Nathan received a belt loop, and Benjamin received his Bobcat award!
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Crafty Cubs
Tonight was the cub scout Blue and Gold Banquet. The kids had fun making puppets. I think it is so cute that all of our kids look forward to pack meeting every single month!
Nathan received a belt loop, and Benjamin received his Bobcat award!
Nathan received a belt loop, and Benjamin received his Bobcat award!
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Snowman
Elizabeth was so excited that we got some snow today! We made a little snowman together, and then she played until I was cold and took her in :)
Saturday, February 25, 2012
At the Capitol
A few days ago I received a phone call from the Utah PTA. They invited me to come to the State Capitol for a press conference for PTA Day at the Capitol. The topic was family engagement, and I was invited to speak for a couple of minutes about our Take Your Family to School Week.
I was thrilled! What an honor to be invited to the Capitol, and to put Provost in the spotlight! And then they told me they wanted me to bring 6-12 students with me, to stand behind the podium. Aghh! My excitement turned to stress to find students and parent drivers in about 36 hours.
Luckily, I found some people to come with me. We pulled the kids out of school and drove up to Salt Lake. After we parked downtown, we took the bus up to the Capitol. Nathan was my only child who wanted to come with me, and I had a lot of fun watching his awe and excitement as he looked around at the history and beautiful architecture inside the Capitol!
The kids were so well-behaved for the press conference! The state PTA president spoke, along with the state school board superintendent, a state senator, and me! We made the evening news, although it was not a big story and of course they did not use my words for their soundbite. Oh well, it was still fun!
We missed the bus on our way home, and we didn't want to wait half an hour for the next one. So we walked through downtown on our way to the cars. It was exciting to see the new City Creek Center mall, which I think is scheduled to open in a couple of weeks. As we passed the Salt Lake temple, I was so struck by it's grandeur and I had to take some pictures. What a beautiful day!
I was thrilled! What an honor to be invited to the Capitol, and to put Provost in the spotlight! And then they told me they wanted me to bring 6-12 students with me, to stand behind the podium. Aghh! My excitement turned to stress to find students and parent drivers in about 36 hours.
Luckily, I found some people to come with me. We pulled the kids out of school and drove up to Salt Lake. After we parked downtown, we took the bus up to the Capitol. Nathan was my only child who wanted to come with me, and I had a lot of fun watching his awe and excitement as he looked around at the history and beautiful architecture inside the Capitol!
The kids were so well-behaved for the press conference! The state PTA president spoke, along with the state school board superintendent, a state senator, and me! We made the evening news, although it was not a big story and of course they did not use my words for their soundbite. Oh well, it was still fun!
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Princess
Elizabeth recently dressed up like a princess, including a new crown she made online. It is so fun for me to have a little princess in the house!
She and Izzy love to play together.
This week we moved her off of a crib-sized mattress on the floor, and now she is on a regular twin-size bed at a regular height!
Elizabeth likes to twirl (push play)
She and Izzy love to play together.
This week we moved her off of a crib-sized mattress on the floor, and now she is on a regular twin-size bed at a regular height!
before -- on the floor
after -- somewhere fun to climb now!
Saturday, February 18, 2012
The Big Eight
This week Benjamin celebrated a very important birthday -- 8! Since the Take Your Family to School Week School Spirit Showcase was the night of his birthday, we split up the festivities a little. I figured that if we let him open a few presents before school, he would be assured that we remembered his special day!
When each child gets baptized, we give them a set of scriptures. He's not getting baptized for a few more weeks, but he was insistent that he didn't want to wait! So we broke our "tradition" (not sure you can call it that after doing it for only 1 child!) and gave him his scriptures for his birthday. He'll have to wait for a case, though :)
In the evening he got to open the rest of his presents. I love the look on his face when he discovered the Legos -- I think he could get Legos for every present for years and not lose excitement about them. He loves to build with them!
Friday afternoon we held his birthday party. He wanted to go to Jump On It, just like he did last year. Lizzy and Ella came, along with the rest of our family, and everyone had a great time on the tramps and the bounce houses.
Then we went back to the house for presents and basketball cupcakes.
Happy birthday, Benjamin!
When each child gets baptized, we give them a set of scriptures. He's not getting baptized for a few more weeks, but he was insistent that he didn't want to wait! So we broke our "tradition" (not sure you can call it that after doing it for only 1 child!) and gave him his scriptures for his birthday. He'll have to wait for a case, though :)
Yes, I used shiny gold paper to wrap the scriptures!
He was so excited for some new books
In the evening he got to open the rest of his presents. I love the look on his face when he discovered the Legos -- I think he could get Legos for every present for years and not lose excitement about them. He loves to build with them!
