Cookies

Maysen loves sugar cookies. She made hearts to bring to her class tomorrow. She is so proud of them. I am glad that she is old enough to frost them by herself. I don't like frosting cookies. My girls love it. I told Jorja I would make a plate of cookies for her teacher, but I ran out of time. Woopsie.

In other news, we fed the missionaries today . . . the hamburgers were delicious!

That is all . . .

Temple Day

We went to the temple today. It was very nice. I love having Mike home in the middle of the day. My friend, April, watched Preston. It was actually temple playgroup, but I was the only one who was able to go this week. I did notice that I need to get my recommend renewed before John & Cassie's wedding or I will be left out in the cold. The Atlanta Temple is going to be closed in a few months for remodeling. It will be closed for a year and a half. That will make Birmingham, Alabama our closest temple. Not looking forward to that.

We have Cameron Lott sleeping over tonight. His mom goes in for surgery tomorrow. Stockton loves having him here. Well, all the kids do, but he's sleeping in Stockton's room right now so he is the most happy.

That is about all that happened today. Pretty good day.

Finish this Poem about Barack Obama

February is Black History Month. Stockton came home with a paper on Ruby Bridges that he had to fix. The teacher didn't think he put forth his best effort. He had to fill out a paper about what he knew, what he wanted to know, and what he learned. Stockton's paper looked like this. Know: everything, Want to know: nothing, Learned: more everything. When I talked to Stockton about it he said, "I hate learning about Ruby Bridges. We watch the same movie EVERY year!"

In other Black History news, every day at school, they have a child read information about a famous black person on the intercom. Today, Stockton was supposed to read about Barack Obama. Miss Spencer asked him if he would write his own poem instead. Here it is:

On the islands of Hawaii in 1961, young Barack Obama's life had only just begun.
He grew to be a lawyer and helped others in his town.
He proved that you could go far even if your skin was brown.
He ran to be the President as a Democratic man.
With a message full of hope and a chant of "YES WE CAN!"
He's now our country's leader, at 47 years of age.
He's writing a new chapter and starting a new page.
As the 44th President of these independent lands,
Barack Obama holds the future of our country in his hands.

Yep, he just wrote that this morning. Mike and I kept trying to get him to use our version for his last two lines. We thought it should be:

He's our 44th President, he let everybody know it
With our economy in trouble, let's hope he doesn't blow it!

Now the challenge to you is: write your own ending to this poem...
You may now begin.

Legacy

Today at Family Home Evening we watched Legacy. I was a little worried because the movie is an hour, but we thought it would be good for the kids to see. Stockton had a lot of questions. It's hard for kids to understand the persecution that their ancestors faced. We then talked about how many blessings we do have and how easy our lives are compared to theirs. 3rd grade isn't so bad now, is it? We also talked to the kids about how they will have trials that will be just as hard as their ancestors, but most likely they won't have to walk across the country. We discussed what trials we have today that our ancestors didn't face. All in all, it was a pretty good Family Home Evening. I will now leave with a picture of my Legacy. Preston always manages to find the chocolate milk powder . . . This time mixed with goldfish. Yummy!

Long Day

Today has been a really long day for me. I have been so tired lately. I went to bed early yesterday, but am still so tired. I got frustrated during church. I am taking a family history class. I was on the new.familysearch website, which is pretty cool by the way. Anyway, I accidentally gave my great-great-great grandma herself as her mother. That probably doesn't make any sense. I was told I could undo anything I did wrong. When I asked how, they said they had to look it up. My one friend was really trying, but I was getting so frustrated that I just had to stop. Hopefully Mike can fix what I did. Sorry if I messed up everyone's family tree. (It was on the Millburn side by the way).

Anyway, after church we had choir practice and a baptism. The baptism was great and I'm so glad I was able to attend. At the baptism, Mike found out he needed to do splits with the missionaries. He has been gone for a long time now, I hope he's okay.

Earlier today I was doing the dishes when the phone rang. Someone wanted to schedule the building. The kids had been playing charades, but they now started fighting. I tried to get them to quiet down so I could hear, but that didn't go well. I was so frustrated I sent the kids to bed early (only 15 minutes) and had a huge fight with Maysen. I felt so bad later, I was cuddling with her talking when I realized that Preston was up to no good. He had started playing with the water on the fridge and the entire floor was now covered in water.

In conclusion, today was a long day. Hopefully tomorrow will be much smoother.

We're Number Two!

Maysen's team competed in the regional Reading Bowl today. Some of the questions were HARD! Maysen's team did great! They won every round except one. One round the score was 90 - 10. I wish we would have videoed that round. Maysen answered three in a row super quick. Our team came in 2nd place. We lost by 20 points. (Each question is worth 10 points, so we lost by 2). The 3rd place team was 100 points behind us, so Maysen's team did really good! Come to find out, the team we lost to was stacked with 6th graders. This is a 4th and 5th grade competition. One kid had a mustache, so when our coach was trying to explain them, she called them the mustache team. Pretty funny. Anyway, the top two teams move on to the next regional competition. We compete in two weeks! We're so excited! Although Rachel will be making her way back to California by then, so she won't be able to watch our kids...that's a bummer. Also, the competition is a Saturday after we have an entire week off of school. I hope some key players aren't on vacation!

