Stalking 101

A little background on this video...
The group had originally agreed on a comedy about
a stalker who's interest was dating a serial killer.
The director, who cast the movie, ended up changing
it so that it wasn't a comedy anymore and turned into
a suspense.

Jon knew this while filming and most everyone else in
the group was annoyed, but they went with it to complete
the project.
The director's version went like this:
Guy stalks girl,
girls falls in park and guy goes to help but is beat to it by Guy 2,
guy figures out guy 2 is a serial killer,
guy saves girl from said killer,
girl figures out guy has been stalking her,
guy gets girl....

Jon was also shocked at the acting ability of the
"actors" the director cast. In a bad way.

Each member of the group was given all of the video
files and was to make their own edit of the movie.

Jon said everyone in the group stuck to the directors
story even though they hated it.

Jon however didn't. He decided to make a mockery of the
whole thing...

Monster Concert

Evey had a District Orchestra concert in March.
It was a crazy ordeal. Mostly because I wasn't
informed of the details until the day before and so Jon wasn't
able to arrange getting the night off to help me.

You see,
Evey had dance from 4:15 to 6:15, Paris had a soccer
game at 5:30 and Evey was supposed to be at the
concert at 5:45. Yikes! Most of Paris' games have been
during Evey's dance, so we drop her off ,in Springville
(only a 15 minute drive on the freeway, but I like to complain)
then drive back to Provo for Paris' game then go back
to Springville to get Evey. Why didn't Evey just skip
dance this day you ask. Well, This class on Tuesday
is JDC, the company in which she has a contract with
and is required to be at. But the class after is just a jazz
class so she did miss that.

So, here's how it went...
We drove to Springville and Evey went to JDC while
we grabbed fast food dinner. Then Evey skipped her
second class and we took Paris to her game, dropped
her off with her friends and then headed across town
to get Evey to Timpview High School for the concert.
Normally getting across the city isn't that big of a deal,
even with the massive amount of construction that is
going on right now. But, on this particular day when I
needed to get across town and back quickly, they had
shut down a major artery, so we had to take an extra
long round about way, and for some reason there were
A MILLION people out. Okay it was rush hour!
Anyway, I got Evey to the school, ran in with her and
the 2 other kids to save a seat, and then got back on the
van to get Paris from her game. It took me the whole
hour of her game to get across town and back, so I
missed seeing her play and her sweet friends mom had
to wait a few minutes after the game for me. Then it
was back across town to the concert. But by this time
the home bound rushers were mostly off the road, so
we made it before 7, happened to find a decent parking
spot (there were 12 elementary schools, 2 middle
schools and 2 high schools orchestras worth of parents
and cars)and went in to our pre saved seat
(oh so glad I did that!!) and sat down right as the lights
went down. Whew!! So after all of that here is all of the
  elementary's orchestras together.

After their songs they got off stage and the middle
schools went up and played a few and then switched
again with the high schools who were amazing!!
They played an awesome arrangement of the
Pirates of the Caribbean. I recorded it for Jon
and Evey but won't post it here.

* Why don't I make it easier on myself and car pool??!!
Paris' friend at soccer, even has an older sister who is in
orchestra with Evey, and believe me I did try to make
an arrangement, but they had 2 parents and one other
kid in something else, and so it didn't work this time.
But I tried, I tried! And, I have to give my lovlies Paris
and Lex and Winter some credit because they are always
so good and let me record the concerts with little
interruption!! Love my babies!!

Civil War Project

I'm not totally sure how Lewis and Clark relate
to the Civil War except that they make way for
the Huge westward movement before it, what's
it called, Manifest Destiny and Clark's son
fought in it. But, it was on the list of subjects
Evey could pick for her Civil War project at school.

She was supposed to think of a creative way to
share with her class the info she researched. Some
projects could have been a diarrhea I mean diorama,
or poster, but we decided to go a different route
I'm not sure if we have made it clear that we
go all out for stuff, but we kinda go all out for
stuff. And, we love it, it's a lot of time spent
with each kid and as a family. Anyway, I suggested
we do another "reporter/ news update" video,
(see Orangutan video HERE....while looking
through blog archives, I found a TON of cute
pictures from way back when Lex was a baby on
the old, before they made me get a new blog
address, site...HERE ) And Jon suggested she play
all the parts and we put her on a split screen.

