For the last several months Eli has requested we make up stories instead of reading him books before bed (don’t worry, he still gets in plenty of reading). After the first few weeks of stories favorite characters and themes emerged so now, before I tell him his story, he makes special requests for what should be included. These requests usually include Peter (the character from the story Heidi), who is always the hero of the story with his grand father Goliath (a good guy, not the one from the Bible). He has two pet birds, Wall-E (an eagle), and Eli Wall-E (who goes by E.W. to keep them straight, he’s a hummingbird). The stories are usually set either in the jungle, in a cave, or on a volcano… but occasionally they have excursions off on the ocean, the north pole, and the moon. This week Natalie introduced an island people called the GuGu Garue.
Anyhow, the reason I am rambling on about this is because around New Years resolution time I got the idea for a year-long project to undertake with Eli. My job is to continue telling the stories and to start writing down details from them. Eli is then responsible for drawing pictures about their experiences. Together we will find multimedia like this picture of Gobo from Fraggle Rock (he’s always in the cave stories).
Once we have enough material we will start building a Choose your own adventure book that detail the adventures of Peter and Goliath. I don’t know how polished this will ultimately be, but it is already something that we’ve had a lot of fun with. Eli is always anxious to work on his book, and it is a good activity that helps us spend time together doing something more engaging than watching t.v. I’ll post a page once we’ve completed one.
We have really been enjoying the holidays. Here’s the readers digest version of how we’ve spent our last couple of weeks.
Making gingerbread houses and men (three different parties)
Watching movies (Nat and I watched The Blind Side and we all saw Alvin and the Chipmunks)
Family basketball and TyandNat dates to the gym to work out
Watching BYU and Utah bowl games, several BYU basketball games, the series finale of Monk and a cappella reality show The Sing Off
Christmas eve day we played basketball in the morning, went bowling at lunchtime, then cooked and had a fancy dinner. Later we had friends over and sang songs, the kids re-enacted the Nativity, and we had a testimony meeting
Christmas day we opened presents, ate too much and played
Plans for the next week or so:
More working out
Finish goal setting for new year
Trip to Indy (it’s a vacation because we’re staying in a hotel)
Trip to French Lick for Bryce day (skiing on January 7th)
Today at church the primary children spent the first hour of the three hour block singing and teaching us (as part of a program they have responsibility over once a year). Usually the children sing the songs and the older children give short talks whie the younger children repeat into the microphone the things their teahcers tell them. They repeat things like “I love Jesus” and “I want to keep the commandments.”
I think this was Eli’s only second time participating (although the kids also do an abbreviated Mother’s day program). The first time he was too nervous to go up on his own so I sat with him. That time he didn’t sing or otherwise participate, but he did sit up there. For the Mother’s day program one of the neighbor girls took him up with her and he did a little singing of one song that he knew.
This week (today) he surprised us. He sat by himself and tried to sing along to the songs that he knows (about half of them). When he wasn’t singing he sat patiently about half the time and bounced around the other half. When his class got up to present on Eternal families to did a great job repeating what his teachers siad. I think this must be officially counted as his first self-prepared talk because I’m quite sure his teachers did not script what he said, even if they did read it to him. His teacher introduced the topi and then announced that each child would say something they were doing in their own families to build an eternal family. Eli went first in the class and repeated… “In my family we are kind to animals.” (pause, getting cues from the teacher). “When I find a catepillar… (pause) I took them home (pause) instead of squashing it.”
Now I understand that taking care of catepillars is probably not enough to secure ones eternal salvation, it is great to see your son prepare his own talk and then surprise mom and dad, and the rest of the congregation, by speaking from the heart like only children can.
Here’s a picture of the catepillar he rescued a few weeks ago (when he must have written his talk).
Sharon’s vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds and she discovers a new word almost daily. But I don’t know if she’s ever enjoyed a word like she does her current favorite. Maybe that’s due to the reaction she gets from everyone else.
I usually like to read quite a bit but haven’t been able to read as much (for fun) lately because my work load has been so high.That being said, I’ve still managed to read, or listen to, a few books in the last month or two and want to give my two cents about each of them.I do this mostly for my own benefit… I usually record each book I’ve read into a spreadsheet and rate it (from 1 to 10) and write a one sentence synopsis.This helps me when I’m looking for a good book to re-read—I go through my list and look for 7s, 8s, or 9s (there has only been one 10).Since I recently read a 9 I thought I’d add a few more details about why I like (or don’t like) each of these last few books so you might decide to read (or not to read) one of them.
The Giver by Lois Lowry
Great book to get you thinking about agency and the consequence of choices.Not the most gripping, engaging read–but worth reading once. The story is basically about a boy who is chosen by his utopian community to receive all the memories and history for his community.Things don’t go as planned when he decides that others should be able to experience joy and pain.Again, I don’t know if this is an enjoyable read, but it gives you a lot to think and talk about.
The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown
A good read, Brown’s 2nd best (after the Da Vinci Code), but his style is too predictable at this point (don’t even consider reading Deception Point, that’s his worst.This one was well researched and introduces some neat research about energy and conceptions of God.I think it’s worth reading/listening to again at some point, but not any time soon.The basic story here is that Dr. Langdon and his expertise on Masonery is called to Washington D.C. to solve a mystery that will give It’s capture ultimate power.
