More Normal Stuff

Life is clipping along at it's normal pace here at our house. Jared is off track so he and I have spent the week hanging out together, making minecraft videos and stuff.   Ruth has moved into dress rehearsals now for her play, so she is at school late every night.  Her show runs from the 9th-11th of April.   Kaitlin has been in San Diego this week on choir tour. I got a text from her last night saying that they had won their competition. Right before she left on tour, her friend, who is not a boyfriend because that is not allowed, got his mission call to Brazil.  She took it all very well.  Finally, Chuck was in charge of a church adult activity, and it was a success and had good attendance.  So all in all, things are good with us.

Ruth hit the 800 subscriber point this week on her youtube channel. She's been working on a few "how to" videos that some of her subscribers have requested. Here is here filming a video on how to draw a My Little Pony character.

A Normal Week

Not a whole lot was going on this week. So I thought I'd just mention a few things that would probably not normally make it into the blog.

• Jared did over 200 flips on the trampoline. No lie. The warmer weather has been calling, and to keep entertained Jared set a goal to do 100 flips both Friday and Saturday.
• I passed of two songs at my piano lessons. My teacher says that I'm "hard working." That's something. 
• Kaitlin is vice president over finance of her school choir and finally finished collecting an processing all the money for their choir tour.  
• Kaitlin got to sing at her choir teacher's grandmother's funeral. 
• Ruth's YouTube channel has over 700 followers now.
• I planted peas, pruned the trees, and our daffodils are almost open!
• For family home evening our activity was to go to the dollar store and each person could choose one thing to buy to do with the family. When we got home we had a plastic frog jumping contest, played punching games with blow up boxing gloves and played bible go-fish. 
• My guitar tab of "Let it Go" has over 800,000 views and is considered the standard tab for the song on the internet. 
• I discovered when I googled myself (how did I not know this???) that the article I wrote for the Children's Friend Magazine a few years ago had been picked up and published by the Liahona magazine. That means it was translated into over 20 languages and also dramatized into several additional languages.  Now I'm desperatly wanting 2011 March Liahona magazine. 
• Ruth's been staying after school every day to work on her play.  Last week my team of middle school students and I designed and cut out eight clumps of grass. This week we painted the grass.  Ruth and I stayed late and did all the detailing.

The taller ones are over 8 feet tall.

Prom

The biggest thing that has been going on around here is Prom preparations.  Much of the week has been spent on finishing "the dress".  Here are some pictures:

When we first started talking about this idea of making prom dress that wasn't just a dress, but was a Disney princess dress, we looked at lots of the classic dresses, Cinderella, Bell, Sleeping Beauty, but the one Kaitlin loved, was this one, from Tangled.

I found this dress at the thrift store for $6.  It was a long shot but for six bucks I thought even if I used the skirt as a petticoat, it was still a good deal.   Do you see the V waist, sweetheart neckline and puffy sleeves?  In construction is is basically the Tangled dress. And it fit Kaitlin pretty well, I only had to make a few adjustments to the bodice.  It was an amazing find.

I didn't take any pictures of the dying process, but first I dyed little scraps of the fabric in my kitchen until we got a color we liked.  Then I dyed the dress in a bucket in the bathtub. It was hard physical labor, but turned out really well.  I had a vest pattern and sewed the lining, and it just didn't fit right. So I bought another pattern and sewed this mock up. Again, it didn't have the right cut so (if you look close) I stapled additional fabric to it and cut it to fit Kaitlin the way I wanted, and then I unpicked the fabric and used that for my pattern.

There are over 17 feet of lace on this dress, and almost an entire spool of ribbon.  I looked hard at unpicking the sleeves to sew on the ribbon, but in the end basted it all by hand, and then sewed it on while the sleeve was intact. Next to building the vest, this was the hardest part of the dress.

Kaitlin loved the dress, and we had several "squee" moments as it came together.

Here she is, all ready, and waiting for her prince to arrive.

