My Mathlete!

For the past month, Emmy and about 12 other 6th graders at Grant have given up their lunch recess to prepare for a MathMatters competition that took place last Saturday morning at the Beehive Academy, a charter school that focuses on math and technology. I've never been to something like this so I didn't know what to expect. I thought of all my soccer mom friends and thought this might be the smart kid equivalent? (Not that the soccer kids aren't smart :)

Of course, Emmy dressed to kill which made me laugh knowing that she would probably be the only one looking like she should be out shopping at the mall instead of at a math competition. The kids tested in a separate building for half an hour, then we waited for another hour for the awards ceremony. A list was finally posted with the bottom 100 kids (out of 256) and those in the bottom 100 didn't need to bother with the awards ceremony. She wasn't on the list so we stuck around to hear a math genius try to entertain us.

Finally it was time to hear the top 10 students names announced. Since Emmy told me she guessed on about half of them, I didn't expect to hear her name, but I couldn't help but hope anyway. It reminded me of the time she entered the Little Miss Murray contest. I figured that she didn't have a chance what with all the cute little girls in Murray so I told Zach he didn't need to come sit through a long pageant. I was wrong and I haven't lived that moment down with him. So that's why I was secretly hoping I would hear her name. None of the kids from Grant Elementary made it into the top 10, but there was a white knuckle moment at the end when it was announced that the top two kids had tied. They had to come on stage and do a math problem simultaneously that was projected on the big screen. The winner was announced and he walked off the stage with a brand new Wii system.

We checked the individual scores later that night online and were happy to see that Emmy got 10 out of 10 questions, which was higher than most kids. She placed 69 out of 256. Even though she says she never wants to do something like this again, I'm glad we got to see what a math competition is like. I think she still had fun because she was there with most of her friends and it was more of a social event than a mathematical one.

What's new with me

It seems like I'm always blogging about my kids, so I'll do a little catch up on what's going on in my life.

It's been 2 months since my Dad passed away. I'm still reminded of him every day with the many pictures I have surrounded myself with. My brother also just finished up transcribing an interview that my brother-in-law video taped of him a little over a year ago. It was such an awesome thing to receive that in an email last week and be able to read about parts of his life that I've never heard about. Emmy reminded me the other day that he always used to say "Man oh man!" before he would go on to say something that he was impressed by. For example, "Man oh man! This is wonderful dinner!" I was recently sitting at the piano playing random hymns out the hymn book and I turned to "Love at Home". The funniest memory of my dad playing this hymn came flooding back, only it was the most irreverent version of "Love at Home" with a very wild west saloon-type big finish. I called my siblings and played it over the phone so they could laugh over the memory.

I'm still exercising a couple of times a week. My routine now pretty much consists of running several times a week between 3-6 miles, tennis once a week, a muscle class once a week, the occasional stair climbing machine, and various free weight exercises. I miss running in the warm outdoors and totally look forward to that again hopefully soon. My weight has remained the same for the last few months. I have really relaxed on what I eat and it hasn't caused me to gain anything back but I know it isn't good for me either so I'm trying to find the willpower to go back to better eating habits, although it has been nice to not turn down dessert.

My tennis group is a mixture of some old friends but also a lot of new ones that I am totally enjoying getting to know. We play in the indoor bubble at Liberty Park every Tuesday morning. My friend Tiffany hosted a lunch at her house last week for all of us and it is funny to see everyone out of their workout gear with hair and makeup done. I am reminded often how important friends are to women. They serve a purpose that no mother or sister can. They have such different life experiences that we can all draw strength from and inspire us to improve ourselves. I feel this same way after going to my book club which is an entirely different group of women as well.

My 37th birthday is coming up. YIKES. I'm just a few years away from the Number-That-Must-Not-Be-Named. On the one hand, I feel better physically than I ever have in my life, but I can really see the years starting to show up on my skin. Without facelifts, botox and major spa treatments, I'm afraid that I'm just going to have to live with it, which surprisingly I'm okay with.

Oh! Big news! Zach informed me the other night that he and I are invited to go on a client retreat (M'lis) in Ketchikan, Alaska at a salmon fishing resort in July. We will take a plane to Seattle, another plan to Ketchikan, and a bush plane to the island where the resort is. The fact that I am not a connoisseur of fish doesn't dampen this for me in the least. I can choke down freshly caught salmon cooked to our liking by resort chefs on a daily basis if it means an all-expense paid trip with my sweetheart. I am so incredibly excited. Obviously, this does mean that I will be looking to farm out my kids for 7 days. Hint hint.

