Rockstar Of The Week!

Jayna was the Rockstar Of The Week in 3rd grade the week of February 5th.
This is something new for the 3rd grade, as Ellie's class did not do anything like this.

The agenda was as follows:
Monday, the Rockstar brings in 12 photos of themselves to put up on the class wall. They also get to bring in 3 special items. The next 3 collages show which photos Jayna shared with the class. It was quite the task, finding just 12 photos. It was fun though, as we uncovered a lot of old, cute photos of the family. Memories...

Jayna's 3 special items included: 1) The Blog Book 2) A Hairbow, made by Grandma and 3) Her Blanket.

Tuesday, a special book is read to the class. Jayna LOVES this book...loves it so much that I wonder why we don't own a copy of it! Thankfully, it was at the library when we went to retrieve it!

Wednesday, a special letter is read to the class about Jayna. This was hard for me. Every year, on the kids' birthdays, they receive a letter from me. I wasn't going to do THAT kind of letter for the class, and I did not want to embarrass Jayna...but if you are ready to read, there is the letter:

Dear 3^rd Graders,

I was just on your class website reading about “Rockstar of the Week” and how TODAY, *I* get to tell you how special Jayna is!

I realized that there are some things you don’t know about Jayna….and you know what? Sometimes it’s the unknown things about a person that make them most special.

Do any of you know what James 1:12 says in the Bible? This is the verse that Mr. Glynn and I chose for Jayna’s “life verse” when she was dedicated as an infant in our church. It says “¹² Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. “ I remember Jayna’s dedication day clearly—she was 6 months old and our pastor made a comment about it being a “heavy” verse for a small infant. We chuckled and explained that she was SMALL, but she had been through a lot in life already. We then had to tell our pastor how to hold her during the dedication service because if he held her wrong, she would scream at the top of her lungs for the entire service, ruining the morning for many people. Jayna was crier when she was little—she screamed nonstop and she did not spend a lot of time sleeping, like most babies. During her first year, Mr. Glynn and I felt like we were the only ones “persevering”, but Jayna was persevering too. You see, everyone is born with bones in their head that actually move when you are young. Jayna’s bones were LOCKED; they could not move. One doctor explained to me that she probably screamed all the time because her head hurt so bad. Isn’t that sad? It is…but it was Jayna’s first round of learning to persevere. (I think you have learned about this word in 3^rd grade haven’t you?) She eventually did stop screaming…she doesn’t scream all day at New Hope does she?!

Well, when Jayna was almost 1 year old, we were on a family walk. Jayna was in the stroller with her big sister Ellie and all of a sudden, out of nowhere, came this really BIG, wild dog! It was not on a leash and suddenly, it had jumped onto Jayna! She was buckled into her stroller seat and was trapped under this wild dog. From that time on, for about 6-7 years, Jayna was very afraid of dogs. She couldn’t even stand seeing them walk by our house from inside the window. But again, she had to persevere….many friends and family of ours had dogs and eventually, Jayna learned that not all dogs would jump on her like that one did when she was just a baby. This summer, we were at a reunion and she LOVED holding a medium size dog!

Around that same time, Jayna also had to persevere through some other things…one thing that she just could not do as a toddler was stand up! Can you believe that? She sure stands fine now, doesn’t she? Well, she had to have special plastic boot shaped inserts put into her shoes to hold her legs stable so she could learn to stand, learn to walk, learn to navigate steps and run around like a toddler. It was hard work…and Jayna persevered. During that time as a 1 year old though, Jayna made up for not walking and moving around by TALKING. Have you ever heard her fasting talking talent? She can talk VERY fast! She didn’t just say baby words like “mama” or “dada”….she opened her mouth and huge sentences came out. And then she started singing. Have any of you heard her sing? I think she prefers to keep that talent hidden, even though we tell her that if God gives you a talent, you need to use it! She LOVES singing and often, her happiest moments are when she is singing, usually at the top of her lungs!

There are more times in Jayna’s life that she has had to put the word “persevere” into action, but I’m sure you have other things to move onto. Before I finish this letter though, I wanted to tell you a few more things about Jayna that I bet she hasn’t shared with you. Do you see that picture of her wearing the Snow White dress up clothes? When she was young, she was OBSESSED with wearing dress up clothes and high heeled dress up shoes. She especially loved the Snow White costume—but she couldn’t really say “Snow White”…instead, she said “Fo Feet”. It was pretty cute.

You probably know that Jayna doesn’t like chocolate AT ALL and she doesn’t prefer cake, if given the choice. When Jayna was 2, I took her strawberry picking with me and she became obsessed with strawberries. Every year for her birthday, she gets a huge strawberry pie, as her cake! She loves pink and when we moved into our current house, her Daddy painted the room she and Ava share—it is BRIGHT pink. So bright that he called me on the phone when he was painting it and said ‘I don’t know about this…we might need sunglasses in this room—it is super bright!’

