Science Fair Extensions

Ivory made it to District Science Fair. That means an evening of judging and festivities. (Although only if you think walking around looking at Science Fair projects is festivus.) Since both her sisters made it to district, I know the drill. I dropped Ivory off and came back later when parents were readmitted into the judging area.

Ivory was set up between two guys, one of which she got to know very well as they chatted between judges visiting their boards. During the open time, I went around and looked at many boards. I have no idea where Ivory was for most of this time. I'm assuming she ran off to hang out with friends. I spent some time by Ivory's board. Although she wasn't there to explain it, there always seemed to be someone looking it over. It tends to draw a crowd, of both boys and girls.

Eventually, it was time for the awards. I was actually quite nervous for Ivory. I feel like her project was done well, and she was able to talk about it intelligently, but there was so little time for actual experimentation. With only two vitamins tested, it seemed like that might not be enough to make the cut.

Ivory was positive though. We sat and we took a mandatory selfie.

They do all the honorable mentions first. It is a strange category. Most kids don't really want an honorable mention, because it means you don't move on, but in the end, they would rather have an honorable mention than nothing. There were only 30 kids in the honorable mention category, and none of them was Ivory. Ivory told me that since she wasn't called, she must have made it through. (I was doubtful, but at least she was confident.)

Now for the 60 projects that move on to BYU. Jane was the very first name called. That was really cool. (I figured out later that they call them in order. Jane was first because she was the very first project as you entered the room.) They call about 10 kids at a time and then let everyone clap. Imagine my surprise when Ivory's name was called in the first group as well. I really was stunned and so excited for her.

Oddly, both the boys next to her also advanced. The one she talked to quite a bit is standing close to her in the above photo. (More evidence that they are called in order.)

Here is the entire first group. You can't see anyone's face because of the light, but Jane is over on the far left and Ivory is easy to pick out since she is the shortest one.

Ivory came back and sat down and did her best Simone-Biles-medal-bite. (She is doing a huge report on her, so we hear a lot about Simone.)

Then it was time to pack up. We caught one last picture with Jane as we were leaving.

Ivory should have a great time at BYU. Several of her friends, including Ember, advanced. I'm excited for her to go have a great day with more science fun!

Pi Day

Did you eat pie yesterday?

We did. Although not homemade this year. A mom can only do so much, especially when she is driving kids to and from and helping one finish a huge project and secretly sneaking away to read her book every now and then.

I even had June shoot a couple photos as I went next door to invite the neighbors over. (Pie is always best when shared.)

I think Robyn prefers to eat her pie in private. Fair enough.

We hope you had a lovely 3.14.

11vory

Last week was a bit busy. I tried to blog and as you can see, it didn't happen. On Tuesday, I managed to get a screen open, but the only person that used it was Robyn. (It was very sweet that she blogged for me and in such a flattering fashion.)

This week, four posts. That is the goal.

I haven't been as good about documenting this month. Pink sock day came and went with everyone wearing awesome pink socks and me taking no pictures. (Lame.) I tell you, my brain is pulled in so many directions, I can barely keep up. But at least I still document birthdays. Ivory's was back there in February.

Ivory got older last month. Double digits are no stranger to her, but 11 is a new milestone. I can't believe how big old she is getting.

My lovely little Ivory. Unfortunately, she got more than her fair share of short genes. She is growing much the opposite of a weed. She is about the same height as June was at 10. But good stuff comes in small packages.

Ivory's birthday was a day off from school, but we still got her balloons.

She had friends over for a small party. (Small, because she wanted to go to Color Me Mine.) When her friends came over, they played Camel Up first. (We just learned this game and borrowed it from a friend. Super fun!)

Then we opened presents and had brownies.

Please note sick June in the background on the couch. She got sick on Ivory's birthday and stayed in that spot on the couch for four days. (You guessed it...a February casualty. At least it wasn't the birthday girl.)

Then off to Color Me Mine. Each of the kids chose a piece and went to work.

Tyler took pictures for me. Here we are from the other angle.

I think all the kids had a good time. Here is Ivory's finished bowl. I think it is adorable. Can you see her initials hidden in with the watermelon seeds?

Although it wasn't my birthday, I am going to brag about myself for two seconds. I finished my last dessert plate! I finally have all 8 done. This one is cookies. You have to have cookies, they are a favorite of mine. It only took my 4 years to complete the set.

Ivory got to go to lunch with Dad when school was back in. She chose Kneaders. Good choice little one. Love these two!

Oh, Ember got Ivory a fish for a gift. I'm not sure how I feel about living presents, but we all seem to be taken with Mr. Flibble. (Miranda, Ivory thinks you would appreciate his name.) He is a good fish. He has had several upgrades since his first bowl. I'll have to take a picture sometime and show you.

Ivory is such a fun, spunky personality in our family. We love that she is ours.

Live from ROBYN...

Once upon a time...

There was a mother. She was the mother of five children. They were the love of her life. They needed her. A LOT. And that is why this blog post is being typed by one of her daughters.

