13 Lucky Things about Tim

13. He's adventurous.
12. He's thoughtful.
11. He's thankful.
10. He's patient.
9. He's a facebooker.
8. He's witty.
7. He's a thinker.
6. He's happy.
5. He's playful.
4. He's mindful.
3. He's a good brother.
2. He's a good son.
1. He's 13!

Happy Birthday Tim!

Home Repairs

Rule 1: Things will NEVER go as planned.

Rule 2: Accept that

Rule 3: Make do

Translation: Missing parts + Late night failed trip to Wal-Mart + keeping the Sabbath = No Kitchen Water until Monday. (Hopefully)

As an aside as I was taking pictures and Mike was giving me the 'stink eye' while he was patiently explaining to Tim what they needed to do, he turned to me and said, 'You're not getting me at my best you know' (brow furrow) and I replied..."Actually, I am getting you at your best...your very best." So glad I have this picture.

Maybe we shouldn't

have attempted to replace the faucet the night before inviting Brooke & Andy to dinner. There is no need for water when cooking...right?

Despite that, I have a little smile on my face because I hear Tim and Mike working hard together to get that faucet changed...(of course I hope the smile will be bigger soon so I can wash the dishes no one wants to eat mashed potatoes on a paper towel.)

Soon Tim will have another checked off home repair for his merit badge and I'll have a new unleaky, will actually work faucet.

YEAH! (THANKS GUYS)

Tim got a tattoo...

If you look REALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLY, REALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLY close it looks like the whole world. Who knew the lengths he would go to 'absorb' the lesson in social studies.

The school secretary/nurse/psychologist/counselor/surgeon/parent tamer said Tim was quite brave as the extraction of the largest piece of graphite she had ever seen embedded in a student's arm was performed. Sounded like she'd seen a few in her years. The school director even showed Tim his graphite tattoo. Does this make them tattoo buddies? I'm pretty sure that's not in the dress code.

Word to the wise...don't point your pencils up! (That goes for you Sam.)

FanFREAKINGtastic

FanFREAKINGtastic

That was the one word Tim's friend Ben used when he asked how to describe the evening.

I couldn't help it...I smiled.

I had the complete pleasure of accompanying Tim and 2 friends (Ben and Logan) to their first ever Utah State Basketball game. By the way how cool is it to have have a special cheer for when you are up by 22!? Too funny. You gotta feel 'a little' bad for the opposing team though when the crowd does the winning team, losing team chant. It is a masterpiece and can only endear opponents to Logan that much more

I'd say it was a hit. Ben a self proclaimed Weber Wildcat but not much of a basketball fan and Logan (who had been to Logan at least once before but still thought it cool to see his name in various places) were soon singing along with the scotsman and the englishman.

We had all the elements to a good night for 12 year old boys . Pizza at Grandma and Grandpa' s house, basketball and LaBeau's shakes and fries at the end. I even made some 'points' when I was able to sing along with their renditions of Weird Al songs.

I was pleasantly surprised by the conversation turns including, waiting until you are 16 to date, not watching R rated movies. and why it is ok to NOT swear...it shows you are legitimately strong to stick to your values. Yeah I was impressed. So glad Tim has good friends.

I told Tim I had a great time and said I hope he didn't mind hanging out with his Mom. He was legitimately baffled as to why that would not be cool.

I love that Kid.

Twelve

Twelve Traits of Tim

1. Energetic

2. Smart

3. Funny

4. Giving

5. Kind

6. Ambitious

7. True

8. Honest

9. Thoughtful

10. Artistic

11. Musical

12. Creative



HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

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.

I need this in writing...

I was taking Tim to basketball practice and I handed him his new Christmas Basketball. I said, I have written your name on it and here is your bottle of water.

He said, "I don't know how I'd survive without a good Mom....It makes going to college and on a mission kind of scary."

I told him he has a few years. {thankfully}

{Ka-Ching} That's the mommy register collecting payment. ;)

Last but not least...Tim's Turn

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.
   

Just another fun family moment...

This is normal...isn't it?

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!

I'm sorry I put 120 miles on your car.

You've seen those books right? Something grandly magnificent or horrible happens all because you let the fly in? Well this is what I told my sister today.

I'm sorry I put 120 miles on your car.

Yesterday my car went up in plumes of steam and radiator stench...twice. A few days before I bottomed out on a weird driveway. The two scenarios couldn't possibly related could they?

Well the answer is I don't know. It seems that it was a bad day at Tunex...mechanics out and no room in the parking lot. I took my car in at 10:00 and at 5:30 the official word was.

"We didn't get a chance to look at your car yet, do you want to come get it?"

Um... are you crazy? This car has problems. It needs to be fixed. And it may need therapy. No, thank you, I think I'll leave it there.

Meanwhile...life goes on. School starts, band instruments must be obtained. The nasty 70 buck per month--6 month minimum rental agreement from the local music store got me thinking. Perhaps there is another way. YES there IS another way. I arrange to buy said instrument in a town merely 25 minutes away but upon calling to confirm I was indeed on my way...which he knew from the emails we exchanged, I found out he was a double dealer. Yep apparently he had someone else on their way to pick it up as we spoke. Either that or he was terribly confused and thought I (AS SCHEDULED) was on my way and my alter ego wanted to buy it first. Whatever. So short story long, I drove 2 1/2 hours today and put 120 miles on my sisters car to buy ANOTHER beautiful instrument. Thanks Joan--I owe you BIG!

I am now the proud owner of a tenor saxophone...and Tim gets to use it.

My hopes for 6th Grade...

*Relearning a Love of Math.
*A look at a latent Drawing Talent.
*Beautiful Tenor Sax tones.
*Visiting a locker without the fear of EVERYTHING falling out on me.
*Old, Stronger Friends--and some new ones too.
*Exciting Expeditions.
*Learning Moments.
*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. :)

What were you doing 11 years ago today?

I was recovering from the best epidural I ever had. :) With a wonderful, cute, bouncing (ok not bouncing) but definitely starving baby boy.

And 11 years later...He's still starving.

Yes the eggs are green...He does share his special day with Dr. Suess you know.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TIM!