Mason-student council elections

Mason is a good boy.  He's kind, very thoughtful, and really easy-going.   He's not one to draw attention to himself, and usually seems content to sit in the shadows, to listen and not talk, to quietly observe instead of being center of attention. 

Mason also has an older brother, just shy of 15 months older, who is a strong leader, very creative, very bright/smart/inquisitive, loves to share details, loves to talk, talk, talk. . .

So all of Mason's growing-up years, he has been in Taylor's shadow.  I'm not sure if he (or Taylor, for that matter) would agree.  But as parents, John and I have both been a little concerned.  We want Mason to feel comfortable with his own group of friends instead of just tagging along with Taylor's friends.  We want Mason to lead out with his own strengths instead of always watching his older brother do the same.  We want Mason to feel comfortable in his own skin, to enjoy who he is and to feel confident with his abilities.  This has been our focus this past year.

Before school started, we visited with each of the children and helped them set personal goals.  We talked about their weaknesses, their strengths, their accomplishments, and their dreams.  It was a great experience.

In our visit with Mason, he admitted that he wasn't comfortable bringing home his own friends in his own grade; he was more comfortable just hanging out with his brother.  He admitted that meeting new people was hard for him.  He recognized this as a weakness and set a few goals to overcome these uncomfortable feelings, one of which was to run for student council.

And he did it!  He gave his 2-minute speech today in front of all the 3-6th graders.  He ran for Vice president against 8 other students.  We don't know the results yet, but regardless of the outcome, John and I are so proud of him to just have the courage to do it.

 I love that Mason's Sunday pants are a tad too short. . . and what I love even more is that Mason is completely oblivious about it.  Growing like a weed.

We practiced with him about looking out at the audience, talking slowly and loudly and clearly, using hand motions to engage the audience, emphasizing certain words that have deep meaning. . . He did a great job and felt good about his efforts.

Mason wanted to be on the jr. high X-country team this year.  Taylor wanted to be on the jr. high football team.  My first thought was this: in order to simplify our lives and cut down on the number of extra activities, just have the boys decide on one sport to play together.  Either football or x-country.  They can do it together, and we only have one game to attend each week.

But that thought didn't last long.  Mason needs to be doing his own things, involved in his own interests.  And I love that he is LOVING x-country.  Maybe because running has always been one of my favorite hobbies.  It's fun for me to watch him develop his own talents and interests.  And he's pretty fast too!

So with Taylor doing football and Mason doing x-country, that means 6 separate practices each week and 2 football games and 1 race each week. Our schedules are a little fuller, but my boys are developing into their own individuals.

At the same hand, I love that they still have each other.  They still share the same room and stay up late talking about boy stuff, "girl" stuff, and school stuff.  They are each others best friends, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

First Day of School 2012

 Taylor starts junior high this year, Mason is in 6th grade, Abby in 4th, and EmmaClaire in 1st.  Andersen gets to do preschool, and Kate gets to act like a terrible 2-year-old. 

 I love that the kids are all at the same school (K-8th grade).  I love that they can ride their bikes there and back together (as soon as it's not blazing hot outside), and I love that they "get" to wear uniforms.  Red or navy polos on top, and tan or denim on bottom.  It really simplifies EmmaClaire's mornings-she's our fashion diva and still struggles with the what shirt to wear each morning.

Mason and Taylor are excited to be on the cross country team this year, and Abby is excited to be in orchestra for the first time.  EmmaClaire really wants to be on the cheer leading team, but we're still debating that one.

Cheers to the start of another year of school. 

Last Party of the Summer

The last week of Summer, we enjoyed time in La Jolla with all of John's siblings, their families, and his parents.  All but one niece was there.  We stayed in a beautiful beach house just a short hop, skip, and a jump from the sandy beach.  First thing in the morning, we went to the beach, then came home for lunch, then back to the beach, then home for dinner, baths, and bed.  It was super relaxing and super fun! 

I love how the beach has a way of entertaining those of all ages.  Our younger ones LOVED playing in the sand, the older children enjoyed boogie boarding and riding the waves, lots of families played ball or frisbie on the beach, lots of others read books, surfed, gathered sea shells.  One of my favorite things was to go running along the shore every morning.  Everyone had a great time!

Mason and John took up surfing.  John got up maybe once, but Mason turned pro over night. 

Here's Papa (over 60 years old, yea--he's awesome!) surfing with Taylor and a cousin.

