Wrestle to the Piano

I can't remember how this got started but it is now a morning tradition that takes less than 10 minutes.  The rule:  Bryan has to find, catch and wrestle Ethan to the piano within 10 minutes otherwise...well, we don't really have a consequence but that's okay because it is the act of wrestling that makes it fun!


I think I have mentioned this game before but wanted to document a hilarious wrestle one day.  Ethan finds the craziest places to hide...under our bed, under his bed, in his closet on the shelves, etc.  One day Bryan just couldn't get him out from under the bed, so he took the bed apart from above Ethan.  It made a mess but I got to clean under our bed!

Valentine's Day!!

I am the roommom in Courtney's class and so it was my job to plan their Valentine's Day party. The teacher asked to just have something really easy.  She didn't want a ton of treats andjust want ed something fun and nice.  We decided to have the kids decorate paper bags for their Valentine's boxes and then we would play one game, pass out acrds and end the party.  Simple enough!

The day before the party, a dad called the teacher asking if he could do face painting, so he came also.

I braided Courtney's hair into a heart that morning and she was so excited.  We had spent the week before making friendship bracelets and putting them on a paper that said, "Our class would KNOT be the same without you."  They turned out really cute.

When I showed up we had the kids decorate their paper bags and then we played Valentine's Day bingo with conversation hearts as the markers.  The kids loved it and we played for about 25-30 minutes while the dad did the face painting. 

The teacher then read a few stories to the class, let them pass out their Valetines cards and then they got ready to go.  It was a simple party with not much to it but the kids loved it!

Courtney's heart french braid.

 Courtney and her friend.

 Face painting

 When Ethan got home from school, he and Courtney spread out all their "loot" to see what they had gotten.  Suckers were the popular item this year and neither one of them got a lot of chocolate (bummer!). 

The kids did a funny thing this year where they asked other kids to be their Valentine.  Ethan had a girl ask him to be her Valentine but just as friends because they are just good friends.  So she bought him a candy bar and he got her one.  Courtney had 3 Valentines and didn't seem to think anything was wrong with that because it doesn't mean you "like like" the person, it just means you are friends.  But she had a couple of cute Valentines cards in her bag when she got home. 

It caused some stress in the 3rd grade though.  One teacher told me she had gotten a phone call from a concerned mother who was told, by her child, that if you don't have a Valentine by Valentine's Day, that you would be called to the office and matched up with other "losers" who didn't have Valentines either.  I had to laugh but the poor kid was really stressed out!

Piano Recital

Courtney had her piano recital and was very excited to be playing on the grand piano at the St. George Tabernacle!  We got there early but she decided she didn't want to practice on the piano, so we sat and listened to previews of all the other students' pieces.

Ethan was in charge of taking pictures so he sat in the balcony so he could get some good shots!

Courtney did a great job!!!  After the students had all played their pieces, the teacher announced the results from the evaluation the Saturday before.  Courtney came in 3rd place in her division!!  She was super excited.

It was also announced that Courtney had earned 2 horseback rides from practicing the piano every day during her piano teacher's incentive period.  Courtney invited Ethan to go along with her.

Piano Evaluation Time

Courtney had her piano evaluation at the same time Ethan was playing his last basketball game of the season.  I took her to the piano store where they were going to be having the evaluations and Bryan stayed with Ethan. 

Courtney was pretty nervous, but after a few times practicing on the piano, she was ready to go.  She had worked hard on her piece but was a bit nervous about the dynamics.  She hadn't been working on those as hard as she should have. 

She was the first student to play for the judge.  Her piano teacher explained that the judge is usually hardest on the first few people and easiest on the last ones to play...because they are tired by that point.  But Courtney did really well.  She got a superior minus, which means she was perect except for her dynamics.

Snow Canyon Basketball

Ethan's season on the Snow Canyon Basketball League is over.  The season ended with a great game between our team and another one that had kids from our neighborhood on it.  The boys had fun and Ethan had a great time.  He is funny because he doesn't want to try things at first but by the end, he loves them.  It was the same way with basketball.  He was on a team with his best friend and was coached by his best friend's dad, who is the head coach for the Snow Canyon High School boys.  He learned a lot .

 Ethan, Braydon and Brennon



Pacman!

I was playing around with my Cricut one day and decided to put a packman sign on Ethan's bedroom door.  He had a paper on which he had written Pacman but I wanted him to have a nice sign.  It was fun to make the ghosts and everything.  He liked it when he got home from school.

Valentine's Month

I wanted to do some fun things for Valentine's Day.  A woman in our ward wanted to do a craft night so she got it all together and invited a ton of women.  I made this cute Countdown to Kisses chart so the kids would have something to count down on. The numbers are kisses they got to eat each day.  The only problem was that the kisses tasted like paint so they didn't really want to eat them, but it was fun to count down anyway.

Then each day from February 1st until Valentine's Day, I would put a little heart on their doors that had something about them that we love.  There were things like:  I love you because you are caring; or I love you because you take care of others.  Then I would leave them a little treat like a ball or a pack of gum.  On Valentine's Day they had 14 hearts on their doors letting them know why they are loved.

It was a fun holiday!