Benjamin is so excited to be a Cub Scout now!
Friday afternoon we held his birthday party. He wanted to go to Jump On It, just like he did last year. Lizzy and Ella came, along with the rest of our family, and everyone had a great time on the tramps and the bounce houses.
Benjamin
Joshua
plotting his next jump
A little blurry, but I love that I caught him mid-flip!
foam pit
Joshua, Benjamin, Lizzy, Ella
Elizabeth mid-jump
Then we went back to the house for presents and basketball cupcakes.
Happy birthday, Benjamin!
Friday, February 17, 2012
Science Fair
Nathan decided that he wanted to participate in the Science Fair this year. It is an optional thing, and so I was glad that he was taking on initiative to do something extra.
He had enjoyed when they made potato batteries at cub scouts. So using that for his inspiration, his experiment was testing which kind of foods made the best batteries.
Although I did science projects as a kid and enjoyed them, I was so glad that Ryan was available and anxious to help Nathan with the actual project. Once you say "voltmeter", the rest seems more complicated than I wanted to figure out!
Of course, it just so happened that the science projects were due right in the middle of Take Your Family to School Week. It worked out well so that parents could come view the projects in the gym while visiting during lunch on Wednesday, but it did add "one more thing" to my already busy week!
Although 4th graders are not judged officially because they are not eligible to go on to the district level, I am glad that we took the time to walk through the scientific process with Nathan. His experiment was thorough, and I think his write-up and display board turned out nicely, too!
Hopefully, he has a good understanding now of what to do so that he will create an outstanding project next year that could possibly go on to District!
He had enjoyed when they made potato batteries at cub scouts. So using that for his inspiration, his experiment was testing which kind of foods made the best batteries.
Although I did science projects as a kid and enjoyed them, I was so glad that Ryan was available and anxious to help Nathan with the actual project. Once you say "voltmeter", the rest seems more complicated than I wanted to figure out!
Of course, it just so happened that the science projects were due right in the middle of Take Your Family to School Week. It worked out well so that parents could come view the projects in the gym while visiting during lunch on Wednesday, but it did add "one more thing" to my already busy week!
Although 4th graders are not judged officially because they are not eligible to go on to the district level, I am glad that we took the time to walk through the scientific process with Nathan. His experiment was thorough, and I think his write-up and display board turned out nicely, too!
There were several types of ribbons handed out -- Nathan earned one for "Scientific Thought"
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Valentine's Treat
I received a calendar for Christmas that has a recipe from Our Best Bites (my favorite food blog) each month. February's recipe is White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake. Even though my week is crazy, I decided that it looked way too delicious and had to be the (only) thing we do to celebrate Valentine's Day this year.
As far as cheesecakes go, this was fairly simple to make. (The first cheesecake I ever made was for Ryan's birthday when we were dating. That one literally took all day to make!) And it was worth every bit of effort -- everyone loved it!
As far as cheesecakes go, this was fairly simple to make. (The first cheesecake I ever made was for Ryan's birthday when we were dating. That one literally took all day to make!) And it was worth every bit of effort -- everyone loved it!
Monday, February 13, 2012
Take Your Family to School Week
Last weekend and this week are CRAZY busy for me. I hope that I will get to take a long nap when it is all done! It's Valentine's Day, Benjamin's birthday, and the whole week is Take Your Family to School Week.
As PTA president this school year, I've had a few "pet projects". We brought in the Great Artist program, had the Choose Today concert in the fall, and then we applied for the National PTA's grant for Take Your Family to School Week and WE WON $1000 in grant money! Each day we have some type of activity planned, with the hope that every parent will make the effort to attend at least 1 thing.
Today's activity was a free continental breakfast in the gym. We had bagels, muffins, Mexican pastries, strawberries, bananas, grapes, juice, and hot chocolate. While people sat and ate, we had a slideshow playing that highlighted all of the wonderful opportunities for our students at Provost.
After breakfast, parents and their children could work on a hallway scavenger hunt. They hopefully learned a few things about the school and about our achievement awards, and our student programs as they filled out the scavenger hunt. At the end of the week we will have prize drawings for those who turn in their papers! One of my favorite parts of the morning was when I was walking through the hall and I saw some fathers working on the scavenger hunt with their kids. They were interacting and happy, and I thought, "This is what it is all about. This is why we are having Take Your Family to School Week!"
We had a wonderful turnout! All of the tables were filled and we had to set up a few more . . . we still had people eating on the stage stairs! I loved the reaction on the principal's face when he walked in the gym and saw so many people -- he was shocked in a good way!
