Buzz Cuts

Last week GR cut the boys hair. They have been begging for buzz cuts for a very, very long time. I'm not a huge fan, but relented when GR said it was High School before his mother finally gave up on the hair cut issue and I remember that my father got this cut every summer. It is, after all only hair.

When Bob saw Alex a few days after his hair cut, he didn't recognize him - he does look so different, more than one person has done a double take. And I'm getting use to Sam without hair on his forehead. They both look so cute.

For days after getting his buzz cut, Alex would ask you if you liked his hair, or he run past you running his hands through his hair and pausing to look at his reflection in every mirror. It was pretty sweet to watch how pleased he was.

From the time Alley was a little baby people who know my dad have said the two look a lot a like. You tell me, Daddy is pictured on the far left and they are almost the same age, both nearly six.

I think it's possible they have the same hair line ... 

Last Day of School

Emily, Sam and Alex after their last day of school.  They each had a very successful academic year

Alex's class had a fiesta on the last day of school ... so much fun, and so amazed at the great school year he had! 

Alex with his classmates from his table this school year.

Alex and Mrs. C - We're 4 for 4, and love her!

Alex with classmates K and A.

Emily, as an outgoing 5th grader got spent the day playing with friends at PTA sponsored activities.  They bowled, ate pizza for lunch and played basketball and in the rec room at a local community center.  We got word last night that Emily scored high enough on her state assessment test to be in the advanced 7th grade math class next year.  She is so excited and so are we!   

3rd Grade Music Program

Last night was the 3rd Grade Musical. They did sang about a dozen movie tunes, and once again did a fantastic job. This performance was fantastic because of how well the kids sang the songs, and because of the sheer number of songs they sang.

Sam was given a speaking line to help introduce "I'm a Believer" from Shrek. So we dressed him up as Shrek. It took me a couple of musicals to realize that typically, kids dressed up on their own, not because the music teacher asked them dress as a specific character. She encouraged the kids to dress up as a character from one of the songs they were going to sing.

Before we got his speaking assignment we talked about the different characters he could dress up.  The one he and I liked the most was Michael from Mary Popins ... simple and straight from wardrobe, and not likely to be done by many other kids -- which proved to be true - Adam's Family was by far the favorite! 

But when we got his speaking assignment and realized he would be helping to introduce Shrek, it only made sense to try and dress him up like Shrek.  I made the ears/horns using felt - they are about an inch too long - and attached them to a felt sleeve that went over one of the girls thin headbads.  The vest was made using these instructions.  It would have fit better if I taken one more measurement ... across the lower shoulder blade, around under his arms.  I needed an extra inch or so under his arms to help the vest fit better.  

He wanted nothing ... nothing to do with this costume.  In the end he left the ear/horns down in the audience.  I tried to tell him that the ears were what made the costume ... were what told everyone who he was.  He realized that after the performance and the next day apologized for not wearing them.

We "celebrated" by going out for pizza.  That's the other thing I've learned after years of music programs.  I can typically help get kids ready and/or in costumes and out the door on time OR feed them and get them out the door on time, not all three.  Hiring out dinner the night of the program ... we'll be doing that again.   

Here's their "I'm a Believer Performance":

End of the Season

Today marked the end of the Spring Soccer season.  Each of the kids gave their coaches this little thank you.  I'm totally doing this again, and again, and again.  Simple, thoughtful, and not such that you can do it and still contribute to the gift card for the coach or whatever one of the other mom's wants to organize.  

 

Emily and Sam worked really hard this season and are starting to take their interest in the game more seriously.  Both are still working on their endurance, ball skills, and being more aggressive on the field.  Sam's team had a little tournament this week.  They played Wednesday and Friday evenings and then Saturday morning.  They did well, but lost Saturday's game to a team they beat easily earlier in the season.  When we learned that it was that teams first win, we all felt much better about the loss and were able to shift our focus to celebrating their victory. 

Sam did some goalie training this season to better understand the position and hopefully help the team out.  While it was a good learning experience for him, there were two other boys on the team (one being the coaches son) who were also interested in being goalie.  While he held his own in the box during the game, we've talked about how it's important to recognize our strengths and weaknesses when we're on a team and recognize when someone else plays a position better than we do and graciously bow out for the good of the team.  The jury is still out on whether or not Sam or either of the other boys has the talent to be goalie.  We'll see what happens in the seasons to come.

State Chess Tournament

Friday night and Saturday were spent traveling and participating in the state chess tournament with the three big kids.  We left the little ones with Grandma and Grandpa, knowing they would have a better time with them than with us and that made the entire experience much easier. 
 

