PTA

I got a call from a member of the current PTA. They were asking me if I would be interested in being on the PTA board next year. I was completely thrown off guard. They had said that I was nominated by a few parents and teachers. They all said that I have been willing and able to help. I was flatterer by the comment, but I wasn’t sure how I felt about it. She told me that I could take a few day, but needed to get back to her by the end of the week.

After I hung up I had all sorts of feelings in my head. I had been a PTA member all year round and have signed up to help multiple times, I was never called and when I was finally called it was because I had called and left a message, maybe a few. I was a frustrated parent and wasn’t sure if I wanted to give myself a headache all year round dealing with PTA.

After talking it over with Ben, who of course told me that I could make a difference and make sure that no one had the experiences I had had that year, so I called her back and said yes. When I did she asked me if I would be willing to be the Treasurer. I wasn’t sure what that was and what my assignments would be, but that it mainly dealt with the checking account. I figured I do that pretty well with our own finances, so I said yes. She told me at the end of year PTA meeting they would vote and swear us in and then we’d be given all our “stuff” from the previous board members.

After I hung up, I felt queasy and wasn’t sure if I made the right choice. I guess only time will tell.

Animal Report

In the 1st grade each of the students are required to do a report on an animal of their choosing. They have to research their animal as well as do a poster about that animal. Owen picked the Leopard. The day he brought his assignment home he wanted to get going on it.

We sat down on the computer and started to look up some information on Leopards. He had a question sheet that he was to fill out to help him with his report, so as we were reading about Leopards we filled out his question sheet. Once we had found all the info he needed we started to fill in his written report. From his question sheet he took the facts that he liked best for his written report. I was surprised how quickly we got it done.

When we were done with that he wanted to start on his poster. I asked him what he wanted to do and he said he wanted pictures on it. So we went back to the computer and looked up pictures of Leopards. He picked his favorite ones then we decided to show some facts on the poster with pictures to go with them. We had his report and poster done in not time. Now we just had to wait till it was his day to present.

Two weeks later, it was finally Owen's day for his animal report. We had practiced and practiced it at home so he wouldn't feel rushed or slip over some of the words. He was ready.

I walked in to his class for his designated time and he had the biggest smile on his face. He game up to me and said that he was ready and was going to do awesome on his "oral" portion of his report. u have to admit after hearing the previous student, I was glad that Owen had practiced at home.  

The best part about his report was the reason why he choose the Leopard. He told them that he picked the Leopard because of the Leopard in the Jungle Lego set that he wants that had a Leopard in it. All the kids laughed and smiled with this answer. Even his teacher thought that was pretty good.

When he was done with his report Mrs. Vigil asked the kids questions to make sure that they were paying attention during the report. Then Owen got to pick someone to answer those questions. You could tell that he loved being front and center and in charge. He did a great job.

Singing

Ben and I both love to sing. We both sang all throughout high school. We hoped that that would pass onto our kids. I guess you could say we got what we asked for. Our kids love to make as much noise as possible whether it be talking or singing. 

One night after putting the kids to bed I heard some music, but I didn't have anything on. I walked around trying to figure out what it was and then I came across it. Gabbi was singing in her room. It was completely dark and then out of all that darkness...singing. I have no idea what she was singing, but I couldn't help but record it. Sadly I couldn't help but laugh either. It was too cute.

Valentines Activity

The kids were so excited for our Valentine's Day activity. They didn't have school that day so when they got up in the morning, they quickly got dressed, got their chores done, and were ready and waiting to go. When it was finally time to walk out the door, they were all chatty about what type of clothes they were going to put on their bear. Unluckily for them, we weren't going there first.

First we went to eat, then we teased them by driving around a few stores, and then finally when they couldn't take it anymore we found a place to park by the build a bear workshop. They ripped off their seats belts and ran inside.

They were bummed when I told them that the bear they were getting was the plain and simple brown one, but they all said that that was okay when I told them that meant they could spend more on their clothes. So their grabbed their bear and a worker walked them over to the stuffing. At the stuffing station he had them each grab a heart. They were told to hold it tight to warm it up so it could go in their bears. Then he told them to make a wish on that heart for the bear to hold until it came true. Then one by one they each got to help stuff their bear and place their hearts inside.

They really liked the stuffing machine. They had no idea how it worked, but they were mesmerized by it. 

When they were all done with the stuffing, they took their bears to the grooming station. There they combed them and got off all the loose fur and then for the fun part...to pick out clothes. They bounced around forever trying to decided what to choose. Finally Gabbi chose a Queen Elsa dress with glass slippers, Owen picked a Boba Fett uniform w/mask and a blaster gun, and William chose Justice League pajamas; along with a blaster gun just because Owen had one. They were happy with their choice and we headed up to the counter to pay.