Last night I went with Connor to a meeting to get the youth thinking about the upcoming Pioneer Trek this summer. For the first time in my life, I actually think it would be a great experience to go, but unless I get called to be a "Ma" which won't happen because Zach has adamantly said he does NOT want to be a "Pa", I won't get the chance. But my son does! The stake Young Women and Young Men presidency members all wore pioneer clothing and told first-person stories of members of the Willey Handcart Company. It was really touching and I was reminded once again of the amazing sacrifices the pioneers made for the gospel legacy we have today. I am so happy Connor will have this faith-promoting experience at such a pivotal time in his life.

Cooking for my family continues to be the burr in my saddle. Is that the right saying? I'm not sure, but it's the one thing that brings me down every day as I look through cookbook after cookbook realizing that there is not a single meal that will please over 50% of my family. I end up cooking for Zach and I, if at all, and the kids have very poor diets that consist of top ramen, hot dogs and mac n' cheese. I wonder if it will ever get easier, if after the kids are grown I will suddenly have the passion for cooking that some women my age seem to have now. Who knows. I do enjoy baking and that always goes over well with the kids.

I'm still the Activity Days leader in my ward. I recently took all of the girls (ages 8-11) up to Primary Children's Hospital to finally deliver all the things they made last year like fleece blankets and patient education dolls. After a quick self-guided tour around the hospital, we sat in the cafeteria eating frozen yogurts and planned out our upcoming Daddy Daughter Date this week.

We had the missionaries to dinner last week. Doesn't it always seem like one is Mr. Personality and the other is Mr. No-Personality? That's how it has been in our experience of having the missionaries over for dinner. Elder Personality is from New York, is a convert of 7 years and had LOTS to say about the LDS culture in Salt Lake vs. New York. Elder Less-Personality was Simon's favorite because he seemed interested in Simon's planes that kept making their way onto the dinner table. It is always fun to have them other and hear where they are from and get a mini-discussion over dinner. I like for Connor especially to see that the elders are just guys like him, only a few years older than him.

One Handsome Kid

Miss Amelia Rose Turns 12

For the past 6 months, it feels like we've been talking about and planning Emmy's 12th birthday party. Twelve is a big one, after all. She graduates from Primary to the Young Womens program (something she's been looking SO forward to), it will be the year when she goes on to junior high, etc. The party ideas have gone from going to Flowrider (indoor bodysurfing) to a scavenger hunt at the mall to a movie/dinner party to a night at a hotel. In all of those scenarios, she consistently wanted to only have 2 party guests, her two best friends, Jaxynn and Corissa, which was fine with me since it keeps the price down. Only a few days before her birthday, we finally settled on a creative night painting ceramics at Color Me Mine. We've always talked about going and this seemed like the perfect opportunity.

To start off, we went to dinner at Emmy's restaurant of choice - Souper Salad. I love that she has always been a die-hard salad fan. Jaxynn and Corissa got little tiny salads and filled the rest of their plates with pizza, pudding, bread and soup. Emmy's entire plate was overflowing with salad which makes me as a mom totally happy.

Once we got to Color Me Mine, the girls had a totally hard time choosing what to paint, for good reason because they have such cute things to choose from. Emmy ended up choosing a wall tile that she will hang in her room, Jaxynn a tall mug, and Corissa a cereal bowl, but not before I totally broke one of their painted display pieces into a million pieces. Nice. Luckily they didn't make me pay for it.




We took a break after an hour and walked a few doors down to The Sweet Tooth Fairy shop where they have the best cupcakes. This was in lieu of a cake which the birthday girl seemed totally fine with.




Afterwards, we headed back to the house for the girls to have a late night. Jaxynn and Corissa's families both have the no-sleepover rule as is the case with so many kids these days, so a late night was the alternative. I didn't structure their time or suggest activities because I knew they could have fun on their own, and they did based on the amount of giggles coming from Emmy's bedroom.

Things about Emmy I want to remember right now:

1) It's easy to tell when she is in a good mood because she will be super talkative which is such a contrast to Connor.
2) She loves to watch cooking shows and occasionally makes up her own recipes, like her onion garlic garnish which is really good but stays with you for HOURS.
3) She cherishes spending time alone with me. It doesn't happen very often, but when it does, she is one happy girl. So am I.
4) She has discovered the fun of shopping second-hand! We finally made it to Plato's Closet (3 different locations so far with 2 more to explore) and she has found some really awesome stuff there. Now whenever she gets any money, she begs me to take her and her friends there.
5) She continues to surprise me with her incredibly sweet love notes. This year when my dad died, she wrote me the most heart-felt letter. I wish I could say I've kept them all, but in reality I probably only have about 20 of them from over the years.
6) Her spontaneous dancing. I'm not talking about the choreographed stuff she learns at Clayton although I can appreciate that, but occasionally when she is in the right mood, she lets loose with her own stuff and just cracks me up.
7) Her drive to do well academically. Last semester she somehow got really behind in her school work which is unusual for her. On her own, she gave up recesses until she made it all up. This is in contrast to several of her friends who just accepted a lesser grade.
8) She often chooses to play with Simon on her own. There is an 8 year gap between them so it's not at all on her level, but she will get down on the floor and build blocks, create an air show and play with his new Timmy Time playset (a Disney show that they both surprisingly like).

