Teach's Gold Award

I told you yesterday about Princess's Gold Award project. She was awesome! She is so good with the little kids especially...

Since we are on this subject, I thought it might be fun to tell you about Teach's Gold Award project. Like Princess, Teach went through a period when she didn't really like scouts. She would rather hang with her "real" friends than her "scout" friends. But I refused to let her abandon ship, and by the time she was 16 or 17, she began to see the beauty of having even more friends. That's when scouts became at least a little fun (and she wanted the Gold Award on her scholarship applications).

 She was totally entrenched in the Family and Consumer Sciences department at her high school. She was an officer in FCCLA and she also she took child development and design classes, but her favorite by far was working with the preschool. She taught there for two years and eventually became the FACS Sterling Scholar for her school. That is where she really began her teaching career. It is also when she decided that her life dream was to run her own preschool. That is why she got her degree in Elementary Education.

The scouting program top awards (like the Gold Award) have to be developed and planned by the scout. I always encourage my kids to choose projects they really care about because that makes the work so much easier. For Teach it was a natural to start looking for something to do with the preschool.

After a couple of months of searching for just the right project, she taught a lesson on community helpers. She realized that the kids could understand these jobs so much better if they had real costumes and props so they would feel like they really worked that job. And suddenly, she had her project.

After getting approval, she sent out about 50 letters to local businesses and city hall, requesting donations of old uniforms and props. After a couple of weeks she hit the streets to follow up on her letters. She was surprised and pleased with the response. She got firefighter shirts and plastic hats, a chef's costume, scrubs, a Supercuts apron, and various others costume pieces. But the most exciting one was an honest-to-goodness police officer's uniform!

Scout and Sport did a great job showing off all the costumes!

Now she had to fill in the holes to make sure she had what she needed to teach the lesson, but worst of all, someone had to modify adult uniforms to make them fit 3- and 4-year-olds. She tasked me with that job. And I was kind of glad, because if we messed this up, it would be difficult to get replacements. While I was sewing, I donated a few extra hours making little drawstring bags for each individual costume. Then my awesome friend with the vinyl business made labels for each bag.

The preschool kids in the various costumes.

When Teach was finished, she had 15 costumes that included props. She approached my awesome friend and asked her to help make a permanent container for the costumes. That required a trip to the store to find just the right box.

By the time she was finished Teach had invested well over a hundred hours in this project and that didn't include the required badge work. But the day she took in the costumes, the kids were SOOO excited! Her teacher was very pleased and Teach was just totally relieved to finally be done.

I think the best thing Scouting teaches kids is that they CAN set a big goal and make it happen! I just keep telling myself that... and when Princess finishes her project next week, I'll be halfway there.

Us at the Gold Award ceremony

500 Posts and Giveaway

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The Drama Queen has been after me all month to do something special for my 500th post. And for the life of me, I can't think of anything special to write.  I thought about trying to write 500 random facts about my life, but that task seemed totally insurmountable. Then I thought maybe I could just write 50 and that would work. But then I remembered how hard it was to just come up with 11 for that blog award my awesome friends gave me.


So I'm going to do another Tupperware giveaway. It will be a surprise package worth $50.0 (notice I left off that second zero so it looks like 500?) and the rules are easy. Just leave me a comment with your favorite number between 1 and 500. I have already written mine down and if yours is the same, you win! If not, the number closest will win.

Summon all your psychic powers and good luck!


Drama Queen just surprised me with this cute little Pueblo figurine.  It's a mother telling a story to her twelve (yes, twelve!) children as they climb all over her and each other.  (Not that that ever happens around here..)  The figure has a little tag on it that talks about how central story-telling was in the Pueblo culture.  Story-telling has always been part of our family but we've all noticed how much more we've started to remember as we sit down to share. 

That's just one of the things I love about blogging.

(Contest ends at midnight, June 21.) Oh, hey, extra entry if you pass along the Dog Walker's wish for an audience with the President. Tweet it, Facebook it, or post it on your blog...just let me know and then pick a second number. (You can't blame me for trying...)

