Nelson Nitwits: School beginnings/endings/awards

Kid Quotes

1/15 - Amy dressed up like a princess and came to ask both Mom and Dad some questions. When we answered her she regally said, "when you speak to me, you must bow."

12/14 - Amy handed me her glass of water, looked at me and said, "You're kind of like a pocket".

9/14 - Hyrum announced he wants to be a baptist when he grows up. After asking more questions we found out he wants to baptize people!

6/14 - We were scrolling through the blog looking at years past and I pointed out that Hyrum was a baby when Amy was in my tummy (he was 2). Then we came to a picture taken shortly after she was born. She said, "you spit me out, huh."

3/14 - Amy calls the gas station the "pass gas station"!

11/13 - Amy was singing the Daniel Tiger (Mr. Roger's) song that goes "I'll be back when the day is new and I'll have more ideas for you" with "I'll be back when Scouts are done..."

10/13 - Amy looked at my Brigham Young University sweatshirt and said, "hey, it says Amy!"

10/13 - Hyrum was walking around funny in the morning and remarked, "You're pretty floppy when you first wake up."

9/9/13 - Hyrum said, "I feel yucky". I said "like what?" He said "like a garbage can". I meant what felt yucky!

7/31/13 - Jared told Amy to stop hitting and we don't hit people. Her response was, "But I'm good at it"!

6/13 - Amy sings "If you're happy and you know it, make a mess" after I just asked everyone to clean up!

5/13 - Amy was sad that she doesn't go to school. I asked her what she would do if she went to school and she said, "color pictures, eat snack, and play the violin".

5/13 - I ran in the middle school to check Leah out for a dentist appointment. I parked in front and left Hyrum and Amy in the locked car, telling Hyrum that if anyone bothered him to start honking the horn. I soon heard a lot of horn honking and figured he must be honking at any person he saw. I went outside to tell him to stop, and later found out that he thought I told him to honk if he got bored!

1/13 - I got a Kindle for Christmas that Amy loved to play. It didn't work, so I sent it back. She asked to play my Kindle and I explained it broke so I didn't have it anymore. That night she asked to play Daddy's I-pod. He said he was using it to read scriptures. She said, "I need to play it quick before it breaks!"

12/12 - Hyrum saw Christmas wreaths in my room waiting to be hung and asked why we had all these "Jolly Rogers". I asked him what he meant, and he said, "You know...deck the halls with Jolly Rogers, fa la la la la la la la la." No idea where he got that!

7/12 - After a difficult trip to the store, complete with Amy screaming, I talked with each child about what they had done that was a problem. Amy was listening and told me she was sorry. Then, as she listened more, she said, "Sorry store!"

1/12 - I was very tired one morning and needed to sleep in. Hyrum had come in my room and I told him he could wake me up when the clock said nine zero zero. I heard him staring at the clock and intensely whispering, "Please change, please change!"

12/11 - Hyrum was looking at things that have fallen on the side of the refrigerator and said, "Mom, Amy's sucksifier fell behind the fridge". (pacifier)

7/11 - We were playing "Disney's Scene It" and Kaitlyn was complaining that it was no fair because she hadn't seen a lot of the movies. She said, "I guess that's why they call it 'Seen It'".

4/11 - Hyrum brought me a bottle of pest spray and said, "this is for the evil bugs".

10/10 - I was driving to school and had this conversation with Hyrum:

Hyrum - "Go to sleep."

Me - "I can't go to sleep or the car would crash."

Hyrum - "Yeah and roll over. Go to sleep."

Me - "I can't or we would crash."

Hyrum - "I want to crash."

9/10 - I love childlike innocence which can lead to a better world. Today Leah asked, "What kind of human am I? Am I black, white, or oriental?" Goodbye racism!

8/10 - Hyrum says it's "Sunday" when it's time for bed. He is trying to say he doesn't want to go to bed because the sun is still out!

8/10 - Leah was very concerned that I wouldn't like the birthday gift she selected for me. I tried to reassure her that I would love whatever it was. She then said "I'm just not sure that 'genuine' and '$5' go together"!

7/10 - Hyrum vacuumed a bit and was pleased with himself. I asked him if he would like chores too (like Leah and Kaitlyn). He said, "No, chores are for girls!"

4/10 - We were reading in the scriptures about how when Christ was born, the sign in America was that when the sun went down it was still as light as day. Kaitlyn said, "That's just like at our house!" She said this because our kids go to bed at 7:30pm before the sun sets.

