Winding Down the School Year 5/25

Preschool Graduation:

Jared had his preschool graduation on Wednesday. Friday was his last day. I'll really miss preschool. Jared is just excited to be starting school at "the big school" this fall.

Chaz's Band Concert:

Chaz had his end of the year band and orchestra concerts this week. They were both very good. He turned in his French Horn on Friday. We are going to try to get another horn from the High School. His band teacher wants us to buy him one but I can't see forking out $2000 when we can rent one from the school for now that will take all his teenage dings. I'm attaching two videos. One of Chaz's band playing "Bohemian Rhapsody" (yes, the one by Queen. We thought it was odd as well) as their final number of the band concert, and one of Chaz playing alone (just in case you couldn't hear him over the whole band). In the band one you can see Chaz's head from his mouth up just to the right of the directors right elbow. If you listen very carefuly you can hear my coment to Chuck at the end. ("I think that's the weirdest band number I've ever heard.")

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New Trampoline:

A few weeks ago Kaitlin wanted to have a talk with me. She explained that we (the parents) had provided no outdoor recreational opportunities for her, and as a result she planned on sitting inside all day over the summer reading books and playing on the computer. On Saturday we purchased a trampoline. Our backyard is already very small and the trampoline fills up most of it. The kids were so excited that they jumped on it all day. This morning they were all moaning about their sore foot (Jared), legs (Ruth) and abdomen/back (Kaitlin). Chuck and I are just glad they are getting exercise.

Ruth and I Run the 5K.....sort of:

On Saturday Ruth and I entered a 5K race in our neighborhood. The race was up in the high foothills and the wind was strong and cold. We started out okay but after the first kilometer we were way in the back (there was another person in the back by us but he was pushing one of those double stroller with two kids in it). After another kilometer Ruth was tuckered out and started to ask "how much farther?" It was then that I spotted a dirt trail that I knew cut down the mountain side and rejoined the race rout. So we cut down the dirt trail. Half way down the trail (it was about 1/2 mile) we came upon a construction tractor with a grater on it. Evidently they were working on evening out the trail. On the right the tractor was pushed up against a hill, on the left was a drop down to a stream. We couldn't go around it so we backtracked a bit and ended up cutting through this construction site. Eventually we found a road that led us back to the race. We tried to not attract attention to ourselves as we joined back into the race for the last 1/2 mile. Everyone cheered for us as we crossed the finish line. Ruth and I just laughed because we did a similar short cut when we ran the elementary school 5K a few weeks ago. Ruth reasons that now she has run a whole 5K, half of it during one race and half of it during the other. (I think 5 K is just too long for Ruth's little legs but we'll keep working on it.) Chuck and Jared ran the 1 mile "fun" race. Chuck said Jared ran the whole way.

youtube

I've taken to browsing youtube in my spare time lately. It is amazing what you can find there. I've been learning lots of new tricks on the guitar from the many beginning guitar classes there. I've also watched videos on crochet and tatting. This has also been one of our prime sources for our favorite American Idol performances.

PS: Of course as with any online thing you must be very careful about how you brows and what you view. In the 80% good there is 20% bad. We don't let our kids just surf youtube, and if they ever are there we are sure there is a parent right beside them.

Today I came across a video from my favorite LDS Leader, Julie B. Beck. It is based on her talk last fall on motherhood. I found it inspirational so I'm going to try to embed it here. If you can watch the video then you'll know I was successful.



Here is another of my favorites. The first time I saw it it took me a second to figure out why it was funny.



This is by far our kids favorite video. They can all sing the song to you.



I personally believe that this is also one that makes all US Americans laugh, to make a better future for our children.



Another youtube classic here:

Disney Photos

Disney Photos:

I finally got the photos off of the disposable camera we took to Disneyland on our vacation. It looks like the viewfinder was off and the flash wasn't so great but we did get one or two good pictures out of the batch.

Here we are in front of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. If you see Kaitlin ask her about the bleating goat.


Jared really wanted mouse ears. He looked adorable. Too bad the picture didn't turn out.

Here is Ruth on the "Julie Andrews Horse." Julie Andrews was there herself that very morning to cristen it.

Main street of California Adventure. We are on our way to the Tower of Terror. Which, incidentally, lived up to it's name.

This is the line for Thunder Mountain Railroad. This was our favorite ride. We rode it four times.

The entrance to California Adventure.

Toontown!

