Reading Bowl

Maysen and Stockton competed in the Reading Bowl today. I was prepared. I made sure the batteries to the camera were fully charged. When we got to the reading bowl, however, I realized I left my camera card in my laptop. The hazards of blogging everyday! I managed to get a few pictures on our internal memory. Then I borrowed one of the teachers cameras...she is suppose to e-mail me the pictures.

Anyway, Brett & Rachel came last night. They watched Jorja and Preston for seven hours so Mike and I could go to the reading bowl. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I am so glad they did. We had the best time. Maysen was up first. Her team was amazing! This is basically a reading comprehension test in a quiz type format. They were quizzed on 16 chapter books. Some of the questions are so obscure, I don't know how they can possibly remember them...but they do. After all six rounds, we gathered in the gym. All 14 teams marched in and received a participation trophy. Then the winners were announced. Maysen's team won first!!!! It was incredible! Maysen said, "When they announced our name, I was stunned!" Everyone around us was cheering like crazy. I wish we had our video camera for this. There is no way to fully explain how great this is. Maysen now gets to compete in the regional level next Saturday. Keep your fingers crossed!

I couldn't resist taking this picture. Wow!
Maysen with her teams trophies. Maysen gets to babysit the first place trophy this weekend.

This is the only picture I have of Stockton. Hopefully more will be coming soon. Stockton did so good! He competed in the picture book team. They read 20 picture books. Some of them were fun, but most were tough. Segregation, slavery, WWII - tough stuff. Stockton was so prepared. I am so proud of him. He worked really hard. His team came in 7th place out of 20. This competition is practically indescribable. Every team was really good. The hardest part was ringing in on the buzzers. My favorite was: 'In the book, Celia Cruz' BUZZ. These kids would be so anxious to ring in, the question wasn't even asked. One boy was so quick, but he got more then half wrong. Like Mike said, "Live by the buzzer, die by the buzzer." Stockton was really disappointed. He was hoping for at least 3rd. He doesn't understand how hard a competition this was and how great he did. He was in for 3 rounds and out for 3 rounds. It was pure torture sitting out. I hope he will try for the reading bowl again next year. He is so good at reading comprehension. Next year he can either be on the picture book team or the chapter book team. I hope he will go for it.

Not-A-Party

Stockton had a 'not-a-party' today. We let him invite a few friends over to play the Wii for his birthday. Our kids are allowed to have a party when they turn an even number birthday, or they can choose to get $50. (We would spend more then that on a party anyway.) So far, Stockton and Jorja both went with the $50. On odd birthdays, we just do a simple family celebration. Stockton wanted to invite a few boys in his class - but it was not his year for a party. We decided to have a 'not-a-party'. Mostly to prevent the other kids from rebelling. Stockton had a great time. He was so upset when his friends left. I asked him if he had fun, he said, "No!" When I asked why he informed me that they weren't here long enough. I really should be more social. Better work on that.

Here is Stockton with his friends playing Mario Kart Wii. Stockton received this on his birthday two days ago...he is so good it's ridiculous.

A couple of months ago, Stockton and these boys were paired up to do a dance routine for gym class. They won first place. They recreated their dance for me. I was videoing it and everything, but in the middle, my camera ran out of batteries! It was so disappointed because the routine was hilarious! I asked them to recreate their worm so I could take a picture. I think they were having a worm race, but I'm not sure.
All in all, it was a great day.

Say Cheese

I took Stockton to get his pictures taken today. He knew it was coming. The pictures turned out decent despite Stockton's best attempts at sabotage. It was pretty funny though. At first he was trying too hard. He had the fake smile. The photographer was trying to get him to loosen up. "Say Mama has stinky feet!" Stockton, through gritted teeth said, "maaa jaaa mmmm eeee". I busted up laughing. It was so funny. Every time the photographer got Stockton to smile he would turn around and duck his head. After 20 minutes of torture, we called it good. Stockton of course said the photographer was mean and was teasing him. "Why wouldn't he just take the picture?" I will post the pictures when I get them. Glad that is over.

