Mason participate in his school’s 5th Grade America Program. They sang many songs about America as well as speaking parts. The 5th graders were the only people on the program. My favorite part was watching the dances. Each 5th grade class performed a song. Mason’s class got to do the Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy – I love that song! I was very proud of Mason, he was even smiling while he danced. That is something I wasn’t expecting. He is a great little dancer. He chose to dance with his friend, Lindsay Wise, from our ward. She is his little tutor in class, she helps him if he has a question on his homework. We like her a lot because of that. She has helped Mason earn straight A’s! It is fun to watch Mason progress through life as a handsome, talented, and intelligent young man.
Arrow of Light
Tonight was our ward scout banquet. We had a pasta dinner that was delicious. Lily, Olivia, and Lex love scout nights as much as Mason. This night was extra special because Mason received his Arrow of Light award from Cub Scouts. He set this as one of his goals for this year and was unstoppable at achieving it. Mason has really loved Cub Scouts and this was the perfect way to make his exit. Next month he will retire his blue shirt and trade it for a khaki. He is comforted to know that his arrow of light patch will get to come with him as a reminder of his first experience in scouts.
He told me that some of some of his favorite memories of Cub Scouts are: Pinewood Derbies (making the cars), Earning his Bobcat "in like a week", the Blue & Gold Banquet, knot tying, earning his engineer activity pin in Webelos, & collecting 14 belt loops.
Learning to Read
Olivia and I were both inspired when we visited my brother’s (Scott) blog and saw cousin Kate reading from a book that we have at our house. We tried using this same book (how to teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons) in the fall, but it wasn’t the right time. After seeing Kate, Olivia was excited to do what Kate could do. Olivia also set a goal at the first of this year to "learn how to read to JT" this year. She is doing soo well! We have enjoyed sharing this one on one time together. It has been fun to watch Lex, Mason, Lily, and Stephen be proud of her too.
This morning she came up the stairs as soon as she woke up and asked if we could practice reading! She is doing great and I love seeing her self-esteem soar! Today she read, "The sock is near a man. A Cat is in that sock."
Thanks Kate for your good example!
Also, this week Olivia is the VIP at Pre-School. She was very excited to take her poster to school yesterday and tell all about her favorite things with her class. She took cowtails for a treat to give to her class – we buy them at Sugar Food Town. They are basically a stick of caramel with white cream in the middle. Olivia loves to get them whenever we go to Sugar Market. Here are the favorites of Olivia at the moment:
food: chips, game: super mario bros., toy: Sarah her doll, thing to do: play with JT, friend: Ellie, color: blue & pink, number: 7, shape: diamond.
Frog Prince, Beans, and Daughters – with a splash of Mom and Sister(s)
I was able to go on a date with my daughters Saturday night to "The Princess & The Frog." The show had it’s funny parts, but it was also a little dark. I DID like the theme of how we need to work hard for what we get. All in all, each of us enjoyed ourselves and got to laugh a little bit.
The night before, I came across the cutest pattern on a random blog for making a bean bag frog prince. I just couldn’t resist making them because the timing was perfect. I woke up Saturday morning and forfeited the normal Saturday work to make frogs – I had a blast! Stephen kept coming upstairs asking me if I was having fun…as if he couldn’t tell! When I brought the frogs out of my laundry room to show off and fill them up, I got my payoff. My children were in love with them. Stephen helped me fill them full of beans. As he was doing this, he got the notion to boil some beans and make an enormous batch of chili. I’m serious, a really giant batch – we are talking 30+ quarts! We will be eating chili for months! After the frogs were done, Lex and I finished up sewing the remainder of Haiti scarves (she only has 7 more to sell to meet her goal). We had a fun time working together.
I love having 3 girls and getting to make special memories with them. I can’t wait to share many more in the future! I hope they will always be great friends and share many fond moments together (hopefully I’ll get in on a lot of those moments).
I am glad to have a wonderful sister and mom (whom I have shared lots of great times with)- they are two of my greatest friends. I am blessed to have them in my life. They understand me and my personality so completely and love me unconditionally, despite my many imperfections and quirks! I really need them in my life. I know I always have a listening ear when I need to vent, ask a question, or be excited about something. When I vent they don’t judge me or think I am ungrateful – they just let it go in one ear and out the other! When I ask stupid questions, they just laugh or guide me along without making me feel like I’m dumb. I can brag up and down about my kids, my husband, or a fun project and they don’t get annoyed with me – they just get excited with me. It is a gift and rich blessing to have their friendship. By the way, since my mom and sister don’t live near me, I have adopted my running friend, Diana, as my second sister. She is such a great friend and fits the bill as mentioned above. She is in the Philippines right now, can’t wait for her to come back!
