First Day of School 2010-2011

We have been looking forward to starting up school again, mostly.  All of us have been at least partially missing the routine and direction that school lends our days.  Of course the kids have thrived on a heavy diet of play time with friends galore during the summer, but on those rare occasions that no one is available, they immediately sink down into boredom.  They have been clever not to use the word "bored" because they know it will come with mandatory jobs when they use it in front of me.  So they would say, "I don't know what to do," or something similar with the same intonations as "I'm bored".  And during the last week of summer as the local schools geared up to start, many of their friends were caught up with shopping and meet your teacher events, so they were more ready to start back up themselves. 

Makenna has been a super star these first two days.  There is a big jump in work load between 2nd and 3rd grades.  She had already started 3rd grade math during last year, but has now begun a more serious and language arts program with novels, longer spelling lists, grammar and vocab work.  More writing is expected too.  History has map work with it now. There isn't much difference in science, and happily, she loves it.  She hasn't complained and has worked hard.  It's been heaven to be her teacher.  I hope her enthusiasm continues.  One thing that has been a thorn is her and my side for the past year is working on math facts.  We have now found the best motivation.  When she passes a test in under a minute with 100%, she gets to wear any of my earrings for the rest of the day.  Two numbers have been passed off already!

Jess has had a rockier start.  In her defense, she had been under the weather for a few days.  Low grade fever and upset tummy being the main complaints.  Motrin twice a day would perk her right up and then she would complain that I wouldn't let a friend come over.  She did finish the bare minimum today and yesterday, but today is the first day she has been off Motrin since Thursday night.  She was happy to check off her last lesson and stop without doing ANYTHING extra today. But when she figured out that most of her friends still had 2 1/2 hours left before they were out of school, she went back to the balance she was using for science and with random things from the kitchen she played "match the mass."  I have to tell a cute but pathetic story from yesterday.  She woke up happy, had breakfast, but then sunk down on the couch feeling crummy again.  I gave her some medicine and let her rest until she perked up.  The other two were working, so she decided she might as well too.  She was supposed to write a few sentences about an experience.  She wrote, "I star did scool on Monday.  I was sick.  I am a good gril.  I do scool at home."  We talked about the couple spelling problems--I especially liked "star did" for "started"--and I wanted her to make a final copy.  That turned her world upside down.  It would have taken her less than 5 minutes, but it was not to be born.  She disappeared for awhile and I got distracted by the other two kids.  She came back much later and handed me a literally tear soaked page that said, "I feel sick.  I want a nap."  So I took her up to my room, tucked her in my bed and put on an episode of Curious George.  She was out in 5 minutes.  When she woke up a hour later, all was right in the world, and the germs seemed to finally be gone. 

Isaac is facing some changes this year, along with Makenna.  His peers have started Middle School.  Oh, what a world that is.  He doesn't mind missing it in the least, especially after reading and now watching Diary of a Wimpy Kid.  Side Note: he has forbidden me from using the term "Play Date" in conjunction with himself ever again.  He is starting a Shakespeare class once a week starting tomorrow.  We'll see how that goes.  He is doing the 2nd half of American History from the Civil Was to modern times.  Music is out but he is still taking piano, so no big change there.  Literature and Language seem to be morphing into a more middle school-ish English class.  Gone are the spelling lists.  But he has a fat "English Language Textbook" that doesn't look much fun.  He has 4 novel units in which he gets to pick the book, plus one that is either Tom Sawyer or The Secret Garden.  Handy that he has already read both.  Gotta love our book group.  And instead of doing an eclectic mix of science units, he is doing strictly Earth Science this year.  Today and yesterday were long first days for him because he had to do the online first of the year assessments for reading and math.  He actually knocked out reading last Friday, but didn't get to the math.  Too bad because it always takes a looooooooonnnnngggg time.  It adjusts the questions to go higher and higher until it finds what you don't know.  When you are ahead, but have to start back at your age group and prove it, it takes a hours.  I had him stop after 2 1/2 hours yesterday and then he finished it this morning.  But he still wanted to get his normal stuff done.  But he also had some stuff to get ready for scouts tonight, plus there was football practice right after. . . .blah. What a day for him.  I hope he sleeps well.  Tomorrow should be better.

I am hoping to head that way soon myself.  The football boys should be back soon.  Goodnight.

Jess Quote

I was driving Jessica home from a birthday party and I asked her how it was.

"Something happened I didn't expect!  M-- told me I was his girlfriend!  I think I just like him.  I mean I did stuff for him like open his fruit snacks and I was his partner in the games."

M-- very well might have just meant he thought she was a nice girl, but Jess' eyes have been opened to teeny-bopper romantic notions thanks in large part to her older sister being a big fan of Taylor Swift.  Then again, maybe he did mean more--he has a big sister too.

AquaBike

Isaac and I did something fun together yesterday.  We went with another mom and son combo down to Lake Las Vegas to participate in a "timed workout".  There were two choices.  A sprint triathlon 400M swim, 12 mile bike, 5K run or a swim, bike, swim again.  (Same two first distances as the tri, but you swim again at the end and skip the run.)  We all opted to do the "AquaBike" because swimming in open water is our weak spot.  This was Isaac's first open water swim without a life jacket.  He has now experienced the starting frenzy, the crowd in the water, the feeling of too many legs and arms thrashing around you.  His big handicap was not being able to see far without glasses.  I thought it would be easier for him on the first round, staying with the crowd, but he drifted to the right too much and was getting run over by the return crowd.  He liked the second swim much better because there was almost no crowd to worry about (1/2 the people were running and he was ahead of many adults) and by then, he knew where to go.