She also doesn’t like to be left alone. When Jayna was a baby, she had her own bedroom. But, by the time Jayna was 2, she started sharing a room with her sisters. To this day, she talks of wanting to have her own room, but she really doesn’t like to be by herself. I think that’s kind of special—she LOVES company and is happiest when other people are around.

I mentioned that Jayna loves to sing, but she also loves to play the piano and listen to classical music. When she started taking piano lessons, she was quite the stinker—she didn’t want to learn to read music, so she played everything by ear! To this day, she practices piano daily as if she is playing a concert for our family—it is a joy to listen to her music.

3^rd graders, sometimes the hardest things we face in life make us strongest, developing our most special qualities. Remember that verse in James as you grow up and find yourself facing hardships.

As I look back on Jayna’s life, I know that God created a very special little girl and I know that God is helping her persevere through hard days. With each passing day, she is passing on a little specialness to everyone she encounters.

Jayna, you are loved….and to all of you 3^rd graders…thank YOU for loving Jayna and making her feel special too!

Love,

Mrs. Glynn

Thursday, the Rockstar gets to pick their seat for the day. Of course, if you know Jayna, you know how worried this made her. She LOVES where she sits now...and if she moved "here", then this friend would be mad. If she moved "there", then another friend would be mad. Guess what she did? She stayed in her own seat! :)

And Friday, the entire class works on a coloring page of what they like about the Rockstar. The teacher then has those pages bound in a book and the Rockstar brings the book and the trophy (1st picture in this post) home to share.

What a fun week!

Valentine's Day

We LOVE Valentine's Day in this house.

The Christmas decorations come down and BAM, up go the Valentine hearts and wreaths and flag...Valentine's colors go so well with our house....the hearts go so well with what we want to show to all...LOVE! It's also extra special as Jayna celebrates her 1/2 birthday at school on the 13th and she ALWAYS takes Valentine sugar cookies for her treat!

Anyway...it was quite the busy Valentine's Day Week...as are many weeks with a family of 6. We've survived busy weeks before, and I'm sure they will come again. However, this year, I completely missed the importance of NOT being busy on Valentine's Day.

(Just a side note...so disappointed in all the activities scheduled for the actual Valentine's Day. We must be "odd" in that we love to celebrate it as a family. Ellie alone had 4 activities that were at the same time or overlapped. Insane.)

So let's back up....Monday the 13th was no school for Ellie and an appointment day for Jayna as well as her 1/2 birthday. I did not know that during her appointment, she was dwelling on the "bummer of the 14th" when we'd be so busy that we would not truly celebrate as a family. I figured, if we had a special breakfast time in the morning, all would be well. It wasn't. After the kids got to school, I was on the phone with the woman Jayna had lamented to the day before and it hit me hard... the 14th was special to the girls and we had to change some things. Andy and I text'd back and forth a few times and decided to yank the kids from EVERYTHING other than piano lessons that afternoon and we were celebrating as a family in the evening. Since I know Jayna stews on things, I even called the school to have the message passed on: "No choir tonight...we're celebrating Valentine's Day!"

That morning, though, we had to deal with the mini-snow storm that blew through the area. While Colin rode his bike in the paths, I shoveled the strange white stuff that has been absent from our state....yes, it may have melted in the next couple of days, but the piano teacher was coming and I hate for people to have to walk through the snow if they can avoid it!

Next order of business....the balloon decorating. I LOVE Pinterest. I had seen an idea of helium filled balloons floating above a bed with notes of love attached to the bottom. I knew I wanted to do it for Andy but I was scared of the balloons. For some reason, a certain 3 yr old toddler still loves to put strange things in his mouth! Anyway, when I went to the party store to order the balloons, they had a deal for the mylar heart shaped balloons. Sweet! I had the kids each take a heart note and write what they loved about Andy. As they got so excited about blessing Andy with these balloon-cards, I realized that Andy would be fine with 4 less balloons...I was going to bless the kids as well! When it was all done, there was a balloon love note in each child's room as well as 6 balloons in our bedroom. Andy LOVED it, as did the girls....as for Colin, I'm quite sure he didn't "get it" yet.
So after school, we told the girls the surprise....we were going to leave RIGHT after piano lessons and go to Stevi B's for pizza and we'd even play games. We never play the games...never. They were over the moon excited...it's the ONLY place that all 4 will really eat a decent meal. We were ready to "love" the kids by taking them to a crazy restaurant! It was very successful...everyone's love tank was filled...especially Colin's, when he got to play the "car game", as seen below!

Until next year....Happy Valentine's memories...know that you are loved, friends and family!

Cabin Fever!

This was a weekend of true cabin fever.

My parents came to visit from MN...and apparently just 5 hours west, the weather was much different than our forecast. You see, my mom didn't bring any of her winter stuff (boots, coat, mittens) and instead, had her little windbreaker! I'm quite sure they were surprised the night they arrived when it was blustery and cold....and then the next morning when they woke up to snow!

