Let's come on with that choice!

Pictures: TOP-Laurelin gets "Rocky" in the rocking chair with Grandpa John; MIDDLE: Kelly with Isaac, Xander, and their hobby dragons in front of the Christmas tree, with Gwen playing the ham; BOTTOM: Xander and his Gingerbread Dinosaur Museum.

It has been over a month since our last post, what with Christmas preparations, 3 (count 'em, T-H-R-E-E) computer meltdowns, and the additional random lunancy that pervades the very fabric of life. But we apologize all the same.

We write from California, where we are very happy to be spending Christmas with family. We arrived yesterday at about 4:00 pm after an epic journey from Barstow, which was preceded by an even more thoroughly epic journey from Orem. We apparently missed the storm that hit Utah by a few hours. We feel blessed that the roads were dry and clear; the most menacing weather we met with was a patch of rather thick fog near Tehachape.

OVERHEARD ON THE TRIP:

(Gwen, after way too much time in her carseat): "Can I fly to California? I can use my arms. That's a good choice. Let's come on with that choice. Can I get out of the car and fly?"

and

"I'm a lion...don't pull my hungry tail!"

A week or two ago, we were running errands, and stopped in front of the hardware store. A moment after parking the car, I was surprised to hear Laurelin say, "Are we going to Lauee's?" (It was a very respectable attempt at sounding out "Lowe's." She also wrote the word "pone" (pony) by herself. She is becoming more and more excited about reading. We also got to see her play the part of the Christmas Star in her Christmas program. I'm not sure which was more dazzling--the tinfoil-covered star, or her smile.

Xander finished his analogy and vocabulary books for school this year...he also made a gingerbread dinosaur museum for a sort of homeschooler gingerbread building convention. When I asked him how it went, he replied, "Great! I'm glad I brought a dinosuar museum. If I hadn't, there would have been something missing."

Isaac participated in his school program, too. The Grinch made an appearance and took Isaac's top hat off of his head. I could see Isaac planning its recapture as the Grinch paraded nearby. Sure enough, when he came within range, Isaac's hand shot out and retrieved his hat, a triumphant grin spreading across his face.

Today, Kelly and I were able to particpate in the Choir Christmas program at church that Mom directed. There are few things that I enjoy more at Christmastime than celebrating Christ's birth through song.

I hope you are all enjoying this time with family and friends and that the new year treats you well. Merry Christmas!

zooiversary

Hello! Yesterday Rus and I celebrated our “zooiversary”. We went to the zoo on 15 of November eleven years ago, and it happened to be the day we decided to get married. So whenever we can we try to go to the zoo on that day. Rus’ cousin Tarah watched the kids for us, and they all had a grand time together. The funny thing was that the zoo happened to be having a volunteer/employee Thanksgiving dinner that evening. So not only did we get to go to the zoo on our zooiversary, but we had dinner there. It was lovely to walk around with Rus in an unhurried, relaxed way. Usually when we go to the zoo we have all the kids with us, so the stress level is higher. Pictures: Rus playing pin the tail on the turkey at the dinner; a camel for Kerry; a spotted turtle being very turtley and cute; Rus being gorgeous, I love it when the afternoon sun hits his hair....; Kelly with a cotton top tamarin that didn't want to turn around for the picture.

Disclaimer: Neither the text nor pictures on this blog should be construed in any way to represent any sort of comment from the zoo. We took them strictly as zoo guests.

In the first video the elephants were eating pumpkins. When she picked it up (whole) she'd pop in her mouth and crunch down. It sounded like a balloon being popped. The second video is of some baby meerkats trying to figure out how to follow their mother into a deepish hole in the rock. You can practically hear the Looney Tunes sound effects when you watch it.

Maxed Out Puppetry Show

Hello all--Just a quick note for those of you in the vicinity who might want to see a Maxed Out Puppetry performance on Monday night at Provo City Library at say...7:30 pm? 'Cause, like, there is one. It is the last performance we have scheduled (so far) until March. There will be some entirely new material as well as some stuff we haven't done in a while.