Both boys thought is was the hardest bike ride they have ever gone on.  It was a two lap circuit of the resort with a couple of serious hills.  Isaac has a big heavy bike, but still rode hard.  The boys finished together and got lots of attention.  The guy with the microphone kept congratulating them and remarking on their ages.  Everyone was so impressed that they wanted to participate and did so well.  They were worn out but both started trying to talk us into letting them sign up for the real Tri coming up in September.  We voted them down.  The crowd is MUCH bigger.  The swim is longer, well, I guess the sprint is the total of what they did, but put together so you are in the water for a longer consecutive time.  The bike is longer and harder and they haven't ever done the full 5K after biking and heat is going to be an issue too.  We told them they could try the Adult Sprint in St George next April and we'll help them train more during the summer if they are serious about trying it next year.  They are quite the young athletes.

Other news.  The kids know the end of summer is approaching and are trying to fill every spare moment with play.  We have had 6-7 kids at our house from morning till night most days for the past couple weeks.  It's good to see that Makenna is no where near too big for dress-ups.  The birthday earrings have lost none of their charm.  She changes her earrings to match the outfits she and her friends come up with, multiple pairs per day.  The capes I made for Isaac when he was little are now more often wrap around skirts and elegant draped dresses with scarves tied here and here.  Ah, it brings back memories.  

Jess is having her last swim lesson of the season this week.  Her crawl and backstroke look quite good and she is learning the breast stroke.  She wants to do swim team next year.  She and her friend Ellie have been practically living together, but it's still not enough for them.  Ellie's mom told me this quote heard early one recent morning, "Mom, you never let me play with Jessica!"  (Ellie had been at our house till 9pm the night before.)

The weather is still hot.  One morning it was cool enough that we blew air in for an hour before shutting up the house, but now the night lows are back to the mid 80's.  We are certainly on the downside of the heat though.    I am looking forward to longer runs again in September and October mornings without having to wake up at 4.

Happy Anniversary to Us

So Matt and I have officially been married for 14 years now.  Due to incredibly busy schedules on Tuesday, we went out a day early.  Over the past year or so, we have had lots of shopping dates when one of us has to run to Costco, Home Depot, the grocery store and so the other of us tags along.  Or we go on running dates in the early morning or late night.  So it's not like we have been lacking quality time alone; however, going out in the evening on a more "traditional date" was a rare treat.  And it was a marvelous evening.  We tried a new restaurant in the Aliante Station.  It was Italian and very tasty.  It is such a pleasure to sit and talk and be served.  ahhh.  It would have been nice to linger a little longer, but we wanted to try and catch a movie too.  Yes, we were going all out.

We saw Inception and it was very good.  We both agree it's the best either of us has seen it quite a long time.  It was clever, well written, well acted, and we have no idea how they shot certain sequences.  We highly recommend it if you are looking for a movie of substance.

When we got home, we found the kids had given us the best anniversary gift ever.  This was by far the longest they had been left alone.  They had our numbers plus those of 3 close neighbors.  We called once between dinner and the show and all was well.  We trusted that they would be perfectly safe, but maybe rushing to bed at the sound of the garage door opening.  This is what we found instead.

We walked in to find a loaded dishwasher, a wiped off table and swept kitchen floor.  There was a note on the table from Isaac.  "The girls are in my room."  We went up to see.  Jess was already asleep on her pile of pillows.  Makenna had her own cozy spot too, made from a futon mattress pushed into the gap between Isaac's bed and dresser.   They had showered, brushed teeth, read scriptures, made cozy beds and had lights out while listening to Harry Potter.  Wow.  They thought it was a great adventure and said, "Can you and dad go out more than once a year now?"  You bet!  We have already made plans to go together to ward temple night on Saturday.

Matt's Sensitive Side

It turns out that Matt is more sensitive than the rest of us.  He came downstairs a few days ago saying, "Did you feel that?  The house was shaking!"  Ummm, no I didn't.  Neither did the kids.  I thought maybe he mistook a back spasm or something.  He was confident about it though.  He looked online and,  sure enough, found that there had been an earthquake 30-40 miles away.  I think it was a 3.4 in strength.  Impressive.

Glow Stick Art

Matt brought home a pack of glow sticks and the girls had fun making art with them.  

Makenna with the lights off.

Lights on.

Notice anything about Jessica? 

Another lost tooth!  Matt's new favorite word for her is "finger".  It comes out "thinger". 

Here are all their projects together.

Late Over

The girls had a late over with a friend each one night while Isaac was at football practice.  (Yes, football has started up again--3 nights a week.  We actually missed the first week while waiting for swim team to end.)  They dressed up in matching dress-ups and watched Princess and the Frog.  They danced to every song.

Makenna Paris and Makenna

Jess and Ellie

Cute Do

We did "Princess Leia" hair for Makenna.  Later she added the bandana and I thought it was even cuter.  She wasn't thrilled to do a photo shot, but I a snatched a couple anyway.

(Those numbers on her arm are the races she was in for the All-Stars Swim Meet.)