It's great to be eight

Christopher turned 8 at the end of May.

He was so excited for his birthday.  He's so funny with his expectations of exactly how things will go.  He wanted a white cake with white frosting (but he changed it to a 'Minecraft' cake instead of a 'Frozen' one). And white ice-cream.  And root beer.

And he picked the color scheme for the day.  His aunt Corrine would be proud.  (seriously, I do nothing to encourage any devotion to BYU)

He wanted to go bowling, and only wanted to invite 3 friends.

He also wanted to go to Menchies and get some frozen yogurt (white/vanilla of course)  They heard it was his birthday and brought him out balloons and a present, which was a gift back with some small toys in it.

Between that little act, and the fact that they carry "Dole Pineapple" (almost exactly like Disneyland's Dole Whip but for probably legal reasons can't call it that), they are my new favorite place to get a frozen treat.

and then go to Serrano's for dinner so he could wear the big hat. 

And that's it.  (he had a few requests/specifications for presents too, but nothing too big.)

And then my baby was 8.

And suddenly he's in cub scouts and wants to get baptized and doesn't want to be called "Squish" any more, and I do my best to be happy in the present, and excited for the future, and not too sad about how fast these little babies of mine are growing up.  

End of school year

Meanwhile, awhile ago, before the big trip which I will get to hopefully soon....

Other stuff happened.

Nick went to Prom with his friend Megan (she asked him as she goes to a different high school)

Then Nick went to Spring Formal (Mormon Prom) with his friend Hannah.

Her dress was awesome.  She said she looked like an upside down cupcake complete with sprinkles.  I said she looks like a princess.

They had a small group and had dinner at our house.  Nothing fancy, but I think they had fun.  Two months later we still have the lights and table set up because the kids love it.

School ended.

Nick won the spirit award for both Choir and orchestra (as voted on by his classmates) Go figure. (have I mentioned this already?  ) He loves his music classes and it shows.

Maddie promoted from jr high to high school.  I have no pictures of this.  And I'm having a hard time wrapping my brain around the fact that I will have TWO kids in high school.

Zach graduated from Elementary school.  I'm having an even harder time accepting that this kid will be in jr high next year.  What the heck?

And Christopher ended his second grade year as well.  No big promotions or graduations (thank goodness!) except his "graduation" from Apple Valley school.  For two weeks he was known as "Theodore Harris" as they learned what it was like to attend school back in the days of the Pioneers/Little House on the Prairie.

And I got an email from his kindergarten teacher asking about him at the end of the year, so we stopped by his old school to see her and one of her aides.

People who spend any time with him just adore him.  We stopped by his preschool class at the Spectrum art walk to say hi to his teacher, and she was all "I KNEW Christopher would come!  I was waiting for him!  I told my husband he would come!"  I'm glad we did because she was leaving the school to teach somewhere else, and we got her contact info to keep in touch. 

I'm always so conflicted about the end of the year.  It's always so crazy busy I look forward to summer for the break, but at the same time I just want to put on the breaks and slow things down.  We were blessed with many excellent teachers this year, and are sad we had to say goodbye to many of them.

But time marches on (Even as I write this, on July 8, not June-whatever-I-predate-this-to-be) I'm freaking out because there is only a month left until school starts.  WHAT THE HECK?!?!?

Mickey vs Harry

So for the first time ever, the junior high 8th grade band and orchestra got to go to Disneyland.  It was a big deal.  Lots of parents (including me) signed up to chaperone.  Both Maddie and I were thrilled I got picked.

And then like 5 days before the scheduled departure, I got a phone call from John.

"So, when will you be back from Disneyland?" "Sunday." "Oh. Ok. Nevermind." "WHY??" "Seriously, you don't want to know." "Well, tell me anyway." "The owner of our company is big into children's charities and there's this fundraiser on Saturday with a black tie dinner and a private concert afterwards. With Harry Connick jr. And I can get us tickets."  "Aaaaaarghhhh!!!"

I stifled a sob and told Maddie I loved her.   I explained I was choosing her over Harry.  (Which is a big deal because I would watch American Idol every week just because he was on, and refer to him as "my boyfriend" just to annoy my kids.)

Maddie then took my hand, assured me that there would be other Disney trips, and urged me to go see Harry, because since how often does an opportunity like this come along?

So I bailed on her and the teacher.  Actually I emailed the teacher, assured her that she and the orchestra were my first priority, but was wondering if there were any other mothers who would jump at the chance to take my place.

It took a few days for her to get back to me, but she found someone with only a couple days to spare.

Unfortunately that was too late to get a seat at the black tie dinner (where I believe I may have met Harry, since it was a pretty intimate affair and he was there.) Of course it's not like John or I have anything appropriate to wear to a black tie function...

But we got awesome front row mezzanine seats to the concert.  I refrained from screaming "I love you, Harry!" while seated next to my husband.

Harry was awesome, of course, and the choir of special needs kids that preceded him just melted my heart.  