If you ever want to receive automatic email notifications about our shows, you can subscribe to a list that will send them at http://www.maxedoutpuppetry.com/

My Bliss

Greetings! Halloween was a success. Rus wore his pirate costume, to which we added boot toppers, and some pirate jewelry (courtesy of his mom-thanks!) I wore my fairy wings that Sean and Kate gave me for my birthday (thanks again!). Isaac was Bilbo, Xander was a snake charmer, and Laurelin and Gwen were both pink mermaids (inspired by the Barbie movie “Mermaidia”). It’s fun to watch your kids pick up traits that aren’t being formally taught to them. My dad always had music playing when I was a kid. He would sit back in his rocking chair (he still does this…) close his eyes and just be in the music. Most of us kids learned to do this too, instilling in us a deep appreciation of music and the beauty it brings to life. I of course usually have music playing during the day, different types for different moods, etc. We often put on a fast hyper song to have the kids clean up to, or if they’re feeling stressed I’ll put on something soothing and snuggle them to it. And I just about always have music playing in the car. As a result they’ve all developed their own tastes and favorite songs, to which they know most if not all of the words. So when we’re driving they often take turns picking which song we’ll listen to next. And they usually sing along. This strikes me as hilarious everytime, because they’re not just picking “kid” songs, they’re picking from the “grown up” music that I’ve played them their whole lives. Laurelin for instance loves “Behind These Hazel Eyes” by Kelly Clarkson. And I just have to laugh to myself everytime I hear her singing “I thought you were the one…” She also love “The Prophet” by Wolfstone (so gratifying to me since they are my favorite band ever) and she’ll say in her little voice, “Mamma, can we yisten to that ‘prophet gets paid’ song?” hee hee hee. Isaac has several that he likes, “Gasoline” by Enter the Haggis and “I Hate Mosquitoes” by Moosebutter among them. All of them love to sing along to the Monkees theme song (very appropriate for our family) and Gwen and Xander have both latched on to a particular Ace of Base song, that I have to admit, has very Xanderish lyrics. I put it on the other day and Gwen sang along, “never gonna say I’m sorry…” it cracks me up. At the end of the song Xander said to me, “Mamma, that song is my bliss.” Yeah, music is like that.

Pictures:

Pumpkin carving with Xander, Laurelin, Kerry, Mike and Isaac

Gwennie scooping out her pumpkin

Kerry and Mike helping Laurelin with her pumpkin

All of us before trick or treating

Fall leaves on one of the trees in the backyard

Pumpkin Chuckin'

Last week the kids had several days off of school, and since Rus doesn’t have to teach on Fridays we decided to take them all to Pumpkin Land. I had gone with Laurelin’s class on a field trip and we thought all the kids would enjoy it. It’s a local nursery/garden that has a Halloween themed corn maze and playground, bouncy castles, and of course, a pumkin patch. So they all had a great time.
This weekend we went to Moab. Maxed Out Puppetry had been hired to perform at Moab’s Pumpkin Chuckin’ Festival so we all went. We went down on Friday and stopped by Arches National Park. We scrambled around in the rocks, and took lots of pictures and generally had a good time. It’s beautiful down there. There was a pool at the hotel that was advertised as heated, so of course the kids all wanted to go swimming even though it wasn’t swimming weather. Apparently though the hotel’s idea of heated means freezing, hee hee. The kids were undeterred however. Rus was brave enough to jump in, I stayed on the stairs. Gwen had a swim suit with floats built into it, so she could practically swim by herself, she loved it : “I’m like a fishy!!!” Rus took the older kids into the hot tub afterwards to warm up, and I gave Gwen a warm bath in the hotel room since she’s too young to go in the hot tub. The next day was the festival itself, which was good fun. The puppet show went well, Xander, Gwen, Bethel, Eve and Rus took part in the seed spitting contest, and we watched some the catapult type devices hurtle (or should I say chuck?) pumpkins hundreds of feet, it was pretty funny. On the way out of town we stopped at a fossil rock shop and each of the kids got to pick out something to take home. So, it was a pretty quick trip, but a great deal of fun, and I think we all needed a vacation. Pictures: the Maxlings at Arches, all of us, Rus and Kelly with the view behind us, and Balanced Rock with the sun behind it

A trebuchet chuckin' a pumpkin

Wildlife: we saw pronghorn antelope, prairie dogs, ravens, mule deer, and a juvenile collared lizard.

