Anna's Award!

Every month at Anna and Grace's school, each teacher chooses a student who represents a quality (like "caring" or "responsibility") and those students are then presented "Community of Caring" awards.  This month's topic was "respect"--and Anna was chosen from her class!  Anna stood in front of the whole school looking both proudly happy and shy as her principal read what her teacher wrote about her:

"Anna has been nominated for this Community of Caring Award because she always displays and models the quality of respect.  She shows respect towards her peers and adults alike.  On a daily basis she shows respect wherever she goes, be it in the lunchroom, library, computer room, hallways and especially our classroom.  She displays the same gentle, quiet respectful manner in all different situations by listening attentively, raising her hand, and treating others with genuine kindness.  She is a valuable member of our class.  Congratulations, Anna!"

Yeay, Anna!!

IT'S HERE!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Whew. I can't tell you how excited I am to be at the beginning of a five-day break from school/activities/etc.! Things have been hopping around here, culminating in a big "Native American Celebration" in Anna's class this afternoon and learning ji jitsu (a form of martial arts) at Brownies. And, alas, I had no camera.... 

Anna's class was absolutely fantastic. I know I've mentioned it before how amazing Anna's teacher is; well, she still is. My only complaint is that I have NO IDEA what to do with all the projects she keeps bringing home--and it's all three dimensional! Today, Anna made a Native American shoulder bag, a beaded necklace, the Mayflower, a teepee, a totem pole, a pictograph writing (really cool), and a papoose that is at least 16" long. So, you see, really cool stuff, but what to do with it all?? I've got Rubbermaids from previous years going, but I'm starting to realize how insane it's going to get to have a Rubbermaid from each year for each girl! :-) It makes me laugh to think of handing the girls their Rubbermaids as they move into their own homes someday... Yet, I'm just not ready to get rid of any of it, even if I do take a picture of everything first. Anyway, the celebration was such fun; I got to be at the tasting table (where the kids got to eat corn bread, fry bread, popcorn, pumpkin bread, jam and honey that Mrs. Blair made at home the night before. See, incredible!).

Brownies was equally awesome. Nothing beats watching ten seven-year-olds learn how to hit and kick from a big black man with dreadlocks and tattoos (it was Lilly's dad). He was great with the girls. I just hope I don't get any calls from moms telling me their daughter knocked out her younger brother... :-) Unfortunately, no pictures. I cannot tell you how bummed I am... Lilly's mom was there taking some, though, so someday I think I will have pics to share.

In other news, Anna is getting GOOD at the ol' violin! I don't mean to sound shocked, but she really has turned a corner and is much less squeaky. Quite honestly, I thought it would take longer, so this just feels like a huge bonus. Her concert is Dec. 10th. I will definitely remember my camera then!

Grace seems to have finally kicked the awful cough she's had for weeks.  Here's hoping she (and I!) stay well for a good long time now!  No other huge news with Grace.  She's just doing really, really well: loving school, loving dance, loving Sesame Street and seems to be at the beginning stages of learning to read:  she tries to sound out everything now--and often gets it right!  Driving around doing errands is so much more exciting now with "s.t.o.p--STOP", "o.p.e.n--OPEN" coming from the back seat.  She is in such a great stage right now: relatively agreeable, super creative, easily excited for things, and pretty flexible.  I think 5 may be my favorite age.  So far!

 

For Thanksgiving, we are having Jenn, Matt and Peter over for dinner--and possibly a neighbor and a couple of friends for dessert. I'm really looking forward to it. Tomorrow, we're going to play with Emma and her sis and mom, who we don't see nearly often enough anymore now that we're all so busy and go to different schools. On Friday night we're going to the Nutcracker (yeay!). On Saturday morning I have a large family photo shoot, which should be fun--although the weather just turned cold today. Besides that, we're looking forward to laying low and enjoying the time together. I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving. I'm thankful for all my wonderful friends and family!

Some recent pics (of other kids):

My favorites

So, I just had to share a few of MY favorite shots from the Billy Collins interview.  What a thrill that was!  Both Adam and I just absolutely love his poetry; it was such a thrill to meet him, talk with him, photograph him, eat dinner with him, and then listen to him read his poetry.  Adam was such a cool cat through it all and gave a wonderful introduction at the banquet.  I can honestly say I felt very, very proud of him.  And, I should admit that I'm very proud of my pictures, too.  :-)

Moab

Two weekends ago, we headed down to Moab for some family-time.  As you can tell, the girls loved it...

No, we all had a really great time.  :-)  We got to go on lots of hikes, play at the girls' favorite arch, Sand Dune Arch, hang out at our favorite bookstore, eat out, go see the "Bee Movie," and swim at the Hotel swimming pool.  We almost didn't go, since Grace and I still had our colds, but getting out of town was exactly what we all needed--especially since we've been going non-stop since we got back.  Here are a few pictures of our trip:  

Billy Collins Interview and Photos

[from Adam]

I got the fantastic opportunity to interview Billy Collins (U.S. Poet Laureate 2001 -2003) yesterday . . . yeah, me. And, Karyn got to do a photoshoot of the whole thing. It was a great time. Then, we got to go to the Ogden School Foundation event that hosted Mr. Collins. I introduced him (in front of 900 people!) and then we got to eat a nice dinner and listen to Billy Collins poems and commentary.

Some of these pictures (and/or many of the others Karyn took) should accompany the interview in Weber (formerly Weber Studies) in February if all goes well. We're hoping that Collins will contribute a couple of new pieces to go alongside, as well.

This is a new poem Collins had been composing while on the plane.

Halloween Night

What a crazy busy, but fun, day!  Anna declared this as the "best day of her life," which really means something when you have as many great days as this kid has.  :-)  She only got to do "fun stuff" at school, got to do spooky mummy and spider dances at dance, got to wear her costume to violin, and THEN we went trick-or-treating to more houses than we ever have.  (Grace also had a great day, but it probably wouldn't rate as one of her best, because she is still battling a runny nose and a cough, which is making her feel rather run down.)  This was one of the warmest Halloweens I remember having since moving here:  it was in the low 50s while we were trick-or-treating!!  We made it all the way down to a friend's house, who gives away king-sized candy bars (like we need that much candy!) and then wound around back up the hill.  This year we all went trick-or-treating, which meant we had to be one of the "dark houses" for a while, but we still gave away over a hundred pieces of candy once we were home.  This neighborhood is absolutely magical Halloween night: the leaves have all fallen and are scattered all over the sidewalks, children are everywhere, and houses are decorated to the hilt.  Very, very fun. 

And, it wouldn't be a Johnston post without some pictures:  :-)

Heading into violin practice:

"Can I just go to practice, Mom??"  :-)

Had to find time for some wax lip silliness.  Ah, memories!

All ready to go trick-or-treating...

Watching for trick-or-treaters (that's Anna's very cool ghost from school with G's hat on watching with them). 

Then, at 8:45, when we were out of candy, we turned out the lights, and Anna started counting down the days until her birthday.  :-)