TEACHERS ROCK!

Today was Carly's last day of Kindergarten. This year has gone by so fast and she has learned so much. It's amazing the difference a year makes. She is so confidant and able. She makes friends easily and loves being involved in games and fun her friends are having. I am so grateful to the teacher she had this year who had such a positive, uplifting attitude with the students. She worked so hard with each of them. Carly came home today with a 30-40 full page booklet full of pictures of her with her friends, teachers, parents, grandparents--all the things that had happened this school year and several of the special projects she'd made or been involved in. Some of the pictures had been taken in the last day or two. She has 25 kids in her class so this teacher has been working hard to put together these wonderful memory books for all these kids. I am simply amazed and grateful for such a wonderful teacher. She made all the difference in Carly's experience this year. Thank you Mrs. Gray!

CART WHAT, WHERE?!

So, this evening after at least twelve years--maybe 15 of not having done a cartwheel or round-off I decided to try my hand at them again. I had a good reason for trying. Carly needs help advancing in her gymnastics class. In order to advance you have to be able to do both a cartwheel and a round off.

Jono is built like a gymnast and that makes it easy for him to learn and do nearly everything they teach him. He was able to advance to the next class without problem. Carly did well at most things but hasn't quite gotten her cartwheels to the stage where they want them to be. And she is still struggling to perfect her round-offs, as well.

I decided that since I used to be really good at both I could help her. So, after dinner tonight we went out back and started cart-wheeling. I quickly found out my arm strength wasn't what it used to be and landed unceremoniously (and uncomfortably) on my bottom a few times. I got to the point after several times that I was afraid to try again. I mean, really afraid to try. I would hold my arms up and try to go forward and couldn't make myself move. Literally!

Jono would come over and tell me my arms weren't quite straight enough or Carly would tell me to adjust my body differently -- obviously, they've been listening to their teachers. Still, I couldn't make myself move. Then, I'm not sure if I saw one of the kids do a cartwheel the opposite direction or if it just occurred to me to try but all of the sudden I wondered if I was trying to do with my right arm when I should be using my left. I am right handed but I wondered if maybe on cartwheels I had always started off left-footed and left-handed for some reason. I figured it was worth a try.

BINGO! That was the problem. I can't make sense of it because I'm not left-handed/sided for anything else I can think of. It seems like being right-handed that my right side would be the strongest but when I came down on my right side in a cartwheel tonight it would give way like I had never used it that way before. When I did the cartwheel left handed it felt natural and I could do the cartwheel and the round off. Now, I wasn't perfect after that many years not doing them, and I did have to practice a few times to get it right, but I was able to do well enough to help Carly start doing hers better. There will definitely be more practicing for both of us!

Not too shabby for a chick in her 50's eh? :p

CARLY'S GYMNASTIC'S SHOW

Carly had her first gymnastics show today. She's been doing gymnastics for a few months now and is doing quite well. I was surprised how many things they have them doing at such a young age. I guess that's why you see so many young gymnasts at the Olympics ~ DUH! Lol!

Here is Carly's performance on the balance beam. I was a nervous mommy but she managed to stay up there and did really well. Yay Carly!

WHAT A GUY!

I have the best husband. Today we were all hurrying to get ready for church when I got a migraine. I laid down for awhile to try to get it under control. I thought for a bit I had it managed and finished getting Carly ready while Rob got Jono and himself ready. I got nauseous again and really struggling but was still determined to make it as the final few minutes hit before we were supposed to be there. I threw on my dress and was trying to do something with my hair when Rob must have noticed the pain on my face.

He had already suggested I stay home once but I really wanted to get there. I was supposed to help teach and I didn't want to let the other teacher down. When he saw my face and realized how sick I was he put a stop to it and told me he would get someone to stand in for me. He told me to go back to bed and get some rest so I could feel better and off he went with the kids. I absolutely LOVE that man! It still took me the rest of the day to knock the worst of my migraine but I would have been in much worse shape if I'd left the house. I'm so blessed to have such a compassionate, loving husband! Thank you honey, I love and adore you!

THE GREAT LUCKY CHARMS CAPER

Jonathon is a good little boy whom I'm afraid has his Mama's number. He is a very active four and half year old who can be either the sweetest boy on the planet or the King of Disagree and Disobey -- of course, depending on the moment. He tends to act out with me more than anyone else and it is very frustrating as I spend more time with him than anyone else. Lately I've been searching the parenting books and blogs for ideas on how to curtail his "Kingly" behavior and bring out more of his sweetness.