A representative from AXA Financial, who is a sponsor of the national Take Your Family to School Week grants, came and presented us with our "check" for $1000! It was wonderful that he took the time to come, and that we could celebrate winning the grant with all of our parents, but I have to say I was disappointed that it wasn't a real mock check like you see on TV!
Since tomorrow is Valentine's Day, we had parents fill out paper hearts at parent/teacher conferences last week with kind words for the teachers. The teachers will arrive at school to find that they have been "heart attacked"!
On Wednesday parents will be able to come eat lunch with their children if they would like. We kept that one pretty low-key from an organizing perspective!
I'm really excited for Thursday's School Spirit Showcase night. All week long, we're trying to inform parents about all of the reasons why Provost is a great school, and about all of the opportunities their children receive. At Thursday's activity, we will have mini-classes that families can go to together, and they can experience some of the things the students get to do at school. They will be able to have a Great Artist lesson and learn to draw the Mona Lisa! They can have a violin lesson just like all 4th graders do daily. There will classes to do science experiments, listen to a storyteller, learn about how to help children prepare for going to college (our school theme this year), and to play a game "Are You Smarter than an Upper-Grader?" where parents and kids compete against each other.
And on Friday, we are going to do prize drawings from those who participated in the scavenger hunt and the Showcase Night!
I am so thankful that we were able to win the grant money to be able to have such a detailed and exciting Take Your Family to School Week! I hope the parents find it as enjoyable as we envision it to be! Based on our breakfast this morning, it looks like it will be a great week!
As PTA president this school year, I've had a few "pet projects". We brought in the Great Artist program, had the Choose Today concert in the fall, and then we applied for the National PTA's grant for Take Your Family to School Week and WE WON $1000 in grant money! Each day we have some type of activity planned, with the hope that every parent will make the effort to attend at least 1 thing.
Today's activity was a free continental breakfast in the gym. We had bagels, muffins, Mexican pastries, strawberries, bananas, grapes, juice, and hot chocolate. While people sat and ate, we had a slideshow playing that highlighted all of the wonderful opportunities for our students at Provost.
My cart at Sam's Club was FULL! It took us quite a while at 6am to prep all of the fruit :)
I was so relieved that we did not run out of food!
After breakfast, parents and their children could work on a hallway scavenger hunt. They hopefully learned a few things about the school and about our achievement awards, and our student programs as they filled out the scavenger hunt. At the end of the week we will have prize drawings for those who turn in their papers! One of my favorite parts of the morning was when I was walking through the hall and I saw some fathers working on the scavenger hunt with their kids. They were interacting and happy, and I thought, "This is what it is all about. This is why we are having Take Your Family to School Week!"
The table for getting the scavenger hunt
We had a wonderful turnout! All of the tables were filled and we had to set up a few more . . . we still had people eating on the stage stairs! I loved the reaction on the principal's face when he walked in the gym and saw so many people -- he was shocked in a good way!
The gym is full!
If you look closely, you can see our kids on the left side of the table
A representative from AXA Financial, who is a sponsor of the national Take Your Family to School Week grants, came and presented us with our "check" for $1000! It was wonderful that he took the time to come, and that we could celebrate winning the grant with all of our parents, but I have to say I was disappointed that it wasn't a real mock check like you see on TV!
My wonderful PTA sidekick Kami and I receiving the "check"
Since tomorrow is Valentine's Day, we had parents fill out paper hearts at parent/teacher conferences last week with kind words for the teachers. The teachers will arrive at school to find that they have been "heart attacked"!
On Wednesday parents will be able to come eat lunch with their children if they would like. We kept that one pretty low-key from an organizing perspective!
I'm really excited for Thursday's School Spirit Showcase night. All week long, we're trying to inform parents about all of the reasons why Provost is a great school, and about all of the opportunities their children receive. At Thursday's activity, we will have mini-classes that families can go to together, and they can experience some of the things the students get to do at school. They will be able to have a Great Artist lesson and learn to draw the Mona Lisa! They can have a violin lesson just like all 4th graders do daily. There will classes to do science experiments, listen to a storyteller, learn about how to help children prepare for going to college (our school theme this year), and to play a game "Are You Smarter than an Upper-Grader?" where parents and kids compete against each other.
And on Friday, we are going to do prize drawings from those who participated in the scavenger hunt and the Showcase Night!
Elizabeth, friend Tyler, and Joshua having fun at the end of the breakfast, getting in the way of the slideshow!
I am so thankful that we were able to win the grant money to be able to have such a detailed and exciting Take Your Family to School Week! I hope the parents find it as enjoyable as we envision it to be! Based on our breakfast this morning, it looks like it will be a great week!
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