Dental Drama

Malia has started losing her baby teeth. This is perfectly normal, of course, but for some reason it is totally traumatic for her. We don’t get all crazy and pull them or anything, she just gets upset about the whole thing. Her latest loose tooth has been just barely hanging in there for about a week already and she has not been looking forward to having it fall out. On the way home from my parents’ house this evening, the thing finally decided to let go and it fell out. Not surprisingly, she was not happy about it.

I must be a terrible mother, because her hangdog expression had me laughing my head off. Once she recovered enough to stop crying, she solemnly declared, “I guess it really happens-people lose teeth on Sundays.”😄

I’d Happily Keep This One

My sisters and I decided a few years back that we would make a quilt for each of the nieces and nephews when they graduated from high school. We take turns but we make sure we don’t make a quilt for our own children because then it is just from Mom and not from the aunties. This year it was my turn to make a quilt for my nephew Josh. I absolutely loved the way it turned out. It is one of those quilts that comes together so perfectly that I wouldn’t change a thing. I told Josh that if we didn’t like it, I would keep it. He graciously declined my offer. 😊

Dorkilicious

Birthday celebrations for my big kids have become pretty low key. Last year Nathan invited a huge crowd and they played improv games. All I had to do was provide food. This year he downsized and took a small group of cronies to an escape room. All I had to do was provide food. Nathan thrives on solving puzzles, enjoys cryptograms and the like, and is good at problem solving so it was a perfect fit for him. The game he chose was Harry Potter themed so his inner nerd was happy too. All the kids had a great time and Nathan says doing the same thing every year (although choosing a different theme) would be fantastic.

In the past year, Nathan has grown comfortable in his own skin. He loves being on the stage crew at school and between that, choir and the musical, he has found a group of friends who have the same interests and with whom he gets along well. He has embraced his inner dork and is completely at ease with his own wacky sense of humor. In my opinion, it’s a good thing. Being at ease with who he is will make the rest of his teenage years (and actually, the rest of his life) just a bit easier. Self-confidence is one of those things that makes the day to day grind seem a bit less harrowing.

Nathan still loves music and playing piano is his “happy place.” He is confident enough in his skills that he is willing to step up and play the organ in sacrament meeting if needed. He enjoys a variety of different music (classical, ragtime, and jazz are just a few of his likes) and discovering his inner Broadway nerd means that I can play all the showtunes I want with no complaints from him. 😊 He is generally quite thoughtful and is (almost) always willing to help in whatever way he can. He has become a bit of an organizing guru as well as his innate OCD has become apparent. He is terribly pleased that he has grown so much that he may, in fact, be taller than Daniel before he is done. Luckily for him, Daniel is in no way threatened by that and takes in all in stride.

Overall, Nathan is a good kid. Especially for a teenager. He’s pleasant to be with and everything. He has come a long way from the toddler who didn’t talk to the teen that won’t stop. But some things remain the same: to quote the illustrious Nathan, “Once a dork, now a dork, always a dork.”

Those Super Yummy Gummy Bears Arrived Today!

 The kidlets are happy!

A Year at the Opera

Matthew’s teacher is one of those who is a firm believer in the arts. She incorporates the arts into her classroom regularly and the kids have come to love all the art, music, drama and dance that she uses to reinforce learning. In fact, she is so good that this year she won a state award for excellence in incorporating the arts into her classroom. Here is the tidbit about her class that is posted on the school website:

“In an effort to create a well-balanced educational experience that addresses the many and varied needs of each child, K.L. intentionally creates consistent and frequent integrated arts experiences with her students.

Mrs. L.'s fourth grade students perform brain dances every morning to get their thinking started on the right foot. They also learn the elements of dance while learning important academic concepts in memorable ways. They create and perform dances for many concepts, including the rock and water cycles, clouds, weather, fossils, geometry, fractions, and multiplication. One of the students’ favorite experiences is creating and performing Native American hoop dances during their study of Utah history.

