Horton Hatches an Egg

Today Paul's class performed Horton Hatches an Egg. It was a Reader's Theater, so everyone had a script in hand and they just read their parts. I received an invitation last week, and I wasn't really planning on attending. Sunday night I asked Paul if he had a part in the play and he said yes. I asked what his line was. He told me that he can't remember all of them because Horton has a lot of lines.

He hadn't mentioned this to me at all until the night before! I guess that communication lines need to be pried open around here! I decided that I should go and support my little Horton.

Mrs. Mumford had the kids make their own costumes out of construction paper. She informed them that if something falls off that they are to leave it where it falls and that they are not to pick it up.

Soon after the play started, Horton's nose fell off. Paul left it alone, but he was really upset about it. Then the left ear fell off. He caught it as it was falling and stuck it back on.

Here he is sitting on the nest without his nose. Tanner Beesley is the narrator standing next to Paul.


As the play progressed, the left ear fell off. Paul was really embarrassed. He finished the play looking like this:

Poor kid!

Before the next performance, I helped him tape the nose and ears on better so that he didn't have to worry about them falling off. Things went much smoother the second time around!


He makes a pretty cute Horton, don't you think?

Seth's world

I have been working with Seth to write the letter 'e' the correct way. We sat down together and he would trace the letters that I wrote. Then I told him to practice writing it on his own.

He started making the letter e with dotted lines like his preschool teacher use to do. After he made the lines, he would trace the lines to make his letter. I realized that he has figured out the right way to form the letter if he is able to make the letter in a dotted line first. What a fun kid!



Today Seth and Paul were washing their hands together in the bathroom. Daniel and I heard Seth say "Paul is a genius!" Then he poked his head out of the bathroom and asked "Dad, what is a genius?"


Seth has a little wooden dowel that is about 1 foot long and has one edge that is cut on a 45 degree angle. I have no idea where he got this stick. He has had so much fun with it using it as his magic wand.

He will raise the wand up, then circle it in the air and say, "Magic a dabra, I turn you into a frog". I haven't bothered to tell him that the term is abracadabra because I think that his version is too cute.


On Father's Day, I had the boys sign a card for Daniel. He signed the card like this: Seth tdot
If you ask him how to spell his name he will say "S E T H spacebar T D O T"
I love my little Tdot!

A Great Act

Tonight Daniel made scones for dinner. The boys were really good about eating the chili topping. They were really excited for the dessert, though. Whenever we make scones, we make what we call 'sconuts'. We just make the scone, then roll it in powdered sugar to make a donut-like dessert.

After dinner, Daniel went into the kitchen to get the sconuts. He took a bite and got a disgusted look on his face. He then ran to the garbage can and made it appear that he had spit it out put the sconut in the garbage.

I asked what was wrong as I realized that he was teasing the kids. I got a worried look on my face and very apologetically announced that I must have used salt instead of sugar on the sconuts. The boys were so disappointed. Paul begged for me to make another batch. Mark sank into his chair.

Daniel took another bite and protested loudly that it was horrible as he finished eating his second sconut. Mark and Paul realized that they had been had, but Seth was still pouting. Daniel handed a sconut to Seth and Seth refused it. We had to beg and cajole him to lick the dessert to see if he liked the taste. Of course, once he tasted the sugar, he was happy to eat it!

Daniel and I made a great team tonight. The best thing was that it wasn't planned!

You're here because you're family.

Friday night my family came over to my house for dinner. The original plan was to meet at Olive Garden, but my sister, Kim, and I decided that it would be easier to meet at my house. Not everyone came, but we still had 12 people.

I made a silly sign for the front door. It said,"Willes Garden You're here because you're family." If we had gone to the Olive Garden they would have said "When you're here, you're family." I haven't been in a creative mood lately, so when I thought about doing it, I decided to go for it because I wasn't sure when the creative mood would strike again!

It was good to visit with my siblings and parents. We don't get together very often without our kids. It was a nice change.

All in all it was a good evening. Next time, though, I think that we won't make so much food. After we had the artichoke dip, soup, salad and bread sticks, we weren't very hungry for the "Tour of Italy" or the cheesecake.

I attempted a dairy-free cheesecake. It was gross. The flavor was awesome, but the texture was like eating really sweet, but somewhat dry cottage cheese. I'll have to play with it.


By the way, a neighbor kid brought Paul's scooter back on Saturday. The kid has a blue scooter and thought that it was his. So, hurray! Now I don't feel quite so guilty that I haven't fixed his bike yet! Anyone know how to fix a chain on a bike? I need to move the tire back a bit to tighten the chain, and my attempts have been futile.

