Halloween Continued, The School Parade

This is another "especially for grandma" post.
Ellie borrowed Samantha's Alice in Wonderland costume, and looked so cute. As soon as she came home from school she informed me that next year she wants to be a gypsy, like her teacher. She's got plans for the year after that too—Cleopatra.
Ainsley was excited to wear her costume to the parade. We saw several bigger ladybugs, but none as cute as this bug.
Joey is sort of obsessed with ninjas right now, and this was easy to put together, yea! The current debate at our house is whether a ninja or a samurai would come out on top in a fight.
Rob is so vocally against halloween, and Robbie still worships his dad, so it's no surprise that he claimed he didn't want to dress up. We saw this idea on Family Fun, and it was clever and low-maintenance, not to mention cheap. A bag of Smarties and a roll of packing tape. Yep, he's a smarty-pants.

Belated Birthday Post

If I were really back into the swing of things, I'd have snapped a photo of the kids eating their cereal by flashlight this morning. They thought the power outage was an adventure. Since I missed that, I think I'll play catch up.

I've got three birthday posts to make up, so I'm starting with the earliest. Ellie turned seven on August 29th.
Her birthday fell on a Sunday this year, so we had time for her requested pancake breakfast and opening presents before church.


Homemade pizza was her dinner choice.
And mint brownies in lieu of cake.
Seven things about Ellie:

1. She is a fantastic artist. Remember these?

2. She is a peacemaker and has a tender heart.

3. She is a girly-girl and more fashion-conscious than any 7 year-old should be.

4. She is Ainsley's best friend, and a wonderful sister.

5. She is a straight A student.

6. She is inclusive and makes friends easily. (She wanted to invite 26 girls to her friend party!)

7. She is so loved. She makes us happy every single day.

Halloween week begins

I've been trying to keep Ainsley out of her costume all week long, worried that she'd ruin it before the big day. So she was happy to have a legitimate reason to wear it today, at her ballet class.

Speaking of costumes, Rob hates to dress up (along with every other aspect of halloween), so we were brainstorming ideas for him. The kids liked Scrooge, Oscar the Grouch and Grumpy. Feel free to top that in the comments. Brownies to anyone who suggests an idea that he actually wears. :)

My favorite PTA job...

...is the Beehive Book Awards Committee. Each year the Children's Literature Association of Utah nominates books in five categories: Fiction, Poetry, Informational, Picture Book and Young Adults, then kids get to vote for the winners throughout the year. At our elementary school, volunteers from the committee read a book (or two) in each category and then rotate through classes to tell the kids about the books and get them excited to read. Two weeks ago I went to all the 4th grade classes (Joey), last week I did the 2nd grade (Ellie) and this week I got to go to the 6th grade (Robbie). It's a relatively minor time investment (3 hours in class, plus time to read the books, maybe another 2-3 hours) that pays big dividends. I like any excuse to read, and I like going into the different classrooms—it's amazing how much you can tell about a teacher in 15 short minutes. The sixth grade was really fun, I recognized most of the kids and they are good kids.

Here are the books I presented:

This already won a Newberry, so I expected it to be great and was not disappointed. It's the story of a young girl in China who lives in a poor village and spends all day working in the rice fields with her parents. Her mom is malcontent because they are so poor, but her dad tells her stories about dragons and tigers and the man on the moon. Minli believes his folktales and decides to leave home to search for the man on the moon, so he can change their fortune and her mom will be happy. Her quest is full of adventure and learning, and her parents learn a lot while she's gone too. The writing style is simple and engaging. I loved it.

This poetry book reminded me a little of Pablo Neruda's Odes to Common Things, in premise if not style. She writes about articles of clothing. Socks, pants, even underwear. I read the poems Bob's Bicycle Helmet and Clyde's Costume. Some of the classes asked to hear Emily's Undies and I complied. They are fun cute poems.

