Here's a girl...

That's kind,

thoughtful,
giving,
resourceful,
brave,
smart,
beautiful,
resilient,
happy,
inventive,
musical,
creative,
funny,
sweet,

and 14!
Happy Birthday Em!

In Which...

Emily goes to the capitol...

Sits at the Governor's feet...

Asks a Question and Makes a Politician think...

Finds out she has the same last name as the Speaker of the House...

and Kathryn gets irritated that because of her darn desire to shoot all manual totally screws up a great shot. :(

But still has a great day!

We are interrupting your regulary scheduled program...

A normal drive home from school includes an argument about who sits in the front seat. An argument about who said what, when and why. Perhaps one about lunch, or a teacher or an assignment or yadda yadda yadda. Today our regularly scheduled argument was interrupted by this interchange.

I picked Emily, Tim & our Carpool friend Katelyn up from school after the School Talent Show Tryouts. There was general consensus that none of them felt particularly great about their audition or chances.

Tim: I thought people should have clapped more for you Emily.
Emily: I was just glad I got any claps.
Tim: Well even if you had done the worst job of anyone ever there would be clapping...because I was there and I would clap for you anytime.
Pause
Teary eyes {Emily's eyes}
Emily: Wow...thanks Tim.


Now back to our regularly scheduled argument.

Not Yet...

Honesty. Who has it? Politicians--no. Sport Super Stars--nope. 4 Year Olds--Oh yeah.

Ethan was lamenting that Emily was going to be in school ALL DAY LONG. The conversation went like this:

ME: I said, do you love Emily?
ETHAN: Yes.
ME: Is she your favorite sister?
ETHAN: No, She's my best FRIEND.
ME: Who is your favorite sister?
ETHAN: Sierra (in a DUH MOM voice)
ME: What about Savanna? Do you love Savanna?
ETHAN: *deliberating*. Um...Not yet. She fights with me all the time.

One encouraging point is that he hasn't ruled out love for his next oldest sibling all the way. There is hope for the future.

Emily's turn...

P.S. Emily made her skirt herself.

Isn't she beautiful?

A new blog on the block...

Emily has started her own blog. It might just be a mother's view, but I think she's a pretty good writer. She would love you to stop by and visit, but since she is still under age I thought it would be a good idea to keep it a private blog. SO....if you would like to be invited please respond below. We are just trying to keep out the weirdos from say Kazakhstan or places such so even if you don't really know Emily, but respond to my blog on occasion you are welcome to visit. Just respond below and she'll send you an invite.

Random Bloggy Blogginess Again...

I am going to have to become very creative if I want to keep my unique random blog titles unique.

The sub-title for this post is

How my Kids Rocked Their Day At School.

1. Emily's teachers had a meeting yesterday after class to discuss their upcoming expedition that starts in January. Some of the topics in the running were 'Ghostowns of Utah', 'Water', and well the third one escapes me. Needless to say, Emily was NOT impressed with the possibilities. She suggested to her teacher that they might do an expedition on Food. While her teacher took that as somewhat a tongue in cheek suggestion, Emily set to work writing a persuasive essay for the cause. Yesterday her teacher read it to the school director (Principal) and all the other 6-8 grade teachers. She was informed this morning that while they may or may not use her idea (the kids won't know until January) that her paper received a 4 out 5 on the AP English scale of writing. Being only an 8th grader, this news DID make her day. Some of her supporting themes included the topics they could study might be nutrition, agriculture, manufacturing and distribution. I think Emily rocks because she even thought of getting her point across in this way. She may not get extra credit for her paper, but I giver her an A+ for her GoToITiveness.
2. Tim...well Tim is a great thinker but sometimes struggles getting his thoughts on paper. So I was very happy that Tim rocked his day by getting his 'From the perspective of an Oil Drop' essay, his poster and all other assignments in on time and complete. Hallelujah!
3. Sierra (the third grader) rocked her day by finding out that on her recent Math test in her (mostly 4th grader) class--she was the ONLY one to get a perfect score! You go girl! We do love math around here. :)
4. In a somewhat random form, I learned Savanna has a lazy eye from her Kindergarten teacher. Am I the only one that is clueless about their children's eye problems? Whoops. On a good note, it doesn't seem to be holding her back in the reading department and her teacher gave me a great report on her behavior too. Thank goodness.
5. Ethan...well he didn't rock school today, but he did participate in Library time with gusto and that in and of itself is rock worthy.
   

