An Adoption

Today Blythe went to a birthday party for Maggie Davidson, a friend from school.  They were in the same class last year and are both members of the Squirrel Club.  Maggie had a Beanie Boo Party.  Beanie Boos are stuffed animals with huge eyes, and Blythe loves them.  She has several but would like several more, small and large, always and anytime.  We got Maggie a Beanie Boo for her birthday, but Blythe came home with one, too.  How lucky is that?  Take a Beanie Boo, get a Beanie Boo.  She even came home with an adoption certificate.  What fun to go to a party!

The owl is named Sammy.

I'm sure she'll carry him around for days and days.

Little Book Group

Today Blythe hosted a neighborhood book group for girls her age.  Since the summer she has been participating, but this month was our turn to host.  She had selected the book The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, a wonderful book by Kate DiCamillo (one of my favorite authors!).  On Wednesday, Ellen Mason came over to play after school, and she and Blythe planned all the book group activities, all of them based on the book.  I was delighted by Blythe's initiative and had to do very little by way of preparation.  Here are the planned activities along with the estimated time each would take (with her spelling):

1. Marshmellow rabbits 1 min. (This was eating marshmallow rabbits I bought at the store.)
2. Un-dress doll throw in bucket 8 min. (In the book, Edward has his clothes ripped off and he is thrown in the sea.)
3. Harmonica-puppet show 3 min (Brandt was requested to play his harmonica and the girls performed a puppet show using Blythe's stuffed animals because one of Edward's owners uses him to perform while he plays the harmonica.)
4. Pancakes, eggs, toast, and hot choc. 50 min (In the story, Bryce takes Edward into a cafe and orders pancakes, eggs, toast, steak, and coffee.  This was our treat, hearkening back to the story.)
5. Pellegrina's story 6 min (Pellegrina is Edward's owner's grandmother who tells her a story about a princess who loves no one and is turned into a warthog.  She wants Edward to learn to love.  Blythe read the story to the girls.)
6. Throwing contest 6 min (At one point in the story, Edward is thrown away in the garbage.  They look turns trying to throw garbage into a trash can.)
7. Song  3 min (The girls sang "Home on the Range," and "Buffalo Girls," because the hobo Edward travels with sings around the fire.)
8. Tumbling 4 min (Edward tumbles out of a train and is lost from the hobo.  This got crossed off because there is snow on the ground and tumbling in the snow was not feasible.)
9. Dress rabbits 10 min (This was a craft, cutting out or drawing clothes on a picture of Edward.  The girls took a long time coloring and cutting and making wonderful rabbit pictures.)
10. Draw people 20 min (They were going to draw characters from the book, but took so long with the rabbits they didn't have time.)

I had to buy bunnies and I had to make pancakes, eggs, and hot chocolate (no steak, toast, or coffee).  I had printed off the pictures of Edward, but I essentially let Blythe organize and run the show.  We only had three other girls come (there are usually eight in all), so it was a manageable group, and they all had fun.  I'm delighted Blythe is having the opportunity to be involved in something so grown up, and that she is showing such great leadership.  She did have a bit of a struggle at the end when the girls were still working on their rabbits and taking longer than she had patience for, but all in all, I would say it was a complete success.

It's Just a Place

"Dad," Brandt asked Kent this morning, "is 'hell' a bad word?"
Kent replied, "Not really."
"Yeah," said Brandt. "It's just a place.  Last year, Mrs. Harrington said, 'Oh my hell!' and the class all said, 'Ah! You said a bad word!'"
Kent said, "It's not really bad."
"Yeah," Brandt replied, "it's just like saying, 'Oh my Yellowstone!'"

 

But while hell might not be a bad word, it probably isn't a great place to vacation.

Cousins All

This afternoon/evening we gathered at Grandma Sue's house for dinner.  ALL the DeMartinis were there, except Melissa who was working.  It was wonderful to be all together.  It's been a long time.  And it was the first time in a really long time that all the grandkids were together.  They love being together, everyone has someone close enough in age they can run around with (except Blake, poor guy), and they genuinely like each other.  We gathered then all together for a picture which turned out really well.  Unfortunately, it will be out of date in a month when Mikayla has her baby, but I hope we'll be able to gather again soon.

All my favorite small (or not so small anymore) people.

Blake holding Dominic (Nico), Makenna, Luke

Brandt, Crew, Blythe

Lyla, Griffin, Evie, Ava

Mila, Brick, Cora, Rowen, Collin, Donovan

Date Night

This afternoon, Mikayla invited me and Kent to join them for the BYU Men's Volleyball game.  Sounded like a good time; I love watching volleyball in the Fieldhouse.  But I didn't have a babysitter and the likelihood of finding one on short notice wasn't good; the odds were not in my favor.  So when Kent got home, I suggested I take Brandt to the game while Kent and Blythe stayed home.  Although Kent also likes volleyball, he agreed that it would be fun for Brandt to go.

So Brandt and I went to the volleyball game and Kent and Blythe stayed home and watched a movie.  We went with Guy and Mikayla and met Grandma Sue, Eugene, Sharae, and Luke.  The match was great, BYU won in three, and we had Christopher's seats which are courtside.  Brandt was very brave and gave Cosmo a high-five although not brave enough to stand next to him and have his picture taken.  All in all, it was a great date night with my young guy.