Right now, she is busy taking care of a kid that isn't even hers.

So I am going to type this blog post all about her.

Lets start at the beginning. First of all, you have to be really devoted to even want to come close to having a child. Because you have to carry them in your stomach for 9 months, until they finally get too cramped so they come out a pink slimy mess. But you love them anyway, because heck, that was a lot of work to get it out there.

My mom happened to have five kids, so she had to suffer through... 45 months of throwing up and sluggishness, and stress... summed up as a pregnancy.

But she did it! She sure did. Otherwise, I wouldn't be typing how great she was, now would I?

ANYWAY, she had five babies. Not all at the same time of course. They all came about two years apart. Which meant she had a toddler and a 4 year old, and a baby, at the same time. So you can see how faithful she has been to all of these kids.

In a flash (as she likes to think of it, but I think it took some LONG years) her kids are now the ages that follows: 14, (to be 15 this year) 12, (to be 13 this year) 11, 8 soon to be 9, and the youngest just turned 7.

Every morning she gets up at 6:45, to make lunches and help her kids get ready for school. She reminds them of the many things they need to bring to school. Like shoes.

Sometimes even she needs a reminder. (I won't give any examples. I don't think she would be pleased if I did anyway.) But she will eventually remember that one of the kids is at an activity and is waiting to be picked up. Or that three kids are late to a concert. And at the same time one kid is complaining about what dinner is. Talk about juggling!!

But she spins all those plates. (I am really not sure how.) And she still manages to read five pages of the bible every day, drink a liter and a half of water, and make a green smoothie almost every morning. Of course she passes on her responsibilities to her kids. The two oldest have to make dinner one day a week, and do their own laundry. The littles don't have much to do yet, but everyone has a dinnerchore. Whether or not they do it is another matter.

My mom is one of my favorite people. She makes me dinner. She buys me clothes. She gets me shoes. She spends time with me. She does everything I could want. (Except give me ice cream all the time.) Who could ask for more?

My mom could. She is married to the luckiest guy there is. He just so happens to be my dad. But this post is about my mom so my dad is obviously not the main subject, so the paragraph on him will be brief.

My dad is tall and not really fat but not really skinny, and he wears glasses. I am not sure how he was interested in my mom. Or how my mom was interested in him, but I am sure glad that he was. He works as a web developer. And earns all the money for us. Well most of it...

My mom watches over me and my sisters like a hawk. She got a job at the elementary school years ago, working in the library so she could watch us and make sure we behaved. But then we switched schools and the two oldies went to junior high. she got a job as the copy lady at the junior high school. And now where ever I go, her eyes are on me.

But it makes sense in it's own way. What mother lets their kids go out into the big scary world with only sneakers and a backpack? It only made sense that my mom followed everyone, shepherding them into the right classes.

She also did something to make us successful. She made us take piano lessons. I have used the talent I made in those lessons extremely in my life, and if it hadn't been for her, keeping me in those lessons, I wouldn't be the amazing musician I am today.

My mom doesn't only look after her kids too. She's watching one right now as I said in the 4th line. (Which makes it super easy to write this post right under her nose.) But she also offers rides to students who need a quick way to school. She has at least one extra kid in the car on the way to school. And usually three extra on the way home.

What person could be more lucky than me to have my mom as a mom?

Plus in the end...

We'll all live happily ever after.

February Date - Triple Date with Idaho Cazier's

Hmm...I should probably mention our December and January dates because they didn't get a post of their own.

December was read a book. We started Nobody's Fool and have yet to finish it. We were really enjoying it, but we haven't had a lot of time to dedicate to reading. We had to turn in our library copy and we finally bought our own, but it still sits on the shelf. We'll give you an update if we ever finish it.

January was watch a play. We went to see Cash on Delivery at the Hale. It was so funny. We laughed all the way through it. I love a drama, and musicals are always on my list, but give me a comedy any day. It feels good to laugh. (Don't ask me why this picture is backward. It just is.)

Now for February. We decided it would be fun to go on a date with Tyler's brothers. They are both up in ID, so we don't see them very often and we usually don't go out with just them when we visit. There are many options for a date, but we went fancy and did a Murder Mystery evening. You can get them almost any size online. It was a little tricky to find one for just 6 people, but we found a fun super hero one.

I was Shiver and Tyler was Nerdon. (Sorry, Tyler...it just fits you the best. No offense.) It was fun to dress up. We borrowed and used what we could find. I tried to take a stunning selfie, but useless Nerdon got in my photo. (Honestly, he is only there when you don't need him.)

I was quite the stuck up character. I only thought about myself and my looks and how I would look on the arm of Mr. Fantastic. (That was an optional character. He wasn't one of our people.) Here is our fun group. Jami was Elecktra, J.R. was Stingmata. Kolby was the Red Wonder, and he loved music and rapping. Kathryn was the Blue Blaze. (And of course, Nerdon...sheesh.)

What is he doing here? He should have no doubt that I am NOT interested.