Missing: a Blue Scooter

Today has been a bad day for Paul.

This afternoon, the chain fell off of Paul's bike for the umpteenth time and I just didn't have it in me to fix it again. Paul decided to take his scooter to the park. When he got ready to leave, his scooter was gone. We went down to the park and looked around a little bit, but it was no where to be found. All I can figure is that someone took it.

Paul is trying to be brave, but he is understandably upset. I hate having to learn life lessons the hard way.

Chocolate Pudding

We had chocolate pudding a while ago and Seth got it all over his hands and face. I told him to go wash his hands, which he did. A while later I went into the bathroom to find chocolate pudding all over the toilet seat, toilet handle, sink, faucet and counter top. A quick investigation (smell test) confirmed that it was indeed the chocolate pudding and not what it looked like.

The funny thing about this experience is that even though I knew that the brown stuff was pudding and not something else, I was still partially gagging while cleaning it up. It just looked too much like what it wasn't!

You Know You are Best Friends When ...

Seth has been playing with a neighbor kid, Cody, almost non-stop the last few weeks. They will play together for hours without incident. They are the same age, almost to the day, and get a long really well.

Seth told me that Cody is his best friend. He said that since their birthday is the same month that they are twins too! He is already planning what he wants to get Cody for a birthday present(in November)!

Today I overheard a funny little exchange between Seth and Cody.
C: I need to use the bathroom.
S: Here you can use this one (shows him to the upstairs bathroom)
C: I need to go #2. When I am done, will you wipe my bum?
S: Um, yeah, but I can wipe my own bum (total lie!)
C: Well, I need some help.

This is where I cut in and told Cody that I can help if he needs help. But he didn't wind up needing help after all! What a true test of friendship!

Another test of friendship is to be friends with a kid who dresses like this:

Seth got dressed this morning and I wasn't sure if I wanted to been seen in public with him. Wow what a combination! Camouflage and plaid!

The Black Crayon

Paul December 2002 age 16 months

Paul was in the kitchen coloring with crayons. I left the room to change the laundry and when I returned I discovered that he ate the black crayon while I was gone! I love how his little teeth are colored black! He looked too cute to be upset, this was definitely a 'Kodak moment'!

My Little Cherub

Could he get any cuter? I just love my little Seth!

The past few days I have been having a lot of fun with Seth. Yesterday I was resting on my bed and he came and cuddled next to me. He put his face right in front of mine and asked me if he could tell me a story. He gave me the choice of three stories and I picked "The Three Little Pigs Go to Space".

He told me about the first pig, named Penny, who found a bag of quarters and used them to buy a house on Mars. The second pig, Penny Two, got in a space ship and went somewhere. The third pig, Shadow, lived on Pluto. The End.

He told me three more stories. They were titled, "The Ten Pigs and the Little Big Bad Wolf", "The Three Pigs go to School" and "Mickey Mouse Goes to Space". He was pretty cute with the Mickey story because the third Mickey, Green Mickey, went to Pluto and then he started laughing and said, "No, Pluto is his dog!"

Seth has turned into a chatterbox lately. If he isn't telling me a story, he is talking to his toys or humming the Star Wars song. He has figured out the pattern for counting past 20 and he loves to sit and count to me. We have been playing a lot of games together. Our favorites are Uno, Monopoly Jr., Sequence for Kids and a game that my friend Madeleine Giles made for us. He loves to be the banker and to count out the money when we play Monopoly Jr.

I am afraid that I might be a bit boring for him most of the time. I just don't enjoy playing with Lego's, cars, or swords the same way he does. The last few weeks I have been really tired. He has been so good to watch a movie with me while I nap, or play by himself while I veg. He is such a good kid.

I am sad to think that he is growing up so quickly. I know that all too soon he will loose the cuteness that little boys have and will be a 'big kid'.

For right now, though, I am going to enjoy the cuteness and treasure spending time with my little blue-eyed cherub!

To Mom: Very Important

I found a note on the floor of my bedroom last night. It said:

To: Mom
Very important

So I picked it up and opened the note. The inside said:

Make lunch for Paul
(going on field trip)

I went into Paul's room to ask him what drink he wanted so that I could make sure it was cold. His order was: a bottle of water, peanut butter and honey sandwich and a fruit snack. Wow! That was easy! Of course I added more to his lunch sack (a granola bar, some chips and a little note telling him that I love him!).

I signed up to go on the field trip, but they had more parents than they needed, so they sent home a note with Paul telling me that I was not selected to come on the field trip. They went to the Monte L. Bean Museum at BYU. They have a bunch of preserved animals there (think taxidermy). He had a good time.