Because Carly has been in Kindergarten this year, I've spent a lot of one on one time with Jono but I ran into this thought the other day that made sense. It suggested spending a very focused 15 minutes of bonding with each child every day and said if you did you would find yourself having less problems with them. I decided to try it out yesterday.

When Jono woke up he came in to cuddle with me like he usually does but he wasn't there long when he said he wanted some cereal. He wanted to get it himself and since he's becoming very independent about such things I let him. He ended up bringing it in the bedroom--just the container -- not a bowl of cereal and milk. It was Lucky Charms. He came back and cuddled by me with his Lucky Charms in bed. I noticed he was pretty much just eating the marshmallows, a real no-no at our house. I started to tell him he had to eat all of the cereal he took when something happened to me. I reverted to a four and half year old. I joined him. We both ate the Lucky Charms. Just the Lucky Charms. Until they were gone. We bonded - big time! It worked! We had a much better day together.

The dilemma. Well, there are a couple. What do I do with the rest of the cereal. It's Rob's favorite, too. I have to get rid of the evidence. I don't want to just waste it and throw it out. That would be bad, right? Worse than eating all of the charms, right? Yah, that's what I thought. I mean, no one wants to eat just the . . . what are THOSE things anyway? I guess I will go with plan B and give them to the dogs. They won't tell on us and will just be happy to have a treat!

My next dilemma is how do I top that Mama/Son bonding experience? I mean, I can't be eating a box of Lucky Charms with him every day just to get him to behave better! I will say, it did help a ton to get down in his world and see things from his four year old perspective. He was in his sweet mode most of the day! Guess, I just need to try to remember what it was like to be four . . . more. Although, if any of you have suggestions on how to get boys to listen to their Mama's better, I'm all ears! :) Now, off to get rid of the evidence before there's a Saturday morning cereal incident! Lol!

HERE'S YOUR SIGN

Today was a busy day. It started early with Carly going on her first school bus ride. The Kindergarten took a trip to the Zoo today. She had a great time. Then this afternoon sister Julie surprised the kids by coming up on the train. She wanted to be here for Jono's pre-school graduation. After she arrived we headed off to his graduation ceremony. It was much bigger than I expected. He only has 12 kids in his class but there were 58 kids on the stage so his teacher has several classes. They performed several songs for us and showed us that they could do the alphabet in sign language. I didn't know he could do that! He has never showed me those skills before. I'm going to have to pick his brain a little more to see just what he has learned!

MONDAY'S MUSINGS

I didn't get much accomplished today due to a major migraine. Carly is out of school for 3 days due to end of year testing and hers was today. She did really well. She is a very smart little girl. I did manage to pull it together long enough to get her to her testing and to take the kids and some friends to the park for a short while. After that they had gymnastics so it was a busy day. My headache didn't go away until way into the evening so I just kind of had to function with it anyway. No fun! Well, not much else happened today. We're all a bit wasted from working hard on the weekend I think. More later. 

GARDENING WEATHER!

It was a beautifully HOT Saturday! A lovely day for gardening and so we were able to hire in a couple of professionals! Okay, no we didn't but we did better than that! Thank goodness for Grandma and Grandpa or we might have to fill our whole front garden area with large rocks! I am not the child who got the green thumb!

And don't worry, Grandpa is not wheelchair bound. He does use it on occasion but this just seemed to be one of those occasions it worked well for. It allowed him to be close enough to help. We get lots of compliments from the neighbors every year once the garden is in. Don't know what I'd do without my professional help--and I certainly don't want to find out, either! Lol!

I can't believe I managed to get all three pictures without their little helpers. Carly and Jono were helping quite a bit of the time. They bring them plants, peat moss, tools, whatever they need. It's a great little working relationship . . . most of the time! Hahaha!

The masters at work

Hard at work making everything beautiful!

Hello to everyone back home!

 

TIRED MOMMY BRAIN

Today was my lucky day. The kids have a crazy schedule for the next couple of weeks with school ending and I was pretty sure I had it all down correctly. Though, I was wrong and didn't know it. I'd even gone over it with Rob last night to make sure we knew what was happening when but that didn't make me any righter! I thought Carly had her first piano recital tomorrow (Friday) evening at 6:00. I had invited Grandma and Grandpa and her sister Megan. Then this late this afternoon, just by happenstance, I had a short email exchange with her piano teacher that had nothing to do with her piano lessons or the recital. At the end of our correspondence she said she would see me at the recital this evening. I had a huge moment of panic! I wasn't at home at the time but ran home to check the flier. Sure enough, I'd gotten it wrong! Gah!

