Even though the kids technically have one more week of school, it may as well be summer. We have been enjoying some wonderful warm days and eating lots of cool treats.
Jonah had his first ever Pinewood Derby! I didn't get any good pictures. The place was a zoo because they did a combined one with the ward we just split from. The whole gym was full! And Jonah didn't win any races. He still had a good time and next year we will try a little (or a lot) of tweaking to make sure his car is faster!
When Jonah came home from school yesterday, he was pretty upset. He exclaimed, "Today was the worst day ever!," which is what he says almost everyday. It's always hard when Jonah comes home. He has a lot of hard days. After further investigation, yesterday was a pretty bad day for Jonah. He had brought a book to school for his teacher to read to the class that he was really excited about. During the course of the day, the teacher forgot to read it to the class, and Jonah forgot to remind her at the end of the day. So he was pretty bummed about that. Then during recess, some kid kicked him, then apparently some kid pushed him and he fell down a hill on the playground. He got some scrapes on his knees and elbows and hands. He got sent to the nurse's office. They gave him some ice in a baggie. He put it in his backpack when it was time to come home. He was so upset when he found it melted and that it had gotten some things in his backpack wet. (This kind of thing is major for Jonah and really sets him off.) Well, the poor kid was in tears by the time he got home. I felt bad that he had such a bad day at school. This kid sure is interesting. He is either really happy or really upset. He is sometimes difficult to please and high-maintenance. But he sure is a great, talented kid. I'm still trying to figure out if the kicking and the pushing was the same thing, and whether or not it was an accident. It's hard when your kid has a bad day.
Being a mom sure is hard. Like when Peter had to leave Sacrament Meeting early because he forgot something at home and had to teach Sunday School, and then the kids all forgot how to sit still and started laying all over the bench and asking if they could go get a drink every 5 minutes.
That actually wasn't too bad. I've had WAY worse. But I won't talk about those times today. It's Mother's Day! Today, I am just grateful for these four (wow, four!) littles who follow me around and call my name all day long. Sure, they leave their socks on the floor. But they also leave dozens of creative drawings around too. They sneak into the fruit snacks, but they are always willing to grab a snack and bring it to me when I ask. They are LOUD kids. But without their noise, we'd rarely hear singing around the house, even if it is three kids singing three different songs all at once. So even though it's hard, it's what I chose and continue to choose. I choose to be a momma. It's not very glamorous. I am definitely not the best one. I struggle at it. But I try, day in and day out, and hopefully with motherhood, the effort really counts and Heavenly Father fills in the cracks. I've got a lot to live up to. For one, I'm not a good enough seamstress to sew us all matching clothes. But seriously, my mom just happens to be the best mom ever. In order to be the mom she is, I'd have to BE HER, which is impossible. But I do find myself doing and saying things she would, and I think, "I'm turning into my mother!" And I can only hope that's true.
I will always be grateful to my mother-in-law, for raising the stud muffin in orange pants. He is supportive and helps me as I try and figure out this motherhood thing.
Congratulations to Jonah! He stuck it out and finished Let's Play Music! Extra activities have been a real challenge for Jonah this year, and because of the stress of it all, Jonah almost didn't finish the program. I'm so glad that his teacher, Jodi, was caring enough to work with him and adapt things so he could still finish. My biggest concern was that he might have started to hate piano and music because of stress. He just requires a lot of free time since his school is so structured. He has learned a lot in LPM this year, including transposing, the key of F, the key of G, and composing his own music.
His classmates all sang a song about finding the root of the chord.
Here he is showing off his knowledge of three chords.
Here he is playing his very own composition, A Friend, A Bully.
Jonah was so funny. I could barely get him to practice in the days coming up to his recital. He was fine and not nervous at all though! I thought it was so funny how calm he was about it. He certainly showed me! When he was done, he ran up to me and excitedly said, "Mom, I only messed up twice!" He's definitely a different child than I was! I'm happy that he's proud of himself.
Congratulations, Jonah, on graduating from Let's Play Music and for all of your hard work over the last 3 years! You've come a long way, and you are one talented kid!
Monday, May 6, 2013
1. NAKED pallet by Urban Decay from Ulta- From everyday to going out
I've realized that I need to get back to blogging. I used to blog a lot more, obviously. It is work. It's not always the most fun thing to do.
After the kids' Spring Concert, I wanted to share the video I took of them with my family. It was a total pain; the video was too big to text, so I had to upload it to You Tube and then share it over email. I don't want to post videos of my kids on Facebook, so blogging seems like a good option to share with family.
After I posted the videos and made the entry, I looked at our blog a little. I went back to the first post, when Levi was born. Hard to think that was almost 5 years ago! Time has really flown. Those years of three kids in diapers are long gone and are a blur to me. Now we are in the throes of school, homework, piano, basketball, ballet, scouts, and chores. As I perused the blog, I noticed I was so grateful that I had taken the time to write down a lot of details (probably more than my readers wanted to know, but that my kids might someday), upload so many pictures, and write my feelings about everything the kids were doing. It wasn't the first time I've gone back and reminisced while looking at the blog. But this time was different. I saw the value of it. I realized that I have missed recording a year of our history. The kids are at a great time in life, and I am missing it. I haven't written about Peter and I and our hopes and dreams and struggles and successes. I've missed most of Everly's first year.
So as sad as I am for what I've lost, I think I've decided that the value of writing a family blog outweighs the inconvenience.
I am going to try to cover what I've missed. Of course I can add pictures and recount what we did, but I have a bad memory and won't be able to remember what I was feeling at every moment. So I'll start doing that with today. Today I am feeling the need to blog!
Jonah and Eden had a Spring Concert the other night. It was just for the 1st-3rd graders, so it was nice and short and not too crowded. I thought the songs were so cute and fun and not the usual drag you hear at school performances. No offense to our old school, but their concerts sucked! They were so crowded, you couldn't even hear the kids or see them, and the songs were mostly lame-o. Way to go, Mr. Holladay for putting on an entertaining Spring Concert!
One thing they did that was a ton of fun was have the 3rd graders sing "Do Re Mi" from The Sound of Music, and then they had the crowd join in for part of the song. That was a lot of fun.
Eden's class sang "Day-O" or whatever it's called. It was really cute. She's in the front in the navy and white striped dress.
Here's a video of Jonah's grade. He's the one in the front row really getting into it on the left of the kid in red.
He was cracking everyone up. Right before the song, he saw us in the crowd and said, "Mom! I forgot to brush my teeth!" He had us all laughing. He was obviously having a great time. When it was over, he was on such a high; he tried to give the kids around him a high five, but they all gave him the shaft. I felt bad for him, but he seemed okay. Then when they filed off the stage, an older man got out of his seat and came up to Jonah and gave him five!
At the end, the three grades got together to sing "Hey Now, You're a Leader." Since the kids are learning the Seven Habits at school, they sing a lot of songs about leadership. Eden and her friend, Kia, were totally jamming right up front. Jonah is somewhere a few rows back in the middle.
The kids really put their hearts and souls into performing their songs! I was super proud. I think they were the hit of the show. We got tons of comments afterward, even from the school principal! Great performing, kids!
