Weekly Update

We are starting to get in the groove of this school thing. We were forced this week to rearrange our kids nightly jobs because of activity conflicts. Paige started Sunshine Generation this week and she was really excited. Christopher started piano lessons and that was all we heard about for two days. I'm glad he's excited, now we'll see how excited he is to practice. Kelsey had a voice lesson with Miss Kami in preparation for auditioning for a part in Annie both at school and the Georgetown Palace Theatre. Michael was going to march for the first time but the game was rained out--well mostly the lightening. Yesterday we went to my nephew's 1st birthday but I forgot my camera. I was going to steal photos off other's blogs, but they don't have any up yet! We would have been thrilled if it had been rain. Here are a couple of photo shots for the week.
Here is Michael in the High School Band Hall looking all dapper in his band uniform. I can hardly stand how cute he is!!
Paige's funny quote for the week involves this picture. Here is a vent on the side of our house. We were walking home from the pool the other night and Paige looked up at this and said, "Look mom the birds built a nest in there and they are having a party." (Because of the blue streamer.) Nana came over and she showed it to Nana and Nana asked her what kind of party they were having. She said, "A birthday party." Nana asked who the party was for and Paige said, "The birds of course."

This Week In Review

So we had a very busy spring and summer. So busy that I didn't get around to positing any of it. that is too bad because we really did some great things. Like going to Nauvoo. Here are a couple of pictures from that! First we took a three hour handcart trek.

We also saw all the sights at Liberty Jail, Independence, Nauvoo and Carthage Jail.


This week we sent Michael, Kelsey, Tanner and Christopher off to school. They were pretty excited to go. Michael had already spent about three weeks at school for Marching Band. Here are some first day pictures. Actually the first two are from meet the teacher the day before school started.

I should have turned the camera on myself because I was crying so hard as Michael walked into school. Next to sending a child to Kindergarten this is the hardest thing I've done--send my child to High School! Michael is in red towards the left!
The next exciting news is that Nana got a puppy. His name is Oreo and boy is he cute! It took about a week for Oreo and Holly to become friends, but finally they did. We bring Oreo to our house every day while Nana is at work. This week we've had a bout of sickness. Danielle had it one day and Oreo climbed on the couch and cuddled up with her. Too cute!

High School Musical 3

Needless to say, Kelsey has been waiting for HSM 3 to come out. She was saving a gift card from her birthday to buy it. I bought it for her the day it came out and it took us three nights to finish it--out nights are crazy! We had a great time watching. Every time a song played Danielle grabbed someone's hands and made them start dancing with her--too cute!!

Tanner Got a Blue Ribbon

Tanner took his project to regionals this weekend and got a 1st place blue ribbon. We are so proud of his hard work. He had to wait for an hour or so alone by his project and wait for someone to come and talk to him about it. Mike and Christopher were waiting out front and then the three of them made a mad dash to Marathon Kids. Tanner and Christopher ran their final laps and got their medals. No photos, because Mike forgot the camera--oops!

Tanner Struck Gold

Tanner's project earned a Gold Award on Thursday night at our math and science night. Way to go Tanner. He also got picked to go on to Regionals next month. There are a couple things we have to do to get his project even better. We are proud of Tanner! And, in case you were wondering--next time you drink Hot Chocolate, use a Styrofoam cup because it will stay warmer longer!

Pami

I know you look at this and I've lost your blog address! What is it? Please leave a comment for me and let me know! I miss being able to look at your cute little guy!

Summary of Life

Well as usual it's been a while and this is what has happened to us--the brief version!!

Kelsey did a science fair project, testing how much voltage different types of batteries consume over time in a flashlight.

We had 30+ youth and adults from the ward over to ring in the new year with us!

Kelsey turned 12 and entered the world of Young Women's at church! She was really excited about this! =)

We went to Six Flags on New Year's Day! The weather was beautiful and we even got to see a little snow!

