How we spent (some of) our summer vacation July 27, 2010

     My brother Kevin is working on his computer animation degree at the University of Utah, and he had to make a live-action film for one of his classes this semester.  (“Make” = write, cast, film, edit, compose score, produce, etc.)  His professor encouraged them to avoid filming with animals and children (or children who are animals, in this case), but Kevin laughed at the wisdom and went ahead and used both (and then cursed himself– and his actors– later).

 

[My brother is extremely patient, but after a long, hot day of filming, after a long, hot week  of filming, I heard his voice carry across the field.  "What is WRONG with you?"  he asked Anthony.  After the scene was painstakingly blocked, lit and staged, and just *thisclose* to the camera going on, Anthony punched one of his sisters in the stomach, just because.]

 

     So, here is the end result.  I love it.  My kids love it.  Kevin’s professor loved it.  I find myself humming the song, and I even heard it in my dreams last night.  (I think I may have spent too many days in the hot sun, breaking up fights and wrangling whiny diva children child.)

 

Fifth Grade Redux August 26, 2009

     Here are two of the four little darlings on their first day of school today.

 

 

     Alex started fifth grade, and Kendra is in fourth.

 

     Now, for anyone who doesn’t know (I’m sure there are many of you), I used to teach 5th grade.  I LOVED it.  I loved everything about my students, and if I ever went back to teaching, fifth is the grade I’d choose first.  HOWEVER, despite my affection for them, those were some obnoxious kids.  Loud;  silly;  full of potty humor, sound effects and bodily noises.  The year I had Alex was the last year I taught school, and I couldn’t imagine my precious little baby boy ever reaching that 5th-grade age.  (Or the mentality.)  They seemed so old.  So (im)mature.  So far ahead of my little bundle of joy.

 

     Fast-forward ten years.  Yup, he’s TOTALLY a 5th grader.  (How did that happen?  How did I LET that happen?)

 

     Having two upper-grade [elementary school] children isn’t even the worst part.  What I want to know is, when did I get old?  How is it possible for me to be the mother of two upper-grade [elementary school] children?

 

     *sigh*

 

     I’m happy to report that the first day was a smashing success.  Kendra is thrilled with her teacher, Mrs. Nance, even though she didn’t get the teacher Alex had last year.  Alex is elated that he gets to have one of the two male teachers in the school, Mr. Rolley, who is a mad computer genius and seems to have embraced his inner 10-year-old boy with unbridled joy and ferocity.

 

     It’s going to be a great year, despite the fact that my kids are getting too old, too fast.  (To say nothing of myself.)

 

Can you spell t-a-l-e-n-t? June 2, 2009

     I am waiting for R.C. Willey to deliver our new couch (thanks, Mom!) for downstairs, and I’m not being very patient about it.  Maybe it has something to do with the fact that they told us 3:30-7:00 PM, and then they called at 5:30 and said it would be between 6:00 and 9:30 PM, and it’s 7:36 PM and I’m waiting for the call that says “sometime within the next 30 days, maybe”, or possibly it’s because my kids keep asking, “When will it get here, Mom?” and “Does this still mean we get to watch a movie on it tonight for Family Home Evening, even if it comes at 9:00 and there’s school tomorrow?”  (Uh, no.  Nice try.  Even during the summer, the answer would be an emphatic NO.)

 

     So, to condense, I am waiting for a new couch with impatient kids who are giddy about the end of the school year and having a real seating place that will hold all of us comfortably instead of two old (reeeeeeealy old) armchairs, a bar stool and an ottoman.

 

     To kill time, I thought I’d post about two really exciting things that happened last week: 

 

Parks and Picnics April 7, 2009

     This afternoon, Alex played hooky from scouts and we took the family to the park for a picnic and some playground time.

 

     The weather was beautiful.  We were a little chilly sitting at the picnic table, but as soon as we moved out of the pavillion, it was perfect park weather.  The kids ran and played on the slides, and Kenny and Alex tossed a football around for about an hour.  (Alex has nearly perfected his throwing and catching techniques.  I’m amazed at his natural ability.)

 

     Anthony made a little friend, and his mom asked if we could have a playdate sometime.  She left before I could give her my contact information, though, and I feel horrible.  I hope she didn’t think it was personal.  I got sidetracked when Kendra fell off of a giant tube onto her face, neck and then back.  (She’s lucky she didn’t break something.)  The poor kid had sand in every facial orifice, not to mention a terrible abrasion over her left eye, and she got the wind knocked out of her.  By the time we got her straightened up and brushed off, the other mom was on her way to the parking lot.

 

     Maybe we’ll see her there again sometime .  *sigh*

 

     All injuries aside, we really had a wonderful time together.  On the way home, we took the “scenic” route past the Jordan River Temple and drove slowly around the grounds.  Anthony had a fit when we told him he couldn’t go inside– at least not yet– and we promised we’d go back another day when we were dressed in something nicer than shorts and sandals to let the kids walk around the outside.  I remember doing that as a kid, and I thought it was the coolest thing ever!