Super Glue to the Rescue
Saturday evening our family was all dispersed doing different things when I (the mother) heard screams of pain coming from the kitchen in the form of almost 2 year old JT. I ran quickly and entered the kitchen to find JT all alone standing in the middle of the kitchen with blood oozing down his face and very distraught! I then became panicked because the blood was pumping quickly and I couldn’t tell how badly the damage was. I noticed that their was a kitchen drawer pulled out and I assume he fell off of the counter top and hit the corner of the pulled out drawer to earn this gouge in his head. We gave him a double dose of ibuprofen and Dr. Parker went to work, giving us all a job to do. Mason retrieved the Super Glue and Lily and Olivia said a prayer. Lex and I got clean cloths and hydrogen peroxide. It didn’t take long to see how much love JT has being part of our family. The wound was sealed shut with the Super Glue and he has been great ever since!
Side Note: I am developing a fond affection for Super Glue…it has been the band aide many times as we have mended various wounds. Super Glue is our friend…especially JT’s friend at the moment.
Comments:
Riley said…
Ow.
Sunday, February 28, 2010 4:56:20 PM
Patricia said…
Shucks! That’s too bad, JT. I’m so glad your family was able to help you get better. Hugs & kisses to the cute little boy at the Parker’s house. You better be careful and safe, little Joshey. XOXOXOXO Grandma B. loves you.
Monday, March 01, 2010 1:58:49 AM
Digger Blue & White
Lily came home from school a couple of weeks ago with a note in hand and excited expanations that there was a cheer camp coming up. She really wanted to particpate, "please, please?" She was very excited do something like her big sister Lexi, and also wear blue & white…Lily really has the Digger Pride! She was able to attend 3 after school practices and perform at the High School Basketball game last Friday Night during half time. She made such a cute little cheer leader.
Type 1 Diabetes
Lex and her friend Cortnie just finished doing their report on Type 1 Diabetes….they created this informative poster and Stephen was asked to be a guest speaker at Health class yesterday. Lex said that all of the kids were excited about getting their blood glucose tested. Lex told me that the thing she learned that she didn’t know before was that Diabetes attacks the pancreas. Food for thought…
New Spaces and Places
Stephen & Co. have been busy organizing and creating spaces & places. If you turn left at the bottom of our stairs and walk until you get to the first door on your left, we will NO LONGER be compelled to un-invite any to enter…RATHER, we will now with full pleasure, be happy to accept anyone (and their friend) to retreive an item in our recently renovated storage room! Thanks to Stephen’s & Mason’s hard work we are now able to find items easily, and everything has a place. Such a refreshing feeling! How have we endured the last 3 years without this kind of system? Organization makes life easy & happy.
What is the Status of the Ground Hog?
Happy Ground Hog Day! What’s the verdict? I didn’t bother to check because it usually just stays winter here, um let’s see??? over half of the year! I have resigned myself…I have now learned to plan a nice warm vacation in either FEB or MARCH to stay sane.
Back to Ground Hog Day….Did you eat Ground Hog Meatloaf for dinner (pictured here)? If so, DO NOT continue reading. I know what you are thinking right now, Jodi made that Ground Hog for her family for dinner. Folks, I just want to say from the words of my friend, Reba McEntire, "I wouldn’t go that far."
Actually, I saw this little fella today online and couldn’t decide whether to laugh outloud or hurl first! I decided to laugh. I do like meatloaf, but … I don’t think I could do this version and not think about eating a varmont. And btw, talking about animals at the dinner table at our house is TABOO, so shaping this innocent creature into a meatloaf wouldn’t work out well around here.
Status of Ground Hog:Ground Beef?
Alexis Unplugged
This video explains a lot about Alexis…she is a funny girl.
Comments:
Grandpa and Grandma Parker said…
You have some nice close ups. You got it all figured out. Good job. You look great and you have some great stuff inside too.
Tuesday, February 02, 2010 7:53:21 PM
mom said…
I’m glad you are in our family! You make life fun :).
Tuesday, February 02, 2010 9:00:36 PM
michelle said…
Pretty fun-you crack me up with your fun personality.
Wednesday, February 03, 2010 3:21:38 PM