It's all fun and games until....

We started out with a mission this morning...have some good old fashioned fun. For the most part we succeeded. We played music. We worked on a construction site. We played in the water. We visited the grocery store. We played in a pile of ground cork. And then he crashed, and cried and bled. And then we went to the doctors office. At least it didn't require stitches, just a liberal amount of glue. He tried hard to be brave, but it really hurt. That nasty old apple tree just came out of nowhere and attacked him. It isn't nice to attack a guy when he isn't even looking, oh wait, that was the whole problem, he wasn't watching where he was going. The other two would have just had a nasty bump, not Cole, he has to go all out. At least we were almost ready to leave. We will try again another day thanks to the complimentary pass the guy at the first aid station gave us. Next time he will wear a helmet and pads and be covered in bubble wrap.

eggs, candy, bunnies, and bison ???

We have all recovered enough that we were able to have a nice Easter. At the last minute we decided to check out the Easter egg hunt at Antelope Island. We figured if nothing else it would be a nice drive while we listened to conference. It turned out to be a great idea. The foul weather the night before kept most people away, I overheard someone say there were usually about 800 kids, I only figured about 200 were there. The kids made quite a haul. We got to visit the easter bunny. They had their faces painted. We checked out the ranch. We saw the bison and a few deer. And over all had a nice time, just the five of us, no friends, no tv, no computer. I should take them out in the middle of nowhere more often. We also enjoyed an evening with my family. Josh and Annie came up for conference and dinner with the family. We hid eggs for the little ones, and just relaxed.

Sick

***Update... Alyssa did end up getting what Colton had and was every bit as sick, she suffered most from high fevers(103.8). She doesn't cope as well as her brothers so she really kept us hopping for a few days. Then Rylan came down with strep on Monday. I am holding my breath that he doesn't share with everyone else. I tend to be vulnerable to strep. As of today they are all doing better, just a little more tired than usual.*** I feel like I ought to have a degree in pharmacology or nursing or something after the week we've had. Last Sunday Colton came down with a cold/cough/fever kind of thing. He pretty much slept his way through the week, not eating, no school, just plain miserable. On Thursday when I got home from work I could see he really wasn't doing very well. I called the doctors office and took him in. The first thing they did was check his oxygen saturation and discovered he was at 85%, normal is above 90%. So they quickly gave him a breathing treatment, and we narrowly avoided a trip to the hospital. He has bronchiolitis. They sent us home with some steriods to open his airway and breathing treatments to loosen the junk in his lungs. So on top of his four daily medications and tylenol for his fever we added two asthma meds and decongestant. I have spent well over $100 this week on their daily meds and all the extra ones.

Then this morning Alyssa woke up with a fever and cough. She has spent the entire day dozing on the couch. Here we go again. Please, please don't let anyone else catch this junk.

The Big Event

No words needed the video speaks for itself.
***Ok, I have been trying for three days to upload video of his solo, but after wasting many, many hours I have come to the conclusion it just isn't going to happen. So here are some photos instead, just know that it was wonderful and brought out the performer in him. He is looking forward to joining the older kids on celebration team next year.


Rylan and his dance teacher Dana. Rylan and his new buddy Peter Christie.

order from chaos

Last night was the big dress rehersal for Rylan's program. I was so glad to be an observer and not be in charge of anything. Peter Christie of Ballet West took the reins and corralled all these kids into place. He did a great job with them. He seems to have the perfect personality for this kind of thing, he would push them hard to fix something, and then walk up and down as they dance praising what he liked. The kids really responded well to him, especially when he started dancing next to them. When he demonstrated some leaps and spins he wanted fixed, they realized this wasn't just some old guy yelling at them, he is an accomplished dancer. We are looking forward to the first program tonight. Please forgive my blurry photos, I was across the room and not using my flash so I wasn't a distraction. My camera doesn't do so well without the flash. Oh, and these photos are a sneek peek at the Sorcerer's Apprentice part of the program.

Dream Team

Ballet West Education & Outreach presents
I CAN DO Year End Performance
Featuring 5th graders from
Salt Lake City School DistrictBennion Dilworth Edison Emerson Newman Riley Rose Park Washington Whittier
Davis School DistrictWashington
and Granite School DistrictWoodrow Wilson Hillsdale
March 16th and 17th at 7:30 pmWest High School Field House
ADMISSION IS FREE!
Inspiring Children About Not Dropping Out (I CAN DO) teaches movement and gives children the opportunity to experience dance first-hand. Ballet west teachers and dancers work with 5th graders from select schools from across the Wasatch Front. After attending seven months of weekly classes, the students present a public performance. The performance is open to the public and gives students a chance to show their parents and teachers all they have learned.

Sorcerer's Apprentice

Rylan celebrated his 11th birthday this weekend, and while he received several nice gifts, his favorite gift came from his dance teacher. She told him that she wants him to be the sorcerer's apprentice on his school's night in the upcomming performance. He was sooo excited to be chosen out of about 50 kids. I have been impressed with all he has learned in this workshop. His confidence and his technique have really improved, he has learned 5 dances and really has them down well. I hope this hints at him getting a spot on the team for next year with the 6th graders. I am looking forward to seeing him on stage.