Another Dance show

The video I took at the dance recital was sideways. I didn't realize you shouldn't take sideways videos and I couldn't figure out any way to fix it. The quality wasn't particularly good anyway. There were some heads in the way. Yesterday afternoon Caitlyn's dance teacher called and asked if Caitlyn would dance at the library today. I got a front row seat. Caitlyn didn't dance quite as well and I completely forgot about makeup. I decided to make her hair curly with braided wet hair since my two previous attempts at using the curling iron resulted in sticky (from all the hairspray), straight hair.



She only did her ballet at the library. Here is a low quality picture of her tap dance.



Posing beforehand.


The end of the dance pose.


The cat in the tree.



I am wracking my brain over whether Caitlyn will take dance next year or not. The teacher needs to know whether to save her a spot or not. I don't know!!!

Saving money and such

We had a check cleared in our bank account with a number too high to be hours. I finally called the bank yesterday. They investigated and found it to be an error and refunded us our $30.

Caitlyn is signed up for Girl Scout camp! I hope she likes it. I think she will, but will be nervous at first.

Ben's infection has not cleared up after 10 days of medication. Now he's got a new one to take for 7 days. He loves medicine.

Setting Apart

Tonight we all went to the Tabernacle for Aaron to be set apart as a ringer for the Tabernacle Choir. We got to go in the back in the president's room. That's the one all the prophets and councilors back to Brighaim Young have sat, discussed, and prayed in. It was an awesome experience to be in the room during the blessing. The kids were all well behaved too!

I had planned to stay afterwards and enjoy temple square, but forgot the diaper bag. I managed to find the way home going a different route than I am used to.

Exhilarating feeling of flying

I went out to water my "garden" tonight. My giant pumpkin is dead. I will continue watering for two weeks to see if the seeds come up. After that I will give up on the garden this year. I had considered buying tomato and pepper plants which have prospered in my garden before, but the neighbor dog continues to get into my yard and trample around in my garden. (The garden is against the fence.) Instead I will keep a tarpe on parts of the garden to kill the weeds so I can start earlier next year. After making that decision I got on the swing. The movement and the cool breeze were just right to make me feel happy instead of disappointed. I have been grateful for that swing numerous times.

Today was an outing day. We went to Wheeler historic farm for the annual School for the blind day. It was fun to see all the animals. Ben's favorites were the ducks and geese. Then this afternoon I took the girls to see Prince Caspian. It was too scary for Karen and she was a pain for a good part of the movie. Fortunately, we sat next to some ward members with a refillable popcorn bucket. When they had had their fill they handed us the rest. The popcorn kept Karen occupied for quite a while. After the movie we went to KFC- through the drive-thru. When we got home we had a picnic on our lawn. Karen slept. Benjamin just wanted to chase the cat who wanted to eat our chicken. The big girls didn't eat much. I should have gone for a less expensive option.

I asked the girls what was the most fun today. Emily said getting wet by the sprinklers while riding by on her scooter. Caitlyn said being hot at the farm. Apparently we don't have to do much for kids to have fun.

Dance recital

This evening was Caitlyn's dance recital. Caitlyn told me she was front and center because she was so good and all the other girls had to look at her. I didn't believe her. I do now. She's really good! She knew all her dance steps and got them right on time. She didn't even look at her feet. Now I feel a little bad about discontinuing dance classes. The other kids want in on activities and swimming is quite a bit less expensive. The kids really need to learn to swim for safety's sake anyway. I've sold Caitlyn real well on being on the swim team. She can't wait to take first place in races. It'll be a year before she can be on the team. The requirement is that the kids need to be able to swim the length of the pool. I bet by next year Caitlyn will be able to. Although Caitlyn likes dancing, it isn't what she loves to do. She loves to play the piano and recorder. She practices several times daily all on her own. She even sets her own goals. Caitlyn is just one of those talented and very determined personalities so that anything she wanted to do she could do well. I so wish I was her. I've got some video and pictures from the recital, but not on the computer tonight.

Swimming Adventures

Last month Karen took swimming lessons. She loved them and did well. This month the other three are in lessons. The lessons are during the day. Two classes with 3 kids in each. They love swimming lessons too. Yesterday the slide was turned on. Emily and Caitlyn both managed to be tall enough to ride the slide alone. They loved it! Karen is a pain. I tried about 5 times to get Karen into swim lessons this session, but I couldn't. We usually go out to the lobby and I watch through the glass while Karen and Ben walk around. Then we go back into the pool area near the end of lessons. Karen likes to test the limits. I have told them to her. She will then go an inch over which I say "no" to. Then she'll go even more. Yesterday she went to the pole at the stairs and started swinging on it. I told her to get off and come back. She fell into the pool. I made her take a shower, then she had to wear clean panties (I keep a couple spares.) and a towel out to the van. There I found her a sweatshirt and some 3xl shorts. She screamed and cried all the way home. I hope she's learned her lesson.

Trying to find balance

I read The Other Side of Heaven by Elder Groeburg. It was an awesome read. I came out of it wanting to renounce all my worldly goods and move to Tonga. Then it was Monday. I am trying to figure out what to get rid of and what to keep. I read the kids a book about Confucious. The Duke of Lu quit listening to Confucious when he got too wrapped up in entertainment. Some entertainment is okay. Where do we draw the line? A while ago I found Star Trek TOS cassettes at the library. Aaron and I watch three episodes a week. Recently I allowed the kids to watch and they are hooked! Last night we watched late, so the kids didn't get to see. It was the episode with Khan. Chekov isn't in the series yet. In the movie Chekov knows who Khan is and Khan "never forgets a face". I guess Chekov was a security guard that Khan knocked out... Aaron popped in The Wrath of Khan after we watched the episode. Seedlings I think. Enterprise sure got an overhaul! The graphics were great too. I was sad when Spock died. I'm glad I know he comes back to life.

The other news is gardening. I tested my soil. The ph is too high and there is no nitrate. Walmart doesn't sell nitrate anymore because it can be made into a narcotic, so I got some plant food with nitrate. I hope that will work. I've decided to do a small garden again. My garden plot is out of shape and I should have planted last week.

Gardening

Thursday was the day to plant seeds in the garden. Officially anyway. I still have to go out and remove the weeds, then arrange for the ward tiller owner to come till my garden plot. Out of my indoor garden the only living thriving plant left is a giant pumpkin. I've got a bunch of seeds and will buy tomato and pepper plants. I like fresh peppers and tomatoes.

The kids have discovered how fun showers are. They don't know how to properly used a shower curtain, however. We've been going through a lot of towels. Today is laundry day. I won't finish. I was going to hang a load or two outside in order to get more in the wash, but now it is cloudy and a bit chilly.

Ben can climb on chairs. Isn't that exciting? That means I have to clean my kitchen counter and keep the table clear. Lately he has been waking up at 4:30am and screaming for hours. Then he gets tired early.

Fun

Emily and I went to Aaron's bell rehearsal last night. It was a dress rehearsal, so almost like the performance. It was really good. It is interesting what all you can do with bells. They didn't just ring them! They had guest artists playing pianos, flute, trumpet, and double bass. Emily was awed by the giant violin. She had wanted to be babysat instead, but I made her come. In the end she said she was glad she came. Grandma, Grandpa, and Aunt Cathy came too and that was fun. We also got to see beautiful flowers and the visitor centers at Temple Square. The other kids had fun and survived being babysat.