Tuesday, May 31, 2011
A fun visit with cousins!
I'm playing catch-up, as usual. A few weeks ago, we were lucky enough to have a visit from one of my cousins and her cute family. They came all the way from Ephraim, Utah, to visit my Grandma Johnson and both participated in the MAD Marathon here in Idaho Falls. We were so happy that they would take the time to visit us and the kids had a blast playing together! Regan had to miss out on the fun because of school and piano but the rest of the kids played together all afternoon. Chris, Erica's husband helped the kids shoot our Red Rider BB Gun (my kids favorite toy :):):) The kids put targets (cans, boxes, etc.) in the trees in the back yard and the deck was the shooting station. It's perfect, if no one leaves the deck!! The kids thought Chris was pretty awesome because he took time to help each child and then made them feel pretty awesome if they hit the targets. Morgan LOVES shooting the BB gun and asked quite regularly to go out and shoot and she's a pretty darn good shot! This is one of these times when I'm really grateful we have a gigantic backyard. Anyway, I rarely get to spend time with Erica since we live so far apart so it was so much fun catching up and visiting about our kids and interestingly, some of our kids have very similar personalities and interests. I wish so much that we lived closer together but I'm looking forward to our family reunion this summer in Salt Lake where we will hopefully be able to see a lot of my cousins!
Uruguay Presentation
Last Tuesday, the 3rd grade classes at Fairview invited parents to come and give presentations on different countries around the world. Morgan came home with her paper in hand excited to ask DJ if he'd present on Uruguay since this is where he served his mission. I thought it was so cute because at the very top of the handout, she had penciled in "PLEASE" which made me realized just how much this meant to her. I'm so glad that DJ was able to rearrange his work schedule so he could be there because Morgan was pretty proud of her dad! In fact, she kept drilling him in the weeks before to make sure he was preparing and most importantly that he had the "Dulce De Leche" (yummy caramelized sweetened condensed milk treat) prepared.
DJ did such a good job with the kids and kept their attention most of the time which can be pretty hard to do when you are dealing with kids this age. He gave 6, 25 minute presentations to small groups of kids and a teacher, and I got to be his assistant. Actually, my only job was to dish up the Dulce De Leche and serve it to the kids--I was fine with that job! I think DJ enjoyed himself other than when all was said and done he made the comment that he was just plain tired and needed a nap but unfortunately he still had to drive to the college and teach his college students. He says he better stick with teaching at the college level because the younger ones just wear him out. Anyway, it was a lot of fun spending time with DJ prior to the presentation looking at all of his old mission photos, reading through a few of his journals, and hearing him talk about the 2 years he spent in this neat country. Missions are a blessing in so many ways and I hope each of my kids get the opportunity to serve. I know this much, I'm looking forward to someday serving as a couple!
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Music Camp Preparations
The girls and Kaleb are so excited for another year of Music Camp in Rupert this July! Kaleb already has his song planned for the recital and will be singing, "Yankee Doodle" but is insistent that he only sing the first 4 lines. If anything, I'm sure he'll win the prize for shortest song!:) Anyway, they are working hard on their songs and planning out the fun week spent at Aunt Lori's house! I'm excited myself because Kaleb gets to participate and we also get to take my niece Leona, Regan's friend, Lindee Andrus, and possibly one of my other nieces, Janae! It will be a busy week of cooking, cleaning, hair doing, swimming, partying, eating, planning, performing, running back and forth from the camp, etc. but it will be worth it! Last Thursday, Lori and I went to Mom's house and spent the day sewing skirts for the Musical "Hairspray" that the girls will be performing this year. They are so colorful and so stinking cute it just makes me excited to watch all of them up on stage!
We couldn't possibly leave Kami out so we made her a skirt as well and I've had a hard time pealing it off her! She looks so adorable! When I say "we" made the skirts, I mean, Lori gave us instructions and my mom and I did our best to follow. Actually, my mom has an awesome sewing machine and is pretty darn good herself, I'm not bad at following directions and learned a few things along the way. I just struggle with the measurements and starting the project but I don't mind taking orders from someone who definetly knows what they are doing. Thanks to Lor and Mom for a great day!!