More Random Bloggy Things to Blog About

*Emily had her first fieldwork of the new school year yesterday. They are learning about Utah and transportation starting with the Mormon Pioneers. So yesterday they hiked 4+ miles of the path the pioneers took to come into the Salt Lake Valley. The highlight of the trip? 2 dead Moose. Yeah...I'm shaking my head too.

*Tim's Math and Astronomy teacher met me by the car today when I picked up my kids from school. She started the conversation with,

"Are you Tim's Mom?"

Surely a phrase that makes a Mom's heart skip a beat. ;) But as it turns out she just wanted to 'say hi' and tell me he is 'doing great'. ~Mom's heart beats again and urges lips into a smile~

*I am so OVER allergies. Or at least I wish I was..."bwahhhaaaahhhaaa"

*Ethan on our way home from walking Savanna to school yesterday morning.

Me: You are getting to be a big boy.
Ethan: No, I'm a medium boy.

*Savanna upon finding out that she got to go to school YET AGAIN this morning.

"Oh Goody!!!"

*Sierra's constant refrain over the last couple of days.
"When does soccer start again?" Thanks goodness for tomorrow. I hope we can find some cleats that fit!

My hopes for 8th grade...

*Interesting Topics.
*Newspaper Articles.
*Stretching Talents.
*Clarinet Melodies.
*Good Friends, good surroundings.
*Challenging workload.
*Own Locker.
*Sense of Accomplishment.
*Fun, Fun, FUN!

Back to School 'Lunch' Night...OVERLOAD

Tonight was Back to School night! But in Ethan's mind the only thing worth going to school for is lunch so he keeps calling it Back to School Lunch night. Sadly for him...there was very little food.

We started out at what I THOUGHT was on time. Savanna's teacher requested all the parents and students arrive at 6:00 pm for a meeting. We got there at 5:59 and it seemed it was standing room only and she had been talking for a good 5 minutes.

LESSON LEARNED: BE PUNCTUAL!

I can't believe I am doing the Kindergarten schpeil for the the FOURTH time! Luckily for Savanna it is only the first. And she is VERY excited. She met Buzzy Bee the Puppet (of fame from her friend Whitney who had Ms K last year.) It was a thrilling moment. ;) Only problem with Kindergarten back to school night is that now school doesn't really start for 10 more days! That for a 5 year old equals eternity.

We then headed to our other school, where Emily, Tim & Sierra got to checkout their new digs. A brand new building finished just 'seconds' well maybe an hour before the ribbon cutting. It is very nice...three 'pods' consisting of 6 classrooms each that open up to a commons area. The middle school pod walls are lined with lockers. You can probably hear the cheering from Emily still.

LESSON LEARNED: PRAYERS ARE ANSWERED! I really wanted Sierra to have the right teacher for her. I had 2 or 3 in mind that I thought would work and she got one of my favorites. He just happens to be the husband of her teacher last year. Kinda quirky, but I think it will work. Also it appears that she will be placed in the higher math class and for that I'm thrilled. One of the reasons we switched schools was the lack of understanding the individual child and helping them reach their potential. I see real progress on this front here.

One interesting concept with the combined age groupings is that the kids are placed with a teacher for crew and keep that teacher for multiple years. So it is really more important than with traditional schools to get a teacher that meshes well with your child.

I am pleased with the choices for each of my children. Emily has a great rapport with her teacher from last year and Tim has one of the teachers on my short wish list for him. And of course I think Sierra is in good hands.

Overall it was a great night...but boy are we tired...tired and now officially READY FOR SCHOOL! It can't come fast enough at this point. :)

13 Years and 1 Day ago...

I was sitting in the park by Mueller Jr High, (I think that's the name of the school) trying to not be 'too' uncomfortable with the ever increasing quantity of abdomen tightening otherwise known as contractions, when...the sprinklers and the fireworks started at the same moment. I along with the rest of the firework watchers leaped up grabbed our chairs and raced to the parking lot. From there it was only down hill. After a very long night and an even longer day--Miss Emily Annette graced this world at 6:50 pm on Pioneer Day--with her presence. Yep...I have a 13 year old. Yikes!

Happy Birthday Emily!

