Thursday, March 31, 2011

school

Monday March 14,  Fifteen years later I went back to school.  I have text books.  I have quizzes. I have classmates. 

What makes Megan happy?  Not the mom, not the wife, just me?  School.

Really,  it was that simple.

School is the safest place on Earth.  I will never leave it again.

Other things make me happy too.  Like Sophie in the St. Patrick's day dress that Grandma Martha gave her.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                                                                                       
Green pizza this year.  Chicken and spinach alfredo from Pier 49.
And here is the Little Italy.  The kids weren't  happy with the pepperoncini, but I love them. Tomatoes and sausage together are delicious.


Something else to be very happy about, Friday March 18, I took Sophie to the Pediatric Cardiologist at Primary Children, the Riverton office that I love. Happy news. The doctor said that Sophie's heart tumor is getting hard to find on the ultra sound.

In the evening Grandma Martha hosted the big boys and Grant at her house for a sleep over.  I took the girls and William to meet my good friend and former roommate Eileen and her children.  They had just arrived from Japan post earthquake.  We ate and played together at the Spanish Fork McDonald's. Wonderful to see her.

Saturday, I'm sure it was cleaning and a little shopping.  Birthday party delivery etc...

Saturday evening and Sunday, March 20, wind and kites.

Sunday, March 20, 2011

eleven

Friday March 11, we celebrated Kyle's birthday at Nickle City.
Kyle geared up for laser tag.

That's Caitlin.

Laser Sophie.
Nickle City has suprisingly good pizza. Yummy crust.

Kyle's Friday cake, one of three.  Friday evening the weather was beautiful. Kyle and his friends and siblings played out at the park, a violent kind of  knock each other down the hill game.  A good time was had by all. I guess.

 I think Kyle had a pretty decent weekend of celebration. Saturday morning I sent the kids off to a movie, forgot which one.  In the evening, per Kyle's request, we went to Golden Corral.  Remember not to go there on a Saturday after six again too packed. We loved that it was seafood night. The coconut shrimp was yummy.

After dinner we went to Pet-co to bring home Kyle's new pets.  I had promised him a bright green frog.  I didn't know how expensive the start up would be.  We decided on the more interactive parakeets.  The kids named them Pablo and Pauli.  I said isn't that the same name?  They weren't concerned.


 Sunday morning church.  In the afternoon our home teachers invited us over for a barbecue in honor of Kyle.  Salmon and steak. So delicious. Then home for presents.






This is the banjo that Rob sent for Kyle.  It's a beautiful instrument.
I  love the detail.

Happy Birthday Kyle. I love you.

Sunday, March 13, 2011

grammoni

William allora non e un mammone...e un grammone....a big grandma's boy.  Anytime I buckle him in his car seat he yells "Gamma's house!"  Then he struts in like he owns the place and yells "Gamma!" like he owns her too.

I am grateful for Grandma's help and grateful that William enjoys his new morning routine.  She shared some pictures of her daytime adventures with the kids.













Sophie is six months old now.


Friday, March 3 the girls had a sleepover at Grandma's house.  Here are the archives.




The girls had a great time and can't for another sleepover with Grandma.  Next time will be Grant and the big boys' turn.

Monday, March 7, 2011

march wind

 This morning I got an e-mail from my sister in Colorado.  Spring coming feels like a familiar discussion. This year I am happy to be able to visualize her Mount Blanca and the old black train that runs by every morning and afternoon.  She said her sage is turning green but this morning a cold wind was blowing.  I can imagine how brisk that wind would feel across those plains that surround her. I'm remembering that tent we lost to the wind there last summer.  You can click here for the archive.

Did you ever read a childrens book called A Child's Calendar by John Updike?  I'm thinking about what he wrote about March...


In March the sun is like a kite that cannot keep it's own string tight.

Spring teaches us so much about anticipation.

The first buds are coming up in my planters. I underestimated how much the kids would enjoy watching them arrive.  I'm not sure which ones will be appearing...the crocuses, daffodils, tulips, hyacinths. Daffodils are my favorite and I love the fragrant hyacinths.
Can you guess which one this will be?


Sunday afternoon we drove up to visit Grandpa Bob and Grandma Julia.

The kids were happy to see them and happy to think about fun memories from last summer when we stayed there.  I couldn't help but think about how much life has changed since then.  Look at how the apricot tree has changed since last summer.  Sam and Ben look like giants!

