Jr. Is So Cool

Jr. is so cool. He's been wanting to make crepes in his crepe pan he got or his birthday last year. He finally got to. They turned out so well. Yummmmmm.

Another cool thing about Jr. is his ability to play the cello. Jr. and Nichole had their Christmas Concert recently. Jeremy and I were both able to make it to watch the concert. It wasn't just an orchestra concert, though.

Those that performed were Symphonic Orchestra, Saxophone Quintet, Jazz Band, Concert Orchestra with Symphonic Band, Jazz Quartet, and the Symphonic Orchestra played with the Wind Symphony.

It was so nice to listen to the musical pieces.

I'm proud of both my strings players. I'm impressed with Jr. who was one of only two cellists performing in his orchestra (and the other cello had a solo so Jr. was holding the background on his own). The other two cellists were out sick.

Once again, it was a wonderful evening.

I also love how much Jet loves Jr.

Jr. and Nichole have been reading classics from Les Miserables to Shakespeare.

Most recently he was reading to Jet Moby Dick.

 

I just love that boy. Jr. is so cool.

Grandma and Grandpa Come For a Visit

My parents came for a visit... finally. They wanted to come last year for a big family reunion to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary but it wasn't safe then. Now things are calming down and people are getting vaccinated and they were able to make the trip. Yay. I love my parents.

 

They were here to talk about Nichole starting to drive.

They didn't go to any concerts but Nichole and Jr. played violin and cello for them.

They had lunch with us then dinner to celebrate National Rotisserie Chicken Day. We had BBQ pizza which everyone likes. We also had salad and french bread.

 

Jet had fun with his other grandparents while they were here and played with them. This time Jet went to my dad and had him pick him up and give him food. Then he played with Grandpa for a little while then fell asleep.

We had a really great time when Grandma and Grandpa came to visit. I'm so glad it worked out. I'm also glad they finally had a chance to meet Jet. He had fun with them as did the rest of us.

Joy Is...

Listening to your children play a duet together on their stringed instruments.

First Weeks of School! First Weeks of School!

Catching up on what we did at the end of August.
I had promised the kids we would play at a certain park so we finally did.

 Jr. started playing an instrument- the cello.

August 22 was Be an Angel Day and my kids were angels. Lucky had his kindergarten assessment to find out which class he should be in. He got a treat and was very happy about that.

That evening we went to the UCB (Utah County Birders) potluck. Nichole made a cheeseball in the shape of an American Dipper. Jeremy made a sign to go with it.

Since we had the potluck that night, we celebrated Be an Angel Day foodwise a few days later. We had alfredo with angel hair pasta again.

I got to go on a UCB field trip up Mirror Lake Scenic Byway. It was a long day but great. Jeremy took care of things with the kids while I was gone. My hero. I got to see some birds I'd never seen in Utah before and some mammals I'd never seen before.

Highlights were Canada jays (formerly known as gray jays), American three-toed woodpecker (lifer), pine marten (allusive weasel-type animal- I didn't get good pictures, others in my group did), and some pikas (cute little rodent-like animals- They are fast).

If you look really closely in that second to last picture, you can see the dark brown pine marten just above the log leaping toward that evergreen on the right side of the picture. Go ahead and click on the picture to make it bigger.

Lucky had his own first day of school. He was so excited for it, he ran to the bus stop and we got there super early and we waited... and waited... and waited. When he got home from school, he asked, "Do I get to go to school again tomorrow?" He was pleased that he did.

This picture Jeremy calls my "I'm not ready" picture. Actually, I was just trying to make sure he didn't get too far ahead where I couldn't see him and so I could take pictures.

I will admit, though, I did cry before the bus was even out of sight. I knew he would be fine, but... you know.

August 28 was National Bow Tie Day. We had bow tie pasta with our meal. Yumm. I asked the kids to set the table. They had an interesting way of doing it.

One Saturday, we took a trip up to Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge and Antelope Island to see a couple new life birds. At Bear River, we saw a brown pelican. We're used to seeing American white pelicans in Utah, but we don't get brown pelicans around here. That was exciting.

At Antelope Island, we saw a wandering tattler. I didn't even know there was such a thing until that week.

And of course we chose August to go, which is when the biting bugs start to diminish because there are spiders everywhere- Western Spotted Orb Weavers. They are big... and beautiful.
Thank you, Jr., for letting us use your hand for size comparison.

Luckily, we brought along our web detracting sword so we could go along the path full of vegetation and get webs out of the way.

We celebrated Jr.'s birthday in August as well. When I asked what kind of cake he wanted, he said what he really wanted was pie. I asked what kind and he said "apple." Ah, yes. I can make apple pie. So that's what he got for his birthday. Apple pie and ice cream... and a sonic screwdriver. Have I mentioned we're Doctor Who fans?

 

Everybody's been needing haircuts. I took care of three of them in August, one in September, and one in October. I forgot to do before and after pictures on some of them but if you look at my blog, you'll be able to see the difference.

 There may have been more holidays and things in there but if I don't have pictures, I don't remember.