Okay, so it was manmade and the "run" down the hill was only five seconds long, but in Texas--that counts!!

Danielle turned two. We are pretty sure that she is still wondering why she got more presents just a few days after Christmas.

She loves her new princess bike--so does Paige who now doesn't want to ride the bike she got for Christmas because hers is too big!

Danielle climbed in the bath fully dressed! (While my Visiting Teachers were here!)

Tanner's playing basketball. It is just the kind of season that we like--a couple weeks of practice and then 6 weeks of games and we are finished. He is enjoying it and has a great coach! Go Sons!!

Kelsey had an AMAZING birthday party--An Amazing Race that is! 7 teams of two (including Tanner and Michael) raced all over our neighborhood in the dark following 11 clues and fulfilling little tasks along the way. It was a great night. Kelsey and Connor were the first to come back!!

Danielle got a Build a Bear Pooh for her birthday (we've had that thing for years!) So went went as a family to have him stuffed. We're just glad that she liked him more after he was stuffed--before that she really didn't want anything to do with him.

Kelsey went to the temple for the first time. We had a great day on Saturday with Kelsey and Michael going to do baptisms! Thanks Gramma and Grampa Ashford for coming to watch the other kids!!

Tanner did a science fair project too! He tested to see what type of cup retained heat the longest over time. His conclusion--he is going to use a Styrofoam cup the next time he drinks hot chocolate!! We even made a cute fake cup of hot chocolate to put on his poster!

SO NOW YOU'RE IN THE KNOW!!

Merry Christmas One And All

We hope that you had a wonderful Christmas yesterday. We are so behind on posting that I'm just going to move forward. Here is us on Sunday ready for church.

Here we are on our traditional sit on the stairs pose!

Junior National Honor Society

Today Michael was selected to be a member of the Honor Society for Park Crest Middle School. Yeah Michael! There were 75 kids out of over 300 who were chosen because of good grades. Then they looked at other involvement factors and took teacher recommendations to get the group down to 37.

Michael was chosen and they had a very nice ceremony for him today. They had the High School Honor Society come and speak and tell them what a big deal and honor this is to have been chosen. Before the ceremony the High School kids came around and pulled the kids out of class to tell them what was going on and presented them with a key in front of their class. This was a secret up until this point! We are very proud of Michael!

Pumpkin Patch

The kids had no school on Monday. Yippie! We took a trip to Mable Falls to Sweet Berry Farm with 4 other families. It was so much fun. One of the best things was that gas out there was $2.28. That was amazing!

We went on a hay ride and the big kids spent over an hour in a hay maze. They had to collect about 15 punches in order to get a free drink as a prize. They were hot and tired when they came out!

The kids also had fun petting all the farm animals. Michael was amazed at the difference in fur types of a donkey and a horse. I found that funny! The animals were all friendly and even Danielle enjoyed trying to feed them.

Binkies and Bats

Danielle still LOVES her binkies. Yesterday she came to me with three in her mouth at once and started to laugh! I can't believe that she's big enough to know that it was funny!

I went to a baby shower last night. She had the cutest decoration on her garage door--bats. They are made out of craft foam and magnet tape on the back. So, I went to Michael's today where the foam is on sale for 3/$1. For a couple dollars you can have a cute decoration that is reusable. You could even make other shapes and colors for a metal door.

Camera Download

So, I just downloaded my camera. There were lots of fun things on it! I'll get you a little update on what we've been doing!

We went to the hospital to hold Grant. Nana came with us! He is a cute baby and we are happy that he is in our family! It took a few days, but Paige finally has his name down. =)

We had Family Home Evening on fire safety. We practice stop, drop and roll and we tried to get out of the house and avoid the flames.

We went to the hospital to hold James (our nephew born 6 days after Grant). It is fun to have babies in the family again!

Danielle decided it was time for a drive-in movie. So she got her car, her drink and snacks and parked it in front of the tv.

