A First

Blythe gave her first talk in Primary this week.  Another child was assigned, but then was going to be out of town, so I told Heidi (my secretary) that we would take care of the talk.  I asked the children if one of them would be willing to do it and Blythe immediately said, "Me! Me! Me!" while jumping up and down.

The month's theme is We are blessed when we choose the right.  I asked Blythe some questions and the talk is based on her answers.  Here it is, complete with pictures.

When I choose the right, I am blessed.

When I am not shy, I make new friends.

When I am nice to Brandt, we can play together.  

We are happy and that makes Jesus happy.

It makes my mom and dad happy, too.

When I am reverent and sing in Primary,

I learn about Jesus and I learn new songs I like to sing.

I am blessed when I choose the right.

We practiced Blythe's talk and she was both ready and excited Sunday morning.  She sat on the stand with me and when the time came for her, she boldly stood next to me and said, "I am blessed when I choose the right," and then not another word.  In spite of my encouragement and Brandt's from the third row, she wouldn't say another thing.  Oh, well.  I'm sure she'll have lots to say the next time, and we were all very pleased she was willing to try.

Bubbles

Who doesn't like a bit of bathwater with their bubbles?

Inattentive Parenting

My mom had the day off work today, so we got together.  We went and shoveled sand out of the backyard at the condo, got some lunch at Panda Bear (per the children's request), and then went to her house to play.  Mom and I began playing cards while Brandt and Blythe pulled out toys, crayons and paper, and various bits of edible stuff immediately upon our arrival.  Before we had been there too long, Christopher arrived with Crew and Griffin, and the pack ran off to entertain themselves.

As I played cards then dominoes with Mom, Christopher, Bryan, Uncle Lauren and Aunt Georgianne, the children ran around.  Literally.  They were upstairs and down and right under foot, but suddenly, mid card game, we didn't hear the children anymore.  I got up and went downstairs to see what they were up to.  They were in the back bedroom "playing house" they told me.  Things seemed under control, so I left them with the warning, "Don't make a mess."

Two hands later, Griffin came upstairs and said, "Aunt Katherine, Blythe made a mess with paper."  I thanked him for telling me and assured him that we would get it cleaned up before we left.  At 5:06, when we were played out and everyone was getting hungry, I went back downstairs to see what sort of paper mess Blythe had made.  It was significant.  She had pulled out the bin in the paper shredder and scattered the contents all over the bedroom floor.  It was everywhere.  What a mess!  I wanted to grab all four of those little people and spank them, but instead, I took a picture and then made them all pick up paper, even though the mess was Blythe's.  I said, "You stood by and watched her make this mess, everyone knowing that Blythe shouldn't have done what she did.  You needed to tell her no, but you didn't.  So everyone gets to pick up tiny bits of paper."  They were good about helping.

I helped clean up because I was partly responsible.  I left the children to fend for themselves--which they were doing well and enjoying--and entertained myself playing cards.  I shouldn't be at all surprised that they made a mess as part of their play.  I did suggest that in future they try to help each other be obedient and chose the right, but considering that no one listens to me, I'm not expecting it to make much difference.

Talking to Myself

I am a self-talker.  Always have been.  I sometimes find myself narrating what I'm doing, or talking myself through an activity.  I have discovered that all these years of talking to myself have been excellent practice for parenting.  My children never listen to me; they ignore me all the time.  I'm just talking to myself most of the time.

Here is a picture of Blythe.  I have asked her six times, that's right, six times to turn off the TV so we can go pick up Brandt from school.  See how she is hearing everything I say and acting on my kindly phrased request?

It's all just self-talk.

Blythe did look at me when I zoomed in for a close-up, but she didn't move from her spot watching 

Jake and the Neverland Pirates.

She'll listen to them, but not to me.

Valentine's Day

I have realized something about myself.  I don't do much for holidays other than Christmas.  I don't decorate, I don't do stuff with the children, I don't do stuff for Kent.  I think to myself that it would be fun to do things, but then the day arrives and I haven't put my thoughts into action.