We had to stop and visit some of our favorite sites in toontown. Toontown is also an online game that we all play.

Riding the trolley

Here are Lady Cuddles (Kaitlin) and Poppy (Becky) riding the trolley in Toontown online.

In front of Town Hall doing the "Toons of the world Unite" sign.


Lady Cuddles doing the "Toons of the world unite" sign in front of Town Hall.

Ruth and Jared riding Donald's tug boat.


Poppy and Lady Cuddles riding Donald's tug boat.

We had a great time at Disneyland!!!!!!

A Week of Firsts

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Jared's first goal:

This last Saturday Jared made his first ever soccer goal in a game. Here is a picture of it. In case you can't make it out, that is Jared, the ball is at his feet and he is about to kick in in for the goal. Jared earned a dollar for the goal as is our family tradition.

Becky's first day being a year older

I had a very fun birthday. It started with a trip to the Driver's Licence Bureau to renew my driver's licence. (I mean really, what better way could there be to begin a special day) And then Jared and I enjoyed the rest of the morning at Wal-Mart (the happiest place on earth) doing the weekly grocery shopping. In the afternoon I finished planing the garden (I'm trying Armenian Cucumbers for the first time. Our neighbor in West Jordan used to grow them and he said they grew really well here. I'll let you know). In the evening I got my favorite dinner, a vegetarian pizza from Papa Murphy's and we watched the season finale of Smallville (not that great unfortunately). We wrapped up the evening with a rousing game a CLUE which I won (the family said they all knew it all along but were waiting for me to win as it was my birthday.)

Jared's first bike ride:

This week Jared learned to ride a two wheeler with no training wheels. He has been interested in learning this skill for a few weeks since his best friend Ethan learned to ride. On his own Jared practiced riding Ethan's bike. Then one afternoon Jared came home and announced he could ride and asked me to take off his training wheels. I did and he hoped on and drove off. I ran in for the video camera.

First movie priemeir, Prince Caspian:

Chuck and the boys went to a Fathers & Sons camp out on Friday so the girls and I went to the priemeir of Prince Caspian. We had good seats in a great theater with stadium seating and the rumbling sound system. Would you like our review of the movie? This movie contained a lot of fighting but no blood. Person after person was stabbed, sliced, punctured and decapitated without an ounce of blood to show for it. Did I mention there was a lot of fighting? The plot was well constructed though if you haven't read the book you might be a tad confused at spots. It bothered Kaitlin that the plot of the movie left the plot of the book in several places, including a small romance between Susan and Prince Caspian who in the book have an age span difference of 4 or 5 years. Though all in all Kaitlin said she did enjoy both the plot of the book and the movie plot. There were very strong Christian themes that were plainly stated. Even more so then the 1st movie. The filming, acting, sound track, special effects were all top notch. All in all a great movie. Great movie for the older children, probably too intense for younger kids (Ruth clutched my arm for most of the movie). Did I mention there was a lot of fighting?

Other news:

Chaz, Kaitlin and Ruth have been taking their end of the year CRT tests all this week. Kaitlin was the only one who seemed really concerned about it. A few nights I found her asleep surrounded by books and notes. We had the Missionaries over for Family Night. They seemed to have fun playing PIT with us. Kaitlin got some stomach bug and spent all of last night throwing up but seems to be feeling better today. We finally got our government rebate check and are still talking about what we are going to do with it. With the rising gas prices it may all just get eaten by out minivan. There was a great sale on cereal at Smith's, our local grocery store. 4 boxes of Honey Bunches of Oats for 4 dollars. I printed off an online coupon from the Kraft site for 2 dollars off of one box so I was able to get 4 boxes for 2 dollars. I was pretty happy about that. Too bad they only let you print one coupon. (have you been to the Kraft site lately? They have a great recipe archive there).

Something to Make you Smile

Ruth's Con:

Since it's Mother's Day I want to share a story of something that happened in our family a few weeks ago. It's a story that may make some mother's mad, but I found it very funny.

A few Sundays ago both Ruth and Kaitlin were feeling sick and so they stayed home from church together. I'm not sure how it all began but somehow Kaitlin and Ruth started trying to build card houses. When the rest of us arrived home from church, Chaz too joined in the card building challenge. As the kids worked on their towers Ruth seemed to get the knack of it because soon her towers were taller then everyone else's. We were all amazed. This went on for some time as Ruth's skill seemed to grow exponentially while Kaitlin and Chaz still struggled. I took out my video camera thinking "I'm going to put this on Youtube! This kid is amazing!"