Ben was such a good sport, renting his Flynn costume from a local theater.  Kaitlin hid when he came and made Ruth and I announce her and blow pretend trumpets.  I wish I had a video of when they first saw each other, they were both so excited!

I haven't had enough time to talk to Kaitlin about how Prom went. When she got home she was glowing with happiness, but then went straight to bed. Maybe I'll add more to this post after I get a chance to talk to her.  I'm sure they were quite the sight mixed in with all the tuxes and formals.

Kaitlin said they had a great time at Prom. Once everyone got over the initial shock, all her friends, and many students she didn't even know complemented them.  Ben's parents hosted all of them for a mixed up dinner at there house complete with family members as waiters.  They made quite an impression walking into the dance at the capitol. She said most of the girls were excited or jealous, and that the boys were a little more judgmental of her date, but he took it all in stride. She said they couldn't get a slow dance to themselves without being interrupted by people complementing them on their outfits.  She said it was the "best date ever!" 

Scouting Adventures


Since turning 11 Jared has been working hard in Boy Scouts.  This week he earned his Tenderfoot rank advancement. He's also been put in as Patrol Leader of his little patrol of three boys.
On Friday, Chuck came home early from work and the boys packed up for Jared's first ever scout campout. It was cold and threatening rain, but undaunted they went.

The blown down tent the next morning.

They were able to set up tents and get a fire built and eat foil dinners before the rain hit.  The rain pounded and wind blew and at around 2 am Jared said the tent shuttered and blew down on him and his fellow scout. Wet and tentless, the boys were sent to spend the rest of night in the leaders van, while Chuck and the scout leader toughed it out in their tent that was still standing.   The next morning the sun came out and they were able to do some geocashing.


It's Thursday Night 
 What's happening at our house?

Chuck got the "Spot On" award at work for dealing with an expensive billing crisis last year in a professional and efficient way. We celebrated his award with a carrot cake.

Learning to read patterns is like learning a new language.  Kaitlin cut out all the pieces to her vest.

This is where you'll find Jared every morning and night.

Ruth got some engineering help on her cracker box car. Washers were the key to keeping the wheels from rubbing against the body. The next day the car rolled the required distance and she got an A.

Ruth is One of a Kind

It's a Mom's prerogative to think all her kids are special. Let me tell you a little about what Ruth's been up to.

I mentioned a month or two ago that she was working on a YouTube series. She writes, storyboards, animates, and voices My Little Pony cartoons.  Now she has over 600 subscribers. I tease her telling her that she needs to keep working on this so she can pay for college by being a YouTube star.

We went to our city talent show this weekend. This is the first time in two years that we haven't performed in the show.  At intermission they invited anyone who wanted to to go on the stage and sing "Let it Go."  Ruth volunteered and ran up on stage.  When the music started all the kids stood frozen while they sang, but then one little boy started dancing across the stage.  Not to be overshadowed, Ruth stepped out center stage and started to sing with much passion, and then many others joined her while she hammed it up for the audience.  Only six years ago this was the girl who clung to my skirts when we first went on stage for The Music Man. Now, look at her. Drama has given her amazing self confidence. 

Speaking of drama, Ruth is working hard on her school musical, Honk.  This week I went in and with a team of student helpers, designed and cut out several large panels of clumps of grass, some as tall as 7 or 8 feet.

Serenade

Kaitlin getting sung to.

We started our week with Kaitlin being serenaded at our doorstep by a group of boys. Ben was singing and playing the guitar, inviting Kaitlin to prom. Kaitlin was excited.  Later in the week she said "yes" by decorating Ben's room with snowflakes.

Over the weekend, Kaitlin went to Snow College to attend a program they have for prospective students called Snow Blast.  She had a good time overall, but was a disappointed by the music and atmosphere at the dance they put on.  I was proud that I raised a daughter that has such high standards.

We've been working on Kaitlin's prom dress for awhile. For months she's been saying that she wants a Disney princess dress and she decided on the one from Tangled.  I found an old wedding dress at the thrift store for $6 that I dyed purple. This week we started work on the bodice for that dress. Kaitlin is doing as much of the sewing as I will let her.


