Winding Up

The end of the school year is always crazy busy, isn't it? Why does this continue to surprise me? And why do I insist on adding projects like building a swing set to our already jam packed schedule? Yeah, yeah, you're right: I'm not really building the swing set. Forrest is, kind of against his will but without any noticeable attitude. But I've been staining it, and standing there holding giant pieces of wood while he drills them at what-the-level-says-is-a-90-degree-angle-but-somehow-isn't-quite. We're getting there on the swing set, though, and once it's up Wyatt (and Mom) will be so happy. And so will Forrest. Because it will be finished.

One fun event last week was Wyatt's end of the year program for preschool. (I can't believe his first year is already over. He's convinced he's going to kindergarten in the fall and looks crestfallen when I remind him that he has one more year.) Here he is, most decidedly not crestfallen:

And a few more preschool program shots, followed by a video shot by Mr. Jonas, videographer extraordinaire. (Forrest and the other two kids were at a YM/YW hike that Forrest couldn't miss since he was in charge.)

Wyatt's part, as one of the non-graduating first year students, was that of "child." Next year he'll get a more substantial role, speaking and costume-wise, which will be fun, but also more stressful for me since I'll have to figure out how to make, say, a chicken costume, rather than put him in a polo shirt.

Singing "The 12 Eggs of Easter."

Nobody cuter.

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? as presented by Mrs. Hulse's M/W/F class:



I also got some good video from Elise's performance as Glenda in her middle school's production of "The Wizard of Weird," a one act Wizard of Oz / Shakespeare mash-up.  Elise is portraying the lovely and slightly snotty version of Glenda. (It's what the script required!) She did just great:




Here she is afterward with flowers and brothers. No Ethan, though. He had a play practice of his own to attend. He's performing in his high school's "chamber theater"--tonight in fact. Juniors and seniors wrote the scripts and also serve as directors for a bunch of short plays. Should be fun to go watch. So many thespians in this family! Oh, and Ethan did go see Elise's play the next day and was very supportive, at least as far as Elise's performance was concerned. He did enjoy complaining about the play's script, though. I didn't start compulsively critiquing poor script writing until I was at least 22. Isn't that unfortunate pastime one only adults should have to a. endure and b. inflict on others?  What have I created? (Actually, I thought the script was just fine. A little snarky, a little convoluted, a little predictable, but it is a one act play for middle schoolers, after all.)

Also, on a more serious and important note, my Grandma Ranquist passed away a few days ago. Especially during my childhood, her support, encouragement, and unflagging belief in me made an incalculable impression in my life. I love you, Grandma, and I'll miss you, but it also thrills my heart to think of where you are.  All those joyous reunions! You lived a wonderful life, and I'm so proud to be your granddaughter.

Ten Things, With Restraint

Bloggable items have been backing up at the Hallstrom house, so I figured it was time to do one of my mega-posts where I hit on each one and get all caught up. The problem with such posts (yes, I realize!) is that they get a touch lengthy. I do go on. So, in the service of both brevity and courtesy, I will limit myself to three sentences worth of commentary on each of the following ten items. (Okay, so I'll try to keep said sentences from reaching Virginia Woolfish lengths.) Pictures, of course, don't count against my limit, since everybody loves pictures, right?

1. Spring

After enduring a particularly brutal Minnesota winter, we deserve the gloriousness of a Minnesota spring. These pictures were taken along the street running past our neighborhood as well as the trail I take around Carver Lake while I go on my bike rides. Much better than the path I was taking last year along 114th South during construction, yes?

2. Jonas Sings the National Anthem at a Twins Game (okay, so Jonas and a bunch of other kids, but still).

Jonas's elementary school choir got to sing the National Anthem at a Twins game last weekend and he loved it. Only four tickets per family were allowed at the discounted elementary school price, so Forrest took the three older kids while I took Wyatt to go see Rio (lame--disappointing--no, parenthetical asides do not count as separate sentences--ha!). These are cell phone camera pics and Forrest didn't snap any of the choir actually performing, but you get the flavor.

Fancy, brand new Target stadium. And no, captions don't count either.

It was a chilly night and the Twins only got one hit. Still fun though (I'm told.)

3. You're 40! Let's Go Hang Out With Old People and Listen to Bell Choirs!

For Forrest's 40th birthday I bought tickets to go see A Prairie Home Companion live. The seats weren't so great (waaaaaaaay up in the back of the balcony), and, yeah, I realize I can't comment on the irony of hanging out with old people for much longer. But I truly enjoyed the bell choir, and the women's chorus from St. Olaf University, and the blues guitarists from Somewhere Down South, and listening to Garrison Keillor rattle off his tales from Lake Woebegone--and so did Forrest, which is a good thing since it was his birthday gift.

Very bad cell phone pic, but again, you get the flavor. At least a blurry hint of it.

4. Are You Ready For Some Baseball? A Tuesday Night Party? (Sung to the tune of "Are You Ready For Some Football?" of course.) 

After a dash of hemming and a pinch of hawing, Jonas decided to play baseball again this year. I've been enjoying it so far--especially because it doesn't feel nearly as intense as Bingham Baseball did (the really serious kids all join the traveling teams and don't do Little League), and we have a good coach. Forrest is helping out as an assistant when he's in town and Jonas is getting the opportunity to play lots of different positions.

First base

Good eye!

5. Ethan the Student

For the first time in Ethan's life, I feel like he's been challenged at school. This year hasn't been easy--he's had an AP geography class, honors English, and an accelerated biology class with a bunch of 10th and 11th graders. He's doing great, though, and spent hours and hours last week studying for the AP exam, on which I'm sure he performed admirably (but we'll know for sure when the scores come in the mail this summer--remember the feeling of anticipating those envelopes??)