Learning to drive the Mustang

In our never-ending efforts to get Connor behind the wheel to complete his 40 hours before he can get a drivers license, Zach spent a few hours this weekend teaching Connor the basics of driving a manual transmission. They never left the parking lot, but it still counts as hours! My first car was a stick and I remember my dad teaching me the mechanics behind the gears. He drew me a picture on a napkin that I can still picture to this day. Yes, it was a little more complicated then jumping straight to an automatic, but it is possible for a 16-year-old to do it. He seems to think that only professional drivers can master the art. After seeing this video, I think it will take all the remaining hours (30) to get it down. Lucky for us and him, he won't be driving the Mustang as his every day car.

Another Year Older

I know this post is going to sound so cheesy - "I can't believe he's 4 already!" - it sounds like a million other mommy blogger posts I've read but I just can't find the creative way to say it any differently. My Simon is definitely growing up, and this birthday more than any other feels like he has made a huge jump in ability and intellect. It's like he waited for the very day he turned 4 to decide that he can do things he never even tried before. For example, every morning when he wakes up now, he shuts the door to his bedroom and gets himself dressed because "that's what 4 year olds do" he explains to me. He usually forgets to put on underwear under those pants, but I'm not complaining. Apparently 4 year olds also brush their teeth by themselves (yea!) and pour their own juice (boo!). Unfortunately, 4 year olds do not see the wisdom in washing hands after using the bathroom which I was really hoping for because I'm tired of the knock-down drag-outs it takes to get him to wash his hands.

We planned an airplane themed birthday (what else?) for Simon and invited all of his preschool buddies, some cousins and friends from church. Zach had the idea to have the party at the Hill Air Force Air Museum, one of Simon's very favorite places. I wondered how it would go over with people asking them to drive so far (45 minutes) for a 4-year-old's birthday party. It turns out most of them made it a family event with moms, dads and siblings, even some live-in Brazilian foreign exchange students.

We first met at McDonald's where the birthday guests were treated to a kids meal and some birthday cake that we brought in. Zach bought some small airplanes that he put on the top of each piece of cake. This was a Saturday afternoon so it was already a busy day for McDonald's. Add an unexpected birthday party and you have complete chaos. I'll admit...it was super crazy but the kids didn't notice or care so I'm trying to forget about that part. I'm just grateful for the other parents who helped me keep it all together and not lose anyone's kid.

Simon played Mr. know-it-all at the museum dragging his friends from this plane to that plane and trying to impress them by knowing all their names. All of the kids seemed to like it well enough, but a few of the dads looked like they were little boys again. When we got to the hands-on play area, the kids really had a ball trying on flight suits and helmets, climbing into the play cockpits and pretending to be astronauts on the moon.

Kambri Smith and Matthew Kirkham

Simon with Quinci and Eli Smith

Carson Milne

James Bunker, Simon and Kambri Smith found a little stage amidst all these planes and when a kid this age finds a stage, dancing and acting silly is inevitable!

Simon, cousin Kingston, Quinci Smith and cousin Zeke watching a very informative documentary about the SR71 Blackbird.

Grandma Jodi and cousin Elle

"Say cheese...I mean... airplane!" The kids posed in front of a lot of planes.

Eli Smith was the oldest party guest but he was so cute with Simon.

My attempt at cake-decorating, pretty decent if you ask me.

I turn my back for an instant, and Simon makes it his own!


All in all, it was a high effort party vs. the traditional stay-at-home-and-play-party-games type of party, but I think it was totally appropriate for this kid. I just don't know how we will top it next year!

Popping the question

Connor had to hurry and ask his potential prom date to prom last night when he found out that at least 1 other boy had plans of asking her this weekend. He put his video editing skills to work to make this cute video for her. Zach stepped in and designed a DVD jacket that looked like this...


Connor planned to leave the DVD on the doorstep, ring the doorbell and run, but she was playing her piano not 5 feet from the door and in full view of the front porch. So he somehow snuck it onto the bottom step, went to the corner of the house, threw a snowball at the window and ran to the side of the house. I was watching this from a few feet away and had a great vantage point. It was super slippery and he didn't have the best shoes on so it was like watching him run and hide in slow motion. A few moments went by until I saw her peek her head around to see who was out there, just as Connor thought it was safe and unknowingly revealed himself. I could hear her scream pretty well from where I was at, then hilarious laughter. Connor ended up saying hi to her whole family. So much for the surprise! We found out later that night when they talked on the phone that she couldn't access the youtube link on the DVD case, much to our disappointment. So we burned her an actual DVD (why didn't we do that in the first place??) and he took it to her to school today where they watched it together in the Spartan Vision room. He texted me saying she can't stop telling him how much she loves it.