A Letter to the President

I told you a few days ago about the graduation party we had last Sunday. Well, while we were at the party, the Dog Walker started talking about this awesome trip we are planning to take this summer. We are going to do the church history tour through Nauvoo and then make our way back to New York and Washington DC. It's truly the trip of a lifetime for us and we have been planning it for quite a while.

Anyway, while he was talking about Washington DC, my dear friend asked him if he was going to visit the White House and see the President. At first I think she was teasing him a little, but it shortly turned into a "Really, you should do it!" You know the Dog Walker is a little famous because of the scout thing.

So he has been bugging me about it all week (thanks, Tamra!) so I suggested that if he wanted an audience with the President he'd better write him a letter. So now I'm sharing the letter with you. Do you think it will get us in?

June 7, 2012

Dear President Barack Obama,

My name is [Dog Walker] and I’m from Utah. I am autistic and have been autistic since I was born. You might have heard from the time that I am the Boy Scout who earned all 132 merit badges. The fame I had was really amazing, just to prove to everybody that people with autism can do anything. The fame I had has been going on and on since last September. It’s been the best accomplishment for me in my life.


Throughout life with autism, I haven’t spoke until the age of seven and I have been quoting from movies a lot when I’m by myself, like I have memorized all the quotes from two movies called The Lion King and A Goofy Movie. That is amazing huh? Anyway, back to the rest of my life as being autistic, I’ve been struggling with education in kindergarten and preschool.

Now that I’m out of high school, I’m going to plan to go to college. College might be a little scary at first, but I dealt with the higher moments of school for a while and they were all amazing. I’ll just have to deal with college to see if I can try to get a degree for a good job. Going to college will be the next challenge for me as an autistic person, but that doesn’t stop me from trying to get used to new things in life. I have a whole sash of all of my merit badges that I have passed off and I’m an assistant Cubmaster with my dad.

We are planning to visit Washington DC in July and we would love to see you in the White House. You are the most amazing president of the US. It’s nice writing to you.

Sincerely,

[Dog Walker]

So here's what I want you all to do. Start a campaign to get my awesome son a minute with President Obama. He would be so happy! And maybe then he would really be famous.

One Amazing Daughter

See this beautiful girl? Yeah, you know her as Princess. She is just finishing up her last few days of middle school and today was their awards assembly.

Now I know she is amazing, but it's nice to see everyone else think so too. She earned a special medallion for having all A grades for the entire 3 years and all H citizenship grades for all three years. Out of almost 600 students, there were only 14 that earned that distinction.

Way to go Princess.  You are awesome!

My Graduates

Today was full of awesomeness! You all know that the Drama Queen graduated with her BA today and Teach graduated with hers last week. But my sweetie managed to take some fun pics of the actual commencements and I want to share them with you.

Happy Cinco de Mayo!
Sandy

Drama Queen

She wasn't always a Drama Queen. When she was tiny she definitely had a mind of her own, but she was also quiet and shy. She loved books from the very beginning and they quickly became her best friends. I went to work full-time before she was born, so she spent her babyhood in the arms of someone else during the day. We bought our first home when she was only 2, so she doesn't really remember the unsettled lifestyle. By the time she was 4 we bought our current home and that is where she grew up.

The Drama Queen loved school. She is a life-long learner. Random facts spew from her brain because she never forgets anything. (I'm not like that...I would retain information only long enough to regurgitate it for a test and then discard it.) But the Drama Queen wants to know about everything.

She chose teaching as her profession when she was in elementary school. She adored her 6th grade teacher and when that teacher gave her the part of Kate in Taming of the Shrew, I thought she was crazy! How was my shy, sweet little girl who never said two words to anybody outside her immediate family going to react to being the star of a Shakespearean drama?

Oh, she managed, and she was awesome! With her sponge-like brain, she never had trouble learning lines and her confidence (and her British accent) grew and developed with her character. She was never the same again. The stage had transformed her.

We started looking for acting classes and she tried out for any and all community plays. She was in Oliver, My Fair Lady, and Jane Eyre. But her most stellar performance was as the leading role of the evil witch in Annabelle Broom.

