Bunker Dance Open House

Makenna's dance studio had an open house just before the Christmas break.  Their big, huge recital is in June.  This is a chance for family to come see a whole lesson, ask questions, and see a little Christmas dance.  She has really enjoyed dancing again.  It's especially fun when you get to carpool with three other great friends.  (Mom likes that too!)

Christmas Carol

This year our homeschool group did a different play.  For the last two years it has been a simple, song filled, ditty called "Santa's Workshop."  This year our superwoman director decided to ramp it up and do a Christmas Carol.  We had a bunch of new families join over the summer, so the cast size was huge--pushing 40!  Everyone pitched in and it turned out really well.  We had three performances at nursing homes during one long day and then one evening performance the next week in the chapel at the big downtown shelter.

I was in charge of costumes, which was more of an organizational task than sewing.  I only made three--Marly's shroud, the Ghost of Christmas present, and Scrooge's night shirt.  The latter two were really more altering and improving on a graduation robe and a men's dress shirt.  The real job was in keeping track of all the items different families generously loaned.  I meticulously labeled everything, bagged all the pieces for each character and then handed them out and collected them back for each dress rehearsal and performance.  It was so nice to hand them back after the last performance.

One of the things I really love about homeschooling is the wide range of people with whom the kids get to interact.  This is Makenna with an awesome15 year old girl.  They got to be buddies during rehearsals and she started bringing things to entertain Makenna when they weren't on stage.  Makenna, of course, adores her.  All the kids know and have friends among a wide range of ages.  Th cast went from age 4 all the way up to 15.  This is a crummy picture taken at the first nursing home.  All I had was my iPhone in poor lighting, but I wanted to capture the moment. 

Makenna is Fan, Scrooge's sister, Isaac is young Scrooge and Jess is a caroler.

Makenna's dress was borrowed.  I just added a few red rosettes to make sure she didn't look too white like the ghost of Christmas Past.

A caroler warming her hands by the fire.

A better shot with a better camera.

Marly's shroud is made from a twin flat sheet.  

"Dear, dear brother, I've come to bring you home for Christmas!"

Oh, Isaac was also a dancer at Fezziwig's Party.  

Here is the graduation gown edged in faux fur.  

A small percentage of the cast at the curtain call closing carol. 

Can you see all three of my kids peeking over?

Shakespeare Family Night

Isaac has been taking a Shakespeare class since the beginning of September.  Hamlet was the focus play this semester.  They met for 2 hours a week and did LOTS of outside work.  In order to be eligible for the year end overnight trip to go to the Shakespeare festival, they had to do several vocabulary sheets, write several papers, do an oral presentation, memorize Polonius' speech to Laertes, and watch, listen to, or read at least 7 plays.  In order to reach King or Queen status, which Isaac did, that number jumps to 17.  It was a big challenge on top of normal school, but I am so proud of the work he did.  It was a great opportunity and great learning experience.  After Christmas they will study a comedy and perform it.  

These pictures are from the Commonwealth Family Night.  There are a few other classes offered which focus on the early history of our country.  They did presentations also, but these pictures are just from Isaac's class. They did a rather silly abridged version of Hamlet. Isaac played Laertes.  

Here he is at his sister Ophelia's grave.  So sad.

And now fighting Hamlet at the end, don't mind the height difference.  

The scholars sharing a few thoughts on what they learned.

All the scholars who finished their requirements so far (they still have to be in the play to really finish), received this plaque to remind them, "to thine own self, be true."  But Isaac can't take a serious picture.  I wonder who he got that from. . . . .

Towel Whips

Isaac and Matt chase around the house on a weekly basis shredding my kitchen towels.  Jess is trying hard to get in on the fun.  It's pretty safe to stand and take it from her except for that rare occasion when she connects.  Ouch!

