say uncle

You know, there comes a point in parenting when you have to ask yourself at what point should you give in?

And what point do you realize that you are just punishing yourself?  That your "principles" might not be worth it any longer, and you should just throw in the towel.

I hit that point.

We had stated that in order for our kids to drive the needed to do get their Eagle (or Young Women in Excellence award) AND have good grades.   Nick's grades have not been so great.  For as smart as he is, it was apparent that a community college was going to be in his future, for a little while at least.

And so he didn't drive.  For almost two years, I held on to my principles believing that it set a bad precedence for his younger siblings.  But finally, I decided I had had enough.  Especially with A hour classes, and four kids needing to be places, and only one of me.

So I caved.

And Nick got his drivers license.

And I am wishing I would have given in sooner.

Principles schminciples.

(But the Eagle/YW in E Award is still a deal breaker)

It's a family affair

Nick has been in love with technical theatre (all the other stuff that goes into putting on a show- lights, sounds, set design and construction, etc.)  And Nick being Nick, loves to share what he loves with everyone around him.  I smile and listen and nod my head as he talks about programming moving lights with the gels and the whats-its and do my best to follow along, and try to show an appropriate level of enthusiasm for things that excite him.  But, it can be hard, because mostly I have no idea what he is talking about.

Anyway, last year Madison tried to show some support for Nick and went to a drama day camp thing that the high school was putting on, and attended Nick's class on the exciting world of stage lights.  She was totally bored.

Add that to the fact that she is pretty stubborn, and has spent many years trying to forge her own identity and deciding that anything Nick likes she doesn't because she's "Not like Nick."

So armed with that one experience, she would shoot down any suggestion from Nick or I that she might like teching.  Like designing and painting and building sets. "It's boring! I hate it! I'm not Nick!"

Fast forward a year.

One day during the summer vacation, Nick was headed to the high school to help build some sets for the upcoming play and invited her along to help out.  "I don't know anybody... I don't know anything about teching... I haven't even started high school yet... why would they want me there?... and besides, I hate teching. It's boring."  But since her only other plans for the day involved Netflix, and I promised to pick her up if she was totally miserable, she went with him.

And the next day.

And the next.

Lighting and sound might still not be her bag, but it turns out she's pretty good at the rest of the stuff. She came home splattered in paint, and exhausted, but totally happy.  She made all sorts of new friends, learned how to use power tools, and holds her own with the older kids.  The drama teacher was so impressed with her they made her Assistant Stage Manager for the upcoming play Radium Girls.  First freshman ever to get that much responsibility.

She even got an award- The "Oh my goodness you're just a freshman?!?" award.

 But besides the confidence she's gained, my favorite part was watching Nick and Maddie bond over this.

And as a little side story-

When Nick learned that his good friend Dani had never been actually asked out on a proper date (boys can be lame) he took her to the opening night of Radium Girls.

(yes, that's me in the booth selling tickets, and her parents are the ones who took this picture.  They came to support Maddie too.)

Nick splurged and got the VIP tickets so they got to go on stage during intermission and interact with the cast.  Since Maddie had guests in the VIP section, she got to serve hors d'oeuvres (she's the one dressed in techie black)

speaking of 8...

When the concept of Christopher getting baptized was a real question, I was asked whether or not Christopher would be joining Cub Scouts, because that's also what most Mormon boys do when they are 8.  They join Cub Scouts.

If I didn't know and love the person asking the question, I might have been offended. No, Christopher is not like most boys his age.  Yes, he does have difficulties grasping concepts that aren't tangible. Things that he can't see, touch, taste, smell, hear, or measure in some way.  Like faith, or metaphors, or fables, or parables.  Very difficult concepts.

But Cub Scouts?  An opportunity to get together with boys his age and do fun things, and organized activities, and then have a treat when it's over?  And the added bonus of being just like his older brothers and following in their footsteps?  He's all over that.

He loves every minute of it.

And I can't tell you how many times in the last few months that I've been told how much his leaders love and adore him because he's so sweet and happy to be there and has a good attitude about everything.

two milestones

We celebrated two big events in two of our kids' lives on the same day.

Christopher finally decided he wanted to be baptized, and Zach turned 12, so he was able to be ordained a deacon and receive the Aaronic priesthood.

For Zach it was an easy decision, I'm sure the thought never even entered his brain that he could choose otherwise, because we always have a choice, but I admit I held my breath a little bit when Christopher had his interview with the Bishop. (He's been known to say "No, I can't follow Jesus...")

But he passed.  And we celebrated both events.

This worked out great because we were able to have both grandmas and their favorite Aunt Corrine come out and be a part of it.

Sadly, I got very few pictures of that day, and none of the grandmas.  I'm sure my mom is fine with that, but I'm wishing the day was better documented.

I did try and take Christopher to the temple to get his picture taken.  He wanted to go to the Mesa temple like we did with Zach when he was baptized, but we were running out of day light, so he wasn't cooperative,

and the temple grounds were closed,

and I had the added issue of trying to work around the fact that the letter "R" fell off the building....

But, despite all that, I am so proud of my boys, and it was a good day.

Twelve

Zach turned 12 this year.

