Silverwood Talent Show

Earlier this year at a PTA meeting, they announced that they didn't have any one to do the Talent Show this year because the person who did it previously couldn't do it this year.  I volunteered to do it because it is something that I have always enjoyed.  When I taught school, we would have a first grade talent show every year and my class and I would always do a dance number.  I loved watching kids share their talents and can't believe how brave they are to stand up on a stage and perform in front of a huge crowd.  I would not have been so brave at their age.

So, I just waited to hear from the PTA president before I started planning anything.  By the time April came, I hadn't heard anything and thought they had just forgot about me volunteering to help.  It was later in April when one of the PTA members wanted to know what I have been doing for the talent show.  I told her "nothing" because no one ever said anything else to me about it.

I finally started to plan out the talent show from then on.  Last year, a teacher was in charge and she had the kids practice each week for 8 weeks.  She also taught them a dance number that they did as a group.  I thought it was ridiculous to have practice for 8 weeks because they should come already prepared with their act.  So I decided that I would only have 2 practices and it turned out to be perfect.  Crazy, but perfect.

There were 35 kids who participated and I even got a number from a group of special ed kids.  How precious is that?

Mia and her friend Allison did a gymnastic's act.  I chose the music and started to come up with actions to start their routine but left the rest up to them.  It was so cute to watch Mia and Allison make up actions and do their gymnastic moves.  They were so creative and what they came up with was amazing.  I don't think I could have created something like that.

They performed for the school earlier in the day and then again for the parents in the evening.  Mia was on cloud nine as she told me of all the bigger kids from school who gave her so many compliments.  Her confidence level was boosted from this experience.  I thought she would be a little stage shy, but she wasn't.  I think it helped that she did it with a friend.

I didn't teach the kids a dance number but I did have them come back onto the stage after all the performances were done.  I played some music while announcing their names one act at a time.  They came to the center stage and struck a pose.  The kids absolutely loved it and for the evening performance it was a great photo op for the parents.

May turned out to be a super busy and hard month and so adding something more made it very exhausting but somehow I was able to do it.  This was the busiest I have ever felt.  I was literally bouncing from one thing to the next barely even getting a breath.  I don't like being too busy because I can get stressed out and my family is the one who suffers.  So if I am asked to do it again, I will have to look very closely at what is going on during that time.  Family comes first and my kids deserve a non-stressed happy mama!

A Marathon of a Month

May was extremely busy but since it is now June and someone else is installing our cabinets and countertops, baseball is over, and school events are coming to a close, I feel like I have more time to recap last month's events.  It is going to be a marathon of posts, so stay tuned.

Xander had a wonderful month starting off with a Father/Son Campout at Hogsback Island0  He got to play with his friends and stayed up to 10 p.m.!

But, by far, his most favorite thing was the snacks.  Everyone was roasting marshmellows but Xander told his Dad that he was ready to go in the tent.  An early bedtime?  No!  Xander was ready for the camping treats Ben had brought for him.

The next day when he got home, Zoey threw her arms around him and hugged him so hard and said, "I missed you Xander!"  She loves her big brother.

May was filled with field trips and I was able to go on one with both Xander and Mia.  I didn't take any pictures from Mia's because it was the Jelly Belly Factory and we have been there a hundred times.  I did take some from Xander's to Smith Farm.  They learned about plants and received two tomato plants to plant at home.  They listened to some country music in the barn and learned how to grind corn.  They also got to pet some baby bunnies and feed the other farm animals.  It was a fun field trip and I am glad I got to spend it with Xander!

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

This year, we decided that we would sign Xander and Mia up for softball and teeball.  I wanted them to have some experience playing on a team.  I was a little nervous for them both because I knew Mia has some frustrations with anything competitive and Xander has the tendency to shut down because he won't communicate with others if something is bothering him.

Despite my concerns, everything turned out great!  Mia, as I expected struggled at the beginning and there were tears but as the season went on, she adjusted.  Her teammates were amazing and would comfort her if she was frustrated and upset.  Pretty soon, there were no more tears and only fun!  She began to have confidence in herself and her abilities.  I was super proud of her.

Her favorite positions were catcher and first base.  At this level, first base is the hot spot where all the action takes place.  It was so fun to see her get someone out at first!

