2018 – Page 11 – Terry Family Shenanigans

Spring Break! Here we come Florida!

A few months ago it dawned on me that we had never gone to see my sister Sherri in Florida so we planned a trip for apring break and made it happen. I love family vacation road trips. I like having the whole family stuck in a car and having no real schedule. Just a week of hanging out and having fun together. As the kids have gotten a little older and more self sufficient it is even better. We have our fair share of arguments, tiredness and emergency potty breaks, but overall I really enjoy our road trips. We have made a few guidelines for our trips over the years that make things go smoother for us.

Rule #1- Talk it up before hand and dicuss things they can watch for and look at on the way. If you miss these things as we are driving because you are sleeping or have your nose stuck in an electronic you can not throw a fit about it. 🙂

Rule #2- If we will be traveling over 12-13 hours we will split it up and take two days. Then the drivers aren’t exhausted and the kids don’t have cabin fever when we arrive.

Rule #3- When staying at a hotel, pack a small overnight bag ahead of time with pj’s, clothes for the next day, swimsuites, and toiletries for everyone. Then when we get to the hotel we will be staying in for maybe twelve hours we grab one bag to take in with us and don’t have to haul EVERYTHING in and repack it. So much easier.

Rule #4-The kids are in charge of picking the movies and toys they want to bring. I used to try and pack the toys and movies and other things that I thought the kids would want. Then get frusterated when they weren’t interested or never used half the stuff I brought. They bring so much less stuff and play more with it when they pick what they bring. Even if it is a broken piece of a toy that does nothing…???

Rule #5- Everyone has to give me a treat and healthy snack idea to pack for the same reasons that apply to rule #4

Rule #6- When we make a stop, everyone has to use the restroom whether they think they need to or not. NO exceptions. If mom is driving without dad this rule includes limiting your liquids because I stop a lot less than dad does.

We like seeing the different parts of the country as we drive too. This trip took us through the Smokey Mountains. They are so beautiful and literally look like they are smoking with fog. There were lots of trees starting to bud for Spring too. We added Alabama and Georgia to our list of states we have now traveled through on this trip. Alli had a brief relapse of the flu right before we left but it only put us a half day behind our original schedule. We left Friday afternoon and stayed at a hotel in Mt Vernon MO.

Our kids are pretty good travelers thanks to electronics, snacks, and toys. One of the highlights of any vacation for the kids but especially Emilee, is staying in a hotel. She asks me to go on vacation to sleep in a hotel all the time. Sometimes we go swimming (I don’t, hotel swimming pools gross me out big time) but not always. They love going down to breakfast in the morning and picking whatever they want to eat.

We drove the rest of the way to Florida on Saturday, and got to the French’s about nine that night. The last hour or so we did another one of our favorite car ride activities. We play a bunch of our favorite songs and sing along while we rock out. Our songs change pretty often but these are the current top 20 of our favorite rocking out songs for this trip. We pick songs that everyone knows so we can all sing.

Fight Song-Rachel Platten
Good to Be Alive-Andy Grammer
How Far I’ll Go- Disney’s Moana
Sweet Caroline-Neil Diamond
Let It Go-Disney’s Frozen
HandClap- Fitz & the Tantrums
Just Give Me a Reason-Pink
Sweet Baby James-James Taylor
Demons- Imagine Dragons
Cecilia- Simon& Garfunkel
Believer- Imagine Dragons
Thunder-Imagind Dragons
Stitches-Shawn Mendes
Defying Gravity- Glee Remake
Carolina In My Mind- James Taylor
We Are the Champions-Queen
Happy- Pharrell Williams
America- Neil Diamond
This is Me- From The Greatest Showman
I See the Light- Disney’s Tangled

Matthew plays…Futsal?!