Happy Birthday Stockton!

Stockton turned 9 today. I think I'm going to cry. Why is he growing up so fast? I just want to freeze time and have this stage of my life last forever.

We had a long day today. I made cupcakes to bring to Stockton's class. I even brought him a Chick-fil-A meal. He liked that. After school, Stockton and Maysen had their last Reading Bowl practice. Stockton got to practice with the buzzers for the first time today. He had a great time. After school, we had cupcakes and opened a few presents.

Stockton approves.
Taking Mario for a test ride.
I know, spoiled, spoiled children.
The picture does come through great...really...
Notice how I like to leave my Christmas up until the end of January. Can't help it, it's just the way it is.

Stockton received his religious knot today. He looks thrilled. He now gets to start working on his bear. I have told him if he earns his bear before scout camp he doesn't have to go this year. I think he's motivated.

He's DONE!!!

Mike turned in his last paper today. He should officially graduate from BYU in April. I'm so proud of him. He has worked so hard to accomplish this goal. I used my birthday money to get Mike a Wii fit for graduation. I know he wanted one...and I felt no guilt about it, so it was a win-win. The kids gave Mike a groundhog Webkinz. They are really excited about that.

Here are some of Mike's textbooks from the classes here's taken over the past eight years, as well as some of the ones from when he was on BYU campus.

In other news, I shouldn't be allowed to go to the store when they have a 50% sale on things I like. I love the Weight Watcher meals. They are super easy and pretty delicious. I usually have them for lunch. It's funny when I buy so much because the cashiers always say something like, "You don't need Weight Watchers". Just because I don't need to lose weight doesn't mean I'm not allowed to eat their food.

This picture of our freezer doesn't do it justice. The thing is crammed full, all the way to the back.

My pantry is also stocked with oatmeal--it was on sale last week! So, when we have no money for food, at least I will be eating good!

Thanks Matt & Tamara!

My littlest brother, John is getting married! We are so excited for him. My cousin, Matt, is also getting married. Both John and Matt picked the same date! What are the chances? This would be super cool if they were getting married in the same temple, but they are not. John and Cassie are getting married in the Salt Lake Temple, Matt and Tamara are getting married in the Idaho Falls Temple. Anyway, long story short, Matt and Tamara changed their wedding date. That was amazingly awesome of them. I am so thankful!

John & Cassie

Meat Is Murder

Stockton made a game a couple of months ago called Sue. You go around the board and sue people for random things. 'I sue you because you rolled a dice higher than me'. Stockton played Brett and I today. He won Brett on the last turn. Stockton was thrilled. Better go back to lawyer school Brett!

This is Stockton's Sue board. It has taken quite a beating, but still serves its purpose. I love how he put a tiny TM after SUE.
Brett & Rachel took Marie home today. We are sad to see her go, but Marie probably needed a little breathing room.
Brett, Rachel & Marie headed out the door. Notice Rachel's shirt. 'MEAT IS MURDER. Tasty, tasty murder.' Matt gave it to her for Christmas. Greatest shirt ever. It was appropriate because we ate some tasty tasty steak for dinner! It is awesome having family come over to visit.

Stockton Sparkles

Brett, Rachel & Marie are here today! We have had so much fun, but the day went by so fast. We decided to go to Sparkles again. Stockton loved it so much the first time, he was ready to go back. Plus, Mike had coupons. Too bad once we got there we discovered the coupons were expired! Drat!

Jorja enjoying Marie

I wonder where Marie gets her eyes from?
Brett, Stockton & Rachel

Maysen, Brett, Stockton & Stephanie

Stockton LOVES rollerskating. He was much better this time around. We skated in chains and played tag. Stockton has the greatest form. He does this super speed walk while he skates. Nice.

Rachel, Maysen & Brett

Our newest Webkinz: Marie!

