I Survived Parent/Teacher Conferences

Yesterday was our Parent Teacher Conferences. It all began at Jordan Ridge with a visit to Belle's classroom. She is doing well as far as knowledge of the subjects goes. She passed her ALPS test so she will continue in the program next year. Now we just need to work on getting along with people in her class and turning her work in on time. Belle's teacher, Mrs. Stowe, is just such a nice woman and I feel blessed that Belle has had her this year.

Next we visited with Zack's teacher, Mrs. Lybbert. She seemed to think Zack was doing quite well. He still struggles a little with the fractions, but he did essentially skip a grade of math this year and I think overall has done a great job trying to keep up with it all. The best news from the conference is that there is no LARGE projects for the rest of the year. WHOOHOO!!!! He also passed his ALPS test, but initially was put on a waiting list. That was a little frustrating, but it sounds as though there were many parents that were frustrated with placement on the waiting list. Those parents went to the last school board meeting and managed to get the board to change all the waiting list children. So Zack has made it into an ALPS class, now we need to wait and see if he will be able to goto the same school that he has gone to for the past year. More waiting....UGH!!!

After a quick supper at McDonald's Playland, we went to the other school, Elk Meadows, for Katie and Becky's conference with their teacher Mrs. Forsyth. They are both doing very well. The worst thing she said about them was they needed to slowdown and take their time doing their work and that Katie should try to participate in the discussions, offer answers, etc. Becky also passed her ALPS test, but as I predicted Katie did not pass. Since 3 of my 4 children will be attending Jordan Ridge I have started the process of transferring all of their records over there. I definitely will miss Elk Meadows. I think it is a good school and I have enjoyed getting to know all the teachers.

PTC done for another school year!!

Spring's Day Off

This morning we woke to a reminder that even though the calendar may say it is spring, we are not "officially" there. The nearly green lawn was covered in a blanket of white fluffy snow. Those beautiful daffodils and hyacinths had little cap of snow that locked their vibrant colors. When you brushed a little of the snow of those the contrast of those bright colors against that white snow was just breathtaking. Steve took this neat photo this morning so I could blog just how beautiful it is.

The kids are back in school and everything seems to be going smoothly. We have not had too hard a time transitioning back into the homework zone. We have parent teacher conferences coming up tomorrow and report cards have been trickling in.

I woke up early this morning. I felt a little bit like a child on Christmas Eve night. You see, today was the Making Memories Warehouse Sale. I loo forward to doing this every year and this year was no exception. I was up and getting dressed at 6:00 am this morning. And since I was not going to pick up my friends Sandra and Suzanne until 8:15, I decided to do another one of my favorite things which is taking advantage of those 10 for 10 Sales that Albertson's puts on. This week's ad had some especially good deals. So by 7:30 I was home with a trunk full of groceries that I had scored.

The Making Memories sale was not a disappointment either. We got to the Warehouse and I feared that we would have to stand out in the snow for an hour as we waited for them to open the doors, BUT they were so kind to us. The allowed us to wait inside the warehouse where it was nice and warm. As we stood in line we scoped out all the items we were interested in. My big find was the paper trimmer I have wanted since September. YIPPEE!!!! They also had tons of their oh so cute ribbon, lots of metal embellishments, so good deals on cardstock and tons of darling rub ons. I definitely stocked up on some great supplies and should not need to go shopping for a while.

Skiing in Utah

This is kind of a late post. A week ago Steve took Zack and Belle skiing up at Brighton. This is Zack's second year on skiing. He really seems to like it. He has been excited to get to go. Last year it was free for students to ski up there. The only expense for us was the rental of the equipment. Unfortunately, the same deal was not offered this year, so Steve only brought Zack up there a couple of times this year.



Belle had been waiting all winter to finally get her chance to learn. According to Steve, both of them have caught on to how to do it pretty well. Belle was eager to go on some of the more difficult runs as the day went on. When the all got home, they all wore a huge smile of their face along with a little sunburn on their brows.

Piano Recitals

I am so proud of Zack and Belle. When I was young I never had the opportunity to learn an instrument. They have both been taking piano lessons for a few years now. Today was their piano recital at Riverton music. There were 31 students that performed for 1 1/2 hours. It took quite a while, but I seriously sat there in awe of the talent in the room. Zack played the theme song from ET and Belle performed Music Box Dancer. I hope they both will continue perfecting this talent. I am hoping to get Becky and Katie on the waiting list to start taking lessons from Sister Coates. She is an awesome teacher.

We came home in time to have a casual dinner and then enjoy another spring afternoon. I initially sat outside thinking I would tackle a little more of East of Eden, but instead I decided to join in on a volleyball game (minus a net) with Steve and the kids. It was actually quite fun to just be hanging out together.

It appears that much of our time was spent chasing after crazy balls. I decided it would be a great time to snap off a few photos. It was until after the ball had been put away and I uploaded the pictures to my computer did I realize the funny faces that the kids make as they are hitting the ball.

The countdown is on until the kids go back to school:

36 hours and 12 minutes!!!!

Spring is in the Air

I feel safe in saying, "Spring has come to South Jordan!!"

I have woken up everyday for the last week in anticipation of seeing my daffodils finally opened up. We planted the bulbs for the tulips and daffodils around the front of the house in the fall. These are some of my most favorite flowers. They remind me so much of Maine. I love this time of the year. I have spent the afternoons in my front yard reading my book for bookclub, watching the kids play and seeing daily what change has happened in out yard. The trees have developed their blooms and are right on the edge of getting their flowers. The grass seems to get a little greener everyday.

The children have been off track for the last 2 1/2 weeks. Thank heavens for the great weather. This is some of the stuff that has happened:

• Kids go camping with Steve to Snow Canyon and collect petrified wood and explore lava tubes.


• Mom has an all night crop while the family is away.


• Kids go bowling with their friends


• Katie and Becky see "Happy Feet" with their friend Noah


• Zack goes skiing with Steve up in Brighton


• Making salt clay sculptures


• Katie and Becky scrapbooking with Mommy for the 1st time


• Belle's 1st ski trip with Daddy and Zack


• Zack goes to the Planetarium with his friend Jake.

The twins FINALLY had their scrapbooking experience. My friend Sandra planned an 8x8 album entitled, "All About...". I signed the girls up and went last Friday night. It was so much fun. I cut all the pieces to their correct size and they put the pages together by following the color copies that Sandra had made. They did a good job. Katie took it kind of like a race and did her versions of "slap and scrap". Becky on the other hand was a little more meticulous. Tried to get the pieces into the same exact spot as in the picture. Gee, I wonder where she gets that from? They are so proud of their pages. I can not wait to find some cute albums to slide the pages into. We also need to fill in the pictures spots and do a little journaling. What a cute album for them to have as they get older.