About the same time that winter baseball conditioning got started, Joaquin, one of the boys on Matthew’s team asked the kids if they wanted to play on an indoor soccer team- or actually it is called Futsal. He has played for a while and is pretty good. The head coach (Jimmie) of our baseball team and a friend of his said they would coach any of the boys that wanted to play. Jimmie thought it would be some good extra conditioning for the boys. It wouldn’t be to much of a time commitment. They have a practice and a game every other week. The kicker is that the practices are usually Friday nights and the games start between 6-8 on Saturday morning. Barf! But of course as soon as Matthew heard it could help his baseball conditioning he was all in.

About five of the boys said they would play and then a few younger siblings that play soccer joined giving them a team of about 8-9. They had there first game before they had any practices just because of how the schedule worked out. So the coaches and Joaquin were literally telling them what they were supposed to do as they were getting ready to head onto the field. This is where it got entertaining. As I mentioned, only one player on the team has ever played soccer on any regular basis. The younger siblings have played but they are 1-2 years younger than everyone else. All the other boys from our baseball team have never played soccer (Matthew played for six weeks when he was four). They are all athletic kids obviously, but their soccer knowledge and skills are pretty limited. All of this was pretty obvious between the two teams in the three minute warm up time they have before the game starts.

There are seven players on the field at a time so we only have 1-2 subs and once they start the clock it doesn’t stop for 45 minutes except for a 3 minute half time time in the middle. No time outs, no breaks. If you want to switch a player you have to do it really quick while the ball is somewhere else, including the goalie position. We got smoked the first game and the boys were red in the face, gasping for breath, wiped out. Since then though we actually have won a couple games. There is marked improvement each game. The cheering from the parents is pretty funny. We don’t really know how to cheer for soccer. We don’t know the names of the positions and the exact rules (especially since it is Futsal, not soccer). We keep it pretty generic and laugh at ourselves when we goof up. The boys try their hardest and do a great job. It is a little ridiculous sometimes when they get a little out matched. Some of them take a few minutes to warm up and not be intimidated by the ball. Joaquin is a machine and plays the whole time with enough energy for two players and helps his less Futsal savvy baseball buddies the best he can.

The main reason I wanted to write this post is to remember this particular event in one game. It was hilarious, it has been a few weeks now and every now and then it pops into my head and I start laughing again just as hard. One game, a boy named Frankee was goalie and was really struggling. No matter how many times his dad ‘encouraged’ him to use his hands because he was the goalie-he wouldn’t. I think from the gestures he was making at his dad he was concerned about getting kicked in the face. Before you start thinking I am making fun of a 12 year old kid. I’m not. Frankee is one of our best players on our baseball team. He is a great catcher, and third base, and a pretty decent hitter. He has a little flare of drama and humor to him too. Anyway, we started getting pretty behind on points which further frustrated him and he asked, then begged, then insisted that someone replace him. “Coach! Can’t you see I suck?! Take me out!” The problem is we don’t have extra players so there isn’t a lot of wiggle room for moving people around, or time. Eventually he got switched and was a forward ( I think). While all this was taking place his dad (who Frankee gets his humor from) had been getting frustrated with his performance from the stands as well and was keeping us laughing with his own comments and suggestions. His first play with the ball after Frankee switched positions he was running at the ball and went to kick it and totally missed and caught his foot on the ground and fell on top of himself and a few other kids on his own team, leaving the ball in the middle of three players from the other team to take off with. Oh man, it was so funny!! I wish I had it on video because I would send it to AFV. His dads reaction of shock and shaking his head and putting his head in his hands while muttering something about “I thought we had walking mastered” made it even funnier. Probably more of a had to be there moment to appreciate the full hilariousness of the scene, but like I said, weeks later I still start laughing out loud when I think of it….yep, still makes me laugh.

Fast forward a few weeks and Frankee was goalie again for today’s game and did a great job. Matthew scored two goals today and is getting some pretty nice footwork skills going. Kudos to all of them for not only trying something new and hanging in there, but doing their best and showing improvement each game, AND doing it at 6am! Blah!! They are a fun group of kids and parents. I am excited for baseball season to start.

Goodbye February! Part two.

