Justin's sixth grade class had a big graduation for the work they had done in the D.A.R.E. program. He received a t-shirt, a certificate and a pat on the back from the local D.A.R.E officer.
I remember when Levi had his D.A.R.E. graduation that I looked across the gym at all of those sixth graders and realized that I was looking at his graduating class. I wondered how many of them would make it to their senior year applying the things they had spent half a school year learning during the D.A.R.E. classes. Again, with Justin's class, I looked across the gym, found my own son in the crowd and silently prayed that he would always remember what he had learned about drugs, alcohol, tobacco and all harmful substances and that he would have the courage to stay away from them.
And in May I will look across the gym at Levi's graduating class again, for graduation. It has gone by so fast!
Due to the windy, snowy, drifting conditions of our Easter weekend morning, we sponsored our own egg hunt at home. LeRoy had way to much fun hiding the eggs (especially since we are accidentally finding eggs 24 hours later . . . at least they are all plastic not hard boiled) and the kids seemed to have fun running around the house looking for hidden treasures. I know they enjoyed munching away on their sugary loot and pressing on their cutesy butterfly and animal tattoos. It was fun to have the cousins over to make it feel like a real event instead of just a lame hunt for hidden plastic eggs. Ok, so maybe it was still a lame hunt for plastic eggs but I don't think anyone was disappointed.
Even though LeRoy and Derek left for the priesthood session, Erika was working and Kellie was feeding her baby, I attempted a brief egg coloring session with six ambitious little kids. It ended with Hyrum trying to play ball with the eggs which was only leaving eggshell all over, yellow dye spreading across the plastic table cloth and dripping onto the chairs and rug and the only pictures I have are of Kellie's kids because they were the only ones actually smiling and having fun. Too bad I don't have the pictures of me frustrated, Nathan crying and Hyrum throwing an egg.
And then the puking began. First Justin, then Nathan . . . all . . . night . . . long! Erika's morning began with dedicated worship of the porcelain throne and the afternoon brought on Derek's turn. At first we thought maybe it was just too much sugar (really though?, this is NOTHING compared to Halloween!!) but soon it was evident that everyone was going to take a turn. At least that is what we are expecting and if the rest of us are spared we will celebrate (quiet enough to not annoy the sick crew).
It seems to be a 24 hour bug and by the time Nathan hit hour 29 he was hungry! I was trying to offer soft, bland foods for his first try at things going down to his stomach instead of coming up but his request was for a big carrot, two pieces of toast and a bowl of oatmeal. He ate it all, wanted more and cried when I told him he needed to let his tummy munch on that for a while. So far, so good.
Now we begin a new week with half of us sick, no work to speak of, no school for Monday, 3 doctor/dentist appointments, Levi starting a new job, Nathan's 4th Birthday, Justin's DARE graduation, my LASIK touch up, a Relief Society mini-class night and all the other stuff that comes in a normal week long schedule.
If I could make just one wish for this week it would be for warm, sunny, play outside weather. Pretty Please?
A week later, after all the sickness had cleared, we brought on the rest of the Easter goodness that we had planned but postponed. Peeps in a nest . . . mmmmm
Here is the photographic evidence which proves that my children are still children, even though they claim that they are "practically adults".
He's just a little kid stuck in a really tall body. The younger kids were tossing their balloons around for simple entertainment. Derek took a minute to add a face to his balloon then stuffed it in his hoodie and suddenly Phil the entertainer came to life. Phil? Where does he come up with this?
Where are the circus sign ups?
I don't even know what to say. Levi + headband + plastic cups = really creepy pictures.
I told them they should do something active instead of watch TV. Evidently that translates to "go jump off the furniture and be sure to take pictures".
Bean Bag Body Slamming. Very mature.
It's a good thing we built the basement with a nine foot ceiling.
Life will make them grow up fast enough. I'm glad they haven't outgrown their imaginations and daring abilities. It provides us with hours of entertainment.
Derek and I had some great laughs as we spent a little creative energy in the kitchen this afternoon. We prepared an April Fool's food prank to take to some of our favorite love-a-good-laugh people. Everyone else was gone when we began our trick bakery but when they got home they were doting plenty of praise for our look-a-like dinner presentations and begged for their own snacky sweet meal.
Grilled Cheese Sandwiches - angel food cake with orange cream cheese frosting Broccoli - green apple Tootsie Frootie Rolls with frosting and sprinkles Homemade Fries - sugar cookie strips tossed in sugar
At the end of the ballroom competition in Utah it was announced that anyone who wanted to take the fish bowls from the tables could do so. Erika quickly snatched one up.
