February 2017--week 4

What a FULL week!  The week before Spring Break is normally jam packed with lots of stuff.

#1:  It is the week of the PTA Bookfair which I assist my friend Shannon Lee in doing.  We spent a lot of time on Friday setting it up, and then that means I am at the school for a chunk of the day each day of the week helping out, it means early mornings and even after school stuff.  But it's the one thing I do for the PTA and I love working with Shannon!

 #2: Wax Museum

One of the benefits to working the book fair is that I'm there and I got to steal away to watch this girl do her "Wax Museum" event as she portrayed Wilma Rudolph the African American Olympic track star who won 3 gold medals.  She practiced her speech a lot and was really prepared.  And I think I nailed her costume--truly blessed to find it all on clearance--she looked and felt great!

#3: Pinewood Derby
This is his 3rd and final Pinewood Derby.  He's always had an Aggie themed painted car and he and Stephen work really hard to make it the fastest possible.  And he's consistently come in 2nd place each year--at least he's consistent.  I think he's a little disappointed, a different kid has one first each year and no one else has consistently been in the top 3 like he has.  It's been good for him (and Stephen), I think they enjoy it.






#4: Open House

It's no easy feat on a Thursday night when I'm running the book fair, we've got Open House starting at 4:30 in the afternoon and soccer practices at 6:00 & 7:00.  You can forget about MCO for the kids!  But what I am grateful for are good teachers and a wonderful community that his helping to shape my children to be who they're meant to be.

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Weekend getaway at Uncle Britt's

 We enjoyed THE BEST weekend getaway up at a vacation home up near Lake Texoma.  Our good friend Britt Berrett has a vacation home that he was kind enough to let us use.  It was so peaceful up there and with no internet and awful cell reception we were able to disconnect and spend much needed family time together

We THOUGHT we'd have a weekend between the start of soccer season and the end of basketball season, but no such luck.  Soccer started a week earlier than we thought it did, AND Sam had an end of season basketball tournament that had him have not one but two games on Saturday.  So two soccer games, two basketball games did not mean much lake house time, but we made the most of it.

Fun things to remember about the weekend:

• We watched some personal airplanes take off on a runway near the lake house (Stephen wants to learn how to fly a plane someday)
• We played cover your assets, and Stephen after winning a round actually "Dabbed" and we laughed hysterically!
• We did roast smores, and grilled out one night
• Much to our shagrin we completed a puzzle of the BYU Lavel Edwards Stadium
• We munched on PB M&M's that were from our Valentines care package
• We enjoyed a perfect pot roast in the crockpot on Sunday
• We only went to sacrament meeting in Sherman and then enjoyed a relaxing Sabbath at the house
• We tried to go on the hunt for the "Legend of the Togopogo" but it was a bit longer of a hike than we were expecting, and some of us hadn't gone to the bathroom before we left, and we should have brought some water--there's always next time!

AND we made it home in time to be home taught by the amazing Tim Colman who has been a loyal and faithful hometeacher and friend to our family for years.  He gave a touching message about how we will have help from the other side of the veil in our lives in all aspects if we will engage in family history work.

Then he stayed and counseled with Stephen and I giving me a blessing that I really needed.

February 2017--week 3

 We enjoyed a wonderful visit from the grandparents McKneely.  They spent a day with us, we were going to go on a hike on a new trail, but part of it wasn't quite open so we improvised and went a different direction.

 Sam had a basketball game and they did great!  He scored and loved being able to show grandma and grandpa his improving ball skills.  Look at this smile!

 Stephen and his dad spent some time doing family history work.  We are so blessed to have these wonderful people in our lives!

Then on Monday was actually a holiday and we were able to try out a new park that has a cool zipline--we weren't able to be there very long but we got there and will definitely come back!

Valentines Day 2017

Valentines Day was a special one this year.  For Family Night the evening before I felt impressed to share a talk by Linda K Burton with my family about "I'll lift thee, and thee lift me, and we'll ascend together."  And we talked about really loving and caring for each other and being on the same team.  It ended with an activity of "spin the bottle" where we each gave sincere compliments to each other telling the members of our family what we loved about them.  It was sweet, sincere, tears were shed and it brought such a sweet spirit into our home.  What a wonderful way to prepare for Valentines Day!

The morning also had some excitement in a package that had arrived a few days before from the grandparents McKneely that had instructions not to open until Valentines Day.  My kids could barely wait, but they did, and they found 4 bags of candy one for each of them with a sweet note.

After the candy opening, I made Banana Chocolate Chip pancakes that had been dyed pink!  Then for lunch I took each of the kids Chick-fil-a which was a huge treat, and it meant they didn't have to pack their lunches in the morning! Then I went and ate lunch with the younger 3 kids.