Since I’m talking about being sick I will give a little summary of sickness tolerance of our family. I don’t like my kids to be sick obviously but I do have a little extra nurturing mom side that comes out when they are sick. I love that I can take care of them and I know all of the little things to make them feel better. When Ryan reads the last few sentences he is going to…react…so I will start with the reason for that and get it cleared up.

Ryan and I didn’t really have to many big adjustments to each other when we got married but being sick and the expectations of the other person was one of them that we bumped through a few times. So here are our pre-marriage expectations.

Me 2002- Life needs to continue whether you are sick or not so suck it up and keep going. Colds don’t even count as being sick, they are just a nuisance. If you are sick you are a wimp. Take care of yourself if you are sick.

Ryan 2002- When you are sick, you get in bed and rest and get over it. You don’t go to work, or church or anything because no one wants to be around you anyways and get sick. Your wife takes care of you and sympathizes with your sickness.

With those expectations in mind…

Many, many, many years ago Ryan was sick. At the time I think I was working every Monday at an office. We had someone that watched Matthew for us. I came down the stairs to go to work and Ryan was on the couch and said he didn’t feel good so he was going to stay home from work. Unbeknownst to me, not only was he sick but he had been throwing up or coughing all night or something so he was extremely tired on top of his illness. I asked him if he was going to keep Matthew home with him or if he still wanted me to take him to the sitter. He said, “No, I’m sick” I said, “Ok” and for the next ten plus years I have been labeled as the ‘cold, unsympathetic, heartless wife’ that was ‘disgusted that her poor sick husband wouldn’t watch their son when he was sick’ basically almost dying. That is Ryan’s version. My version is,the first time I had to work when Ryan had a man cold I asked if he was still taking Matthew or not so I could let our sitter know. He said he was still taking him and I went to work.

Ryan, right about now I sense your desire to come tell me your version of the story AGAIN. Keep reading.

Fast forward a few years of practice and you now have our adjusted expectations. These are of course ideal situations and sometimes adjustments have to be made but this is the general idea.

Ryan 2018- When Ryan is sick he wants to be left alone to sleep or play a video game, but he likes to be checked in on occasionally so see if he needs company or a refill or medicine. The longer he is sick the more he likes to be checked on because he gets lonely. He likes to be in his room with the door closed so it is quiet and the blinds closed so it is dark. He likes ice water with a little ice, and lemon lime Gatorade. If he has an appetite he prefers some kind of chicken soup. He will not be doing any other tasks until he is feeling better. After years of proving my nursing abilities I have almost redeemed myself from my original blunder.

Me 2018- When I am sick, I get to be sick. Many times Ryan has stayed home from work to take care of the kids so I can rest. I get to have the door closed and be in my bed and sleep. He will check on me and see if I need anything. It is almost like a little vacation-except I feel like crap. I will still probably go to work if I am scheduled but I do realize that people don’t want to be exposed to whatever I have when I am sick so I am getting better at staying home. Colds still don’t count as being sick (for adults), however, they are a reasonable excuse to go to bed early if you’re a wimp. 🙂

Where our kids are concerned we also made a lifetime arrangement due to each others stronger than usual aversion to vomit or poop. When possible and reasonable Ryan is in charge of clean up and assisting in areas of vomiting. I have the same agreement when poop is involved. I think I got a pretty good deal because vomit has the potential to appear for years to come, hopefully poop doesn’t.

Ok, I veered a little off topic. I may sound like I am joking describing some of our sick traits, and it can be overwhelming sometimes, especially when there are multiple people sick but I love my family and I love nursing them back to health when they are sick. As long as they don’t throw up on me.

Emilee- She stays true to her typical snuggly, mommy loving self but kicks it up a notch. When Emilee is sick she feels best when I am physically touching her and devoting all my attention to watching her be sick. Sitting by her reading a book, or watching a show, or doing anything else is not good enough. She wants me to make her a sick bed on the couch with her fridge cold water in a sippy cup so I can help her drink it without her having to lift her head. Then lay next to her and look at her and say that I am sorry she is sick while stroking her hair. She will take medicine if it is bubble gum flavored.

