wow! They were packed.  And there were lots of out-of-state license plates from people who had driven out to see the bullseye view.  (I didn't realize people did that sort of thing . . .)

At the first place, the line to get in was about a mile long.  (And as much as I like to exaggerate, that is NOT an exaggeration.)  I'll bet not even half of those folks got the promised solar glasses.  The second place we went they had given out their 2000 glasses and said that all of Albuquerque was out of the glasses.  So we were left to our own devices.    

As a side note, this taught us some very useful lessons.  1) don't rely on the government for anything.  they'll never get it right.  2) for the next eclipse, buy a whole bunch of solar glasses in bulk online, and go to the places where the city is "giving them out," and sell them to all the disappointed folks who didn't get any.  We could probably pay for a brand new Honda Odyssey with all the money we'd make. (now that one might be a bit of an exaggeration . . . )  

Luckily, I am married to a very resourceful genius, who made us this special contraption so we could see the eclipse.  Sean is pointing to the spot where the sun is reflecting onto some vellum that Arthur found in my scrapbooking supplies.  (See, I knew he'd be glad I had all that paper someday . . .)

The Eclipse Projector

Materials:  box, binoculars, mirror and vellum paper

Also, when we got home from driving all over Albuquerque trying to find solar glasses, there was a message on our phone from some nice people in our ward who called because Daphne had mentioned at church that she was interested in seeing the eclipse.  They had acquired some film through which we could safely view the eclipse and told us we could swing by and pick it up.  The black pictures are ones taken through the film, and what we could see with our naked eye.

You can see the eclipse projected onto the side of our house through all the leaves that acted like pinhole projectors.  Super cool.

The kids eating watermelon, and cookies, and checking out the eclipse at its peak on Arthur's nifty eclipse-viewing-contraption

awesome.

Maybe you already knew this, but annular means ring-shaped.  (I did not know that until Arthur told me to look it up.)  And that is why this type of eclipse has its name.  

Hayden's Wacky Sense of Style

This crazy kid keeps us laughing.  Each of these pictures were taking on a different day.

Sometimes he just appears wearing something silly.

Shorts on his head, and his legs through the arm holes of a shirt.

That is a potty-training seat on his head.  

Don't worry, it hasn't been used recently, so I think it was clean . . .

Underwear.  

Several pairs of underwear.