Entertainment for Saturday!

I have been spending this week in Nashville, TN at the Sweet Adeline International Competition and convention. I'm singing with Mountain Jubilee Chorus. We first performed on Thursday afternoon, and we sang so well in the competition that we are one of the top 10 chorus finalists!!!! The finals take place tomorrow, Saturday 10/24 starting at 3 pm. Our chorus got picked randomly to sing last. I think we'll be on stage about 6:45 pm CST. (Of course it could be later, but I don't know.) If you want, you can check out the free web-cast of the contest here: http://www.sweetadelineintl.org/webcast.cfm

And in case you don't remember what I look like in full stage make-up, here is a picture.

me, Aunt Noelle and my mom

Jedi Training Academy

All Star Wars fans will appreciate the coolness of this attraction at Disney's Hollywood Studios. Several times a day they hold a Jedi Training Academy right outside of StarTours. (I thought it was so cool, I sat through it 2 times!) My nephew, Tegan got picked to be a part of the academy and Roderic watched the end of that and thought it was so cool, he wanted to be in the next one. We lined up for the next 'show' and Sabrina got picked. Not Roderic. He was happy for his sister, but disappointed, so we coached him during lunch and he got picked at the next one!

After a 10 or so minute training session with real practice light sabers, where they learned how to activate the weapon, deactivate the weapon and perform a cool series of moves with the weapon, they had to face the dark side!

Darth Vader came out. While he was strutting around the stage, Hyrum waved at him smiling and Darth Vader looked at him and shook his head.

Sabrina's shining moment.


Roderic's shining moment.

Happily, neither of them succumbed to the dark side and we're going to continue to remind Roderic that to follow the force and resist the dark side in real life, he has to control his aggression.

Roderic and Math

Last night I drove carpool to soccer practice. Three 10-year old girls were in the back of the van talking about stuff (loose teeth, how much the tooth fairy should give per tooth, things that make them queasy, etc.)

Roderic decided that it was getting too noisy back there and he said, "It's time for math. It is too noisy. What is 5+5?"
Girls reply, "10"
Roderic "1+1?"
Girls laughing questioningly, "2"
Roderic "16+7?"
Girls still laughing, "23"
Hyrum, "Why are they laughing?"
Mom, "Because they think he is the cutest 5 year old boy they have ever come across!"
Roderic, "What is 6+1?"
Girls, "7"

And it continued until they got to practice...

DisneyWorld, part 1

My sister planned a family vacation to DisneyWorld. We went last week. Disney was offering free dining if you stayed at one of their resorts and we took them up on that offer. We flew on JetBlue buddy passes. We spent less money than we budgeted for the trip! That right there is success. The kids had fun and we had fun watching them have fun.

Unfortunately, we have come down with the flu and when I say we, I mean the WHOLE FAMILY! Ryan started it off on Saturday as we were checking out of the hotel and it has been slowly making the rounds through the family. I believe Sabrina is well enough for school tomorrow, but not Roderic. Hyrum started a fever tonight. I'm next. So this post is going to have to suffice until I feel a lot better.

And I have good things to talk about! Character meetings, Jedi Training Academy, Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular, Grand Gatherings, puke on airplanes, cameras breaking, Orlando Temple. Stay tuned.

Traumatized

On Saturday, we decided to make a practice bike ride to school. We went with our neighbors because I'll be riding in the mornings with the kids (Roderic goes to Kindergarten!). On our way to the school, the neighbor girl fell down and scraped up her leg. We kept pressing forward - after a break to rest and reassure the 6 year old - and thought it would be a good idea to put a first aid kit on my bicycle. We played for a while on the toys at the elementary school and then got ready to return home. On the ride home, Sabrina fell down, after making a sharp turn. She scraped up her knee - even put a hole in the capris that I made. We rested again for a while. She complained that both of her arms felt weak and they were shaking. She didn't think that she could make it home, but she did. After we were home and ate a ice cream popsicle, she still complained of her right arm. I wondered if it was broken -
she broke this arm when she was 4 while getting off of a friend's trampoline - but nothing was obvious. No swelling, no bruising, no bones sticking out. I wrapped it in an ace bandage and she said that it felt a bit better. I convinced Ryan that there was no need for us to take her to the ER because she wasn't in dire pain. We kept her arm wrapped Sunday and Monday. After school, she said that it had hurt to write and color. Tuesday afternoon I got an appointment for her to see the Dr. When I picked her up from school to go to the Dr., I asked her how her arm was and she said it wasn't so bad. I wondered why I was taking her to the Dr.

We waited for the Dr. for quite a while. Let's just say that waiting in the exam room for a half an hour at 3 pm with 2 young boys was not a joy. The Dr. looked at her arm asked her where it hurt and poked and prodded her arm. Then he ordered an x-ray. The x-ray came back and he stared at it for several minutes, then he came over to Sabrina and poked and prodded her arm and asked if what he was doing hurt. He repeated this 3 times. Then the diagnosis:


A "Green Tree" fracture. Meaning that the exterior of her bone is intact but the interior is broken. She gets to wear a splint for the next 2 weeks, after which time she should be healed. Ouch. I asked about soccer, violin and bike riding. The Dr. says that she can do anything that doesn't hurt. So she'll play soccer, but not goalie. It hurts her to hold the violin bow, so she's taking a break from lessons this month. The splint impedes her holding onto the bike handle, so she'll be riding her scooter to school for the next week and a half. We'll see what else she has troubles with.

While we were at the Dr., I asked about Roderic getting the remainder of his shots for kindergarten. The wait was agonizing for him! He received 3 in his thighs. The nurse and the doctor gave him Laffy Taffy for the pain. Then we stopped for ice cream cones on the way home. He is still complaining that his thighs hurt.

They're trying to SINK me!

I signed up Sabrina and Roderic for swimming lessons at BSU this summer on the recommendation from a few friends. Roderic was placed in level 1, which was good for him. He was so stiff, wouldn't do "bobs", tried to have a death grip on his teachers when they were working with him, etc. After the second day, he came home saying, "They're trying to sink me!" His teachers called him "Roady" - a nickname Roderic liked, but only coming from them. I am not EVER supposed to call him that. By the end of the 3 weeks, he did "bobs" at the start of the lessons, and wasn't nearly as stiff when the teachers would help him float and do strokes.

Sabrina was in level 4. She worked on several strokes: freestyle, backstroke, breast stroke, sidestroke. She improved a lot over the 3 weeks of lessons. She would still like to work on her dive, and butterfly stroke (they only did that one on the last day). She said it was a lot of fun to play water polo on the last day of class.




We'll be doing lessons from them again next year, for sure!

Sew Fun

Sabrina needed a new dress. We picked out fabric and made it. Unfortunately, the size I made for her is a bit on the small side. In fact, I discovered that it would not be possible for her to be able to put it on if I sewed the sleeves, so it's sleeveless. And, it is short - knee length. Needless to say, we'll be passing it on to some friends soon. (We've already purchased some new fabric to make the larger size.)