By the time we got them home the three little fishies in that bowl had survived the 11 hour bass beat of the competition, the falling confetti from the balloon drop and the 5 hour swish swashing trip home. Needless to say they were a little limp when we got them home but Erika was determined to love the life right back into them. She started by cleaning out their water, clearing a shelf for them in her room and thoughtfully naming them. Her silent, scared new pets were Fin (a black one with a little tear in his fin), Elle (a gold one that Erika was sure was a girl), and Spec (a black one with a little gold spec on his body). For two days they slowly began to liven up.
And then . . .
On day three we had a FINeral.
On day four we had a funerELLE.
On day five we paid our reSPECs to the final member of the fishy trio as he swirled down the porcelain grave to join the others.
On Valentine's Day Erika found a new mini-school of fish in a bright new bowl and to this day, six weeks later, they live happily ever . . . well, they're still alive.
Our 7th Annual Valentine's Mess was a hit once again. Because Valentine's Day fell on Sunday this year and we don't have church until 1:00 I decided to have it ready for after church instead of trying to get them all to wake up and enjoy it at the same time on Sunday morning. When Derek woke up he asked with a pout "where's my stringy valentine?" I just mumbled something about it being Sunday and left it at that. Then I snuck home from church and got it all put together. Levi wanted to help this year, since it is his last, so together we (along with help from Kellie and Caytlyn - this is a big house and that it alot of yarn!) . . . we strung up 7 balls of yarn throughout the whole house. After it was all over he said, with his arm around me, "no matter where I am next February you better call me to help with this. This is my favorite tradition!"
So here they are following their strings:
And here they are finding their treasures:
This was my favorite picture! Instead of just throwing his ball of yarn through the closet he thought he had to crawl through the closet. He might be nearly six feet tall and wearing a man's suit but he's still my little boy!
My Valentine present this year was seeing my boys in their new suits. Derek has wanted one for quite a while and with a surprise sum of money that showed up from the insurance for the accident that Erika and I were in, we were able to finally get him one. Levi has made it very clear how he feels about "churchy" things and had been making very snotty comments about suits but when we told him the day we were going to go shopping for one and invited him to come he took a minute to think about it and finally conceded, "a suit might be kinda cool, I guess".
Derek knew exactly what he wanted. We had shopped around in Idaho Falls and he had given it much thought and went right for the solid black with a pink tie. Levi insisted that he wanted a thick pinstripe (red pinstripe, mob style) but the Man's Image doesn't carry mob suits so he settled for a thin pinstripe. It was so helpful to have Caytlyn along for the shopping because she raved about how great Levi looked in a suit. I'm not sure he would have picked one out without her there. When it took 2 weeks from purchase to tayloring both boys asked me nearly every day when they would be ready. LeRoy and I were wondering if Levi would only wear the pants and the jacket would hang in his closet forever but it has now been 6 weeks since he got his suit and he has worn the full getup every week.
Man, these boys are handsome (and TALL).
And then for our evening finale we glazed a bunch of cookies and shared the sugary love with our neighbors.
January and February are crazy months for ballroom. With three major competitions, regular 3 hour practices, additional Saturday practices, and ballgame half-time performances . . . whew, I'm tired all over again . . . it is a bit overwhelming but in the end it turns out to be oh, so much fun!
At the Utah competition Erika's team won the overall, everything, I-don't-remember-the-title, trophy. In addition to this dance they also did a medley routine to a bunch of Mary Poppins songs but Erika is an alternate in it so I haven't recorded it yet. She will perform it for the spring recital (they better let her or I'm not paying that costume fee!) and I can record it then. Erika also won gold, silver and bronze medals in the syllabus dances (for waltz, cha cha and rumba). Syllabus is a little long and can get monotonous (for dancers and parents) but with the change up of different partners for each dance style and the occasional medal it ends up being worth the hours of waiting and watching.
Can you tell from the pictures which boy is "ok, for a dance partner", which one is "kinda cool" and which one she "would totally date"?
Kara, Caytlyn, Levi, Erika and I all had a lazy time during the 11 hour event. The highlight for Caytlyn was meeting Ryan and Ashleigh DiLello from the last season of "So You Think You Can Dance". It's a bit like "American Idol" with dancing instead of singing and Caytlyn got us hooked last season. She was all googly eyed over Ryan, leaving Levi a bit jealous and rolling his eyes, and it took me completely out of my social comfort zone to go over and ask them if the girls could have a picture with them. Oh, the things a mother will do for her kids!
We almost had to wipe the drool from Caytlyn's face. Then we found out that she wasn't really all that interested in Ryan, just the fact that she was meeting someone from TV and it gave her a really great picture to post of facebook. Still, it made for some good laughs during a really long day.
So, if you want to see any of it live come to the spring concert during the last week of April. You can see all the teams perform (from pee wee to seniors) and hopefully we'll see Erika all dolled up in her Mary Poppins costume. And for those who just wanna see it from the convenience of your home computer, here's a little YouTube entertainment for you.
* Be sure to notice how great her splits are . . . TWICE! For weeks she would sit in split position while doing her homework or reading or doing her hair trying to loosen up those muscles and get them ready for this dance. She did PERFECT!!
We all went to Arimo for Hailey's baby blessing and had a fun afternoon playing with cousins at Grandma and Grandpa Boyd's house.
With their Super Boyd Capes they are ready for anything.
Ride like the wind
It seems almost cruel that we will be splitting these two up when the Kellie and her family moves away. They have certainly become best friends over the last 2 months.
The sun is shining!!! I cuddled up on the floor in the rays of the sun and soaked up all the natural, through the window, warmth that I could. Unfortunately, the blinding, squinty glow of the sun is very deceiving when it comes to the temperature but that's ok for now. I'm just grateful to see the sun.
Levi has applied for college, had a call back and request for an entrance essay and we are working on getting all the financial paper work taken care of. That requires me to get the taxes done NOW.
Erika got a job at Wendy's.
Nathan has been going to pre-school like a professional student. He's one step closer to overcoming his social fears. Fearless may be quite a ways away but so far we are happy with tearless.
Justin finished Cub Scouts and earned his Arrow of Light.
Derek is the best darn babysitter around and the little boys adore him. I couldn't accomplish near what I do without his help. And . . . he was named the Science Student of the Month at the Jr. High. He has no idea what that means except that his picture is hanging in the hallway. We're not sure either since he has a B. But, okay, fun. Maybe his science teacher just likes his witty humor.
The Bad:
Justin missed 3 days of school and ended up with a shot in the leg because of a bad strep infection.
Hyrum is on 3 medications and breathing treatments for bronchitis and an ???? airway infection (can't remember the full medical term). It came on so fast that I'm afraid he has probably already passed it on. Luckily, there were only 6 of the 17 nursery kids there on Sunday (though not very lucky for the other 5).
LeRoy is overdoing it as usual and has been found on more than one occasion to sleep in his recliner all night long . . . on purpose. He is so determined to work hard and keep up his pre-surgery pace. His body is so determined to slow him down enough to heal.
The REALLY REALLY BAD:
I have to go back to glasses.
Last August I had LASIK done and it was AWESOME . . . for 6 weeks. And it has been getting worse ever since. I've had an extremely annoying headache for almost 2 weeks now and I think it's because of my eyes, actually the optometrist confirmed that it was from my eyes. Through the monthly appointments they have charted my regression and it is still changing even 6 months later. It's bad enough that I squint and turn my head a little to the left to read the computer screen, I can't read books without straining my eyes and I probably shouldn't be driving. My only option for this month is to go back to glasses. They are giving me this free-trial cheapy ugly pair for a month to see if anything changes by next month but already they are telling me that it might not even be an option to have a touch up done (which would be included in the initial cost). They had to cut so much of the cornea away the first time that they're afraid there's not enough left to mess with. Can I have a refund? Seriously!! I did not save for YEARS to face my worst fear (going blind) to have 6 weeks of perfect vision only to go back to glasses!!!
During the first week of February Justin crammed his way through his last few requirements so that he could receive his Arrow of Light. The day of pack night I crammed my way through a last minute craft project to make an Arrow of Light to be given to him for his advancement.
Unfortunately, Justin was very sick that day. He had the chills and was very pale but still wanted to go because this was to be his last event in Cub Scouts. He stayed in the back of the room and didn't talk to anyone because we were suspecting that he had strep since it was running through our family and Kellie's family. He managed a weak smile for pictures and then went home and slept.
Having Brendan here for a couple of months was helpful to Justin in his scouting because Brendan was so excited about it and Justin wanted it to be over. They both worked really hard to pass off all the stuff they needed to in order to get their advancements before their February birthdays.