So this year, I am trying to do a bit more.  I'm not going crazy to try and compensate for years past, but instead do just a little something concrete.  Here are the efforts and end results of this year's Valentine's Day.

Martha Stewart has these cute hearts hanging in front of a window.  They are made with crayons and wax paper, both of which I have on hand, so last week I gathered the children to the kitchen counter and had them sharpen crayons.  Once we had lots of little crayon shavings, we folded the wax paper in half with the shavings inside, then ironed them.  The shavings melt creating these wonderful, bright opaque colors.  We cut hearts from the paper, and because I am not nearly as fancy as Martha, we just taped ours to the sliding glass door.  I am happy to report that the children stuck with this little project until almost the end, helping sharpen and iron (under my very watchful eye) and cut and stick.  And they were thrilled to show Kent and Grandma Merlynn and Grandma Sue and various neighbors our hearts, pointing out which ones they were responsible for making.  Wonderful!

As sugar cookies are my favorites, nary a holiday passes that we don't make and decorate cut out cookies.  For family home evening on Monday, we all made cookies.  The children helped roll out and cut the dough, but they did no frosting.  They were too busy eating.  Do I need to confess that I have eaten the bulk of the finished product?  No?  Good.  I won't then.

Sometimes, as I am surfing the net, I come across cute projects that seem easy and doable, and although I am not a crafty/artsy sort of person, I fall prey to the charms of the thing's cuteness and say boldly to myself, "I could do that!  It would be fun!  The children would love it!" and I over enthusiastically (because I certainly have an over abundance of enthusiasm) launch in.  The above hearts are just such an example.  I needed a bunch of broken crayons, which I have, and a heart shaped mold, which I also have.  The web site had a cute little tag I could print off, and I thought these would be great to give out to Brandt's class.  I cut up crayons, I had the children help fill the molds, and I had them help assemble the bags.  They are cute, but it was far more time consuming making 50+ crayon hearts than say buying a bag of suckers and taping them to the purchased Valentines.  Ah, live and learn.  Poor Blythe will likely never have anything cute to take anywhere because she is my second child.

Brandt came out of school (along with all the other kindergarteners) wearing this darling heart.  There is a poem attached that says:

There's a Valentine

Standing at your door.

I'm one of a kind;

You can't buy me at a store.

I have something for you

That you won't want to miss.

Just pucker up

And give me a

GREAT BIG KISS!!!

I complied.  

Lots of times.

Brandt came home with a tremendous Valentine's Day haul.  He had lots of candy that he tore into.  Blythe looked forlornly at all that sugary goodness and said, "Mom, I want a candy."  Brandt kindly shared.  Eventually I gathered up the remainders and put them up on the ledge above the kitchen sink, hoping I could pace the children a bit.  Brandt cleverly used his pirate sword to scoot the candy off the ledge so he could continue to enjoy, always when I was out of the room.  I have found candy wrappers all over the house.

Kent and I try judiciously to avoid the commercialization of our love, so I got nothing for him and he got nothing for me.  He did, however, agree to pick up heart shaped pizza at Papa Murphy's so I wouldn't have to cook (I was going to make pizza, but it is easier to have it pre-made for you), and I made heart-shaped fruit salad.  Cute, huh? 

On a day when we honor love, I will confess that I love my Kent, I love my Brandt, and I love my Blythe.  They are my bestest people, my very favorites, and I am a lucky woman to have them.  I love lots of other people too, family and friends alike, and recognize how blessed I am in my associations with others.  I feel rich to have so many who love me too, especially Kent who has linked himself to me for eternity.  He makes me a better person, accepting me, loving me, desiring me.  

"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."  Antoine de Saint-Exupery.  From one of my favorite books ever, The Little Prince.  

Happy Valentine's Day.

School Fun

Brandt had two super fun days at school last week, and I got to participate in both.  Monday was the 100th day of school and they essentially partied the whole day.  Monday is my regular day to volunteer at school, so I was going anyway.  Blythe normally goes to Grandma Dawn's on that day, but Grandma was sick, so she came too.  It was great!

