Justin's Busy Week, Pool Disaster, Family Get Together

Wow. This week. Justin had a slammin' week with some full phone days, teaching trainings until 9 p.m. on Wednesday, and taking a two-day continuing legal education (CLE) course on Friday and Saturday. The course was about Wills and Estates, an area he is hoping to expand his practice to. Yay for Justin!!!

This past week I taught Joy School. Tuesday the kiddos gathered here and we talked about curiosity and asking questions. We read some library books, talked about the library, and did some fun activities and crafts. That afternoon I took Eli and Emme to Costco while Benjy had his Let's Play Music class, and we tried on glasses to kill some time. I have to say, they looked very cute in glasses. Get ready for your future, kids.

The kids were being goofballs that night. Emmie showed up looking like a little darlin in my red boots. Benjy said to us, "I can touch my eyeball with my tongue," and we turned around and this is what he was doing. 

On Wednesday I volunteered in Eli's classroom for a couple hours in the morning. Afterward, Lene and I took the two little kiddos to the Westminster Rec Center to swim. I had organized a playgroup for that morning so some friends from church were there, as well. We all gathered in the kid pool, which was shallow enough that the little kids could walk around. After about an hour or so of swimming, Emme was sitting at the side of the pool and she said to me, "What's that?" I turned to look and there was a small brown lump on the grate over the water. My initial shock turned quickly to horror as I realized what that brown lump was and where it had come from. I rushed Emmie to the bathroom but first notified the lifeguard, hoping that since the poop was not in the pool they wouldn't have to close it down. When I came out of the changing room, the kiddie pool was empty and everyone had gathered in the hot tub. My sister said the pool would be closed for an hour. I was beyond mortified...

The kids did a science experiment with a gel bead kit we found awhile back. We put the beads in water and watched them grow. When they were finally done (they kept soaking up more and more water; they were like the fish in A Fish Out of Water), they were about the size of marbles and squishy.  They kept the kids busy for days. Even I couldn't walk past the bowl without grabbing a squishy handful.

 Thursday we had a Joy School field trip to the library. We got a little tour of the kids' area and the kiddos got to stay for story time and craft. Afterwards, we went across the street to the park for snack and play. 

Saturday afternoon, my sister and I took the kids swimming at the Apex Rec Center (not Westminster; it's far too soon to show my face there again). It was partly because Eli had been really sad he couldn't go swimming with us earlier in the week, and partly because I felt my need to redeem myself after Wednesday's disaster. We had a very fun and accident-free time swimming. After swimming, we met up with my family at Carrabba's. My dad was here for the day, and everyone came up from the Springs. Dave and Patricia are going back to Alaska soon, so this may be the last time the whole family gets together for awhile.

 
Some random pictures from the week:

 Eli brought a note home one day from school. He had gotten in trouble for goofing off with his buddy Henry, so he had to stay in and write a note instead of going out for recess. 

 He wrote an apology note to his teacher and missed dessert. He felt very sorry, so he got dessert in his lunch the next day.

Artwork, New School, Curious Benjy

Last Monday was President's Day, and Eli had the day off from school. We didn't end up straying far from home because I had a visiting teaching appointment late in the morning. I usually try to make days off really special, but this one was kind of humdrum. Oh well. Tuesday Benjy had Joy School, and later that afternoon, we took the kids to tour Hackberry Hill, the new elementary school we are planning on sending the boys to in the fall. The teachers were in a meeting so almost all the classrooms were open but there was no one in there. It felt kind of weird, like going into someone else's house when they're not home, but the boys got to at least see what the school looks like so they can have an accurate picture in their minds. Hackberry Hill is a gifted/talented center school, and we have applied for Eli to enter the GT program this fall. They also offer free full-day kindergarten for Benjy, which is preferable to a tuition-based kindergarten program like Excel has. Also, the music teacher at Hackberry Hill is a Suzuki certified violin instructor. She leads an all-grades orchestra, unlike other schools that only offer orchestra for grades 5 and 6. She also offers free private lessons for students wanting to learn a string instrument, which will be perfect for getting Benjy started on the violin.