6. Going Outside in Fast Shoes

Wyatt has been very excited about two developments lately: going outside to play, and the chance to wear his new tennis shoes, which have red stripes on the back, feel "cushy" and are "super fast." He's picked me two bouquets of flowers so far this spring--one was neighbor's yard dandelions (see above), and the other was neighbor's yard petunias (whoops!). Hey--that was only two sentences!

7. Glenda! Fabulous!

Such a beautiful Good Witch.

Elise is playing Glenda the Good Witch in Lake Middle School's one act play. She's been working hard at rehearsals every day after school and gets the chance to perform this weekend (I'll post a rundown next week). The costume lady toiled over Elise's dress and it ended up being, hands down, the most fabulous costume in the entire cast, which has been understandably thrilling.

Elise's cast had a "picture day" for parents yesterday. This is the entire cast.

Elise, Dorothy and Toto

When it was time for solo shots, Elise worked the camera admirably, in a Good Witchy sort of way.

Yes, Shakespeare is also in this play, as well as Army guys and Rozencrantz and Guildenstern

8. My Hair (Sigh)

So, as anyone who has access to my Mountain America account can attest, I'm not exactly thrifty, but I'm not what you'd call a big spender, either . . . which means that I often make financially middle-of-the-road decisions that wind up biting me in the behind. For example: getting my hair colored at Fantastic Sam's. 90% of the time I save myself around $35 and am sufficiently pleased with the results, but last Saturday? I think my hair is kinda orange. You decide. (Okay, so I went over my sentence allotment! You could sue me, but I don't have any money in my Mountain America account.)

 

Wyatt took this picture, and not only does it offer the benefit of reducing any appearance of a double chin, but it gives viewers a good visual of my roots, which are more orangey than the ends of my hair.

9. Current Events

Jon Hunstman: Not so much with the "True blue, through and through" then? Donald Trump: Hooray, now go away forever please (I know you won't). Arnold: It was bad enough before I found out the love child was born the same week as your youngest with Maria.


10. Sleeping In

I'm going to have to enjoy it this summer because, well, more on that later. After this Sunday, probably. (Most of you already know what I'm talking about but I figure I'd better be officially cryptic, just in case one of the nine people who reads this blog reports me to my bishop. :-).

And now I need to go pick Wyatt up off the floor where he's been sleeping for the past 45 minutes. That boy loves to sleep.

Karaoke Night + Mormons = Mother's Day Hangover (Non-alcoholic)

So Forrest was gone all last week, cavorting around in Mexico again, but we ended the week with a bang: karaoke and Mother's Day! (What, don't those two go together like peanut butter and jelly?) Some friends in the ward bid on a karaoke party during a ward fund raiser, so they were the official "hosts," but our house had a layout more amenable to embarrassing-oneself-without-the-aid-of-intoxicants, so we offered up our place.

And, voila! Middle-aged Mormon party time:

The spread. And Forrest doing (virgin) margarita duty.

I am pleased to say that the very nice man on the right is our Stake President. He is singing Meatloaf, and I now have leverage in case of emergency (e.g. stake camp director calling, etc. etc.)

Forrest singing as well as busting some kind of a move, and our friend Carter whose red-eye reduction, courtesy of iPhoto, makes him look much spookier than he is in real life. Which is to say, not spooky at all.

Behold, the beautiful blond Mormon woman does not reside in South Jordan alone. Yay, verily, her glory spreadeth throughout the globe, even unto the outer reaches of Washington County. (To add insult to injury, these beautiful blond Mormon women are also very fun, and nice, and smart, and kind, so, you know. I like them anyway. Lots.)

With feeling.

The girls, snapping, swaying, and singing simultaneously. It was late. We'd loosened up.

The guys. Not as much snapping and swaying, but still, an excellent effort.

I'm thinking the enunciation of the letter P had something to do with this photo.

I had to include this shot because I'm pretty sure Brooke was doing some kind of hula at the time.

We had a great time and the evening wrapped up at a reasonable hour. We all had to get to church the next morning and extol the virtues of fairer sex after all! I had a lovely morning, which included breakfast in bed--my favorite--and the receipt of a new bike helmet to commemorate my maternity.  (I'm going to love biking in MN. The trails! The birds singing! The squirrels scampering! The hawks swooping! Beats the YMCA any day of the week.)

My favorite part of our church service was when a nice 14-year-old boy read a quote that included the line "the annals of motherhood," which he pronounced "the anals of motherhood." Is it bad to admit that was my favorite part of church? The other talk was really good, too--given, actually, but the beautiful blonde hula dancer above. She even worked in a reference to the party itself, equating motherhood with sober karaoke singing, e.g. it's harder than it looks.

That night we had dinner with our new Wilkey relatives (short version: Darrin's older sister's oldest daughter who's been living with her husband and 4 kids in Chile for the past 5 years has just moved to MN, currently residing in the very same temp housing we lived in when we first got here last summer while they find a house to buy.) We were so happy to have them over; it made Mother's Day even more fun.  And Forrest whipped up a delicious dinner: pork loin, greek salad, more quinoa (this time with feta and dried cranberries--thanks for the delicious recipe Mindy!), funeral potatoes, and banana cake with cream cheese frosting.

All in all a most excellent weekend. We did miss telling our Moms--you know, the Barbaras--Happy Mother's Day in person, and hope they had an excellent weekend as well.