Mondays are usually center days.  The children will have three assignments that they need to fulfill, each of which helps them learn a skill of some sort.  They will write or count or match or make a pattern.  My job, as a mom, is to keep them focused and on task.  For some children this is easier than for others, and some days are better than others.  When Blythe comes, she plays or helps me or sometimes participates.  Last week she got to participate.

Centers for the 100th day we all about 100.  At one center they were to put 100 spots on a dog and stamp a paper 100 times.  At another they were to find small, round, multi-colored stickers around the room.  Each sticker had a number on it and they were to color the number on a sheet of paper the same color as the sticker.  This one took a long time and most children, Brandt included, only had about ten numbers colored.  When Blythe had played by herself long enough (in her mind), she asked if she could do something.  She got one of the papers and began to color.  When she went out of the lines, she turned to Mrs. Bigelow who was sitting near her and said, "Mrs. Bigelow, I colored out of the lines just a little bit, bit I will try harder."  She has been listening to our talk with Brandt about kindergarten quality.

At my center, each child got to make a Froot Loop necklace with 100 Froot Loops.  This also took a long time.  They first had to count out 100 pieces of cereal, placing ten pieces in each of ten circles on a piece of paper.  No one finished their necklace.  It took some children a really long time to count out their cereal, and the stringing of the necklace took even longer.  Blythe made a necklace, but I didn't bother to have her count.

Another center was the treat center.  With perhaps fifteen different small treats, the children again counted out pieces of candy or pretzels, nuts or fruit in groups of ten until they had 100.  You would think that each child, in their excitement to have a snack, would finish this.  Not so.  This gives you an idea of how unfocused the average five to six year old can be.  Brandt and Blythe both finished their treat.

The last two centers were writing numbers from 1-100, and then comparing the weight of 100 small objects with 100 others.  Brandt chose to bring a bag of 100 Legos, while other children brought candy corn, popcorn, marshmallows, raisins, and chocolate chips.  100 pieces of candy corn weighed the most.  Brandt brought home his "Write to 100" page and finished it here.  He is getting much better with his writing.

The last thing they did was make 100 goggles and a visor.  The goggles were 100 on a piece of paper with the 1 being very long and the 00 being cut out so the child could hold them up and look  through, like opera glasses.

It was a wonderfully fun day and Brandt sang, "Hip hip hooray! It is the 100th day!" the rest of the day.

I did not get a single picture.

Thursday Brandt had a field trip, Grandma Dawn was feeling better, and so I accompanied Brandt while Blythe went to play.  In school, Brandt has been learning about neighborhoods and animals (separately--not animals in the neighborhood), so we went to our neighborhood grocery store, Day's Market, and to the Monte L. Bean Life Science Museum (the stuffed animal museum) at BYU.

This was a great field trip.  Although we go to Day's Market regularly, we got to go into the back areas, to the refrigerators, the unpacking area, and the freezer.  We got to hear about the meat section, watch restocking, and visit the bakery where we all got a cookie.  The group of four students I was responsible to keep in line included Brandt, Hyrum, Ryder, and Zach, four very busy, somewhat rambunctious boys.  Mrs. Bigelow must either have great faith in abilities to keep things in control, or she must not like me at all.

I say that in jest.  The boys were darling, and while they did run off separately and together, they did eventually come looking for me looking for them.

The Bean Museum was fun too.  We saw a live reptile show, with a large tortoise named Otis, a desert gecko with a fat tail that can store water like a camel, and a python.  I forget the gecko and snake's names; I'm not sure we're going to meet again.  Our group got to sit on the front row, so we had an up-close view of all three animals.  At the end we all got to pet the snake too.  Page, the woman telling us about the animals, wanted the children to vote on which animal they wanted to pet.  She said, "Who wants to touch the snake?"  Brandt raised his hand.  Then she said, "Who wants to touch the lizard?"  Brandt raised his hand.  Then she said, "Who wants to touch the tortoise?"  Brandt raised his hand.  Then he turned to Hyrum who was sitting next to him and said, "I raised my hand for all three!"  Then mildly maniacal laughter, as if he had done something really naughty.

