Family History Wax Museum

A YW in our ward came up with a cool activity to help get everyone interested in family history.  Each youth researched an ancestor or early member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, then made a small trifold board and acted as that person during a wax museum activity for the entire ward.  We had plenty of time to prepare for this, but somehow the girls were still deciding who they would portray just a few days before the big event.  Jack decided far enough in advance for us to order the requisite beard so that he could portray his great-great-great-great-grandfather, who was one of the founders of Ephraim, UT.  He even talked in an old-man voice when he told people about Charles Whitlock.  His spiel was supposed to last for about a minute - the video below is 6 minutes long.  Also, the beard didn't last very long so I'm glad I caught him at the beginning!

Eliza decided to portray her great-great-aunt Cleo, whose adventures included owning an olive orchard in Italy and working for the FBI for many years.  It's hard to tell in the picture below, but her board included a photo of Aunt Cleo with Eliza as a baby.  Unfortunately, I didn't get a video of Eliza as Aunt Cleo.

Cat portrayed her great-grandmother Nancy, who travelled the world with her husband, who was in the Army.  I love how Cat got into character with the silk scarf and swooshed bangs.  She didn't want me to record her presentation but I like the video I got anyway.

You can see all three kids in this picture and get an idea of the turnout - lots of people came to check out the Wax Museum!  I consider it a rousing success.

President's Day Weekend

We had a great President's Day weekend!  Eliza and Luke had an extra long weekend since they didn't have school on Friday.  (But don't feel too bad for Cat and Jack, since their Fridays are advisory days - there are no actual classes; students just have the opportunity to meet with teachers, catch up on work, etc.)  This was Luke at 6am that Friday:

I took the younger three to a nearby trampoline park.  One of Luke's friends and his mom and siblings met us there too.  It was a great way to get out for a couple of hours!

That evening I was the beginning of a mini Sisters-in-Law weekend.  I hosted Lindsey and Keturah at my house, where we talked and talked, and occasionally went out for some little adventures.  We made chocolates, ate dinner and lunch out, and relaxed at a Himalayan salt cave.  It was great!

The kids were at Lindsey's house the whole time, just enjoying cousin time!  They had a blast and did NOT want to come home.  I took these pictures when I was picking them up on Saturday.

They watched movies and played with cousins a lot, but they didn't sleep very much.  Here's Luke when I got him home at about 6:45 Saturday evening.  Straight to bed, using his little overnight bag as a pillow.

Since we missed the Primary Friend to Friend broadcast the day before, we watched it together on Sunday afternoon.

Are you wondering why Ben and Cat aren't in any of these pictures.  They were in Tallahassee!  Ben's company was once again named one of the Seminole 100 and this year Ben brought Cat as his plus 1.  They had a great time hanging out with Mema and Papa, and the awards dinner was really cool too!  It was the first time Ben had anyone at the dinner with him and I love that he and Cat shared that experience.

On Friday, Ben, Cat, Mema, and Papa went to Pebble Hill Plantation near Thomasville, GA.  Check out the oak trees and Spanish moss... be still my heart!

On Saturday, Ben and Cat did some sightseeing in Tallahassee.  They checked on the progress of the Tallahassee temple, and walked around Maclay Gardens (where Ben worked in college).

That night they got all dolled up for the awards dinner.  It was held in iconic Doak Campbell Stadium, in the Champions Club, overlooking Bobby Bowden Field.  Very cool.

She nailed the power pose.

They also spent some time over the weekend helping Mema and Papa in the yard.  Look!  Flowers!  They had a wonderful trip and I'm so glad they could have that time together.  (And Cat came home even more excited about the possibility of attending FSU, so that was exciting too.)

On Monday Eliza and Luke each had a friend over to play.  Ben and Cat got home from Florida in the afternoon, and that evening the whole family went out for burgers and saw a movie I'd been really excited about, The King's Daughter.  It wasn't the great cinematic experience I was hoping for but we had fun hanging out together!