It is crazy how expensive this sport can be and we tried to keep it to a minimum by buying equipment at yard sales and the thrift store.  I didn't want to invest in a sport that would only be played for one year.  Turns out, I think Mia will be playing again!!

Xander's little team was so fun to watch.  A parent stepped up at the beginning when they were trying to get coaches and were short.  She kept the kids together.  A few kids dropped out at the beginning leaving 9 kids. Most of the teams they played had 12 or more players.

Xander was so cute in his uniform.  It was almost just worth it to get him into a uniform!  He worked at fielding, catching and hitting.

They played 17 games!  I enjoyed watching Xander play.  His favorite part was not the actual game but the snack that they got after the game!   I was also proud of him for not shutting down and for trying each game.

Towards the end of the season, Xander was losing momentum and motivation and I found him playing in the dirt more often.  I think the dirt was one of the most appealing things in this sport for some kids.  

I don't think I will sign up Xander next year but it was a great team experience for him.  I think the next thing we are going to try is Tae Kwan Do.  He is a little karate man at heart!

I actually learned alot about this sport and some of the rules and batting form that I had no idea about.  I loved that my kids had this opportunity but at the same time, I feel relived it is finally over!  We had 4 games a week for months!  

Bring on the summer!

Pysanky Eggs

Ben made me this egg for Valentine's Day with the supplies that he got from Joe. Since he had tons of the supplies leftover, we decided to make some Pysanky eggs as a family and what better weekend to do it, than General Conference Weekend.

Making pysanky eggs is a lengthy process but so much fun to do. You can check out my This N' That blog to see how we did it. The kids had so much fun designing their eggs. We had helped Zoey put hearts all around her egg as her initial design, but when the time came after the dyeing, her designed turned into scribbles. Xander's turned out the same. The scribbles were actually really cool and made a great design.

CJ and Mia's design was a little more intricate. CJ had the words, "IHOP" on her egg while Mia drew a bunny on hers. Ben said his egg wasn't that creative or great, but as you can see from the top egg of this picture, what is his "not so great" attempt is any other person's "masterpiece".

I love doing fun projects like this with our kids. I've thought this before that the activities that we decide to do as parents can encourage development of our childrens' interests. For instance, if the parents are avid hikers and they have taken their children on hikes since they were little, those kids may turn out to have a love for hiking and continue to do it even when they don't live at home anymore.

Same goes with sports. Say Dad loves baseball and plays baseball with his kids all the time and encourages them to play on a team, some of his kids may turn out to love the sport just as much and be really successful.

With Ben and I, I think we provide many opportunities to be creative and make things. The kids also see us making things and want to make things as well. One of the best gifts the kids have received are reams of paper! They love making things out of paper.

Making things in our family is something that everyone enjoys and doing it together is twice the fun!

Year of the Museum

This year we are visiting a museum each month. In January, we started our year off at Pixar and looked at the paintings, digital paintings and sculptures of the Cars 2 movie. I made them a museum scavenger hunt that they used when looking at all of the art.

February we visited the Clayton Museum where the kids learned about it's founder, Joel Clayton. He had nine children and founded Clayton in 1857. Sadly, five of his children died childhood diseases. The museum had a display of candy and the most giant pez collection. It also had some historical clothing, tools, and other household items that would be found in that time period.

In March, we visited the Oakland Museum of California. I didn't know what to expect, having never visited there before. It turned out to be a really fun museum with lots of things for the kids to explore and learn about the History of California.

At the beginning of the museum it showed the kids a green sticker with a hand on it are the things that can be touched. I really liked how they organized that. The kids new that if it had a green sticker on it, they could touch it.

They also had many parts where the kids got to write answers to particular questions on sticky notes or paper and then hang up their answer for others to see. Other parts of the museum had books where they could write things in. They could flip through the pages and see what everyone else wrote.

I think the favorite part was when we found the section on movies and film making. The kids could use pictures of animals and people to make an animated short film. They got to record and stop the recording as they moved the people and animals. There was also a Foley stage where they did the sound effects to an old western movie.

We went upstairs to the art gallery which had a ton of different types of art genres. Mia was the most fascinating to watch. At one point, Ben told me to go slower because Mia was being rushed. She enjoyed staring at the picture and studying the different textures. She told us her favorite pieces where the bright colored ones.