Emmie got to play school in one of the kindergarten classrooms.

Last week I submitted a scholarship application for Suzuki music camp for Eli. As part of the application, we had to record his most recent polished piece with accompaniment. Here he is playing Andantino:

I took down a bunch of artwork I had hanging on the art line on the wall. Here is an artwork photo purge:

Eli drew a well-balanced meal.

 

 

Benjy has become so much more inquisitive over the last few weeks. He is asking questions about everything. I can't get through five words of a story without him stopping to ask me what a word means, why something is happening, or what the picture is showing. The other day I mixed some cornstarch with water and let him play with it, and he wanted to know all about corn starch. I started to explain that cornstarch was a thickening agent, and he stopped me by saying, "Whoa. You said agent." He was pretty impressed. Then on Tuesday, the boys had Let's Play Music class, and instead of having his usual group class, Eli had a short lesson with his teacher to work on his composition (that's the culminating project of their last year). Benjy heard that Eli was having a "private lesson," and he asked, "What's a private lesson? Does the teacher see his privates?" We had a talk and I cleared up that misconception, emphasizing that "private" meant "alone" instead of in a group. Later that evening, Benjy told Justin that Eli had "privates class." Oy...

Friday Justin and I attended the funeral for Helen Lundgren. She and her husband Gregg were in our ward when we first moved to Colorado. I graduated high school with Helen's daughter, Kim, and we spent lots of time together with seminary, Young Women's, and music things. Helen was such a happy, bubbly person and one of the most genuinely loving, generous, and kind people I have ever known. It was a sad funeral, as she was still relatively young and had died unexpectedly from chronic health issues, but it was also a very moving and spiritual funeral, as she had been a woman who touched so many lives and had been such an exemplar of the Christ spirit. She will be greatly missed by many who knew and loved her.

Saturday Eli had violin lessons and went to his good friend Henry's birthday party. I attended a few hours of our stake's women's conference and later went and got my hair cut and highlighted. I didn't take any selfies but I'm sure I'll show up in a picture before long with my new 'do.

Superbowl, Sequence, Valentine's Activities

I've fallen behind a little on blogging but am going to get caught up. This picture was taken two weeks ago... I was getting Emmie dressed for church, and she and I weren't agreeing on her outfit. She is very stubborn about what she wants and I often struggle with dressing her in weather/occasion appropriate attire. The only way to distract her from her tantrum was to give her a diaper bonnet. She would have been a very adorable pioneer baby.

That was Superbowl Sunday. We drove down to Colorado Springs to watch the game at my mom's house, passing an empty Mile High Stadium on the way.

For posterity's sake, the game was between the Denver Broncos and the Carolina Panthers. What a matchup between two great teams and setup for rivalry within this family! :) It was awesome to see Peyton Manning take the Denver Broncos to victory. My Superbowl haiku (Peyton's nickname is Sheriff):

Sheriff leads the pack

Underdogs who chase the cats

Devour victory

This whole city was on cloud nine all week. Justin attended a parade downtown on Tuesday which was attended by an estimated 1 MILLION people. I can't get over how insane that number is! That's half the population of the Metro area. 

The kids have been on a Sequence kick. Emmie can play mostly by herself now, with just a little prompting to remind her when her turn is. These two are fun little game buddies.

They also like to build Jenga Tetris towers in the living room. The odd-shaped pieces add an extra element of challenge.

Since it was the week before Valentine's Day, we made some sugar cookies. Here are the kids helping me in the kitchen, and they have a way of pushing me out completely. I'm just going to hand Eli the recipe next time and let him go for it.

The most fun is rolling and cutting out the cookie dough. This is the first time Emmie has really "helped," and she was very enthusiastic about using the cookie cutters. She couldn't even wait until the dough was rolled out to put her mark on it. I had to do a little more re-rolling than usual.