Kate couldn't get enough of the sand.  Not so much with the water though. . .

Here's a lot of the group, going for a morning walk on the beach to see the tide pools.

Papa is always teaching, and his grandkids love him for that.  Here, he's drawing pictures on the sand to show how the rotation of the moon creates high and low tides. 

Andersen with one of his best buddies.  I love this picture!

Mima, controlling three of the grandkids with her magical powers.

After a great week, we left full of memories.  Then we ran out of gas in the middle of nowhere, about 9 miles from the nearest gas station.  Nice planning!  (I won't mention who was the driver in charge of making sure this didn't happen).  John started walking towards a dairy in hopes to get some help, and took the car keys along with him.  Nice again!  John's sister saved us about 40 minutes later and brought gas, but I didn't have keys to get John, so that lead to another bout of waiting.  In the middle of nowhere.  The kids were getting hungry, thirsty, and HOT.

Here's our typical Mason.  He had a few food options, like nuts, granola bars, fruit sancks, cheese sticks, rolls, etc. . . He chose to eat a head of lettuse.  Rabbit!

 

Man, I love my family!  And not just the ones that live in my house, but all of my extended family too.  The LeSueurs know how to have some fun.

EmmaClaire's Two Front Teeth

EmmaClaire has been wiggling and wiggling this whole past summer.  Finally, after weeks of working on it, her first top tooth came out.  It was ready to come out, and she was thrilled.  The Tooth Fairy was "super busy with other teeth" the first two nights, but finally brought her two quarters, a dime and a nickel. 

She was ecstatic!  She ran throughout the house holding up her money, singing "I got money, I got money, and I want MORE".  . . . (sounds kind of greedy, I know.  She was hilarious!). 

 Later that afternoon, she came to me asking if I thought her other front tooth was loose enough to pull out. I couldn't even get it to budge. No way, that tooth has a long way to go before pulling it out.


She continued asking others in the family if it was ready to get out. . . and continued getting the same response. Finally, I asked her why she wanted it to come out. "Because I want MORE MONEY" was her singy response.

When Dad came home that evening, she handed him floss and told him to help her get it out.  She was determined, so he took on the challenge and went to work.

And he kept working.  It was like a mini surgery in our family room.  And it took a long time. 

But he finally got it out.  The tooth popped and flew across the room.  EmmaClaire grabbed it, held it high, and yelled "Money".  Then she ran to the bathroom to wash it up.  A few moments later, John and I heard the saddest weepy cry coming from the bathroom.  The tooth had fallen into the sink and was washed away down the drain.  All her hopes of becoming rich from the tooth fairy had vanished, and she was devastated.

After calming her down, we decided to send the tooth fairy a note with some before and after pictures so she would know EmmaClaire was telling the truth.  And it worked. This 6-year-old is rich!

And we're enjoying her darling toothless smile and the way she can't say her "S" sound very clearly.  I wish I could freeze her cute personality forever. 

Summer Happenings

One of the best parts of our summer is that my parents/Grandma and Grandpa Andersen get to visit for a whole month.  And because we only get to see them during that month (they live in the Dominican Republic), we cram it all in and try to spend every waking minute with them.  There's a dinner, swim party, or activity of some sort almost every day.  Lots of late nights, lots of driving back and forth, and lots and lots of fun.  Then when they leave, we crash and sleep for a few days to catch up. 

They flew home last week, and we're left with lots of fun memories. 

Years ago, when Taylor was 8 years old, he wrote a really neat poem about the importance of the Sabbath Day.  This past year my mom wrote music to Taylor's creation.  Taylor wrote two more stanzas, and now they have a beautiful song put together.  My mom had it printed, and we sang it as a family several times.  It was a neat experience for Taylor.  And a beautiful song too!

 The rest of these pictures are from our week at the cabin, with all my siblings except for two. 

Game night--who can create the coolest thing with tooth pics and gum drops?  These guys won!  Still not sure what they created though. . . any guesses?

For an early Christmas present, my mom presented all the grand kids with ukuleles.  Every day after lunch, we had "Uke" practice.  Nate and I taught a few chords and songs.  As I write, I can hear someone in the living room playing "Shoo Fly, don't bother me".  Pure talent!

Forth of July Festivities--we enjoyed a flag raising ceremony by our boy scouts, a parade, pony painting and riding, lots of fun water games, festive food, and a family dance.  The best thing--all the kids got to play with their cousins all day, every day.