I kind of feel slighted at not being able to go on the field trip with him. At least he got to take his very important lunch with him!

Track Assignments

We got our track assignments for school. The boys will be on A track next year. (Mark will have Ms. Murray, Paul will have Ms. Anderson) Since we are on D track right now, they will only have a three week summer break. That is going to be interesting!

For those of you in Jordan School District, did you know that school is out on July 2nd? This is a change from the original July 3rd ending date. I found this information on the school's blog and verified it with the District's calendar. Good to know! Now my boys will have an extra day of summer!

Please let me know what track you have been assigned.

Wax Museum

The 3rd graders at our school put on a Wax Museum to demonstrate the people they studied during their biography unit. Mark decided to read about Harry Houdini. He enjoyed reading about the stunts that were performed. After making a poster about their person, they dress up like their person and pose as though they are a wax figurine. I really thought that this was a dumb project, but supported him through the work that was required. I was pleasantly surprised to see how cool it was when I went to the school and saw 100 kids lined up trying their best to be still. It was really fun to see how the kids interpreted their characters.

When Mark was trying to decide what to wear, I showed him this picture and told him to wear this:

He was so embarrassed, he turned red and said that he wasn't sure if he would be allowed to break the school dress code like that. Instead, he went for something safe. Here he is posing next to Amelia Airheart and Helen Keller.

A busy, yet fun day

I wrote this on May 23rd, but I just figured out how to download pictures from my phone/camera, so I am finally posting this.

Yesterday was crazy busy and somehow I had the energy required to keep up with it all. Daniel was at his brother's house for Game Day (guys version of Girl's Night Out) and he was gone all day long. Friday night he went to dinner and a movie with his brothers and I was asleep when he got home. He left before I woke up, so I didn't see him until he got home late Saturday night.

I finished painting my front door. It took 4 coats of paint to cover and I think that I have some touch up to do later. While I was painting the door, Mark painted his boat for the Cub Scout Rain gutter Regatta. Paul and Seth were feeling left out, so they found some boxes to paint. I was a bit nervous letting the boys paint unsupervised, but I knew that the paint would come off of the table top easily, so I let them do their thing.

After we finished our painting projects, we went to the Jordan Water Conservatory Park to check out the new expansion. I loved looking at all of the plants and dreaming of how I could use them in my yard.

I spent an hour pulling weeds from the back yard. My garbage can is stuffed full of weeds.


After lunch, the boys were crazy wild and I was going insane trying to keep them from hurting each other while playing rough. I decided to take them to Day Break (a huge housing development) and check out their playgrounds. We discovered the lake there and had a blast playing in the sand and the water. I believe that this is a man-made lake. The boys called it the beach and they played and had a blast.

Of all of the days for Seth to wear pants, this was not the ideal day. The weather was warm (80 degrees) but pants aren't great for playing in the water. I tried rolling his pants up, but it wasn't working. Then, I remembered that he was wearing boxer-briefs, so I had him take his pants off and play. I love boxer-briefs! The water was really cold, but it was a great afternoon!

I'd love to take the boys to a real beach. The lake is fun, but it is missing the rolling waves and the seashells.

We got home and took showers. Then we watched the first Harry Potter movie. Mark just finished reading the book, so he really enjoyed the movie.

After dinner we went outside to play. I spent another hour pulling weeds from the front yard. I don't know what we are going to do with our regular trash this week, because our garbage can is full.

I got the kids to bed and cleaned the kitchen. Seth fell asleep quickly. We were all exhausted. I was exhausted, but loved having enough energy to do it.

Update: I completely over-extended myself and it has taken me several days to recuperate from the adventurous day!

Piano Lessons

Last Friday, Mark and Paul had their first piano lesson with a qualified teacher. I started teaching them last year, but I really don't know how to teach piano. In December, I lost my temper with Paul, so I fired myself from teaching the boys.

We have a wonderful guy to teach the boys now. His name is Steven Pratt. He comes to our house to teach the lessons and I love that! He has a lot of experience teaching and uses a method that is really helping the boys. Mark is picking up on reading the notes really quickly. Paul is catching on at his own pace and is doing great. It is difficult to see him struggling with this when Mark just figures it out almost effortlessly.

I guess that since we all learn at different speeds that we all deal with people who learn something faster than we do. I just hope that Paul is patient with himself and that Mark can learn to be kind about their difference in levels.

My experiment of sincerely complimenting Mark each day has really helped! Complementing him has become easier on my part and he has warmed up to me more. I like that a lot! Now it will be easier to talk with him about things that need improvement. I am truly happy with how well this is going.