Evey did all the research, then I helped her write
the script. Then we picked out costumes
(hilarious!! fun time!) and then set up the camera
and got to work.

Parents were invited into watch the kids give their
presentations, so we got to see the great response
her teacher and class gave her. The first question
they asked her, after watching it, was if they could
watch it again.  Funny kids. And they did and her
teacher went and got other teachers and then asked
if she could keep a copy. So it was a successful project.

A quick note here, I didn't coach Evey at all!! I helped
her figure out a few different accents to use, but she
created each character all on her own!!

Memory Test

Paris wanted to participate in the science fair at school.
We went through a lot of ideas and when I told her about one
I did when I was young, she got excited and chose to do it.
My daddy had built a similar piece of equipment, and so we
referred to his expertise, for a plan. When Paris decided to do
this, we had plenty of time to built the equipment and test
subjects and construct a display.But, as our family always goes,
it was put off until the last minute. We did everything in one day.
But I guess we work well under pressure.

The project is a memory test. The equipment is a circuit board
that lights up when the circuit is completed. This requires the
tester (Paris) to have a map of the answers and connecting the
right outlets together.

We made it a family ordeal to build this thing. Jon was in charge of construction,
 I was wiring, Evey made sure the circuit and batteries
were working right, Paris was in charge of screwing in prongs and
making sure the same colors were on the same side.
Lex jumped up and down next to us all excited when the light lit up.
Wynn, didn't really care about this project. She conducted her own
project; getting as much stuff out on the floor as she could (messy, messy, messy!)

Then we had to make templates for the subject to memorize.
Paris had fun picking shapes and colors.
This is what happens when the subject picks the right answer.

Then the testing began. Scientist Paris' Question was;
What age group (0-10, 10-20, 20-30) will be able to
remember the greatest number of correct answers?
Her Prediction was that Daddy (20-30) would remember the most.
She used her map of each test, to connect the right answers.

Lex was her first subject
(but mostly because he couldn't wait ,
he really wanted to make it light up!) 

Each subject had 30 seconds to memorize the patterns.
Paris also had a lot of fun keeping time

Then each person had to plug in the right  answers.

Paris conducted three different tests on each person,
made some observations and then came to
 the conclusion that she was indeed correct.
Daddy got the most amount of correct answers.

Project completed and on display at school for judging.

Success!! Paris took home 1st place for her grade.

Together We Can...

The girls love to participate in Reflections every year.
 Reflections is an artistic competition that is put on by
the national PTA. Students are given a theme and then
judged on their creativity, originality, and quality of work.
It starts at the school level, winners move to city level and
so on until there is a national judging. There are 9 different
categories. The girls always seem to procrastinate
( I wonder where they get that!!!) but always seem to get
some sort of recognition. I am on the Reflections Committee,
so I help advertise and inform students and sort and make
sure all information is right on the entries and then we put
on an assembly to recognize the winners. The judges we
get are people who have no connection to or bias toward any of the kids
at school. A few of the categories are judged by high school
classes, and others by BYU or UVU professors. This year
as with the previous years, the girls waited until the last
minute to complete their entries. They each entered a dance,
and then Evey wrote something for the literature category
and Paris made a collage with fallen leaves and crayon shavings.
Somehow they won something for each of their entries.
They both won and received trophies and will be moving to city
level for their dances, Evey got an honorable mention (2nd place)
for her poem, and Paris received an Outstanding achievement
(3rd place) for her Visual Art. What can I say, I have talented kids!!
Congratulations Evey and Paris, We are so proud of you!

Bye, Bye, summer!

Well, the time has come. Summer flew by in a flash and here

we are getting back into the swing of school. I have always

loved back to school time though. And the girls have been

super excited. I love school supplies too, so forgive me as I

seem to take very similar pictures every year.

Paris chose a plain pencil box so she could decorate it herself.

And Evey picked the largest amount of color pencils we

could find, she takes after her daddy, loves color.

They each have a letter key chain that has a home on each

new backpack every year.

Instead of an open house a few days before school,

they decided to have it on the first day of school.