This informational book is a true story about the Maasi tribe in Africa. The author is a member of the tribe who received a scholarship at Stanford and studied there to become a doctor. He returned to visit his tribe and a child asked him if he had brought any stories. He told them the tragic story of 9/11, and they responded with sorrow and a desire to do something. They give a gift of 14 cows, because to the Maasi "the cow is life." The artwork in this book is amazing, the writing is beautiful and the story is moving. I love the last line: "Because there is no country so powerful it cannot be wounded, nor a people so small they cannot offer mighty comfort."

I saved the picture book for last each time I presented the books, and it was by far the favorite, even in the sixth grade. It's a fun book to read aloud although it's short and comical, it has a great message about perspective. I picked this book because I had seen some of Amy Krouse Rosenthal's other projects on youtube and loved them. Here's the first one I saw, check it out. Very creative.

Hopefully I didn't embarrass Robbie too much when I asked his class to pose for the daily photo. I told them all to say "Poor Robbie has a photo-crazy mom" instead of cheese.

Stake Regional Conference

Today we got to meet at the conference center. It was a good meeting. The best part? It was over by noon and we got to take naps! Can't wait until we move to the morning schedule in January! :)

The definition of anticlimatic

Sorry. You'd think that after building up my recommitment to the daily photo and blog, I could pick something interesting, or beautiful or clever to post, but no, I'm talking about the weather.

This last week I've had a nasty cold and felt miserable. Of course the weather was gorgeous. Brilliant blue skies, beautiful fall leaves, crisp clean air and plenty of sunshine. Today, just as I'm starting to feel better, it's been gray and rainy. Rob, who is known as Scrooge for his dislike of photo shoots, most major holidays, chaos and whining, actually likes rain. He appreciates the clean smell, the way it turns everything green, the quiet indoor activities. It turns out that I'm the scrooge when it comes to weather. I've been thinking of this a lot lately in term of metaphor for my life. Opposition which helps up appreciate the sunny days, the silver lining of the clouds. And I do feel grateful for those things.

The black hole months have had some pretty average challenges, nothing too tragic or difficult, not a devastating hurricane or earthquake, just rain. But the response of my family and friends to these small trials has been huge for me. I'm so thankful for so many kindnesses: we had dinners brought in, phone calls, lunch delivery, notes, loaves of bread, cookies, prayers, kids picked up and taken care of, I even got a song recorded for me. I couldn’t ask for better friends. Rob came home early, fixed dinner, cleaned, ran errands and ordered me to rest on the couch. The kids have all been extra helpful. I was embarrassed to be on the receiving end of so much service—I kept telling people that we’d be fine, and we would have been fine, but it wasn’t just our temporal needs that were met. It was a blessing to feel so loved and cared for. Thank you.

The Black Hole

Yes, Natalie, we have a black hole in our history. "The defining feature of a black hole is the appearance of an event horizon—a boundary in spacetime through which matter and light can only pass inward towards the mass of the black hole. Nothing, not even light, can escape from inside the event horizon. The event horizon is referred to as such because if an event occurs within the boundary, information from that event cannot reach an outside observer, making it impossible to determine if such an event occurred." (Wikipedia, of course).

I'm not sure what pushed this two month period of our lives past the boundary. It could have been the start of the school year, birthday season, stomach flu x5, Lotoja, the marathon, or multiple herniated discs. Once I got behind it was too overwhelming to catch up. Maybe that'll still happen. If not, the kids can pull out a microscope and check out what they missed:

Coming tomorrow, especially for Rob, Natalie, Ralph and Judy: a new daily photo and recommitment to my neglected blog. Thanks for caring. :)

Back to School

Here's Robbie, smiling because he knows that's the quickest way to get his photo-nazi mom off his back. I asked him to lay out his clothes last night and he couldn't be bothered, telling me he'd just grab whatever in the morning. Just a hint of the I'm-too-cool-for-my-parents stage starting to emerge. I'm so glad he has one more year of elementary school left, I am not ready for Jr. High.

