A Hobbit's Tale - Astling style

At our house, the rule concerning movies based on books is: You can't see the movie until you read the book.  It took us a long time to get Spencer to read The Hobbit, but when we learned Peter Jackson was going to produce The Hobbit, that lit a fire under the boys to finish the book before the first installment of three of The Hobbit.  At first Spencer wanted to just read to the end point of the first installment, but we laid down the law (again): You must read the whole book.  D.J. jumped on the band wagon too, and when the time came, D.J. and Spencer went to the theater with Mark to see both the first and second movie and we are anxiously awaiting the third.  While we are anxiously awaiting the third, Spencer and D.J. started the wonderful J.R.R. Tolkien journey of The Lord of the Rings series.  Spencer got through the first book fairly quickly, but it took D.J. a little while longer because he had a few other books in the queue.  When they finally both finished, they came to Mark on a Saturday to ask if they could watch The Fellowship of the Rings.

Mark: Only after you complete a quiz.

Spencer and D.J.: various whining, pouting and other sounds of resistance.

Mark: Only after you complete a quiz.

Spencer and D.J.: FINE!

So Mark found 25 questions on-line.  Here are some of them, see how you do:

How are Bilbo and Frodo Baggins related?

A. Bilbo is Frodo's father

B. Bilbo is Frodo's grandfather

C. Bilbo is Frodo's cousin

D. Bilbo is Frodo's uncle

Which birthday does Bilbo celebrate at the beginning of The Fellowship of the Ring?

A. His 100

B. His 101

C. His 110

D. His 111th

To which of the following is the landscape of the Shire most similar?

A. The scottish highlands

B. The French Riviera

C. The Swiss Alps

D. The English countryside

How many black riders are there?

A. Seven

B. Nine

C. Eleven

D. Thirteen

What type of tree ensnares Merry int he Old Forest?

A. A larch

B. An oak

C. A willow

D. An elm

What are Tom Bombadil's origins?

A. He is from the unknown West across the Great Sea

B. He is the brother of Old Man Willow

C. He is a being from the deep inside the earth

D. His origins are unknown

What are lembas?

A. A type of Elvish food

B. A type of flower that grows in Lothlorien

C. Elvish coins

D. Elvish arrows with magical properties

The test ended up being open book, which is the opposite of what Mark and I were: tight-lipped.  While the boys were agonizing over answers, I said to Mark, "You just want to watch them squirm don't you."  Mark said, "That's what Dads do." They got most of the quiz answers correct, two questions were hard to figure out, but they did it with help of reasoning and research.  D.J. got so excited about watching the movie that he found all sorts of hobbit attire for the big event. Spencer dressed up as a black rider.  They really, really liked the movie. James got to watch a movie in his room.

Answers: D, D, D, B, C, D, A

Pinewood Derby 2014

The time has come and gone again for planning, preparation, safety goggles, color schemes, sand paper, spray paint, scales, graphite and strategically placed weights (honey, do you have any lithium batteries?).  

James drew the design, determined the colors and helped Dad cut out the shape of his derby car.

When the big night came, the organizers didn't skimp on any of the dramatics of the race.  After James's name is called over the loudspeaker, he enters the gym amid smoke and light with his scout shirt on and the super-awsome car that he named. . . . . . . . "Blank."

There were 45 cars to race on a great track that a man wearing a "Fremont" scout belt gave a 15 minute warning speech against harming in any way shape or form, or monetary  penalties will be dished out.  Your placement determined your score (1, 2, 3 or 4), the lowest scores after each car raced four times went to the finals.  James's score was 4. He won all races he participated in!  

James cheers on his friends while he waited in the pit for his turn.

After placing his car on the track, he ran to the finish line to await the results of the race, giving high fives along the way.

Mark tries to look non-chalant as he figures out James's scores and the scores of others.  Despite his modest professions that "the car probably wouldn't do well," and he "didn't really spend much time on the car this year," there was enough time and love invested that merited attention to placement. And fun of course, because we only do this for the boys to have fun.

He watches closely as his car comes in first almost every time!

After racing four times in the final, James's score was 5! Which means he won the race!

James with his super-awesome car, "Blank."  I'm sure it was the humility of the name that determined the success.

The owner of the track had the boys of the top three cars give their parents hugs (good man, even though he did scare us about jumping over the track).