At first I wasn't going to do an accessory because their stuff it king of pricey, but with the deal they had going on; for every $30 dollars you spend you get a free $10 gift card, we decided to grab the accessories before we headed out the door.

When we left we had one more surprise for them. We walked over to the theater and surprised them with a show, Peter Rabbit.

They were upset that we weren't getting any drinks or treats, but when we reminded them all that we had done that day for them, they were okay with it.

Every one like the movie, even Ben and I. When it was done we headed back to the van to head home. When we got home we helped the kids hang up their counting chains and then it was time for a quick dinner and off to bed.

Spirit Week

The kids had a spirit week at school. They just had parent teacher conferences and only have a few months left at school. They planned a fun week for the kids to get them excited for the rest of the year. Since the kids were out of school on Friday, they only had dress up days for 4 days.

Monday was pajama/Disney day – "Relax and enjoy learning" wear Disney attire or pajammas. 

Tuesday was hats/sports day – "Hats off to learning" wear your sports gear or a hat.

Wednesday was school spirit day – "Show your school spirit for learning" wear your school shirt or any shirt that is red or black.

Thursday was Aloha day – "Say Hello to more learning" wear Hawaiian attire.

As always the kids love the opportunity to dress up during spirit weeks. Some of them are redundant and the same year after year, but the kids never seem to mind. 

Valentine's Day Dinner

Despite the fact that I really dislike this holiday, we spoiled our kids.

Dad had left them with a box of chocolates before he went to work. He added it to the rice crispy heart that I had made to be eaten later at dinner time. The kids begged to take these to school, but I had to remind them that they would be getting to eat enough junk food at school that we didn't need to add to it.

When they got home from school, they were surprised to see the table already set for dinner even though it was a few hours away. On their place mates were Valentines gifts from Ben and I. They each got a count down chain for our trip to California with Mom and Dad and our trip to Disneyland with Brandon and Christy. They also got a tube of white, pink, and red sixlets, and last but not lease a gift card to build a bear. While at the table for dinner we told them that we had scheduled a trip to build a bear so they could each make a traveling buddy for our trips. They all lit up when we told them that we would be going in two day to build their bears.

Then as traditions go, we had our heart breaker pizza from Papa Murphy's for dinner like we do every year. They kids get a kick out of the fact that it is shaped like a heart. Not only was their dinner shaped like I heart, I pulled out the heart shaped rice crispy for dessert. They were "hearted" out by the end of the day.

Valentines

Each year when they get home from school, the kids and I like to put all their Valentines into a little Valentines book. We take all the candy off and them tape or glue the Valentines into a little book made out of card stock. They kids love them that way they can remember who gave them what and what types of Valentines they got.

Gabbi 4th Grade

Owen 1st Grade

William 4 years old

Valentine's Day party

Valentine's Day brings a little bit of fun for the kids at school. Mrs. Vigil had some fun things planned, but still educational.

They made a book all about love just for Valentine's day. It had pictures all throughout that the kids had colored during class. All of these pictures were things that the kids thought represented love. Owen's said "Love is building Lego's with my family."

For one of their recess times they got to go outside and have a relay race. They got in two lines and each line was given a plastic spoon. With that spoon they had to scoop up a heart and run it over to the cups and drop it in. Then they passed the spoon off to the next kid in line. Which ever team went through the line first won. They played this a few times and each team had a turn to win.

When they went back inside they not only got to hand out Valentine's for the whole class, but they got to have one more game.

They played games with conversation hearts. In the center of each set of desks were a plateful of conversation hearts. With those hearts they played a few games. They got to solve math problems with them. They also had a contest to see who could stack the highest tower in a minute. Owen said he thought it was funny when all the towers started falling down when they got so tall.

Sorry for the bad pic. I was at the mercy of whatever pictures were taken by his teacher.

Valentine's Day party

Even though William isn't part of any play group or preschool, he was invited to a Valentine's Day party. Raquel is part of a play group and and Shantelle was in charge of the play date on Valentine's Day. She planned a little party for all of the girls and asked if William would like to participate. He was so excited when Raquel asked him, he was jumping up and down. As a thank you for the invite, I stayed to help. I've had to do a party all by myself before and they are not fun.

When they all got there, the first thing they did was to make their Valentine's Envelopes. They got to decorate them with hearts, flowers, bears, and star stamps. When they were done they glued them to a piece of card stock and it make the perfect little envelope to put their Valentines in.

After those were done they got to make Oreo chocolate covered lady bugs. Shantelle had melted red milk chocolate chips and when it was ready the kid each took turns dipping them and then adding chocolate sprinkles. Then they even got to add a pair of eyes. They had to sit for a minute to let the chocolate set, but they didn't seem to mind waiting since they got to eat the left over sprinkles.

