Narnia Strikes Out, Tiger Eye, Breakin’ Free, Clapping, Humungalous,

We had a Narnia birthday party all set up for Solomon’s 8^th birthday. ALL his friends forgot. So we went bowling as a family. I was relieved when he told Theron, “I’ll have to tell my friends I’m glad they forgot, I got to go bowling and I’ll still have a birthday party” (we’re going to make another try a different day). Whew, no emotional scarring (when he’d been staring out the window, straining to see a car for 45 minutes, I was getting worried).

We had two talent shows this week. That was not a typo. Mandy had her school talent show and the next evening was our church talent show. Mandy and her friend Erika Adams did a rockin’ dance to Eye of the Tiger. See the video below for their 2 minute performance. Their extreme 80’s outfits were like, totally awesome dude. She slathered on the green eyeshadow and the blush and said, “Mom, why did they dress up like dolls in the 80’s?”

Adam, Solomon and I sang “Breakin’ Free” from High School Musical 1. We almost had a poster calling it “Home School Musical,” but didn’t get to it. They did a great job. Solomon even added some surprise moves (we had to bribe them with Dairy Queen blizzards in order to get them to perform this year). Click here to see the 3 minute performance.

Baby Matthew can now clap. It’s soooo cute. If you hold out your hand, most of the time he will ‘give you five.’ And he’s only 9 months. Genius child.

Last newsletter I mentioned that Seth likes clouds. Yesterday he said, “Look at that cumulo-nimbus cloud. It’s humugalous.” Maybe there’s a weatherman in his future career…his made up words would certainly liven up the news.

Status King passed 10,000 users this week! It's moving along...

Minotaur cake, tow truck mud, Clouds, Big Foot, Texas, Status King, Happiness

A had a Narnia birthday party. Click here to see more photos. Hubby made a minotaur cake that was outstanding! M was the white witch and we even had a lamppost (thanks to my Mom’s collection of wedding reception stuff—thx MOM!). We’re doing it again on Saturday for SL, who also wanted a Narnia birthday party (he’s turning 8)

A tow truck came to our house to take our red minivan to the mechanic’s. We’re getting everything fixed on it so we can sell it (since we’ve outgrown it). The children gathered around to watch Carl the tow man work his equipment. E came running out of the house in M’s boots, and she tripped and fell flat out in deep mud. She stood up, dripping in mud, crying. Carl took a clean towel out of his truck, I wrapped her in it and she got to push the levers to lift the car up on the truck. The boys wished they’d had the foresight to trip too.

I was teaching a short segment on lightning. I happened to turn the page of the weather book to a section on clouds—and suddenly we were talking about the differences between cirrus and cumulous clouds. All week when we’re driving around the kids look at the clouds. Hearing ST say, “Look at the cumulous-nimbus. It’s Huge,” makes me laugh every time. Sometimes a lesson really sticks.

A and SL went on a cub scout hike. Click here to see more photos. They hiked the Gin Lin trail, and then went to visit a famous (around these parts) Big Foot Trap. It no longer traps Big Foots (big feet?) but it collects tourists. Whether it was successful at trapping Big Foot or not, depends on which “local” you talk to…

ST is into geography right now. We have a states puzzle he can put together really fast. When we had a brother of the ward helping my in-laws move in, ST brought down a map and was firing geography questions at him. His favorite questions involve Texas (Is Texas bigger than Alaska?). He’d like to believe Texas is the biggest state, since most maps don’t draw Alaska to scale, but he knows the truth and will ask you. Now you are forewarned.

A got Legos for his birthday. He’s been in his room setting up armies who battle it (out with sound effects). Uncle J (18) has been known to join him. Legos are for all ages after all.

SL created a 3 dimensional paper village. It reminds me of the stories of Hubby growing up (he and his brothers created elaborate paper cities and toys with moveable wheels—even paper robots that really transformed into vehicles/dinosaurs). He even made a Welcome sign to his village and stood it up on paper columns.

I’m teaching the Primary children a new song, My Eternal Family. It starts out “I am a builder…” I asked the senior primary to help me make up signs to go along with the song so I could teach it to the junior primary. They made up hand signs more creatively than I would’ve done, and they all got into it—even the 10-11 year old boys. It’s been my most successful way to teach a song yet. And I love the song too.