So in true (Amy)Lindsey fashion, we were running late,

but it didn't matter because the open house went until

10. So we showed up a little late. Signed up for PTA,

got sweatshirts, showed Paris the lunch room (she is

super excited to get to eat lunch at school this year) and

signed up for choir. Then we went to Paris classroom

and met her teacher. She is a choir director and so because

I worked with the choir last year I knew her and was really

excited for Paris, she is wonderful.

While we were signing up for class room help and party

treats, a boy came in the room and saw Paris and called

out her name. It was Boston, the boy she (and ALL of the

other girls) thought was cute last year. She got the biggest

smile, got super shy and sort of hid behind me for a second.

I could barley contain my laughter. She recovered quickly

though and went about her business. She signed her name

on a tag and got to pick her own desk, which she is so excited

to have this year! She is sitting next to one of her friends.

Other names blocked for their safety

Evey is lucky enough to have her teacher from last

year, who is absolutely AMAZING, move up with

them to 5th grade. We got a note during the summer

telling us that she would be moving up and wondering

if Evey would like to be in her class again. OF COURSE!

A few of her other friends, who weren't in Mrs. Terry's

class last year were able to get in too, but otherwise

her class mates are the same. This year the curriculum

is the 50 states.

I have never seen a teacher put sooo much of their

own money into everything for the class room. Her

furniture is not of the school variety. Like, black

counter height table with matching stools for

conferences and centers, Red wood with star cut

out bookshelves. It's like walking into a boutique

with all of her decorations and furniture. She had

3 notbooks (red, white and blue of course), a

custom covered journal, a fully stocked pencil box

and a US puzzle for each kid waiting for them on

their desk. Fun for them to pass the time until the

bell rang.

They have had a fabulous first and second day of school.

Paris has been assigned to wear the color of the day for

the first two weeks, which she loves. The first day was red

(pink had to do, since that is what she had on) and Yellow

was today. Tomorrow is blue....her outfit is set out and ready

for the morning. Evey has taken to dressing cute and

accessorizing. We bought a bunch of jewelry and that is one

of her new favorite nightly rituals, to pick out her outfit and

all the accessories to go with it.

Good luck in school girls!

Moms and Muffins

Paris had a special day called Moms and Muffins.

Us mommies got to go to the classroom, and the kids

sang us a couple of songs and then we got to read

together and then eat muffins. It was so cute and fun!!

They did a similar Dad's and Doughnuts earlier in the

year. Paris sings so loud, I love to watch her, and she

LOVES to be watched!! She really loves school.

I have relied too much on the camera in my phone lately,

so pictures aren kinda...okay, really bad!

But thanks to a friend, who remembered her camera!

Sing, Sing a Song

This is the song that the combined choir sang at the tabernacle

in March. But I had forgotten my cameras, and so we got lucky

that the Lakeview Choir sang the song this time. I love it. But

now imagine all of these kids singing it together. It was awesome.

Our wonderful neighbor, who recorded Evey's song, is

the pianist for the choir, but was given a piece that called

for 4 hands on one piano, so he asked me to play with him.

It was a really fun song and despite it's difficulty the kids

did awesome. I probably wouldn't have posted it except for that fact.

Utah Time Travelers

The 4th grade learned Utah history by putting on a

musical, Bill and Ted style. There was a group of

students who traveled back in time and stopped at

all of the historic events from Dinosaurs to Mormon

Pioneers to the Golden Spike in the railroad. Each

stop had its own song, and a song for each county.

Jon and I love that they learn through song, it

permanently ingrains the information in their heads.

Jon, Evey and Paris are some of the few who can name

all 50 states in alphabetical order thanks to a song.

Anyway, Evey was a Gosiute hoop dancer.

They did an awesome job. The fourth grade teachers are

amazing, they really put in so much extra time and effort

for the kids. They are amazing ladies. Evey will miss them

when she moves on next year.

She sure it a cute little pale Indian!

She and her friend goofing off with some of the awesome sets.

Report Card

Last week we had the girls parent teacher conferences.

They are both doing very well.

Evey's teacher had nothing but good things to say, as

we have come to expect. She is a great student, top

of the class, and always willing to help others and the teacher.

