Last man standing

The end of the year band concert was a culmination of 8 different bands from local elementary schools.  What an incredible experience for the boys.  They loved playing in a really big band.  They played a selection of 10 songs that they had worked on throughout the year.  They also had a have you increased your lung capacity contest.  All the children were told to stand.  They were to start at the same time and play one long continuous note until they couldn't hold it any longer and then sit down.  The last man standing would be the biggest breather winner!  (The drummers were excluded from the contest!)  Miles on the clarinet,  and his friend Ellis on the Saxophone, and a lone trumpet were the final three, but eventually the trumpet and then the saxophone sat down and Miles was left .... the last man standing, with a face as bright as a beet, exhausted but very pleased with himself!

We took a few photos of the event and caught a few of our favourites songs on video.  But just to be clear, Duncan was there the entire time... the shortest trumpet player in the back row didn't bode well for photos.

FYI - for your information

In case you were wondering.....

I'm having a great day!

'B'ees is for Baseball

Duncan is a baseball nut.  Not really sure how that came to be but he is obsessed with it these days.  He doesn't even play on a team.  He just decided one day that he loved the game.  He was so excited when he was allowed to play as an extra last week on the big kids softball team.  He usually keeps score and helps the coach with the batting line up and keeping the bats tidy.  We were offered tickets to the national minor league baseball game and I knew he would want to go.  It didn't disappoint Duncan.  He watched the game with great interest and wasn't fazed at all by the whining from his companions by the top of the 2nd inning that we were bored, tired, hungry and cold.  

Posing with the Bee.  Whittaker is finally warming up to the idea that mascots aren't so scary.  He didn't want to stand next to him a second longer and when we ran into the Bee later in the evening, Whittaker was content to smile and wave from a safe distance (behind Miles and Duncan and safely holding my hand).

Take me out to the ball game, 

Take me out for some fun, 

Buy me a hot dog and fries of gold, 

Me oh, my, is it ever cold!

We hadn't thought about the temperature when we left for the game, but it was definitely something we thought about, whined about and talked about a lot until the eighth inning when we finally left, with frozen extremities.

For those of us who needed a break from sitting in the cold, there was a great little train ride that we took advantage of.  For a while it was still in the last rays of the sunshine.  As you can see it wasn't a full size train but it was full size fun!

Once crammed inside the passenger car of the train we tried to take a photo.  Squished, freezing, on a moving train; photos like this are typically from a photo booth!

Meanwhile, at the Ranch

Or,  with the ranch

or, with the folks from the ranch, somewhere other than the ranch...

Or, while Caleb was busy dancing the night away, the family was farther north with family from the ranch.  Yes that might be it.

 We spent a lot of time sitting around visiting.  The weather was perfect.

 Getting to know Grandpa better.  

Some held hands,

Some held babies, 

Some played games and made friends.

No matter how we spent our time while waiting we were all eager to be there, 

 Seeing lovely ladies in white dresses, 

 doing strange, unspeakable things!

 Glad to be there to watch a family be sealed for Eternity.

 Glad to be there as Gus took the next step toward his mission in Georgia!  July is approaching for him.

 

 Glad to be part of a great family.  

And not so glad to have to return to the temple grounds later to look for a lost... I mean truly lost... tooth.  He finally came to terms that if he had to lose a tooth somewhere, knowing that there would always be a part of him at the temple where he had fond memories was good enough for him, especially since Aunt Tina was there to yank out yet another tooth!

Feast and Ball

Caleb attended the Senior Prom.  It was a hectic day for all which had very little to do with the evening.  He had a concert downtown to perform at 2 p.m.  The rest of the family was out of town for a day at the Brigham Temple.  He transported himself all over town by bike and by trax in his tuxedo no less for his concert.  Then he hurried home to be ready for his date.  At the end of his long day he had had a blast.  I wish I'd had a chance to meet his lovely date and see them off for the evening but I think he appreciated not having an entourage of siblings and parents around.