Mike celebrated his birthday. We went out to dinner with some family and friends and then came back to our house for cake, ice cream and games.

Michael and his friend Darian became Life Scouts. YEAH!! Actually they earned it back in April, we've been waiting for a Court of Honor. Next step--EAGLE. He's got three merit badges and a project left. YIPPIE! We're so proud of all his hard work!

We went camping this weekend. Here is a picture of the kids hunting for deer at dusk. We saw two deer running through the cactus.

There were six other families from our ward. Good thing we were all there together. We all borrow stuff from each other a lot!

Then we had the big UT Football game party at our house. It was fun to have lots of family around to cheer on the Longhorns.

Thanks Rick and Sherry. Today I got a fun thank you gift from them for having a party at my house. Very cute! The kids are excited to have Family Home Evening tonight and dig into our yummy treat!

Sad Day!

Today was a better day, only sadder. Last year Christopher had a little girl in his class named Heather. Heather’s mom was pregnant at the end of the year. We saw them at the end of summer for Heather’s birthday party. She was looking cute and pregnant. She had Levi on September 7 and he was 12 weeks early. He was only 1lb 6 oz. It was a hard fight for him. At times he made good progress and then end go backwards again. At one point he got so sick they said that he wouldn’t make it through the night. He kept fighting for another 10 days. That is amazing! Levi passed away on Saturday having only lived 27 days. They had an open casket funeral day. He was the cutest little doll. It was amazing to see something so tiny. There were some good talks that made me really think. Some things went along with what I believe about life and others made me ponder a little deeper. The preacher said that he knew that Levi was with God. He also new that God had a plan in life for Levi and all of us. (So far so good). Then he said that he knew that God didn’t want this to happen (for Levi to die). At first I didn’t know what he meant. I’m sure that God doesn’t want Rick and Lucy to suffer. But I also believe, like he said, that God has a plan. Well, then wasn’t this part of the plan? I know it is a very hard thing to handle in our limited vision of time and space, but I know there is a plan for each of us. If God didn’t want this to happen, then that would have been the plan. It was just and interesting way of thinking about things. Also, this is the 4th child they’ve lost as a couple and Lucy’s 8th child she’s lost (some from previous marriage—none were born alive). She prayed that she’d finally get to hold one—that prayer was answered!!! She got to hold him several times in ICU. Also the dad gave a very composed talk about how their prayers were answered. They prayed that Levi would be made well and whole. That prayer was answered. Not in the way they were hoping, but now he is whole and doesn’t have any wires or tubes hanging out of him. It makes you grateful!!

Here is a link to their story:
http://caringbridge.org/visit/levihouse

Your Market Toe

Paige is at it again, being funny that is. Today we were leaving for Costco and as we got in the car I saw a hangnail on her big toe. I pulled it off and got in. Apparently it started to bleed a little and she said, "Oh no, my toe has an owie!" I said that I was sorry. Then she said, "Your market toe can't be bleeded." Do you get it, your market toe? That's your big toe--as the nursery rhyme goes, "This little piggie went to MARKET." Too funny!

Playlist

Okay, I've added a playlist to the side bar. You HAVE to listen to the Peanut Butter and the Snowman songs! They are pretty clever. This is an LDS artist called Inside Out. They really must have a great time writing this songs!

Favorite Quote of the Week

Monday we went to Schlitterbaun with Brent, Regan, Bridget, Gramma and Grampa and our friends the McCulloughs. See Regan's blog to the right for more pictures!

Anyway, on the way home we stopped to take Bridget home and Regan gave my kids some stick horses from Bridget and Tess' birthday party. Michael was playing with Danielle in the back and had her laughing so hard as he came at her and tickled her with a horse head. Really, that kid was cracking up! I said, "Wow Danielle is really have a blast." Michael came right back with, "I'm having a blast too!" Is that cute or what. That is so fun for a 13 year old to say about his baby sister!