Aaaaahhhhhh......

That's my sigh of relief. I am so glad yesterday is over. Yesterday was the school's Jr. Engineering day. I somehow signed up to be in charge of it. The USU Engineering Department puts on these awesome fairs at schools around Utah. I had to coordinate with the teachers who would be teaching the modules and make sure they had lesson plans and everything they needed. I also had to advertise, get volunteers and collect some supplies. It was pretty time consuming the past couple of weeks. And those two weeks happened to be Randy's busiest as well. Between I-15, Riverdale Road and UDOT's engineering conference he has been swamped. Yesterday I spent the entire day at the school, and thankfully, my friend took care of my three little ones so I didn't have to schlep them along all day.

All in all, the day was a success. The students loved it. They spent the entire school day in rotations, learning and experimenting with different hands-on science experiments. Some if their favorites included: making rockets, a Van deGraaf generator, playing with bubbles, learning about colors and light, building retaining walls, propelling cars with balloons after learning about the laws of physics, and playing with robots.

One of the stations about hearing, had some voice pick-up head phones. This allowed the students to hear how they sound to others. Hailey was shocked to hear herself. She finally realized that she can't say her 'r's. I have tried for years to work with her. Speech therapists have given me packets and ideas to help her, but she didn't even realize that she didn't sound right. She told me yesterday that to herself, she sounds just like anyone else. But that hearing herself in the headphones, she could tell it wasn't right. Now that she knows what she sounds like, maybe we can make some head-way.

Randy got back just in time to eat before we all headed back over for the Reflections awards. All the kids did a great job. I was especially proud of my own. Hannah and Casey got certificates and a gold dollar for participating. Tyler and Hailey won. They got certificates and 10 gold dollars.

Tyler's cheetah sculpture....

Casey's pencil sketch...

After the reflections awards was the Jr. Engineering Family Fair. The kids could bring their families back and explore any of the exhibits. (During the day they could only see the ones in their grade rotation.) That didn't go as well as the daytime. not that there were any problems, it was just different. The open house style didn't allow the instruction and teaching before the experiments. A lot of them lost the effect. Hailey commented that it wasn't as much fun. The kids still had a good time, but we were ready to leave when it was over. We were rounding everyone up, and Randy had most of the kids in the car, when Nathan decided he didn't want to leave. He kept running from me. He turn a corner and in seconds I heard crying. He and Tyler soon came back and then I saw the blood. One look and I knew this was trip to the Insta Care.

There goes our record. We hadn't had stitches all year.... We washed him off in the bathroom and loaded up in the car. Randy dropped us off at the Insta Care and I called Cyndi for a ride home. Luckily, they were able to get us right back in a room. The doctor wanted to try DermaBond. I was skeptical, but agreed to try it. Unfortunately, it wouldn't hold. The wound wasn't a clean cut (Nathan's never are.) and it was very deep. There was tissue kind of bulging out of it. So he decided to stitch it after all. Nathan was really brave. He only cried a little when they gave him the shot to numb it. Although, I was upset that he didn't use a topical numbing solution before the Lidocaine needle. But I talked to Nathan the whole time and he was distracted enough not to know that they were passing a needle thought his head! It's a good thing. I think if he realized what they were doing, there is no way I could have held him down. He is just too strong. The doctor commented Nathan was his best patient all day. He really was good. After four sets of stitches, I guess he has learned the drill.

Did I mention, I'm glad yesterday is over?

Snow Tanks

When we are driving in the car, Nathan loves to look for the water tanks on the hill by our house. He knows what they are for as I explained to the kids that they hold water for our homes. When he sees them he gets really excited and says, "There's the water tangs!" So the other day, he spotted them and then asked, "Mom, where are the snow tangs what give us ice?" I am amazed at the thought process of this little guy! He is so stinkin' smart!

All four of my kids in school entered the Reflections contest. Maybe that is why I was on my soap box the other day. I hate deadlines! It is just too stressful. Especially when trying to keep my home running smoothly, they are like little speed bumps.

The theme was "I Can Make a Difference". They all enjoyed doing it. Casey's was a required assignment. He drew a picture of himself and some fellow scouts and helpers removing a wrecked car from the canyon. He has already decided this will be his Eagle project. I didn't think to take a photo of it before he turned it in, so I'll post when when we get it back.

Hailey wrote a song. She just sat down at the piano one day, and out it came! Then she wrote some lyrics about being drug free, being a good friend and doing your part. She helped me on the computer enter in the notation. It was a great learning experience. Then my brother helped us record it and put it on CD. She may be the only one in the school that entered a musical composition.

Tyler made a sculpture of a cheetah out of Model Magic. It was really cute! Again, forgot to take a picture of it. His title was "I Can Help Endangered Cheetahs". He wrote that when he grow up, he wants to work in wildlife. I hope he actually does. I remember when I was younger, I wanted to work with baby tigers. He really loves "big cats"!

And Hannah drew a picture of herself and a few friends taking out the garbage (can you tell what has been the emphasis at my house lately?!) I love her little people! It is sad when their drawings evolve to more life-like looking pictures.

Emma has discovered independence. She walks around the house like one of the big kids. She even throws tantrums. At 16 pounds, she just seems too tiny to have figured that out! I guess I was hoping my 'baby' would just always be sweet and cuddly and never go through the toddler stage! What could I really expect? She has some good teachers!

Randy has been really busy with work. Not only is he still working on I-15, but now he is the project manager for the new Riverdale Road project. That is pretty intense. They have until January to complete the design. then construction will begin.

I am excited to be in primary. We had our first presidency meeting yesterday and a stake leadership training last night. The Spirit really touched me when one of the stake ladies was bearing her testimony that the Lord bought us with his life, and we need to pay him back with our service. Sometimes I think we lose sight of why we are serving. I now I have grumbled a few times about Randy's calling as scoutmaster. I try not to, and I think once I realized how much he enjoys it, I realized that was unfair of me. I hope I can keep things in perspective. After the meeting, a group of us went to TGI Friday's for dessert. It was tons of fun! I love being able to get out like that every once in a while. And Randy is always so sweet and lets me go. He has never once murmured about it. I am pretty lucky!