He had a great time wandering the beautiful formal gardens between the Feast and the Ball, with  a great group of friends.

My thoughts on the formalities.  Matching the dress to the tuxedo accouterments, the corsage and boutonniere, the fancy location and formal evening.  At first all I could see was $$$$.  Couldn't they  be happy with a hoe down in the school gym?  (PBJ's, popcorn anyone?)  In the end, after checking and double checking all the etiquette, ordering the corsage and deciding to go with a pink shirt with black bow tie and cummerbund (since it'll likely come in handy again with 5 boys), we splurged on a pink pocket square which he learned how to fold in a fancy way.  

I realize I should be thanking my lucky stars we already owned a tuxedo.  In fact... we own two.. Perhaps I should start renting them out to pay for upcoming fancy dances...   And now I even have the bow tie and cummerbund to offer...  

photo is poor, pink pocket square was a lovely pink and totally folded cool!

Unfortunately, $$$ reared it's ugly head again when I discovered that the price to order the corsage was the same as the black tie, cuff links and cummerbund combined!  (She better preserve that corsage!)  Small consolation was that instead of an elastic for her wrist, it came with a lovely bracelet as a keepsake.  I think she ought to wear the corsage all week... it was the day before mother's day, she could give it to her mother the next day.  Can you tell I have an issue with the expense of cut flowers? 

I did think that the corsage was lovely.  The florist we decided to go to was a lovely lady in a small flower shop, rather than a big chain store place.  I had no idea what to answer everytime she asked us questions and finally told her to make it the way she thought best, I would trust her.  I had no idea about ribbons, pins, flower types, beads, sparkle, lace versus tulle, or methods of attachment.  All I knew was 'her dress is pink'.   She was delightful to work with and kept assuring us she would make it pretty.  She did indeed make it pretty.  If I do need flowers again, which is likely inevitable, I will return to her.  

sigh, maybe the real issue is that he is leaving childhood behind and enjoying it far too much.  Oh, and Sarah is nipping at his heals letting me know about all the dances she wants to attend and how excited she is to get dressed up and do all the hoopla!

I think I'll go snuggle Emerson and start whispering in his ear now, "Dances are over rated.  Stay young.... "

Letters!

 Whittaker has begun to notice landmarks and interesting sights while we drive around town.  He often tells me where I should take him, along with the weather report or other justifying facts to win his case for the detour... (Driving Sir Whittaker!)  On a few occasions, I indulge his interesting requests.  This time it was easy to accommodate.  We were stopping anyways for a concert at this local school.  His cry from the rear of the car was simply,

"Letters!  I touch them?"

Pleased that he recognizes letters and is showing such an interest I thought it would be good to give in since we would be walking past anyway.

I hadn't realized the letters were saying Shhh... until I began to type...  There was an R also, but apparently it's not fashionable to pose with the letter R!

Wicked Good Ninja Skills!

After some home repair/remodeling projects, we amassed a little more garbage than would fit in the can.  We have been filling it to capacity each week, but it seems to be slow progress and I really want the pile of debris gone.  I enlisted the help of some ninja apprentices.  They were AWESOME.  They karate chopped it all up small enough to fit in the can beautifully!  They even attempted to break some boards with their hand.  Some had success.... others....  (sore hands).   If only I had thought of the idea sooner.  The boys enjoyed the activity, willingly cleaned up the pile of debris and managed to fit more in than I could have if it had been left as is.

Now to improve ninja skills in the house somehow....

Young Man

Miles recently had a special birthday.  He became a young man officially!  He is 12.
For many years when it comes to his birthday he has trouble identifying something that he would like as a gift or a way to celebrate his birthday.  Last year his request was for a special mechanical pencil.  Yes... that's it.  and so yes... of course he got it.  He is easy to please and is always out to please us.

He genuinely finds joy in helping others and in learning new things.  A few weeks ago he found an old mini rubik's cube.  He spent some time with it and watched a few youtube videos of some world record holders solving the cube.  He then announced to us that it's simply a set of algorithms and he could solve it.  Sure enough he could....  and faster and faster each time.