I should get her to publish her resume for you so you can see all the productions she was part of in one way or another. High school was another place she excelled. She became one of the mainstays in the drama department and she appeared in most of their shows.

But she also was busy developing that original love of her life, books. She decided in 8th grade that she wanted to become a New Century scholar. In Utah that means that she would receive a good portion of tuition for her second two years of university work if she completed her Associates Degree before she graduated from high school. Now most kids earn that degree in General Ed from the local community college. They take mostly concurrent enrollment and AP classes with only a few internet classes to fill in the gaps.

Not the Drama Queen. She decided to major in English and she attended many classes on campus. Then she transferred to SUU and because she couldn't pick, she earned a double-major, English and Theater Education. She finished up her degree in December of 2011 when she completed her student teaching, but today is her graduation day.

We are leaving at the crack of dawn so she can pick up her cap and gown before commencement commences. She is an awesome daughter and she is so excited to begin sharing her love of learning with middle or high school-aged kids.

Congrats, Drama Queen! You have worked so hard and we are so proud of you! Love you tons and tons...Mom.

New Bike Helmets

Remember last week when I told you about my kids and the bike helmet slogan? They were on Fox news and it was all so exciting...

Anyway, today was the day for us to claim Sport's prize, a brand spanking new bike helmet for everyone in the family!

It was all supposed to be so easy. The Dog Walker was going to pick up Princess and Prima Donna from the middle school and I was going to check out Sport, Crafty, and Scout early from the elementary school. It was impossible to get all of us there at once, but we were going to do our best. Bossy, the Gym Rat, and Teach were all unavailable, so they only got 11 of us, but that's pretty good for a weekday.

My sweetie came straight from work and met us in the parking lot, then we all headed for the front door of the Salt Lake Valley Health Department, Community Health Services Division. An awesome girl named Kathryn was waiting for us and she walked us back to her desk. She was so cute with Sport, making a big deal of his amazing slogan.

We crowded into her tiny area and the kids were thrilled with the huge pile of helmets spread across the table. They had a purple one for Scout and a toddler one for Baby Doll. Curly was the most excited, his had a huge picture of Spiderman on it and if that weren't enough, it also came with a bell to put on his scooter!


They managed to fit each and every one of us (after they went out to the shed for a few more). They even gave us three for our missing family members. I'm thinking all in all this prize was worth about $300. Not bad for an amazing 8-year-old. Good work, Sport!

Loving Each Other

We had an interesting discussion at lunch today. We had just come home from church and my sweetie had whipped up a huge batch of his famous German pancakes. As usual, we shared our various church lessons with the family. One of the main discussions in our class was about how to teach kids to get along. So now I figure it's time to pour my heart out.

Now I'm not a pro at this by any stretch, but before my sweetie and I were married, I made it very clear to him that there were a few things I didn't want in our home. Being completely smitten, I think he would have agreed to anything, but I didn't want to take any chances.

When we were kids, my parents figured the best way to raise a bunch of Super-Over-Achievers was to put them in constant competition with each other. And I suppose it worked to a certain degree...except that I always came out of everything feeling resentful and like I wasn't good enough. Or if I did come out on top, I was boastful and irritating. This didn't exactly lend itself to a harmonious home environment.

So one of my stipulations as a brand-new bride was that we would never encourage our children to be better than their siblings. I wanted them to help and lift and love each other, and if the Super-Over-Achiever happened, great. If not, oh well.

Now I don't even pretend to know all there is to know about motherhood. In fact, the older I get, the more I realize just how clueless I am. But people comment all the time about how well my kids get along with each other and that's because in everything we do, family is most important.

I don't put up with fighting, name-calling or belittling. If the kids get caught fighting, they are immediately sentenced to do a job together. If they can't work together, they are assigned separate but much harder jobs. Usually they settle their differences pretty quickly.

On our recent trip to Vernal, we were horsing around in the pool at the hotel. The Prima Donna thought it might be fun to dunk Sport. He didn't think so...he came up sputtering and bawling. My sweetie thought she ought to be sentenced to a deck chair for ten minutes. No way! That was too easy. I told her she had to haul Sport around the entire pool on her back three times. She grumbled a little at first, but by the second lap they were laughing and playing and having a good time.

