Recital!!!

Let’s Play Music!!!
It is always a lot of work and a little stressful but it turned out very fun. And it’s done! Ms. Anslin’s class (Benson is 2nd student from left).
  Nathan doing awesome! And classmate.

 Nathan (center) with his class and teacher, the wonderful Ms. Stephanie, who we will miss so much! Brooklyn and I agreed that if everyone were more like her - calm and happy - it would be good.

 Benson shakin’.

 Ms. Anslin coaching from the side. Benson focused and fantastic.

 Brooklyn providing the most polished performance of the night.

Folding colors

Benson wanted to make an 8 point or transforming ninja star so gathered supplies and looked up a tutorial (we used the one from Rob’s World).  When Truman and Nathan wanted to join us, I allowed them to help me fold. Nathan caught on quickly Truman, of course, had trouble getting a hold of it. I gave him some scrap paper to fold and he made a charming line of “tents.”  All in all, it was a great way to spend a snowy Saturday morning!

That Brooklyn's Fast

Wo! That snail Brooklyn is fast!*

Brooklyn started rec soccer last week and is having a great time running back and forth down that field. Her good friend Kayla even scored one of the first goals of the season! Brooklyn is often a midfielder because she can run.

They also had a "running test" in P.E. this week as they did at the beginning of the year. They run a timed mile with their. At the beginning of the year, she came in third (though it's not a race :) and her time was just over 8 minutes. This week, she paced herself well, gave a good sprint at the end, came in second in her class, and decreased her time to 7 minutes 45 seconds! We think that's cool.

Also this week, we attended a middle school orientation (!!!!!!!!!!!!!) for the gifted program she'll be in. It seems like a really great program and Brooklyn has some good friends attending also. She will have to wake up and get ready earlier which is a bit of a struggle currently but we are all excited.

*modified from the movie Turbo

Food

Brooklyn: I'm so hungry!
Mom: K. Come get a big drink of water and I'll make dinner. Do you want tacos or chicken salad?
Brooklyn: Tacos.
Benson: Pizza.
Nathan: I want chicken in my nuggets.

Benson

Lost his first tooth!

Like most things, he was pretty quiet about it being loose. Maybe he didn't even notice. I happened to see that it looked a little crooked one day and sure enough it was a little wiggly. A day or two later, I saw it dramatically out of place and still he hadn't said a word. It wasn't till I pointed it out that he admitted, "I have a loose tooth."

Friday night I got a text from the lady who was babysitting them for date night that he had wiggled it right out! He was pretty excited when he got home, showing it off for pictures and getting it ready to put under his pillow. The inconsistent and unpredictable tooth fairy gave him seventy five cents. I found them the next morning, first thing, around a layout of Brooklyn's money as she gave him a lesson about quarters and dollars, etc.

Then, tonight, I was finishing brushing my teeth, the kids all safely and quietly in bed when Benson comes in crying so sincerely I can't even understand what he is saying. Considering the happy manner he went to bed in, I was shocked. "I forgot something ...sob, sob, sob... primary ... sob, sob sob ...." I managed to understand that he had forgotten about the Book of Mormon challenge the primary is doing  and was just about heartbroken that he wouldn't be able to complete it. Now that's something worth getting out of bed and crying to mom for!

Gratefully we had read the night before and were able to read a few verses right then and make those oh-so-satisfying check marks on his bookmark.

Love that boy.

Welcome to Family Night!

We were a little late on it this week but it was worth the wait. Our kids are so funny!

It started with a big surprise for Dad. We all hid when we saw his car pull up, then when he walked on the room we jumped out and yelled "Welcome to family night!" This was reason enough for a huge tickle and we all (myself included) ended up being thrown on the couch.

Brooklyn was doing a lesson about the story of Abinadi and Alma so we sang "Follow the Prophet" with a quick-composed verse just for that story. It went something like this:

Alma was a prophet in King Noah's wicked rule.
When he heard Abinadi, he thought he was cool.
He followed the prophet and became one.
He taught and baptized in the waters of Mormon.

Then we acted out the story. My favorite part was that when Abinadi (Benson) and Alma (Brooklyn) were preaching to the people, their main message was "Here's a Book of Mormon! Read it!" HAHAHA! Alma did have the sense to follow up with "Do you want to get baptized?"

Last thing: when Nathan wants to read a book, sometimes he'll just say "Mom, will you read me a book," but more often he'll say "Mom, this book isn't readen to me yet." Sometimes he'll even repeat it because he knows its not quite right but he's not sure how to change it. Good thing he's so cute. :)

Wedding Day

Its funny that we talk about the wedding day. The "wedding" part of it is so short. The day part of it is getting ready and going then getting ready for the next part and taking pictures and cleaning up and getting ready for the next part. So I'm afraid my details of this day are not very exciting.

The sealing itself was wonderful. It was the most laugh-ful sealing I've ever witnessed but it was a good thing. And while the sealer kept a straight face and reverent attitude, he was pretty funny. :)

As I think of love, I think of this experience from a few weeks ago when Brooklyn admitted she loved Benson. He did something nice for her, traded seats or bags of chips or something she wanted. I complimented him and expressed my pleasure to him and Brooklyn. As Benson continued on his way, I whispered to Brooklyn "I think he likes you." She whispered back, "I like him too," then added a little shyly, "I love him!" As I confirmed the feeling she got all excited and squealed a bit like something super exciting was happening. And I think it was. It is an exciting thing just to love someone and be loved in return - even if it is your brother.

That was something that I witnessed at Kevin and Savannah's wedding. They were just so happy to be able to love each other. Another good thing to remember.

The details of the rest of the day are not worth delving into and I don't want to embarrass any of my children so I'll just say - it wasn't Truman that pooped on the side of the hotel pool ... You'll have to ask Matt more about that one.

The reception was lovely and fun. Unfortunately we had to leave early to make our plane. It was so nice to be with family though. We really do have awesome families and we miss them so much!

And the kids slept on the plane ride home (in the middle of the night) so maybe we'll have the courage to travel to see them again!