Now we wait for the answer!

Checklist for New Years Eve 2010

PICK UP SPICY SCHEZWAN DUMPLINGS FROM CHARLIE CHOW AS OUR FOOD CONTRIBUTION - check

BUY TIN FOIL FOR BOYS TIN FOIL HAT CONTEST - check

COME UP WITH CRAZY HAIR IDEA FOR EMMY AND ME FOR GIRLS CONTEST - half check. only had the energy and creativity to do Emmy's :(

MAKE SURE SIMON GETS A NAP SO HE CAN STAY UP TIL MIDNIGHT - check

GET A NAP MYSELF - check

CHARGE VIDEO CAMERA AND STILL CAMERA- check

BUY GIFTS FOR GIFT STEALING GAME - BOTH ADULTS AND KIDS: check

START THINKING ABOUT ANSWERS FOR 2010/2011 QUESTIONNAIRE: check. For the first time in my adult life, losing weight won't be a resolution!

WORK ON SOME SWEET DANCE MOVES FOR THE DANCE CENTRAL CONTEST YOU KNOW IS GOING TO TAKE PLACE: check!

And now for a few pics:

Dad whipped this together at the last minute for Simon. It's a MIG-21 for those of you who don't know :)

Connor's last minute entry. I'm not quite sure what to call it.

My brother-in-law Brett did a tribute to Tron. You can't see them, but there are glow sticks illuminating his tin foil helmet.

My new brother-in-law Nick went all out with a Call of Duty hat. He won hands down.

And Melissa won the girls contest with her birds nest. You can tell they are young and have lots of energy for this. Zach and I didn't even enter either contest this year.

Even the cat gets to participate!


A bird's eye view of the birds next in Melissa's hair

Audrey rocked the curls in a BIG way

I don't know how Adri did this by herself, but she did. I'm impressed.


Vicki entered the contest for the first time that I can remember. She looked way cute.

Emmy's creation was basically a ponytail with a whole bunch of elastics that we looped and bobbypinned to her head creating a handle look.

Mikayla

Ayana

Evelyn

Christmas '10

We always split Christmas Eve between the Farley and the Sharples families, so it's a full evening with lots of good food and conversation.

We started the night off at my mom's with my sister Misty's family. Misty and I brought soups and my mom provided the rest. My 12-year-old nephew Christian treated us to some Christmas songs on his guitar. He was also the one chosen to tell the Nativity Story and he was so cute talking to the younger cousins. They listened with all their attention which is rare.

Back in high school, my mom got into making fur keychains in all shapes and sizes and selling them at boutiques. Misty found these fake fur coat ornaments and just had to get them for mom.

Emmy and Christian playing a duet.

Believe it or not, Simon and Elle are 2 weeks apart in age.


From there, we moved on to Zach's parents' house. All 6 siblings plus spouses/kids all in attendance makes for a whole lot more people, but nobody seems to mind the crowd or noise. It's a really fun group.

My mother-in-law Vicki biked off a staggering 70 lbs. this last year and needed a new bike to continue next year. She was super excited to receive this group gift from all of us.

Oh what can it be??

Audrey and Mikayla in matching jammies for the first time. It's fun to have these girls getting big enough to have that be an option.

Newlyweds Nick and Melissa. You can't tell from the picture, but Melissa is in a ton of pain recovering from her recent tonsillectomy. We were lucky to get her to the family party that night.

Connor's Christmas jammies... (nice try, Connor - you didn't even put them on!)

This cute guy wasn't supposed to get me any Christmas PJ's by mutual agreement, but he couldn't resist. He knows me so well.




Christmas morning dawned not so early - about 7:30. I'm always grateful for kids who don't get up at the crack of dawn. We had to wait a few minutes for Grandma Farley to come over but she didn't make them wait for long.
My budding make-up artist got all the tools she needed from Santa to do a lot more Michelle Phan youtube makeovers.


And my aspiring videographer got the tool he needed to learn more about what he thinks he wants to do for the rest of his life. (Boo for having to let employees go this last year but yay for the computers left behind. We didn't have to pay a cent for this.)

This was the wallpaper Zach had already put on the screen. Connor doesn't necessarily like Miranda Cosgrove (iCarly) but Zach is incessantly teasing him about it so this was super funny to see his reaction.

Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without at least ONE Lego set to build. This was Simon's gift, but Zach got a Lego Lamborghini set, too, so both were happy and Zach was busy the entire day building them both.


I love when we get her on Christmas morning!

Gotta love new Christmas outfits. Purple was the color for her this year.