MaeLyn's Musings

Today is the last day of school. For some of the kids, it means finals and turning in projects. For my youngest, however, it is a time for games and celebration. Last Friday, Peter had Field Day at school. He spent most of the time in the bouncy houses, but he also played with the parachute a hula hoop, and he participated in the class tug-of-war. Today, they had their awards ceremony. Each of the 90 fifth graders received an award, and then was celebrated by the celebration of his or her choice. (sorry these pictures aren't as clear. I took them with my camera phone.) Peter received the "Attention to Detail" award, and then chose "Seal of Approval" for his celebration. apparently the "selfie" camera feature takes pictures backwards. Peter and Mrs. Priola, his original homeroom teacher. She took time off halfway through the year to have a baby. Peter and Ms. Overton, his math teacher. Peter and Ms. Meye...

April 25th, 2016 The phone rang on Sunday morning. It was Brother Brown, our ward's executive secretary, who actually reminds me a lot of my dad. "The bishop would like to meet with you and your husband today. Can you meet with him after church?" "Okay." I told him. "Great. He has some setting aparts to do but then you'll be his first appointment. It'll probable be around 4:30. And he wants to talk with both of you." "Okay. We'll be there." I assured him. What did the bishop want to talk to us about? Of course my first thought was that he wanted to give one of us a new calling. And since Steven currently has a stake calling, that probably means that I'm the one with the new calling. And since he wants to talk to both of us, it's probably something big. I let Steven know about the appointment, then pushed it out of my head. I didn't want to think about it. I managed not to think about it until I was in Rel...

A couple weeks ago, Hannah dressed up to attend a formal dinner.  As she was preparing to leave - to drive herself to the dinner with her newly acquired drivers license, it dawned on me just how grown up she is. She is mature and responsible. A year from now she will graduate from high school and be off to college, and a year after that she'll probably be a missionary. She's come a long way from the adorable baby she used to be. How long will it be until she is married and having babies of her own?  I remember as a young mother being told to cherish each day because babies grow up so fast. At the time, I don't think I really understood, but now I'm beginning to. I don't miss the diaper changing, the toilet training or the tantrums, but I have loved watching my children grow and mature. I love seeing them develop talents and discover things they can do. And every once in a while I stand back in awe of these wonderful children God has shared with me.

Last month, Peter's grade at school received a grant from the city to beautify the green space behind the school. They painted murals under a bridge and added several trashcans, and painted them as well. This morning, I was walking the trail through the green space and encountered a neighbor. As we chatted for a few minutes, I mentioned that Peter had been among those who had painted the mural and the trash cans. She expressed to me her appreciation for the artwork. She feels the same way I do: the paintings make walking the trail fun. Peter helped with the mountains at night mural, shown on the left here.  I was kind of glad no one was around, watching me take pictures of trash cans, but they really are fun and colorful. Why shouldn't I take pictures of them?

Wednesday night we attended a Court of Honor for John and Joshua. Joshua received his Salesmanship merit badge and advanced to Star rank. John received several merit badges, including Woodworking, Photography, Art, Forestry and Nature. The boys also received patches for the klondike campout they attended a few months ago. The patches were supposed to be a mad scientist's beaker, but from the back, they looked very banjo shaped.

The day was long awaited. First, because she needed to be 16 1/2, because Colorado Law stipulates that to receive a drivers license before that age, she needed to have 4 hours of professional behind the wheel training, and that was too expensive. Secondly, she was busy with the musical and other plays, and when she finally got around to scheduling an appointment with the DMV, the next available time we could do was not for two months. So finally, on May 5th, Hannah came home after seminary instead of going straight to school. After I returned from walking Peter to school, Hannah and I climbed into the car and set out for the DMV. The nice thing about having an appointment is that we got to talk to someone right away, rather than having to take a number and wait to be called. We presented our documents, and the lady at the counter verified the 50 hours of driving, the 10 hours of driving at night, the signatures, the car registration and the auto insurance card. Then Hannah was told t...

The day was May 5th. The time: 6:30 pm. The event: The Pack 124 Pinewood Derby Peter was excited about his car. After debating several different ideas, he had finally decided he wanted a hamburger riding a skateboard. He developed the design, and helped saw the block of wood in half. His Dad helped with the shaping and the sanding. I helped with the shaping of the "hamburger buns", and then Peter painted it. Steven attached the wheels and added the weights inside the hamburger bun. (We were contributing our digital scale as the official scale for the race, so we were able to get the weight exactly right before we arrived, which was nice.) Before the official race, while some of the boys were adding weights to their cars, others of the boys, including Peter, had some practice races. Peter won most of those, but I think something happened to damage his car, because when the official races began, he consistently came in last place, much to his devastation. No amount...