My mantra has always been to preserve the relationship at all costs. Sometimes saying "I'm sorry," can be as hard as saying "Hippopotamus," but those words can make all the difference.

I also encourage my kids to serve each other. In the book "Cheaper by the Dozen," they talk about assigning an older child to a younger child to make sure things happen. I am a great delegator! For a while we had specific olders assigned to specific youngers, but now I like to mix it up so they all get a chance to help each other.

I am constantly on the prowl for problems and broken relationships so I can help the kids repair them. I want their siblings to be their best friends.

How do you keep your kids from fighting?

Teach

I knew Teach was special from the time she was a little girl. Maybe it was her awesome blue eyes or her sparkly white teeth (she just whitened them again!), but I'm pretty sure it is that huge grin you see on her face. It's a rare day that you see a picture of her without one.

Teach is an amazing friend. In elementary school, she won the Kindness Award every year for her willingness to help her fellow students. As a first grader, it was common for her to be at another kid's desk, explaining the assignment or showing them the proper steps. Even at 6, Teach was a natural born teacher.

I'm pretty sure she knew it too. Other than a very brief period when she wanted to be a Vet, she has always wanted to be a teacher. We tease her a little about her "teacher voice," but I love the fact that I can count on her to turn every situation into a learning environment.

She has always been an amazing student. In Middle School she earned all A grades for all three years. Her high school grades were almost as good (darn Mr. Crump!). She followed her teaching dream into the FACS department and signed herself up as a preschool teacher. She worked for two years in the Bingham preschool and daycare. She was chosen to be a Sterling Scholar in that department and she devoted her service hours for her Girl Scout Gold Award to the preschool as well. Yes, Teach was a teacher through and through.

She graduated from Bingham in 2009 with her associate's degree from SLCC tucked in her back pocket. Three years and not one penny in debt later, Teach is graduating from UVU with her Bachelor's Degree in Elementary Education.

I'm so proud of her for following her dream! Happy Graduation Day, Teach. Love you to pieces...Mom

Her Teaching Cohort at UVU

The Traditional High School Musical Jump

A Pair of Jeans - part 3

You knew this story couldn't be over yet...

The Bossman and I eventually became friends, sort of. I worked really hard for him and he paid me crap-tastic wages every other week. Because Christmas got in the way, it took me several months before I finally got my pair of jeans. Yeah, they were awesome! But by then my boyfriend was gone, I turned 15, and I was on the prowl. I discovered that I really kind of liked boys...lots of boys!

About February or March, the Bossman hired a couple of girls from the local college to work the night shift with me. I had graduated from counter help to cook, to night manager in just a few short months. I was good at being in charge, but it was a little strange to be bossing these much older girls around. They didn't seem to mind though and other than the nights I had basketball games and Sundays, I worked pretty much every day. That meant my social life revolved around my job.

LDS missionaries

My parents didn't really love me hanging around with these older girls all the time and they were even more upset when the Bossman hired a guy from the college to help us close up every night. He was nice enough, and it wasn't long before he started walking me home, after all, it was late and I was all by myself since I still wasn't old enough to drive.

He was never really my boyfriend since I liked lots of guys, but I thought that maybe he wanted to be. When he hit the ripe old age of 19, he decided to go on a mission for our church. His home when he wasn't at school was on the other side of the Bossman's home and since I still wasn't old enough to drive, attending his farewell was problematic. Then the Bossman did something totally uncharacteristic! He offered to let me stay at his house with his family on Saturday night and then deliver all of us to the church meeting.

I was surprised when my parents agreed to this scheme, but excited too. The Bossman's daughter, Lisa, and I had never been friends, but I figured that for one night I would be safe. And I was. We sent off the missionary and then life went back to normal. (I have tons more to tell you about Taco Time, but I need to finish the story about this guy.)

