Mother Son Minute to Win it Party

Last Friday night, Michael and I went to a PTA fundraiser at his elementary school. It was a Mother Son Minute to Win it Party. 

We had a lot of fun :) There were games up on the stage that included things like eating a donut off a string, tossing ping pong balls out of a kleenex box with your hips and making "cheese heads. This was where the boys put shower caps on, then shaving cream was piled on their heads and the moms competed to see who could get the most cheese puffs to stick to their son's heads. 

Michael and I were sad that we didn't get lucky enough to go up on the stage, but they had games at the tables, too. They included things like moving marshmallows around with straws and picking pasta up with our teeth. Michael totally killed it with his mad skills when it came to putting a cookie in his mouth using only his facial muscles!

I really miss this blog.

So, while Kelly and her sisters made dinner, I emptied the camera and curated, just for you, an exhibit of our lives from the last few weeks. 

Naomi had a birthday.

Michael raced in the pinewood derby. He came in 2nd for his age group and 3rd overall.

After all these years of taking kids on their turn for the homeschooling whale watching trip, I took my last two kids. It is hard to believe how everyone is growing up. This past week was Michael and Naomi's turn. It was a great trip. 

We saw a great blue heron looking for lunch...

...and lots of cormorants with a few pelicans mixed in...

...California sea lions lounging around...

...and from my view on the upper deck, a couple of cute kids.

Of course, what we were all most excited about was the opportunity to see some cetaceans!

The captain was able to find a bottlenose dolphin willing to surf the waves in front of the boat and we got a close up view. I learned something new on this trip. Bottlenose dolphin mothers name their offspring with a unique whistle that the dolphins then introduce themselves to other dolphins with for the rest of their lives.

We also saw more whales (all gray whales) on this trip than any other - seven in all! It was amazing :)

Here are two swimming together...

...and the tail of one diving.

The kids had some ocean science instruction on the trip back.

On to other exciting news - Naomi let her Dad pull a tooth.

Finally, some pretty pictures. I took the plunge and, in spite of my black thumb, bought some new house plants. I plan on hanging them in the window when I get around to it, but until then, they have a home on the kitchen counter. They are tillandsias, or air plants and they don't need dirt. I just soak them in a bowl of water every few days. Fun, huh?

I think they are really nifty...

...and was especially thrilled when one bloomed!

New Pets (maybe) and Other Stuff

The kids have adopted a cat...maybe. The jury (Stan and I) is still out. They are having fun anyway while we decide (wear down most likely). We'll take it to the shelter tomorrow and see if it has a chip in it. They named it Griffin Blue. Even I have to admit it is a pretty cute cat.

Speaking of adopting pets, Kelly's 5th grade teacher retired in June and Kelly was able to take one of the class pets home, a Pacman frog. It was unimaginatively named...Pacman, so Kelly renamed it...

I fully expect my sister Sara to get the literary reference.

I've been meaning to post this from last May and am finally getting around to it. Michael took a fencing class and LOVED it. Here he is getting a point.

Finally, a picture of my bff Amanda who came to visit last week with some of her kids. As always, it was a joy to see her. Isn't her grandson a cutie?

 

So, here are the little bits and pieces I have to catch up on. I also have some longer posts to write about Sara's wedding, zoo and museum trips, hiking, camping and graduations. Any requests for which I do next?

Natalie and David come to visit.

While Rachel and Heather were in St. George going to EFY in July, my niece and nephew, Natalie and David came to stay with us. We took them into LA one day. Our first stop was the Hollywood Walk of Fame and Grauman's Chinese Theater. I'm not that impressed with the stars in the sidewalk, but I do get a kick out of the hand and footprints.

Can you tell which star's shoe prints my kids wanted their picture with? 

 

After Hollywood, we headed to Chinatown where we got a rockin' hot deal ($1 each) on some boba mango smoothies. Yum. They hit the spot on a summer day.

Gwen and Natalie couldn't resist the piano sitting and waiting to be played. They each took a turn and finished with a duet. 

Still here...slightly alive!

Inigo Montoya: He's dead. He can't talk.

Miracle Max: Whoo-hoo-hoo, look who knows so much. It just so happens that your friend here is only MOSTLY dead. There's a big difference between mostly dead and all dead. Mostly dead is slightly alive.

Yes, we are still here and alive. I haven't blogged for a LONG time and I dearly miss it, so I am using a week I have at home recovering from a doctor's appt. to catch up.