We also came to a section where there were these giant pieces of canvas, several feet high in height and width. The canvas was painted with one color. There are no pictures just a completely covered painted canvas. Ben commented, "I don't consider that art." I agree with him.

There was another piece that looked to be on a long sheet of brown "paper bag" looking paper and all it had on it down the middle of it was scribbled repeated vertical lines of pencil. Looked like a horses tail. Ben told me that wasn't art either. Someone thought it was art and put it in this museum. They even had a photograph of the artist sitting on the ground drawing lines as far as he could reach. . .with a pencil.

We are enjoying this year's adventure and hope to visit many new and different museums in the Bay area. We are so lucky to have so many museums to visit!

Aunt Autumn

My sister Autumn came to visit us last week. It was a spontaneous visit and when the kids heard that she was coming, that is all I heard about for the entire week.

'When will Autumn come?"

"Why isn't she staying all week?"

Mia was the one who was the most concerned that she wasn't staying with us and that she would only be coming to visit a day or two.

The day, Autumn came to dinner, her and Xander decorated the garage for her arrival. They were so excited to meet her boyfriend and see her again. It's been about 3 years since I have seen my sister.

We had a great time catching up and reminiscing about our childhood and talking about our family and life. CJ was delighted that she has surpassed yet another aunt in height. Autumn has a great laugh and smile and it was so fun to be around her.

Mia once again, decorated the door and made the cutest note in the world! My favorite part is the, "I love you to my heart." Mia is very tender and describes her feelings in her heart. Such a sweet girl!

They did all the tourist things on their own and came back to play with the kids. Mia was so excited and told me that today was her favorite day. I told Autumn that you have to take the kids somewhere because somehow they are expecting it. It had been raining all week and so the plan to go to the park was foiled. They ended up going bowling and it sounds like the kids all beat Autumn!

It was great to see you Autumn!

CJ

CJ has been keeping busy with school and young women's these days. She has played on the YW basketball and volleyball teams which has been wonderful for her.

She started out not sure whether or not she liked basketball. It was hard. But she kept going to the practices and learned how to play and in the end, really enjoyed it.

Volleyball was fun too! Same thing as basketball, she wasn't liking it as much at the beginning because she didn't know how to play. By the end, her serves were going over and she has some strong returns.

I got to help coach both basketball and volleyball for the Young Women. At the beginning, it was hard to watch a game and see anyone else but CJ. I kept yelling things just for her and then had to tell myself, that I am coaching and have all the girls to cheer on. I can see how coaching your own child is tricky.

I can't tell you how grateful I am for the Young Women program. As a parent, it is priceless to have leaders reinforce same standards and morals because at this age, your kids don't listen to you or think you know what you are talking about. But when another adult says the same thing, they think it is golden advice.

I am also so grateful for the activities that the youth program offers. We haven't let CJ go to the dances in middle school, because I hear they are pretty bad. She was able to go to a Stake Valentine's Dance not too long ago and loved it. They invite the 12 year olds once a year to a stake dance here. I keep telling CJ that when she turns 14, the stake and multi-stake dances are better than the school ones.

I love the Personal progress program which teaches CJ to set goals and achieve them. It encourages high standards and morals.

We measured CJ the other day and she is 5' 4 3/4" which is only a 1/4" away from me! She seems taller than me most of the time because she is skinnier and when she has shoes on she towers over me. I also think she looks older than 12. I keep telling her to enjoy being a kid, but she insists that she is not a "kid". I tell her she will always be my child.

CJ is a great babysitter and this past weekend, made $80! She babysat 3 times! She has saved her money and bought herself a used IPOD touch which is her new prize possession. I think that seeing her cousins and friends have one of their own, made her want one even more. The IPOD touch has been an awesome incentive to do well in school. Unfortunately, the "getting into college one day because of your good grades" reminders aren't very effective at this point in her life. It's hard for her to see the big picture.

I see CJ progressing in all aspects of her life and couldn't be more prouder of her. I used to worry more about CJ because for some reason I thought, what if she inherits tendencies from her biological mom? I'm not so worried anymore.

CJ was made to do good things! I'm so happy she is part of our family!