The end....(atleast for 3 months)
I can't believe that school will be out tomorrow. This was a crazy school year for us as we made the transition of having a middle schooler, two elementary kiddos, and one preschooler. The babies felt left out of the whole school situation but their turn is coming way too soon for my liking. Regan's 7th grade year at Rocky Mountain Middle School has been way better than I ever expected. I knew that she'd keep being a good girls and making good choices but it's always scary when you have to transition in to a big school with multiple teachers, tons of unfamiliar faces, some not so good influences learking around every corner, lots more work and responsibility, rearranging of class schedules, as well as all the "little things" such as the locker combination, multiple school lunch lines, rowdy school assemblies, school sports, student government, etc. I think the first 3 months were the hardest for Regan but it seems like after Christmas, she really started getting involved and made some really great friends and since then she's been a very happy kid! Some of her accomplishments for her 1st experience in middle school include:
1. Great grades!
2. student government representative
3. participated in Choir and had the opportunity to accompany the students on a few songs
4. member of the National Honors Society
5. participated in Cross Country with the Bonneville High School and earned medals at nearly every meet
6. participated in RMMS Track, at the District Meet she placed 2nd in the 800 meter, 3rd in the 400 meter, and their medly relay took first place!
She is really a great girl and I'm proud of all of her accomplishments but most importantly, I'm grateful that she is staying true to herself and keeping her standards high. It has been a blessing in her life the past 4 1/2 months for she and her dad to attend the temple weekly to perform baptisms for the dead along with many of the youth in our ward. I'm thankful to my husband for making this happen nearly every week and encouraging the youth to go as often as possible.
1. Great grades!
2. student government representative
3. participated in Choir and had the opportunity to accompany the students on a few songs
4. member of the National Honors Society
5. participated in Cross Country with the Bonneville High School and earned medals at nearly every meet
6. participated in RMMS Track, at the District Meet she placed 2nd in the 800 meter, 3rd in the 400 meter, and their medly relay took first place!
She is really a great girl and I'm proud of all of her accomplishments but most importantly, I'm grateful that she is staying true to herself and keeping her standards high. It has been a blessing in her life the past 4 1/2 months for she and her dad to attend the temple weekly to perform baptisms for the dead along with many of the youth in our ward. I'm thankful to my husband for making this happen nearly every week and encouraging the youth to go as often as possible.
District Champions (Medley Relay team)
Jordy's Bug's Play
A couple of weeks the two first grade classes at Fairview performed their "Bugz" play. Jordyn was so excited to play her part as the Monarch Butterfly and talked about the big performance day nonstop!! It really is an adorable play with the cutest songs ever. She was wrapped in a "chrysalis" for much of the play and when it was her turn to be center stage for the song, "Thing's Change," she took off her chrysalis and changed in to a butterfly. The material for her costume was so awesome and perfect for a butterfly's wings. They had elastics around her wrists that the material was attached to so when she moved her arms up and down the material opened wide. She was so excited and pretty proud of her part! During the weeks leading up the play, each child got to research a bug of their choice, complete a report, and draw a picture to go along with their report. Jordyn's report was really put together well and her picture was so cute and detailed, after all, she prides herself on her artistic abilities:) I got a good laugh while reading her report because of some of the misspellings of words. I can't figure her out because she almost always gets 100% on all of her spelling tests but when she is writing a story or a note, she misspells several of the words. What a funny kid! Anyway, I love her and I'm proud of the great student she is (even if she is only a 1st grader)
Jordyn was thrilled that Grandma Rose could make it to the performance. Our neighbor's, George and Dianne Pappaionau also came which I thought was so thoughtful! They are awesome people and always so supportive of our kids.
Since Grandpa and Grandma T. live so far away, we took a short video of Jordyn's big part which I will posted when I get it uploaded so check back! Love you guys!
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Why do I bother?
This is what happens when I try to put one of the kiddos in time-out....they quickly forgive the offender and join forces. Kaleb happened to be the offender this time around and Porter and Kami weren't about to let him serve his time alone.:) They were immediately mad at me and pushed their chairs over to join him. Doesn't he look just as pleased as pie?? How can I be mad after that?
Porter and Kami are extremely protective of one another and here's an example: One day Kamryn was being a little pill and I had had it with her. She was getting a pretty good talking to when Porter ran up to me and says, "mommy, dat's my Kami, yeave her ayone!!" It's pretty cute but it does make disciplining a little bit challenging. Oh well, I'm glad they are best buddies!
After much begging....
