Field trip fling

Junie and I had so much fun during her first-grade field trip! She keeps pointing out that it was actually field TRIPS — Museum of Natural History in the morning, then lunch, then Red Butte Gardens. Unfortunately my camera card ran out of room before the gardens (which are gorgeous — visit their Web site at http://www.redbuttegarden.org to check it out), but here is a glimpse of some of the fun stuff we did at the museum:


Kate sports a mantis puppet at the museum's insect display (check out her cute little Field Trip Journal, in which she wrote and drew faithfully everywhere we went) ...


... and tries to leap like a frog at the "Toadally Frogs" exhibit, which is fabulous and full of live frogs and toads, like this ...


... golden tree frog, which was clinging to the acrylic side of its enclosure in just the right spot for Kate to pretend to "hold" it. Moments later, the keeper dumped a bunch of crickets into this enclosure, and this golden frog leaped into action (and off the wall) and gulped down about six of them in less than a minute. Of course this carnage was a huge hit with the first graders (and this mommy, too).


Kate and a couple of her classmates, Nathan and Erica, peek through the mouth of a velociraptor. If you throw change down its throat it says, in this deep growly voice, "Thaaaaaaaank yooooooooou!" Also a big hit. Check out the museum at http://www.umnh.utah.edu .

Pretty Pianistas

Here's Gracie showing off her technique — and her beautiful hands — at a recital right after she participated in Federation of Music Teachers judging. It was very rigorous this year, and she did a great job overcoming her nervousness and showing how well she knows her two pieces. She ended up getting an "Excellent" rating, which was one level below the highest, "Superior," rating. She was disappointed at first, but the judges gave her some really good constructive suggestions, mainly on overcoming some of her nervous "tics" and movements, and we're going to work on them. She handled the news with the kindness, emotional maturity and, well, GRACE, that I have come to respect and love so much in her. As for me, I know my shy girl did her best and bravest and is only going to get better from here.


Gracie takes a bow. She did a beautiful job on her pieces at this recital — the pressure was off!


Junie performs her Federation pieces at the recital. In the past few months her skills and her love of the piano have blossomed amazingly. She loves practicing and perfecting her assigned work, and I practically never have to remind her to practice — she just does it, because it's her idea of fun! She got very generous comments from her Federation judges and ended up getting the highest, "Superior," rating. She did great!


Junie takes a well-deserved bow at the recital and shows off the cute daisy in her hair!


Em displays her skills at the recital. She is a very relaxed, emotional player and really seems to "feel" the music. She got great marks from the judges for her expressive playing and her dynamics. She freaked out a little during judging because she's picked up the habit, from band practice, of tapping her right foot on the ground while she plays. Well, the Federation piano, a beautiful grand, was on a raised wooden dias that was hollow — so every foot tap sounded like BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! Despite the, um, percussion accompaniment, she did beautifully on both of her pieces and ended up with a "Superior" rating. That means she's garnered enough points in her first three years of participating in Federation judging to earn a "Gold Cup" award, which is — you guessed it! — a gold cup. She also gets to play in a Gold Cup Concert tomorrow night, two days after playing in a Monster Concert for band! (more on that next week!)


Em takes a bow — dig the fabulous skull-and-crossbones-printed footless tights!

Max's month

Max had a month of ups and downs, as you'll see! This first, kind of scary picture, is our little boy the evening after he was anesthetized for an early-morning dental appointment. Mommy didn't much like holding him after the first shot to help him go under (it reminded me of those gazelles they "dart" in old episodes of "Wild Kingdom), but he came through fine except for a little drowsiness and a stubborn refusal to let me take these leads off his chest and abdomen. I finally got them off right after taking this pic — when he was asleep!


Sleeping again — Greg often remarks on my affinity for photos of the kids sleeping — this time in mid-play session: feet resting on his car track, belly-down on a board book, potty in the back corner and his new "rotten" pillow cradling his head. Our little boy!


Max loves this fire truck book, which he got at our school's Literacy Night. He and Em enjoy a reading session under the same blanket — they did this themselves, and I thought it was pretty cute!


While Em and Gracie played at the house of some friends, Max and Kate helped me mow the lawn. Here they are sweeping up clippings ...


... and here's Max sporting some unique broom action!


Earlier this week, he romped around in two of his favorite clothing items: blue "Cars" robe and "Huppaman" cape. So the past few weeks started a little rough, but they're ending with fun!