7/09 - In Primary a leader was asking the children what they could do to build strong families. Kaitlyn whispered to me, "That's easy...exercise."
4/09 - I was trying to teach Kaitlyn to sit reverently in Sacrament meeting today and out of the corner of my eye saw one of her friends behind us sitting quietly. I finally resorted to saying, "Kaitlyn, you are old enough to know how to sit still reverently. Look how nicely Sophie is sitting". She looked and then said, "She's got a parachute on her head". I looked and realized I had lost.
1/09 - While we had family visiting, Kaitlyn revealed a family "secret". We were eating hot dogs, and she started making hers hop around and the kids started calling it a "hop dog". Kaitlyn then remarked that if Jaycee started hopping we could call her "hop dog" instead of "stupid dog"!
10/08 - I was asking Leah to finish her chores and she was throwing a panic fit stating that it would take SOOO long (she really doesn't have that many chores). I told her to just start working on them and it wouldn't take long to which she replied, (in a very theatrical voice while flopping her body across an armchair), "I can't tell if I'll get them done...I can't tell the future!"
9/17/08 - Kaitlyn asked me today what cars are made of. I told her metal and plastic. She said, "So you could take them a part?" I told her I supposed so and she quickly exclaimed, "that's awesome!" I'm not sure I want to know what's cooking in her mind.
7/29/08 - Leah is frequently called "fireworks brain" at our house because she has a billion ideas constantly at work on any topic imaginable. Last night Leah was trying to change the way we were giving the Family Home Evening lesson with one of her ideas, and we were trying to get her to stop and let us finish the lesson. Whie working with her, Katilyn suddenly exclaimed, "Turn it off, Fireworks!" We all got a huge laugh out of that, including Leah.
5/21/08 - Kaitlyn told us with certainty at dinner tonight that "Heavenly Father made us, but Jesus made plastic. Mommy said". I have no idea what she's talking about but just thought people should know this fact.

Saturday, June 6, 2015

School beginnings/endings/awards

May was a school themed month. Amy registered for kindergarten, and came away saying "I love kindergarten!"

Leah had an awards night where she earned multiple awards including having all A's from kindergarten through 8th grade.

Leah with her best friends since 3rd grade, Hannah and Fionna at awards night.

Leah and Abby, a friend in our ward at awards night.

Kaitlyn also had an awards night where we thought she was being recognized at her school but when we arrived we found out it was a county-wide awards ceremony where one child from each elementary school had been chosen as that school's gifted student of the year. Kaitlyn was the gifted student of the year for Sugar Hill Elementary!

One of Kaitlyn's gifted teachers, Mrs. Wood

There was some confusion with the teachers as to the date of the ceremony, and two of her teachers emailed to share their thoughts:

"Mr. and Mrs. Nelson,

I am so sorry that I was unable to attend Kaitlyn's award ceremony last night. Chris Wood gave me this beautiful picture of her with the award, which I sent to the media center to be on announcements. I thought youwould like to have a copy of it. Kaitlyn was voted Gifted Student of the Year unanimously by all the gifted department teachers this year. Congratulations, Kaitlyn!

Joan Gearhart

Gifted Program Teacher

Sugar Hill Elementary"

"This morning I received an email and picture of Kaitlyn with her award from the GAGE ceremony last night. I feel terrible that I wasn't there...but I did not know the date or time of the awards ceremony. When asked who I thought should be our choice for Gifted Student of the Year for Sugar Hill my choice was Kaitlyn! Our whole gifted committee agreed that she embodies all of the characteristics that we would love to see in a gifted child. I am so very proud of her and all that she has accomplished. She is the neatest young lady! Again, I sincerely apologize that I was not there for her last night. Had I known I would have been. Congratulations, Kaitlyn! This honor is well-deserved.

Take care,

Carmen

Mrs. Carmen H. Smith
AC Math Teacher / Math Coach /Gifted Teacher"

We attended Kaitlyn's 5th grade graduation and then Amy and I enjoyed watching her participate in a tradition for the 5th graders of walking down each grade hallway while all the students in the school stand outside their classrooms and cheer on the 5th graders. Then we went to her classroom for a graduation party.

Kaitlyn walked by so fast I only caught a few seconds of her 5th grade walk of the halls.

Amy missed her preschool graduation because we were attending Kaitlyn's 6th grade orientation. She was disappointed and I told her I could take her to lunch or something. She told me that would not be a very good graduation. I asked her what would be nice and she said to eat ice cream with the family. So, we had an ice cream graduation for Amy.

We took the kids out to eat to celebrate a great school year while we happened to be in Florida just after school got out. We will write more about that trip in another post. For now, we are excited to welcome summer!