Matthew- He is changing to more of the sit in front of the tv/play video games until he is better but he has some things he likes too. Matthew likes to be waited on hand and foot when he is sick. He likes to be checked on regularly and have the option of having a sick bed on the couch or staying in his room. He wants a sprite and water to drink. He also loves orange jello that is stirred just before it is all the way set so it is like a soup not a solid jello. He is the best at taking medicines (even if they are disgusting) and will ask for medicines for specific things-like a throat spray or cough or headache. He used to have night terrors at random times when he was little. Now they are just when he is sick, and his asthma always gets worse towards the end of his sickness, which means he usually takes the longest to get better.

Allison- Alli is our lock it down don’t mess with me sick person. She is by far sick the least amount of anyone. She has only had to take antibiotics twice in her life. The first time was Penicillin and we discovered she was allergic to it. She has never even had an ear infection. She is usually sick the shortest amount of time too. When she is sick she wants a sick bed on the couch with her blanket. She wants a throw up bowl and ice water within arms reach. Then she pretty much lays there and sleeps until she is better. She will get up and go to the bathroom when she needs and she likes to be carried up to her bed at night and then carried back down in the morning but otherwise she wants to be left alone. She will not take any medicine. She is just now starting to occasionally take Tylenol but most of the time she will have nothing to do with it-not even a cough drop.

Goodbye February! Part One

Well this month gave us a nice kick in the pants on its way out.

Last week Ryan came home from work Thursday afternoon and was not feeling well. By that evening he was quickly going down the full fledged flu path. The kids went to school Friday-first day back in a week. Sunday night Matthew was down and out. One of the worst parts for him when he gets sick is that he has night terrors. He is not awake but he is walking around talking and acting like he is awake and he is usually literally terrified out of his mind and thinks his life is in immediate danger. It sucks. He will be screaming and begging us to help him, but there isn’t much we can really do until he wakes up. I am scared to death he is going to give himself a heart attack. We have several ways to try and wake him up but it can take a good 5-10 minutes sometimes. So he had a few of those Sunday night. I was up with him because Ryan wasn’t doing any better and then I went to work and he and Ryan stayed home sick together. Monday evening Emilee joined the unfortunate sickies. Matthew had more night terrors but upped his game. He woke me and Emilee around 1 in the morning. I told him we were going to go downstairs and get a drink I started to follow him down the stairs and stopped just long enough to tell Emilee everything was fine and go back to sleep. Matthew went downstairs, unlocked the front door and walked right on out! I heard the door open and took off to get him. He was at the bottom of the driveway by the time I got out the front door. I was really thinking I was going to have to chase him down and tackle him to get him home. Luckily when I called him he stopped and I was able to coax him back. Holy crap! So the positive side to these night terrors is that when he finally does snap out of it and wake up he doesn’t remember it. Like I said most of the time he is terrified for his life at the very least his safety, so it is nice that he doesn’t remember those feelings or stress when he wakes up. But, now I am worried that he is going to get out of the house sometime and I don’t hear him and walk to some location before he wakes up and have no idea where he is, no frame of reference on how he got there. Sheesh! I did not sleep very well the rest of the night. I kept jumping out of bed at every little noise and Matthew had another night terror around four. At that point he didn’t think he could go back to sleep so I boxed him in ‘my house’ with a blanket on the couch so he would wake me up if he moved and we watched a show/dozed together until I had to go to work. I called Ryan over lunch and he said Alli was now home sick. I was supposed to work Wednesday and Thursday but I asked them to find a sub for me (who was the sub for them already) and I stayed home the rest of the week. Emilee bounced back and was back to school Wednesday. Ryan said on Tuesday that he ‘just felt sick, not like death’ so he went to work Wednesday and Alli and Matthew made it back Friday. Knock on wood I have had a sore throat and felt run down but hopefully that is the extent of if for me. This Winter has been a rough one for our family. We occasionally have one or two of us get sick but we have all had some bug or another multiple times this Winter. Yuck!