 

     Alex commented on how nice it felt at the temple, even being in the parking lot, and we had a nice discussion about why Kenny and I chose to be married there, and then which temple the kids would choose for themselves.  (Alex said “Draper!”, Kendra and Hannah both chose Jordan River, and Anthony wanted whatever Alex picked.  That is some big-brother worship right there.)  It all fit very nicely with our new family motto, We Love to See the Temple.

 

     It was such a nice evening!  We used to do activities like that all the time when Alex and Kendra were little, when Kenny worked at UPS during the day and was off at night.  When he switched jobs, he worked every night, and with the oldest two in school all day, there was very little family time.  When he went back to an alternating day/evening schedule, I guess we were just out of the habit and forgot to pick it up again.  We are determined to move forward, however, and we look forward to a whole spring and summer of parks and picnics.

 

     Doesn’t it sound lovely?

And so it begins… February 26, 2009

Alex is hosting his first sleepover tonight.  I’m not sure how I feel about this new development in his life, so I am tentatively playing along, holding all the cards and making all the rules.  We’ll see how it goes.

 

Right now the three youngest are tucked into bed, Kenny is playing a game on the Wii, and I’m sitting at the computer.  Every few minutes we’ll hear a burst of laughter from downstairs (where they have armed themselves with treats, movies, video games and every single blanket in the house), or a chorus of “Dude!” that makes me want to bang my head into the wall, and I can’t help but wonder how my son went from intelligent, articulate little boy to obnoxious skater punk.

 

You know, ’cause he’s all, Dude! and I’m all, “Dude?” and he’s like, Dude, Mom, yeah! and I’m like, “Dude, Mom?” and then Christian goes, Dude, this ROCKS! and Alex goes, Yeah, Dude, it does rock! and then he says, Dude, Mom, why are you crying, Dude?

 

And I vow to never let him host another sleepover, or go back to school, or grow up any more.

 

Because, DUDE.  Seriously.

 

I want my sweet little boy back.

 

*cry*

Eeeeew! de toilette November 24, 2008

     This morning before school, I was helping Kendra pull her hair up and Alex was brushing his teeth.  We sort of trapped him in the bathroom, so after he rinsed his mouth, he pilfered a couple of hair accessories and made some faces on the lid of the toilet.

 

     (I know, I know.  There are a million things wrong in that paragraph.  I KNOW, okay?  Do you need to compile a list?  Feel free to start it in the comment section.)

 

     Alex was having so much fun, the only way I could get him out of the bathroom was to let him take pictures of his “guys”.  (I just re-read that sentence, and it doesn’t sound right.   *snort*   I’m too tired to change it, so I hope you got a good laugh out of it.)

 

     I present to you “Mr. Toilet Man and Son.”

 

     You’re welcome.

 

         

Friends in Low Places November 17, 2008

     This year at Riverton Motors, the company is doing a multi-store fundraiser for the Utah Food Bank.  Kenny was placed in charge of one of the nine teams, and it’s his job to solicit donations and motivate, inspire, bribe, beg and plead for his team to not only donate food and monetary donations, but service at the food bank as well.

 

     We went a few weeks ago with about 22 of his coworkers and their families, and we had a blast packing boxes of food for the hungry.  Tonight was our second stint, and we were labeling boxes of frozen pizza.  There weren’t as many bodies there tonight, but it was still fun.  Even the kids got into the action by decorating empty delivery boxes with holiday themes, in order to spread cheer to the recipients. 

 

     (This information is in no way related to tonight’s post, except that something happened on our way home from the Food Bank.  Sometimes I am a little long-winded, okay?  Deal with it.)

Today– Student Council. Tomorrow– Washington, D.C. September 23, 2008

     Two weeks ago, my sweet little boy asked if he could talk to me in private. 

 

     (All sorts of alarm bells went off, let me tell you.  Since we’d recently had “The TALK”, I was worried about what sorts of ideas he’d been turning over in his mind since our conversation.  And no kidding– it took him more than a week to look me in the eye.  I have never felt so ashamed, not even after coming home from my honeymoon and seeing my parents for the first time as a married woman.  Who “knew” her husband.  In the biblical sense.)  

 

     Whoa.  Tangent.  We’ll get back on track as soon as I fan myself a little and get a nice cold drink.

 

     Anyway, so, about his talk…  yeah, I was nervous about what was coming.  We sat down on the edge of my bed and he asked me shyly, “Mom? 

Back to pencils, back to books… August 25, 2008

     Today was the first day back to school for Alex and Kendra.  I am officially the mother of a fourth-grader and a third-grader.

 

     I swear they were just babies.  Wasn’t it just a few months ago that we were doing preschool at home, and they were mistaken for twins, with their curly hair and big eyes?  How is it that two

It’s official! School is out for the summer. June 4, 2008

     The bell tolled at exactly 1:00 PM.  My kids are home now.  For the entire summer.  Until August 25.

 

     I’m still not sure how I feel about this.

 

     Even so, we picked them up (it has poured here since they left this morning!) and made a quick celebratory trip to a McDonald’s drive-through window.  The Happy  Meals have been eaten, the two littlest are napping, and the two oldest are watching an episode of “Phineas and Ferb” on television.  So far, so good.

 

     What I am waiting for (with nervous apprehension)