Saturday, February 19, 2011

Macbeth....... well a version of it anyway!

It has been a tradition for many years at my kids elementary school for the 6th graders to do a version of Macbeth. It's only about 45 minutes long and it's a comedy with songs. So Will knew it was coming up and was anxious to see what part he would end up with. And as you can see in the photo- he was a ghost!
He was a "ghost eating toast" that only Macbeth could see! Will didn't have any speaking parts, but had to sit there and "act" while the song "ghost eating toast" was sung!
At one point he steals Macbeth's crown!
He did such a great job! I actually think it might be a bit tougher to have a part with NO lines!
It was really cute to see and I was really proud of the job he did! All the kids did a good job! Carter was a part of this as well when he was there but opted to do stage crew- no surprise there- and Brianne is hoping they'll still be doing it when she is in 6th grade! Here's to hoping! Way to go Will!

Science Fair project

The first part of February the 6th grade had their science fair. To be honest I was not happy about it because the 6th grade has SO MANY other projects and things going on that I couldn't believe they were going to throw in ONE MORE THING!! But, we knew we had to do it so we went online to try and find something "different"! That's when I found the diaper test!! I thought it was a fun and easy project and it would be hilarious to try, so a few days later I got the diapers and we went to work!
Basically it was to test the generic diaper against the brand name to see if they really are a better diaper! And guess what........ the generic was better in our test!! I know!! I was surprised too! We did two different "tests" with different liquids (water and juice) and it was fun and informative! I was anxious to see what his teacher thought of our project and was thrilled to see that he got an A+!! Yay! Way to go Will- that was fun!!

Cooking with Dad

As many of you already know Chan is the main cook in our home. I do cook more often than I used to, but when I do it's usually to make something easy like grilled cheese, so Chan is the one with the talents in our house! The kids know this and so they LOVE to cook with him! Last week it was Brianne who spoke up and wanted to help and was soooo excited! He gave her the task of making the hamburger patties and she was ON IT!!
She did a great job at it too! I must say I was very impressed! She made all the ones in the previous picture that are on the foil- very uniform and good looking!
Chan is a great Dad and loves to cook with his kids! It's so cute to watch!

Valentines celebrations

I had to put a quick picture of the Valentines I made for my kids classrooms this year! Thanks to my wonderful cousin Jen and her blog! I saw a picture of this on her blog that her daughter had made and I couldn't resist! It was definitely time consuming since I had to make a total of 60 of these guys, but totally worth it! The kids all loved them and they were totally unique! Aside from that Chan and I celebrated Valentines by hitting dinner and a movie the Friday before which was a nice way to escape reality for a bit. We were both still in a bit of shock over the work thing, so it was a welcome distraction! Then on Monday (actual Valentines Day) the kids had off school so I took the kids and Dakota to the movies. It was fun and thanks to some movie gift cards for Christmas was almost entirely FREE! You can't beat THAT! We even got popcorn and drinks!! YAY! I love the movies! I also got Chan some cards from me and the kids and he got me some chocolate and a fabulous electric blanket! I have never had one of those before and I am in LOVE!! It was a fun holiday to be remembered!

Friday, February 11, 2011

A sad day...

I rarely do a post with out some kind of photo of something we are doing, but today there's no photo because it's truly a sad day. The company Chan's family started 50 years ago at the airport called ATG (Air Terminal Gifts) is no longer going to have stores in the airport here in Salt Lake City. :( Chan's grandparents started this company 50 years ago and it has been ran with passion and fantastic product and customer service for all that time! Every few years the airport requires the retail and food/beverage spaces to "re-bid" for their space and we have done that and never been beat out..... until now. It appears that the great service and product we provide has been won out by the good old fashioned dollar. The companies that won are HUGE million dollar companies that have stores at airports all over the country. I thought that our airport was different and that we CARED about community, service and had our own style when it came to stores and their products, but it appears that I was wrong. Have any of you ever noticed a difference when traveleing through our stores versus other stores or other airports? I am in a state of shock and it will take some time to work through it but I KNOW that Chan and his family will come out on top no matter what. They are exceptional people and incredibly business savvy so wherever they decide to head next will for sure be a winner! Wish us luck!!

Friday, February 4, 2011

R.A.D. Kids!!

I am such a HUGE fan of this program!! I went to Will's demonstration and completion ceremony last week and this is his second time going through the program. Our elementary school does the program with the students and as it sits right now most the kids at our school will go through it 3 times before they move on to middle school. It's called the RAD kids program!! It stands for Resisting Aggression Defensively and it teaches the kids how to deal with strangers, bullies, computer dangers and much more and gives them skills on how to handle each issue. The BEST part about it is that they actually have the kids DO what they are taught so that it is practiced and they KNOW how to use it. Because until it's practiced how do we really know HOW to do it?!!
This is the first part in the demonstration where someone approaches and tries to take them home, they ask for a password, and the person doesn't know it. They yell NO!! and run away!
This is our "red man" he is a parent volunteer that comes to the school to help out. In fact all of the people in the program aside from the principal are parent volunteers that run it. It's AWESOME!! The red man "attacks" the kids and tries to kidnap them and they use the defense moves they have learned to get away and call for help. A girl here in Provo had gone through the program and was on her way home from school when someone tried to abduct her and she used her RAD Kid moves and was able to get away and go home. The man was found in his vehicle with all the tools to kidnap and hurt the child. It's an amazing story about how well this program works!! Elizabeth Smarts Dad is also a major voice out there talking about this program. It is truly personal safety empowerment education!!
Like I said before- this is Will's second time through and he did a great job!
Last weeks class- Will's 6th grade class- with the red man! Way to go guys!! If you want more information on how to get it going in YOUR school check out www.radkids.org

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Cruise Time!!!

Well as if the Disney world vacation wasn't enough it wasn't long after we came home that we were packing the bags again! This time it was off to Long Beach to jump on our Princess ship for some Mexican Riviera fun!! This trip was a blast for several reasons but I have to say my FAVORITE part was just being together! It was a fantastic way to spend some real quality time together! We ate every meal together (some fancier than others), swam together, played card games, watched movies/shows, did activities and more! It was the most un-interrupted time we have had together in a very long time! I loved every minute! And as usual we have TONS of photos! So instead of doing one slide show I decided to do two of them- one for each of our cameras- so I could get a few more pictures in! I did get a picture CD of the kids with the dolphins from the place that we did that and I may do a separate post later for that, so keep an eye out! I wish I could share all the pictures but there's just too many, but I think the ones I chose show our fun! ENJOY!!