Daddy-Daughter Dance

Tonight was the Girl Scouts Daddy-daughter dance. Alli was pretty excited. You can make it as fancy as you want so she wanted Ryan to wear his suit and she got a new fancy dress. She loves it when she braids her hair and then takes it out and it is kinky so we braided it last night and she wore it all day until it was time to get ready for the dance. It was really fun helping her get ready and finding her dress. Especially since I know she is on a date with a pretty awesome daddy, instead of some dumb boyfriend. She will know the girls from her school that are there including her bestie Carlee and her friends Aliya and Cambrie she has known since birth. They are having it in a hotel ballroom so it is pretty official. I told Ryan to get lots of pictures of her dancing and having a good time. She looked very pretty tonight. He asked her if she wanted to go to dinner first. She of course was all for it and said Pizza Street was her choice (bottom of the barrel pizza buffet). Ryan said for a fancy date he had to take her to a little fancier place and convinced her to do Pie Five instead (made to order, fresh ingredients pizza place). Then it was off to dance the night away and when dad is all danced out he plans to end the evening with an extra big ice cream dessert.

I am really glad she wanted to do girl scouts. They have had a lot of fun activities together that help fill her social needs. Last weekend and this weekend she is helping with a cookie booth. Who knew standing in front of a grocery store selling girl scout cookies for 1-2 hours is a fun time!?

This is a bit of a tangent but I really love that we have been here in the same area since Matthew was two. It is fun to be somewhere so long that you start to have connections and people you see as you are just out walking around. Whether it is running into someone from the gym at the grocery store or Matthew’s school teacher buying cookies from Alli’s cookie booth, or knowing someone that used to be in your ward at church when you take your kids to their gymnastic class. I just like that I feel connected and so familiar with where I live, roots I guess is a good way to sum it up. Moving around a lot growing up I never really felt that. I like that my kids point out places as we drive by that they remember going to so and so’s birthday party years ago, or going to play at the park and seeing a friend you used to go to dance class with. Matthew runs into a lot of his friends from his old school when he is playing sports too. Its fun.

House Rededication

At our last Stake Conference the Stake President gave a nice talk about our homes and comparing them to the temple. He asked every family to have a family home evenings and write down a dedication prayer for our homes and dedicate them, or rededicate them if we had already dedicated them. Then keep it somewhere we can read it occasionally. We have always dedicated our home when we first move in. We have never wrote the dedication prayer ahead of time and I never thought about rededicating it either. It makes sense though, they rededicate temples sometimes too. We read a couple of temple dedication prayers with the kids and we worked on it for a few weeks for part of FHE, everyone gave their input and we rededicated our home last week.

Dear Father in Heaven, we thank thee for this opportunity to kneel together as a family and rededicate our home to thee.

We thank thee for this country and the freedom to worship thee. We are thankful for the temples we have on earth to attend and make covenants with thee. We are grateful for the holiness and the blessings and peace the temple brings to our lives. We are thankful for the Book of Mormon and the Bible and the opportunity we have to study and apply it to our lives. We are thankful for our living Prophet and the guidance and direction he gives us from thee. Father we thank thee for this beautiful home we have been blessed with. We thank thee for the many necessities and comforts and safety it provides for us from the outside world.

At this time we would like to rededicate our home to thee, to remind us of the sanctuary we have been given here on earth. A place to always feel thy love and thy spirit. We ask thee to bless our home and help us have the same spirit of peace we find in the temple, in our home. Please bless us to remember the Savior and emulate him and foster a spirit of peace and happiness and love. We ask thee to help us remember and treat all those within the walls of our home with respect and appreciation for each others individuals talents and personalities. Help each of us to know and understand our worth as a child of God and help us to see that worth in each other. We are blessed with many talents. Help each of us to encourage and support each other as we strive to develop and discover our talents.