Joey says he's not excited for school to start, but he's so social and energetic I have no doubt he'll come home happy. He didn't care much what he was wearing today either, except he insisted on sneakers, not his Teva's, which I thought would keep him cooler. Joey had the heaviest backpack of the three, and the only homework for the first day.

Ellie was the only one who admitted she was excited to start school, and she was all about the outfit. She really didn't need any new clothes, but I let her pick out a few, just to have something new to wear on the first day. She really belongs at a private school, since she kept gravitating toward the uniforms. Here's what she settled on:

And of course Ainsley still wants to be just like her big sister.

Poor Ainsley, if she'd been born a couple of months earlier they'd all be in the same school for one year. She was sad to see all of her playmates leave for the day, but perked up at the promise of a trip to the park, with a packed lunch, just like the big kids.

Right now she's got a friend over, and they're playing downstairs. It is exceptionally quiet here. I love it. It might even make up for the hectic mornings and stress of homework.

Busy Saturday

We were up at 5:30, me for a 12-mile run with Mandy, and Rob off on his bike for about 70 miles (including a new PR for Emigration Canyon, 32:39). I came home in time to fix french toast for the sleepover crowd, then cleaned house and went grocery shopping. Meanwhile, Ellie got to go to lunch and pick out yarn for the blanket Grandma's knitting for her. Robbie got to go orienteering with Shawn and Jonas (thanks again Shawn!) and then over to Grandma's pool for more scouting fun. To top it all off, we had another Nichol family reunion. Round one was just two weeks ago, with my first cousins. Today was a bigger group, my mom's cousins.

Singing the Tooty-ta song:
Then home for a little lawn-mowing and Sunday prep. As much as I don't like the afternoon schedule, I'm grateful for the chance to sleep in!

Sleepover, check.

After spending the day back-to-school shopping, this was really the only way to fit in one last bit of summer fun.

Being the "yes" mom

I have a feeling that if I had someone recording every word I said and ranking them, "stop," "don't" and "no" would be pretty high on the list. So today I tried to say yes more. "Can we go to the park?" Yes. "Can we invite the Stringhams?" Yep.


Can we get slurpees? Sure. Just doing our part to keep Dr. Boyden in business.

Yes to serving five different things for lunch today, yes to playing the Wii (probably too late to start summer enrichment at this point).


Do we have to go to SEP's (that's what they call parent-teacher conferences now)? YES. That's right, you too Rob. See, I'm getting really good at saying yes.

Mrs. Price and Robbie.

Mrs. Pettit and Joey.

Mrs. Rohaj and Ellie.

After hearing about Melissa's SEP experience, I must say, I'm relieved. We only have one get-to-know-you assignment for Monday, and the usual expectations for reading, math facts and spelling. I'll keep practicing my "yes" when the kids ask if they have to do their homework.

Oh, and I also said yes when Rob suggested we go out for dinner. I could get used to this. :)

Tonight's Sunset

View from the back yard:



And from the front:

Another check on the summer bucket list

At least they're not playing video games...

Sometimes I wonder if some of the requirements in scouting are outdated. I know I've never been in a situation which required me to tie a bowline knot or lash something together. Now I'll know who to call for help if that need surfaces.

Sunday Inspiration—Clayton Christensen

In addition to his neglected personal blog, Photo Scrooge has a bona fide business blog, with readers all over the world. A couple of weeks ago he posted this. I like the idea of posting what's inspiring me lately, and Sunday seems like a good day for that. We've been fans of Clayton Christensen for a while now, and I loved reading this new article by him in the Harvard Business Review called How Will You Measure Your Life? I highly recommend reading the whole article, but here's an excerpt that really hit home for me:

"In using this model to address the question, How can I be sure that my family becomes an enduring source of happiness?, my students quickly see that the simplest tools that parents can wield to elicit cooperation from children are power tools. But there comes a point during the teen years when power tools no longer work. At that point parents start wishing that they had begun working with their children at a very young age to build a culture at home in which children instinctively behave respectfully toward one another, obey their parents, and choose the right thing to do. Families have cultures, just as companies do. Those cultures can be built consciously or evolve inadvertently.