By the last day they were here, you can see that even Grampy had cabin fever...he had gone crazy!

This particular weekend, Ellie had a project at Spring Road....a group of 5th graders got together with the music teacher (have I ever mentioned how much I love the music teacher!??!?!) to make a music video! They are singing a song called 'It's About Respect' for their concert in March and for the first time, tried doing a video to the music. I can't wait to see it. When I went to pick Ellie up after lunch, I saw this sign posted on the music room door...and then I saw it posted AROUND the music room too:

Now, how does a Neenah, WI teacher quote a music teacher from Austin, MN? Well, my mom, "queen of newspaper clipping", cut out an article about MY band instructor from 5th grade and his famous quote that he is STILL saying today! I showed the article to Ellie, she took it into her music teacher and the teacher LOVED it and posted it around the room!

When Ellie returned home from the music video making, we cracked open a new game we had gotten for Christmas...Scrabble Flash. Thank you, Aunt Rebekah for this game...it is a family favorite!!!! We had a couple hours of just playing...and playing...and playing...and playing! We were all getting into it. Well, everyone except Colin and Ava...and they were entertaining those who were waiting their turn for Scrabble Flash!

On Sunday, Ava went to the Valley Academy for the Ballet Exam. She was #5 and by far the smallest little ballerina there!

She told us "It was just like a class but there were 2 extra people watching and writing about us!" The next week, we received her exam evaluation. Go Ava...way to use your talents!

And finally....to get an idea of the entertainment we have been blessed with by Colin, click HERE. Colin has been doing a long pull up study at Wild Air in Appleton. It is funny because when the Wiggles music comes on, he stops what he is doing and re-enacts the Wiggles dance moves. Here he is at dinner trying to show the girls and Andy what I meant!

Winter Concert & More

This year, the choir had a winter concert, the first Saturday in February.
I have to admit....I was not all that excited about this concert. I had been told by the girls that ALL of the songs were in Latin! Add to that the fact that I wasn't hearing much practicing at our home, I figured it would be a non-event, nothing to write home about.
Boy, was I ever wrong!!! It was BEAUTIFUL!!! The concert was wonderful to listen to and the orchestra and singers that accompanied the choir were outstanding!
(Isn't it funny...we live right smack in the middle of music-land with Lawrence University just 5ish miles northeast of our house and we easily forget about the quality of local talent...until we are faced with a concert like this one!)

This was an interesting concert though....

On the day of the concert, Ava and I woke up feeling flu-ish. We had no babysitter for the little Glynn kids, so I told Andy 'Sit us on an aisle in case I have to rush Ava out if she gets sick!'. Shortly after the doors opened, he called me and said "What do you think about sitting in the balcony?" BRILLIANT! It was sparsely populated, Ava could lay on a church pew and we had our mega zoom lens, so we could still capture photos and video!

So, Andy is at the church early to get us seats and I'm struggling to get Ava out the door--she had been napping, she woke up fine and then felt bad again. Poor little girl! We did make it to the church though, and as we walked up to the balcony, we were met with pale Ellie saying "I don't feel good!" Ugh. Our new phrase is "Give it your best shot." (Maybe someday I will blog about that phrase...), so we encouraged her and sent her on her way...worrying that she'd quickly become the "star" of the concert, in a way that no one wishes to be.
(By the way...all Glynns made it through the concert just fine.)

Now, about that mega zoom lens on our camera. It was great....but yikes, the video is REALLY shaky. In fact, so shaky that I won't subject you all to feeling sick with too many video postings. HERE is the opening song "Gloria" and HERE is Jayna's Prima Choir singing their song.

The concert really was fabulous...2 songs in, Andy turned to me and said "I feel like I'm at a concert at the Performing Arts Center!" So true, it was a wonderful afternoon of music.

The rest of our week was "weird winter wonder". Honestly. I received an email from a family member saying "I hope the kids are having fun enjoying the winter weather!" Uh..no. Our yard was full of puddles, it was too windy/cold to enjoy the driveway...and, all of the bikes were put up for the winter, and our trampoline lost it's walls and is covered by a tarp (because we KNEW that living in Wisconsin would provide ample snow, so we do those types of things in preparation for the winter!

We did however have some memories:
Upper left: Best buddies Colin and Ava playing while the big girls were at choir...They set up all the cars and then they had "Bible Study". Precious.

Upper right: Colin and his beloved tools...and check out his glasses! Andy went on a 1 day trip to a Kimberly Clark Distribution Center and came back with safety glasses. Colin is very good about wearing them whenever he is working.... ;)

Lower left: Is this drawing too much or what? This is from Ava, to Andy and I. What a treasure. It's going to be framed for our bedroom...she is such a romantic, and such a fantastic artist.

Lower right: Perhaps this is the only snowman we will get built this year. Red, sparkly, and completely clean-up-able!