Valentine's Day 2022

We had a fun 2-day Valentine's celebration at our house.  On Sunday we celebrated with heart-shaped waffles for breakfast, then Cat made bolognese from scratch (so yummy!) and we had chocolate fondue for dessert, followed by a little dance party.

(and since it was a nice day we went out for a little bike ride too)

Ben was traveling on Monday and I didn't have a breakfast plan but I improvised heart-shaped biscuits (cut from Pillsbury) and the chocolate covered strawberries Ben brought home from Costco.  We'd put together cute little Valentines for Eliza's and Luke's classes over the weekend: Pop Rocks from Luke and keychains from Eliza.  We heart attacked a couple of neighbors right after school, and it was fun to see the haul the kids brought back from their parties that day.  I laughed when Eliza told me about the kid who forgot to get Valentines and remembered on the way to school.  The parents stopped at a gas station and bought gum and the kid gave out a piece to each of his peers.

Valentine's Day is kind of the kickoff of The Season of Minor Holidays in our family - in the 6 weeks after Valentine's Day there's Fat Tuesday, Dr. Seuss's birthday, Pi Day, St. Patrick's Day, and April Fool's.  (And if you jump into May, there's also Star Wars Day and Cinco de Mayo...) We don't recognize all of those every year but it's fun to come up with festive dinners or treats as our schedules allow.

Connections

Sometimes at bedtime Cat will hang out with Luke and they'll exchange trivia.  One night a little while ago they were telling eachother interesting facts about animals.  As Cat crouched by Luke's bed, she said that giraffes have the same number of vertebrae in their necks as humans, and Polar bears have translucent fur.  Luke told Cat that Goldfish turn pale in the dark and that a newborn Polar bear is the size of a guinea pig.  It was such a short and simple conversation, but it was so sweet and tender that it made a significant impression on my heart.  I love that my children love each other and enjoy spending time together.  Yes, they fight, but I think that overall, they have very positive relationships.

I think one of the benefits of having siblings is finding ways to relate to different personalities and interests.  Cat and Eliza share interests in TV shows, clothes, cooking, and hair.  Jack and Luke do a great job of playing pretend together and like a lot of the same books.  Cat and Luke are both very curious and enjoy learning from each other.  Eliza is very patient with Luke and good at helping him do his homework and practice piano.  I could continue... but I'll just say that I'm grateful for the ways our kids connect with eachother.  And that it will be a valuable skill as they meet and work with a variety of people in life.

Piano Solos

It was so exciting for Luke to finally participate in a piano recital after taking lessons for about 4 months.  He didn't seem nervous for his first recital but I took him to the recital hall earlier in the afternoon so that he could play the piano on the stage and get a feel for what it would be like.  He seemed very comfortable performing when it was his turn and did a great job!  He performed "Petit Rondo" by Geoffroy and a set of variations of "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star."

Dry run

The real thing

He was also comfortable jumping on the piano at the
end of New Beginnings and playing for all of the people
in the RS room to hear.

He was unflustered at the solo festival the next week as well.

Luke had been asking me about how to use the pedals and I told him
Sarah would teach him when he needed to learn.  I finally brought it up with
her at a lesson after the recital and festival were over and to my surprise she started
teaching him right away, and found a simple piece for him to learn, which uses pedal.
Here Sarah is pushing Luke's foot down to help him learn the correct timing.

Eliza did a great job of learning "Fur Elise," just the year after Jack performed it.  Her rendition is much more fluid than Jack's and she really loves playing it.  Her second selection was a short, fast piece from "Sonatina in G Major" by Haydn.  Eliza played both pieces at the solo festival as well and she was a winner!  She chose to perform "Fur Elise" at the winner's recital and walked away $20 richer.

Jack was excited about his music too: two iconic pieces which he really enjoyed practicing.  He performed "Invention No. 8" by Bach and "Turkish March" by Mozart and did a great job!

Cat also really enjoyed learning the two amazing pieces she performed: "Fantasie in C" by Mozart and "Fantaisie Imprompty" by Chopin.

I'm so proud of these kids - each recital/festival reflects

hours and hours of practice and so much progress!