Lyra's last concert

Tonight was Lyra's last orchestra concert for the MWSA. She is getting quite good at her violin, and says she wants to play in middle school next year! Since I forgot to tell anybody about her concert, here are some videos. I took them with my phone, since I discovered my camera battery was dead when we got to the concert. Go me!

They played four songs...

(She is about dead center with the bright blue violin)

I'm pretty proud of her!

A new family member

Just before Valentines Day, Hannah found this little stray kitty outside our house. I am NOT a cat person. I told my kids that they can't have cats because we have had bad luck with them peeing all over...girl cat, boy cat, it doesn't matter. So, Hannah decided that this poor kitty needed to come inside since it was so cold outside. Her and her father smuggled him in and set up a litter box, food,   water, and a bed for him. I actually didn't see him until the next morning. I reluctantly agreed that he could stay until he peed somewhere he shouldn't. Well, it still hasn't happened yet, and he now has a name (Mee-Mow), is neutered, got a collar and name tag, so I guess he's staying. We still aren't great friends, him and I, but he is kind of a funny little thing. He sleeps in the weirdest places and positions.

 On Seth...

 Smashed in the curve of the couch...

 On the arm of David's chair...

 This one only lasted for the picture before I kicked him off.

 On Hannah's bed in her clean laundry...

He also likes to watch the fish swimming in the aquarium (FishTV as the kids call it) and "barks" at them when he can't catch them. He's a funny little thing! 

Seth...

First he looked like this...

 Then we put in a bunch of these...

Cut some of them off, and he looked pretty silly...

Cut the rest off and he looked REALLY silly, but had lots of hair in ponytails (11 inches of hair to be exact)...

We evened up his hair, put the ponytails in an envelope, and mailed them off to Locks of Love...

Now he looks like this!

He's a good sort. It was all his idea, and he says he's going to do it again! I do love this boy!

Easter 2013

This year was a bit different for us. We usually go roll our eggs down the hill with Great Grandma and Grandpa Sch. BUT, since the end of January, or Grandpa Gordon and Grandma Sue have been staying with us (well, Sue technically has been staying in her camper in our driveway) while Grandpa recovers from a knee replacement that got MRSA and had to be removed. They had to get rid of the infection before they could put in a NEW new knee, and until that happens he can't put any weight on it and it just has a spacer in it. So, climbing stairs in a fifth wheel camper was a no-go. Lucky us, that meant that since our home has no stairs, he got to stay with us! It's been really fun to have them here and to be able to spend time with them, even though the circumstances aren't all that great. I digress, I'm supposed to be talking about Easter here...

Anyway, we decided that it would be fun for our Grandpa to get out of the house and go on a little adventure! So we invited Aunt Laura, Uncle Dustin and their kids to come have a cookout with us. We knew that Grandpa wouldn't be up to travelling or hiking far (since he uses a walker right now), so we just went up Cherry Creek to the turn around for the wildlife refuge. There's a fire pit there and it's nice and flat. Good for Grandpa, not so conducive for rolling eggs.  So, we built a giant slingshot and shot our eggs instead! I thought I had more pictures and videos, but when I uploaded them, there was only this one...the maiden voyage...

All the big "kids" (anyone who could reach the top slingshot) had a bit of a friendly competition to see who could shoot their eggs the farthest. Uncle Dustin won. It was so much fun...good food, good weather, and good company...not much better!

Field Trippin'

Yesterday I got to go on a field trip with my Bug. We were going to go to Salt Lake to the Capitol Building and then to the Clark Planetarium.  Which meant a 2 hour bus ride with 60+ fifth graders. But, it meant I got to spend some time with my cute Bug, so I sacrificed. (It actually wasn't too bad!)

We were supposed to be at the school at 8:00, an hour early. We were an hour and a half early, since Lyra was so excited! Then somehow the bus driver missed the memo that we were leaving early and didn't get there until 20 minutes to 9. So, we stood out on the curb and froze for a few minutes! We were just getting ready to go inside and wait when the bus showed up!

Since neither Lyra or I are very big morning people, we snuggled in the seat and watched Netflix on my phone on the way down. One perk of taking your mom on field trips is that she smuggles treats in her bag. We did take the time to snap a picture for a memento!

 First off, we went to the Capitol to sit in on a Legislative session.  I had never been to the Capitol before and wish we could have spent more time. It was beautiful. We snapped a few pictures as we were walking/running to the Legislative session viewing area, which happened to be on the very tip top floor .

These murals were amazing!

This is the State Seal.

After we spent about 15 minutes listening to the Legislature, we headed off to the Planetarium.  We  ran in and got to watch two different movies (in 3D, hence the silly glasses!) We saw Dinosaur Passage to Pangaea which was a fun little stop motion film about how the continents split apart, Pangaea, dinosaurs, and all that great stuff. Then we saw Hubble 3D which was full of pictures from the Hubble telescope. We got to see different galaxies and it was very interesting. It was also pretty fun to watch all the kids try and "catch" the stars as we zoomed through space!

I got to be "in charge" of these two cute gals...my Bug and her friend Marquesas.

And this is a very dark picture of my Bug and me.

After the Planetarium, we got back on the bus and headed back to the Capitol building for lunch. After we ate, Jack Draxler, who is the Representative for Cache County, talked to us. He told us how the legislative process works, and about a bill he was working on (HB 108, if you are interested). It was interesting to hear about a bill that directly affects where we live. The kids got to ask him questions (and they had some really good ones!), and he spent about a half an hour talking with them. We visited the gift shop, got a treat, and then headed back out to the bus to go home. Lyra was even more worn out on the way home, and had a nap! It was a whirlwind trip, we were back home by the time school was out at 3:20! In the end, I think we were on the bus longer than we were off, but it was a fun trip nonetheless!

Love Day

Ever year, the elementary school has a "Valentine Tea" on Valentines Day. The kids wear their "best dress" and get paired up boy/girl. They  get to have a little treat while practicing their best manners. The boy hold the doors open, pull out chairs, and serve treats to the girls. Then they play a fun manners game.  I remember doing this when I was in elementary school! Here are my girlies all ready for their fancy day! (and this is quickly turning into "The Blog of Lyra and Pyper". I promise I love the other two also, they just leave for school so dang early!)

Happy Love Day!

Crazy Hair Day 2013

These two girlies enjoy crazy hair day as much as I do! I'm glad, then they let me do lots of fun stuff...mostly...

This gal is most definitely a creature of habit. Last year we put a cup in her hair, so this year she wanted the same thing. I should have taken a side view of her though. Her hair is REALLY long and there was quite a bit left hanging after the cup was in, so we used some elastics and made some little bouncy bits sticking off the top.  (Like that short bit there in the front? Yeah, apparently 2nd graders still think it's fun to lop off their hair at school with their friends. Then their moms have to use exorbitant amounts of hairspray to stick the short parts into place and sometimes it just doesn't stay anyway...)

Bugga informed me that morning that we had to "do something really cool". She actually wanted big spikes like Hannah had, but since that requires excessive amounts of Elmer's Glue (which I didn't have), she settled for the ol' pipe cleaners in her hair trick that we've used before. It was similar to what she wanted in the first place though, so she was happy! She told me after school that her teacher told her she was excited to see how her hair looked, "because you always have the best crazy hair!" Lyra was pretty happy about that! I just hoped that she didn't impale any unsuspecting students!