Jorja's a Star

Okay, so remember a couple of days ago when Maysen and Stockton got a special award. Well, there was an art show at the district office. Students from our elementary school were picked to have their art displayed. I didn't even stop to look. Come to find out, Jorja came home with a certificate today. Her art was chosen to be displayed. I had no idea. Sorry about that Jorja. I decided I needed to take her picture with her award, since I did with Maysen and Stockton . . . except she was almost asleep. She was a good sport though.

I told Jorja to try to keep her eyes open. Love that Porge!

In other news . . .Brett & Rachel are here!

Preston Likes Knives

Turns out Preston likes knives. In Mike's bathroom drawer, he stuck a pocket knife he got for Christmas. Preston found it and it was so hard to get it away from him. He loves the flashlight on it. Luckily he could only get the compass out. After we took the knife away, he started screaming, "Knife! Knife!" It was quite funny. Maysen said, "I've never heard him scream like that." I reminded her that she would get to sleep during the night when he was a baby...we got to listen to that!

In other news, Stockton says cute prayers. He says things like, "Thank thee that we get to live on thy creation. It's beautiful and we want to live here a long, long time." I can't remember the exact words. I'm sure his are cuter.

Jennie not Jenny

So, I talked to my cousin, Jennie today. Can you believe that I never knew she spelled her name Jennie? That's how observant I am. Anyway, it was so good to talk to her. She sounds like she is so happy right now. Jennie called me in February, I told her I would call her back. I did. 11 months later. That's right. It is so hard to keep in contact with people on the other side of the country! Now Jennie has access to the Internet, so hopefully this won't happen again! I love you Jennie!

Aristotle, Alex & Avery with my Maysen!

Superintendent's Spotlight

Maysen and Stockton were spotlighted at the Board of Education meeting. They spotlighted their school's reading bowl team. Maysen is part of the Chapter Book team and Stockton is part of the Picture Book team. It was quite an accomplishment to make the Reading Bowl team. To get on the team they had to take AR tests on selected books. Both Maysen and Stockton scored 100% on every book. Only 10 kids made it this far on the picture book team and Stockton was one of them. 17 kids made it for the chapter book team. So, in October, Maysen competed in a mini-reading bowl. The top 10 were selected to be a part of the chapter book team. I am so proud of both Maysen and Stockton. They have worked so hard. The district reading bowl competition is on the 31st. Wish them luck!

No Jorja, you can't be in the picture. It's just Maysen and Stockton.

Let's take one more without your silly face, Stockton. What? Preston? Where did you come from?
All right Jorja, get in there. . .

24

Mike and I love 24. We have watched every episode live. (Well, almost live. We do have PRV. We never would watch commercials!) Never missed one. I wonder what it would be like to watch the DVD's like my brothers have. I think it would be hard to find a good stopping point. As it is, I think 24 should always be two hours long. Although 24 should never be watched on a lap top. (ahem...Tracey and Jerome!) It is meant to be watched in the basement with the projector and surround sound. We invited our neighbors over, but I guess the comfort of a warm lap top in bed while wearing pajamas was too much for them.

Next week is going to take forever!

I Want to Know Spanish

Our stake is trying to grow a Spanish branch out of our ward. We now have many Spanish members that come to the meetings with us. I subbed in Nursery today. I only had 6 kids, but 2 spoke only Spanish. It wasn't too bad though since kids at that age don't communicate verbally a whole lot anyway. It was a lot better then when I subbed in Sunbeams and 3 of the 7 kids didn't speak any English. That was a lot harder. Probably because there were no toys. Notice how I didn't say I wanted to learn Spanish, I just want to know it. That is all.

He's Back!