Please bless that we will have a spirit of holiness prevail in every room of our home and shield us from selfishness and sin. Help us to focus on each others strengths and be forgiving of our weaknesses. We ask that each of us and all those that enter our home will feel loved and appreciated and know they are welcome. Please help us to emulate the Savior in our home so that our family and guests can feel the joy the gospel brings to our lives.

We ask that our home be a place to foster our testimonies and help them to grow and solidify. Please bless us with the desire to read our scriptures together and individually and to participate in family and individual prayer. We ask thee to help us desire and remember to have family home evening together, and attend church and other meetings, attend the temple, fulfill our calling and all other activities to strengthen each of our testimonies as we strive to return to thee and be an eternal family. Father, we ask thee to protect our home and those in it from negative influences. Please bless each of us with safety and to feel safe in our home.

We thank thee and ask thee for these blessings at this time. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Pre-Spring Break Break.

Today was the third day in a row I have received a call before six in the morning saying school is canceled due to inclement weather. This is a picture of the ‘inclement weather.’ When did we get so wimpy Kansas! It is cold, and we have had some ice, but the roads are dandy. My kids have been out of school for a week now (parent teacher conferences…President Day…three snow days). My kids have been loving the bonus spring break. Ryan and I have both worked this week so it has been a little tricky figuring out who can watch our kids last minute. Luckily we have awesome Aunt Lauren to help us out in a pinch. It is looking like there should be no reason to cancel tomorrow but I thought that the last two days. Fingers crossed!

Last weekend was the final basketball tournament games for Matthew’s season. We wanted to keep him busy through the off season for baseball so we just signed him up through the city of Olathe sports. His friend Finn ended up on the same team. The first practice looked a little rough but they had a great coach and they did really good. Their end of season record was 7-1. They were the winners for their division, and were bumped up to the next division for the tournament. The trophies they are holding are for winning their division. They won the first game but lost the second game of the tournament. Matthew played pretty good. He is great at the steal and break away for a layup because he is so fast. He made a few threes too. He needs to work on his dribbling so he is more comfortable with his left dribble but he had a good, fun season.

Emilee is finished with her three basketball practices and has had her first two games. The first game she would run down and shoot the ball if she got it on offense, but when it was time for defense her and Reese went and SAT against the wall until it was time to run down the court again. Game two was better. She stayed on the court and held her hands up wherever she was whether she was standing by someone or not. We have been working on dribbling this week for her last game. I love watching little kids play sports. It is so ridiculous if you sit back and take in the whole scene but it is a lot of fun for them. She is so proud of herself when she is done.

Alli's famous

A few years ago Ryan had Allison come to his work and take some pictures for some brochures they were making and other advertising stuff. They just redid some of it and added a video on their Facebook page. The last part ends with this picture. We showed Alli the video and I said, “Look Alli, you’re famous!” to which she replied in her best ‘mom you just don’t get it voice’, “Ya, I’ve been famous for years.” I hope she holds on to that confidence.

Ryan and I went on a group date with some of our friends to an Escape Room this last weekend. We have done it once before a while ago. It is a fun time. The room had a 34% pass pass rate and we were able to figure it out before our time ran out. That made us all feel smart. Then we all went to KC Joe’s BBQ and had some delicious BBQ. I am becoming a BBQ snob, which is easy to do in a city known for its BBQ. It is probably my favorite type of food too now.

Conferences and the violin play off.

Last week was parent teacher conference time again. I met with each of the kids teachers and their music teacher.

