Happy Valentines Day!

These are the girls valentine boxes. How Fun. Rilie's is the robot and Jenna's is the suitcase. Tyler made a penguin bag in class, we didn't just leave him out.

One o'clock church on Sunday has forced us to get creative in keeping the kids busy all morning. These are the projects the girls made this last week. I know what you are thinking, but, I made Ty a tic-tac-toe board so he wasn't excluded.

P. S. to the Rilie-ism

The science fair was yesterday. Jane and I were asked to judge one of the classes. No, not James' and Rilie's, all was on the up and up. The teachers each chose eight finalists from their class and then we had to score those projects. Fifth Graders (or their parents) are pretty creative. We had a great time and then we were done. No more science fair this year. Or so I thought. A few hours later, in the door walks my own creative fifth grader. She took first place for her class and James took third. If we don't think of some way to sabotage her project she will be heading to BYU. Oh, the horror! Great Job Rilie and James!

Two Tales From Tyler and a Rilie-ism

I was approached by a neighbor (who I don't know very well) and he said he had a story to tell me. I cringed. He said the story was about Tyler. I let out a deep sigh. He said the story was so good that he had already told it to a bunch of family and friends. Oh Boy!
Nate has a son Kade who is in Ty's primary class. Nate was a substitute teacher for the class and overheard Tyler and Kade teasing each other. That week seven girls and only three boys were there. So the five-year-old insults were along the lines of - How many girls are there in class today (then pointing at each other,) one, two, etc.
Okay, I thought, this isn't too bad.
Then Nate said Ty turned to him and said, "Hey Kade's Dad, why are you wearing a pink tie?"
Nate replied, "Because I like pink."
Ty repeated the question, "Hey Kade's Dad, why are you wearing a pink tie?"
Again, "Because I like pink."
Tyler made sure everyone was listening and said, "Hey Kade's Dad, where's your prom dress?"
He he he. That's my boy. It could have been so much worse.

Tyler Tale number two.
(This is not a recent picture. Just the first documented case of Tyler's slovenly ways.)

I, being the good mom that I am, made Ty his favorite lunch of grilled cheese sandwiches and orange juice. We had the individual bottles of Tropicana. What a treat! Tyler ate his lunch quickly and finished by guzzling down his orange juice. When he finished there was a huge dark purple mark (like a milk mustache, but almost black) above his upper lip. Ty is no stranger to walking around most of the day with food all over his face. So I asked him if he had a cupcake or other treat at school. He hadn't. I took a closer look. In his hurry to finish his orange juice he had sucked the bottle so hard he gave himself a hickie. A bruise above his lip. Oh well, I thought, it's Tyler, probably no one will notice. Wrong! Rilie walked in the door from school a little later, took one look at Ty and said, "He looks like he has a 'Hitler Mustache' what happened to him?"
Nice. My five year old walked around for a week looking like one of the most hated men in history.

And a Rilie-ism.

Rilie and I came up with an easy idea for her science fair project, did the bare minimum and whammo - free time on Super Bowl weekend. Yesterday, Jane, who's son James is in Rilie's class was telling Ri that they would have to go home after the game and get to work. Rilie asked Jane what James' project was on. Jane replied that it was nothing complicated enough to win anything. Rilie's comment to that was, "Oh, that's okay. If you win you have to go down to BYU for the next round." Way to go Ri! Although maybe it would have been better received by a Utah fan instead of a die-hard BYU allum.

Our family was lucky to be able to spend so much time doing so many fun things together in December.

We got to see Jenna in an "in studio" dance performance. She outshines me in so many ways. Her talent as a dancer is just one.



Rilie did a book talk - a super involved book report - where she dressed up as Ms. Wellington from School of Fear (one of her favorite books.) She was mortified at the thought of being seen in her costume by anyone other than classmates, so I obligingly drove her to school. I talked her into letting me put on the finishing touches in the hallway before we reached her class. All was well until a class of sixth graders happened by. For Rilie it was like living a nightmare. I, being the adult, having ALL of my embarrassing moments behind me (ha ha) thought it was hysterical.

(You can tell by her face in the picture that she is thrilled I am documenting the occasion.)

We also went to Temple Square to see the lights with my parents and Becky's family. We went on Gavin's birthday, so after his party ie... stuffing myself with cake and ice cream, we went to the Lion House for dinner. How do I always end up forgetting the camera when we do something that would have resulted in pictures as fantastic as the memories we made?!?

Last but certainly not least was Christmas Day. I must confess that Christmas Eve with family, games, food, endless soda, and all of the anticipation is actually my favorite.