She has been in Math Olympiad and an advanced science class

that she leaves campus for once a month. She has almost

perfect scores on all assignments. And of course all A's.

We are so proud of her.

Paris' teacher had all good things to say about her too.

She is doing great. They tested them to make sure the

kids were ready to advance to first grade.Paris got a

perfect score on one and only missed 2 on the other.

She is also at the top of her class.

She loves to write and draw. The kids were assessed

on how well they wrote a sentence on their own and

drew a picture that corresponded to the sentence, and

then read the sentence back. Capitalization, spacing

and punctuation were all assessed as well. Paris wrote

two perfect sentences (except for a one letter spelling

error) and 2 cute pictures, colored so nicely to go with it.

Paris also loves math. She loves for Evey to quiz her at

home and can add 2 digit numbers like a pro. She is well

on her way to first grade. We are so proud of her and are

excited to see her continue to grow and learn.

Spring Sing

All of the Provo Elementary school choirs

did a combined Spring Sing at the Provo

Tabernacle. It was pretty cool. Each school

choir got up and did a "solo" song and then

all the schools performed a couple together.

I thought about bringing my camera, then

walked out the door with out it (shoot me

in the head!!!) so I only had my phone. It's

not a bad pic, but you know me, I expect

better pictures. As they concert started and

they were getting the first school up (which

happened to be Evey's choir) they had us as

an audience sing some rounds together. It

was way cool. We even sang a song that I

learned in elementary school. "My Paddle

Keen and Bright" at Columbine Elem. with

Mr Leatherman, for anyone who might

remember that far back. We thought it would

take forever to load each choir on the risers

and then unload and load another. But they

have been doing this for so many years now

that they have it down, and it actually went

really fast. The last song they sang all together

was so good. It was kind of a tribal sounding

song. They had some kids playing percussion

and then they did these actions, and when all

the kids did them together it was super awesome.

No pic of that, boo! Great night though, lots of fun.

Drug Free

I was also on the Red Ribbon Week Committee.

I got to decorate the outside of the school, to

remind everyone to be drug free. The kids got

to have a fun dress-up day for everyday of the

week, including PJ day, Backwards Clothes day,

Hat day and wear red day. They also made up

jingles in their classes to be judged and win prizes.

I helped judge the classes who made up a "Drug

Free Jingle" The kids did a great job. So much

creativity. Most of the classes made the jingles

to a well known tune. A few used Row, Row,Row

Your Boat others made up their own tune, one class

even did a little skit. It was very tough judging. I was

a little biased, because Paris' class was just so cute,

but I wasn't the only one and her class ended up getting

3rd place! They sang their little tune so well and it was

really cute because they were better than a lot of the older

grades, which is why they won. This was the first time a

kindergarten class has won the jingle contest. Yay, Paris'

class!! The 2nd and 1st place winners were so original!

It was great fun, and for such a great cause.

Reflections (11/5)

I was on the Reflections committee again this year.

It is such a great program, and it's fun to see all the

creativity of kids! Just a little background on the

program. It's a national PTA creativity contest. The

kids are given a theme each year and can submit

projects in a few different categories (dance, 3-D art,

Visual art, photography, and a few others) They are

required to do all the work themselves. They are

judged school wide first in age categories ( K-2, 3-5, etc.)

If they win 1st place in their age group they move on to

city level, then state, then national.

This year, the due date fell on the first day back to school

after fall break. We didn't expect many entries, but there

were still a surprising number of kids that turned things

in. Evey had really hoped to do a dance this year, but

again procrastinated and I wouldn't let her turn in a dance

with out set choreography. What a mean mommy! Well,

we ended up procrastinating projects until the night before

the due date, and not wanting to miss the opportunity the

girls sat down on Sunday night and threw together a little

project. The theme was "Beauty is..." Evey made a little

rose out of clay and Paris made a flower out of tissue paper

glued to a piece of card stock. I knew the girls projects

would be looked over by the judges but didn't want to

discourage them, so they submitted them. Paris was so

proud of hers she didn't want to give it up to be judged,

but in the end she decided it was okay.