Makenna's Recital

The kids' piano teacher has the kids do a private recital of their 10 favorite songs whenever they finish a piano book.  Last time it was just our family, our teacher and her daughters who are friends with Makenna. This time, we were going to do it over Thanksgiving with cousin Katie, but that didn't work out.  A couple weeks went by and still no recital.  Life seemed just too full with stuff happening every night.  But then I had a moment of mad inspiration during the play rehearsal (the morning after our Relief Society Christmas dinner which meant a very late night).  What if I just called all Makenna's friends to see who was available for a late notice late over?  Turns out, quite a few were.

Makenna played several songs, but the girls all took lessons too and wanted turns.  So they rotated through several times.  Many used the same series of books and could find songs they knew.  Those that didn't played what they could from memory.  They all loved time in the spotlight and were very gracious to each other.  They played and played the whole time I made dinner.  There were enough kids wanting seconds that I could make the girls' favorite tuna casserole with no left overs.

After dinner, they played and then settled on Nanny McPhee for their movie.  They made cozy spots and giggled their way through the show.

Thanksgiving 2010

Yes, I know it's a funny time to be writing about Thanksgiving just before Christmas.  But it seems better than AFTER Christmas.  We had a pleasant day with way too much food.  Matt and I went grocery shopping before the Utah storms hit which cancelled Troy and Beccy's travel plans.  Good thing we had Brian and Hilary here or the kids would have been inconsolable.

Really, the nicest thing about this Thanksgiving and the Christmas holidays too, is that Matt has been here to enjoy them with us.  In 2003 Matt spent the 6 weeks preceding Christmas in Germany and missed Thanksgiving and all the build up.  2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 he was on 12 hour shifts for a 24 hour coverage mission.  We sometimes had Thanksgiving on Friday.  He often worked part of the day Christmas Eve or Day and definitely New Years.  Then last year he missed Thanksgiving in Utah because he was working at City Center and was there for 14-16 hours most days for most of December too.  So this has been really great.

But I've gone off topic.  Thanksgiving.  The big project this year was jello.  We started early the day before mixing one color at a time and then adding cool whip as well, layer by layer, to make rainbow jello.  It turned out very pretty, though difficult to serve without the layers slipping off.  I think next time we try it, we'll bag the cool whip and stick to just jello to have more shine.

Jess wanted to stir the green layer, of course.

Hilary made tasty sweet potatoes and Brian was in charge of the pies.  He knows a guy.  The turkey was spectacularly tender and juicy, but the rolls didn't raise right and were too dense.  Of course there were tons of potatoes and peas and carrots.  No one cared much about salad, so excluding the pre-dinner veggie tray, we skipped it.  

Later in the day, between football games, several of us had a go at the plastic bubble kit Makenna got as a birthday favor, but Isaac is the one who finally had success.  

Computer Time

There are times when all three kids are on computers at the same time for school.  Most of the time they are on for a bit, do the majority of the work offline, and then go back online to check it off.  The funny thing is none of the kids have a computer they use exclusively or even preferentially.  They seem to rotate or use whichever is closest.  So each machine will have several tabs for different kids open all day.  And I tend to rotate along with them.  When possible, the girls like to sit at one of the laptops with me at the other so they can feel independent, but still be close enough to take turns reading paragraphs out loud.

Jess taking a math break to wave.  Isaac writing his history journal.

Makenna also working on math--skills update.  

