As this week winds down and I have a few minutes to myself at the computer, I think I'll document a little about the latest in our lives.
Sports and more sports
This week we spent a lot of time at soccer and flag football practices and games, many in the rain. The parents grumble much more than the kids, who are used to playing in downpours. In related news, Joseph scored a goal in soccer and a touchdown in flag football this week! Go Joseph!
Into the Woods to Grandmother's House
After four months, Aubrey finished rehearsals for her school's play "Into the Woods." The last few weeks she had rehearsals every day after school until 10 p.m. Boo to that. I don't like the fact that VSAA saw Aubrey for over 12 hours a day and we saw her about half an hour. And I didn't like driving bleary-eyed to pick her up from school at such a late hour. To be honest, it wasn't terribly safe driving on my part since I get up so early. I had to blast podcasts to stay awake until I got her in the car. Tonight is the 5th of 6 performances of the play. Dan and I went last Friday and I attended last night while Dan watched Joseph's football game. Tonight Dan and Bailey are there to clap for our actress.
This is right before her toes are chopped off to fit in the golden slipper. After which birds pecked out her eyes and blinded her. The original Grimm fairy tales were bizarre and violent!
52 days till Wedding
Preparations for Brandon and Angela's wedding have really ramped up this last week. I probably spent 3 hours a day on preparations and meeting with people about arrangements. The good news is that everything is coming together and we have some great help. The smartest thing I did was hire a friend to do all the decorations for the reception. She is going to do a fabulous job, and I don't have to do it. Win/win for everyone!
So much to study, not enough time
Bailey has been nonstop and round-the-clock studying for her four AP tests. She had a good system going, with piles of notecards and highlighted study guides. This last week she took three of the tests. She feels pretty good about all of them - hooray! After she takes her last AP test next Wednesday she and I are going to Portland to get lunch and dessert at some trendy and fun eateries (Portland is the best place for foodies.) .
Candidate Bailey
Last week Bailey finished her campaign for Senior Class Activities Director, an ASB position. She had an awesome campaign and the coolest shirts ever (thanks to my friend Kristi's skills with vinyl letters/heat press and our late night work punching out letters and adhering them). She didn't win, but was appointed to be part of student government again. She has loved being part of the student government this last year.
I love Screen-free week
This last week Joseph's school challenged all the kids to be screen free. He willingly agreed to it in theory, but after arriving home from school on Monday and remembering the challenge, he threw himself prostrate to the ground and declared that there was nothing to do.
I had to leave then for a few hours to help serve dinner to the actors at Aubrey's school, and when I returned I found that Joseph and Bailey had been riding bikes and playing basketball and Joseph had been playing outside with neighbor kids. First of all, shout out to a big sister who likes hanging out with her brother and who took a break from studying to play with him! Also, I loved the fact that the siren call of media had been silenced and Joseph was able to totally focus on all the other cool things to do.
I am fan of excessive media time anyway so we have limits on screen time per day in our home. However, there is an omnipresent tension, with our youngest wishing he could play/watch more and me needing to police the level of media consumption. This creates grumpiness on the part of the child and the mom. What this screen-free week did was remove that tension. Media was not an option, so we thought of other activities to occupy us.
This last week Joseph and I rode bikes every day, played with remote control cars almost every day, read most of the second Fablehaven book, spent more time than usual outside, attended a Science, Math, and Tech night at his school, and interacted more with neighbors. We talked a lot more and I learned so much more about the world of Joseph Porter. The only downside: I didn't get anything else done once he was home from school. But it was worth it. Screen-free week was a wake-up call for me too. We are all too addicted to the entertaining power of media.
I'm an NPR nerd
Given my rant about our addiction to the entertainment power of media, I'm a little embarrassed to document this next item, as it's about how I'm entertained by media. Now that all my kids are in school I spend a lot of time during the day listening to my own thoughts. I also do a lot of driving around and the radio is boring to me. I listen to a lot of conference talks, and I love that. But sometimes I want something different. Lately I have discovered the fun of listening to podcasts. I'm a little slow to the party on some media-related things (when Dan bought me an iphone I was amazed that I could actually load music onto my phone). Anyway, I now download and enjoy listening to lots of nerdy and fascinating podcasts on my iphone. My favorites are Science Friday, All Things Considered, and Planet Money, all on NPR.
The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round
Joseph is our first and only kid who wants to take the bus to school in the morning every day. He rides the bus home every day, but for his entire elementary school life I have driven him to school (as I did his siblings), but he decided last week that he wants to also ride the bus in the morning with his friends. He does not like to be late or anything close to late for anything. So, every morning he bounds out of bed, gets ready in a jiffy, and we are out the door, walking down the street, and waiting at the bus stop about 15-25 minutes before it arrives. It has been a good chance to look around at the beautiful springtime and visit with my little guy.
A year ago . . .
I meant to blog about this on April 30th but didn't, but on April 30th it was a year since Brandon got off his mission to Donetsk, Ukraine. What a year it has been in his life and in the lives of those living in Ukraine. We are very, very happy that he is not still in Ukraine, which is currently filled with unrest and violence and threatening civil war or invasion by Russia. All the missionaries from his mission were first transferred to Kiev and now have been sent state-side to complete their missions.
Early morning Seminary is almost done
Hip hip hooray - we are all excited to have Dan back to ourselves again! Because he teaches Seniors, he is done after Seminary graduation in about a month. I can't wait!
.jpg)