I wrote to him for the two years he was on his mission and when I was 17, he returned. I wasn't really expecting anything and I was too young to really start thinking about getting serious, but I thought we might have some fun together since I knew he was coming back to school. I attended his homecoming and he sought me out afterwards. I invited him to come to my house a little later in the week so we could get reacquainted without all the people around.

He showed up right on schedule. We had been such good friends before and during his mission that I was a little put off when he was so stiff and formal with me. He had only been at my house for about 15 minutes when he finally confessed that he had prayed about me and I wasn't the "one" so he didn't see any reason to continue our relationship. Then he left.

I was completely shocked! I was dumped before we even got started.

OK, now you have to use your imagination to fast forward about 5 years. My sweetie and I had been married for about 4 years and Bossy was three or four and the Gym Rat was a baby. I ran into this guy. He was working at Fred Meyer in Logan, many miles from my hometown and a lifetime away from the day I had been so swiftly dumped. It's amazing how a little time and perspective can heal old wounds.

I greeted him warmly and we chatted for a few minutes about our lives and families. It was comfortable, like two old friends just catching up. As we were wrapping up our conversation, he issued an invitation to me and my sweetie to drop by his home. I readily agreed, thinking it might be fun to meet his wife.

We showed up at his apartment as promised. It only took about 5 minutes before I discovered the motive behind his friendliness. He and his new wife were selling Amway...

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Some people just never change.

My Second (and Last!) Beauty Pageant

I've told you plenty of times that I'm a small-town girl. We only had 83 students in my entire graduating class! Our high school was made up of kids from three towns, two a little bigger, and a small one. If you do the math, that meant there were only about 16 girls in my class from my home town.

The year was 1983 and there was incredible pressure on every graduating senior girl to enter the town's beauty pageant. I was still smarting from my recent loss in the Miss United Teenager pageant, so I was not excited to try again.

There were lots of reasons to NOT sign up. First and foremost was the fact that I just didn't look that great in a bathing suit. Second was the humiliation factor...I didn't like losing. Third, and probably the most logical, was the fact that I was so nearly engaged to my sweetie. Winning the pageant meant I had to represent our town at the local parades and other functions. It was a year-long commitment and getting married was not acceptable.

But my friends eventually talked me into giving it a try. Immediately we were celebrities! As contestants our pictures were in the local newspaper. We were given lessons on sitting properly, public speaking, and posture. They even had classes on hair and makeup! It was a pretty good deal since it didn't cost anything.

I know, it's a repeat picture!

When the day finally arrived, the only part I was really dreading was the swimsuit competition. I had a nice new one-piece bathing suit and three-inch heels to wear with it. We had practiced this particular part of the show, but I was still not adequately prepared for the awkwardness of the situation. Thankfully, even though I knew there were several hundred people in the audience, I was blinded by the spotlight and I managed to do my little twirl and pose without falling down.

Then we had the talent portion of the show. I don't think I've ever mentioned that I love to sing other than that I had taken some voice lessons at one time. I belted out Billy Joel's "Piano Man," a song I had performed several times in front of large audiences. I actually love singing in public (or at least I did then...I haven't done it for so long, I'd probably be terrified now), so that part was easy.

The last segment was the evening gown competition. Because there were only about 10 of us (not everyone was as easily persuaded as I was), there were no preliminary cuts. Everyone was in until the winners were announced. After walking the stage (again in my prom dress), we were asked silly questions and then it was time to announce the winners. I felt pretty good and with the eternal optimism of youth, I thought I had a chance.

Once again, I was disappointed to be left out of the winners' circle. Just for fun, I pulled out my old journal and this is what I had to say about it:

                                      May 7, 1983 - Saturday
                                      Well, I didn't win Miss Ephraim, but I guess that
                                       was to be expected. The day was busy and kind of
                                       fun. I wouldn't change anything I did, that's what
                                       hurts., when I feel like I did my best, and I still
                                       didn't make the grade. Oh well, another learning
                                       experience I suppose. I guess it was worth it. I got
                                       some pretty flowers and the shoes and swimsuit
                                        Dad bought for me...

