The Zoo Program--Elephant Style

The Kindergarten Zoo Program was a success as usual.  I'm not sure if they picked their parts or if the teacher was nice enough to put them all together, but Emily's 3 best friends got to be elephants too.  Emily the Elephant and all of her friends did a great job!

 

 The Crazy Elephants

The Elephants during the program

Emily and her best friend

Here is a large portion of the program for your enjoyment.  Soon you too will be singing about going to the zoo!

The Kindergarteners started out marching in animal style!  (Or kindergarten style or maybe those are the same thing!)


Then, they welcomed us to their zoo.


Next, Emily and her class taught us about animals.



You will be singing this song for a long time after you hear about them going to the zoo!



A song about Jack and Jill, the birds not the nursery rhyme characters!


One of my personal favorites, Never Smile at a Crocodile.



It got a little spooky when we saw the dancing zoo at night!



Then, it was the Elephant's turn.


More of the Elephant's turn.



And even more of the Elephants.

 

What kids don't know how to monkey around!!

This was their scary song.  They were worried about scaring the babies, so they warned us to be ready!

This shows what happens to kindergarteners who spend all day at the zoo!


Their thank yous.


And the bows!

Way to go Elephant Emily!  You did awesome!

Pinewood Derby 2012

Even though Cole wasn't quite 8 yet, since his birthday was so close, he got to participate in his first ever Pinewood Derby!
Chad and Cole made a great team.  Chad did the research and then Cole put that research into action.
Chad found some designs and Cole picked out the one that he liked best.  Cole picked the colors and painted the car (with just a little touching up by his Mom when he wasn't looking!).
Then, they sanded the wheels and axles and applied lots of graphite.




 Then, they tested the wheels and repeated the process. 

 Who knew a Pinewood Derby car was so time-consuming and MESSY!
The final product, known as the Coco Wave.  (This was because it looked like a wave and it was in honor of cousin Coco.  Cole used his football number and the Spanish Fork colors in his design.)

The finished product with the proud creator.
The proud creator on race night, with a little more weight added.

The Wolf Den posed for a picture together before the big races started.

Finally, it was time to race!

Almost too slow on the camera!  But I did barely catch the blurs as they went by.

 Waiting for the cars to come
The Coco Wave was the first across the line.

Cole was very careful with his car between rounds!  It was a definite treasure. 
 After many rounds, the winner of the Wolf den (and 2nd place overall) is....Cole Gwilliam.

The spoils of victory.
Well done Cole! (And Chad!)

Egg Drop

This past week, we had a pretty busy week. Besides the usual activities, such as soccer, basketball, volleyball, gymnastics, school, work, and who knows what else, we also added field trips, school programs, the Pinewood Derby, and of course, the Kindergarten Egg drop! Oh, and Easter and all of the associated activities! Way too much for one Mom to coordinate. Thankfully the Dad jumped in and helped out.
When Emily brought home her paper about the Egg drop, she decided that since Cole's egg landed safely, she wanted to do the same thing he did. I wasn't entirely sure what we did for Cole, but I knew it somehow involved bubble wrap and a parachute. Since I couldn't find a small enough box, we went with bubble wrap around the egg in a Tupperware container.
Then, Emily decorated the container with markers, stickers, and jewels. It looked very much like an Emily project!
This was our finished masterpiece.
Not wanting it to get smashed or torn in her backpack, Emily carried it to school.
Since I was on a field trip with Cole's class, Chad came home over lunch to watch the big drop. Initially Chad and Emily thought our masterpiece was a failure because there was a loud pop as it landed. (The parachute got caught in tape and failed to deploy!) However, that was apparently just the packing bubbles popping that I had taped to the bottom at the last minute. The egg (and container) were safe.
Success!

Scripture Power

At the end of last year, our Stake Presidency challenged us to read the scriptures every day until our Stake Conference in February. We decided to take them up on this challenge. And at times, it was definitely a challenge!
On more than one occasion, we had a child in tears by the end of our scripture reading. This was usually due to not getting to read first or something major like that!
Tears also occasionally came because they got in trouble for playing with something and not sitting still and listening.
We also had to deal with the Kaitlyn factor, who if she wasn't crying, seemed to be yelling at the top of her lungs. Maybe she wanted a turn to read too!


Despite the tears, baby factor, and wiggly kids, we gave it our best effort and only ended up missing a day or two. (Although there were a few nights that Chad read to the kids while they were asleep because we forgot or we were gone. Hopefully they at least had sweet dreams on those nights!) Along the way we had a few memorable moments, like this one, that continue to keep us laughing! You've never heard the Allegory of the Olive Tree quite like this! Yet another reason why we love Addy!