And word to the wise. When you are given pickles as a gift...look for the catch. ;)

CHUCKFEST 2009

CHUCKFEST 2009 started Saturday at our house. That is not to be confused with UPCHUCKFEST which I do not recommend at all. CHUCKFEST (coined by my good friend Brenda) produced two GINORMOUS black plastic bags full of clothes and toys whom have served their purpose and are ready to be sent on to new owners to love and cherish. (Only to be chucked again at some future point--but we won't tell them(the toys) that.)

Sierra (age 8) actually said to me as I explained our plan of action on Saturday. "I was thinking I had too many things." Hallelujah it would be that much easier. Savanna is still the packrat, but we managed pretty well with her too.

In the past I have started out with gusto then as the day progressed I remembered all the good memories of each toy. Or the reason why I bought it in the first place. Or the smile that was on the face of my kids when they received it then stuck it BACK in the toy box. This year I had a secret weapon.

Emily...Old enough to plow through the physical mess, unattached enough to plow through the emotional mess. The moral of the story is, bring along reinforcements. Thanks Emily!

Now that we have completed the first phase, we are pretty much down to books and stuffed animals in Sierra's and Savanna's room. Seems like NOTHING else gets played with anymore. But you can often find a herd of animals on their way to church, school, or play with their handlers close behind.

What toys of your kids would survive a CHUCKFEST?

So...how did I get roped into that again???

Emily and I sang in church today. By ourselves. Yeah, that's what I mean, sacrament meeting...with tons of people staring at you...So how did that happen again? Emily, having no fear and some musical talents has been noticed by our ward music leader. She (the ward music leader) asked her (Emily) to sing a solo in sacrament meeting. Emily jumped at the chance. I was then notified to let the ward music number know when and what she was going to sing. Uh...ok. I said. Emily's young women's leader...having already proven her talents by pulling off an awesome ward road show seemed like the perfect person to help. Sure, she said happily. Well a week later, I hear, I found the perfect song for Emily...(me) Great...and there is a great second part that you can sing. Uh...are you talking to me??? She was. And due to an irritating tendency of mine to want to conquer my fears I decided to sing along. HOWEVER, I didn't tell the ward music leader that...just in case I decided to back out at the last moment. You see, my illustrious singing in Sacrament meeting started years ago...it was not that big of a deal in primary--you sing, you don't know one knows and know one cares. But when I was a senior in high school, there 8 girls graduating my year and they wanted us to sing a song together. They put one girl in charge and she asked me...what part do you sing....uh part? Yeah do you want to sing soprano or alto...well, I had heard of parts, but I was a band geek...and played the bassoon to boot. I was not nor wanted to be acquainted with singing 'parts'. The melody, I murmured, She rolled her eyes and explained...in a not so nice way that she couldn't believe someone of my advanced years did not know which part they sang. Great I thought another thing 'miss perfect' is great at that I'm not. I'll take soprano I said. I felt this big. (look really really hard my fingers are very close together). Being somewhat convinced that I was actually tone deaf...just ask my band teacher I had the hardest time telling if I was in tune or not. I secretly vowed I would never sing again. And then I got mad. Who was she..anyway. But as I was not confident in my tonality I practiced...quietly. For many years I tried to sing the alto part on hymns at church and for many years I sang 'some' of the correct notes. No one can always be off right? Even a broken clock is right twice a day. I joined then dropped out of the ward choir, then joined again. I sat near people that did have perfect pitch. Slowly I learned 'a little'. So to make a short story long...Emily and I sang in church today. And my name was with Emily's in the program despite telling NO ONE that I was singing? HMMM... Here are a few things I learned.

1. Emily is an amazing girl. She is beautiful, talented and awesomely unafraid. I'm proud she is my daughter.

2. Prayer works! I simply prayed that even though I knew we wouldn't sing all the right notes that we could be pleased with our performance and the spirit would do the rest for the audience.

My prayers were answered.

3. One thing I didn't learn...how in the heck did the person doing the program get my name in there??????

So here's my hero daughter in her new dress. Do you know how hard it is to find a dress for an almost teenager that a) has sleeves and b) is longer than mid-thigh...just in case you don't know it is very very hard. As in as hard as walking a tight-rope across a pit of pythons, or driving down a one way street the wrong way with your lights off in an ice storm, or trying to herd cats. Ok so I got away with myself on the last one....but its pretty darn hard. :)

And here's one of us...compliments of my budding photographer Tim.