 
Just like a typical teenager, focusing on what's in it for me...But it all worked out OK. On May 23rd I accepted a ring from my sweetie and my life changed drastically. Even a tiara wouldn't have been as sweet as my awesome engagement ring. And I couldn't have worn it nearly as many places...

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Saying No

Some people think I'm a Super-Over-Achiever, some say a masochist, but really it boils down to one simple thing...I have never been any good at getting out the word, "NO!"

I had really been looking forward to getting things a little caught up this weekend. We had the three days and Saturday was without Sleeping Beauty rehearsals or basketball games...or so I thought. It turned out that our Jr. Jazz games were cancelled the previous week for the team I'm coaching. Suddenly we had a Friday night practice and a Saturday morning game with a swim party afterward (arranged by my amazing assistant coach who happens to have a beautiful indoor pool AT HER HOUSE!)

My Calender

So I'm thinking, OK, I still have the rest of Saturday and Monday to get my act together. About Thursday my sweetie suggested that he wanted to visit his mom on Monday and that he needed to help her with some home repairs and the kids wanted to go sledding. So suddenly my Monday was gone. My big projects for the week included getting my stuff together for my tax appointment, helping the Dog Walker finish 4 scholarship applications he's been working on. Make the King costume for the ballet, and make a cake/birthday party for Burrito because all the family was coming over on Sunday.

Suddenly I only had Saturday from about 2:00 until I dropped into bed. That's when the Dog Walker announced that his Young Men's group was going camping from Friday right after school until they got home Saturday evening. Could I please help him get ready?! Oh, and he had to speak in Sacrament meeting at church on Sunday (in front of about 300 people). Could I please help him write his talk? It's on integrity...

To make a long story short, I survived the weekend. I dragged my box of paperwork with me to see my MIL and sorted receipts while visiting. I helped write the talk while my family watched a movie without me and instead of a long overdue nap, I worked on scholarships Sunday after church. After the family all left from the birthday party, I plopped myself down in front of the sewing machine and got the King costume about half made.

Picture Credit:

We got home on Monday about 7:30 and I was feeling like it might work out. My week looked like this. I had half a king costume to finish that I had promised to deliver on Wednesday. I had basketball on Tuesday and Thursday nights, parent/teacher conferences on Wednesday and Thursday after school. Scouts at my house on Friday. Numerous trips to the dance studio, Bossy's having a Park Lane jewelry party at my house Wednesday, my tax appointment is Saturday along with a Tupperware party and early morning pickup of 3200+ boxes of Girl Scout cookies that all need to be delivered.

Drama Queen did Scout's hair to read "Day 100"

Are you tired yet? Sport has Scouts on Wednesday, Crafty has Activity Days and I still have to take my turn with both car pools. Oh, and I promised to help with Hundreds Day on Tuesday in Scout's class. Friday and Saturday have Sleeping Beauty rehearsals that take most of the day and I have a Tupperware party to close and get the order in by midnight on Friday...and it's a pretty big one with lots of replacements that will take me at least an hour to do. And don't forget I still have three scholarship applications with March 1 deadlines. The Blue and Gold Banquet is next Tuesday and since my sweetie is in charge, I'm arranging all the food and entertainment for about 100 people. Our basketball tournament starts next week too, so there is a meeting and schedules to review and buildings to reserve. And we don't even want to talk about laundry or dishes or meals or homework. And of course my awesome blog!

The dress fabric

So Monday night, I'm feeling completely overwhelmed facing this huge and hard week. I get a call from my cute little niece, Araineia. The conversation went like this, "Hi, Aunt Sandy, this is Araineia." I hadn't heard from her in months so I was excited to chat for a minute. Then she asked, "Do you think you could make me a dress for my girls' pref dance?" My heart started to pound. "When do you need it?" She paused for a minute. "The dance is on Saturday," she finally said.


I tried, honestly I did. I started telling her about my crazy schedule, but she was so sweet and understanding that I just couldn't disappoint her. She showed up yesterday and we went to the store for fabric and a pattern.


As Teach always says, "Sleep is over-rated anyway..."

Exhausted!