State chess is for grades K-12 and is held at different schools in different towns each year.  There were TONS of kids participating.  Sam competed with 105 K-3rd graders, taking 43rd place, winning three of his six rounds (his best tournament so far!).  Rebecca and Emily both did well, each winning 2 of their 6 games, but ended up near the bottom of their grouping.  They were disappointed they didn't do well enough to metal.  But each of our kids did much better in this tournament than previous tournaments and that is something we are very proud of them for.  They were confident and didn't get rattled at all by the number of other kids participating.  Before Becca and Emily's first round started, a kid came out and threw up in the trash can outside the playing room, his stomach in knots with nerves.   

This was our first year attending the state tournament and I think in the end we decided that as long as the kids enjoyed it, it was worth the investment of time and money*.  We are continuing to look for ways to help the children better understand how to play chess, specifically helping them understand and identify classic patterns and how they play out.  I'm learning this is critical to doing well consistently, and something that truly comes with practice.  Nevertheless, I'm on the look out for a good chess book or two for kids (either geared toward them, or for adults to help teach children the game) to purchase with my supply of Borders gift cards before they are worthless ... if you have any recommendations, send them my way.  One I've looked though and like, although it's a bit advanced for my kids at their current stage, is "How to Beat Your Dad at Chess." 

  

* For the sake of family history ... typical tournaments cost $7/child as an entrance fee. State did not have an entrance fee.  Then there is food.  Much to the childrens annoyance, we do not purchase items from the concession stand.  It just isn't practical financially.  We typically pack snacks, water, and purchase lunch off site ... 2 $5 pizzas or at state, we purchased Subway sandwiches, which doubled as our dinner.  Since this tournament was 3.5 hours away, we stayed in a hotel Friday night to the tune of ~$100.  And then there is the gas money ... ~$3.20/gallon.  As for the time commitment ... you arrive at the tournament at 8:30am and you're there until 4:30 or a bit later.  Add to that travel time if it isn't local (and we are very blessed to have most of our tournaments close by) ... and that's a serious amount of time spent in a school commons.    

The truth

It's never easy to hear what your children think of you. I got an email from Sam's teacher, Mrs. V today. It made GR and I totally bust up!

"As we're working on our important books today Sam asks for help writing about mom."

Teacher: Do you want to describe the way she looks? Would you say she's pretty?

Sam:...mmm, mostly on Sundays.

He said basically the same thing in Preschool on his Mother's Day "All About Mom" poster. I guess I should be grateful I haven't let thing slide more in the last four years.

* * * * *

Earlier this week, when I picked up the kids from school, Sam was carrying a slip of paper. I asked him what it was, and he showed it to me.

"You've been caught having a clean desk by the desk fairy. Great job!"

Me: Sam, that's really cool!
Sam: Yeah, I got a piece of candy. It says its from the desk fairy, but I know it's Mrs. Vail. Fairies can't write, and there is no such thing as desk fairies.

When I shared this with Mrs. V, she replied, "That wasn't all he had to say about it yesterday!! Sadly, some girls are busy writing notes to the desk fairy, hoping it's not me but kind of knowing it is..."

And the Winner is ...

 

Saturday evening, we had our annual chili cook-off at church.  This year everyone wanted to enter the contest.  Rebecca and Emily looked through chili recipes with Grandma and Grandpa Wednesday afternoon and brought 5 or 6 they were considering.  They each choose a recipe to make Saturday morning, and with a little help from Dad, made their chilies on their own.  Sam and I made cornbread muffins and I also made Baby Ruth Bars.  We were totally surprised when the votes were counted and Rebecca and Sam both won!!  Rebecca won first place for her spicy chili and Sam, for cornbread!!   

This continues to be a favorite ward activity and since we weren't up against a basketball game, we had amazing participation ... 19 pots of chili were entered!!  And from what I hear from the judges, they were all really good.  No wonder the counts were close in each of the categories.  
 

Brotherhood

Our weekend's comings and goings

Saturday started with soccer games for Sam and Emily, and Hobbits for Alex.  While Emily played her game, kids were sitting in the car listening to general conference via my phone!

 

Saturday afternoon was out exploring gravel roads in search of a bee farm, a multi-generational farm, and an alpaca farm.  For the last 5 years or so our area has had a farm tour the first weekend of October.  It's something we enjoy supporting, though the scheduling makes it difficult for us to attend each year.  The weather was beautiful and the kids had a great time seeing the different animals and learning about each farm.