Wednesday we held a Valentine's themed playgroup at the church. A couple of ladies who came are taking a cake decorating class, so we had some very fancy cupcakes.

Eli had his 7 year checkup on Thursday. The kids insisted on playing hide and seek while we were waiting for the doctor to come in. They went for the hidden-in-plain-sight strategy.

Benjy put on an alien mask that had the doctor cracking up.

Eli is 46 pounds, 25% for weight, 75% for height. Tall and skinny... I think I know another guy like that. ;)

Later that morning, Joy School took a field trip to a roller skating rink. The kids attended a class for 2-5 year olds, so Emmie was old enough to participate. They got to play some games, learn some techniques, and practice skating around. It was a long class (1.5 hours) and the kids were getting tired by the end, but I was proud of them both for doing their best.

After the class, the kids exchanged valentines.

Friday night we watched our friends the Sagers' kids, and Saturday night they watched ours so Justin and I could go out. We had dinner at Rodizio Grill downtown, which was very delicious.

 Sunday was Valentine's Day, and I got to speak in church about being peacemakers. I had some pretty good material, some of which came from that very morning and our not so peaceful getting ready for church experience. Sunday mornings are kinda crazy when Justin leaves before eight to get to meetings. I set out cards and treats for each of the kids that morning, and it was fun to watch them open their surprises.

That evening I made a special Valentine's dinner for the family. We had mini beef Wellingtons, bread, steamed carrots, and sparkling cherry juice. It was fun to set a fancy table and have a little more formal of a meal, although with three little kids it was not really very formal. 

Funny things the kids have said this week:

• Benjy was talking one day about my mom's dogs, Marley and Aspen. He said, "Remember Marley and has been?"
• I was playing Brain Quest with the kids and I asked Benjy was a baby dog is called. He said, "A dogling?"
• The kids and I were playing Sequence and Eli drew the dragon, whose name is Ulysses. When it came time for him to play the card, he said, "I want to play Useless the dragon."

A Snowy Week

Last week we had a good old Colorado snow. We were supposed to get hit hard Monday morning, but luckily for me the blizzard postponed its arrival so I was able to get some groceries before we shut ourselves in. We got a couple inches during the day though, and Benjy enjoyed going outside and making himself a Santa beard.

Monday evening we got about a foot of snow. School was cancelled and Justin couldn't get the car out, so he worked from home. We had a big breakfast and then the kids went outside to play. Eli was determined to dig a tunnel under the snow, first using a basketball as his tunnel blaster and then a ladle from the kitchen. I took some video of the kids outside and totally felt like my dad, who always narrated his home videos. I don't know if he ever felt corny doing that, but I sure did!

 

After they had had their fill of tunneling and eating snow, they warmed up with a nice bath. 

Smoothie popsicle beard. 

The boys worked on a Lego they had gotten in the mail the day before from Aunt Kristy. It was a perfectly timed surprise!

The rest of the day we played, made cookies, and the kids went outside and played with the neighbor girls in the snow. It was great that we didn't have anywhere to go or any responsibilities that took us out of the house, so we really got to enjoy being snowed in.

We got back to our weekly routine on Wednesday. Aside from the regular things (Joy school, music class, etc.) we made time to paint, go to the library, and do some baking. I tried to make some of the things that I had made for the teachers the previous week for our family to enjoy, since it was a bummer to make yummy food and give it all away. 

 

At Eli's violin lesson on Saturday, his teacher talked about Suzuki music camp this summer. It sounds like a really fun and educational opportunity that would be great for Eli. So we'll be thinking more about that.

I thought of this the other day and wanted to remember it. Benjy likes to look at photos I've taken on my phone and he's come up with a fun little game that he likes to play. He'll choose a picture and show it to me, then he'll find one little spot on the photo and zoom in all the way and have me try to guess what it is. It's a simple but surprisingly fun and difficult game!