Scrub Sprouts

Today for cubs, Kent and his den were finishing up Camp Fire Fun (or something).  They were supposed to have a campfire activity, complete with fire, songs, and a treat roasted over the fire.  As it is winter and not the time to sit around a fire at night, he fudged a bit and had a quasi campfire thing in the vacant lot across the street.  He lit some charcoal briquettes, they all sang "On Top of Old Smokey" and "My Darling Clementine," told a couple of silly stories, then lit a Christmas tree on fire.  It flared up and put out a lot of heat as they always do, and was quickly consumed.  Then he passed out skewers and marshmallows and had the boys roast marshmallows over the briquettes.  While that all sounds super silly, the boys loved it.  Especially the tree burning.  I took a couple of pictures when I went over to watch the fire.  Any cub scout activity is a success if there is fire and something to eat.

Sam and Brandt joined Kent, Jake Thornock and his daughter Maggie, Luke, Evan, Grandt, Garrison, Bryce, and Everett

The "fire"

No one's marshmallows burned.

Maggie, Jake, Grant, and Garrison singing above,

with Bryce, Everett, Evan, and Luke singing below. 

The aftermath of the burned tree.

I was so engrossed in the actual burning I forgot to take a picture.

I love the way the smoke is blowing off the blackened trunk.

Valentines Day

Valentine's Day--all about love and mushiness.  I intended on making a fun pink-themed breakfast, but didn't really see that through.  I did help the kids put together their valentines yesterday--Skittles for Blythe, chips for Brandt, both ideas off Pinterest--so they headed out well prepared for the day.  Blythe also headed out well appareled for the day--red shirt, sparkly gold-hearted pants, heart jewelry, and a heart headband she got from Dollar Tree.  Brandt's token Valentine's bit of apparel was his white watch band.  That's what he said, anyway.  Silly boy.  

The fifth graders got to go to Classic Skating today for a field trip, plus have a party at school and exchange valentines.  Brandt skated and jumped around and came home with tales of fifth grade shenanigans.  Blythe also had a party with a game packet, sugar cookies, and the exchange of valentines.  

I made surf and turf for dinner--steak and lobster tails which were on sale at Macey's in honor of the holiday.  The children didn't like the lobster (boo hoo! Haha! I'm so glad).  I also had red fruits, a green salad with tomatoes and red peppers, and pomegranate 7-Up to drink.  We drank out of the fancy glasses because it was an "occasion," and I decorated the table with pink and red sparkly foam hearts.  

Blythe and Brandt had gone shopping at the dollar store with Grandma Dawn a couple of weeks ago and had presents and cards for all of us.  We opened our cards and treats and expressed what we love about each other.  It was a nice Valentine's Day--marked but not with overboard silliness.

 

My small valentines.

National Frozen Yogurt Day

According to the silly website National Day Calendar, today is National Frozen Yogurt Day.  Woo hoo!  Who doesn't like frozen yogurt?  I wanted to take the kids for yogurt because they both really like it, so right after school we loaded up with Mikayla and her kids and drove over to Yogurtland.  Unfortunately, in honor of National Frozen Yogurt Day, they were offering free yogurt from 4-7pm.  There was a line 100 yards long and the shop was closed to prepare, so we went elsewhere.  I wasn't willing to wait, even for free yogurt.  Farr's was an acceptable alternative, and we walked in, got our tasty treat, and sat down to eat it.  Easy peasy lemon squeezy.  Two pictures to honor the outing: Brandt with chocolate frozen yogurt smeared on his face, and a picture Mikayla took of all of us with her kids not looking.

Ladies Day

It was Ladies Day again at Sundance, and I really wanted to ski again.  I sent around an email to women in the ward who had skied last month and might want to go again, but I got only one taker, my good friend Linda Pugmire.  I had also invited a new-old friend, Nancy Haight, to come, too, so the three of us went.  Nancy and I were on study abroad together nearly 30 years ago, in 1989, and in the fall met up again in Andrea Blad's spin class.  I didn't recognize her until she came up to me and said hello.  She recognized my voice, which was funny because it's been years since we've seen each other.  She has moved to Utah from California and happened to come to spin, so we reconnected.

It was a beautiful day, really too warm for cross-country skiing.  The snow was very soft and difficult to ski in.  I was wearing only two layers--a shirt and my jacket--and I had to take my jacket off because it was so warm.  Linda and I took an intermediate classic course, and I was super pleased with our instructor.  She was really good and I felt like my skiing improved.  When we were done, we met up with Nancy who had taken an introductory class, and we a bit more skiing.  It was really a magnificently beautiful day and I was happy to be out enjoying winter sport.  I think I'll go again!

Linda, me, Nancy

No coats!

Hangtime

We went to Hangtime this afternoon to celebrate Guy's birthday.  It was his choice.  He's just a big kid.  Obviously, no one complained because everyone loves to jump.  I didn't take the camera, or if I did, I didn't take any pictures.  Sometimes it's like that.  But Mikayla had her camera and she did take pictures, though only one picture of my children.  Well, child.  Brandt, in mid jump.  It's a fun action shot!

Babysitting

This afternoon I watched a neighbor's daughter for a couple of hours.  She was ill all night and didn't sleep, is pregnant, and needed a break to nap.  I picked Maggie up and we went for a long walk down the street and back.  She played games, made muffins, and then the kids came home and they went outside to build a snowman.  Brandt was super good with Maggie, helping her roll body parts and make a carrot face.  Brandt is so good with little people, and I was delighted with his helpful distraction of our visitor prior to her departure.

Maggie, Carrotface Snowman, and Brandt