Soon word began to spread and interest in rubik's cube reached an all time feverish pitch within our small circle of acquaintances.  Many reminiscing of their own youthful days attempting to twist the cube for a solution.  Many confessed to a variety of cheating methods.  Many just thought it fun to attempt to solve it... or better yet... mess it up and try to stump Miles, 'the cube man'.

As often happens when Miles shows an interest in something, he is full steam ahead.  Rubik's cubes were no exception.  The requests to, 'look at this new type of cube', or 'could I get a full size one?', or 'do you think I could get one of these new kind for my birthday?'.

Simple to please I tell you!

His birthday trickled in over a week.  We had a lot going on and the evening before his birthday we had a family dinner and games and he opened his gift from Grandma.  A new cube!  (surprised? no!... excited?  yes!!)

The next morning he awoke to his new older age as a sick young man.  He then spent the next 3 days in bed..  He received  his gifts from his siblings and Mummy and Daddy.  (2 new cubes!)  This time a little bit of surprise and a lot more excitement.  Even from his sick bed he was learning to solve his new cubes.  We had planned some get togethers with his friends; one each evening for the week of his birthday instead of a big party.  It's cooler that way when you're a young man... or so I've been told.  However with illness we had to postpone many get togethers.  The boys were sweet though and brought him their gifts anyway so he could have something to do while sick... (Can you guess what he received?!)

So from the point of learning about rubik's cubes and discovering he had an interest to 6 weeks later he acquired and managed to learn to solve 9 new varieties of cubes!  The week after his birthday was a neighbourhood talent show.  They also had display booths for non performance based talents.  He set himself up at a table and made little display cards with the name of each cube and his fastest solve time.  He then spent the next 3 hours solving cube after cube after cube as he became a popular table to visit.  ALL the other displays were DO NOT TOUCH.  His was quite the opposite.  He took on all challengers.  He did however tend to hide his one cube.

The Sudoku cube.

He can solve it... but his fastest time is 29 minutes and he claims his head hurts after solving that one! 

Paper cube... made himself as a Sudoku cube solving card

(He shouldn't have given it to me for safe keeping.  At the bottom of the diaper bag it became less than cube like)

Void Cube

Dollar Store Cubes ... for an upcoming project.  He intends to combine the two into a Siamese Cube???

 His own creation cube.  He started with a D.I. cube and sawed off the corners.

 12 sided Magic cube

His original cube

Gear cube

2 x 2 cube

Pyramix

Missing link

4x4x4 Cube

Mirror Cube

Picture Cube

Whittaker's Cube (one Miles made for him so he'd leave his alone)

Fastest time: N/A  Well it took him 5 minutes to make it.

It's like a combinations of passions.  Rubik's cube meet Origami.

Floppy Cube 1 x 3 x 3

Stickerless Speed Cube

Smooth turning!

Rubik's slide game

(with over 10,000 game possibilities there is no fastest time... )

Young man now or not, he still knows when to call it a night.  (It was 8:40 pm when this photo was snapped.  Only 20 minutes to go... Hang in there!)

He has since been doing jobs to earn money for a few new cubes that he felt would be an asset to his collection.  In fact he used his new Rubik's cube collection as the basis for his Collections merit badge.

He has even attempted to build his own cubes by taking regular cubes and modifying them.

I am curious to see where this passion for logic pattern solving leads him next.

Changes around these parts

Change.... one project.  Simple enough.  We even have experience.  So we tackle, one project.  Somehow, without warning, the project grows, it does not stay simple.  We are three weeks since this photo and still the project looms over us... unfinished.

Spring has FINALLY Sprung!

It lasted all of a week.. now it's getting hot.  I want to live in eternal springtime.  I love the blossoms and buds of flowers, the opening of the tulips, the vibrant greenery and the perfect temperatures.  I even love a spring rain, a breeze and the cooler evening temperatures that beckon one out for an evening stroll in a light sweater.

Photos by Sarita Photography