Happy 50th Wedding Anniversary!

Jim and Diana have been married for 50 years today - congratulations!  They are a wonderful and beautiful couple and continue to be great examples to their family.  We love them very much!

Here are a few pictures from their anniversary weekend with their children:

 Ben, Debbie, Jim, Laura, Joe, and Diana.  They went to the temple on Saturday morning and did family work - including sealing Diana's parents.  Ben said it was a wonderful experience!

 Ben's sister, Debbie, somewhat recreated Jim and Diana's wedding cake.  It looked beautiful!!!

 Cutting the cake . . .

 Feeding each other . . .

 And kissing!  I think this was one of Emmy's favorite part of the weekend - Grandma and Grandpa kissing!  She told me about it several times.  :)

I loved how they decorated Jim and Diana's car.  So awesome.

Again, congrats!

A couple of firsts today . . .

Miles was sustained to hold the office of a deacon in sacrament meeting last Sunday, March 13th - but, unfortunately, he had gone out to blow his nose and so was not present for his sustaining "vote."  Kind of funny.

He was then set-apart as a deacon after church with just our family present.  It was a nice blessing.

So today was his first day of passing the sacrament.  He also was in charge of bringing the bread and so Miles and I made some last night.  He did a fine job!  He was about 2 feet shorter than the rest of the group of there.  But that was to be expected.  Jonas commented on his stature and I told Jonas that it won't be much different for him when he's up there.  :)  Cute, short boys.

I also had a first today.  I drove Ben's stick-shift truck to church.  It was super scary!  I had thoughtfully planned my route.  I stalled twice on my way there; it was at a 4-way stop and I had to wave people on.  It was awesome.  Then coming home I waited until most people were gone from the parking lot.  I also planned a strategic way home that worked out just dandy.  I didn't stall once.  I pretty much stayed in 2nd-gear (my route is all through neighborhoods), but did venture into 3rd a few times.

I'm glad that's over with.

And We're Done!

So . . . wrestling season is now over.  Miles' school participated in its final match of the season today.  Luckily it was close at Olathe Middle/High School.  I am not a big fan of wrestling matches - and that is putting it lightly.  They are torture!  You sit and wait for sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo long for a match - that might last a couple minutes at best.  Then you sit and wait for sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo long again for another match.

So Miles had to be at his school at 6 am today (and Ben is out of town again today and so it was all me for this tournament as well - not that Ben planned it that way!  He would have loved to have been there.) and the match started at 9 am (but I guess it began early at like 8:30 - I guess wrestling people can do that - tell all the parents it starts at 9 but then begin a half-hour early.  What?!  It's happened before . . .)

Anyways, (yes, I am going to make this post seem as long as a wrestling match, so bear with me) Miles had a "bye" the first round - as did 3 other kids in his weight group.  Yet there were only 5 kids in his group and so only one match occurred from their group that first round.  And rounds take forever because you start with the light-weights (65 lbs.; Miles was in the next group at 75 lbs.) and then go up to the heavy weights (as in 285 lbs.!  It went from the 200 lbs. group right to the 285 - there was nothing in between).  And that takes like 2 hours.  Then you have a 40-minute break and your child still has not wrestled!

Finally Miles wrestled at 11:15.  And he lasted 15 seconds, maybe 20.  He got pinned.  He was actually bummed about it.  He didn't realize it is considered a "pin" if your shoulders are down, but not your back.  Poor kid.  But I'm sure he'd been told that a time or two . . .?

Then we waited and waited some more.  I think his whole weight-group was "byed" a round.  I was dying.  Jonas was dying more.  Miles was slightly dying - but occupied by his book at least.

Then Miles went up for the 3rd-or-4th- place match.  He lasted all 3 periods, but lost.  He had 0 points and his opponent had 6.  He had some decent moves and blocked some moves his opponent was trying on him.  But he wrestled mainly on the defense and reaction side of things.  But he wasn't horrible.  So technically he took "4th" but that was only by default really - he only "won" the round he was "byed" on - if that makes sense?  If you have a "bye," it is counted as a win.

We thought about staying for the award ceremony, but none of us could hold on for any more.  So, six hours later (for Jonas and I), and 8 1/2 hours later for Miles, we left and came back home.

One good thing was that Miles did get to watch the 2 kids vying for 1st or 2nd in his weight group.  The first kid that Miles wrestled was in this match and ended up winning.  In fact, he pinned the 2nd-place finisher in the first 30 seconds as well.  I think that made Miles feel a little better.

 The hand-shake.

 So this is the kid that ended up taking 1st in Miles' group.  (P.S.  I knew as soon as I saw this kid that Miles didn't really have much of a chance . . . I'm not sure what it was . . . but we sort of all knew it!  Oh, but I didn't say that to Miles . . . )

 One of the ways that Miles entertained himself during those long hours.

