Attempt at blog un-retirement

A few things that have been going on in our lives lately...

Basketball, and lots of it. Four practices and three games each week for the boys. Not to mention all the Jazz and BYU games, which I record and watch by myself. Like I said on Facebook, it's a strange life for a nonathletic girl like myself. But I love it!

Scouts. Nathan advanced to the rank of Star. Caleb earned his first merit badge (First Aid) and registered for his first BYU PowWow. Seth is almost done with his Wolf requirements. Four Eagle Scouts, Mom. That's my goal. Wish me luck.

Piano lessons. Nathan is almost done with Level 3. Caleb just started Level 3. Seth is halfway through Level 2. The boys know the deal: Finish Level 4 and you can quit if you so choose. Caleb assures me that if I let him quit now, he will never regret it like some people do, but I'm not taking any chances.

School and homework and all that stuff. All three boys got straight A's on their last report cards. Can't wait for summer. Enough said.

Irreverence during sacrament meeting. Luke started singing "We Will Rock You" during the sacrament. Thank goodness we play Lego Rock Band with its mostly family-friendly lyrics and not the actual Rock Band, yikes. I especially liked it when he changed it to "We Will Burp" and cracked up laughing. Then Seth tried to show me something, and Nathan grabbed it from him and accidentally clocked him in the nose. Then Caleb kept bugging Luke by writing on his MagnaDoodle, and instead of telling Caleb to be quiet, I felt the need to give him a quick English lesson and tell him that he should write "Luke, you're crazy" instead of "Luke, your crazy." Which makes me think that I'm actually the one who is crazy. (Caleb made sure to tell me he KNOWS the difference, but he didn't have enough room to write the contraction.) I thought 9 a.m. church was going to be peaceful. HA.

PTA. The last couple of weeks have been a good reminder for me to be thankful that I am no longer PTA president. (Love you, Heather!) Book Fair and the 5th grade Great American Award are colliding right now. I don't mind doing any of it, but it has been keeping me plenty busy.

Speaking of the Great American Award, the requirement this month was to memorize and recite the Gettysburg Address. I told the kids that I had memorized it in 5th grade and that they could test me on it. I tried to recite it and did a fair job but got a little mixed up at the end. Seth said, "Uh, Mom, I don't think you actually memorized it." Caleb very helpfully pointed out, "Seth, old people forget stuff." Thanks for that.

So last Monday, I told Caleb it was time for him to start working on it because the pass-off day was Friday. Caleb did the first two paragraphs in a few minutes, no problem. The third was a bit harder, but he got it without too much effort.

Then came the fourth and final paragraph and its tricky language. And with it came the weeping. And the wailing. And the yelling. And the crumpling of the paper and the throwing it across the room. And the "I wish Lincoln had never even GIVEN this stupid speech!" And the "I wish Lincoln would have spoken for an HOUR like everyone expected him to instead of two minutes, because then no one would be expecting me to memorize this stupid speech!" And my personal favorite, the "I wish Lincoln had been RIGHT when he said 'The world will little note nor long remember what we say here' because then nobody would even remember this stupid speech and I wouldn't have to memorize it!"

Hmmm, maybe this assignment isn't going to help me achieve my objective of fostering respect and appreciation for Lincoln. Although I do have to say I was impressed by two things: 1) Caleb knows that Lincoln gave a much shorter speech than expected. 2) He quoted (and understood) part of the speech itself in the midst of his fury. Classic!

I told Nathan he has to memorize it too, because he didn't have the Great American Award program when he was in 5th grade. Nathan folded his arms, sighed, and said, "Where's John Wilkes Booth when you need him?" Oh my. So then I tried to keep a straight face while I said, "Nathan! We do NOT make assassination jokes in this house!"

The good news... Eventually Caleb got it and passed it off, and there was much rejoicing. It was all worth it. And I got to spend Friday morning and afternoon listening to 5th graders recite it. We had 39 kids pass it off, and several others got really close. And I have to say, my eyes filled with tears every time I heard Lincoln's incredible words coming out of those 10- and 11-year-old mouths. Good, good stuff.

Update blog, check. See you next month. Maybe.