At the same time, the Stake Presidency also challenged us to memorize a scripture before Stake Conference. The kids helped us pick one that they were at least familiar with and wanted to learn. Overall, I would say we were pretty successful. Addy didn't quite memorize all of it, but for a 3-year-old, I thought she did quite well.









Here's to hoping we can keep it up!

Kaitlyn in Motion

Kaitlyn has been working on crawling for several months now. She began with the Wish and Whine stage. This is where she looked at something that she wanted and wished she could get there. Since she couldn't move, she would lay there and whine until someone rescued her.



Kaitlyn's next stage was the Wiggle and Rest stage. Here she would try wiggling her body in hopes that it would get her somewhere. I guess the wiggling wore her out (or made her dizzy?), so every few seconds she has to rest.



Next Kaitlyn learned what we call the Bum Scoot. As she did this, I began to wonder if she would ever learn to crawl because she became a master at this. She sits and scoots her bum until she gets close to what she wants. Then she would usually lunge for it. If she missed, she would sit up and reangle her body and start scooting again. It was pretty humorous to watch.



Finally, Kaitlyn made it to a one legged crawl. At this stage, she would keep one leg up and crawl on her other leg. I'm not sure if she figured this out one day because she was trying to crawl in a dress, or if it was just something she randomly discovered and kept doing it because it was less work than the previous stage.



Now Kaitlyn is in a full-fledged crawl. Unfortunately, she is getting quicker and quicker, so nothing is safe any more. Eventually we will all remember to keep things picked up so she doesn't ruin anything more than she already has!



Kaitlyn is well on her way to walking. She can pull herself up on most anything and loves to walk while holding your fingers.
She can even balance with only one hand holding on!
Watch out siblings, she's only going to get faster!

Fashion Show

When Aunt Shari came to visit, the girls decided it was the perfect time to put together a fashion show. They love to dress up and show off, especially when Morgan helps them with their hair, makeup, and dresses!
They started out as fashion models, as evidenced by these videos.
Emily needed a little bit of coaching at first, but eventually she figured out how to prance and show off!


Kira was clearly experienced and didn't need any coaching!


Addy decided she liked to spin, so much so that it was making the rest of us sick!


We had fans in two different states! Here are some of the Utah fans. (Don't they look excited!) Cole also served as janitor. Those feather boas tend to make a mess!
While the Fashion Show was going, we were in the middle of Skyping with the Chicago family so we could wish Tabby a Happy Birthday and they could wish Brady a Happy Birthday. So every time the girls came down the runway, they also had to go wave to the computer and the family there!
Grandma saw the magic of Skype, although she still might be a little confused as to what was going on. I don't blame her, with all of the chaos and talking and yelling and laughing, I was confused as well!
Round 2 down the runway was the princess run.
Addy was Princess Aurora.
Kira was Cinderella.And Emily was Princess Jasmine. (Showing off her midriff, much to her Father's dismay!!)Round 3 was the action round.
Emily came and performed as a ballerina, while Kira was born to be a cheerleader!


Addy was a gymnast, although she could do better at this now that she has actually started going to gymnastics classes!


Finally, they all took a bow, along with Morgan and Brady, who were the show coordinators and wardrobe managers.
A job well done all the way around! It was certainly entertaining!

I Can See!!

Last fall, Emily brought a note home from school stating that she had failed the vision screening and should be taken in for an eye exam. She had just recently been to the doctor and passed their screening, so I didn't pay much attention to it. Over the course of the next several months, I began to notice that the child who reads everything she can didn't read things that were farther away. When I probed her on it, she would tell me she couldn't read it or it was too far away. So, I finally made an appointment and took her to the eye doctor. It only took the first row of shapes before it was obvious that she was going to need glasses. The doctor eventually explained that she was going to need glasses anyway because she had two nearsighted parents, but her constant reading had actually sped up the need for them. Who knew reading really is hazardous to your health!! She was a little nervous at first, but when they showed her all of the frame choices, she was in heaven. I bet she tried on 10-15 pairs before she found the ones that she liked. Then she was disappointed when she found out they had to order the lenses and she had to wait to get them. Every day for the next two weeks she asked if her glasses were ready. Finally, they arrived and this is the adorable result!
Who knew our cute girl could get even cuter with glasses on!