The Best Things Come in Small Packages

It's true. . . sometimes the best things come in small packages. Tadd came into our room in the middle of the night on Saturday with a fever, and slept until 11:45 a.m. When he woke up, he was full of energy and acted like his normal self. By the end of the day, he had worn himself out and crashed (literally).

As for family news, Teya graduated from preschool and Cara & Kyle are enjoying their last days of school, including a performance in the Silver Mesa Elementary School Choir concert.

Teya's Graduation

Silver Mesa Choir Concert
(Cara & Kyle are front row, far left)

Mom -- I Wish You Were Blind

At what extent should become concerned on Teya's obsession with getting a pet? She brought up an unusual conversation a few days ago with her dad.

Teya: "I wish that mom was blind."

Dad: "What?! Why do you want mom to be blind?"

Teya: "That way, we could get a dog."

[Dad pauses as he imagines Teya hiding a dog from a blind mom]

Teya: "She would need the dog to help her get around the house."

Dad: "Oh, it would be a seeing-eye dog. How would mom know where to pick up the poop in the backyard?"

[Teya giggles]



Well, we aren't getting a dog, but on the last trip to the pet store (JUST TO LOOK) Teya selected a specific puppy that she pretended that she adopted--she just has to keep it at the pet store. When the puppy gets sold, Teya will select a new dog to adopt, and so forth.

You're Good at Soccer -- "Yes I am."

Cara and Teya only have one more week of soccer. Both are doing very well. Cara has scored six goals over the last three games as her team has won at a combined score of 9-2. It will be interesting when Cara's team, almost all 4th graders move up to the 5th & 6th grade competition level in the fall. They haven't lost a game over the last few seasons, but they will soon be some of the youngest girls in the league.

Teya is on a pre-school team where the league does not have goalies and the games are mostly back and forth scoring. Teya also scored a couple of goals yesterday. When we complemented her that she is good at soccer, her response was, "Yes, I am."

Teya at soccer:

Teya's #1. fan. "Go Teya!"

Sandy Pride Day of Service:

Bike parade at a neighborhood park

MuRDeR . . . MoRE ChOice tHaN DrUgS?

Our kids auditioned and were selected to be in a Sandy City play that will be performed in June. The play is centered around the Beatles and features many of their songs. After the first night of practice, the kids were told that the director would like them to be the featured singers of "Maxwell's Silver Hammer". Not knowing the song, Sarah went home googled the song.

With the kids in front of the computer screen, they watched a youtube video someone had made of the song. Imagine Sarah and the kids watching a video of a young man asking a girl on a date, and then when the girl opens the door "Bang! Bang! Maxwell's silver hammer come down upon her head. Clang! Clang! Maxwell's silver hammer made sure that she was dead." The screen turns red, and the scene is of the girl sprawled out on the floor.

The upbeat tune has contradictory lyrics about a young medical student who murders his girlfriend, then a teacher, and then the judge. It's a vaudevillian-style song that was written by the Beetles as a tongue-in-cheek message relating that sometimes bad things happen out of the blue. I've added the song to our playlist at the left of our blog if you are interested.

At the next practice, the kids learned the dance steps to the song as a group, and it is being presented in a humorous way, as reflected in the tune. Steve Martin has a video version of the song that is not as violent as some of the other youtube videos. Jeremie's favorite is the video with a man dressed as the girlfriend, and the man's handpuppet is the judge.

After learning the dance steps, the kids told the director they would rather be dancers in the song rather than featured singers, and the directer seemed to agree that they would be good dancers for the piece. Anyway, with the song portrayed as a comical dance, our concerns are reduced a little.

After that first night and seeing what song our kids are involved with, we scanned the program to see what other Beetles songs might be performed. The popular drug songs "Yellow Submarine" and "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" are notably missing. So my observation is, I guess that it is better to sing about a serial killer than popularizing drugs.

ALL IS WELL AROUND HERE ON MOTHER'S DAY (except our neighbor's house is on fire)

Mother's Day had been pretty relaxing . . . Jeremie was able to come home right after church . . . we are cooking a turkey for dinning . . . the weather is a nice 70*. . . we were able to go for a walk. However, during our walk, as Tadd was showing us his friend Ella's house, five fire trucks, two ambulances, and a couple of police cars raced past us and turned down our street. At the site of the first fire truck and ambulance, Jeremie's first thoughts were "Uh oh. .. one of our neighbors had a heart attack." Sarah's thoughts, "Uh oh . . . Do you think OUR house is on fire?"

.

Anyway, all of the commotion related to a house down the street from us. From the story I heard, the fire started when the owner (Jay) was soldering a copper pipe in the wall. The back wall in the kitchen caught on fire with the fire traveling up the interior of the wall and filling the home with smoke. No one was injured, but the damage to the home is pretty bad. The firemen had to cut through the back of the house to make sure the fire wasn't smoldering within.

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We feel terrible for Jay. He has been renovating his house over the last few years completely refinishing the exterior with fiber-cement siding and the interior with new flooring and a new kitchen--just completing the last details of the kitchen last week. Luck has not been in his favor with his house. A couple of years ago, someone out of malice had turned on a water hose in his basement window while he was out of town. After the damage was fixed, the ice maker in the fridge broke while he was out of town, again flooding the basement. Not to mention, he had lost his job in this down economy. The photos below show our kids smiling, but everyone in the neighborhood feels bad for Jay.

Mother's Day Humor

I had to chuckle this morning when the Bishop recounted how he had once announced the Mother's Day treats being passed out in church. Not wanting to offend anyone, decoratively wrapped chocolate was purchased for all sisters in the ward age 18+ whether they had children or not. In trying to announce that all sisters but not the young women were to get a treat, he announced "If you consider yourself a woman, take a box of chocolates."

Reg. Update of the Family

We had a fun weekend to close out the end of April and welcome May. On Friday evening we went and saw Sarah's hometown friend Randall Mcgee and Groark perform at Ogden's Treehouse Museum. Our kids were non-stop laughing at the show, and Teya's wish list of pets increased to include dragons (Groark).

Saturday started with Cara scoring three of her team's four goals in a 4-1 win in 4th grade soccer. We then headed on over to the Scout-O-Rama where the kids built paper rockets, rock climbed, learned to use a wheelchair, and at lots of candy.

Randall, the kids, and Groark.

Groark in action.

"You're salsa is made in New York City?!?!?

Fun at the Scout-O-Rama

We enjoy the parks around our house.

Ohhh. . . .We've got to build one of these.