Alli’s teacher is on maternity leave so she has had a long term sub for the last six weeks with three more to go. Her regular teacher is nice but Alli seems to click with her substitute a little more. Her name is Mrs Hathaway but she goes by Mrs Happy. She is a boisterous person with a large personality which fits Alli well. The first thing she said to me is when I walked in was, “Hi Sugar! Your Alli is a little spit fire, she doesn’t take any guff from anyone, and I love her for it. She is a future leader.” I was expecting a bear hug the way she was approaching me but instead got a hand shake and a hand on the shoulder. We talked for about 40 minutes and I am glad Alli has the opportunity to have her for a few more weeks. She is kind of like Alli’s own Mary Poppins. Mrs Happy has noticed and seems more aware of Alli’s traits and strengths and weaknesses more than any other teacher she has ever had, and she has been actively focusing on her to help her improve. Alli is doing well in school. The two biggest areas she struggles is her spelling tests and the comprehension portions of her reading tests. Mostly for lack of effort and rushing. Mrs. Happy has made an effort to call Alli out and give her strategies and processes to improve in those areas. After some eye rolls from Alli (sigh) and some of Mrs. Happy’s own ‘no guff policy’, Alli has improved steadily in both areas the past few weeks. She seems to be more willing to do her homework too. Mrs, Happy also pointed out she loves Alli’s friendship with her new best friend this year named Carly. She described them as serious, no drama, solid foundation, riding the same wave length friends. They are quite a pair, and they seem to get each other. I am proud of how hard Alli works at school and the effort she puts into her work. I agree with her teacher. She is a born leader and she is a force to be reckoned with. She has amazing potential, Ryan and I just hope and pray we can help her channel it in the right direction.

Matthew’s teacher said he is doing really well too. Matthew really spoils me when it comes to school. He has always been good at getting his homework done and turned in without being asked. He is pretty self sufficient with everything and responsible. I’m crossing my fingers that his organization and self motivation will continue and be a permanent trait. Math is one of his best subjects, he says he doesn’t like it but I think he does. He is getting a little streak of the beginnings of a teenage boy silliness and cockiness but he is a good kid. I can count on one hand the number of times he has forgotten an assignment since he started kindergarten and he has never just not done it. Than remains true for this year too, until orchestra.

This year HE decided that he wanted to be in the orchestra and picked the violin to play. He has orchestra twice a week for a half hour. This makes the progression through lessons fairly slow. The first semester was a little ridiculous, over the course of four months they learned six notes and were supposed to pluck them (they don’t learn the bow until after Christmas) for 100 minutes a week. ‘Mind numbing boringness’ is what Matthew called it, and I couldn’t blame him. As a result he became pretty lax with his practicing and I let him. After Christmas they started learning the bow and a few more notes and playing more songs. After some reminding, nagging, prodding, incentivizing and more nagging his practicing habits stayed pretty much the same as first semester. So by the time conferences came around last week he had a nice F for his music grade.

When he told me about his F he said it with the attitude of that was just how it was and it was out of his hands. I asked him how much he had been practicing and he said, “A lot its just to hard .” The ‘just bad at it’ excuse. I told him he was full of crap and all he needed to do was practice consistently and he would get better. His grade was a result of his lack of practice not his inability. Then to prove my point I challenged him to a violin play off. Basically I spent about half an hour learning how to play ‘Twinkle Little Star’ on the violin, then we went in another room where no one could see us and each of us played it without telling those who were listening who was playing. The results… Ryan, Alli, Emilee, and his friend Carson could not tell who was who. Matthew was a little embarrassed to be bested or at least matched by his mom who until thirty minutes before had never touched a violin and decided he would put more effort into practicing. He now has a B in orchestra.

The hand bells are back!

About four years ago I asked for a set of hand bells for Christmas. I can’t remember what started the idea but I got it in my head that our family could be a little bell playing family. It could be a fun little hobby all of us could do together. Who doesn’t like to add to their list of unique and quirky talents right?! So I got some bells and after about ten minutes of trying to get my kids to follow any type of instruction with them I put them back in the bag and hid them in my closet before me and every other adult within hearing range went crazy.

Later that same year we went to Florida for a Jones family get together. My parents asked everyone to share a talent for part of our family home evening together. I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to try our bells again so we practiced an easy song like Twinkle Twinkle Little Star a for a few weeks before. It was a little rough but I didn’t think it was to bad. We took the bells with us to Florida and when it was our turn to perform we did…and it was awful. You couldn’t even tell what song it was. Everyone was nice and clapped and we moved on. I decided that we weren’t quite ready to be the Terry Bell Band…yet.