Status King is such a fun, interesting business to watch evolve. I’ve been learning how to use Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop and between Aunt K and I have prepared lots of Status King t-shirts for the printer. I love to learn new things, and it’s neat to see a status that I laid out in Illustrator show up on a t-shirt. I also started up a Status King blog, collecting the web news about it.

I just read a book that I’m dying to discuss with any of you—someone please read it. It’s called Happiness Is A Choice, by Barry Neil Kaufman. It’s along the lines of Bonds That Make Us Free, but coming from a different perspective. Please read it and we can discuss it! I’ve been trying to apply the ideas in my life. Choosing to be happy no matter what has been a good experience and it reminds me of that Elder Wirthlin’s talk in General Conference Come What May and Love It. It also reminded me of the scripture 2 Nephi 2:25, “Men are that they might have joy.”

Status King-funny Facebook statuses-is Taking Off!

I just figured out how to take screenshots. Do you like the tee I made? Status King is the place for THE funniest Facebook statuses. Although its funny-ness depends entirely on the creativity of the submitters. And as you can see, I was feeling excited about the application, and not feeling super witty.

I was so excited last night about a certain reporter from a national newspaper interviewing my brother in law about Status King, that I could hardly sleep. The interview went well this morning. I'll post a link and complete information when the article surfaces, but until then I have to be mysterious!

On February 4th we got picked up by Mashable and the article made the top ten for the week

Then another Mashable article referred to Status King and thanks to both of those--we have this national newspaper interview (WOW) and thousands of new visitors to the app.

I am so excited I can hardly contain it!

Toostie Roll Legend, Piano Ode to Joy, Baby's Facial, Early to Bed, Teach Easy Lessons, Mandy's 80s

My two eldest children keep asking me to do something with their toosie pop wrapper that has a star on it. Supposedly, if you have a toosie pop wrapper with a star, you send it to the Toosie Roll company and they give you a prize. I vaguely remember a similar story circulating when I was a child. But my children are a lot more determined than I was, so I looked it up online. Check out this website for the full story, but just so you know, it’s an urban legend! http://urbanlegends.about.com/od/business/a/tootsie_pop.htm There’s no free ride my dears.

I’m reading the book Power To Save The World, about nuclear power. I’ve been most surprised by the reality of radiation. I thought that radiation came mainly from x-rays and nuclear power plants and bombs. I considered it very dangerous in any amount, and I would be very suspicious of irradiated food. The science and scientists referenced in this book shows my ideas to be unfounded. We are surrounded by low levels of radiation in our natural surroundings—rocks, well water, and our body knows how to deal with it—just keep healing it. And irradiated food doesn’t continue to give off radiation afterwards just like lamps don’t give off light after they’ve been turned off. I’d still wonder about nutritional value of food that’s been irradiated, but I found it eye opening to learn that there’d be no retention of radiation. Another interesting thing—radiation by itself is a weak carcinogen, when it’s on the outside of our bodies. It’s when it’s inside us that it can wreak havoc (or kill our tumors). Scientists found that people who smoke around radiation get cancers when non-smokers don’t—in part because the radiation latches onto the smoke and then is breathed in.

Matthew was eating avocado and he spread it all over his face. It was his first facial.

I went to bed one night at 9:30pm. It felt sooo good the next day, that I went to bed the following night at 9:00pm! I feel so great when I get enough sleep. I just wish it wouldn’t crunch so much into my time with Theron.

I’m starting Teach Your Child To Read in 100 Easy Lessons with Ellie. We’re on the 3^rd lesson and she’s really enjoying it. I hope her interest remains. After 78 lessons with Adam, he just couldn’t stand it anymore (it’s pretty repetitious). But she’s so young, that I think it’s the perfect pace for her.

Mandy is trying out for the Talent Show today. She’s wearing very old fashioned clothing—from the 80’s! She and a friend are dancing to Eye Of The Tiger, and they’re dressed up in the most outrageous interpretation of 80’s clothing. When I get a photo, I’ll upload it.

Every Wednesday for a whopping 4 weeks in a row, I’ve taught my children piano lessons. We go to my parents’ house, the kids watches Magic School Bus except for the child I’m teaching. In 2 hours, I teach five kids their individual piano lesson! I’m hoping that this is sustainable, but the way they’ve latched onto music and practicing it has been soooo great! And the price is certainly right. Solomon and Adam learned how to play a simplified version of Ode to Joy on piano. Their excitement in playing the song was fueled by this Muppet video:

That video is imitated almost every day since, and I caught my children singing Meep Meep to the Ode to Joy tune here: