The Museum of Music

On Thursday I got to go on a field trip with Riley. I was in charge of a group of six boys and one girl. Ceci, Riley, Jackson, Henry, Christian, Riley D., and Jesus. I know poor girl, but she was a tough cookie and handled it well. I told her she could help me with the boys and be my little bouncer. It was kind of fun. I made sure the boys always let her go first. They didn't think that was too fair, but I thought it was great. I told them that they may thank me for teaching them how to treat a lady someday. We rode a bus to the Carlsbad Museum of Music. After we got there we went into a room with the two other groups from Riley's class and made paper plate tambourines. It got really loud really fast. I was relieved when they collected them before we left the room and told them that they would get them back at the end of the day. The next room we went in had a drum for everyone. Our guide talked to the kids about tempo. She chose a few kids to come up and "conduct" everyone. When they put their hands up we were supposed to go really fast, when they put them down we were supposed to go really slow. Riley and Jackson were chosen from my group. When the kids were done the museum guide asked for an adult to take a turn. I was taking a picture at this point and not paying much attention, but when I heard the other adults coming up with excuses for not going up I had to put an end to it. It was fun taking a turn. I made one side of the room go fast while the other was slow. I know, tricky hun. It takes great skill to do what I do I tell ya. LOL!! After that we went on a lengthy, and slightly boring (don't tell the kids I said that ), tour of the museum. We went through 100 years of music history. The kids learned the charleston, and the swing. When our guide was showing the kids the swing she grabbed a few girls that were in her vicinity and started dancing with them. Riley was the closest boy. Realizing that he was going to be her next partner if he stayed where he was he quickly ran to the other side of the room. I wish I had video of it. I'm sure he broke some kind of record for quickest evasion. After our tour we got back on the bus. It was fun to spend the morning with Riley and meet some of his friends that I had only known by name. Now I have faces, they better watch out.

Blue and Gold

The first week of February Riley participated in his first Blue and Gold banquet as a scout. As part of our ward Blue and Gold they have each of the boys make a dessert and auction it off. They use the money toward scout camp. Having been in primary for many years I was really excited to work with Riley and make something fun to auction off. When I found out the theme was "The Old West", I started finding fun cakes we could make. Cakes that looked like boots, horses, cows, etc. I was so excited!! One day when Riley got home from school I asked him what kind of cake he thought he would like to make and told him I had some ideas that I had found on the Internet. He informed me that he didn't want to make a cake, he wanted to make dirt. Well, okay. So much for all of my years of planning and excitement. We made dirt. We had a lot of fun with it, and got the whole family involved. Riley and I crushed the cookies while Ryan and the girls mixed up the creamy filling. We put it together in a sand bucket. In each layer we included worms and rocks (chocolate covered cherries), and finished it off with a shovel in the top. It just goes to show that no matter what ideas and plans you have for your kids, they get to make their own choices. Even if it means you get to eat dirt.

Riley with his "Dirt", awards earned, and his painting of a cowboy.
Great painting bud!!

SNAKE!!!

Okay just a little one. Even though it was little it still creeped me out. Since they cut down our trees and left the logs all about, Riley has been finding all sorts of things. Mostly beetles and bugs, but the other day he found a little gopher snake. It was probably only about six inches long. Just a little thing. He called us all out to see it. Sydney was in the tub and Carley was still eating. Being the great brother he is Riley really wanted to show all his sisters. I think he was secretly hoping they would be scared of it. I ran into the house, grabbed a Tupperware, (probably the same one we had the centipede in earlier this year), and had Ryan put the snake in it so we could show the girls. I was worried that Riley would try to scare his sisters so I kept control of the container. We brought it to Carley, she wasn't too impressed. While we were showing her I shifted the container in my hands and ended up with one right under the snake. No big deal there was plastic between. Well the snake must not have liked the warmth from my hand because it uncoiled and stared trying to get out of the container. I freaked out, screamed, like one of my little girls, and threw the thing onto the table. Why the table you may ask. Good question. Well while I was screaming and freaking out I thought that if I let the snake go in my house it could be very bad. I was hoping that the table would give someone, not me, enough time to grab it before it got away. Fortunately the snake stayed in the container, probably because I almost knocked him out when I threw him across the room. After that Riley took over the showing off of the snake.

First Day Of School

The first day of school is finally here and the kids are so excited!! They had their clothes laid out last night and were ready to go. We woke up a little later than we had planned, (Rough night with noisy neighbors. Maybe more on that later.) so it was a little more rushed than I would have liked.

Check out Hailey's backpack. It wasn't enough to have just a plain purple bag, I had to glam it up. Riley told Hailey that she will have the cutest backpack of all the girls at school. What a good brother!

We got Hailey to school just in time to jump into the end of the line and walk into her classroom. I'm kind of glad it turned out that way. I always get a little sad with them leaving for their first school experience. (The girl behind Hailey was having a hard time, or was it her parents, so it made it impossible to get a picture of Hailey without the whole family.)

Riley had a little more time to hang out and play before his class started. Kindergarten starts 30 min. before the rest of the school does. He was really excited to find out that he had the same teacher he had last year, she moved up to third grade this year, and that one of the boys from his soccer team is in his class.

I think they are both going to have a great year and a lot of fun. Sydney and I have been having a lot of fun so far today. We read a few stories, watched a cartoon, and now she is playing with blocks and animals while I do this. Carley is down for her nap. Although it is tough for me to say good by to the older kids and let them go, I must admit this is pretty nice.

Rain Gutter Regatta

Last night Riley competed in his scout groups rain gutter regatta. We received the boat kit on Sunday. With the race on Thursday it created a bit of a time dilemma. Monday Ryan and I walked part of our precinct for Prop. 8, Tuesday Riley had a soccer game, leaving Wednesday the only and final day to work on the boat. Ryan and Riley stayed up late sanding, painting, and gluing. When Ryan left for work the next day he left us with a few final instructions to finish off the boat. We were not too optimistic of Riley's chances since it was all so last minute, but you never know what may happen. Riley came out the victor. He only lost one race when his sail fell down for a moment. For winning Riley received a bunch of baseball cards, two baseball pins, a baseball poster, and some free tickets to the Midway Museum for him and his sisters. It was a lot of fun to watch. Way to go Riley!!