Greetings All! Halloween in approaching and so it was time to nail the kids down on exactly what they wanted to be for Halloween. They usually change their minds 11.34 times in the weeks before Halloween, so we have to give them a deadline so that there is actually enough time to make the costumes. Isaac wants to be Bilbo (the young Bilbo in the Hobbit) Xander wants to be a snake charmer, and Laurelin and Gwen both want to be pink mermaids.
Kerry and Mike invited us over to their house last night (along with MaryMegan and Kent) to watch all the old Halloween cartoons that we used to watch when we were kids. It was great!! Ah, nostalgia. The best part is, our kids are just as into them now as we were then.
Yesterday I also participated in a dance evaluation with Desert Gypsy. They were having auditions for their troupe, but one could also sign up just for an evaluation, so I did, along with another girl from my dance class. We great time playing with everyone, and it was good experience. I’d never done anything like that really, so it was a gentle way to start.
This week we had Isaac’s parent teacher conference. It went fairly well. The teacher mentioned that she had to keep checking his scores on the reading fluency test to see if he really did read that fast. Hee hee hee, yes he did.
Xander and Isaac have designed their own art gallery (all over the stairwell and living room walls). There is a wall for the snake drawings, a wall for monsters, a wall for prehistoric beasts, and even one for Xander’s Pine Wood Derby drawings. I’ll try to post some pictures of their drawings. Look especially for Isaac study of tusks.
The girls have busy too. Laurelin is still disappointed every weekend because she doesn’t get to go to school. She’s been independently practicing writing all her letters, and goes on “word hunts” around the house, when she takes a pen and paper all around and copies all the words she can find. Gwen has added “speaking of” to her list precocious phrases. She said to me the other day, “Speaking of eating, I want to eat.” She makes faces just like MaryMegan did when she was little. It’s hilarious. Pics: Laurelin with a drawing she made; Isaac getting his Wolf at cub scouts;

Gwen roasting marshmallows, the kids with smores, Isaac's tusks, Xander's sea monsters.

Viktoriya's bellydance workshops

Viktoriya is doing some workshops again, so I thought I'd post the information in case any of you are interested. The first workshop is for beginners/people who have never bellydanced before. So if you've been wanting to try out bellydance this is perfect for you! The second workshop is taught by both Viktoriya and Aziz. He is teaching zill (finger symbols) technique and Viktoriya is teaching choreography to go with it. Aziz is the best zill player there is! To register for either of the workshops or to ask questions, email Anya at createthedream@hotmail.com

Beginner's Workshops:Friday & Saturday 10 & 11 October 2008
Friday 5:30 to 7:30pm Saturday 10am to 12pm Total cost: $40, $35 for you, if you bring a friend. Dress to move comfortably, preferably in tights or leggings. Bring water and a towel if desired.We will be working hard!

Zills workshop:Saturday 25 October 2008
1:00 to 2:00pm - Aziz: Technique 2:00 to 3:00pm - Viktoryia: Choreography
Total cost: $50 Dress to move comfortably, preferably in tights or leggings. Bring water and a towel if desired. Bring your own zills.

Here are a few pics from our Mantis search at Deer Creek Resevoir



Laurelin took her mantis into her class at school.
Isaac loving it.
Xander (who really wanted to run off in the grass that was taller than he was...but hey, life would be boring if he were any different, right?)
Gwen LOVED the kayak ride (Grandpa John will have to take her boating next summer.)
These are from Isaac's birthday party.
Gwen in the tent with Mariah "Aahh! the giant is coming!!"

Ha ha! The giant is slain! (Giant courtesy of Kaerlek.)

Isaac and Ammon with their birthday cakes.

Our dance group, Ma'arwaak, after performing in the festival in Payson. Left to right is (stage names) Gwen, Tinuviel, Aylin, Anya.

ketchup

Laurelin on her first day of school; "Dave" the feather duster worm in his first dramatic role.

Laurelin had her first dance performance. The mother-daughter bellydance class we were taking performed at Halima’s MiniFest. We didn’t get pictures because we were videotaping instead, but she was great and we all had a good time. My class that I take with Viktoriya also danced that night, which also went well. We also danced at a small festival in Payson yesterday, and I did a solo. We’ll put up some pics of the group that we took after the performance.
We had a combined birthday party on Wednesday for Isaac and Ammon. We did a Narnia theme. They battled the army of the White Witch and had tea with Mr. Tumnus. Isaac said it was “awesome”. On Thursday (his actual birthday) we took the kids to see Prince Caspian, which he also loved.
Gwen this morning did a puppet show with popsicle stick puppets of a bear and a cat that Rus had made for her. She started telling a story like this, “Once upon a time there was a beah and a yeowe who were going bye-bye to buy apples”…hee hee hee
Xander is settling into school at home a bit better and doing better at getting his work done. He started his art lessons, which he enjoys.

testing one two...