Stockton had a great time at his sleepover. I am glad to have him home again. When I went to pick him up, all the boys were busy playing Wario Ware on the Wii. If that's not a good time, I don't know what else is. I spent most of the day doing laundry. Mike spent most of the day dismantling the camper. He also worked with Maysen on her mythology board game and with Stockton on his reflections project. Jorja spent most of the day reading. She is so cute. She comes out of her room and informs me on what is happening in her book. I love the freedom that reading brings. She is loving it. Preston spent most of the day pretending my clothes piles were piles of leaves. That doesn't bother me too much, it is just when he pulls all my folded clothes down that I get bothered. Especially when he laughs. His newest idea he has is: he likes to pretend everything is a shampoo bottle. For example, he poured germ-x on his head and caulk. Luckily he couldn't squeeze the caulk hard enough to get any to come out. That boy is a genius.

Anyway, this picture below is one of my all time favorite pictures. This is Stockton at scout camp. One thing that can be said about Stockton, with him you always know where you stand. I sure do love that little boy.

Stockton's Missing

Stockton's missing tonight. He's at his very first sleep over party. Okay, he is around the corner but I still miss him. Jorja keeps saying that she misses Stockton. I'm trying to think when the last time he spent a night away from us. He spent a night at Janet's house when he was 4. We were with Jorja in the hospital. When Jorja was born, he stayed with Matt & Alisha. When he was 17 months old he spent a couple of nights at Steve & Shannon's and a couple at Matt & Sherry's house. We had to fly down to Georgia from Washington to check out the area before we moved here. I think that's it. I know Ange watched him while I was in the hospital, but Stockton was in his own home for that. I love having my children with me.

Because I miss Stockton so much right now, I thought I would add one of his poems. He wrote this one about a month ago. Hopefully he will always be able to express his feelings. I love him so much.

Life

Life is the pause buttons. Life is the pits.

I'm down in the dumps & my face is on fits.

1st there's the parents that boss you around.

Next there's the dinner that makes my face frown.

There's never desserts or wrappers of flavor,

There's just mashed potatoes, nothing that's savor!

Then there's bedtime 2 hours earlier

When they watch TV & play in the burrier!

THEN the routine goes over & over,

& each day our feelings get lower and lower.

Also, they send us to school,

with SO easy work my mouth starts to drool.

I want to have freedom & have torture-free.

I want to burst out of school A.S.A.P.

But mostly I'm sad about life to a loss. . .

It's temporary, so I'm gonna do what I want.

That's about it from me tonight. I gotta run. I am late to play in the burrier.

Insurance Stinks

I was suppose to take Jorja in for her 6 year check-up. I rescheduled her appointment from December to January because our new insurance started covering us December 27th. When we signed up for the plan, we were under the impression that well care checks would be covered. So, when the doctors office called and asked what our new insurance was, I didn't think there would be a problem. Apparently our plan does not cover well child check-ups. Mike is still waiting for a call back because we have more questions about this. Anyway, the thing that is super annoying is, it is cheaper for me to go to the doctors with no insurance! When I took Preston in, I didn't have insurance. (Note: I could have signed up for Cobra if anything bad happened. I would never go one day without insurance.) Anyway, because I paid in full, they gave me a discount. Also, all the immunizations were $15. Now, with insurance, they will not give me a discount and I have to pay full price on immunizations. Where's the justice? I could go on and on about this, but I will not.....

I will focus on my beautiful daughter instead. Here are Jorja's 6 year old pictures. Why is she growing up so fast?

I love this picture. It reminds me of "Super-Porge"!
Mike thinks Jorja looks too grown-up in this picture.

This is Jorja and her My Twinn doll I got her for Christmas last year.

This is my favorite picture of her with her doll.

I can't believe she is six years old already. She is wonderful.

Spelling Bee

Maysen was in her school spelling bee today. She got out on the word tonsil. We joked that most people get their tonsils out while she got out on tonsil. This picture is classic Maysen. She never stops talking. She is always whispering funny things to the people next to her. She has such a good sense of humor and is happy all the time ~ almost.

Maysen is standing next to her friend Evan. Whenever I asked her if she would like to study for the spelling bee she would say, "No, Evan's going to win anyway. I'll just try my best."
Here is the entire group that made it to the school spelling bee. They had mini spelling bee's in their classes and the top two in each 4th and 5th grade class made it to the school bee.