Two great champions, with a trophy that everyone got which states "I did my best."

Spencer the Mighty

The name "Spencer the Mighty" is a name he is pleased with.  Since beginning wrestling in the pre-season, he has been very pleased with the growth of his biceps. And triceps, and legs and the beginnings of a six-pack.  We (yes, we) were just completing his Physical Fitness merit badge and noticing how much he's grown in all limbed muscle segments and how many more push-ups, sit-ups and pull-ups he can do in one minute.  We also measured his height today and he is close to 5'9".  He wrestles in the 132 weight class.  The below picture was taken during a pre-season tournament in Heber.

If you were able to watch his, sadly on two matches, during Jr. High season, the high pitched screaming at the end is me.  So, I get a little involved in my children's successes and have found that I actually come home a little sore because I'm showing him how to twist and such while I sit helplessly in the stands.  This really isn't helpful to him (or me) since I don't know any wrestling moves, except the kick-and-run-for-your-life move.  I also shed a few tears after the first match because he had waited so long to get a match that I was just so happy for him.  His teammates were happy for him too and when they found out Spencer would be wrestling, they ran to their parents shouting "Spencer got a match!"  The news spread like wild fire in a small Jr. High gym and at the end, we all shed a few tears.  What bonding.

Spencer and Jr. High has been a roller coaster trying to figure out what to expect of him, how to get him to fulfill expectations, how to help him expect more our of himself, and what to expect from seven different teachers.  And then how to learn not to expect anything since teenage behavior is so erratic!  I expect I'll be happy for summer to arrive!  I think both he and his parents have learned a lot - and that's always good.

Spencer borrowed one of my costume hats for crazy hat day.  He was so proud of it when he left, but didn't have it on when he came home as it was a little too crazy.  Too crazy for Jr. High?!?!?  Thank you Mom's costume box(es).

D.J. the Marvelous

What can I say about D.J.'s brain?  It is amazing. It is sometimes puzzling.  It is very math oriented.  It is clever.  It is bright. It is marvelous.

This is what his brain set to work at after we had Chase and Chloe to our house for a day:

I think perhaps he may have received the symmetry gene from Mark.  Though now that I look at it, the bridge pieces are not quite lined up.  I won't show him this picture for a while or he may not be able to sleep.

D.J. went to Mark's office one evening, before or after a U of U basketball game.  In order to entertain himself while Mark worked he worked a division problem.  It looks like 679310586649256781239522 divided by 5.  Along the math lines, this morning Mark put D.J. to work recording all the heights on our "mark your height" growing board and then entered them into a graph that showed growth curves.  That kept him busy for a while.

D.J. loves Roxy.  While playing with her with tennis balls one day, he decided to test Roxy's skill with the old ball under the cup trick.  She did pretty well with two cups and then they worked up to five cups and she still did pretty well.  In the end she just wanted the ball so badly, she just knocked them all over.  D.J. thought it was all good fun!

James the Great

James has been involved in all sorts of things this year.  He's completed many projects at school and loved playing basketball this winter.  All of the projects have been great ones, and he is learning not to leave them until the very last minute because all people involved get stressed and not-so-happy.

In James's third grade class, his teacher has special requirements for the kids to earn bachelor's, master's and doctorate degrees.  The above is a picture of earning his master's degree, complete with cap and sash.

One of the requirements for his master's degree was to complete a report on an animal of his choice.  He already did a report on monkeys (his current favorite animal), so he chose to do a report on Opossum.  He had to make some sort of representation of his animal, so the night before it was due, we put together a stuffed opossum, with pipe cleaner in the tail to help it hang from his arm.  Many 3rd graders were in awe of this.

James's class studied Native Americans during the third term and were required to make a dwelling of one of four Native American tribes.  James was assigned the Inuit Americans (eskimos), so he made an igloo.  Did you know that the selection for sugar cubes is quite slim?  We finally found some (perhaps they were 10 years old and kept around just for 3rd graders to make igloos) and the making of the igloo went like this:  One for the igloo, one for me.  One for the igloo, one for me. D.J. joined in for this particular craft.

The whole third grade performed a Native American program with stick dances, hoop dances, drums, feathers and such.  They did a great job explaining Native American life.

This is James's cheesy stage face.