I drew close to her with the video camera to record this card building prodigy. Only then did I notice something that wasn't quite right. I've included the video here. Perhaps with your keen eyes you will catch the same irregularity that I noticed.

I didn't say anything right away, but it didn't take much longer before Kaitlin discovered the trick.

Now I found this whole thing very funny and congratulated Ruth on being so clever. I also thought Ruth did a great job at keeping up the charade for over a half hour. Kaitlin is sorely disappointed in me. She thinks I should have punished Ruth for her deceit.

This week at the Barnums:

School is starting to wind down for us. The kids only have three weeks left. Both Kaitlin and Chaz are busy working on end-of-the-year projects. Kaitlin is working on a report and display about Scotland for the "World Fair" at her school. Chaz is working on a similar project about Ecuador for his "Cultural Fair." Kaitlin is working on finishing an autobiography and Chaz just started an insect collection for Biology (more on that in a minute). In addition to these projects they are all also taking the end of the year CRT tests.

Yesterday we went up to my parents' farm in Deweyville. Mom had some chores for us to do including some planting and transplanting a few trees. We took a fun ride in the back of my Dad's truck up on our mountainside past the irrigation canal, which was running very high. Dad is renting the high mountain area out to some cows this spring and they watched us lazily as we bumped by. We ended the day with a fun hot dog roast. My sister Kathy and her husband Mark were also there. We had a really fun time.

On the way home we stopped to pick up Kaitlin who had been visiting her father for the weekend. Oh, I forgot to mention that while we were at the farm that Chaz collected some insects for his insect collection. Anyway, when we got home I sat down to check the email when I felt something at the back of my neck. I reached up and pulled out what looked to me like a little beetle. Instinctively I flicked it away but then Kaitlin helped me find it on the floor and then we called Chaz, thinking he would want it for his collection. After Chaz collected it in his jar he said "I think this is a tick." I answered that it wasn't at tick but just some beetle, ticks were much larger I thought. Chaz then pointed it out it had 8 legs. I assured him that it was really just six legs and some long anteni. But to humor Chaz I looked up a picture of a tick on wikipedia (just to prove him wrong). And guess what I found! A picture of our little "beetle." Sure enough it was a tick! I'm just glad I was able to pull it out of my hair before it had a Becky blood snack. Chaz proceeded to gas the tick for his collection and I went to take a shower and wash my hair, twice.

Chaz's Eagle Project:

This week Chaz did the collecting for his Eagle project. He was collecting outdoor toys for a charity that sponsors school stores in 8 inner city elementary schools in Salt Lake City. The school stores called SOS Stores are a reward system for children to well in school. Our ward was very supportive of Chaz's project and he collected several boxes of balls, jump ropes, frisbees etc... He is now just a couple of merit badges away from his Eagle.

Barnum News May 4th, 2008

This is my first weekly entry into my new blog. This was a good week for us. One big piece of news is that we made the final payment on Chaz and Kaitlin's braces! We were fortunate to have our insurance appeal go through so our insurance paid an additional thousand dollars that they initially refused to pay. Both Kaitlin and Chaz should get their braces off by the end of the year.

Chuck took Thursday and Friday off of work so that I could go to BYU Womens conference with my two friends. I had a wonderful time and learned a lot. Chuck and the kids had a good time together. Chuck took Jared for a follow up with the eye doctor at Primary Children's on Thursday. While Jared's vision is improving his lazy eye is still a problem. The doctor prescribed eye drops that make Jared's good eye blurry. It is like a chemical patch on his good eye. We will be doing that for three months and then we will take him back in.

We had a weird weather pattern move over our house last week. It was snowing and sunny and warm and cold all at the same time. This caused the roads to steam. I'm including a photo I took of Jared to give you the idea. This picture was taken around noon.

Welcome to my blog

I hadn't expected to ever start a blog. When I considered it in the past I thought, who would read it? who would care? And then today I said goodbye to a good friend who was moving to another state. "I'll email you," she called after me as I turned to go. I drove away and wondered how well we would keep in touch in the coming years. I thought of the many people that have moved in and out of my life and the idea of starting a blog resurfaced in my mind. I email my parents and my mother-in-law once a week, I reasoned, it wouldn't be that much harder to add some pictures and post my emails in a blog format. So in the spirit of keeping friendships and strengthen family ties, here it is; Welcome to the Barnum Family Blog!