Preston is SEVEN!

I love this boy!  I love him, I love him, I love him!  Even though it took him a LONG time to come to our family, I'm glad we were able to get him!  He is so sweet, adorable and precious.  I am so lucky!

Stephanie and Preston

 Mike and Preston

 These two look mischievous!

Preston was so excited for his birthday, he dressed himself!  Oh boy. Sorry Preston, you are not going to church like that!  I'll let you keep your sweater, but those shorts have got to go!

Preston doesn't understand why I am laughing at him.

 Preston ~ 7 years old

 Preston's loot

 Jorja gave Preston Stick Dog 2

 Ice cream twix from Maysen

 We gave Preston a quad for his birthday.

 Preston looking at his name.

 He loved it!

We are going to start reading the Book of Mormon again in a few days. Once we get to the end of Daniel.  It will be nice to take a break from the Old Testament.  Sure makes you appreciate the Book of Mormon!

Jorja had a look of total shock on her face.  Now she is the only one without a quad.  She doesn't like that at all!  I'll have to go let her pick one out sometime.  Preston and Jorja did get matching Webkinz Chinese Dragons for their birthdays.  Preston named his dragon Long. I can't pronounce it right, but it is the Chinese word for Dragon.

 Jorja with Luck & Preston with Long

 Preston

 Stockton gave Preston bite size Snickers for his birthday.

Preston really wanted Pokemon X for his DS.  By the time he had asked I already had a ton of presents for him.  That boy is sure spoiled!

Preston with Pokemon X.

 Preston just opened his scooter.  He loves it!

 Preston's new scooter

Preston wanted a Minecraft cake.  This is what Mike, Jorja and I came up with.  (With help from the Internet.)

Preston's 7th birthday cake

 Preston

 Stockton eating random cake pieces we cast aside.

We took the cake over to Steve and Shannon's.  It is also Erica's 17th birthday.  We had crepes and eggs for dinner.  It was delicious!  Erica had a chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting.  Yum!

Preston blowing out candles.

 Preston always likes to joke.  Here he is holding up 8 fingers.

 I finally convinced him to hold up 7.

I should have gotten a picture of Preston and Erica together.  Whoops.

Happy birthday Preston!  We love you!

Shingles

Matt and Mike finished putting the shingles on the roof of the shed.  I think they are calling it done for the winter.  Hopefully Matt & Sam's stuff will rest all cozy.  Matt sure worked hard on this with Mike.  He helped a ton.

There was a beautiful sunset out our window.  I tried to get a picture of it, but it doesn't come close to how beautiful it was.  Oh well.

Jiffy Lube

Today was a LONG day!  We started with a 7:00 orthodontist appointment.  We were in and out there and were able to make our 7:30 dentist appointment.  Brilliant that I scheduled them on the same day.  I actually had no idea that I did that until a few days ago.  I called to change the orthodontist appointment and they said that it would be short and to come a few minutes early.  Glad we made it!  Both boys' teeth are great.  Stockton now has yellow elastics instead of orange.

Preston

The dentist (Mike's best friend when he was growing up) told the boys a lot of stories!  Like the time he made a flame thrower using a spray bottle of gasoline and toilet paper.  He chased Eric up the roof with it. Mike would also shoot flaming lincoln logs at him.  Mike also almost blew up his own arms.  I can't remember the details of that story. Preston didn't believe him at all.  He said, "You're lying.  Who would give him permission to use a flame thrower?"  I love how innocent Preston is.  When we were talking to Mike about the stories he just said, "Eric shouldn't be telling you those things."  Nice deflection.

On the way back from the dentist we stopped at Steve and Shannon's house.  Stockton and Preston don't have school today.  Neither did Jacob and Weston.  They were able to play a bit.  Steve stuck a couch piece in the back of our van.  They are giving us their old couch, which is also the same couch Mike grew up with.  We are taking it a piece at a time. 