Now, even though I was on the committee, the judges that

were picked had no connections at all with kids from

Lakeview so there was no bias. And, since I was on the

committee, I knew as soon as judging was over that Evey

had gotten an Honorable mention (3rd place) ribbon, and

Paris a first place trophy, which meant she would be moving

on to city level. I was shocked! It was hard to contain my

excitement and keep it a secret from the girls.

They were pretty excited on the day of the assembly when

their names were called to accept an award. Evey was surprised

too that she had won something.

This is the first year that she didn't win a first place trophy

and move to city level, but she knew she hadn't put in the

effort for that.

Paris didn't quite understand at first except that she loved

her trophy. We're so proud of their creativity and desire to

be involved.

Congrats Girls!

Spotlight

Paris was chosen as the Spotlight Student for the week of

October 19-23. She had fun being the center of attention

that week. She got to bring something special to show the

class about herself, bring treats, and would have had lunch

with the Principal if she stayed at school that long.

Unfortunately Kindergartners don't get that privilege. We

were so proud of her! And oh how she loved all the attention.

She is doing so well in school. Her teacher is amazing, we

love her. She is very soft spoken and patient. Paris comes

home singing a song about everything. A song about how

to write each of the numbers, a song about each month, etc.

We ask her everyday if she has learned a new song and she

proudly sings whatever she's learned perfectly. She has and

amazing ear and memory. She can sing me a song she learned

for the first time that day. Mrs Sarkady says she is a great

student and is so quite and polite. But, that she is a social

butterfly and has a lot of friends. Paris loves to show me all

the things she brings home in her backpack, and is becoming

quite the artist. Her favorite thing to do lately is draw pictures

and write about what they are. I love the way she sounds out

what she is trying to write. She is getting so big, where does the

time go?!

First Day

Ugh! I get so behind on posting. The first day of school was on the 19th. We of course had our chain counting down days, and the girls have been so excited. Unfortunately the school district decided to have the kindergartners start a whole week later than everybody else, so it threw off our chain. Luckily I scheduled Paris' kindergarten assessment for first thing on the 19th so she just got ready for school and went too, just like it was the first day, then we made sure to mark the day on the chain so she could start a new count down. Anyway, Here's the girls supplies and backpacks.

They are so cute together! They had fun picking out outfits and getting all ready.

Lex had to join in on the picture taking. He really wants to go to school too, but he has to wait 2 years!! Unless I can convince the district to let him go in early, he misses the deadline by 8 days! He'll be ready next year for sure! Some think we should go ahead and keep him back for the extra year so he's the oldest and biggest in his class, but really look at the kid, he's gonna be "smalls" anyway! He'll have to be like, I don't know, quarterback or point guard, you know the smaller positions, but the best I might add!!! Jon's thought is we'd rather him be the last to drive in his class rather than the first! (Sigh) We'll see.

Miss Beauty is getting so big and turning into such a little lady!

Glamor girl loves to doll it up! Can you see the TWO spaces on the bottom row of teeth? She's pretty proud.

Love the wrinkly shirt!! Way to go mommy!

Evey has been biking with her good friend, but they both have sisters going into kindergarten, one in morning and one in afternoon, so it messes up their biking schedule. They will either have to walk with their sisters or come up with some genius plan to teleport them so they can continue to ride. Just another thing we'll have to figure out as time goes on. 

Paris choose to scoot since mommy was coming to school with her.

This is Evey's biking buddy, I thought I'd get their faces rather than their behinds as they were riding.

Paris is proud of her classroom and her name on a flower in the hall.

Both of the girls love their teachers. Paris did really well on her assessment, the teacher was impressed and said her score was high for just starting kindergarten. What can I say, I have smarty pants children! I also signed up to be her class mom, something I vowed to do only for kindergarten for each kid. Of course Jon tried to talk me out of it, what with us both going to school full-time, and a baby on the way, but you know me I love to push myself and have a good challenge! Paris gets to start for real tomorrow the 26th. Yay, one more sleep! We had Evey's first SEP (parent teacher conference) to set some goals for the year. I love her teacher!! So does Evey, I think she will have a good year and will be able to do work at her own level, and won't be bored! A first since 1st grade in New York!

Good luck girls we are so proud of you!