like a llama or an emu

Grant auditioned for Concert Choir, which was a bit of a struggle to get him to do, but I finally convinced him that he'd sing better music and have a better experience overall than if he stayed in Mixed Chorus with all the stoners looking for an easy art credit.  While he was waiting for his audition there was this apple-polishing scold walking around "warming up," by which I mean "putting on a one-woman show for everyone who was waiting for their audition," and she got on his case about eating a vanilla Frosty because it would ruin his range and his diaphragm, blah blah, which yeah, ice cream is not great right before you sing, but how about she stays in her lane?  Ugh, choir nerds are the worst.  Anyway, Grant completely and thoroughly crushed his audition, and they asked if he would be in Madrigals, so that's pretty cool.  Li'l Brudder!  He does have an excellent voice, if I say so myself.  I'm just so thankful that he's finally willing to sing.  Thanks to our friend Richard, who got him to learn the bass part to "Now the Day is Over" a few years ago.  

Emmett is excited about all the hard exercise they make him do at lacrosse, because he's going to get so many muscles.  He is way more into sports than I thought he would be.  I thought for sure he'd be a sedentary bookworm, but nope, he's actually pretty well-rounded.  Our children surprise us every day, do they not?  He still fights me on choir, but he's got to keep coming until he can at least be a strong part singer.  THOSE ARE THE RULES.  If he didn't want to sing he shouldn't have chosen to come to our family. 

Ike told us the other day that he's going to be a professional soccer player, so it's good to know that he's a totally normal 10-year-old boy.  He wants to build a fort/treehouse in our yard, but is facing the twin demons of resistance from the parents and lack of supplies.  No word yet on whether he's going to put a little tiny fridge in there and stock it with dijon ketchup. 

Willa wants to take gymnastics, which gives me the heebie-jeebies because it takes her down the road of wanting to be a cheerleader.  I'm sure she'll be too weird and gangly to be a cheerleader, but even so.  I don't want her value system all messed up.  If I'm not going to let Grant play football you'd better believe I'm not going to let Willa be a dancer or cheerleader. She is practicing her recital piece only about fifty times a day and I can't wait for the recital to be over.  It's the only song she'll play!  We've got to get her some new music. 

sha la la la la la, live for today

Grant turned 15 and we gave him a phone.  We haven't added it to our plan yet, so he can only really use it where there's wi-fi, which is not his favorite, but he's coping.  It was a difficult decision because we hate to cross that particular Rubicon, but we also don't want to give him the responsibility of a phone and a driver's license at the same time.  We're hoping he can establish some good habits now before he drives off by himself to do the stupid things that teenagers like to do.  I took him shopping on Saturday to spend his birthday money and the money my parents gave him for making the honor roll and he bought some clothes.  I feel like he is quite a natty dresser for a young man his age in this area, which is a fine thing except when you're late for something.  He is on the lacrosse team and two spring league basketball teams.  In the games I've watched so far they have gotten their butts handed to them.  He did honor band a few weeks ago and sounded great. 

Emmett is playing lacrosse and soccer.  He brought home some Bs on his last report card, shame on him.  He loves scouts and is approaching some rank that is supposedly good, according to people who know these types of things.  Star?  Something like that.  He refused to do honor band for some reason.  He is turning into a bit of a clothes horse himself and is eagerly anticipating Grant's hand-me-downs.  He has been slightly better about practicing his piano lately, perhaps because the spring recital is coming up and he doesn't want to be the doobus who isn't ready. 

Ike is only playing soccer, thank goodness, because he's one school year too young for lacrosse.  He plays goalie and had a few really terrific saves in their indoor game on Saturday.  Today he had to bring a recipe to school because his teacher makes a recipe book every year as part of their unit on fractions, which is a fun idea.  Ike wanted macaroni and cheese for his recipe, because he LOVES my macaroni and cheese, but I will confess to you that what he perceives as artistry is just me putting minced garlic in the melted butter and using a variety of cheeses.  You don't have to try very hard to make a pretty amazing macaroni and cheese.  The Mornay sauce is doing the heavy lifting here. 

Willa is home sick today because she spent yesterday throwing up, always a good time.  She is playing soccer.  She has gotten much better at doing her schoolwork with a good attitude and working carefully, thank goodness, because the first part of the year was unpleasant.  She finished her art class, which was a great experience for her.  She made some very nice little projects and it was good for her to have a chance to do something different. 

