Extracurricular Activities…

So a few weeks ago, we were just thinking that since Paul had to do some work in the southern part of the state, perhaps we could get to St. George via California instead of the normal way of just driving down south.  To top it off, since young Mr. Cael is only 4 and not yet a part of the public school system, we opted to bring him as our enthusiastic/enduring/endearing traveling companion!  That means that we are now either the lamest parents ever, or the coolest parents ever—depends on which kid  you happen to chat with… 

Mr. Toad is simply gleeful to have me and Cael there to pose with him, and in case you’re curious, Mr. Cael is a BIG fan of Mr. Toad and I am completely and seriously serious!  A genuine fan, thanks to clips on Youtube and super DVD’s from the library when I can find them—just curious, does your 4-year-old ask you to sing the song from Mr. Toad when it is tooth-brushing time?  Yeah, he’s that kind of fan...

The boys in blue are all about the celebrating… celebrating the rides, the fun, maybe the fact that they saw a Solid Gold Dancer!  Because the full-length black spandex, the hot pink tube-top, and the shiny gold sandals had to be a costume, I’m pretty sure?  Although if you begged the question  “who wears short-shorts?”  At Disneyland in May, that would have to be a solid 9 out 10 ladies, and let’s just say that Martha Stewart would not have called it a “good thing”. …

There are so many things to learn, see, and think about on a tour of Storybook Land, like why the family in front of us in one of the lines had a mom with tattoos of her daughter’s names (I’m assuming) on her shoulder blades “Isabella” and “Breanna”.  We had a good 15 minutes to study this before dad showed up with the similarly-fonted tattoos on his forearms;  yes, the font was the same, “Isabella” was the same, but poor “Breanna” became “Brianna” on dad’s arm.  Uuh, oops…typos on tattoos, not so good…

Sometime I will post about Cael’s adoration of the letter “H”—again, I am totally serious, as is he, and hey look, it’s an “H”!!  (For the record, this H is not from our hotel, I don’t know that Priceline offers Disney properties, hmm)…

Dad and Cael so ready to take flight…

The other Goff’s didn’t do too shabby themselves—they totally pumped up the party with Uncle Allen and Aunt Jessica and the cousins with delicious dinner from The Pie, magic smoothies from their magic blender, intense rounds of Disney Scene-It, special and wonderful Ratatouille muffins—so puhlease,who needs mom and dad??  The dad/mom/Cael SoCal special was a quickie, and upon our return, it was dance recital time and the girlies danced beautifully (thanks for the hair-do’s, Aunt Jessica)…

Miss Kylie getting ready to hustle her bustle…

Miss Morgan and our cute friend, Taylor, downtown Salt Lake City at the Conference Center for Temple Celebration rehearsal—it’s been a lot of work and it is so grand to see the plan coming together…

Miss Kendell playing the field…

 

Cael making a friend and running in circles (developing a young and deep love for geometry, perhaps?) at Kendell’s softball game (we’re on the 1 soccer game plus 2 softball games each and every Saturday program for a few more weeks)…

Cute cousins celebrating the May birthdays…

Time to bring out the water slide--we’ve got to make the most of these delightful 80 degree days…

And last, but not least, tutu-mania!!   Morgan had big fun playing the integral role of “Moth” in the 6th grade production of Shakespeare’s “A Midsomer’s Night Dream”—Moth, Mustard Seed, Cob Web, and the other delightful fairies worked in such harmony!  Embarrassingly enough, my only previous experience with this particular production was from a potentially racy episode of “8 is Enough” where Joanie was in an extremely “artistic” version of this play and opted to perform au natural without the knowledge of her dad, Tom Bradford, who figured this all out when he brought his date, Abby (their future stepmom) to see this fine bit of community theater and support his “free-spirited daughter.”  It must have turned out okay, because eight IS enough to fill our hearts with love… 

The Mostly Good, with just a touch of The Not So Much…

Can I tell you something that is so fantastic??  Being the mother of a middle school ceramicist, that’s what!!  And not just your typical, run of the mill “I’m taking ceramics in jr. high because I’ve already taken music appreciation” kind of teen, but the awesome kind that makes his mom her very own orange/ striped mug WITH a handy handle as a super Spring surprise—thanks, Curtis!!

Also on the good list:  4 out of 5 kids with their Easter smiles (the non-smiler could not keep that plastic egg away from his mouth, but I’m sure he was smiling on the inside) with the weeping cherry tree in full bloom—that was some sweet coordination on Mother Nature’s part with Easter occurring during the one week that the tree spends in its blossomy splendor…

Okay, this is on the not so good list, but props on the multi-tasking, with Scene It, Scrabble, and 5 rolls of paper towels going on at the same time?!  This is what I get for thinking I can do the eliptical upstairs with the door open as to “hear” the goings-on down below…

Back to the good—mmm, tasty good Red Velvet Cake!!  This was the first that I’ve delved into the wonderful world of red velvet deliciousness, and it will not be the last…

Wait a sec, more BAD!!  In the interest of full disclosure, 90% of the damage had already been cleaned up prior to this shot taking place, just so we’re really, really clear.  The boys are always looking for new adventures, and apparently new snacks…Again I was eliptical-ing, more confidently because of the locking latches my sweet husband installed on the pantry and the hall closet doors.  While the latches up high near the top of the doors work great when they are in the proper locked position, they lose all effectiveness when little boys figure out how to move bar stools right up to the door so they can reach  the latch and then get to all of the magical things inside and disperse said magical things all over the carpet…

Oh yes, GOOD!!  Kylie’s room is now a fresh and lovely shade of robin’s egg blue (and as a bonus, I have finally been able to get that fresh and lovely shade of blue out of my hair, where it did not look so great—it was only on the left side, and now it is completely not there at all—whew)…

Hallelujah, it’s more good!!  Kylie’s fantastic report on servals!!  What is a serval, you ask?  Why, it is a small wild cat found in Africa, and also in this diorama in Kylie’s classroom…

Ugh.  Yes, ugh.  That’s all I can say.  Ugh, and ziploc baggies.  The very same ziplocs that I had the boys use to contain the morsels from the last incident (most went into the garbage, but I did want the boys to help clean up their “mess”  and why did I put these bags full of chocolate chips BACK into the pantry?  I don’t know, it was so great to clean it up the first time I guess, and we do still have bar stools ??)  Did you notice that they worked a new game into the mix here—one that was not in the LOCKED hall closet, just trying to keep things fresh…

Good stuff again, Morgan and Kendell getting ready to dance like nobody’s watching, except there WILL be people watching them move and groove to the sounds of Miley Cyrus this weekend at their competition at the one and only LAGOON…

Brothers playing croquet, of course that’s totally good…

Our exotic cat, Zeke, checking out the seasonal flora, again good…

TOTALLY GOOD!!  OUR VERY BEST TULIP YEAR EVER ,EVER, EVER!!   (I am quite fond of the tulips…)

And teeth, I am also fond of teeth, and am thankful to have them.  Teeth fall into the category of “good”…