Luckily, I'd had Carly do her full practice time this morning and luckily, I hadn't already missed the recital! I quickly got ahold of Rob and Megan and let them know of the change. I told Grandma and Grandpa I would tape it for them as I didn't them to have to hurriedly get ready. I felt so stupid but mostly I just felt grateful I found out about it in time to get her there for it. I could have so easily made her miss the entire thing. I feel like I've been doing a lot of stuff this lately. I'm going to call it #tiredmommybrain!

Carly did a great job. I was most proud of her when she stood up and introduced herself and her piece to a roomful of mostly strangers. That could be very intimidating to a little six year old. She was very brave and made me very proud! Love my little girl so much!

SUMMER IS COMING FAST

Grandma and Grandpa both got out today to do some flower shopping. They came home with a whole bunch of flowers for the front gardens. They will be so pretty once they are all planted.

It was such a nice day here I let the kids ride bikes outside after school. It got up into the seventies. They played with the neighbor kids for awhile and then I took them to get some slushies. It was so nice to have a warm day. I am crossing my fingers and hoping I can actually plant my raspberry bush soon.

Rob had flown to California yesterday for some training and flew back in this evening. I'm always so happy when his feet are back on the ground! He got home around 9:30 this evening and we were all so glad to have our daddy home!

I can't believe how fast the end of the school year is coming. Carly has already stopped bringing home school work and all they are doing is review work. She has her testing next week and then their big activity is a trip to the zoo. Jono has his graduation next week from Pre-school. Wow, Summer is coming fast! I'm actually kind of excited to have them home for a bit. Remind me I said that when I'm whining later. On second thought . . . don't. I think I'd rather just whine. Lol!

THE SUN WILL COME OUT TOMORROW . . .

It was a nice enough day that Grandma got out and did some gardening. We have lots of weeds to remove before any planting can begin. However, there is a hard freeze warning for tonight. I wish the weather would STOP doing that! Or if it's going to do that if it could maybe just freeze and kill all of our weeds for us! 

I had big plans for getting things done today but I was watching my own four year old and someone else's so I accomplished very litte~aside from mothering. Ah well, there's always tomorrow!

BEAUTIFUL RAINBOW

I stole this from Facebook but I fell in love with it the moment I saw it. Now this is my kind of rainbow!

OUR LITTLE BOMBER

You've heard of a photo bomber. Well, we have a blessing bomber at our house. We were all at the table for our lovely Mother's Day dinner. We bowed our heads and were ready for Rob to give the blessing on the food and before Rob could even open his mouth Jono started and finished the prayer. He said it so fast I'm not sure anyone understood a word he said - well, except for Heavenly Father, pretty sure HE got it. Funny kid. (By the way--he's also the photo bomber at our house.) Hmmm. I should probably start to worry about him if this behavior continues. Lol.

SHARKS!

Today we spent the day at a very large aquarium. It was so large it actually was a huge 3 story building that holds 2,500 people at a time to view everything in it. We got to see Sharks, Penguins, Otters, and different fish of all kinds. We also saw turtles, birds, spiders, scorpions, lizards and all things creepy crawly. It really was a fascinating place and the kids loved it. We had a great time there. They even had a swinging rope bridge kind of like you expect to see in the jungle that you cross if you were brave enough. I was not--so I was the photographer for the group. I took a video of the brave ones from the other side. Carly is sitting here telling me what to type. She says I have to explain that it was her, Jono and Daddy that were the brave ones. Sorry if you were confused before that. Lol.

After we finished at the aquarium, my delightful entourage took me out to eat for Mother's Day. We went to a really good Mexican restaurant in SLC. Then when we got home they surprised both Grandma and me with flowers. It's been a really nice day! Now, I'm ready for some shuteye!

MAMA KNOWS . . . UH, NOTHING

I learned today that spaghetti is not pasta. To be fair, I learned it from my six year old daughter who wanted me to make "Pasta" a dish she was certain she'd never had before. Pretty comical since her favorite meal is spaghetti. Lol! I kept trying to teach her that spaghetti was one of many pasta's but she stopped listening after she tired of my "wrongness." Lol. After all, it was only "mom" telling her. If it had been her best friend at school or her teacher or even Grandma it might have been true but she's reached that magic age when she often knows more than mom! Oh JOY!