Grandma with all her grand daughters.  She's just the best!

Two of my sister in laws brought fun crafts for the kids to do.  It worked out well, as it rained every afternoon, and this gave the kids something constructive to do inside while the storm passed.  Andersen and cousin Grace got a little carried away. . .

 The older girls loved making hair accessories. 

One of the most memorable, disgusting things about the week was all the crawdads.  After the boys caught a pot full of crawdads, Nate helped then cook them up, then served them to anyone interested--which was pretty much just the boys.  Gross.

 Boat creation.  The boys had to make sure it was "floatable".

This isn't a great picture.  But one of the funnest things about visiting the cabin this summer was the new Zip line.  The kids loved it, I went down once and survived to tell about it, and John couldn't get enough of it.  Super fun.

 All in all, it's been a great summer.  Other than two weeks at the cabin, we've spent lots of time swimming, camping, reading, playing board games, cooking up fun recipes with the kids, and being lazy.  Next week we're headed to La Jolla for a reunion with the LeSueur family, then school starts the following week.  Hard to believe it's almost over!

Stitches

While running a quick errand last week, Taylor was doing some wood working with Mason and accidentally slipped the chisel towards himself.  It cut pretty deep, and when I returned about 10 minutes later, Taylor was as white as a ghost and about passed out on the couch.  Mason was in a nervous panic but seemed grateful to see me. 

Thank goodness for great neighbors.  One of our neighbors and great friends is a physician assistant.  After a phone call, we went to his house to have him look at it.  He set up his own little ER at his kitchen table and stitched Taylor's hand up.  5 stitches.

Taylor got those stitches out yesterday and is doing just fine.  The whole incident just endeared all the more me to our neighbors.  So kind, so willing to share their talents, so consecrated.  Amazing people!

End of the School Year--Party!

Taylor wanted to have an "end-of-elementary-school-and-on-my-way-to-junior-high" party.  No problem, we've done parties before.  But then, after seeing his list of invites and realizing that most of them were already teenagers and in jr. high, I kinda started to panic.  I've never hosted a teenager party, and things have changed so much since I was there, I hardly knew how or where to start.  And boys--how do you entertain lots and lots of big boys?  Especially 19 of them!  Go ahead and count.

It ended up being super fun--for the boys and for me.  We had lots of candy, lots of real food, and plenty of junk food.  Taylor helped plan some of the activities, one of which was to award the boy who guessed the closest number of jolly ranchers in the jar.  It provided a good welcoming activity as the boys started coming in.

  The "help yourself" candy table was a hit.  I'm pretty sure that we got rid of about 25 pounds of candy that night.  I liked how it provided an easy social setting, and something for the kids to gather around in between games and activities.  The skittles and gummy bear bowl was refilled several times throughout the night.

Hamburgers, hotdogs, watermelon, chips, and a veggie tray served as dinner. 

 Prior to the party, John and I brainstormed a few fun activities and games.  I laugh now--but all the ideas John mentioned, I thought were really dumb.  And he said the same about the ideas I mentioned.  He won out, mostly because I figured that if we did his ideas, then he'd be leading it out and taking charge.  I'm good with that. 

One of his ideas was to create an obstacle (in this case, the blanket hanging on a rope being held by ladders) and have the boys get into teams of 4, then time each team to see how fast they could figure out how to all get over without touching the blanket.  (This was the idea that I thought for sure was the dumbest ever).  The boys absolutely LOVED it, and it kept them entertained for quite a while. 

I have since apologized.  I should have realized that John has been a 13 year old boy before; I hadn't.  Of course he knows how to be entertained.  He's been there.

 This was my idea-I'll take credit.  One of the things that bothers me about the youth now is how much time and focus goes into electronics (and takes away time and focus on relationships and people).  So, knowing that a lot of boys have phones and ipods, we put this together.  (Taylor is pretty sure that he's the only boy on the planet that doesn't have any electronics).  I first asked Taylor if he was OK with it, and he thought it was a great idea.  In fact, I never had to mention it as boys walked in the door--Taylor took care of it.  But I had to laugh.  For a little while, Taylor stepped into the backyard and the doorbell rang.  EmmaClaire ran to the door, swung it open, and  yelled "do you have any electronics?"  The boy was totally confused at his greeting.  Totally cracked me up.

I had a great time.  In fact, being around those fun, loud, roudy, energetic young men for a few hours got me excited for my own boys to grow into teenagers.  Bring it on!