Kindergarten Visit

I visited the Kindergarten class this week. We have a new school building and the classroom is Darling. I found Chris in his favorite spot--the reading corner. (Picture to be included next week.)

When the teacher called for everybody to get their “go books” out of their desks, Chris immediately stopped what he was doing, went to his desk, got out the book and opened it— ready for her instructions. When she told them what to do, he did it just like she said…only fast. Within just a few minutes, he was back in the reading corner. That happened several times in the half hour I was there.

The other interesting thing about the visit was the boy that sits next to Chris. He's mean, Chris says. I didn’t think he was mean, but he was fairly active and in Chris' space. He followed Chris around the room. He leaned over onto Chris while he was trying to work. And he took Chris’ bicycle that he’d just cut out and said he wouldn’t give it back until Chris apologized. ("Apologizes for what?" "Apologizes for hitting me!" ?????)

Chris did an excellent job of ignoring him,so when the boy got up to throw the bike in the garbage, I had to follow him across the room and fish it out.

And Chris was just drawing his road and trees and not paying any attention...

(When quizzed, Chris said, “Yes, I hit him...but he started it!” And that's all I could learn of that story...)

Valentine's Day

My usual modus operandi is to avoid doing whatever I can avoid doing.

But Valentine's Day fell right on Family Home Evening this year. It didn't seem right to go about our usual routine. The day needed a family party!

Too much trouble, I thought. But then I remembered Mom's way of organizing a family party...

So Sunday night, I made eight slips of paper--three that said Decorations, three that said Games, and two for Refreshments. Everybody drew what committee they were on out of a hat (aka tupperware bowl) and it was all organized!

We actually didn't start preparing until 6 PM Monday night. Amy gathered Aaron and Jonathan in a room to plan the games. Every once in a while you'd see one of them come out to gather supplies. They were so excited and ended up with six or eight games. We played them all!

Quin and Rachel worked in tandem in the kitchen and making all sorts of pink and red goodies. (They made so many that we had to eat them all through the party instead of just at the end.)

The decorations committee (Chris, Eric and me) made a pretty nice party room in the basement if I do say so myself. We had a delay in our preparations when it was discovered that Snowball the parakeet had died during the day. We had to give one of our committee members time to have a funeral and grieve. :(

But at 7 PM, we gathered and had A LOT OF FUN!

Thank you, Mom, for showing us how to create happy memories.

(Check out that great "Don't Eat Pete!" paper!)

Sending Off a Missionary

After waiting four and a half months, February 2 finally came and Heidi was able to enter the MTC and start her mission.

She was THRILLED! We went down to BYU a little early so she could see friends one last time in the Cougareat. She was extremely happy to see everyone that came. There were lots of hugs and happy chatterings.

(Chris and Aaron get tired of the waiting at BYU.)

Then the time came that she had to tear herself away and we drove the five minutes to the MTC. She’d sobbed and sobbed when we dropped off Daniel and Paul in October because she had to wait three more months to come herself. There was no sobbing this time. In fact, she almost forgot to hug us good-bye, she was so ready to be on her way.

I’m really quite proud of her.

But I find the situation a little anticlimactic from this end.

For the last four weeks, Heidi and I have done everything together. We’ve gone to all sorts of appointments, shopped, run errands, discussed outfits and hairdos and missions and friends and relationships and gospel principles. We’ve even done Zumba together. And we’ve shopped…and shopped, did I say that yet?

So the flurry of preparation comes to its conclusion. And for Heidi the adventure finally begins.


But for me, it ends. I come home to a quiet house and she didn’t even leave a mess of her things for me to clean up. It’s all neatly stacked in bins at the back of the storage room.

Thank goodness for weekly letters. I’m sure looking forward to the first one.

Scout Time on Saturday Mornings

Every Saturday morning (at 10 AM!) Quin has a Scout Time with the boys. We work with each boy individually on whatever they need or want to work on—arrowpoints, rank advancements, merit badges, etc. It’s fulfilling for us as parents, a nice bonding time—especially with Dad, and helps the boys continue to progress in their scouting. We got the idea from our dads and carry it into this new generation with confidence.

Ha-ha! If you asked the boys, they probably wouldn’t have a clue what you were talking about. This great plan is almost totally in our parental minds. Over the years, we’ve rarely remembered to do it or had the time when we have remembered.

But with 2011 and New Year’s Resolutions, we have had some great Saturday mornings. I feel very excited about our scouting this year.


The first week, I helped Jonathan make this skin into a nice display for his Cub Scout and future Scout patches. Quin worked with Eric on a Campfire program for the Communications Merit Badge and with Aaron on some Wolf requirements. The next week was equally productive. The next week, we started the Personal Fitness Merit Badge. (How many chin-ups can Amy and I do? Well, none.) Then Quin took a group swimming to help Jonathan with his swimming requirements. The next week, Quin and Eric camped at the Klondike Derby.

Yea!