There is more to the snake touching incident.  That night, as Kent was in bed with Brandt and after stories had been read and told, Brandt had a concerned look on his face.  Kent said, "Brandt, are you worried about something?"  Brandt nodded his head and said, "Pythons."  Kent explained that it was far too cold for pythons, that they would die here, and he needn't worry.  He was able to go to sleep.

When the animal show was over, we has free time to roam around the museum.  This is when the mad dash and frantic hunting started, but I did manage to keep everyone from rolling around on the floor, and I did get all four boys onto the bus when we were done.  The bus was, of course, a highlight, because how cool is it to ride on a bus when you don't have to do it every day?

I did get pictures this day.

Hyrum, Zach, Ryder, and Brandt.  

We sat at the front of the bus. 

 

Mr Burt telling the kids all about the back area of the grocery store.

 

Hearing all about meat.

At the animal show

Page and the python we got to pet

Scripture Memorization

Last year in Primary we worked on memorizing the Articles of Faith which went along with our ward's annual theme.  This year the theme is the Book of Mormon, and as a Primary presidency, we decided to work on memorizing the monthly scripture that goes along with our Primary theme, Choose The Right.  We are hoping the scriptures will become, as Elder Scott promised in October conference, like old friends as we learn them by heart.  Each week we have worked on the scripture together with all the children, and so far we have had great success.  I have been very pleased because both Brandt and Blythe memorized January's scripture and can say it perfectly.  The scripture is 2 Nephi 2:27: "Wherefore men are free . . . to choose liberty and eternal life through the great Mediator of all men."  Blythe rattles it off without error, and I am delighted that they seem keen to learn the scripture.  Heidi has made banners the children can sign and it looks super cute in the Primary room.

A Package to Mail

We got a package from the PUS (UPS at our house) man today.

What cute contents!

The Horse House

On Thursday afternoon, Grandma Dawn took Brandt and Blythe to the horse house.  Cousin McKenna takes riding lessons from Aunt Goose, and this week, Brandt and Blythe went along too.  Although Brandt did not ride, Blythe did.  Brandt helped in other ways.  Thanks for a fun outing, Grandma Dawn!

"I walked the horse inside.  Blythe was on it.  

Then, horses like to play with a special pink ball.  I throwed it in.

That's all."

This is Brandt's report.

Brandt, Blythe, Aunt Goose (Alisa), McKenna, and Charlie (the horse)

"I rided the horse.  I did tricks on the horse."s

Although the bathroom was cold, 

the children thought the toilet paper holder was hilarious.

Brandt fed the horses carrots, but not Blythe.

Brandt says, "Those are rings to do tricks if you ride backwards."  

There was no backwards riding this trip.

The girls.  

They are eating carrots, just like the horses.

Pictures From the Phone

I forget that I take pictures with my phone sometimes, and as a result, when I do find them, I am almost always surprised and then somewhat frustrated that I haven't posted them here.  So here are some past activities captured on my phone.

On a Friday afternoon  a couple of weeks ago, the weather was lovely and we went over to the school to play on the equipment.  Mikayla had locker herself out of her apartment, so she was with her.  I have pilfered some of these pictures from Mikayla's blog, but she said I could, so I don't feel guilty.  In an effort to be a better mom, I played with the children, climbing and sliding and crawling, rather than sitting and watching.  Mikayla played too.

At Brandt's class Christmas party, Joseph's dad brought Santa.  Mrs. Bigelow sat next to him, her "boyfriend."  Joseph's dad also read How the Grinch Stole Christmas.  Both Brandt and Blythe listened intently.  In this picture, Brandt is not raising his hand, he is caressing Blythe's head.

Our neighbors, Stephen and Jeri Covey (yes, we know Stephen Covey, but this is the son of Stephen Covey) who are also Aunt Tysen's aunt and uncle, are putting a HUGE addition onto their house.  Tysen's dad is overseeing the project, and he let us know when a HUGE crane was going to be there lifting rafters.  Brandt is wearing his pajamas because it was Polar Express Day at school.  As I said, I forget I've taken pictures on the phone.