#2

What has Jack been up to lately?  Well, I failed to mention over the summer that he participated in a little basketball camp at the rec center, and he loved it; Cub Scouts is now back in full swing with the school year underway; and Jack continues to progress on the piano, in spite of occasionally protesting practice time.  And lessons.  (Though his teacher's recent assignment for him to pick out "Hedwig's Theme" by ear has him pretty excited.  He got about half of it in the first two days after his lesson.)

About a month ago, Jack participated in a Stake Children's Choir for Stake Conference, singing "I Love to See the Temple," "He Sent His Son/I'm Trying to be Like Jesus" medley, and "I Am a Child of God."  This required attending a few rehearsals in the weeks leading up to Stake Conference, which Jack wasn't always excited about, but it was worth it and he really enjoyed the experience.

Jack has the distinction of challenging me in a different way than the other kids.  He often asks me hard questions.  Recently he wanted to know, "When did The Flash join The Avengers?" and "Is there a wizarding school in America?"  He wonders about which mythological creature would win if two such animals were to fight each other.  He wants to know how things are made; why things happen; and what would happen if - ?  He is probably the most curious of our children.

Harry Potter is still the series du jour in our house, and Jack is now reading the fourth book.  He can tell you all about events that occur in later books, though.  Yes, I'm afraid Jack is guilty of the unpardonable crime of skimming the other books in the series to find out what happens.  (I guess it goes back to his curious nature?)  We love him anyway.

Jack doesn't only appreciate reading literature, though.  He has become a prolific author, too.  In fact, lately he's been working on a fanfic about Harry's grandson, titled James Potter and the Womping Willow.  He's been painstakingly typing this on the computer, one hunted-and-pecked letter at a time, but sometimes Cat or I do some typing for him to speed things up a bit.

Jack's creativity is definitely one of his strengths, and in addition to writing, he uses drawing, role play, and other creative outlets.  He also becomes very passionate about specific topics, and will focus on one thing for a while before moving on to something new.  He's gone through phases of obsession with Transformers/Rescue Bots; dinosaurs/dinosaur-ish things such as Dinotrux, Dinosaur King, and Switch & Go Dinos; sharks and other sea creatures; Pokemon and his own versions of it; "Who Would Win?" match-ups; "I Survived" stories; and the aforementioned Harry Potter.  He's made countless books, drawings, and trading cards themed on these topics.

Jack, perusing his collection of hand-written and illustrated books.

Jack drew these dinosaurs using the book pictured.

1 - A collection of cover drawings for a natural disaster series Jack planned
2 - A sea creature drawing
3 - Pokemon

We used a drawing book to create these renditions of Iron Man.
After watching me draw the one on the left, Jack drew the one on the right.
(He also colored my drawing for me.)

All the things in Jack's mind, at the beginning of Fourth Grade.
Notice his entire head is a Poké Ball.

When Jack heard about our friend's 3D printer, he was obsessed with the idea of literally printing his own toys.  We found some free plans online, which we sent to our friend.  Jack paid $5 for the printing material, and was ecstatic when he got his own little Pikachu, fresh off the printer.

One final tidbit to share: Jack is lucky enough to be in a cool class where the teacher has a tradition of teaching her students The Table Clap, a very involved cheer that requires the whole group to work together, and learn the cheer bit by bit until it's ready to perform.  They shared what they learned in front of the whole school, a few weeks into the year.  (Special thanks to Cat, who was my camerawoman for the video.)

#1

Cat's having a great year so far.  She loves being in Young Women, she loves her new soccer team, and she's had a blast joining her school's drama club and preparing for an upcoming Shakespeare competition.

Cat has been trying her hand at photography lately, and she has decided to share her love of baking by creating her own cooking blog.

Cat started babysitting for other families last year, and still does when she can.  But she's also had the chance recently to earn money for helping her aunt with her business, which she's loved.  This has been particularly helpful as Cat has been earning money for the aforementioned Shakespeare competition.

Cat has tolerated piano with a better attitude lately, perhaps because she's now part of a piano quartet and she's excited about the pieces they're working on.  When I found out that the American Piano Quartet would be putting on a concert at BYU and that they'd be performing one of the pieces Cat's group is learning, I decided to take her to the concert for a date.  The performance was great and even got her excited about choosing some of the pieces they performed for her group's selections for next year's competition.

Cat is an enthusiastic student, to the extent that she has started to resemble a certain Harry Potter character.

Cat is so eager to participate in class that three of her teachers have told her to give other students more opportunities to answer questions, and two other teachers have stopped making eye contact with her in class.  She complained at dinner one night, "Mom!  My teacher told me to stop answering questions!"

On a related note, when Cat found out that the principal at Jack and Eliza's school refers to Eliza as "Mini Cat," she was absolutely thrilled.

 

Cat is a great gal.  She's fun to be around and makes friends easily.  She has a great combination of natural talent and intellect with ambition and a willingness to work hard.  She has a variety of interests (so one of her challenges is to not over-commit herself).  I could add several more great qualities to this list, but I'll just finish with one.  With all of the things Cat has going for her, I think I'm most impressed with her humility.  She is proud of her hard work and accomplishments, but doesn't brag or seek attention.  I truly appreciate that about her.

Tent City

On Saturday, Eliza made herself this "hut," as she likes to call it.
Can you see the shadow of the book she's reading underneath the blanket?

She slept there that night.

She remodeled the hut the following day, and decided to turn our easel into a teepee.
She slept in her hut that night too, but then decided it wasn't quite enough room for her
to sleep comfortably, and has since returned to her actual bed.
But the playroom is still a tent city, and the she loves to hide there when I'm looking for her.

