Karl G. Maiser Academy

The Maiser Academy (a Charter school in Linden) had its ribbon cutting ceremony and Winterim  festivities  last Saturday (see below).  We were there!  My brother Justin Kennington and  many others have been hoping and working for this day for a long time.

It was chilly and breezy.

Head Master  Mr. K   and his lovely Anna pose for me in his office.


The (frigid) moment has arrived.

The frigid moment just passed.

A purdy corbel that begged my attention.

The gals wear this!

Who says school uniforms crush personality?

The guys wear this.

Caught Matthew unawares.
 
Mr. K  introduced “Winterim” when he came here 4 years ago.   The regular high school classes are put on hold for 3 weeks and the students study a subject of their choice.  At the end of the three weeks they display or showcase what they have been doing.  We saw many different things from Karate, Ballroom Dance (Owen did this – an exciting Viennese Waltz to Harry Potter music) , Music, to Genealogy. . .  and here Matthew is demonstrating and answering questions about an internship he did for piano tuning. 
I WANT A WINTERIM!  I would study, ummmm, maybe  . . .  haute sewing.  That’s it!  I’d put everything on hold: dishes, dinner, laundry, 3rd grade homework and bedtime.  I’d sit by the fire with a bowl of Skittles and study my “ How to Do It” book (I don’t have one but I bet I could find one – anyone know of one?) and sew a brown skirt that is tailored with perfect fit and length.  Then I’d whip up some baby gifts or go to Boston’s blog to get inspired about a quilt top . . .   What a great way to have an interim in the winter –um! 
And now back to reality . . .

Aunt Keli made sure each cousin had an owl cake pop she made for the bake sale.  Later, in the car, I asked “How are the owls?”  Mark said, “ Mmmmm.  Tastes like chicken!”

I’d like to make valentine cookies that look like this!  No, wait.
I’d like to EAT  valentine cookies that look like this.

Cute – Off the Charts

A Well-Baby check up DOC-umentary

Last week I got to accompany Anna taking Casen to see Dr. Judy.  I just ‘happened’ to have my camera along.

Healthy eyes – check.

Good movement - Check

.

Great pucker and chubby cheekers – Check.

Belly button, thunder thighs, chubby dimply hands – Check.

Nose – Check.

Back and tummy – Check.

Great gummers with no teeth – check.

Mouth – Check

Immunizations still hurt – Check and dang-it!
  
Diagnosis – Casen is in the eightieth percentile on The Chart (?) – Check.

  Overall, thru and thru Cute – Off the Charts!  like every tiny boy and girl that comes to this world– Check!

Alison’s Baby Girl

Here’s one of the baby flower girls at Mykele and Mark’s open house last night.  My head is swimming for the photo editing ahead of me!  So many wonderful events this weekend:  Wedding Open House, Ball games, Cousin overnighters, Karl Maiser Ribbon cutting. . .   Life changed lanes into the fast one.  That is so fun to do when it’s all centered around FAMILY and making a
 new one, and trying to record it all with pictures.

Hats, Blankies, and Blue Eyes

A visit from Anna and Casen made our day today!  Here he is bundled up in his car seat ready to make a well-baby check up visit to Dr. Judy.

Lace

Emelie’s wedding dress back.  Purdy, ain’ it. All dripping with lace and pearls and loveliness.
Lace!  Lace and Valentines.  It’s almost that time of year for more of them both. (And Chocolate – but that’s for another time.) I think I’ll add a little more of this beautiful stuff to my life this year.  It is “one of the prettiest imitations ever made of the fantasy of nature.”  That’s what Coco Chanel said in 1939 and it  MUST still be so.    Besides, I’m  in a household where I’m the only one living with estrogen and I must find ways to assert this.

New Years Morning

At Kristens:

 

Liisa’s good looks would make you think she hadn’t stayed up late partying like the rest of us.  But she did.

New Year morning bed heads.

Kyle had one of the best bed heads.

Oh! the Nutella.  I think Anna O got to take what was left home with her.  Just as well,  that would have ruined my new year resolution # 98 which clearly states to limit my Nutella intake in 2011. Juhl may look like one of the left-over Wiseman, but he’s just trying to stay warm.  He’s straight from California after all.

