A Day in the Life of Steven (aka The Overscheduled Child)

Note: My family keeps asking us "what we're up to" so we've decided to spotlight what each of us has been up to, starting with Steven.

I wanted to start with Steven, since he's been "up to" the most over the last few weeks. The other day at the bus stop, one of the other moms was talking about the book, The Overscheduled Child--I told her it sounds like I need to read it! School is going by in a blur. Steven's already finished with his 1st Quarter of Middle School. He LOVES school. He says middle school is the best! He loves his teachers and is doing really well in his classes. He says the best part of this year is that there's not as much homework as elementary school because they give him a chance to do most of it in class. Also, they have lots and lots of fun at school!

I had to go spy on him the other day just to see if it's as fun as he says it is. Each quarter, the PTA puts on a Way to Go Lunch. This is an incentive lunch that 30 kids get to participate in during the lunch hour. All quarter, kids earn tickets for good behavior. At the end of the quarter 30 tickets per grade level are chosen to eat at the front of the cafeteria with all their buddies watching. Fast food restaurants around Auburn donate a bunch of junk food for the kids to eat--McDonald's cheeseburgers, shakes, sausage McMuffins, apple pies, Arby's sandwiches, pizza, etc. They get to eat as much as they can stand! Steven didn't win one of the spots, but because I was helping out, they let me give him some of the food.

The week before last, all of the 6th graders got to go to Round Table Pizza for all-you-can-eat pizza because they'd met some incentive goal in their class. Steven and his friend, Zac, took this seriously and ate all they could--17 pieces each! I told him I wouldn't let him go anymore if he was planning on doing that again. I couldn't believe he was able to play basketball after school that day.

This leaves time for extracurricular activities. Steven wants to try everything to see what he likes. His morning starts out at 6:00 a.m. (ouch! His mom and dad are NOT morning people!) He leaves for Jazz band at 6:30 a.m. His band teacher is Mr. Paustian who was also, ironically, Steve's band teacher in Idaho 20 years ago! He plays trombone and really enjoys it.

In school he's taking the regular classes--English, Math, Science, plus an Industrial Arts elective. He just informed me that he's been asked to be the Student Representative for his class next quarter, so his elective will be the Leadership class.

After school from 2:30-4:15, Steven's been participating in 6th grade basketball. He played forward, so he got lots of practice rebounding. This is the first time he's played on an organized team, so it's been a learning experience for him. The coach kept calling him Stevie for some reason--I hope that doesn't stick!

After coming home and practicing trombone and finishing homework, Steven goes to Savior of the World Practice on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. Our stake is putting on the Savior of the World play/musical Nov. 30th and Dec. 1st. It's really an amazing production about the Savior's birth. Steven is playing the part of Nathan, a shepherd boy. He has a couple of solos and some speaking parts. It's a huge time commitment, but we're really enjoying the experience.

On Wednesday's, he goes to Scouts. He's been working on the 1st Class Rank Advancement and really enjoys going every week and going on the campouts.

In addition to all of these obligations, Steven still finds time for a social life. On Thursday, he went to a skating party at Auburn Skate Connection with the other 6th graders. He was excited that he won a skating race.

He also likes to walk Leia while his buddy, Zac, walks his dog, Scuppers. (Sorry if I spelled his name wrong, Johnson's!) On Saturday afternoons, he goes to Puppy Obedience Training to teach Leia to be a good doggy!

Finally, to make money, Steven's been raking leaves for neighbors. They've been very generous, and although he tells them he's doing it just to be nice, they insist that he put it in his mission fund. We have great LDS neighbors!

We're looking forward to January when most of these extra activities will be over. Last Saturday, we had a window of nothing to do, so Steven really enjoyed just being a kid playing video games and watching TV!

Halloween Happenings

We've had an exciting Halloween at the Summers' house. It all started last weekend when Steve and I went to an annual Halloween costume party. In the past, we've gone as individual characters. This year, we wanted to dress up as a couple.

I went online to get ideas. On ebay, I saw a few ideas, including Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head. But, HELLO! They were bidding over $150 for them! I don't think so! So I went to Jo-Ann Fabrics, spent $25 on felt and $10 on accessories and made them myself. (Mom and Grandma Lacey--thanks for all that time and patience you took teaching me how to sew! I get to use my sewing annually for Halloween costumes.)

There was only a little drama (well, a lot, at the time) when we tried the costumes on and realized they wouldn't fit over our hips. The costumes were lined, and apparantly I'd goofed up on the seam allowances for the lining and the linings were smaller than the outer shells. Thank goodness for seam rippers!

The party was so much fun. The highlight was the power tools pumpkin carving contest. The winner carved his
with a chain saw!

Steve with his Gremlin pumpkin

Monday night we made carameled apples and carved pumpkins for Family Night. In the past, we've gone to a pumpkin patch to let the kids each pick one out. This year we were too busy, so Steve took the kids down to Albertson's to pick them out.

Steven insisted on carving his pumpkin all by himself this year. He made a very detailed witch. It turned out great! (Dad ended up "helping" a little to speed things along--Steven needed to go to bed!)

Here are the final versions of the Pumpkins. Don't you love the kids' assortment of "jammies?!"

Ben wanted to make a Pac Man pumpkin. Steve learned a cool trick from the power tool pumpkin carving contest--drills make really great holes in pumpkins! So, Steve even made the little dots PacMan needed to eat. We heard some really excited trick-or-treaters exclaim that they loved the PacMan pumpkin.

Rachel wanted to make a dog--it was too hard to design, but she was able to make an adorable pumpkin almost all by herself!

On Halloween (Wednesday night,) we started the evening by going to a tri-ward carnival at the church. Sophia, dressed as Piglet, had so much fun. She especially enjoyed the cupcakes. Rachel was a beautiful Sleeping Beauty.

Ben was a mad scientist--complete with a balding white wig and safety goggles, but when anyone asked him, he replied, "I'm my dad!"

Steven dressed as Dracula. (We never got a picture of him, though!) The middle schoolers were allowed to dress up for school, so he wore his costume all day. He started out wearing a black wig, but by the end of the day, it looked like a dead rat, so he didn't want to wear it trick or treating.

The kids didn't want to stay at the church for the dinner or "trunk or treating." They wanted to come home so they could go out with friends. Trick or treating was a new experience this year. Steve and Sophia stayed home to pass out the candy while I went out with Ben and his friends, Connor and Ethan. Rachel went with her friend, Christine and Christine's mom and sister. Steven and his friends, Nik, Zak, Kyle, Sam, and Aaron, decided they didn't want any adults hampering their progress, so we let them all go together. They had cell phones and set boundaries and an 8:00 curfew to adhere to. They were home before 8:00, so we'll let them do it again next year! They all came home with lots of loot. They've gotten wise over the years. They're keeping it stashed in their bedrooms so Dad and Mom can't eat any of it. (We told them if we saw any of it down here, it was ours! We didn't want Leia, the dog, to get into any of it!)