The Blind Side by Mike Davis
Fantastic!Outlines the evolution of the left guard position in the NFL while telling the biographical account of Michael Orr.Well written and the story is amazing.I’ve been recommending this to everyone, not just football fans, because it’s a good rags to riches story about good people doing the right thing.Michael Orr was just drafted this last year into the NFL so it’s a very recent history, which really surprised me because usually these books/movies are written when the star is nearing death.It’s just such a compelling story that it had to be written right away.There is a movie that should be coming out soon by the same name.I don’t expect it to be nearly as good as the book (starring Sandra Bullock and Tim McGraw) and recommend you read the book first.
The Secret by Barbara Givens
Really hoky.It’s essentially a book about the power of positive thinking.But the zenny, spiritual approach doesn’t work for me.Too much fluff and not enough about how to DO something with your life. I listened to this book because many recent personal finance and self-help books reference it.While most of what she/they say is true—that utilizing the “law of attraction” you can make good things happen just by thinking about it—the approach taken seems very self effacing and superficial.I’d recommend reading Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People and Hill’s Think and Grow Rich over this one.
Over the past three weekends I have gone to a community program called sports shorties with Eli. (Note: Eli insists that the name is simply “Sports.” He feels it’s demeaning to tack on shorties, so be careful if you talk to him about it). It is a six week program that meets at the Sports complex (a large indoor facility) for one hour each Saturday. The kids (ages 4-6) take two weeks to learn the basics of soccer, t-ball, and basketball. Eli doesn’t last long so we’ve been arriving a little late and leaving a little early, but it’s been great to see him play with the other kids and learn some basic skills–like stopping a soccer ball by putting your foot on top of it when it’s passed to you… something he also does well with baseballs :). He and I both look forward to this each week.
Those of you who know me well know that I am a huge BYU football fan. I’m not passionate about watching or following any other sports (although I’ll ocassionally watch a Utah Jazz or BYU basketball game), but that when football season rolls around I can wait to see my Cougs.
This year has been especially fun, with a disappointing finish last season, an amazing recruiting class in the off-season, and an incredible schedule this fall it’s been hard for me to contain myself this past week waiting for kickoff against the Oklahoma Sooners.
Kickoff came at a good time for me… last week our semester started and I had long work days (7-5 every day with another hour or so before I went to bed each night, and a half day on Saturday). I was ready for a break and was rewarded with possibly the best football game I’ve ever seen (I don’t remember the Miami game in 1990 very well, just that it was awesome). While I profess to appreciate good defense I usually like watching blow-outs (if we’re on the winning side of it). Saturday was the exact opposite of what I expected. OU was ranked #1 in total offense last year and BYU always ranks high as well. I never could have predicted a final score of 14-13. And I honestly thought we had no chance of winning but hoped we’d keep it close. Since the cougars need me (see Fever Pitch) I convinced Natalie and the kids to face paint and we arrived early to see a little pre-game. Nat was a doll and took the kids home before the first half was up (and it was their bedtime), but I was able to stay up late and see the whole game. Worth losing sleep. GO COUGARS!
If you click the link on Nat’s website she makes a little bit of $ but the Authorhouse price is much better. If you want a signed copy (Mom and Dad, yours is in the mail) just mail us your address (tylerchristensen@tyandnat.com) and we’ll send you one… I think we can do it for about $18/hardcopy, or $13/paperback.
It’s been really great looking through the book. Natalie is happy with how it turned out and she’s just been glowing since we got our copy–all that hard work is paying off. She won’t get rich off this book (she’s already been paid and won’t benefit from royalties) but she accomplished one of her life goals of publishing her artwork. It just goes to show you can accomplish anything you set your mind to (at least if you’re as determined as Natalie). Way to go Natta!
On Friday we went to the drive-in with several of our friends.It was pretty last minute (I sent an email around on Thursday) but at least 7-8 families showed up and we had a blast.I ordered several pizzas and we picked them up and then showed up at the Starlite Drive-In, just south of town, around 7:00.There were already a few families there and the rest followed shortly.We pulled out the Frisbees and the guys threw them around while the kids played with the bubble machine and the gals socialized.It was so much fun, we’d like to do it again this season if any more good movies make it to the theater.
When the first movie, G-Force, started around 8:45 it started pouring so everyone headed into their vehicles and watched just with their families.Fortunately the rain only went for about a half hour so we were able to come back out with lawn chairs and sit with everyone else… unfortunately the temperature had really dropped so Natalie stayed in the car where it was warm.After the first movie Natalie took the kids home but I stayed and watched then next two.Harry Potter was next and about half of our group left sometime during that movie and the rest left when it was over.Johnny Sweeny and I were the die-hards who stayed to see G.I. Joe.It concluded at 3:00 and we went home for a couple hours sleep.I was exhausted during both the late movies but wanted to stick it out so I could say that I went to three movies in one night (first time!).I was up at 6:30, running errands then going to basketball.
On Saturday morning we had a small party for Eli.It was a little different this year because instead of inviting “our friends”we left it entirely up to Eli to decide who he wanted to come.Initially he was not inviting any boys but after further reflection ended up inviting one, and just a few girls.It was nice having a smaller party, although it was difficult for Natalie and I not to invite more—we didn’t want our friends to feel bad because they weren’t invited.We went to the park early and I dug holes throughout the playground and buried “treasure” (dollar toys).The first activity when the kids arrived was to take their buckets and shovels and dig up the treasure.This was an easy activity that ended up being really fun.Everyone found at least one small toy.After the hunt we had cupcakes and Eli opened presents.The big hit was a big book with a dry erase marker that helps Eli to connect the dots while he learns his letters and how to draw circles and straight lines.He’s spent a lot of time with that book.