It was pajama day at school if they wanted.  Sam didn't but Lindsey and Matthew were all over it, imagine Lindsey's surprise when one of her good friends, Carys Batio wore the same pajamas to school!

 

And sharing the love wasn't done yet. Stephen loves cherry pie and it had been a little while since I'd made one, so I whipped up this for dessert!  YUM! 

February 2017--week 2

It's my birthday!  39th to be exact.  And yes, I'm sure.

For me, I knew what I wanted to do to celebrate so I planned it and invited anyone to come along that wanted to.  First I went to a session at the temple, then for the friends that could, we had lunch at Costa Vida for lunch.  It was a perfect way for me to spend my day.  And when I got home, I had a wonderful surprise waiting for me.  Someone, we don't know who, put solar lights with mylar balloons attached to each one.  It was such a fun surprise.  I felt so loved on my special day with cards, flowers, treats and phone calls....probably my favorite phone call came from Japan as my brother Ben and his family facetimed me and did the Happy Birthday dance for me!

Oh, and this kid got a new perspective on life this week--he looks so grown up!

February 2017--week 1

 February has begun and with it the redemption of some Christmas gifts.  Our Santa left us gift cards for family time instead of big presents and one of those was a card to go spend an hour at Obstacle Warrior Kids (an America Ninja Warrior Gym).

I got a few videos but not so many photos like I'd hoped.  Lindsey achieved a goal of making it up the 10 foot warped wall, she was super proud of herself.  And Matthew made it through the whole course without falling like 5 times in a row.  The workers there were so impressed they were encouraging us to sign him up for the competitions and get him into the special training classes.  Matthew is a natural athlete!

Matthew had a special project on the 100th day of school to design a shirt.  SO many creative moms who spend a lot of time on pinterest put me to shame, I just grabbed a bag of assorted ball stickers and a shirt and let Matthew and Lindsey decorate it.  Here is the only photo I got of it before we peeled them off.

One of my favorite people on the planet is this sweet friend Marianne Harris.  My college room-roommate has recently moved to the area.  I love her kids like they're my own (I'm officially an "Auntie")and we like to do Sunday dinners together once a month.  It was our turn to host the other night and we took a "selfie".  I think we need to work on taking better photos.  But she's gorgeous inside and out.  

This sweet girl is growing up and blossoming into a beautiful person.  One of the things I can attribute to her growth is her participating in the "Personal Progress" program in Young Women's at church.  Through thoughtful scripture study, journaling and experiences focused on developing character I am seeing such depth in her and I am so proud.

January 2017 week 4

Kaitlyn and her flute section participated in an Ensemble Competition and received a "Superior" rating which is the best you can have.  They sounded lovely, and the judge was impressed with how many parents came to support their kids.  I love living in Allen.

Mom's 3rd birthday in heaven.  It's always SO cold!  It was a Sunday and we had church later so morning was the best time for us to visit her grave.  So we enjoyed muffins for breakfast, we sang her the happy birthday song, and let off balloons with messages for her.  Poor Matthew didn't get the memo to bring a coat.  He was cold and mourning his lack of preparation, not his sweet grandma.

Our family has a new favorite game that Aaron gave us for Christmas--it's super fun.  It requires some skill and a lot of luck so it really can be anyone's game each time we play.

Bluebonnet Breakfast.  We have a wonderful librarian at our school, Mrs. Carol Fancher.  Each year she does a special breakfast before school for students who have read 5 or more of the recognized Bluebonnet books.  Sam has been going for a few years, but this was the first year that Lindsey was allowed to go and goodness this girl was motivated to get her books read.  Proud to raise readers!

January 2017 week 3

This week Matthew found a special book on our shelf.  "Whose mouse are you?" was Stephen's favorite children's book growing up, he read it again and again.  Matthew found it and was pleased to "gently" read this book.  I love raising readers!

And it's "that" time of the year when I take my "bigs" to the eye doctor.  Kaitlyn's prescription hadn't changed but Sam's had--new glasses are in the near term for him.

For Christmas, grandma and grandpa McKneely got us this cool pizza oven and we finally had an evening to spend breaking it out and trying our first pizzas.  They were A-MAZ-ING!  So fun!

I really am grateful to be a mom, I have some pretty special kids.  One rainy afternoon I came upon this fort.  Lindsey reading to Matthew by flashlight.  Awesome!  And to make perfect rainy day food I winged it making this pot of turkey noodle soup, no recipe, just figuring it out.  My kids were completely SHOCKED that it tasted so good, they gobbled it up, they're easy to impress.