 But this is mainly what he did.  I did see some 8th graders laughing at him.  Whatevs!  :)  He read about 3/4 of his book.

Two troopers - but not necessarily always happy troopers (mostly Jonas, but Miles as well.  Oh, and me, too.  Definitely).

Again, we are super happy that Miles tried wrestling.  It was a huge thing for this "non-sporty" kid of ours.  He enjoyed practices.  But not so much the waiting and waiting at the matches.  We'll see what happens next year . . . ?

Wait, what?! My last week of preschool?!

I didn't realize it, but this week was my last week of doing preschool.  Sniff, sniff.  Yay, yay!  Both emotions.  :)  It's been a great ride and I've done it with all of my children.  I'm pretty lucky, really.  Lucy has been a joy - for the most part.  She does so good with all of the preschool work I have the kids do.  She - along with most of the other kids - are super ready for kindergarten in the fall.  Anyways, here are my pictures of my Tuesday and Thursday preschool:

Tuesday I focused on the letter U.  We started off, after reading a book (these kids just LOVE listening to books!), at our stations.  I loved doing stations - we had 6 stations, each for 5 minutes.  So there was 30 minutes taken up right there.  Awesome.

 There were some fun stations this time.  The kids mostly enjoyed it.  :)

 Another activity we did was "paint" an UP house - from the movie.  I later drew lines from the balloons (fingerprints) to the house.  This is cute, little Dory.

 I extended our check-out of the screen, projector, and speakers from the library so we could use them one more time.  I invited the preschoolers to stay late on Tuesday and after a lunch the kids all got to watch the movie.  Fun and cute!

Then Thursday I did a "green eggs and ham" theme since it was St. Patrick's Day.  We had some fun activities to do - including making our own green eggs and ham:

 Yum!  The kids loved the eggs - well except for Odell.  They begged for more.

 Yum, yum.

 Later we made some "green eggs and ham" treats - waffle-like pretzel, with a melting wafer, then with a green M'nM.  Well we ran out of green so some were yellow.  The kids did well making them!

 Isaac, Lucy, and Scarlett did well, too!  I had to quickly stick them in the freezer to harden them up in time to send them home with the kids.

And, of course, playtime!  It's all the kids really want.  :)  Lucy loves Dory's hair in this picture.  Fun, fun.

And that is that!  It's been real, homeschool preschool.  :)

Party at the House!

So Miles' birthday party (remember, our kids get them every four years) was on Thursday night.  The kids had a half day on Thursday and no school on Friday, so it was a good night for his party.

We started at 5:30 and had dinner.  I created a menu with coded names for the 20 dinner items - including utensils.  Like "medusa's hair" for spaghetti, "vampire goop" for spaghetti sauce, and "road splitter" for fork.  The kids had to fill out 5 things they wanted for each of the 4 courses.  Then Ben and I served up their orders.  It was pretty funny!  I think the kids really liked it, too.  They were always excited to see what crazy combination they ended up with for a course.  They really only figured out the clues once the food started arriving.  "Oh this is that."

 Miles finished up his bird lego sets and decided to put them as a centerpiece.

 The kids filling out their menus!

 Haha, this was my favorite first course:  Aiden's.  He got a toothpick (pine stick), knife (kno kneed for a k), fork (road splitter), spoon (oral cavity loader), and parmesan cheese (stinky feet).  He had no idea he ordered all the utensils!

Jonas apparently did not get any utensils, while Ivan got a spoon for his salad (rabbit's delight) and noodles.

After dinner we played some "Minute to Win It" games.  They were fun, too.  And funny.

 Oh Miles opened some present first, then on to the games . . .

 This was our second game - Face the Cookie.  You put a cookie on your forehead and have to use your facial muscles to get it in your mouth.  If it falls to the floor, you have to start over.

 Emmy had fun!

 Miles rocked this game and was the winner.  I guess he was like the grand champ or something at his 5th grade trip last year.  :)

 Awww, the sweet taste of success!

 Too funny.

 This game was "noodling" or something.  String 5 noodles on an extra long toothpick without your hands.  Aiden did great at this!

 Miles finally got his 5th noodle on.

 "Suck it Up."  You had to suck up all the marshmallows in your bowl and dump them on the table.  Ivan was the winner at this!

 Miles was a close 2nd.

"Tear it Up."  There were 8 strands of toilet paper with a cup on each end (for tension).  The kids had to knock down their strand with rubber bands.  It was tough!  Ben was surprised at the lack of rubber-band shooting skills these boys had.  Jonas was the only one that knocked his down - but since he started shooting early one round, he was disqualified!  :)

Then it was time for some peace and quiet for Ben and I the movie.  Miles chose one of his favorite movies to watch, Ice Age:  Continental Drift.  I actually do like the Ice Age movies; they are super funny.  Anyways, it was a great set-up downstairs and the kids all had fun.  And were quiet!