There are two reasons I haven't been on here for a while. One, I got a new calling that is busier than Nursery Leader. I am the Relief Society President in our ward. It is hard for me to give myself permission to blog when my RS stuff is in a big pile that needs organized :)

The second reason is because once I fall behind, I fell like I need to catch up on EVERYTHING I have missed before I start blogging about what is going on today. Forget that! I will never catch up. I hope the kids forgive me for missing a bunch of their birthdays.

So, for the next while, I will post about stuff from the past nine months or so, or maybe I won't, we'll see...

Anyway, today, I have a treat for you, and it is dedicated to Summer, who when I told her I was going to try to blog today, said, "Oh, good, I love it when you blog, as long as I am not home for you to blog about me."

December Catchup

Here's a bunch of stuff that went on last month. Stan took most of the kids to a grand reopening of a park near his office. They had a free pancake breakfast, balloon animals, cookie decorating and standing in line waiting to ride the trains. This park has miniature (but still large enough to ride on) steam powered trains.

I didn't go because it was my first time teaching bookbinding at our local art museum. I stressed and worried and had so much fun when I finally got to teach :)

Heather and Gwen took part in their piano teacher's annual Christmas recital.

Here are snatches of each of the pieces they played.

I took Michael to the Kindergarten/First Grade Christmas Party at school. Each kid made about eight different projects. This is a wreath made out of smashed Shredded Wheat cereal, Elmer's glue, green food coloring and beads.

Later in the month, Michael, Naomi and I went on a field trip to the International Printing Museum. It was fascinating.

This is their replica of the press that printed the Gutenberg Bible.

The linotype was amazing. I loved the clacketty sound it made.

I got a kick out of the juxtaposition of technologies we saw in the break room on the way to the restroom.

One of the best parts of last month was getting to spend time with Summer (who, of course, I don't have pictures of). She caught a ride home from the Y with one of her roommates and her friends. They stayed a couple nights while they went to some tourist attractions. they were all so nice and a delight to have as guests. I thought this was a fun pictures of the three girls, Veronica, Christina and Maggie with their Macs.

Henry favors Apple products, too :) I probably got to spend the most time talking to Henry for two reasons. One, he slept in the living room on the couch and got woken up earlier than anyone else by kids running around and, two, he spent awhile each day waiting for three females to finish getting ready. He is a great guy.

I went to Stan's company Christmas party with him. His coworkers are all so nice. This picture was during the white elephant gift exchange which I counted as a rousing success because the gift we brought was taken from one person by someone else and because Stan got the books he wanted. Can you tell I am a dyed in the wool introvert? Even though I was having fun, enjoying conversations, relishing the food, my hands are still twisted in a knot trying to survive being around all those people :)

Last month, we made 50+ treat plates. It is a good thing I have so many capable people working in the kitchen. This is definitely a group effort each year.

Heather wrapped her Christmas gifts beautifully.

For New's Year Eve, we ate fun food and played board games. Here is Naomi poking some caviar to see what she thinks of it.

Happy 2012!

Gwen the Adventuress

Gwen did the same math program this past July that Heather did two years ago. The kids spent the first four days of the week learning in the classroom. On Friday the parents were invited to come for an awards ceremony and the kids got to go on the ropes course. Gwen was amazing! She climbed a telephone pole and jumped off -

She pulled the release when she was suspended in the air and went into freefall -

Out of maybe 50 boys and girls, she was the first up to the top of the climbing wall...

...AND the very first one to make it ALL the way across this whatever it is (help here would be appreciated) -


She didn't want me to put up the video of her going all the way across, but she let me put up this little bit of her at the end. Listen to all that applause! That's my Gwen :)

4th of July for Pyromaniacs

It is either feast or famine as far as posts go around here, isn't it? Someday, in the near or not so near future, I'll post about the week we spent in Provo dropping Summer off at BYU, the week and a half we had cousins staying with us, and the long weekend we spent at Stan's family reunion, but first, I wanted to show what we did when most of us (we miss you, Summer!) finally got home. It was the 4th of July. Stan took the kids up on the roof to watch the municipal fireworks from a distance and then we had our own little show at the dining room table.

Pyromania, anyone?

We started off with orange peel fireworks...

...which progressed to seeing what lighting a whole orange on fire would look like...

...and ended up being really crazy when we lit ourselves on fire.

Speaking of Summer, I talked to her on the phone on her 18th birthday and she told me that she and her roommate just had fun lighting their hands on fire and then she added, "and you can't do anything about it!"

She's right, she is an adult now and so we figured, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em!

Plop!

Naomi likes to somersault from an upright position...

Yellow Belts

Heather, Gwen, Kelly, Michael, and Naomi took a karate class this spring.

By the end of class, they were all yellow belts.

Woohoo!

After the ceremony, their teacher had them do some drills...

Hiya!