6th graders

I have been doing some subbing at my kids elementary school -- not a lot, like one day a month. That's about my speed.

Today I was the sub in my friend's 6th grade class for the afternoon (she had to go to a math class). Half a day is just right for me. I'm not sure I'd make it through a whole day at this point.

Anyway, 6th graders are very interesting people - not quite teenagers but almost. For the afternoon i had 3 classes rotate through and they were working on writing assignments. The first group was great and did their work and it was so quiet that is was almost too quiet. The 2nd group were very roudy and tough to settle down, until I talked about the "punishment essay" that the teacher requires them to copy/write if she gets a bad report. Then the 3rd group was pretty mellow and fun to talk to. Their assignments were to write a reflection essay of 150 words on January - the things they did. Very easy and most kids had it done and handed in quickly. Others sat there most of the time and didn't write more than one sentence.

The really interesting thing was the other assignment was a creative writing one - a "magic" story. During the 1st group one student asked if he could read his aloud. I was shocked. Who asks to read their story out loud? Well, I found out why most of them wanted to do this - it was to embarass or shock their classmates with their stories. Several stories were of 2 classmates who got married and had kids and what happened to them. The boys were so embarassed by this. Some stories were very well written and creative but others were just the daily soap opera of a pre-teen. Very enlightening and a good reminder for me of what kids are like at that age.

No pictures yet

So the furniture was delivered today - the floor model instead of the brand new set they promised. So a new couch and love seat will be delivered next mon or wed but there is not anymore of the chair and ottoman so we have to go back to the store and deal with them on that. Nothing ever goes perfectly, does it?

they did leave the floor set at the house until they switch it out which is a good thing cuz now we get to sit on it and try it out and make sure we like it. And there is a problem - not enough contrast between the main paint color and the furniture. Can you believe it? We agonized over the color choices and spent a lot of time (probably too much, obviously) trying to decide what would look best. So now we're going to Home Depot in the morning to get more paint!

Jared's latest masterpiece

This was Jared's reading book for today.

This was his picture he drew of his book.

I think he's pretty amazing

I couldn't do that good a job.

The proud artist.

Working Girl

My little Brooke is a working girl now.

She has her first "real" job - she's working at The Coventry, which is an independent living residence for seniors. It is also where my grandma lives. Its just down the street which is so very convenient. Brooke is going to be serving dinner to the residents. And sometimes lunch on Saturday or Sunday.

Her first day was yesterday and since she is training they are having her work every day this week plus a double on Sat. I'm not sure that's a good idea, she might be so burnt out the very first week that she'll really wonder about having a job.

We feel fortunate that she has gotten this job. I think its a great place for her to work and the residents there will love her.

Scripture Reading

As a family we try to read the scriptures together every night before we have prayers and go to bed. We certainly don't make it every night but we do try and I'd say we get it done about half the time. Some weeks are certainly better than others.

A while ago Paul asked that each person take a turn after we've read to share what they got out of that chapter. Again, some nights are better than others as far as this sharing goes. Sometimes it is late and we just want to get done but there are nights where the kids are pretty insightful and we have some good discussions.

Jared and Kamryn listen to us read most nights. Sometimes they take a turn "reading" a verse by repeating after someone telling them what their verse says. The last couple of nights Jared has come to me and asked what verse Dad read and then what did it mean and then he takes his turn sharing what he thought. Its really cute.

Last night was the best though. Jared came to me while we were still reading and wanted to know what verse Daddy read and I looked through and found a good verse that Jared could share about and i told him what he could say. Well after he shared, Kamryn wanted to share too. And totally on her own she shared a very specific story from that chapter and talked about it. It was amazing that she got that on her own. And she didn't even seem like she was listening.

It was a great reinforcer that we are doing something good for our kids and our family and that even at a young age our kids are learning a lot from the scriptures.

Fun at the Cabin

Jared and his cousin, Kyson, with the sled-trophies after their race down the sledding hill.

Taylor getting ready to head down the hill head first.

