Art Lesson

For Christmas, McKenna wanted one thing: 

To Paint! 

She has loved seeing the paintings of her Aunt Brooke and has dreamed of canvases and brushes ever since! Santa came through for McKenna this year, and she couldn't wait to get to work. On Christmas day, she set out all of her supplies and went to town... only to discover how hard painting actually is. She was quickly and utterly defeated. However, an amazing thing happened later that week... Uncle Mike (professional, out-of-this-world-amazing artist and husband to uber-fun Aunt Sue) came to visit!! He could not have been more generous with Kenna--spending hours with her! They viewed art online, sketched and sketched, mixed colors... It was fascinating for the whole family to watch his craft.  With a little guidance from a master, a new world for McKenna was opened!

He painted a simple (yet amazing) pear on the right, instructing McKenna to copy it.

A few hours later, McKenna had completed her very first painting. She was SO PROUD of herself--a complete reversal of emotions from Christmas Day. It's amazing what a good teacher can do... teach, motivate, and inspire.

Twins

Do you know how people will say that your kids look just like you? I'm great at analyzing the inherited features of other families--phenomenal, actually. But when it comes to seeing myself in my children, I can't see it... That is until last week. While at my mom's house, she happened to have a picture of Kyler and I at the same age next to each other... and I finally saw it! 

Exact. Same. Face. 

Fortunately for Kyler, he inherited his Dad's much lovelier skin (making him quadruply cuter). 

P.S. I LOVED those heart jeans!

Even More Homework

While I'm posting about school work, I must document this gem... one sure to go down in "Stevens Family History!" Of course, something this bold could only come from the mind of Carson! I should have known that something was up when Carson asked me how to spell the "B" word!

More Math Love

Our school has a policy that you cannot "request" a teacher, but rather, you must describe your child's personality traits, and they pick a teacher that best suits your child. I've never liked that policy--insisting that a good teacher is a good teacher for any child. This year I have been proven wrong. Last year, McKenna had the teacher that Kyler has now. Where she did not particularly thrive in this teacher's class, Kyler has been totally inspired. Mr. Hood and Kyler speak the same language: MATHLISH!

Today when I picked up my kids from school, I asked them my standard question: "What are three good things that happened to you today?" Kyler was excited to tell me that his class did a "really fun math assignment!" They were asked to write as many fractions as they could that were equivalent to one half. (2/4, 3/6, 4/8....) He said that he and another girl wrote a lot of them.

We came home, and Kyler immediately started doing his "feverish" writing at the kitchen table. Two piano students later, he announced, "I'm done!" Kyler had written "half" fractions from 1-1,000! I'm thinking I'm going to start charging this kid for paper.

Upon seeing his mammoth fraction list, I asked him what the motivation for this was... Was it an assignment? A contest? A challenge? He responded, "Nah. I just thought it would be fun. But maybe Mr. Hood will give me a dough-nut!"

Glimpses of Christmas - 2013

Christmas 2013 was wonderful! We were lucky enough to snag the most fought over couple (and dog) in the Luke family--Grandma and Grandpa Luke!! The last time we shared Christmas with them was nine years ago! We weren't sure if they'd really come, but after losing a tire on the highway and driving through a blizzard, they made it! It made our Christmas so very special! Here are a few glimpses of our fun:

What is this blurry picture, you ask?

 The pajama parade, of course... "Gangnam Style!"

Math Star

I am a parent who has actually had to tell my child, 

"Please, put the pencil down."

"You are not staying up late to do math again!"

"I cannot afford the ink and paper to keep up with your math addiction. Knock it off."

Kyler has the greatest friend in the world--Zach Warner. Zach is fun, good as gold, and incredibly SMART! Zach has led Mr. Hood's class in math scans by a landslide all year... that is until Kyler decided that it was his goal in life to beat Zach and the entire school in the race to hit 200 math objectives. And when Kyler decides to do something, that's it. It will happen. Everyday for two months, Kyler would sit at the kitchen table for hours working feverishly on math. Kids are required to do four scans a week. Kyler was averaging 5-8 scans a night. (Each scan is about 8 pages.) At first, Zach didn't realize that Kyler was catching up in leaps and bounds, but when he did, that's when the fun started and the competition got fierce... as fierce as two incredibly NICE boys can be. They would giggle at each other as they unzipped their backpacks in the morning--revealing 5 inch stacks of math scans... but would help and teach each other in a heartbeat when each other would get stuck. It became a family affair. When Kyler would jump in the car at the end of the day, Ashton would ask, "Who is ahead today?" It became a class affair. The entire class couldn't wait to see the points tallied each day to see who was ahead. It was all in good fun and their teacher, Mr. Hood, got the biggest kick out of it. In the end, Kyler was the first kid in Rimrock to hit 200 objectives... for a matter of hours when his best buddy hit it as well! Kyler's hard work and determination was such a great thing for his siblings to watch. I'm so very proud of Kyler. 

On the day he hit his goal, we celebrated with "200" surprises! 200 M&M's... 200 puzzle pieces... 200 pennies... 200 pretzels!

Once these two boys hit their goal, they both took a little vacation from math scans. I don't blame them! (They were so ahead that they were able to do that for about a month.) But just yesterday, Kyler's got in the car and said, "Zach is such a good friend. Mr. Hood said I was three scans behind for the week. Zach dropped everything and came to my desk and helped me finish them super fast." Now that's a true friend!

A Trip for Justin

The story goes like this:

It's the day before Christmas Eve, and we're late for church.

We stand in the hallway, looking at the bulletin board.

We gaze at a poster advertising the lights at Temple Square.

Me: "It's so sad you've never seen them, Justin."

Justin: "We should go. Too bad we have the late block..."

(Sigh)

Eye contact.

Justin: "No really. We should go."

My thoughts: Need to clean/bake/wrap/my parents are coming in a matter of hours... 

Worst. Timing. Ever. 

I run home during Sunday school to grab coats, gloves, and casual clothes for six people.

(More work than you'd think!)

I return to teach epic YW Christmas lesson--out of breath, sweaty, and now with scattered thoughts.

(It's still awesome though!)

4:10 p.m: We are headed to Utah... only to return a few hours later.

I really felt it was important to document that little explanation for my future posterity because I am NEVER that spontaneous. Ever! Let it be known on the records of my life that I was once. 

Merry Christmas Jusin!

 We carried our kids everywhere to try to keep them from running... to keep them from coughing...  to keep them from throwing up (terrible habit they have). Didn't work. Ashton grossed out a massive crowd by throwing up in a lovely flower bed. We are so used to it though... we wiped his mug and moved on. It didn't dampen the fun at all. But my apologies to the hundreds of witnesses.

Ashton wanted his own picture in front of a BLUE tree!

His favorite color!

 Warming up before the trek home.

Poor Carson was so worn out... he didn't even last long enough for his food to arrive.

And this is a picture of our ride home. This lovely storm made our late night even later. Our top speed all night was 45 mph. We pulled in the garage at 3 a.m.

But it was worth it. 

What a fun night!