Here is the team before competition started. They were all staring into the sun, so we told them to close their eyes and open on three. Diereshe is cheating with sunglasses. The team all received snazzy new shirts that say Reading Bowl Champions on the front with their name on the back.

They're ready!
We are so proud of them! What a great time this has been!
Nice work Maysen! We're SO proud of you!!!

Marie Mania

Marie is so stinkin' cute! My family is head-over-heals for her. She smiles ALL THE TIME. Except a few minutes ago when I took her from Rachel. She started wailing. Guess she knew I wasn't going to feed her. Rachel has spent the day sewing covers for the tent trailer. They look great! Mike loves giving Rachel projects.

Stockton and Marie
Preston took this picture of Marie.

Too bad Rachel and Marie leave tomorrow. They won't be able to visit us again. They start driving back to California on Friday. Maybe Brett will let us keep them a little while longer. They can meet up with him on Friday! One problem . . . Brett doesn't like to share his girls.

In the News

Maysen's Reading Bowl team was in the newspaper today. She competes in the regional competition on Saturday. Good luck Maysen! Rachel is amazing and drove here from Alabama, she is here with us now! She is going to watch the kids so Mike and I can be with Maysen. Thanks a million Rachel!!!

Stop Growing Preston!

Maysen and Stockton got a package in the mail from Skye and Larkin. Skye gave Stockton a Super Magnet set. I haven't let him open it yet, but he'll have fun with that. Maysen got a Webkinz owl that she is thrilled with. She named him Dusk. Thank you Christen! Sorry you had such trouble with e-bay!

I don't know why Preston has had such a fascination with counter tops and tables lately. Today, he started dancing like crazy on our counter. So, Maysen jumps up and dances with him. What loons.

Poor exhausted dancers.

Preston is so sweet. Even when he is throwing a gigantic fit. Like when I tried to get him out of the car after scouts. Mike was at bishopric meeting and it was past everyone's bedtime. Preston wanted something out of the car, but I have no idea. I was changing his clothes and I just couldn't help but smile and say, "Preston, I'm really going to miss this when you grow up." I know I will. The kids are just growing up way too fast. After 30 minutes of screaming, he finally calmed down and I held him as we listened to Mario music. I just want to keep him little. It won't be too long until I can't hold him anymore. Preston gives the best squeezes. I hope even when he is grown he will squeeze me like that. I love it when he says, "Ju-ju Mommy" - that is how he says I love you Mommy. One night, he said Ju-ju mommy at least 30 times. It was so sweet. I love you Preston! Stop growing up!

Reflections

The winners for the Reflections contest were announced. All three of our kids earned a ribbon. They worked very hard on their projects.

Maysen received an Honorable Mention (4th place). She made a beaded dragon awhile ago that she entered. We put it in the top of a pop bottle because we were worried the dragon would get lost.

Here is a close up picture of her dragon.
Jorja won 3rd place with her drawing of a snowman. She loves to draw snowmen.
Stockton worked so hard on his Reflections project. It paid off with a first place ribbon! He was so proud.

I posted a video of his project down below.

And because Preston doesn't want to be forgotten, here is a picture of him. He takes his riding car everywhere. I turned around and he was on the table riding it. I had Maysen run and get the camera while I stood by ready to make a diving catch. Luckily that wasn't needed. But come on, Preston! What are you thinking? I even took pictures of the fit he through when we took the car off the table...but they didn't turn out that cute.

Groundhog Day

This morning I walked into the school with the kids. I chatted with the media specialist and ran to the store. When I got home, this is what I found. Preston said with the sweetest voice, "Hi Mommy." The photos weren't able to completely capture the mess...but I gave it a shot.

While I was busy cleaning up Preston's chocolate milk fiasco, he got ahold of the camera. This time he figured out how to take pictures. He would laugh hysterically when the flash would go off. He took over 20 pictures. Here is a sample:

When I finally managed to sneak the camera away, Preston was so mad! Until Mike gave him an Altoid. Nothing calms Preston down like an Altoid.

40 Years

My mom and dad were married 40 years ago today. I wish they could celebrate together. What a great life they had! They had been married 27 years when my mom died. I can't believe she has been gone that long. I sure do miss her. She would be so proud of all my brothers and the choices they have made in their lives. I know she would have enjoyed getting to know Christen, Rachel and now Cassie. (No, I didn't forget Ange . . . my mom knew Ange and would have loved being her mother-in-law).

I like this picture. My parents were always so happy together.

This is their engagement picture. They look so young!

Happy anniversary Dad! We love you!!!

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.