On Monday night, Ashtyn and I attended a Windsor Town Board meeting to participate in a public hearing regarding our friend’s in-home music business. Ashtyn had told me prior to going that she thought she would like to speak. When we arrived, I helped her to make some bullet-point notes on the back of her agenda. When it came to our friend’s agenda item, the discussion amongst the board was most favorable, excepting the gentleman who was the liaison of the planning commission. The planning commission had just turned down our friend’s petition 6-0 a few days previously and he was very hot and somewhat caustic in his remarks to our friend, her colleague and even the other board members. When the public hearing opened, Ashtyn got right up there as the 4th or 5th person in line to speak. She seemed pretty steady as she related how she felt that the Let’s Play Music program had really influenced her life and prepared her to be ahead of the game in her secondary education regarding music. Something about the way she said her remarks caused “the mean guy” to pause and ask her a couple of questions. Well, it turns out that the planning commission and this board member did not actually understand the issue for what it was. From that moment, his entire demeanor changed and the evening ended with the town board voting unanimously to allow our friend’s petition to continue and her business to continue operating as it was. The mayor even spoke to Ashtyn and, after asking her age, commended her for her courage in addressing the board and for doing it so eloquently. It REALLY was a huge boost for her self confidence and it was all true. What a great experience as a parent!
Alyssa participated in the Range View spelling bee on Tuesday morning and SHE WON! It was so amazing! I wasn’t able to attend because Aubrey was sick that day but Jason went and filmed each of her words so that we could watch them later. Oh, she was SOOO nervous! I spent the night before and the breakfast time just encouraging her to do her best and not worry about it. i even told her that the kid who won would probably be the kid who spent their entire Christmas break memorizing every word and we had gone to Mexico without even taking her words……..but, I’ll be darned, she went and did it! I had to take Jarrett down to the doctor in Loveland and, while there, we bought her a bag of her favorite cinnamon bears and a little stuffed bear and we took it to the school with a note that we were so “Beary” proud of her. She LOVED it and she had the very best day being the queen of the school. She said all of the teachers were so nice to her……it really meant a lot to her. Now she is busy studying for the District Spelling Bee which will be February 3rd at the middle school. Alyssa also had a really great piano lesson last week. If I keep her positive while practicing and if I sit and help her, she does well. Always with the time balance between the children……sigh…..
Jantzen began basketball practice and he is LOVING it so much! A couple of guys from our ward had practice after us and they were watching him, asking me if he had played much before. He was playing really well in a scrimmage with his team. He’s pretty hard on himself, a bit of a perfectionist, so I hope that he has a really fun season. I need to get out and shoot some hoops with him on the driveway……maybe now with the ice gone we can do that. I worked with Jantzen on his math facts and did some practice problems in preparation for a big unit test they took on Friday. I am always amazed at how his mind is able to compute the problems. I’m working with him on memorizing the facts now and trying to teach him why he is going to want to know them in 3 seconds or less…..:) He loves playing anything ball at school and is such a fun brother for Jarrett. He is doing a little design and engineering after-school club for a few months on Wednesdays now. He’s not too excited about it yet and I hope he’ll start to be because it was kind of a big deal to be invited to participate.
Aubrey was sick one day last week. It’s happened a couple of times that she has a random fever and upset stomach for one day and then she’s better. We are working on sight words and counting up to 100 without missing any numbers. She likes drawing and writing in her school journal and wants to read better. I need to spend more time reading with her too. She loves listening to music and dancing. She loves her music class and is so proud of being able to play songs on the piano like her siblings. I like to point out to her how her fingers are getting stronger and stronger.
Jarrett, Jarrett, Jarrett. I thought Jarrett might have an ear infection last week because he was waking up at night and screaming his little head off until I went in there and held him. A couple of nights he wouldn’t let go and I had to take him down to my comfy chair in the office so I could at least sleep. So we went to the doctor and found that nothing was wrong with him at all, not even any signs of new teeth breaking through. Hmmmm, I wondered. We had been giving him Motrin each night, thinking that he had a tooth breaking through. Twice I had given him Motrin again when he woke up in the middle of the night. Could that be it? Well, I stopped giving him the Motrin right away and he slept all night with just a few peeps. Boy, did I feel like an idiot! But, I guess you don’t know unless you check out the ears at the doctor. I am definitely putting that on my radar to remember for future events. He HAS slept mostly better until two nights ago and now i think he actually might be getting a tooth but I’m hesitant to give him anything at all. We’ll see. I also think he’s a little “Mommy-clingy” from our absence and his stage of development. Mostly, he’s a sweet baby and I love that we are starting to communicate more. He gets SOOOO excited when I name something he has said, that I knew what he was saying. He’s growing right up and I can’t believe he’ll be two in just a few months!
Jason went to China in Saturday morning, early. Poor dude! At least he got upgraded. The chip is nearing it’s final months and things are getting tough. At least he felt like they had had some good preliminary meetings when I talked to him on Sunday night.
