Preschool Letter U

We had a successful day of preschool. And I think the kids had fun.

For show-and-tell the kids brought: Umbrella, Utah picture, Unicorn horn and a fireman Uniform.

I brought a Ukulele. I borrowed it from my sister-in-law last night and quickly learned how to play a song on it so I could show the kids. I learned "The Wheels on the Bus" and sang it through several times while the kids picked different things on the bus. Luckily that song only had two chords, so it was easy enough, but I sounded like a pro. ;)

Everyone got to make their own Ukuleles. This was a fun project..

I got pencil box sized boxes at the post office (if you get the flat rate boxes, they are free until you send something in them!)

I cut a hole in them with a razor blade, stuck a ruler in the top and duct taped it down inside. This was all done the night before.

The kids took q-tips and covered the outside with glue to decorate with tissue paper. I originally thought they would paint them, but this saved a lot of drying time, and they still get to feel like they're painting with the glue. It worked really well, even the littlest ones could figure it out. After the glue was dry, they decorated it more with all kinds of stickers. Kids loooove doing stickers, so that was a total win. Then I put 4 rubberbands of different sizes around the box and a crayon for the bridge.



I was so pleased with how it all turned out, and the kids jammed to some ukulele songs on the computer.












We played a game called "Up".
Everyone had a balloon and the object was to keep it up in the air as long as they could.












After practicing writing and coloring, we played an indoor game of horseshoes.














Snack time: Umbrella shaped apples, with pretzel handles and raincloud wheat bread.













We learned the story of the Ugly Duckling and spent the remainder of the time in front of the computer making "Ugly" faces.

Aren't they cute?

We are a foxy family!

We participated in our ward talent show this weekend. It was such an entertaining night, full of really fun acts. I'm so glad we got our family involved.

We sang a song that Brian grew up with and the kids have always enjoyed singing along to. On our trips this last summer we would all sing it together in the car and then we realized it would make a fun skit/song. The kids liked the idea right away, we just hoped they would cooperate.

Ashby agreed to be the main fox character, but I was sure we'd have to switch it to Paige at the last second (Ashby is good at changing his mind like that). Fortunately he stuck with it, and did a surprisingly good job.

Levi would sing his line all around the house, but got a bit shy at performance time. I didn't even notice him dancing around and doing tumbling tricks behind us until just now watching the playback.

Paige was of course a natural on the stage.

And everyone said Cody was the cutest part.

Brian did a really great job being the star singer, and I felt slightly embarrassed by my hammyness. I also tried to play the tamborine, but I kept getting confused because the audience was clapping off my beat. Why weren't they following me?



Overall it was a great experience. We'll have to start thinking about what to do at the next talent show...

Oh -- please be impressed that I made fox ears for everyone. This type of crafty thing is waaaayyy beyond my comfort level, so I was quite pleased - even if they weren't perfect. Paige's was especially hard to sew to a little headband and was already starting to fall apart before the show began. Darn. But, I got my sewing machine out this year. Now I can put it back away until next year. :)

Rumor is I got new running shoes

I spent the last week deliberating over some new shoes. I wore a couple of different pairs around the house every day and at the church for aerobics and basketball.

Finally I decided on these...

Pretty cool, right? I thought about getting the bright yellow version, but they were a bit too intimidating for me (although the young women in the stake were huge fans at basketball. Hopefully they'll like these just as much, but probably not).

I even wore them to Wal Mart. So now its official, no going back.

The dilemma... now that I have good new running shoes, do I have to start running?

I'm afraid to voice this publicly, but I think I will try my hand at the Freedom Run 5k this summer. I swore I would never do it again, but maybe I'll try.

Surprise!

Look who showed up at our door this evening!

We got a surprise visit from Aunt Olivia (all the way from San Francisco.)
Turns out she was in town for a girls weekend away with old friends and happened to be staying just a couple of miles from us.
What a surprise!
So glad you stopped by Olivia. And happy you got to meet Cody!

Riding two wheels at 4 years

Ashby learned how to ride his bike on Saturday. He never did have training wheels. It was a nice enough day so he said, "Daddy I want to ride my bike today." Brian took him to the park to practice gliding down the hill, but then the kid just took off on his own.

I can't get over just how amazing he is. How does he pick up on things so quickly? And how is he so coordinated?

Its only been a couple of days, but now he's a bike riding maniac.

letting go

It is time to let it go...
I've had this plant for 4 years - a gift after Mom died. I've kept it alive ever since, but now I've watered it 3 times and it just won't perk up.
Sorry Mom, I have to get rid of it. Now that corner of the room is ready for something new...Wish you could take me to pick out something nice, you were always good at that.

5 months old

Cody is 5 months old now!
He is a very content and pretty easy baby.
But he definitely lets you know if he needs something.
Cody hasn't started rolling or moving around yet.
but you certainly won't see me complaining.
See his two teeth? He got those a few weeks ago
and he likes experimenting with them
(if you know what I mean).
Cody loves taking baths and sucking on his hands.
He is cuddly, but likes to go to sleep without being held.
Hopefully soon he'll be able to hold his own bottle
and my life will get that much easier.
Cody is a delightful little baby!

Spiritual thought by Paige

"Mom...sometimes I try to feel the Holy Ghost. But there is always so much racket.
So, I'll go to my room to feel the Holy Ghost, but the racket follows me....
Mom, the racket is the boys."

Love Note

The other day I woke up to find Paige had made my breakfast and a love note on a paper towel.

"Dear Mom. I made you a poptart to say what a great mom you are. I love you. Love Paige."

How thoughtful. It was really hard to be mad at her after that, even though the Sharpie she had used bled through all over the counter. Hmmm....

First Placer

Yesterday was the school's science fair, and guess what....Paige got a blue ribbon! Hurrah!

Paige has always been fascinated about learning about the body. We have a huge science encyclopedia at home that she loves to read for bedtime stories, but she's only ever interested in the human body section. So of course she wanted to do a science fair experiment about the body. We decided that an easy experiment would be about the brain and short term memory.

We wrote down 12 numbers on a piece of paper to show to people for ten seconds and then have them write down, in order, how many numbers they could remember. Simple enough.

As I'm sure you are aware, Paige is not shy. She was able to test 66 people. We tested family, her school class, neighbors, YW basketball players, and complete strangers at the UVU basketball game. "Hey want to help me with my science fair project?!" Of course everyone was most helpful.

The testing part was the easiest. Then I had to help her figure out what it all meant. We made a data table and graphs together. She wanted to see how many numbers most people could remember. Then she was interested to know if older or younger people remember more, or if girls or boys remember more. That meant more graphs. She did a pretty great job paying attention as I walked her through it. She enjoyed coloring the graphs and had her whole shpeal ready for the judges. She must have dazzled them. ;)

I'm so glad that Paige is having successes at school. It's really exciting, and I'm glad school gives her so many neat opportunities.