The Selfish Giant

Today we went to see The Selfish Giant at BYU.  We had excellent seats, third row back right in the middle.  The production was wonderful, with lots of kids, a fun set, and a great story narrated by an ogre, but a very friendly one.  The children were enchanted, paid attention the whole time, and really liked it.  Even Blythe, who normally says to me halfway through, "When do we get to go home?" watched the whole thing without asking even once.  There was a very sweet message to the play, a message about sharing, about caring for others, about the joy that can come to us as we look outside ourselves, and about the power of Christ's atonement to make us better people.

The giant was a large puppet with six different people working body parts and another person voicing.  They did a fantastic job of bring it to life, giving it expression and depth and wholeness even though they were each manipulating separate parts.  We were able to get a picture with the giant after the show, but Brandt, of course, wanted nothing to do with it.  He is very uncomfortable with people in costumes or creations that look like something real but aren't.  This is not to say he didn't love it, because he did, he just didn't want to get too close.

These four characters are Frost, Snow, Hail, and North Wind.

They are cold and evil.

Tall and exciting too!

 

Blythe, me, and the Giant with his puppeteers.

A peek behind to see how the puppeteers work the giant.

Each arm, each leg, the body and the head have an individual manipulating the puppet.

Super cool!

Brandt's Last Day of School

Today was Brandt's last day of school.  He has had a wonderful year and told me he misses it already.  The past two weeks he has had a substitute teacher because Mrs. Kussee had a baby.  Brandt has done well and we are pleased with his good work.  Let the summer begin!

Brandt wearing his class t-shirt which he has worn every Friday since he got it in September.

This is the contents of Brandt desk which got unpacked into the middle of the floor.

  

Memorial Day Weekend

Memorial Day weekend is always one of my favorites.  I love thinking about dear ancestors and honoring them as we visit cemeteries.  I love being outside in the sun under blue skies.  I love being with family.  I love eating yummy Memorial Day foods, like tutti frutti ice cream and barbecue something.  I love swimming.  We got to do most of those things this weekend, and I am glad for it.

Saturday morning, after cleaning at the church, Georgianne came down and met us for a drive to Eureka.  Normally my mom and Mikayla and Guy would come, and sometimes Eugene and Sharea and their crew, but they all went to Moab for several days, so it was just the five of us.  We had a nice chat as we drove out and back, and amazingly, it was not windy in Eureka.  It’s always windy in Eureka, but this year is wasn’t.  Where in years past we have had our lunch blow away and sat shivering in the gale force winds, we could have had a lovely picnic this year.  Too bad we didn’t pack anything.  We stopped at the Santa Queen for lunch instead.

Great Grandma Georgina and Grandpa George Richards.

We had planned on going up to East Lawn Sunday afternoon to decorate Dad's, Grandma Hare's, and Jeff's graves, but the day got away from us somehow.  My visiting teachers came, the home teachers came, dinner came, and our trip to the cemetery did not come.  We wanted to go with other family members, and as the Moab group didn't get home until the afternoon and were tired from their trip, it just didn't happen.  But we still had Monday!

Monday morning I went for a long bike ride with my neighbor and then we were headed off for more cemetery visiting.  Blythe, however, had been up in the night with a fever, and she felt crummy all day.  Once she installed herself on the couch, she didn't want to go anywhere.  She pretty much spent the day there watching TV.  Our plans to go to the Murray and Salt Lake cemeteries were thus curtailed, and the schedule a bit simplified.  Brandt and I drove up to East Lawn with Grandma Sue, Mikayla and Guy, and Eugene and Sharae.  The kids all played in the huge sand pile and we sat under the trees and talked and laughed.  To say we all really, really, really miss Dad doesn't really convey how much.  I am reminded of him all the time, in funny ways.  I am so grateful to know we are bound together for eternity and that I will see him again.  

As we lay on the grass, this was the view up into the trees above us.

It was quiet and peaceful and cool in the shade.

Brandt would tell you the best part of the day was the afternoon when we went swimming at the Cutler's house, our cul-de-sac neighbors.  They opened the pool form 4-10 to anyone who wanted to come.  There weren't that many people there when we went, and the water felt wet and wonderful.  Unfortunately, Blythe was still putting in couch time, so she didn't get to swim.  We are super lucky to have such a fun pool right across the street.