After that they were each given some heart gummies for a snack and then were told they could go play. Right before their mom's came to pick them up, they got to hand out their Valentines.

It was short and sweet and William, although being the only boy, loved it.

Valentines Day cards

With Valentine's Day quickly approaching, I was looking around for some easy Valentine's Day card ideas. My Aunt Cindy has been so sweet and thinking of all the niece's and nephew's and has been sending little care packages for each of the Holiday. The kids each got a sketch pad, coloring pencils or crayons, and some kind of fun Valentine's toy to be mixed and shared with all the niece's and nephew's. 

The kids were so excited by their packages that they wanted to do some kind of a thank for her. The kids decided that they wanted to send her a Valentine's Day card. I saw a cute picture on Facebook of a hand painted tree with heart finger print leaves. The kids loved the idea, so we decided to give it a try.

They loved it. They had so much fun painting, when they were done they wanted to make another one. So they made one for their teachers as well. They were really bummed when they were done. They kept trying to find places to put more leaves. Not only were their branches covered with leaves, so were the trunk and the ground around it. They were so fun to watch.  

 They were so proud of their finished products and couldn't wait to give them to Aunt Cindy and their teachers.

Parent Teacher Conferences

Like clock work twice a year we get to go to parent teacher conferences. Sometimes I don't see why its worth it. If my kids are doing fine and you have no concerns then I'm good. Let me know when you have a concern. As a proactive parents I of course signed up and at my allotted time slot I went with the kids.

They of course got high marks, their teachers love them, and they had absolutely no concerns. Don't get me wrong I love to hear that, but did I really have to. The best part of parent teacher conferences is that they kids get to show me some of the things they have worked on in class, meaning artwork. I love to see how creative our kids can be. It never ceases to amaze me.

Testimony

Owen has watched and listened for months to those who bare their testimonies in Sacrament meeting and Primary. Today he really wanted to go share his testimony. I asked him what he was going to say and he smiled and shrugged his shoulders. I asked him what he believed in, what he felt, what he was grateful for, etc. He said things like being grateful for school and church and friends and toys, but he couldn't really answer what he believed in and felt.

He sat and waited a minute then the next thing I know he's handing me a piece of paper and a pencil. He asked me to write down my testimony. I told him I couldn't write down my testimony it had to be his to share. He then tried to get Ben to do the same thing. Ben told him to sit and listen to others share their's. Then after a few more minutes Ben stood up and told Owen to follow him. Owen looked at me surprised. He got up and followed. So did William and I just shook my head.

When Ben was done sharing his testimony, he signaled for Owen to come up and share his. He was nervous, but started to share his testimony. He didn't get very far before needing Ben to help him, but he went on and said a sweet short testimony and sat down. William thought that was awesome and he wanted his turn too. He got up there and started to talk, but it had nothing to do with his testimony. He told Ben that he didn't want his help, then he said he was going to say a prayer. When Ben picked him up he started to freak out. Ben quickly said that William loved his Savior and his Family, ended, and then took the quickest exit out of the chapel.

From the sweet tender hearts of Children.

Utes Gymnastics

Gabbi brought home a voucher for tickets to go see the Utes Gymnastics for a pretty good price. You could either sit in general admission for free or you could upgrade to assigned seating for $5.00. After debating it for a while Christy, Shantelle, and I decided to make it a girls day. We would take all the girls and have a fun Mommy and daughters day. 

We first grabbed some lunch and then headed for Salt Lake. We parked near a tram station and caught the trams up the the campus. They kids loved being on the trams. Well while it wasn't so crowded that is. As we got closer more and more boarded the trams. It was so crowded I couldn't believe it. There literally was no room to move, but people kept piling in.

Once we finally got there the kids were excited to see that it was superhero/princess day. They had all sorts of princesses and superhero's stationed around the arena. We started at one end and made our way around till we finally got to our seats.

Once we were in our seats, we waited patiently for the meet to start. When all the lights went out, we took that as a sign the it was about to begin. Then they shot our flames and introduced us to the team. The girls were wide eyed and very excited.

When they were finished they turned the lights back on and got this underway.

It was pretty close the entire time. Both teams were doing a great job. The clincher was two scores of 10 for the Utes. It was the same girls as well, just two different event, Vault and floor. It was a lot of fun to watch and Gabbi was glues to the girls. I have to admit, so was I. I wanted to be a gymnast when I was little. I had as much fun as Gabbi did. I'm glad she asked to go.

Overall the Utes won it. A pretty close one too.

After one quick group pic we headed back to the tram and hopped on to head back to the van. Once we got to the van we headed back to Ogden and stopped at Jake's for a sweet treat before heading home.

It was a very fun girl's day. Not as awesome as our adult girl's nights, but still it was a lot of fun to include the girls.