When he was 2 1/2 I had him observed or diagnosed or whatever you want to call it for some developmental delays.  He had been talking, and then he stopped talking, and apparently that's a huge red flag for autism, and they say early intervention is key.  So I had people come in and do their studies, and I filled out surveys and questionnaires and answered a million questions,

And although some of the things were concerning (his inability to communicate) I remember telling the lady that Zach was a joy to be around.  I remember this because it struck me as so, so sad that her response was something to the effect of  "That's so great to hear, because mostly I just hear moms talk about how hard or difficult their kids are to deal with".

But the truth was (and is) he was a joy.  There were hard moments, yes, but when it was just him and I, and the rest of the world quieted, he was a joy.

He's my blue eyed boy with a contagious belly laugh and a tender heart. He's smart and talented, and with a little motivation can do anything he wants to do.  (Which is why he will never quit piano, He'll thank me one day.)  He's a loyal and good friend who is slow to judge and quick to forgive.  And he has the quirkiest sense of humor, which can best be seen on the random comic strips I find around the house from time to time.

Happy Birthday, Zach

Choir camp revisited

It's kind of ridiculous how much I love this choir and these kids.

I've never felt that I personally belonged in a choir. but I love being a choir mom and cheering from the sidelines.

Funny (sad) story- the other night I was saying goodbye to some of Nick's choir friends, and I almost said "See you tomorrow!" but then I remembered I'm a 39 year old mom and not actually in high school anymore.  But you know, you hear a little gossip, see their posts on facebook, cheer them on in their achievements, hang out on Friday night and watch an old Audrey Hepburn movie together, and you can see how I'd be confused...Not that I actually want to be back in high school, but Nick does have some pretty fantastic friends.

Anyways, Choir Camp.

I got to go again this year.  It was better in some ways because I knew the kids better, but the part that wasn't nearly as awesome was that the school wouldn't allow us to do the high ropes course.  (No zipline.) Instead they said the kids could do archery.  (Cause that's totally safer)

So in addition to lots of singing (and there was lots of that) the whole point of the weekend is lots of fun team building activities, because apparently closeness and friendships make for better choirs. (Which I'm not knocking.  I just have no first hand knowledge of this fact.  I do however use the term "fun" somewhat loosely, as some of the activities "fun-ness" could be in question, but the kids were good sports and overall I would say that choir camp is fun.)

Of course I'm trying to write this six months after the fact, and all I really have are some vague memories and about a thousand pictures to go on.  So I think I will just go with that.

There was climbing. Cause boys.

And more climbing.  They even managed to include climbing into their skit.  The skits are actually a highlight.  I generally hate skits because it usually involves a lot of arguing (during the planning and practicing), and I think they are rarely actually funny, but I've been impressed so far.

And Nick even managed to climb at least one tree.

One of their team building activities involved having to swing from a rope, and then get all the kids onto a small platform.  (Side note- despite the fact that it is now midnight and I just spelled "rope" r-o-a-p, I am determined to finish this tonight. Please forgive any spelling and/or grammatical errors)

Another one involved having the kids walk across a low ropes course without touching the ground.

Nick and his friend Liam even managed a selfie somewhere in the middle of it.

Speaking of Nick and Liam, this is one of my favorite pics from the whole trip.

 It totally cracks me up.

Since they couldn't play on the high ropes course which included the zipline, because it was dangerous, they sent them to play with deadly weapons. But out of our group only Nick and Pieter persevered and found the archery range.  It was hidden behind a building and we took a wrong turn, and went for a long hike in the blazing sun instead. Everyone else gave up and went back to get water and hang out in the cabins.

And that's pretty much choir camp.

 

1st day of school

These kids do insist on growing up. 

I haven't figured out how to stop them. 

Nick's first grade teacher called me and asked me to stop sending this lunchbox to school with Nick.  Apparently he was driving it on all the kids as he stood in line for lunch. 

So maybe a little bit of growing up isn't such a bad thing.

These two used to bicker all the time. This year has been so fun to watch them become friends.

 And they have.  Of course I hear Nick is ridiculously overprotective of her, and I think it might be a good thing that he will be gone on a mission next year when she starts dating.  

Nick is a Senior and Maddie is a Freshman in high school.  They both still play the viola, enjoy both sides of drama (acting and teching) share many of the same friends.  Nick still has yet to convince her to add a little more craziness to her schedule and join choir, but he's working on it.  (It's not a hard sell, she just has all those other pesky little classes to deal with like math and science and what-not)

Zach is in jr high.

Seventh grade!!

He was a little worried about school this year.  Both Nick and Maddie had a hard time for various reasons, but Zach seems to have it under control.  He decided to be a rebel and is taking band (trumpet) instead of orchestra. 

Christopher is doing awesome in the 3rd grade.
  

The school is awesome, the teachers are awesome, the paraprofessionals are awesome.  He has a new best friend that he talks about all the time.

awesome.  awesome.  awesome.

 

Looking at all these pictures, I'm feeling all sorts of emotions- firstly, boy do I miss those little faces.  Maybe it's the fact that I seem to be surrounded by little sci-fi geeks, but some days I wish more than anything for some kind of time machine where I can just whisk myself backwards or forwards in my life and relive moments, give extra hugs, or even just peek ahead to see how things turn out in the end.  Why does life insist on being so linear? Secondly, what's up with all the bad haircuts?