One project in particular that showcases Mrs. L.’s ability to integrate all four art forms into her instruction is her current opera production. The students have created the story, music, lyrics, scenery, and costumes. We’ve enjoyed watching the process take shape, and we can’t wait to share the finished production with our community.”

Matthew has really enjoyed being in her class this year. He is so active that getting up to dance around is good for him and helps him stay focused. He loves music and singing and really enjoys the art and dancing as well. As for the opera, the kids have been working on it all year and Matthew was super excited that today was performance day. Utah opera has a program where the teachers take a class about the creation of an opera in their classrooms and then, when the kids have created their librettos, they send them to Utah opera and someone writes the music for them. Then they rehearse and perform their opera. His teacher has wanted to do an opera for years but had never been able to take the class. This year our school’s full-time music specialist (I’m so glad we have him! My kids love him!) was able to take the class so he and Mrs. L. were able to work together to make the opera happen.

The kids did a great job. I was so pleased with what they came up with. And they were all pleased as punch. Our local free newspaper (not one of the biggies) even wrote an article about it. So last year Matthew’s class was on the news and this year they are in the paper. He’s had great teachers and I’m so grateful for everything they’ve done for him!

It Was the Cat’s Meow!

Instead of having a tradition concert, the high school jazz band did a “speakeasy” for their final concert. They played all the numbers the ensemble has learned this year and filled in the rest of a 2-hour set list with solos and smaller ensembles the kids rehearsed and prepared on their own. The kids dressed in 1920’s style and they set up tables and chairs in the commons area. The music was fabulous and the kids were obviously enjoying themselves. There were other high school kids who dressed up and danced the night away. They had drinks for sale (although not illegal and definitely not alcoholic 😉). There were not enough seats for all those who came. It was a come and go as you want event and we hadn’t planned to stay for the entire time, but they had enough music that they didn’t need to start repeating things until long after they thought they would and we were enjoying it so much that we stayed for the entire set. It was just a super fun, successful evening and we had a great time!

They are already making plans for next year’s speakeasy and I’m looking forward to it.

A Rainbow and Fruit Flavors

Today was a big day at kindergarten. They called it Kaleidoscope Day, probably because the kids got to show their parents the rainbow of skills that they’ve developed this year. There were a dozen or so stations set up in the gym and Malia got to take me to each one and show off some of the skills she’s gained this year. It was so fun to see how confident she has become this school year and I think she really enjoyed showing off her knowledge.

The other super exciting part of kaleidoscope day is that all the kindergarteners got to eat lunch at school. Malia has eaten lunch at the school on a number of different occasions when we eat with Matthew, but this was her very first time eating hot lunch. She knew right where the allergy table is and luckily for her, there is one other allergy kid in her class who has become a friend. Renee and Malia will be in the same class again next year and I’m glad she’ll have someone to sit next to at lunch.

In other news, I made an absolutely fabulous discovery today. While I was at Sprouts, one of the employees was refilling the bulk bins and I happened to see him dump a huge bag of gummy bears into the bin. Sprouts has the best gummy bears ever and these particular gummy bears were one of the two food items Malia cried over when she developed her peanut allergy and could no longer eat a bunch of stuff. I perused the bag he tossed aside figuring it wouldn’t hurt to know what brand they were. When I got home, I looked up those Albanese brand gummy bears and was absolutely thrilled to discover that the only reason Matthew and Malia can’t eat them is because of the cross-contamination risks of the bulk bins! There are several of the package sizes that have a warning on them due to where they are packaged, but most of them are allergen free!  I did a very serious happy dance! And then ordered about 13 pounds of assorted gummies. They have bears, butterflies, jumbo bears, airplanes and soldiers for Memorial Day, snakes, worms and many other fun shapes. This is one of those absolutely fabulous discoveries. Malia was thrilled! Matthew was thrilled! I was thrilled! It was a great day!

Here Comes the Sun