Susan was nice to let us crash her family cabin time for one night. We joined her and my brother and his kids for a day of sledding. The power company has been plowing the road down to the power plant and it creates a perfect sledding path for us. It was so slick and icy that one of Susan's kids even crashed into the gate and got pretty banged up.

We always love going to the cabin and are grateful for any time that we get to spend up there.

Dad's Christmas Present

For Christmas we gave my dad a night out. We went to Baja Cantina in ParkCity for dinner. We split up into 2 tables so we didn't have to wait 45 minutes to be seated. It was a good dinner with an especially yummy dessert.

After dinner we went to the Egyptian Theater to see Jason Hewlett's show. He is an amazing entertainer/impersonator/singer. It was a great evening out and my dad loved it.

Project Update

We started the remodel of our living room on Dec 27 and its now Jan 22 and we're almost done.

These pictures were taken on Jan 15. Paul was doing the very difficult job of rolling out the ceiling. The kids had been very anxious to help paint.

A before shot of the walls

Kamryn taking her turn rolling out the primer

Jared adding his share of the work.

Kamryn's art

Kamryn loves to color and this is one of her latest master pieces.

Jared's guys

Jared in his room with some of his "guys". He got a bunch of superheros for Christmas and loves to play with them and all his dinosaurs, wildlife animals and star wars guys. he loves to set them up all over his room and then play all sorts of adventures with them.

A Big Canvas

Kamryn's girlie artwork

Part of Jared's island

A few years ago when my sister was getting new carpet she let her kids draw on the old carpet. At the time I thought that was a crazy idea but now we're the crazy ones.

I let Justin start out and he drew this last picture in less than an hour. Taylor added some more hair and the whiskers and signed it for Justin.

Then the rest of the kids got in on the act. Jared started drawing an island and it goes around the whole room almost. Its been really fun and the kids have loved it. Of course we talk all the time about the new carpet that's coming and that no markers, crayons or pens of any kind will even be allowed in that room. Luckily its not carpet that you would really draw on easily.

Family Night

Whenever we ask Jared and Kamryn what they want to do for family night their answer is always the same - PLAY games! And they almost always want to play Duck, Duck, Goose. Its always been a little challenging in our small living room with all the furniture in their but last night it was GREAT. Since we are working on the living room, its empty and we had lots of room.
Jared and Kamryn WANT to be it, which works out great with the rest of us.

Whenever someone tries to get Paul he never even has to stand up because he can tag anyone before he has to get up.

The BIG kids are good sports to join in for the fun.

New Years Goals

One of my goals this year is to get exercising again. I am joining the "100 Days" campaign going on over on Facebook. You can check it out here and here.

I need something or someone to be accountable to so hopefully this will help. I am starting 3 days late but I'll count this as my first day. I'm off to the treadmill and some good music.

Snow Fun

We got quite a bit of snow during the Christmas break. I took these pictures of Justin mostly because I thought it was so funny for him to be out there in shorts and boots shoveling.

Jared and Kamryn went out sledding a couple of times with their friends.

These pictures are of them making snow angels while waiting for their friends.

Our Project

So for Christmas I told Paul all I wanted was new living room furniture, carpet and paint. That's ALL I wanted. This has turned into a big project.

Christmas was on Saturday. On Monday morning we cleared out the living room - moved all the furniture into the garage - mostly because we're not sure what to do with most of it. Then the kids got busy cleaning walls, baseboards, ceilings, etc. The above picture is some of the stuff that we found in the bottom of our couch. There was even a book in there!

an empty living room is a fun thing. We made up several games to play in there - like who could roll a tennis ball from one end of the room to the other and come closest to touching the wall but not touch it.

Paul starting to cut out holes in the ceiling. We decided to put in recessed can lights. I get sick of walking in there and having to turn on 4 lamps to light up the room. Paul has put a lot of thought into the design of our project. I've been there with him all the way - all the trips to Home Depot and Lowes and I've helped him pull the wire and anything else he needs done.

Next up is prepping the walls and ceiling for painting. I'm so excited to get it finished.