Ok, I know it’s been a while since we posted on the blog, the blog is being a dummy head, so hopefully it works today.
Rus will be teaching some classes for an ESL school in Provo called Selnate, starting this coming week. He’ll also be working part time for the zoo through Sep.
Gwen said some fun things this week. She threw her arms around me and gave me a huge hug, then said, “My heart is giving you loves.” Sweet! That’s what makes doing what I do all day long worth it. All week long she’s been talking about what animals she wants to have, a turtle (for her next birthday she says), a tiger, a zebra etc. She’s definitely her father’s daughter. At one point she said, “Someday I want to have a tiger.” I replied, “I think you have to be a zoo keeper to do that.” She thought about that for a moment and then said, “Someday I want to have a cat, you don’t have to be a zoo keeper to have that.” Hee hee hee, I love watching them think through things. Later in the car we were talking about what she wants to be when she grows up. Besides wanting to be a doggie (just like Auntii Kerry did!) she said she wanted to be a dolphin trainer, then said “I will need a dolphin friend for that.”
Laurelin had her first week of Kindergarten and absolutely loves it. In fact she was sad on Saturday morning because she didn’t get to go to school that day. On her second day of school, we were walking her there, and about a block away from school, she said, “That’s good Mamma, I can get it from here.” I said I was going to walk her all the way to her classroom, so she said, “Ok, but don’t come in the room, I can get it from the door.” It’s such a different experience having a kid who likes to go to school!! I love it! I’m excited for her to get to go and have new experiences, rather than feeling ripped in half like I did when I had to make Xander go to school.
He’s been doing his homeschool for a few weeks now. It’s starting to get a little bit easier, hopefully we’ll get the hang of it before too long. He was a little disappointed when he found out that homeschool doesn’t mean no school, but I think he’s doing ok. He watched a movie about the Cub Scout Pine Wood Derby and has been busily planning what kind of a car he’ll build when he’s a scout, and racing all sorts of objects down pieces of cardboard on the stairs to find out what kind of shapes are fastest.
Isaac started 4th grade 2 weeks ago, and is somewhat ambivalent about the whole thing. There’s more homework in 4th grade which he doesn’t like, but he’s excited about who his teacher is as she does cool science stuff. Their next unit in science will be on fossils, and they’re taking a field trip to the Thanksgiving Point Dinosaur museum. Needless to say he’s very excited about that.
Ok, we’ll see if that posts, and if it works, I’ll try some pics.

Upcoming events

Greetings All! I thought I would let you all know of a few dance related events coming up that I will be participating in.
Sep 5th-Mini Fest put on by Desert Gypsy Dance Company 6:30pm at Cedar Hills Heritage Park in Cedar Hills (4450 W Cedar Hills Dr). Laurelin and I will be performing with the mother-daughter class that we are taking, and I will be performing with Viktoryia's group Ma'arwaak. It is outside in a park, bring a blanket, picnic dinner etc, family friendly, not to mention FREE.
Sep 13-Meanderings in the Park, a bellydance serai, put on by Lost Caravan. This is at the Payson Memorial Park, 250 South Main Street Payson, from 3:00-7:00 p.m. Also, FREE (and I'm sure, family friendly). I will be dancing with Ma'arwaak again, and also doing a solo.
I don't know yet the exact times for our performances, but I will let you know as soon as I find out.
Here are some related websites in case you want them:
Viktoriya-http://www.bellydancingbyviktoriya.com/
Desert Gypst-http://www.desertgypsydanceco.com/
Lost Caravan http://www.lostcaravan.org/index.html