....and pleading, Jordy finally got her cut off. I was seriously scared and having a little panic attack when the first chunk came off. But, I couldn't help but be happy for her sitting there with the hugest grin on her face!! And, by the time it was done, I was loving it!! It's so much easier and I don't have to hear her complain about the big rats! Regan and Morgan both came with me and after watching Jordyn, they decided they'd like a turn. They weren't sure if they wanted to take off as much so they both had a few inches taken off and some cute layers put in. They both look adorable! I wasn't sure what DJ would think because he's always been a long hair man (on the girls, not himself :):) But, surprisingly, he totally loves it and wishes that I would've done the same with Regan and Morgan. I'm sure we'll be heading back to the salon in the very near future.
The happiest kid on earth!
Thursday, May 5, 2011
A spring in my step
And these are the reasons why:
* The weather is beautiful, sunshiny, no wind, and perfect for attending Regan's track meet and Morgan's soccer game this afternoon and evening.
* We finished planting raspberry starts last night, that makes 5 large rows with approximately 18 plants in each. I'm praying that we have at least 50% survive, DJ says that he's betting 90% will. Who's more optimistic in our household?
* The computer room de-junking is finished. The room has been a thorn in my side for way to long so I finally tackled it. It's not perfect but at least I got rid of TONS of junk (a huge garbage can full) and I broke down and purchased a shredder so as to clear out all of my very old documents that I no longer need.
* I finished the "Hunger Games" series. I couldn't put the darn things down, they totally had me sucked in. So, I'm glad I'm finally finished so I can do something productive.....no more book recommendations for me from anyone, not because I don't appreciate it, but because now I know I will get nothing done if I start!!!!
* We're in the last few weeks of school and planning out the fun activities of the summer. I have to admit that I'm always freaked out about the first week of my kids summer vacation. It just takes me that much time to adjust to having all 6 kids around all the time again, you know, twice as much laundry, kids in and out of the fridge All. Day. Long., tons more messes, double the cooking, etc. I'm excited, but, the nervous kind of excited!
* While cleaning out the den, I came upon a huge file filled with stuff from DJ's childhood. Among the piles of pictures, I found a couple of stories written by DJ's dad that I had to stop and read. I couldn't put them down, and it just so happened that one of the stories had some really great advice that couldn't have been more timely for my hubby. DJ was pretty thrilled when he came home late that night from Bishop responsibilities and got to sit down and read his dad's words of wisdom. You can't tell me that journaling isn't important, in whatever form you choose, blogging, actual journals, short stories, notebooks, whatever. You never know when something you write down might be useful to someone else. Thanks, Dad Teichert. Come to think of it, I think my dad has kept a journal faithfully for a lot of years, I guess I need to ask him if I can borrow them sometime!
* Porter and Kamryn have been playing outside together for 2 hours with no fighting. I don't know what they would do without each other.
* The kids have been talking a lot about our Southern California trip and what a great time they had. I still haven't blogged about it which bums me out but it is so darn cute to hear the babies talk about the things that were "so fun" and the things that were "scawee" (scary). For now, they remember a lot of details of the vacation, favorite rides, not so favorite rides (Pirates of the Caribbean) meeting princesses, playing on the beach, seeing Mickey Mouse, going to dolphin and whale shows, etc. In the grocery store yesterday, they pointed out the lunchables and said, "mom, we have those at Disney Land." We were at the library last week and they found all sorts of books about dolphins and whales and they both went on and on about the fun show where the dolphins jumped high in the air. I only hope they can keep those memories stored in their little brains because it really was a dream trip!
* The weather is beautiful, sunshiny, no wind, and perfect for attending Regan's track meet and Morgan's soccer game this afternoon and evening.
* We finished planting raspberry starts last night, that makes 5 large rows with approximately 18 plants in each. I'm praying that we have at least 50% survive, DJ says that he's betting 90% will. Who's more optimistic in our household?
* The computer room de-junking is finished. The room has been a thorn in my side for way to long so I finally tackled it. It's not perfect but at least I got rid of TONS of junk (a huge garbage can full) and I broke down and purchased a shredder so as to clear out all of my very old documents that I no longer need.
* I finished the "Hunger Games" series. I couldn't put the darn things down, they totally had me sucked in. So, I'm glad I'm finally finished so I can do something productive.....no more book recommendations for me from anyone, not because I don't appreciate it, but because now I know I will get nothing done if I start!!!!
* We're in the last few weeks of school and planning out the fun activities of the summer. I have to admit that I'm always freaked out about the first week of my kids summer vacation. It just takes me that much time to adjust to having all 6 kids around all the time again, you know, twice as much laundry, kids in and out of the fridge All. Day. Long., tons more messes, double the cooking, etc. I'm excited, but, the nervous kind of excited!