Monday morning I was so grateful to wake up to no snow.  It just rained.  And rain is good. I'm remembering how green the mountains were last summer. Unusually green.  Monday has been a bit lonely.  It is the last week of this, my attempt at being a  WAHM.  The kids are at daycare and with Grandma and the house is just too quiet and I feel too isolated...hence the blogging...  Now I'll go back to reading about internet business, if I can convince myself...

Saturday, March 5, 2011

oscars

 I forgot to mention that I went to have my hair colored last Friday morning.  All I can say, if there could ever be an all to all that I could say,  is it's debilitating..too dark.  When I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror, I have to stop what I was doing and say "What was that?"

  I feel like I have disguise hair. I feel like I should be running from the federal government, following an amnesiac assassin around Europe. If only... sadly the rest of me doesn't look that good. 

And back to the Oscars. They stimulate so much discussion around here.  Apparently we will have to wait ninety days to watch the PG-13 version of The King's Speech, since there is a bit of controversy surrounding the decision to make it more accessible to a younger audience.  I'm looking forward to seeing the film, although Sam is already sure that I will not be able to sit through it.  Did I mention that my counselor is also convinced that I have ADHD?  My philosophy is the less you sit still, the more you can eat.

In the meantime,  I was disappointed that The Social Network didn't receive more Oscar's.  I guess I wasn't alone. This is kind of a funny link. Check it out.  I was happy for Inception, however, since it got cheated in nominations to begin with. Sam is a big fan of David Lynch and Christopher Nolan, who as Sam likes to remind us, spent about ten years creating Inception. I checked the facts on that, Wikipedia says nine.You can read about it here. Wow I just saw the Christopher Nolan was born in 1979.  That really makes me feel like an underachiever.

My favorite Oscar did go to The Social Network for Best Original Score.  Do you ever get that stuck in your head?  It makes me feel like I'm back in dictation class. But really I was so impressed by how well its simplicity worked with the rest of the film...the underlying theme that beneath all the complexity and codes, after all the success and status there was just a lonely man that wanted to connect with someone, but was still alone.  Such a classic scene in the end where he hits refresh over and over.  Who can't relate?  If it's not facebook, it's something else.  I think we all have our lonely habits...maybe it's just me.

Last night, Tuesday, Ben and Sam were inducted into the National Junior Honor Society. I was grateful that Sam had the initiative to apply on his own and that he didn't stop there, he also encouraged Ben. This morning as I was folding laundry I stopped to think about that.  I am grateful that the boys want the best for each other. They've both been encouraging and supporting each other academically.  I'm happy about that.  Sometimes they get in fairly intense arguments over insignificant things. I tell them they remind me of the Mormon brothers from the Ocean's movies.  That usually backfires, since they take that as a compliment.

Friday night Grandma Martha invited the girls to her house for a sleepover. More about that later.  I took the boys and Sophie, minus Kyle, who was with his friend again, to Burger Supreme for dinner.



Tuesday, March 1, 2011

snow and more snow

It's already March 1.  I'll quickly catch up with February.

Ben survived his root canal. He even came out smiling. I took him for ice cream after, not onion rings.  


Thursday, February 24-- Literacy night at the elementary school.  I got a low approval rating from the kids. I wasn't able to be in three places at one time, and as a result all the refreshments were gone before we got to the cafeteria.  Tried to increase my popularity with ice cream, as usual.
All the kids presented poetry with their classes.

Mary's class performed in Spanish. Kyle's class performed the best rendition of Who's on First I've ever heard.  It brought tears to my eyes! Weird.

Friday morning Sam missed the bus. I was grateful to have his help brushing snow off the van. He took pictures of the morning commute.













Friday night Olivia, Sophie, and I went to the high school to see Sam's science fair exhibit.
Saturday morning...the Boy Scout blue and gold breakfast.  I am in heaven, kids, bacon, friends
fast moving, friendly dogs.

Saturday afternoon the kids used the snow man kit that they got from our friend Jackie for Christmas.  Thank you Jackie!


Sunday February 27, Sam's favorite event of the year, Oscar night.  Grandma Martha came over for our impromptu watching party.  She said it was the most fun she'd ever had watching the Oscars.  I had to agree.