I humored her and made PASTA for dinner. I made Rigatoni, shells and some kind of twisty pasta (can't think of the name at the moment) with our spaghetti sauce for dinner. That made her very happy. Then at dinner I mentioned out loud that she didn't believe spaghetti was pasta, to which Rob immediately said, "Carly, spaghetti is pasta! There are lots of kinds of pasta." And of course, once an expert on the subject had spoken she simply said, "Oh, O.K." End of questioning. Grrr.

OUR DAY

So grateful I took pictures and posted them of our beautiful iris because this morning we had a thundering hailstorm that really beat them up! Big frown! I couldn't believe it when I looked out and saw the hail coming down. It was really tiny. Smaller than tic tacs. But it was heavy and then all of a sudden the thunder started and clapped really loud. I had turned from the window by then and heard what I thought was a heavy rainstorm begin. Then, the kids called me back to the window to look because they said the hail had gotten worse. I couldn't believe it. What a wild morning. Just a few days ago it was 86 degrees and today it was 46 degrees. Yep, hang around for ten minutes and the weather will change!

Unfortunately, I woke up to a sick boy this morning. Jono's breathing is bad again. He was coughing so hard when he woke up that he started vomiting. Had to start him on special breathing treatments and have been going at it all day and will through the night also. He is doing somewhat better but  only because we are treating it so often. Please keep him in your prayers for us. Thanks and love to all.

BEAUTIFUL FLOWERS

Our irises are in bloom and that actually means my Grandma Flint's irises are in bloom. These were actually grown from transplanted bulbs brought from her farm some 1500 miles away. Aren't they gorgeous?! I just love them and they remind me so much of her! I love you Grandma! Happy Mother's Day!

 

 

OUR SABBATH

Had a really nice Sunday. Got a call mid morning that we'd be having visitors after church so I got busy and made a different dinner than I'd planned so there would be plenty to share. Mom helped a lot. She made her yummy potato salad and her really tasty oatmeal cake.

We had a really nice visit with our friends. It was one of the missionaries who had served in Greencastle in the late seventies. Even though we'd communicated since then, this was the first time I'd seen him since. So, it had been a very long time. Most of his kids are grown and gone but he and his wife had one daughter, a teenager with them and it was so nice to catch up. They were on their way back home after visiting grandchildren.

Megan made it over tonight and we watched a movie with her and the kids. It was nice to just all hang out together. She's been busy or not feeling well the last couple of weeks so we were all happy to see her.

Yesterday, we kind of blew off all the things we needed to do around the house and just spent time with the kids. We took them to the amusement park and let them have fun riding the rides. They love that! It was such a nice, warm day. I think it got up to nearly 85 degrees.

Rob has the next few days off so maybe we can accomplish something--or who knows, maybe we will just play. It's not often he gets to just have time off. So, we will probably just enjoy ourselves.

THE JOYS OF PRACTICING . . .

Or maybe I should say of getting my little girl to practice! A couple of mornings ago Carly had a case of the mellow dramatics. She began melting down the minute I asked her to practice her piano assignments. Her piano teacher wants her to practice 30 minutes, 5 days a week. When she does it, she learns well and gets better but it can seem like a lot to her and she gets easily overwhelmed. Her teacher offers her a reward if she does all of her practice time. I also have a reward system for her but all of these are easy for her to forget in a moment of drama.

At any rate, she started having a  meltdown this morning even before I started the timer. AND she kept stopping and coming to me with excuses why she couldn't practice every few minutes. I was seriously stopping and re-starting the timer every 2-3 minutes to have a "rah-rah" discussion with her.

Grandma came up during this time to make breakfast for Grandpa and her. She caught on pretty quickly to what was going on. She told me she was pretty sure the whole "practice drama" was the reason she never took piano lessons. She said she watched her sister Kaye go through the same thing when she was Carly's age. So, when her mom (my Grandma) asked her if she wanted to take lessons she said "No!" She did not want to have to come in from playing and having fun outside and be tied down to a piano like her sister! Lol!

While Grandma and I were talking in the kitchen, we could hear Carly moaning and carrying on in the front room (trying to get me to lighten her)"sentence while she practiced." She was like Monty Hall on LET'S MAKE A DEAL offering me 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes--but not 30 Mom! She was making herself sound so miserable that it made Grandma and me giggle a little. I had to have her keep practicing though, since she has a recital at the end of this month and is just starting to learn her song. As she started to play again, a thought came to me, and when I said it out loud it made Grandma and me laugh a little harder, "Would you believe the song she is practicing right now to play at her recital is Ode to Joy?" True story! Trust me - there was no joy in the piano room! Lol! (Though, I'm sure one day, she'll thank me!)   :D

Miss Carly ~ Banging on the keys
Probably age 4