As I said, for this Memorial Day weekend I got to do most of my favorite Memorial Day things.  Visiting cemeteries?  Check!  Outside under blue skies?  Check!  Being with family?  Check!  Swimming?  Check!  Eating tutti frutti ice cream and barbecue?  No check.  Sad face.  We didn't make ice cream or barbecue, but the summer has only just begun.

Blythe's Last Day of School

Today was Blythe's last day of kindergarten.  I can't believe it!  She is done with kindergarten.  She's getting so big, I can't get over it.  I went to school to help with field day and then to watch their little "graduation" program.  They aren't really graduating, but they did have a sweet program with all four classes.  Blythe sang all the words to the songs, she said her little part clearly, she danced, and apart from pestering Ellen a bit, she was well behaved.  I took lots of video of the dancing and her saying her part, but I haven't figured out how to capture still images from video yet.  Maybe I'll figure that out.

I helped with the obstacle course during the field day activities.  There were gunny sack races, playing with a parachute, soccer, ring toss, hoola hoops, and other stuff.  Blythe had a great time.  The following pictures are from the obstacle course, the only pictures I could take because I had to stay at my post even though she moved around.

Blythe is doing jumping jacks.

All tallied, through the four times she ran through the obstacle course,

she did 76 jumping jacks.

That was the most of any kindergartner. 

Lining up.

That is Hudson in front of Blythe.  

He was her dance partner.

 

 

Evidence of her inability to keep her hands off Ellen.

On Blythe's left is Daniel, a boy Ellen had a crush on.

She would chase him at recess and kiss him when she caught him.

 

Our kindergarten graduate.

Don't you love that outfit?

This is the Fabulous Five

Ellen Mason, Kassi Walker, Blythe, Lilly Bradford, and Lauren Wilkey

This was our Friday post-school play group.

Sunday Evening Walk

It was beautiful this evening and we went for a little walk along the river.  The children ran and ran (a really good thing on a Sunday evening before bed) and Kent and I walked and walked, and we all looked around for interesting things.  We found pinecones, sticks, rocks, a baby robin being watched over by its mother as it worked on learning to fly, and a skid steer and an open-topped utility truck.  What a delightful way to spend an evening.

Dance is Over

Dance came to an end today.  The last day of class was on Wednesday, and her final performance was this afternoon.  All year Blythe has complained that she didn’t like dance, she didn’t want to go, and she was never taking dance again, ever, ever.  I didn’t really understand it because she loved it last year.  On Wednesday, when we went to class, I got an idea of why she hasn’t liked it.  Miss Debi, her teacher, hardly plays any music.  There was free dance time as the girls were all arriving,  and there was a very brief time at the end when they took turns dancing in small groups, but for about one minute, and there was music during the goodbye train, but otherwise, Miss Debi didn’t play anything.  They did all sorts of exercises, dancing in different ways across the gym—skipping, galloping, butterfly dancing—but never to music.  I didn’t think it was very interesting either. 

The lack of music even extended to Blythe’s performance piece.  It was called, “I Like Myself” but there was no music.  Miss Debi narrated their movements, but not to music.  How strange is that?  Super strange.  How can you have a dance class without music?  Impossible?  Yes.  Unappealing?  Yes, especially to my five year old.  That said, however, Blythe did dance beautifully.  She moved well, she was entertaining, and we loved watching her.  Grandma Sue, Auntie Lala, and Uncle Guy came to watch too.  I will try to get her to agree to dancing again in the fall because she is so graceful when she moves and I think it’s really good for her, but I’m not sure if I’ll be successful, and I am sure I’ll know why.

As usual, the pictures I took of Blythe at dance are almost all blurry.  Unsurprisingly, she moves around alot!  So while they aren't wonderful, they do capture the experience.

 

 

 

Her eyes look weird, but you can see that she's in motion--her feet are off the ground.

Preparing for exciting movement!

I love this striking pose even if she is blurry.

She's peeking out at me!

 

This is Blythe's class following their performance.  

I don't know the names of any of the girls except Mika who is standing behind Blythe in the pink dress.

Miss Debi and her daughter in the back.