Okay, the thing about spelling bees in the South is sometimes the pronouncer has a pronounced accent. (i.e. southern drawl.) We found it funny in the practice round how they asked a kid to spell the word 'daawg'. I seriously thought the word was dug, but no, it was dog. Well, at least the student got it right!

Palindromes

Stockton and Maysen love palindromes. We laughed so hard as we watched BOB by Weird Al.



I received a phone call from my brother John today. I was proud of him for talking to me before I read about it on Cassie's facebook page. Congratulations to you both, I can't wait to meet Cassie.

Sparkles

We went to Sparkles Rollerskating Rink for FHE tonight. They have a great deal on Monday's, so it is super cheap. We have never taken the kids rollerskating before. Maysen and Stockton loved it. They were such troopers. It took them awhile to get the hang of it, but by the end of the night they were doing great. Of course I only videoed them at the start because it is much more entertaining that way! Maysen, Stockton, Jorja and Mike also played Lazertag. Maysen said later, "If I knew we could only play once I would have enjoyed it more." Preston did pretty good on his skates. Translation: he did not scream his head off and humored both his mom and his dad as they dragged him around the rink. Preston's favorite was the play area. He did not want to leave that at all! Here is a short video of our adventure.

Goals

Mike had to give a talk in church today about goals. His talk went really well. Preston had a hard time with Mike on the stand. He was crying, "Daddy, Daddy". It was very cute when he stood up on the bench and held the paper he had colored in the air for Mike to see. Too bad Mike didn't notice. I guess he was busy being spiritual. Mike was very brave and shared his goals with the entire ward. Especially the 100% hometeaching goal he has for this year. Good luck. He did share one of my favorite quotes from my mom. "It's better to shoot for the stars and miss them by a mile then aim for a dung heap and hit it dead center."

After church we had family home evening. We had everyone come up with goals in four different categories. Spiritual, Physical, Intellectual, Social. Jorja's spiritual goal was to love her mom and dad for a year. Hope she can do it! Stockton's New Years' Resolution was to go an entire year without seeing Hannah Montana. He lasted a week and a half. He has now made new, more easily obtainable goals.

Brett, Rachel and Marie left today. It was fun having them here for the weekend. Hopefully we get to see them next week. Mike and Brett made a delicious dinner of pork chops and waffles. Yummy. We had one more game of clue before they packed up and headed back to Alabama. It's so awesome having family close by...even if they are 3 hours away.

Clue

We had a fun day with Brett, Rachel & Marie. We played Harry Potter Clue several times today. We had lots of yummy food. Mike made homemade bread and it was delicious. What a great day.

Brett & Rachel

Brett & Rachel are here! We are so excited. We were up until midnight talking to them.

Mike spent a lot of time with Preston 'juicing' up our elefun. Preston loves screwdrivers and batteries. Every mom wants to see their toddler being taught how to cut wires. He is a little Mike.

My Maysen

Maysen is amazing. I love everything about her. She has the most incredible imagination. I love it! She likes to pretend she has a narrator describing her life. For example, if she picks something off the table, her inner voice may say, "I gently reached for the salt shaker, cradling it in my hands so as not to shatter it on the floor." Okay, she never said that. Hers are much more clever and I am SO upset with myself for not writing them down. I can not remember exactly how she puts things, and she won't tell me anymore! The only one I know is actually a narration for Jorja. Jorja was eating and I asked her if she was done. Maysen's narrator said, "Jorja glanced down at her plate. 'Yes' she said, but bits still lingered."

Anyway, Maysen is super cool, talented, loving, wonderful, a great sister...all the other positive adjectives you can imagine apply. These are pictures of her 11 year photo shoot. I love the ones of her reading. Yes, she was really reading the book and didn't want to stop. I love the pictures, they are so her!

Maysen hates this picture, but it is one of my favorites. I'm the mom so I win.