There was some discussion about whether or not we should order one of these for Thanksgiving this year.  I never got up the courage to even ask about the cost.  

Sunday we continued our general conference tradition ... everyone helped us make a batch of monkey bread to eat during the morning session.  And the kids got special conference activity packets - these were provided my by very sweet visiting teacher, saving me a precious hour, printing and compiling activity sheets from the church website.  I kept my hands busy during both sessions crocheting the edging on to the pillowcases I made for Rebecca's birthday.  They turned out so cute!  I totally recommend You Go Girl's Posh Pillowcase tutorial.  

 

A couple of Sunday's ago, our high council speaker mentioned that after April general conference he took on the challenge of listening to one conference talk a week until the next conference.  GR and I are going to do this over the next six months.  We rarely get to really listen to all the talks live, so I'm looking forward to taking on this challenge.

Sam has finally lost his two front teeth.  The permanent teeth had already started to come in and for the last couple of days he's been sporting a very good Nanny McPhee look!  GR told him if he hadn't gotten it out by tonight, he'd take him to see Ginny and have her pull it.  His simile is going to be perfect for his Halloween costume ... he's been talking about being vampire, perfect for a kid who just lost his two front teeth don't you think?!

Sam's Talk

Sam gave a talk in Primary yesterday, we wrote it during the 2nd hour, thankful that he didn't have to share his talk until the later portion of the 3rd hour.  GR tried to help him write it out Saturday night, but Sam had spent the entire day at an airshow and was so tired he couldn't pull together any sentences.  I got home late Saturday night and remember GR mentioning something to the effect that he hadn't gotten Sam's talk written ... 

His topic, My love for Jesus Christ Grows when I Pray.   He shared two different experiences from this year where his prayers were answered, helping him gain a testimony that Jesus Christ is real, He loves us and our prayers are heard and answered. 

"My Aunt Barbara served a mission in California.  Earlier this year, while on her mission, she lost her wallet.  She looked everywhere for it and could not find it.  It had everything she needed in it.  She was really worried.  our family prayed everyday for two weeks for her to find her wallet.  Finally, someone walked into the mission home and gave them Aunt Barb's wallet.  Our prayers were answered.  Nothing was missing and Aunt Barb was able to continue spending all her time teaching people the gospel."

"This summer Aunt Barb came home early from her mission because there was something growing in her body that shouldn't be there.  As soon as our family knew Aunt Barb was coming home to have surgery, we prayed that she would be healed.  Grandpa Art and my dad gave her a priesthood blessing.  Her surgery went very well.  Her body is whole and she was healed."   

I am so grateful my children have had experiences like these that I can use to help them see their Father in Heaven's love for them, and for our family. 

A few more details about the experiences Sam shared, for the family history record... 

The Wallet Story:: The big concern, other than her wallet seriously containing every possible card/id she owned, was that Barbara would need to get a CA drivers license, which would nearly guarantee her jury duty - something she simply didn't have the time to do as a full time missionary.  Right as all the adults in the house had all but given up hope of the wallet being found, someone walks into the recently relocated mission home and drops off the wallet ... amazing.  We have no idea who the individual was, or how they found the mission home. 

Surgery (aka a good part of our summer):: We got word on July 11th, that Barb was coming home and would need surgery.  We knew no details.  She had a softball size mass on her ovary that needed to come out asap, and they wanted her to be with family for the procedure and recovery process.  We met up with her in StL for Sam's birthday on the 15th ... and stayed with her through her surgery two weeks later.  What was thought to be the size of a softball or grapefruit turned out to be more the size of a cantaloupe.  The surgery took only 45 minutes - the best possible time! - and they were able to take just the cyst, without anything else being damaged.  A miracle.  Her 8 week recovery has been phenomenal and complete, and we are so grateful!

Charmingly 2nd Grade

As seems to be 2nd grade tradition, Sam's music program was tonight, Musical Seuss, a mere 4.5 weeks into the new school year.  

As always the performance was fantastic and the kids beamed the entire time.  They had fun performing and you could tell they loved the music and were super pleased with how they did.  Samuel has a very expressive face, it was great fun watching him do the choreography complete with facial expressions! 

BTW -- we swallowed our pride and took the mega lens with us so the pictures would turn out ... it was more than a little embarrassing to walk in with a camera larger than my purse, but GR got pictures with the correct lightening and now, that is all that matters!

In other news the weather held enough that Alex was able to attend his extra midweek soccer practice/camp this evening.  Grandpa is taking him and Alex LOVED every second of it. 