Playing Catch Up

Ok, time to play catch-up. I’m sorry it’s been so long since we posted what’s been going on. The blog was experiencing some “stupid computer” moments. (Actually it's still being stupide, so I'll post this and then if it lets me I'll put up some pics) Hopefully you’ve all been enjoying Snow White. A lot has happened so I’m just going to do some quick recapping.
We had Xander’s 7th birthday party at Neilson’s Grove Park. He wanted an ocean theme, so we had hotdogs carved like octopus and Rus frosting-painted a shark on the cake. We made popsicle stick boats and floated them in the fountain (and all got rather wet ourselves). Xander had a great time.
For Rus’s 34th birthday we had everyone over for a potluck and sword fighting party in the park behind his parents’ house. The kids all ganged up on any grownup who picked up a sword (practice swords made out of PVC pipes, fun noodles and duct tape), but the adults did manage to have a few rounds of grownup only sparring.
Kelly’s parents came out this month for a short visit (just under a week). It was short, but it was good anyways. We flew airplanes with Grandpa John, Mom went to dance class with Kelly, the kids all played lots of tickling and chasing games, and some of us even snuck in a few naps.
Isaac grew up more over the last two months. He’s been (generally) very helpful with the younger kids, and calmer himself. He pushes the cart for me at the store, and helps keep Gwen entertained. It’s been very appreciated.
The kids start school about the middle of August. Laurelin is very excited to start kindergarten, Isaac’s not all that excited, and we signed Xander up for a homeschool program called K12. We just felt like he needed a year off from the crowds-he gets so stressed being away from home. So hopefully I’ll be able to do that right…..
Here are a few funny kidisms:
Laurelin sang this song in the car one day:
I got another owie today
And my mother asks me, “What does it need?”
But I keep whining
And finally I calm down
And my mother asks me, “What does it need?”
And I say, “It needs a kiss”
And that’s my last owie.
Xander the other day said to me, “Mamma, sometimes I feel as low as the bottom of a tick’s shoe, and sometimes I feel as high as Mt. Everast.” I asked him what made him feel so low and so high and he replied, “Sadness, and excitement.” He always has been very aware of his feelings and always surprises me with how he describes them.Gwen talks now. She says everything. She speaks in full very deliberate sentences, about everything. It’s hilarious. In the last few days she’s said everything from “I just joking.” to“Pretend I has a wishing (fishing) pole.” and “Guess what Mamma!” to “I tell on you, Warwin (Laurelin), I tell Mamma!” Apparently she was just waiting till she could do it all at once. Hee hee hee.

Snow White

We've decided to post our Snow White film so more people could see it. Here's chapter 1.

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Blooper Reel

one more-Gwen playing fight the giant

Greetings! Isaac, Xander, and Laurelin started swimming lessons this week. They're all enjoying it and making progress. On Wednesday something finally clicked for Isaac and all of a sudden he was actually swimming! By Friday he was swimming underwater with "froggie" arms and I practically had to pull him out of the pool so the next class could start. Four years of "Yes, you do have to get in the water" and now it's suddenly "Yes, you do really have to get out of the pool now" hee hee hee-that's a change that I'm quite happy with.

Wednesday was my 30th birthday. Rus's siblings and families, Max and MaryMegan and we all went up to South Fork Park in Provo Canyon. We had a potluck, played around in the trees and Rus, Jon and the kids had fun playing with practice swords (boffers) and playing their own version of "fight the giant". Thank you to everyone who came and who gave me such thoughtful gifts. When I was kid my mother had a jewelry/music box with a gold unicorn on it. I loved to sit and look through her music box; it held a kind of magic for me through all these years. She gave it to me for my birthday and I almost cried-thank you Mom!! I had no problem turing 30. I guess it bugs some people. I feel like I'm a better person now so I was fine with it. As long as you keep learning and becoming who you are supposed to be I think you improve with age.

Saturday Kerry and Mike came to babysit so Rus and I could go have a Midsummer's date (thanks guys!) We went up into Provo Canyon and had a picnic dinner. Then we tried to set up a tent in a beautiful clearing next to the stream. After we took the tent out of the bag we discovered that whoever used the tent last didn't put the poles back in the bag! We decided to improvise, and using a few bits of cord attached to the tent we tied it up to tree branches and found sticks for the stakes. The result was a cutely droopy tent that we loved. We both agreed we were glad there were no polls as doing it the other way had been more fun. We found a gorgeous spot in the stream where the rocks were covered in luxurious velvet green moss. We're going to go back and take fairy pictures with the wings that Sean and Kate got me for my birthday. There were the perfect flowers up there for making crowns. Delicate purple blossums, and long, flexible stems. So after we wove a crown, we put it on one the rocks in the stream. Eve and Laurelin; Melissa, Gwen, Isaac and Max

Kelly and bd cake; Rus and Jon boffering; Xander at the stream
The view from our picnic; beautiful stream; cute droopy tent