The trip was also cool in that I got to see John's "home away from home".  We stayed at the Marriott where all the employees know him by name... drove by his office...

And even went out to dinner with some of his friends.

It's like he leads a double life. 

And I got to see tulips "in the wild" for the first time in 14 years.

(I still have guilt though....)

some other random things

Obviously I am never going to catch up if I continue to give each event or topic it's own post.  So in an attempt to consolidate here goes with some of the random happenings these last few months-

John went dog sledding in January.  FOR WORK.

I have stopped wondering why people think he's a spy and have started wondering if I'm the clueless wife from the movie True Lies.

He also went to Romania.  That's Dracula's castle.

Christopher's school held their second grade musical back in February. It was all about America.

He did so good.  Sang all the songs,

Even had his part memorized, and spoke loudly and clearly.

Aren't these girls adorable?  I am so sad neither one of them will be attending school with Christopher next year. 

Zach and I went on his 6th grade field trip to the Renaissance Festival this year.  That was fun.

Zach was also Poseidon for his Greek mythology wax museum presentation.  I think that trident I made turned out really well, don't you?  (It depends on my mood on whether I make kids do things on their own or help them out.  The trident was pretty tricky and he was freaking out about it, so I just did it.)

Maddie went on her first trip with a friend (and her family) over Spring break.

They went to California, and had a good time at the beach, etc.

They shopped, played, hiked, fished, relaxed, swam, etc.

That's all for now.  There's a few more things, but I'll save those for later.

High school Disney trip

Nick's orchestra and choir teamed up together to go on a field trip to Disneyland.  Er, I mean it was the 'Heritage-something-or-other-music-thing-that-happened-to-give-out-awards-in-Disneyland trip'

Basically the two groups (choir and orchestra) went to California and had special sessions with talented conductors/musicians and then performed for judges and given awards.  I'll spare you the suspense.  Both choir and orchestra won Golds and orchestra even came home with a couple of extra awards.  Pretty much by the end of the awards night the other schools were pretty sick of hearing "Campo Verde High School!"  over and over and over again. Ü

I pulled a few strings and begged and pleaded and reminded the choir teacher that he owed me because I helped out with the choir retreat and so I got to be a chaperone for this field trip.

It was fun.

One of our first stops was this restaurant in Los Angeles- Slaters 50/50. It was practically a near-religious experience.  But what made it extra cool for Nick and I was that John figured out that day that he was going to be in LA that day and was actually able to extend his trip and spend a good 24 hours with us.  He surprised Nick at the restaurant. It was pretty awesome.  (of course one girl actually questioned Nick as to whether or not he was his dad, she thought he was the restaurant manager or something, which makes me wonder what she thought when I walked up and kissed him....)

Anyway, that restaurant.  Bacon lovers heaven basically.  (I actually heard a couple people say they now knew there is such a thing as too much bacon.)  The burgers are amazing.  I wanted to cry.  For reals. The meat is actually 50% bacon and it has a nice pink color to it (but it's fully cooked)

And most burgers have a poached egg on them, and I'm pretty sure there's bacon in the bun, and in the dressing, and there's even bacon salt...

And if you told me the fries were cooked in bacon grease I wouldn't be surprised cause they were fantastic, and served with a side of bacon ketchup.  (for reals- see how chunky it is?)

And then when you're all done with that, there's bacon brownies with caramelized bacon in and on it, and it was so wrong it was right...

Anyway, my advice to anyone who goes is to SHARE.

The music clinics were fun.   At least the orchestra one was.  (He, and therefore I, missed the choir one) Being in both groups Nick had to miss out on some competing activities, which kinda sucked, but what can you do?

The orchestra clinic was at UCLA, (I think. Memories are slippery things) and the clinician was pretty funny.  To illustrate a point he actually pulled John up from the back of the room and had him conducting Nick's orchestra.  It was pretty funny, cause it was apparent he was totally and utterly clueless.  (I have video- sorry for the crappy picture) The mom next to me was doing her best to stifle her giggles and failing spectacularly.

The kids performed later, and were amazing.  I'm only including choir cause my orchestra picture is blurry and you can't see Nick anyway.  Curse of being a viola.  He's always hidden. (I just realized I can't even pick Nick out of this picture.  He's the one in the black tux... with the bow tie...facing the audience...)

And then we went to Disneyland.  I actually hung out with the teachers and other parents.

I admit to being conflicted cause I wanted to hang out with Nick, but he was off with girls and our paths rarely crossed and none of the other adults were following their kids around...

 

But it was fun.  I joined in the fun of Disneybounding.  I decided to go as Goofy cause I had an orange shirt and blue pants.  And then one of Nick's friends heard  that's who I was going as so she brought me her hat to wear.  So I wore that too.

And yeah, it was fun.  The kids did awesome, they rocked the whole adjudication thing.  We ate some awesome food, and as far as I know everyone had a fantastic time.