* s k i r t *

For almost 3 years now Chloe has wanted to learn to sew. When we homeschooled I found a sewing "curriculum" that I wanted to try, but we never got that far. She knew about the sewing class our city offers every summer, but you have to be 8 years old to take it, so she has been counting down the days. We finally got her enrolled and her first class was on Monday. She's having a ball, but I'm dealing with a different situation while she's gone. Her little sister, yeah Sophie, decided that while Chloe's off sewing I need to be sewing. She somehow talked me into sewing a skirt for her. I think it was one of those days where she was just going on, and on, and on and after I came back from spacing out I must have said "yes," not knowing what I was agreeing to. So, while Chloe went to sewing class Sophie and I went to look at patterns. We had to go shopping for fabric for Chloe's projects, so Tuesday we went and got that, as well as fabric for Sophie's skirt. Then Wednesday while Chloe was back at her class I sat down to work on the skirt. The pattern said it could be done in an hour, so I thought that would be perfect timing (her class is 1 1/2 hours). Hmmm, it didn't quite work out that way. I think I finished the skirt at about 6:00, just as my family was getting very hungry and wondering if I was going to feed them that day, or just sew all day. In spite of all the work it took, it wasn't too bad. The best reward is Sophie's LOVE for her new skirt. She takes it off when she eats, because she doesn't want to get it dirty. She has a new spring in her step -- just wearing it makes her feel special. Now I think I'm expected to make one for Chloe as well, but by the time she's done with her class I'm thinking she can make her own.

One Week Down

Our first week of no school has been pretty awesome. We do our reading, studying and chores in the morning and then have the entire afternoon to do whatever the kids want. We've even added to our morning devotional (I got a new book!) and are working on personal prayers. Chloe has memorized the 13th Article of Faith, and Sophie's well on her way. I decided to start with the last one so all the others won't seem so hard.

We are having some great weather as well. Everyone around me seems to complain a lot, but this is what I like. Temps are in the 70's, and we get light rain showers almost daily. I haven't ran the heater or air conditioner for several weeks (except the AC for a short time while Dallas was here), so I'm going to love my utility bills even more.

Monday the girls just hung out in their room all afternoon. They were supposed to be cleaning it, but what was the rush? I think they spent 4 hours on it. Tuesday they played with friends. Wednesday we were supposed to go to the park with those friends I found from Cheyenne, but we got rained out. So, instead we went to the library, took Chloe to DQ (her reward for the 13th AoF), tried to go to another park but got rained out again, so we came home and read some extra "Alice in Wonderland." Thursdsay we joined our neighborhood for an outing to "This is the Place Heritage Park." Our ward has finally got it's butt in gear and are doing more activities. They were even smart enough to plan this on the free day -- two points for Jennings Lane Ward! We had a super fun time, in spite of the rain, but hey, it sure beat the 95 degree weather we had the last time we were there. Friday (today) we went to the open house for the new Church History Library. It was amazing -- all the stuff they have, and we can go browse through it whenever we want. They had a bunch of different stations set up, demonstrating how they do various things. And the movie they played at the beginning of the tour was really good. Afterwards we went over to Legacy Theatre and watched the Joseph Smith movie again. We've seen it before, but I was really hoping to watch it again while in Nauvoo but we didn't get to it, so I've been wanting to go see it ever since we got back.

Here's the slideshow to photos from our outing yesterday. It was sure fun to have friends along!

Quarantined

Yesterday was kind of exciting. We have one KNOWN, confirmed case of swine flu in our neighborhood and several others that are either suspected or rumored to be. We have a couple doctors in our ward, who were apparently concerned about it, so we got church cancelled. This was actually the second time in about a month -- when we were in San Francisco they cancelled due to a power outage, but we were around for this one. All church activities have been cancelled for the week, which was a little discouraging because I had just spent the day getting all my visiting teaching appointments set up. Darn it! And the girls had a primary activity (frowny face). The good news is that Brandon doesn't have to go to any appointments, so his evenings are all free! I don't know how long our quarantine is going to last, because I've heard the virus will linger for 18-24 months but I just can't see them cancelling church that long. We'll probably be back next week with the same infected people (well, hopefully those that are sick will stay home), but who knows how many carriers there will be.

End of School Year

What a fun, busy week we've had. I don't know why they try to cram all the fun things into the very last week of school. Seriously, can't they space field trips and parties throughout the year? Anyhow, I'm sure the kids love it. On Tuesday I got to go help with a water party Sophie's class was having -- it was actually for all the first graders. I was in charge of the "duck, duck, goose" game. We just rotated through the classes. They had so much fun, and are so easy to make happy at this age. Afterwards we got popsicles. I got a red one (which I usually prefer), but as I ate it I realized it wasn't the typical red cherry. It was pina colada! What a nice surprise. The other helper mom even came and asked me if I noticed -- of course! I wonder what brand they were. So, back to the party, Sophie came home a little damp. She really wasn't all that wet, especially by the time we got home, but she wanted me to take a picture of her for Brandon to see. Now you all can see.