* While cleaning out the den, I came upon a huge file filled with stuff from DJ's childhood. Among the piles of pictures, I found a couple of stories written by DJ's dad that I had to stop and read. I couldn't put them down, and it just so happened that one of the stories had some really great advice that couldn't have been more timely for my hubby. DJ was pretty thrilled when he came home late that night from Bishop responsibilities and got to sit down and read his dad's words of wisdom. You can't tell me that journaling isn't important, in whatever form you choose, blogging, actual journals, short stories, notebooks, whatever. You never know when something you write down might be useful to someone else. Thanks, Dad Teichert. Come to think of it, I think my dad has kept a journal faithfully for a lot of years, I guess I need to ask him if I can borrow them sometime!
* Porter and Kamryn have been playing outside together for 2 hours with no fighting. I don't know what they would do without each other.
* The kids have been talking a lot about our Southern California trip and what a great time they had. I still haven't blogged about it which bums me out but it is so darn cute to hear the babies talk about the things that were "so fun" and the things that were "scawee" (scary). For now, they remember a lot of details of the vacation, favorite rides, not so favorite rides (Pirates of the Caribbean) meeting princesses, playing on the beach, seeing Mickey Mouse, going to dolphin and whale shows, etc. In the grocery store yesterday, they pointed out the lunchables and said, "mom, we have those at Disney Land." We were at the library last week and they found all sorts of books about dolphins and whales and they both went on and on about the fun show where the dolphins jumped high in the air. I only hope they can keep those memories stored in their little brains because it really was a dream trip!
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
My dad!
I stole these pictures from my mom's blog. It brings back such great memories of my childhood on our ranch in Park Valley, UT. After having to leave the ranch because of a bad injury, my dad left what he loved most to go back to college to earn a degree and basically start a new life with a family to support. I can't imagine how hard this must have been for my dad to leave the ranch and his family behind but he knew he had no choice. Though times were hard for quite a few years, my mom worked especially hard teaching piano lessons in the early morning hours and worked a full time job while my dad went to back to college at Utah State University and worked full time as well (at the college, I think). Even though this had to be a really tough time for my parents, I never lacked for the things I needed. They somehow were able to stills support 4 kids and life was great for us. I know things always happen for a reason. My dad got the best job working for Eastern Idaho Ag Credit Assoc. in Blackfoot, after he graduated from college and has worked there ever since. In the past several years he has been able to own a couple of horses and he and mom purchased a truck and trailer. I think he's found his dream horse now! (Snip) My dad spends a lot of time now out in Park Valley helping his dad and brother on the ranch and he often rides for clients & friends as well, and he loves every minute of it! I love my parents and I'm grateful for the sacrifices they made for our family and I'll be forever grateful for my up bringing in the best place ever (Park Valley, UT).
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Kaleb's preschool snack
When Kaleb got home from preschool today I asked him what he had for snack time and he replied with pure delight, "flies on a log." Huh???? Did I hear him right? C'mon, what's the first thing you thought of when you read that?? I'm sure it wasn't raisins on a brown cracker, right? hmmmm.... I'm wonder what's on the menu for tomorrow??
Monday, May 2, 2011
Monster Concert 2011 (Regan) at OneTrueMedia.com
Grandma and Grandpa Teichert and Grandpa Rose couldn't make it to the concert so the following videos are especially for them but feel free to take a listen! I love Monster Concert! Regan played 4 really long and hard songs so her video is over 9 minutes long. She played 2 songs with her friend, Lindee Andrus, and the other 2 were played as a trio with another Andrus girl. The last song played by all 3 girls is my favorite which starts at about the 7 minute mark. Good job girls!
Monster Concert 2011 (Morgan) at OneTrueMedia.com
This was Morgan's 2nd year participating in Monster Concert. It's amazing what a year can do, she's improved so much thanks to a great teacher and lots of practicing. DJ was so a little choked up after hearing her play (I mean everyone, not that you can pick her out). I don't think he knew she could play so well.
Monster Concert 2011 (Jordyn) at OneTrueMedia.com
Jordyn is playing with her teacher who is in the black suit on the front row. This video is horrible but at least the sound is good. I'm not sure if you can see it in this video but Jordyn bounces up and down to the beat, she was so stressed about messing up even though I kept assuring her that no one would notice. Funny girl!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)