4th Marathon

This entry is just to get it down for posterity.  Warning: There will be whining.  It's nice to have 4 done.  I have already signed up for #5 (Ogden again with a few friends), but I'm very glad there are many months between now and then.  #4 really beat me up. 
Matt picked Jen up from the airport while I tried to finish up school with the kids after the Christmas Play practice.  I have never had such a hectic week coming up to a race.  There really was no time to stress about the run, which was kind of a nice change.  We drove up to Mesquite, got our numbers, checked into the hotel and drove around to try and find some food.  We should have gone for the safe choice of Quiznos, but wanted something a little more indulgent.  Sadly Jen's dinner disagreed with her and she was up from 2:45 am on.  I followed suit an hour and a half later.  We got up, ate, packed and checked out of the room by 5.  They wouldn't let us do late check out and we couldn't guarantee being back in time.  So we checked our bags at the desk and locked our wallets and phones in the glove box of the car.  Ride the bus up, wait for the start.  We had been watching the weather carefully.  The day was supposed to get nasty, but not until noonish.  We took off pants and sweatshirts and sent them back to the finish line on the bus.  We basically had shorts, tank tops and the nifty arm warmers made from men's socks. 
This is all the good stuff.  The weather was gorgeous.  We were feeling great.  The first 3-4 miles were in Utah.  They were downhill and we couldn't help starting fast, knowing it wasn't smart, but enjoying the moment.  Our first few miles were all well under an 8 minute pace.  (Paid for that later.)  Then the road leveled out and it started sprinkling.  That was the first warning sign.  The rain didn't ever really set in, but the wind came, took its place with a vengeance and didn't let up--for 3 days. 
It was the wind that did me in more than anything else.  I have run in wind before.  I have even had one run in worse wind, but it was only for 5 miles.  This was 4 hours.  ug.  Once Jen and I separated--I lagged behind--I tried to listen to my ipod, but it was hard to hear.  The wind knocked my visor off so I had to tighten it to headache tightness.  Whenever there was loose dirt or sand nearby, you felt like you were getting sandblasted with the grit stinging and digging into your skin.  Lovely.  And then there were hills. The elevation map just didn't do it justice.  Hard hills, plenty of hills.  And you finally enter Mesquite, not to run straight down the main street to the finish, but to to take all these stupid detours through random neighborhoods to add the last 6 miles.  Blah.  There were no spectators. All normal, sane people were staying indoors.  The poor sweet volunteers at the aid tables, dressed in parkas, hats and gloves, would call out "water or gaterade?" so they could quickly pour you a cup. Couldn't do it early or it would get blown away.  And I didn't realize until WAY too late (mile 21) that my marvelous arm socks were chaffing me something horrible.  I never left them on so long before.  I have the hugest nastiest patches under my arms that are still so raw and painful 4 days later. 

This race became an exercise in enduring to the end.  I have never wanted to quit something so badly.  You can never plan on the weather.  I know there have been plenty of worse races for others, this is just mine.  I hope not to top it.  I hope Ogden is gorgeous again this May.  I did finish in 4:4something, so it wasn't my slowest, but nowhere near fastest.  The medal is pretty cool.  I'm so glad Jen came and did it with me.  If I only had myself to drive back, I would have been even more tempted to climb into the back of a squad car and beg to be taken back.

Funny note of interest: on the race instructions for directing people driving themselves to the race it said, "On Highway 91, 3-4 miles into the Utah border.  Look for the painted rebar about 15 feet from the side of the road."  We literally started in the middle of nowhere.

Glad to be done.  My necklace that reminds me that I can do hard things has a new layer of meaning now.  

Swimming with the Lintons

It was a gorgeous, huge pool and we had it all to ourselves. Nippy air, but nice water.

Linton Visit

We had a fun visit from our "Germany friends", the Lintons.  Todd had to come to town for a conference up at Creech, so Chalon and the kids came along too.  We got to see them Monday afternoon, all day Tuesday and Wednesday morning.  Our kids were prepping last week, trying to do some extra school, so they could enjoy the visit guilt free.  (They probably felt no guilt over school either way, but it helped me!) It's amazing how it takes the kids about 15 seconds to warm up to each other even though we only see them once or twice a year.

There were swords, dress-ups, Wii, Settlers of Catan, Springs Preserve, air hockey, pretend, and swimming at their Marriot resort pool. 

 

Before the flash flood.  Certain socks never got dry that day thanks to more water play later.

 

Two spinning statues

 

Grinding corn

 

The rocks that are just TOO tempting not to climb on.

 

Waiting for our late lunch.

 

We finally tried the cafe and it was good.