Sam is now on his correct soccer team and his new team is so grateful to have him.  When signing everyone up, we inadvertently put Sam in the wrong age level, and got that straightened out so he's playing with boys his age and skill level.  His new team started with only 4 players and now has 6. 

And Emily's team now has a willing and skilled coach - not reluctant parents!  She's playing on a co-ed team, something she hasn't done since she started playing soccer and her coach plays for a local collegiate club team.  She's been playing soccer since she was a Anna's age and helps her father with soccer camps for young kids.  I'm hopeful that this will give her added training to improve specific skills she needs to be more confident on the field, and grow as a soccer player, something she's showing personal interest in doing.  

Good Mail

I got an email this afternoon from Sam's teacher Mrs. H.

"I just wanted to let you know that I had a sub two days ago. When I returned I was told the class did not do well, outside of 4 students that were fabulous. Sam was one of the four. Not surprising as he is always wonderful. I just thought you would like to know."

When I asked Sam about it after school, he modestly said, "I know." And then added, "everyone had to write Mr. &%?$ a note saying they were sorry. I didn't though. Colin didn't either, he wasn't at school Monday."

Love it!

Reading with Boys

My girls read constantly. They are incredibly strong readers, reading well above their grade level. They devour every book they choose to pick up. I haven't quite gotten them to the point that they will read anything handed them, but I'm making progress and am learning fun ways to get them to read books they previously decided they didn't want to read. Consequently my girl library is pretty good.

When Sam started kindergarten, I started searching for more "boy" books to add to our library. Flat Stanley, Magic Tree House, Ready Freddy, Encyclopedia Brown. Anyone else struggling to find good early reader boy books that your boys find interesting. Sadly none of these have really captured his interest. (He'd still rather read Junie B. Jones ... which is fine. She's hilarious!) So while he remains a strong reader, he doesn't have books he loves, driving him to read more and more ... that is until now:


Saturday night GR came home with two new books he was interested in reading ... one of them was "Diary of a Wimpy Kid." "Really?!", I said. "This book?!"

The second the kids saw it, it became the book they all wanted to read. Rebecca is already finished with the first book and ready to read the second. Emily is doing her best to get equal time so she too can read it. Sam continues to call out what page number he's on and how many he's read since the last time he announced it. It's totally and completely above his reading level, but he's plodding his way through the book, and while it isn't real literature (to me), it is funny. Even Alexander has taken to laying on the couch with the book, "reading" it.

Last night I purchased the next three books in the series. (desperate sucker!)


Monday night we took the four big kids to the movies. There had been a request to see "How to Train Your Dragon" in 3-D at the IMAX. After choking that the IMAX ticket prices ($11/each) don't ever change (typically a movie during the week is about half the price of weekend ticket prices), we took the plunge and purchased six tickets. The movie is fantastic and well worth the small fortune we spent to see it. Hands down one of the best movies GR and I have seen and the kids loved every second of it! Even little Alexander stayed glued to his seat (minus the quick potty break mid way through).

Turns out, the movie is based on a book, by Cressida Cowell, and there is a whole series! Yep, we'll be adding these to our boy library too! As soon as the school book order arrives, we'll have the first four books in the Percy Jackson and the Last Olympian series. These are more for Sam in a year or two, but it's a start.

Any recommendations on 100 page chapter books for boys?

Attitude

I got a call a couple days from Sam's teacher, Mrs. H, letting me know Sam would receive a character of the month award during a pod assembly at the end of the day Friday. I told her it was a little answer to prayer. Sam's watched his sisters receive an award nearly every year, and he's been disappointed that he hasn't had a turn to be recognized for the good student he is in class, and friend he is to those around him. As you can see he's beaming! And his teacher couldn't have said it better:

"Sam is a student that is very eager to learn everything he can. He is extremely inquisitive and always trying to learn more about everything. He is always one to share stories or ask questions. He is one that everyone wants to work with as he is friendly and excited about the projects we work on. He always strives for more."

Pinewood Derby ... a photo story

They've been working on for a full week straight. Designing, cutting, sanding, painting, assembling, weighing, testing. To be fair, and allow each the level of participation they desire, two cars were made. The son's car, and the dad's car. Both enjoyed the experience immensely. Both learned a lot for next year.


The whole family went out to support Sam at his race. We were all thrilled with how his car turned out. Sam really wanted a Jayhawk on his car, not just red and blue paint (pictured above, far left - red and blue with blue wheels). We were able to use temporary tattoos for the Jayhawk decals on the nose and tail of the car. Worked really well and a clear protective coat kept it from rubbing off.


