What a Crock...

... Pot Box!
It's hard to say whether the box or the camera is what causes the funny faces.

The Grantwick Papers

Stake conference today. Sue was in the choir so I was a lone dad wrangling three bored offspring. In an attempt to distract them I suggested that Grant and Cole write a story. This is what Grant produced:

Here is a line by line translation:

Once there was a
slug that was very
naughty because he was
walking (picture of the slug, including feet) and
he found a cactus.
He did not want to go
near it but his sisters lived
in the cactus so he was climbing
up the cactus but the cactus
was poking him too much.
So he decided to go down his secret
door but it was locked so he dug a hole
inside the cactus but his sisters
were so mad that they kicked him
out.
The end.

Naturally this required a second chapter which he wrote after we got home.

So he had to find a new
home.

Nice resolution. Can anyone say "Pulitzer"?

Time Machine

The kids were all snuggled in Grant's bed at bedtime while waiting for a story.

I was reminded of a similar photo taken nearly 4 years ago.

Rah Rah Ree, Kick 'Em in the Knee

We have successfully navigated another season of soccer.

Grant was very happy to add another trophy and team photo to his collection.

OCD Warning!

Grant: I don't want to get bumps like this (points to a picture of warts) so I'm washing my hands a lot. Sometimes I almost wash them three times in a day.

Grant - Journal Entry

This entry is undated but is estimated to have been written in late spring of this year.

Translation of the left hand page:
Grant I
mumble.

Transcription of the right hand page:
I froo a plant in u
bd gis undrpants.
It groo tu bee a big
sunflawr and
it wus sticeeing
awt uv his undrp
ants.

Translation of the right hand page:
I threw a plant in a
bad guy's underpants.
It grew to be a big
sunflower and
it was sticking
out of his underpants.

It is unclear who the uni-browed, sandal wearing man on the left is.  The lack of a sunflower sticking out of his underpants would seem to preclude his being the bad from the story on the right.  However, it is possible that this portrait was from happier days before his bad guy ways took over and resulted in the agricultural assault described.

Play Ball

Soccer season! These games are funny. We really like observing the boys, and they're entertaining wherever they are, not just on the field. Love our little soccer players!

 Bryn runs a few laps during each game, too.

A Teacher At Last

I finally got a good music stand.  As soon as Grant saw it, he said, "now I can teach Brynnie violin lessons!"  I had no idea that a missing stand was all that was getting in the way of  Grant's teaching career!  That afternoon, Bryn fell asleep and Grant was crushed that the lesson would have to be delayed.  But early the next morning, he was ready for her! (He had some old visuals from earlier lessons, a pencil, and some stickers as rewards.)

Loving all the attention, Bryn jumped on board (thankfully!)  The first exercise was he would tell her which string note to play (E, A, D, or G) and if she got it right, an animal would advance to the picnic.  She was focused.  So was he.  Seriously.....it's true.  (We had to delay Bryn's real violin lessons because she was incapable of concentrating for more than 3 seconds continuously.)

Here's how it went down:

 The animals all got to the picnic, and it was a party for sure.  (He came up with this all on his own.)

 Then time for note reading, or - I mean writing.  Grant drew the first note (G, as you can see if you enlarge the picture, you'll see two ledger lines.)  Bryn had to draw at least 6-7 more of them, and he did D, A, and E after that, all of which she copied several times.

I'm still trying to process this, and figure out how to put this model in place with everything we do.  It was instructive, to say the least.