 It looks pretty cool and cozy down there!

Such cute sisters!

The movie ended right before 9 and that was perfect timing!  The kids all left and that was that!

A fun party for a 12-year old and his siblings and friends.

3/9/16

AKA, the day Miles turned 12!

We had a full and busy day - but I hardly took pictures.  Hmm.  The kids were up by 6:15 because Miles had wrestling at 7 and everyone wanted to get up in the morning with him to watch him open a present, eat yummy breakfast cereal, and maybe wish him a "Happy birthday."

I checked out all the kids and took them to Dragon Wall for lunch - a Chinese buffet restaurant.  Miles loves it.  The other kids had never been and so it was fun for them, too.

We all picked up Miles from school and went straight to Northside to help out at the book fair for just a little bit.  Plus, I had parent-teacher conferences as well.

We got home and Miles had fun playing with a mini-droid thingy he had bought a few days earlier - it just came today, perfect timing.  We ate dinner - honey lime chicken enchiladas, per Miles' request.

Then Miles opened his gifts.  He got some books and candy.  He got a lot of art supplies - canvases, a cool pencil set, plus an "art set."  He has markers, colored pencils, oil pastels (lots of them), and acrylic paints.  He had asked for this and wanted to make sure it had oil pastels - his set does, like 36 of them.  He also got a lego set - a bird one.  It's really neat and Miles was actually surprised at this gift and super thrilled.  He also got cash from his sets of grandparents - the bills were floating on the ends of balloons.  He was super-excited about that as well.

We ate some cake.  Miles has decided that he really isn't a fan of regular cakes and so he wanted monkey bread.  I homemade one - I think it's the first (perhaps 2nd) time I've ever done monkey bread.  It could have used more gooey sauce and less wax (thanks to Jonas and I sticking in the candles when the bread was too hot . . .).  But pretty yummy nonetheless.

Miles started working on his legos for a bit and Ben and I worked on getting a projector set up downstairs (we checked one out from the library - mainly for Miles' party tomorrow.  We thought it would be good to do a test-run tonight.)

Then the boys settled down to watch the 7th Harry Potter movie - the final movie.  However, book 7 is split in to two movies, so half of the final, really.  :)

The girls got to each pick a netflix show to watch and then I got them to bed.

I think Miles had a good day and felt loved!

 Miles got a bike for his birthday as well.  But this wasn't something he had been asking for - it was something more that he just needed.  Remember how I mentioned he likes to hang on to the hold - yep, that includes his old bike.  But it just needed a lot of work and all that work would have been more than the bike was really worth.  So we decided to get him a new one - and let him go with Ben to pick one out.  I love the bike he chose!  Seeing as he has a few more years ahead of him of riding his bike to school each day, we thought he needed a new, good one.

 Emmy's present to him.  Miles read it to us all during cake-time.  It's pretty funny.

 The other kids had '60's day at school.  Fun, fun!

 Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you . . .

 Miles and his non-birthday cake of monkey bread!

The boys watching their movie.

Dear 12-year old (aka Miles),

Dear Miles,

Well, well . . . what do I say.  You decided to turn 12, huh?  In some ways, it's crazy.  In other ways, it makes sense.  You go to middle school, you ride you bike to school every day, you stay late for wrestling, etc.  And you rock a bow-tie.  So I think it's high-time you're 12.

It was a big year for you - kind of like starting kindergarten all over again . . . but this time it was middle school.  Another big adventure; an unknown for you.  You, being the oldest, have no siblings to watch and go before you.  So when people asked if you were excited about middle school, you usually responded with a honest, "I don't know."  You weren't quite sure what to expect or if you would like it.

But you seem to have adjusted great and you say you like middle school.  You come up happy each day and when I ask how your day went, you usually reply with a "great!"  Middle school isn't perfect, as you have learned already.  Some kids aren't so nice (you know, those ones in your choir class . . .), most kids use bad language, etc., etc.  But you seem to enjoy school for the purpose school was created - for learning.  You've enjoyed all of your elective classes - especially home economics and art.  You even liked choir.

You are growing up.

But sometimes (lots of times?), I wish we would see that grown-upish boy at our home way more often.  You know, the one that doesn't make noises constantly, doesn't pester his siblings every hour of the day, etc. I heard 14 was the real age when boys actually mature, so I'll give you a couple more years, I guess.  :)

Thanks to wrestling you have started showering more than twice a week - it's a miracle!  So wrestling was worth it to me for that reason alone!  I am very impressed, however, with you and wrestling.  Not that you are a great wrestler (I still think the potential is in there and I think you'll get better with each year - especially if you took some lessons from your dad . . .), but you have been happily committed to wrestling.  And it's a big commitment - especially for my kids!  You go to practice five days a week and don't get home until 5:30 - except for Wednesday when you go before school.  Again, you come home from school/wrestling practice happy and positive.  It's been great to see.