My dryer got fixed last week = hallelujah! How blessed we are to have washing and drying facilities in our home! We went to Ryan and Jennica’s house on Sunday. We all decided that we should get together once a month for dinner and games. The kids were all so excited to see Ben. Ashtyn and Alyssa were excited to partake of Jennica’s wonderful cooking and to play games with Ryan and Jennica. We had Cafe Rio-style food and it was so yummy! The kids enjoyed playing with Ben’s new Christmas toys. We got in one game - a fun dice game given to them by Jeremy and Kelly - before the littles were tired and melting down. We were really glad to get to spend Sunday evening at their house and not have to be alone. :)
Alyssa participated in the Range View spelling bee on Tuesday morning and SHE WON! It was so amazing! I wasn’t able to attend because Aubrey was sick that day but Jason went and filmed each of her words so that we could watch them later. Oh, she was SOOO nervous! I spent the night before and the breakfast time just encouraging her to do her best and not worry about it. i even told her that the kid who won would probably be the kid who spent their entire Christmas break memorizing every word and we had gone to Mexico without even taking her words……..but, I’ll be darned, she went and did it! I had to take Jarrett down to the doctor in Loveland and, while there, we bought her a bag of her favorite cinnamon bears and a little stuffed bear and we took it to the school with a note that we were so “Beary” proud of her. She LOVED it and she had the very best day being the queen of the school. She said all of the teachers were so nice to her……it really meant a lot to her. Now she is busy studying for the District Spelling Bee which will be February 3rd at the middle school. Alyssa also had a really great piano lesson last week. If I keep her positive while practicing and if I sit and help her, she does well. Always with the time balance between the children……sigh…..
Jantzen began basketball practice and he is LOVING it so much! A couple of guys from our ward had practice after us and they were watching him, asking me if he had played much before. He was playing really well in a scrimmage with his team. He’s pretty hard on himself, a bit of a perfectionist, so I hope that he has a really fun season. I need to get out and shoot some hoops with him on the driveway……maybe now with the ice gone we can do that. I worked with Jantzen on his math facts and did some practice problems in preparation for a big unit test they took on Friday. I am always amazed at how his mind is able to compute the problems. I’m working with him on memorizing the facts now and trying to teach him why he is going to want to know them in 3 seconds or less…..:) He loves playing anything ball at school and is such a fun brother for Jarrett. He is doing a little design and engineering after-school club for a few months on Wednesdays now. He’s not too excited about it yet and I hope he’ll start to be because it was kind of a big deal to be invited to participate.
Aubrey was sick one day last week. It’s happened a couple of times that she has a random fever and upset stomach for one day and then she’s better. We are working on sight words and counting up to 100 without missing any numbers. She likes drawing and writing in her school journal and wants to read better. I need to spend more time reading with her too. She loves listening to music and dancing. She loves her music class and is so proud of being able to play songs on the piano like her siblings. I like to point out to her how her fingers are getting stronger and stronger.
Jarrett, Jarrett, Jarrett. I thought Jarrett might have an ear infection last week because he was waking up at night and screaming his little head off until I went in there and held him. A couple of nights he wouldn’t let go and I had to take him down to my comfy chair in the office so I could at least sleep. So we went to the doctor and found that nothing was wrong with him at all, not even any signs of new teeth breaking through. Hmmmm, I wondered. We had been giving him Motrin each night, thinking that he had a tooth breaking through. Twice I had given him Motrin again when he woke up in the middle of the night. Could that be it? Well, I stopped giving him the Motrin right away and he slept all night with just a few peeps. Boy, did I feel like an idiot! But, I guess you don’t know unless you check out the ears at the doctor. I am definitely putting that on my radar to remember for future events. He HAS slept mostly better until two nights ago and now i think he actually might be getting a tooth but I’m hesitant to give him anything at all. We’ll see. I also think he’s a little “Mommy-clingy” from our absence and his stage of development. Mostly, he’s a sweet baby and I love that we are starting to communicate more. He gets SOOOO excited when I name something he has said, that I knew what he was saying. He’s growing right up and I can’t believe he’ll be two in just a few months!
Jason went to China in Saturday morning, early. Poor dude! At least he got upgraded. The chip is nearing it’s final months and things are getting tough. At least he felt like they had had some good preliminary meetings when I talked to him on Sunday night.
My dryer got fixed last week = hallelujah! How blessed we are to have washing and drying facilities in our home! We went to Ryan and Jennica’s house on Sunday. We all decided that we should get together once a month for dinner and games. The kids were all so excited to see Ben. Ashtyn and Alyssa were excited to partake of Jennica’s wonderful cooking and to play games with Ryan and Jennica. We had Cafe Rio-style food and it was so yummy! The kids enjoyed playing with Ben’s new Christmas toys. We got in one game - a fun dice game given to them by Jeremy and Kelly - before the littles were tired and melting down. We were really glad to get to spend Sunday evening at their house and not have to be alone. :)
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