Stake Conference

Always a great view from the choir seats

Twice a year our congregation meets together with other congregations in the area for one big meeting.  This year we were lucky enough to have L. Tom Perry, a member of the Twelve Apostles, that leads the whole LDS church, come and visit with us. We had a great couple of meetings with him and I was able to sing in the choir.  Our Stake (that's our group of congregations) was divided into two, since this area has grown so large.  The meetings were so well attended that many people were left sitting in the hallways or standing at the back, that was even with the meeting being broadcast to three other buildings.

Can We Fix It?

Chuck has been busy with projects lately. Last weekend our washing machine stopped turning. While I took eight loads to the laundromat, Chuck diagnosed the problem and ordered the part.  By the end of the week the part came, and after a few hours of work Chuck got the washer working again!  He also took his motorcycle's front tire in to get it fixed.  I took this picture to show you how he works on his motorcycle.

Solo and Ensemble

I mentioned last week that Kaitlin had been working hard preparing a solo for judging. She was nervous going in.  The scoring is 1-5, 1 being the best. Kaitlin said if she came out with a 3 she would be happy.   She must have done better than that because she got a 1-, which qualifies her to go on to regional competition.  Her ensemble got a 2+.

Sweethearts Dance

Sweethearts is a girls choice dance, and Kaitlin and her friend Susan hosted the date and dinner here at our house.  In the afternoon the couples went to the Frozen Sing-Along.  Ruth and I have wanted to go to that too, so we went as well, but sat on a different row from them.  You would think that Kaitlin would hate her mom going to the same movie as her date, but she didn't. In face she and Ben ran over to get into this selfie I was taking with Ruth.   In the evening the couples ate pancakes at our house before going to the dance. They seemed to have a nice time.

Kaitlin and Ben

Taft, Susan, Kaitlin and Ben

Honk Jr.

Ruth approached her auditions for the school musical a little bit different this year.  Instead of going for the lead part she actually wanted, she decided to go all out for a smaller part, one that she would be happy with, if she got.  When call backs came, there were seven girls called back for the lead part, but only two called back for the smaller part Ruth was going for. While we'll never know if Ruth would have gotten the lead, Ruth did get the smaller part, which offers a duet with a boy, 10 lines of dialogue and a death scene. She started rehearsals last week.  The show will be the April 9-11.


Singing

Evacuated into the cold.

Kaitlin's choir performed a concert this past week.  They tried some new things with lights and special effects.  The fog filling the stage was really cool looking until the fire alarms went off and we were all forced to evacuate into the freezing night.  The poor choir kids were all without jackets, so they stood and shivered. Luckily it wasn't that long until we were let back in to continue the concert.

Kaitlin has also been practicing Solo and Ensemble next week. She'll be singing a solo in front of some judges and then they will give her scores and feedback. She's pretty nervous about it.


School Stuff

Jared is back at school now, and started this term by dressing up like a fur trapper and giving an oral report. We got final word that Jared will be moving to a new elementary school that they are building not far from our house.  It will be his first and last year at the new school.

We registered Ruth for high school this week. It's the first time she's really had to make decisions about what direction she wants her future to take.  She's decided to move into the honors program and signed up for her first AP class. She also decided to take Spanish as her foreign language.   She and I sat down with her school counselor this week where they told us that Ruth had earned the highest score in the school, tying with another boy, on an ACT pre-test.  There are over 400 kids in her grade.  That really shocked us.  We knew that Ruth was smart, but we didn't ever think of her as being super smart like that.



Changes

At church I've stepped down as a Cub Scout leader.  Jared is done in Cub Scouts, and so am I.  I will still be working at the district level for the next few months, but I've given notice there as well.  I still have my job as the church choir director and I'll focus on that for now, until they give me something more to do.

Chuck's gone through a little re-organization at work that has changed his job responsibilities and shifted his desk a few feet.  He's leaving project management behind and will now be doing more research. His new group is called "Insights" where he'll be looking at trends and tracking progress in the company. He is mostly happy with the changes.