You had a good ski-season and it showed - your skill has definitely approved.  You got to be part of the middle-school ski group that went to Telluride three times on Fridays.  It was a little scary sending you off on your first alone ski-trip . . . but you did great and managed to make it back home on the bus.

You still like to hang on to the old.  You were sad to see our old floor go, you hate giving up super-holey shoes for new ones, you love your ratty old pants and will hardly wear new ones (especially not jeans - you turned anti-jean on me this year), etc.  You really are drawn to things of the past and the antique type of stuff.  Kind of like how you wanted a record player a few years back - as opposed to a new Xbox or something like that.

You continue to be a unique child, a neat child.  A loud child, too.  And we love all of you - annoying quirks and all.

Happy Birthday Miles.
love, mom

Cuteness

When we were driving home from the pinewood derby - it was just me and the girls - Lucy was asking what we were going to do for my birthday, where we going to have a party, etc.  I guess she forgot how boring mom-birthdays really are!  :)  Then she said something like, "Well since you are the bishop mother . . . I mean the wife of the bishop . . . maybe you can sit by him at church!"  Awwww (she knows that my birthday is on a Sunday, fast Sunday at that, and Easter at that!).

This morning - at like 4:00 am or something - Lucy comes in to our bedroom and asks, "Mom, can you blow my nose for me?"  I thought that was pretty stinking cute, too.  And, no, I couldn't.  But I did try and help her blow her congested little nostrils.

Now on to Emmy . . . she told me yesterday that she really wants to buy Miles a book from the book fair happening at school - for his birthday.  I asked her what book it was.  She told me, "How to Get a Girlfriend."  Haha, it's nice to know that Emmy is looking out for her older brother.  (This book was at the last book fair and it is pretty funny!)  And, yes, I did let her use her allowance money to buy the book.

Ben and I had gotten on our kids' cases when we were in Utah.  They just weren't being nice.  So Emmy wrote this note:

The end.

Our Saturday

Sorry, but this is my journal of sorts and so I'm going to record my/our crazy Saturday.  I had gotten home from my snowshoe adventure Friday afternoon and Ben left shortly after for a Boy Scout camp-out.  So I was on my own for this wild and wacky Saturday morning.

I had to take Miles to the high school at 6:15 for a wrestling "weigh in."  Then we got to go back home and Miles had breakfast.  Then it was back to dropping off Miles at 7:30 for his wrestling match.  I had to take Emmy to gymnastics at 8:30.  Then I met Patty at my home and she picked up Jonas and took him to a different school activity happening that morning.  Then Lucy and I went to the high school and began watching the wrestling match.  Miles had his first match around 9:30 or 10 and got pinned (in a weird pin - he, nor I, didn't know it was considered a pin!) in the first period.  So that was that.  He ended up having to wait like another 3 1/2 hours until his next match.  He started and finished a book while he waited.  :)

I hung out there at the gym until 11:20 when I left to get Emmy from gymnastics.  Ben was actually walking in at that time and so that was good (I was nervous Miles would miss his next match if someone didn't tell him he was up!).  Patty met us at the HS and brought Jonas and stayed for a bit.  I went and got Emmy and then she and Lucy and I went back to the HS.

Miles finally wrestled again around 1 pm.  He lasted all three periods this time and wasn't horrible.  He lost 6 points to 12.  He wasn't bummed - but was probably actually happy to finally get to go home!

We did a few things at home and then it was pinewood derby time - scouts and then the ward activity.  We got home around 8 pm and we'll call that our day!

Cub-scout Pinewood Derby

Well maybe you can tell it's our umpteenth pinewood derby by the lack of a lot of pictures!  But we had a derby on Saturday night - it was followed by a ward derby.  I made a car for the girls . . . it didn't do great, but it didn't do horrible either!  I didn't get any pictures of it, though.  Oh well, picture a pinewood derby car, painted white, with glitter, and two lego girls sitting in it.  There ya go!

The day of the pinewood derby Jonas told me he had been having nightmares about his car being last.  I was glad he brought this up . . . I told him that his car was built for style and not speed.  We had talked to him about this when helping him come up with an idea for his car.  So it was a good thing I got to brace him for it beforehand.  :)  And his car . . . well it did get 2nd a time or two.  But mostly 3rd.  Jonas handled it well.  It was a cool car van, though, that's for sure!

 Jonas waiting at the finish line for his first race!

 What a stylin' VW van, right?!  :)

I hadn't gotten any front shots, so I just took this one.  Cool!