If you want your kids to have strong self-esteem and confidence that they can solve hard problems, those qualities won’t magically materialize in high school. You have to design them into your family’s culture—and you have to think about this very early on. Like employees, children build self-esteem by doing things that are hard and learning what works."

One of the things we've tried to incorporate into our family culture is dinner together. My family was never very formal, and though we have had many memorable dinners (usually with lots of guests), we didn't have the habit of sitting around the table together each night. Rob's parents continued the tradition of Sunday dinners even after the kids had left home, usually the whole nine yards—roast, mashed potatoes and gravy, fresh baked rolls—served on their beautiful china.

We're somewhere in-between. I'm not quite willing to wash dishes by hand, and neither is Rob. But we do manage to sit around the table most nights, even if we've ordered pizza or take-out. I even managed a nice tender roast today, although no gravy (most of us had sweet potatoes, so it wasn't really an issue). I love the chance to ask everyone about their day, and hopefully the kids are learning some form of etiquette. Sundays everyone has a chance to tell the family what they learned at church, and that tends to be a good discussion. I know this is a tradition that will get harder and harder as the kids grow up and become involved in more extra-curricular activities, but I'm sold on the benefits of making this effort.

Maybe in a few years this'll look fancier. Or not. Rob did give me a standing ovation for the food. He knows how to keep a good thing going. :)

14.28 miles

Only 49 days until the St. George marathon, and this is my longest run so far. Scary. I'm testing out the theory that it's better to under-train than overdo it and end up injured. ;) I did run over 26.2 for the week at least. Plus three hours of swimming for cross-training this week.

Thanks again, Mandy and Julie, for making this run more pleasure than pain! And thanks Ralph, for being awake and letting us intrude.

Jack Johnson

Rob swears I never answer my cell phone, and it is true that I might not notice I have messages for days. I'm really glad I had my phone with me this morning though, since I got a text from Natalie asking if I wanted to go to the Jack Johnson concert with her. I jumped at the chance, knowing that she has at least 765 friends (last count on fb) who would surely be more fun at a concert, but selfishly not caring. The show was epic. We were on the floor, with the "hey wow" crowd. I pointed out that I was easily the most conservative person in the pit, and Natalie said, "Well, I'll give you that." :)

Loved G. Love, even though Natalie was worried about subjecting me to "The Booty Call."

Zach (Vince :) Gill was awesome on various piano instruments and vocals.

The whole band was great really.

But let's face it, here's who we came to see, and he did not disappoint.
It was almost 1:00 a.m. by the time I got to bed, and I had to get up at 5:00 a.m. for my long run, but it was so worth it. Couldn't have been better. Thanks again Natalie!

It must be the end of summer...

That usually when we try to pack in a few last fun activities before school starts.
As usual, Melissa is a few steps ahead of me, and has already covered the zoo trip here. She mentioned how great it is that each kid (okay, except Peter, really sorry about that) matches up with one of their cousins, not only in age, but in true friendship. I can't remember the last day that Ainsley hasn't asked to play with Duffy.
I don't have much to add, except a photo of Ellie and Amelia. I'll make sure to put this in your file, Melis.
I have at least three really great photos of Joey and Samantha—they're photogenic, and posers too.
My only photo of Robbie and Jonas isn't very good, I have to steal Melissa's. I took this one because even at the zoo these two can manage to find a screen to play with.

A Sweet Summer Activity

Touring the candy factory has become an annual end-of-summer tradition with the Stringham cousins. This year we went in the late afternoon, and we'll have to remember not to do that again, as they were between shifts so just showed us video clips at each of the various rooms on the tour. But the kids each got to pick out candy at the end of the tour, so they didn't mind. We had no treats in the house in June or July, only the occasional treat out, and they were, literally, like kids in a candy shop.

School registration

I admit, I'm ready to have some time to myself that does not involve staying up late. But I am not at all excited about our busier schedules or the homework that will be coming our way. Sigh.