John and I spend most of our time driving our children to one thing or another, so when they grow up to be horrid little me-monsters you guys can all feel smug and point to this as exhibit A. 

We have set a goal to find some family history names and do their temple work, which I think will be a lot of fun.  We have also set a goal to take a trip to Hawaii before Grant leaves on his mission.  That is, if we aren't in debtors' prison from all the money we spent on sports equipment. 

their tops are made out of rubber, their bottoms are made out of springs

Currently in our lives:

John interviewed for a different job at work, but he doesn't think he'll get it, which is a shame.  Now he won't even have the opportunity to tell them never mind, he doesn't actually want the job after all, which is what he always does.  He's a crazy cat.  He is a gospel doctrine teacher in our ward and is very good at it. 

I have started learning a new skill that I suck super bad at, but I am getting less sucky as time passes.  Churchwise I am a primary teacher now, and I like it, even though I don't usually like children very much and the class is huge and there are a couple of quite naughty children in there.  But I do enjoy my class, and we are having a good time together.  The first week we worked out what the new treat situation would be, and they are taking to it like ducks to water.  I bring stuff like apples and clementines and cheese, and even though there were a couple of kids who said they didn't like this or that thing I'd brought, by the end of class everybody was munching happily.  They are fun and full of energy.

Grant is done with his school basketball season.  They lost every game but the last one, so it was nice to end on a high note of sorts.  It was a hard season with a lot of hurt feelings and frustration for pretty much every kid on the team, and we're happy it's over.  He started lacrosse two days ago and spent an unholy amount of money on gear last night.  He starts practicing for his spring basketball league on Thursday.  It's going to be interesting to see if he is able to pull off playing two sports at once.  He auditioned for honor band on the baritone, and they told him he was a sight-reading fiend.  Imagine how good he'd be if he practiced!  He got a 4.0 on his last report card and has been admitted into the Junior Honor Society. 

Emmett is doing a robotics class once a week after school and is digging it.  A couple of weeks ago the teacher told him and his partner that their robot was a poor design, and then it proceeded to destroy the other robots and not tip over or collapse or fall victim to any of the teacher's dire predictions.  So nyah, nyah to the teacher.  Emmett wishes desperately that he could be playing indoor soccer right now, but his team only does outdoor, so he has to wait.  He also wants to take up lacrosse.  We talked to him about practicing his piano for at least 30 minutes a day, which he agreed to do, and then he practiced about five minutes and called it a day.  He loves school and his teachers and has excellent grades. 

Ike is playing basketball and likes it more than he thought he would.  He's also playing indoor soccer and loves it.  He plays goalie for half the game, and he is not too shabby.  He got a goalie shirt and knee pads because in the first game he tore his knees and arms up on the gross artificial turf.  He also wants to start playing lacrosse.  He is doing great in school and his teacher said a lot of very nice things about him.

Willa is taking an art class once a week and learning a lot.  She is doing great in school too, and loves her teacher.  She has had a rough go of it with math for a little while, but she's pulling through and still says she loves math, which I think is great, even though it seems like a lie sometimes.  She also wants to play lacrosse, but there is not currently a girls' lacrosse program around here.

So either Grant is a huge influence on his siblings, or they all just like the idea of buying a bunch of new sports equipment.  Probably both. 

take your protein pills and put your helmet on

We had a lovely Christmas holiday season, although we didn't do anything really nice for anyone.  We cleaned the church and went to the nursing home a few times, but that isn't really valiant or noble or anything. We went up to the church and roller skated and played basketball a few times.

We stayed in the Little America because Grant had a basketball tournament in Salt Lake, and that was fun. 

We had sushi and ramen for our New Year's Eve dinner, and though there were scoffers, it was fine.  They just didn't know that ramen could be healthy and delicious.  We played a mafia-type game called Werewolves of Millers Hollow and it seemed hard for some people to not immediately let everyone know what they were, but the victories and losses were spread between the werewolves and villagers pretty evenly, so that's okay. 

Now everyone is back into their school routine.  Grant has early morning practice every day but game days, which means he only misses the bus about once a week now.  Emmett just signed up for the robotics club, and has enjoyed tremendous success with his school dodgeball team.  Ike is pretty amped for the indoor soccer season to start and is watching the doorstep with bated breath, waiting for his new fancypants shin guards to arrive.  Willa is experiencing a low level of satisfaction with her life right now, because she would like to not ever do homework.

I was released as YW president on Sunday, which was sad but okay.  I hope I gave the girls what they needed.