Cousins making cousins happy.

Couches are best when filled up with family.

At Big Kyle and Anna’s:

Oh!  We will be dreaming about this Prime Rib meal all year ‘til our next one.  After 3 times, it’s a must have Holiday tradition.   And companion foods to this menu were:  Dixie Salad, Saucy Potatoes, rolls, green salad with Anna’s delicious vinaigrette dressing.  Peppermint ice cream and homemade ginger snaps.

‘Despicable Me’ charmed us – twice!

While I Was Running . . .

 

One of my favorite movies is entitled “While You Were Sleeping”.  It is a romantic tale that dramatizes wonderful and unexpected things that happen while a character in the movie is lying in a coma, or ‘sleeping’.  In 2010 I wasn’t sleeping but some wonderful and unexpected things happened to me ‘While I Was Running.’

For a long time I didn’t get it.  Years ago Keli told me she thought running a marathon would be an experience she’d like to have.  And years ago, before I knew anybody really did do such a thing, Becky  tried to explain why she would train in Beautiful BC and then go down to St. George, Utah and run one.  Kathi would drive close by because of the danger of wild animals on her long runs.  And then Karli and her kidney stones and 1/2 marathon.  And Elise and her triathlon, and Kristen’s.  And Kara, and Amy and Katie – 5 K’s and shared 1/2 marathons.  Then Jena and Kelli . . .

November 2009 I decided I wanted to see what it would be like to be a runner.  I wanted to see if I could, if I would do something that I thought was impossible for me.  I wanted an outward symbol that represented the inward change I also thought must be impossible but hoped was not.

I feared weakness, I feared injury, I feared boredom, I feared failure.  I don’t fear those anymore.  I smile remembering all that I learned and became while I was running.  And I smile now knowing how far I still have to go in life, but trusting in Someone makes my faith surge and fear recede.  I learned about trusting, endurance, hope, that pleasure and misery must accompany each other sometimes.  That fine moments must often be purchased with great difficulty.  That each tangible and physical true principle can teach us something about the parallel spiritual principle.  

I ran the Snow Canyon 1/2 Marathon in November, happily eating the dust of Jena and Kelli and a million others who passed me.  Running accelerated learning, magnified appreciation, and clarified some of life’s ‘stuff’ banging around inside of me.  I discovered, and learned, accepted and appreciated everything – little things – big things more than I ever had before.  I didn’t train perfectly, but it was a perfectly wonderful thing.  I get it now – why we run.   Can’t explain it – but I get it.

Can’t wait to see what will happen this year while I am running.

My Life with Boys

 

This morning after the boys left for school I was tidying up in the kitchen and noticed that my cute li’l tree/clock ensemble had been rearranged into a war zone.  Hey at least they used the apple-green army man.  That displays truly tasteful color savvy, me thinks.

And then I examined the wall where, moments before Zero-count down ( last-moment-to-“get-out-the-door-before-the-bus-leaves-you!” ) I had noticed them consulting secretly and Mark frantically rubbing .  This shoe mark is obviously the result of an errant defensive kick  meant  to protect the innocent from marauding enemy creatures.  I think of our home as a peaceful place, but maybe there’s a fourth dimension that you have to be eight and male to perceive.

No matter, I’ll bake some more cookies – that always yanks them back to my reality.

And off they go again.  I give them the books, but they go places I never knew were between the pages.

Another happy day with Boys.

Christmas Surprise

Every year a few days before Christmas Jay retreats secretively to his garage and workroom downstairs.  No questions allowed, no peeking tolerated, no hints escape. Santa is getting busy.

This Christmas morning revealed an adorable faux fireplace mantle that surrounds an elfin-sized electric fireplace.  I love it.  There was no question where it was to go – the Master Bedroom. The Master Bedroom with my self-imposed  2011 Ideal requirements which include:

*No flutter of any clutter (I can only hope!)
*the almost- not-lemony-walls   *the most definitely bright white ceiling    *the decidedly stark black doors and bed

 
And photography-wise:  * No austere ancestor or playful progeny portraits here.           Just He and Me – Me and He   Thanks Jay!

 
(He doesn’t read posts, I’ll have to TELL him . . . again.)