January

January has come and gone- heck, February has come and gone.  Where in the world does the time go?  Elliott and Craig took a little archery class after the holidays.  They had a great time and Elliott come home with a little archery set.  We now have hay bales and zombie targets to hit with arrows in the yard.  As I've said before and I stick by it completely- NEVER A DULL MOMENT.

Elliott has gotten his purple belt in karate.  I'm proud of his accomplishment.   He is REALLY good at karate- but one would never know because he's too shy to show anyone anything.  I love watching him in class- it's so cool to see your child doing a whole Kata by memorization.  It's really beautiful (don't tell him I said that) to watch and fluid.  I'm always impressed.  He can now wear a black Gi- so he's stoked.   Black Gi purple belt. 

My grandmother and her husband were in town for a few days.  Shelly, Scott and the kids and Craig, Elliott and I were able to join them at their time share for a long afternoon.  The kids found that shuffle board is AMAZING and they are all still talking about creating one of their own in our driveway.  Shelly found out that they have one in their little community- so now all they need are the sticks, etc.  Who knew that shuffle board was so cool?  No kidding- they played it for at least 2 hours solid.  

This is my dad's mother.  He is one of 3 children- the oldest.  My grandmother has lived in Salt Lake for most of the memory that I have of her.  We rarely see her so this was a nice treat to get the kids together to spend time with their great-grandma.  She probably HATES that I just called her a great-grandma!  Sorry!  We had a lovely time and wish we could see her more often.  Elliott still talks about seeing "Grandma Rose" and the shuffleboard.   My favorite part was hearing stories that I'd never heard before about her childhood and life.  Those are the kind of things that mean the most to me.  History- where we came from and why, etc.  It was really nice and I wish the visits weren't so few and far between.

Elliott received a Principles award.  Each student in the school gets one a year.  They make a big deal about it and have a little assembly.  His award was for being such a good friend and so praiseworthy to his peers.  He is always walking around class telling his friends that they are doing a good job on whatever they are working on- especially their art work.  His teacher says he is one of the nicest!  A mom likes hearing these things for sure.

We took Elliott to the shooting range.  He had a good time.  I was glad to have taken him.  The Streiff and Rose men LOVE their guns.  I've decided that if I can't beat them I might as well join them.  (This was a good decision on my part.)  So, if Elliott is going to be around guns he better know how deadly and powerful they can be and how he needs to know all of the safety rules in and out.  I wanted a little fear instilled in him.  I didn't think I had gotten any (except that he was a little uncomfortable with the noise from the other shooters- they are LOUD) until I shot a hand gun in front of him and offered to let him give it a try.  He DID NOT want to have anything to do with that gun.  So, for now, I'm okay with the level of fear he has- until he as a better understanding of the power- fear is just fine with me.  

Lastly, our picture from his Valentine.  It was a cheesy little one I found on-line that said- " I mustache you a question, will you be my Valentine?"  Super cute boy.  He is always so willing to go along with my corny stuff.  I love that about him.  He definitely accepts me for me.  Remind him of that when he's a teenager and 

I'm not cool anymore.  Okay?