Fast forward four years to about a week before Valentine’s Day. I decided to try again! So I got out the bells and found a few songs to play and we practiced. It was much better! We decided to play the ‘Happy Birthday’ song but sing ‘Happy Valentine’s’ instead and record it and send it to our Grandmas and Grandpas for Valentines. It was still a little rocky but after practicing a few times each day for a few days it sounded pretty good. On Valentine’s Day we decided to record it. The first few times did not go well. Twenty plus tries later it was going even worse. We decided to play it one more time and record it and send whatever we got. We did and once again, it was pretty bad. We must have stage fright issues…or general listening skill issues. 🙂 We still sent it and the Grandmas and Grandpas were very generous with their praises. My ears are ready for a break again so I think I will put the bells away and hopefully in another year or two we will be able to really start the Terry Family Bell Band. 🙂

The video below is one of our attempts, Ryan was at work but Emilee’s friend Reese was here so she filled in for him. Notice how Emilee just rings her bell through the whole song whenever she feels like it. Lol!

Bell Band Beginnings

Valentine’s is coming…

Aaahhh Valentine’s Day… I have mixed emotions about this holiday. Sometimes I get into it and it is fun, other years it is more of a hassle. This year I have been a little more into it.

For the kids I usually get them a little stuffed animal or something. My kids LOVE stuffed animals. They are going to take over our house someday. It really is something all three of them like though so it works well.

This year I am doing something fun that they have really liked. Each day I leave a little note with a treat or gift for them to find in the morning. I started on the 1st and the last one will be the 14th. Some of the favorites have been a balloon that says pop me on it with a note inside, or ones that have a cheesy note, like ‘I love you smartie pants’ with some Smarties.

This is the last weekend before Valentine’s Day so it has been full of Valentine festivities for the kids getting ready for the party coming up this week for school. They can make a box for their valentine cards and bring it if they want and then of course making the Valentine’s for each person. It made me chuckle how each kiddo did their stuff.

Emilee got an appropriate size bag to color and decorate with stickers and had fun sticking the candy on each card for her preschool friends. Took about half an hour.

Alli made a robot that opens it mouth to receive her cards. It is made from three cereal boxes, four 2 liter bottles, all covered with tin foil then colored to look like different colors of slime because it says “I love slime” all over it. She has been working on it for three days and still has some finishing touches. She also spent a few hours making her valentines and organizing them and checking and rechecking her list.

Matthew asked to have little individual bags of Skittles which he wrote ‘from Matthew’ on each one then put them in a plastic grocery sack which he said can also be his ‘box’. Took him a total of maybe five minutes.

Side note. In fifth grade I remember spending lots of time wondering and thinking about the perfect card for each boy. I stressed about the ‘meaning behind’ each one and wanted it to be very clear that I didn’t like them, or if I did like them then I had to make it obvious but not to obvious. Then after everyone handed them out at school I would come home and poor over the Valentine’s from the boys and try and figure out which ones were sending me a hidden message that they liked me. Haha! I now know that these boys (if they were anything like my boy) spent about two seconds doing their cards and had no idea that this was serious business and I would be agonizing over them wondering what they meant by giving me the one that said “you are the best!’ on it.

Ryan and I usually keep it simple and plan a date somewhere close to the 14th and have a nice evening together. The last few years I have also given him a homemade thoughtful, sweet, but slightly cheesy gift. For example one year I made a little book with a picture of us from each year we had been married and decorated it over the top with hearts and glitter and flowers. One year I hooked a deck of cards together with an o-ring and mod podged a different reason I love him on each card. Another year I made a picture collage with pictures from the last 15 years we have been married. He is getting a nice little collection for his dresser. 🙂 Ryan always makes sure I get a yummy supply of dark chocolate too, which I am already looking forward to.