Primary Program

Our younger three kids participated in the Primary Program on Sunday, the eldest, regrettably, having outgrown the Primary.  She didn't seem to mind too much, though, and joined Ben and me in appreciating the work that goes into the presentation and looking for entertainment from delinquent children (some of whom belonged to our family, but many of whom did not).

The Primary Program went very well.  Eliza was the first of our kids to speak.  She looked like a professional public speaker, knowing her part well but glancing down periodically for reference.

In the Premortal life, we chose to follow God’s plan for Jesus to be our Savior.

We came to earth to be tested, and to learn to choose the right so that we will be able

to return to our Heavenly Father and have eternal life. I can use my agency wisely by

going to church on Sunday.

Jack read his the entire time, but he spoke clearly enough that we could understand him well.

Nephi had courage to choose the right. He was able to get the gold plates from

Laban, testify to his brothers, make a new bow to hunt when there was no food,

and build a ship to take them to the promised land. He prayed often for strength and

knowledge to help him make good choices. Nephi was blessed for choosing the right.

Luke knew his part so well that when the leader stationed at the podium tried to help him, he told her he didn't need help and proceeded to speak with confidence.

We can fast and pray when we need help with a problem.

During the singing, Jack and Eliza seemed to sing and participate well (it was hard to see well from our seats in the gym, past the overflow), though Jack had the appearance of sitting on a trampoline, he was bouncing around so much during "As a Child of God."  (Most of the kids sat during that song because a small group took turns singing solos up front on the verses and the rest of the Primary joined in on the choruses.)  Luke didn't sing at all - he'd told me earlier in the week that he only knew the actions - but during the songs with actions, he was an eager participant.

The best part about the whole thing?  Eliza told me that night that she felt the Spirit when the Primary children and congregation joined together to sing "Choose the Right" as the closing song.

I am so thankful for the many men and women who help to make Primary a spiritual learning experience for my children!  I know from experience that serving in the Primary isn't easy, and the teachers' and leaders' love and dedication are much appreciated.

Chalk the Block: The Rainy Year

Chalk the Block is such a cool little festival, held at a beautiful outdoor mall each September.  I love to go see what local amateur artists come up with, as well as the featured artists who come each year.  It was supposed to be held in mid-September but was postponed a week due to rainy weather.  Wouldn't you know, the following weekend was rainy too.  Fortunately, the rain didn't get too bad until mid-afternoon on the last day.... just when we were walking around.  Suz and her family joined Eliza and me for this little adventure.  We were able to enjoy lots of cool chalk art when we arrived, then as the rain picked up we saw lots of beautiful colors of chalk run-off as we hurried to the car.

Eliza was so excited about this beautiful sea turtle -
did you know that turtles are her favorite animal?

 A featured artist is hard at work behind us.

Eliza brought her own sidewalk chalk so that she could
contribute to the art festival.

Can you tell what she drew?

She took advantage of us hanging out under a covering,
out of the rain for a few minutes, to do lots of chalk art.

This was one of my favorites.  A new take on Norman Rockwell's
"Triple Self-Portrait."  I wish I'd gotten a better picture of it, but
at this point we were ready to get out of the cold and rain.

Triple Self-Portrait

Triple Crown

My kids' school always participates in the Triple Crown, a 1-mile race for elementary school students put on by BYU Track & Field.  I've been worried about the crowds at this event, but this year I couldn't find a good excuse to stay away from the race, so I took the younger three (while Ben and Cat were otherwise occupied).  I was relieved that it really wasn't too crowded or difficult to figure out.  It went smoothly, and the kids had a great time seeing friends and finally competing in this race, trying to help their school claim the big, traveling 1st Place trophy.  (They won last year.  This year they came in second.)

It's hard enough to get Jack to look at the camera when I'm taking his picture...

when he isn't surrounded by his friends.

Eliza's race was first.  She was so excited to meet up with some friends at the starting line, though they didn't end up running together.  The race felt very long to Eliza (who insisted when it was over that it was NOT a mile - it was longer) and she did have to do some walking, but she finished running and was really glad that she competed.  I thought at the time that her final time was around 10 minutes, but the time stamp on my picture files and the clock that's showing as she crosses the finish line show two completely different times, so I'm really not sure.  If I find an official time from the race, I'll add it here.

Jack ran second and, as you can see from the first picture below, was super excited about this race.  It was hard for him too, but he ran well and was very proud of himself.  His final time was about 8:24.

 

A day or two before the Triple Crown, Jack started asking me if I was going to make a cake in honor of the race.  I wasn't sure why he thought that two kids running in a race warranted baking an entire cake, but I found it endearing that this race was such a big deal to him and that he thought of me as the kind of mom who would bake a cake for this event.  I debated about it the day of the race, and finally decided that I didn't want to let him down, and since I did have some time to make a quick pan of cupcakes, I did.  He loved the cupcakes.

All in all, we were home about 90 minutes after we left, and the kids were happy to have been able to run (and to receive the Froot By the Foot and homework pass the PE teacher gave out to everyone from the school who competed).  It was a fun night!  I might even let them do it again next year.

A Pound of Adventure

Luke goes to preschool four mornings a week.  During his non-school day last week, I asked him if he'd like to go on an adventure picking raspberries with me.  He agreed, and we drove down to McBride's Briar Patch in Mapleton.  It was a little chilly, but we put on our jackets, tied buckets around our waists, and prepared to gather gallons of raspberries.  About 40 minutes later, we had picked exactly one pound.  But that pound was quite delicious.

Luke wasn't as enthusiastic about picking as I was, but was a good sport nonetheless.  One thing that he got excited about was looking at the giant grasshoppers we spotted in the bushes.  Can you find the grasshoppers in these pictures?  One picture even has two grasshoppers.

 

For our Family Home Evening treat that night, we enjoyed homemade crepes with fresh whipped cream, Nutella, and perfectly ripe raspberries.  Mmmm.