Both cars won lots of races. Sam placed 5th in the Boy Scout division and was so pleased with his car!


GR's car raced in the open division. He worked really hard on his car ... using a sweet design he found on line, spending lots of time in Bob's workshop getting cuts just right, and the final touch - a special color changing paint. We are all very proud of his car ... and were all pleasantly surprised when it won ... race, after race, after race.



They are already making plans for next year.

Pateince

Sam got a model car from his soccer friend Alec as a birthday gift back in July. Thinking it was a really involved model project we kept waiting for a day when GR had a couple of hours to devote to Sam and the car. Today was the day, after much waiting and asking and waiting and asking and waiting and asking, Sam got to put together his race car! It took a grand total of 15 minutes. The car looks amazing. Sam couldn't be more thrilled, and his parents learned a valuable lesson ... not everything is really as involved as it seems in our heads.

Tiger Buddies

Sam and his buddy George are doing cub scouts together, and tonight they had pack meeting and then a lock in with games and projects, etc. They were both really excited about it and Sam came home talking 90mphs about all the cool things he did ... and he came home with a cookie!

Sam and George have been good friends since they were toddlers, they are in the same church class and finally, the same school class. Since we opted to let Sam do cub scouts through the school troop, instead of waiting two more years to do it through church, I'm glad he's got a church buddy there too. I have no idea how this is all going to play out as he get's older, but he's enjoying it now, he's got a really good group of boys and parents, plus it's something he does with his dad, and we need all of those we can get.

Season 5

We're down one player this season, and everyone is practicing on the same night of the week which is a huge blessing. It really is amazing how much stress that knocks out of your life ... Emily catches a ride to practice with a neighbor who's on her team, GR takes Sam ... no complaints from the Mama who holds down the homework and bath fort.

Both kids are on teams they haven't played with before ... a mistake I hope we can reverse, for Sam at least, for the Spring season.

I personally, am still looking for a good team for Emily to play with where she isn't a foot taller than everyone else, and where the girls are more matched with her skill level. Don't get me wrong, I fully understand she is not going pro anytime soon. But most - if not all - of the kids on her current team are 2nd graders who haven't played much soccer and that's a bit frustrating for my girl. She has potential, but I really wish we could help her skill level progress, and I feel it's stagnated a bit. She's still struggling with the same technique challenges she had at this time last year, and I'd love to help her move past them. That being said she had two goals in today's game and a fantastic assist. It's looking good for another hat trick this season!

Their latests craft obsession

In the last week or so these perler craft beads have been the kids craft of choice after school. We've had quite the neighborhood craft circle as kids crowd the dining room table making shape, after shape, after shape. Above is just a small sample of what they made - 7 kids can really crank out a lot of designs! It's a super cheap craft they can do (other than the melting with the iron) by themselves and doesn't take any prep work on your end.

The multicolored circle was made by Alex. I was shocked he finished it when I put the group of green ones in the center for him. Don't you love the end result?! The two squares are Sam's; the dolphin Emily's and the bottom heart, Rebecca's. Some of these are getting shipped to Sister Aunt Barb who's birthday was earlier in the week and her box is still sitting waiting for a few more treasures before it get's shipped off to sunny California.

If you're considering these activity beads for you kids, might I provide a few tips ... since over the last year and half that these beads have been apart of my kids craft cupboard, my approach has evolved.

• First, melt the daylights out of those beads - you want them completely fused together, otherwise they break very easily.
  
• Second, in comparison to some of their other crafts of choice (paint, glue, clay/playdough, etc.), the mess here is minimal ... I should explain that those beads end up everywhere ... but I no longer get down on my hands and knees and search for every bead, sorting them back into their little compartments. Whatever the kids don't get picked up gets sucked up by the vacuum, thank goodness for vacuum hose attachments
• Third, all projects must be finished, no unfinished projects sitting on the buffet for weeks and weeks getting knocked about. They are now, either finished right then and there, or they are dumped back into the bucket.
• Fourth, encourage your children to give their creations as gifts ... that way someone else has to figure out what to do with all these masterpieces. They make fun "sun catchers" for your windows, key chains, and coasters.
  

And He's Off!

I was finishing up in the kitchen when Alex came in and said. "Get your camera mom! Come look at Sam."



Thanks to some much needed one-on-one time with his Dad tonight, Sam finally got the hang of his two wheeler! Something he's wanted to master all summer. It took all of 10 minutes, tops, and he is so thrilled. I love the look of intense concentration on his little face, and that tongue!