This is James when he's not posing for the camera.  I have to say that he's got pretty good rhythm and timing for dancing and singing.

For Dr. Seuss week, James's school had the kids do something every day of the week.  Crazy hair day, crazy clothes day, mustache Monday.  The picture above is "come as your favorite book character day." I didn't have a costume for his favorite book character (some kind of magical animal), but I have a variety of other choices.  He chose Waldo. He loved it so much he wore it until time for bed.

James really liked basketball this year and was such a good sport he said he didn't mind losing every single game.  Which they did.  Though the post season is causing him to rethink basketball.  He was an aggressive player and I had parents come up to me after the game to tell me that James is fun to watch. He definitely gave it 100%!

Love is in the air; Valentine's Day 2014

Well, not really, but we had a good time teasing about it this year.  D.J. and Spencer both had Valentine's dances to go to this year.  D.J.'s dance is like an initiation ceremony into pre-teen hood.  It is held every year for the sixth graders.  The music teacher even teaches them the waltz (which D.J. says he's pretty good at), the box step, line dances and such.  D.J. says his favorite is the Boot Scootin' Boogie.  They fill out dance cards (determined by games) to make sure everyone has partners.  The dance committee, made up of parents (mainly parents of girls I noticed), decorated the gym with balloons, hearts and pink.  I peeked my head in and maybe did a little bit of the robot as they played footloose, and was happy to see that D.J. was smiling and having a great time.  He asked me not to take a picture of any of the slow dances, but what else do you expect a mother to do? I only took one.  Also, he requested that, like his friends, he wear a pink tie.  So the day before the dance I went to a few stores (D.I. the first) to find a pink tie.  I found a pinkish-purple one that passed D.J. inspection and he likes it so much he wore it to church on Sunday, with just a few added pen marks on it.

 Amid the balloon arch made out of PVC pipe by my amazing friend Kim and her husband Matt.

 D.J. really does rock at the Boot Scootin' Boogie! I was impressed.  He has actually been learning these dances for the last two years with his Multi-Age Classroom, so he was plenty confident.  I also saw him doing the chicken and some fancy footwork down the Footloose dance line.

Here is the slow dance picture where he realized I was taking the picture so looked away.  Still, I have evidence.

Spencer's dance was an optional dance at the Jr. High.  I teased him about going and he assured me that he would not.  Later I asked him, seriously, if he was going to go and he said, "Mom, they don't even have food there." There's a boy for you, thinking about food.  We joked about him thinking about food while there were probably many girls wondering who would be there, who would ask me to dance, how do I look, etc.  He also added that they had to dress up for this dance which was very uninteresting to him.  He did receive one valentine from a girl who singled him out with a Crunch bar.  Well, that's not entirely true, she did tell Spencer that she wanted to give his friend Mason a Crunch bar, but that she also wanted to hit him. Drama.

James had a regular Elementary School Valentines day party.  He's the only one who I bought Valentines for this year.  They had monkeys on them.

Mark and I gave each boy the opportunity to go on a date with us.  So we took Spencer out for Breakfast at IHOP before he went ice fishing with the scouts.  James went to lunch at Granny Annie's where I called ahead to make sure they served meatloaf (his favorite).  When the meatloaf was served, James wouldn't eat it because there were obvious chunks of carrots in it.  He said it could've used a little of my sauce (happy Valentine to me). We took D.J. to Smokin' Bones where he ordered and ate a half rack of ribs before I finished off two ribs.  It was a little hard to get the boys to carry on a continuous conversation, but in the end I think they all felt special and loved, which is the whole point.

Great Grandma's Googley Glasses

After Christmas, we were able to stay with Great Grandma Wheeler for a few hours while her care givers were on vacation.  We helped dust and clean a bit, had lunch with her, let her Skype with my Mom and Dad and played games while she napped.  She is always so fun to be with and shares love with everyone around her.  I'm so glad my boys can know her!  Toward the end of our visit, I remembered a drawer in her hutch that contained glasses from years gone by.  My favorite ones, the green lens green horn rimmed glasses were removed, but we had fun with some others!

Cool dudes, wearing shades. 

What thinkest thou of these glasses? 

Purplish rose colored glasses?

80s retro (yes, I remember when they were popular).

Apparently these clip on to eyebrows. 

These make things look BIGGER!