The next day was field day and talent show for Sophie's class. Chloe had a talent show a couple weeks ago. She played her one and only song she's learned on the piano. She messed up a bit at the start, which threw her off, but she just walked over to her teacher and told her, so her teacher asked me to come up and help her. I thought she handled the situation very well. I'm proud of Chloe and ALL her talents. Parents were not invited to Sophie's talent show, due to a space issue (they combined with another class). She took her crafts she loves to make as her talent. Since it was Wednesday (my volunteer day), Sophie's teacher still wanted me to help, but Chloe's teacher was fine. That left me with a little time to kill before going to Sophie's class, so I just went and hung out with Chloe. She's always happy to have me around. After school I got pictures of the girls with their teachers. Wasn't that so smart of me not to wait until the last day of school when everything gets so hectic?





I got to babysit Eli this morning and since his parents weren't back by the time school got out he got to surprise the girls as they came out of school. We let Eli play on the slides for a bit before walking home with our friends (and getting caught in the rain!) It sure will be nice to start our summer vacation and have the girls back home with me, but since this is my little soapbox I need to rant for a minute (you may stop here if you don't appreciate my rantings). How on earth are we supposed to teach our kids to love learning and value their education when they are fed so much "excitement" about being OUT of school? Everybody acts like it's such a great day, and makes absurd comments to my children about how happy they should be to be done with school. Hmmm, and we wonder why they start to hate school after so many years. Luckily, right now, my kids are still praying for 10-15 more weeks of school. Good thing I have a lot of books and worksheets planned for the summer.

And just in case you didn't know, my kids aren't going back to that school next year. I got them enrolled in a charter school, and we are getting more and more excited about it each day. I found an old VT partner from Cheyenne who is going to be attending (well, her son is!), and I have a 2ND cousin who is sending her two boys there -- who happen to be in the same grades as Chloe and Sophie! So, we're really happy to know some people that will be joining us.

One more note: We've started a new system for bedtime. It's so hard for the kids to go to sleep when it's still light outside, so Brandon printed off a calendar with the sunset time on each day. That is our new bedtime. We're hoping to teach the girls a little about the earth's rotation and possibly phases of the moon by doing so, and as summer progresses bedtime will get earlier and earlier preparing us for school in the fall. Yes, we can already hear the cries in December when they have to go to bed at 5:00. He He -- that is a joke (kind of). Our first night seems to have worked great. The girls crashed as soon as they hit their pillows. I'm sure that won't last, but it was a nice start.

Running Club

I promised you a post about running club, and here it is. Back in March the school started a running club. If you know me and extra-curricular activites, you know the two don't mesh. I won't ever stop my kids from doing something that interests them, but I'm certainly not going to push -- and so far they've had very few interests. Well, when I saw the poster for running club I put all my ideas aside and TOLD them (not asked) that we would be signing up for it. They were coming home from school every day so cranky and being mean to each other that I thought running a few laps would do them some good. I really hated the idea that they'd be away from home even longer than usual, but something needed to change. They met twice a week after school. It was so good for them. Chloe didn't really enjoy it, but Sophie had a blast. She's a good little runner, and she would beg for running club. Hopefully we can keep it up this summer and they can come run the track with me at the park.

Lava Hot Springs

Dallas and fam had a few weeks off of school and work so they decided to take a tour of their families. We had our turn last week (Tues-Fri). There's not a whole lot to see around Centerville, so I took them on a little hike. Jessica spent Wednesday evening with her sister in Bountiful, so we just got to hang out with Dallas. Thursday I had volunteered to accompany Chloe's class on a little "field trip" (aka teacher needs a day off). Again, Jessica had to go visit her dad so Dallas and Evan got to go on the field trip with us. The class just walked over to a park and played in the creek, then we ate a picnic lunch, and then they just played on the playground until Sister Packer (and Trent) showed up with her snow cone machine. I do believe it's Trent's snow cone machine, but Sister Packer runs that thing more than he does. Anyhow, that was our afternoon. Instead of walking back to the school, I took Chloe home with us about an hour early and then I took her back to school for her last day of running club (hmmm, I still need to post about that). Thursday evening we went back to Smoot Park for the THIRD time since their visit, for a family photo shoot. Then they moved on to their next stop Friday morning. It was good to see you guys!



But we didn't miss them for too long, since Saturday the family all met at Lava Hot Springs (in Idaho) for mom's birthday celebration. We tried to get a group photo taken at the sunken gardens before heading off to the pool. It was a nice day for swimming. We've signed up for two sessions of swimming lessons this summer, so this was a good kick off to start our summer. Unfortunately, we still have one more week of school. Then we can start MY schedule!