Good Report Cards (mostly)

Last week was the start of the 3rd quarter of this school year. That means that the kids brought home report cards. Not to be bragging, but I am pleased to say that the only negative comments that any of my kids have had are: Sydney needs to sit in her chair - 1st grade, and last year in the first quarter Abby and Rebekah each had about 10 tardies. (This was a surprise because we live 2 blocks from the school and they leave the house 25 minutes before school starts. Turns out that they were just really enjoying the scenery)

I will admit that I was concerned about Sydney's non-sitting chair issue, some how I felt that this reflected on my parenting skills. I am now older and wiser now and when I received the following note from Nate's teacher on his report card, I didn't feel the need to panic.

Nate writes uppercase and lowercase letters correctly, but he often writes quickly and carelessly. He has very nice handwriting when he takes his time - but he doesn't often do this. Nate also tends to work slowly - he sometimes distracts himself by fiddling with pencils and gluesticks. In spite of the above mentioned tendencies, Nate is very bright, very quick to leard and shows a very responsible attitude in most situations. He is a very good student for the most part.

Dadd's Birthday

We celebrated Kenneth's birthday yesterday (finally and mostly). We had a fancy breakfast and he opened his presents. (the mostly part is the present from the boys and me hasn't arrived yet) Syd and Bekah put together a treasure hunt for him to find his gifts. Sydney and Abby bought him a crazy smiley face tie, Rebekah got him a new watch band, Hazel bought him a boy Polly Pocket "Rick" who has a disco, and we had some nerf dart guns that Dejay gave him. The girls spent the afternoon playing Polly Pockets with him and later there was a nerf battle.

That really makes my day!

I often have notes on the whiteboard from my kids; reminders of activities, birthday invitations, permission slips, or grocery lists. It was a nice surprise to find this note this week!

Mr. Yuck

The boys and I were talking this morning and they were saying "we are going to open a store and call it "Dangerway", as opposed to "Safeway". Or maybe a store called ceiling-mart. HAHAHA We are going to pass out frowning face stickers. HAHAHAHA"

I suggested that they could just pass out Mr. Yuck stickers. (that means no laughter). So once again I found myself trying to explain something from my youth and having them not get it. Thank heavens for YouTube. I showed them this commercial and now they get it. (and then I had to show them the "Where's the beef" soviet fashion show commercial. They didn't get it. The Soviet Union means nothing to them.)

Pixie

Rebekah's face paint set and Sydney strikes again!

I think I did a terrible job taking this photo, but you can still get the idea. I think Sydney could get a great summer job using her face painting skills! (someday)

The rest of us saw the Lion King too!

Here are the pictures of the rest of the kids at Gammage Auditorium on ASU campus. We all love d the show!

Dreams Really Do Come True

Here it he is. Jan 20 2009 Nathaniel Lycurgus Welling achieved his goal of attending a Broadway Musical. I am sure that The Lion King is only the beginning of a long love affair with musicals. This is a picture taken from our triple nose bleed seats. But even still it was a great show. We all enjoyed it but Nate... I believe the term was enraptured. While we were waiting for the show to start we were reading the notes on the actors. I read the descriptions of the young Simba and Nala, where they go to school, how thankful they are to their parents, where they take dance lessons, etc. Nates eyes were aflame and he gasped "Mom, I am already doing those things. Mom, I'm really going to do it. I can be on broadway." I am impressed with his passion and that he has a firm plan about how he is going to get there.

My Baby Is Growing Up

Today we went and watched Christian march in the MLK Parade. I think I might have been more excited about it than he was. We went to the parade 1 hour early to get good spots and I took some of the kids friends. We even bought a bag of cotton candy. I coaxed Truman into walking out into the street to get good pictures. Then Christian was on the other side of the street. So Truman crossed the street and ran ahead to take better pictures! I was really proud. I have such great memories of marching in parades. And the band even soundedd good!

Nate: about the Lion King

"Nate is excited for the Lion King and I wish I was in the Lion King. And now I really is excited for it. I think the best part will be when the lion is gunna fall but then he knocks Scar from trying to hit him off. Then he got hit and then the people he is the king of were eating the Scar up. I'm so excited I don't know how to tell you how much I am excited."

Home Depot Stimulus Package

Well it is official, Kenneth is back at work! He is working on enclosing my laundry chute. I keep telling him it is in his own best interest, because if I could control the flow of clothes I wouldn't keep bleaching his black church socks. In the meantime it might be wise to invest in Home Depot stock. We already made one trip and have a return to make!

Bikes-R-Us

I'm not sure if you can tell but Truman tells me that he needs a new bike. For comparison purposes here is Nate on his new (to him) bike and Truman on his (alleged) too small bike. I think Nate's bike might actually be a hair larger.

I Wonder

Sometimes I find pictures on my camera that make me pause and wonder "why did someone take this picture?". This is the first time I have thought "Why the grapefruit?"

4 more days

We are taking most of the kids to see the Lion King on Tuesday. After I bought tickets, I realized that I have been a rather neglectful parent and haven't shown my kids the Lion King movie. They laughed themselves silly. Nate is thrilled to see his first Broadway show. He is so excited that he actually has a count down chain, and he tears a link off every morning. Another evidence of his excitement is that when I sing to him at night as I put him to bed he has been requesting that I sing Broadway show tunes. The best part of that is that he often has to correct me "Mom, you skipped a part" or "Mom, this is the next verse". One of my friends was shocked that we were going to take him to see the play, "Isn't he a bit young? I would think he will be bored." She doesn't know Nate very well.

Who do you know?

Here is the list of famous people I know or rather have met (or may have stood near). I skipped school my senior year one day to hang around the state capitol building while Madonna was there filming a movie (not because I was particularly fond of her but it was a good excuse to skip school). I once got chewed out by Lavell Edwards while working at cougar stadium because I asked Rex Lee for identification. I grew up across the street from the Hollywood Bank robber. I was at the fireside when Cody Judy threatened President Hunter. A couple of years ago I shook hands with Alan Alda at the Phoenix Airport. I (and my family) got to sit in at a rehearsal of members of the Boston Brass and the Canadian Brass (and we talked to them). So it is obvious that I am a well connected girl.

My little "Hottie"

Nate came to me yesterday and announced "Mom, I am a hottie!"
"What does that mean to be a Hottie"
"Girls really like me"
"What do you do that makes girls like you"
"I'm handsome, and I play with them at school, and I don't be rude or mean to them. So I am a hottie."

Nate is different about clothes than Christian and Truman ever were. He prefers shirts with a collar and likes to accessorize, "which shoes look good with this" "Brown belt or Black today." He has a little Tuxedo jacket that a friend gave him that he wears to church (with a red cummerbund).

He dresses like this a lot, and I am glad that he likes an obscene amount of mustard on his sandwiches because then he has to wait for me to wash the pink shirt before he can wear it again. I guess that maintaining that reputation as a Hottie is a lot of work.