Do you see little Henlee down there? She had bear ears on. She wanted to be dressed up too. How cute!

(The events, told from the view of Shiver.)

The evening was filled with good food and fun banter. Our job as heros was to apprehend Da Bomb (the bad guy). We had a meeting, but naturally we kept being pulled off topic. There seemed to be devious plots afoot. It seemed Nerdon might have been aiding Da Bomb. Elecktra was only concerned with being the superhero leader. It seemed someone might be related to Da Bomb. Could it be the Red Wonder? Nerdon and the Red Wonder should not sit by each other. Those two can't get along at all.

(*Spoilers ahead. If you don't want to know who dies or who the killer is, you should stop reading.)

Then suddenly Nerdon died. It seems he was poisoned. Stingmata knows all about poison. Is that too obvious? The Red Wonder has never liked him. Could he be the killer? At least Nerdon's nerdy voice died with him. Phew.

We all submitted our guesses as to who the murderer was. I was having some trouble deciphering the clues, and messed it up. I thought it was Elecktra the whole time. (She is always trying to steal my boyfriend Mr. Fantastic. Well...he isn't my boyfriend, but he should be.)

Can you believe the murderer was Blue Blaze? She was so quiet the whole time. I never suspected her, but it turns out she was related to Da Bomb and was trying to take over being our leader. Honestly, who cares who's in charge as long as I look good??

We had one last chance to stop her. We all had to guess an animal. If we guessed the right one, we would stop her evil plot. Quickly, think of your own guess. Maybe you can stop her....




Did you guess COW??

We didn't either.

Blue Blaze won. She murdered Nerdon and ruled the world with Da Bomb. We are the worst group of superheroes ever. At least I still look good. And Elecktra won't get Mr. Fantastic now.

(End Scene.)

It was really fun, but we totally failed at the end. I thought there would be some logic to the animal, but a cow?? No one was even close to that. I think Jami guessed it was Kathryn, but that didn't stop Kat from taking over the world.

It was such a fun evening hanging out with our family. At the end, we played with Hand Bells. Jami and J.R. got a set from some friends. I remember doing stuff like this when I was a kid. I have never grown out of it. So fun.

Meanwhile, back on the farm, Granny V had all our kidlets. They watched Mom's Night Out. Vicki loved it but couldn't decide why the kids like it. It is just funny. Who wouldn't like it?

It was a quick trip up and back, but it was a great time. Thanks for playing dress-up with us, Kat, Kolb, Jami, and J.R.

Love is in the Paint

Just some lovely window art for the month of February, which thankfully is in the past.

But the art lives on. I love Robyn's design for this month. She was very brave, since it was really cold when she was out painting.

I'm pretty sure we'll be known someday as the house that always has a picture in the window.

I love it.

Concert Attire

You can usually expect concerts around Christmas time, and at the end of the year, but I feel it is a bonus if there are performances in between. This January, I got to go listen to bonus concerts from both June and Robyn. Today, I will even include video, which I usually don't.

First up, Robyn. They had this strange BOOM concert. They combined with another Jr. High and played songs conducted by both school's band directors. Here you can see Mrs. Taylor leading the combined group. And you can almost see the top of Robyn's head. Look closely now.

We were sitting pretty far back, so I wasn't holding my  breath for good pictures. Then after a song, Mr. Winters (Ivory's orchestra teacher and the band director at the other Jr. High) told the parents they would play the same song again, but this time parents could stand on stage. You better believe I went up there, since my kid stands in the back.

Here she is with Sam who is in her class. Ahem...if you look to the left, the boy in glasses is the one who has been crushing on Robyn and giving her gifts.

Wait, can she see over that stand?

And now for the music. I figured since I was right up there, I'd better take a video. Some things to look for:

• Robyn is playing snare. The boy next to her is from the other school. Mr. Winters is a great band director, but I think he is not a percussionist. I don't think there is a separate class for percussionists. This boy seemed to be struggling a bit. He tends to watch Robyn out of the corner of his eye to keep up. 
• I like watching Robyn count while she plays.
• I pan through the band during the video because I think it is fun to see all the parents on stage. You can see Mr. Winters for a moment.

It was a fun fast concert.

Next up June. June was recommended for Honor Orchestra. Kids from all over the district were chosen and sent music. They practiced on their own and then came together on a Friday for rehearsal and then the next Saturday for a concert. We had never done this before, and if I could recommend anything, it is BE ON TIME. We arrived three minutes late and missed the first number. Guess they jump right in.

Can you see June up there? She is three rows to the right on the conductor. I would have circled her, but Photoshop is out of commission.

Here is a nice blurry picture of her with her long hair and boots. She got to be stand partners with Brooke, which is nice because they knew each other.

Now for the video. It is fun to hear all these talented kids. I believe this was song was a Sword Dance. There is some discord in the music, but that is intended to symbolize the battle.

Love all these girls. They all love playing. What a great group. Left to Right: Brooke, Holly, June, Lauren, and Hannah.

Music is such a great addition to life.