Our next stop was donuts and then Jiffy Lube.  My stickers expired in October.  The guy at Jiffy Lube was really nice.  He let Stockton and Preston go underground and look at the bottom of the cars.  My pictures didn't turn out very well though.

Stockton and Preston

We were at Jiffy Lube forever!  Well, it seemed like forever.  It mostly seemed like forever because we had been gone all morning and were very tired.  At least I have my new sticker so I don't need to worry about being pulled over anymore.

Preston and Stockton

Jorja was alone most of the morning.  I did not realize we would be gone this long.  She didn't seem to mind though.  Jazzie came over and played for a few hours, so Jorja was thrilled about that.  We watched Lincoln, Ella, Abby and Millie while Bubs and Ange went to the temple and dinner.  I am so glad I never had to raise a baby in this house. There is not a lot of places where a baby can just crawl.  Our Georgia house worked so well when the kids were little.  I also forget how exhausting it is to have little ones.  At least they are adorable!  We had a great time with them.  Preston played outside for a long time with Lincoln, Ella and Abby.  I finally had to force them to come in.  "It is 6:00 at night in November and none of you are wearing jackets.  Time to come in."  I'm glad they had fun!

Stockton's Letter to Me

Stockton had his parent-teacher conferences a few days ago.  They were student led conferences.  Stockton had to find assignments to show me and write about why he thought they were good.  He does not enjoy doing that at all!  It makes me laugh though.  Stockton's answers are underlined.  My teacher asked me to include this work because . . . it is the only paper we get in gym.  What aspect of this assignment made it your favorite piece?  There are lots of notes.  I consider this my BEST work because . . . I have a lot of notes.  This assignment demonstrates my problem-solving skills.  Describe the strategies used to work through this problem.  I thought about what to write, then I wrote it.  I am proud of this work because . . . I got a good grade.  My favorite one was the last one.  This work demonstrates my understanding of following directions.  Describe how this assignment shows knowledge of this concept of skill.  Ms. Falk told me to put this paper in the folder, and I did.  Stockton's awesome.

Stockton also had to write a letter to me.  So funny.

Dear Mom,

I would like to take this opportunity to discuss my academic challenges, strengths, and developed problem-solving skills.  This year I have increased my understanding and comprehension of respectful and appropriate behavior.  I am thankful for the time and effort you put in, and my binders and folders that help with structure and organization.  I can't think of anything else that sounds cheesy.

From, Stockton

On a completely unrelated note, I signed Jorja and Preston up for the after-school ski program.  Jorja in snowboarding and Preston in skiing.  Hope they love it!

Elementary Conferences

Today I had Parent-Teacher Conference for Jorja and Preston.  They are both doing awesome.  Jorja has already reached her end of the year benchmarks in Chinese.  Can you believe that?  I am so proud of her. Learning Chinese, especially starting a year and a half after everyone else.  No tutors.  Just pure determination.  That girl is amazing!  I wanted to write down where she is in here Chinese....feel free to skip the next several paragraphs!

Jorja's listening ability is at 'Intermediate Low' ~ Understands familiar questions, commands and statements in a limited number of content areas.  Understands questions and statements in new content areas with strong contextual support.  Follows information that is being given at a fairly normal rate.

Jorja's speaking ability is at 'Novice High' ~ Partial ability to create with language to convey personal meaning by adapting learned material in single sentences and strings of sentences.  Ask and answer questions.  Handle a simple survival situation (daily needs) in the language.  Uses vocabulary from everyday topics and subject area content to provide basic information.  Uses memorized expressions with ease and accuracy.  Can respond in intelligible sentences most of the time but does not sustain sentence -level speech.  Sentences may not always contain the proper verb formations, and other grammatical inaccuracies may be present.  May revert to the use of English when foreign language words cannot be retrieved or when dealing with unfamiliar topics.

Jorja's reading ability is at 'Novice High' ~ Can understand, fully and with relative ease, key words, as well as formulaic phrases, across a range of highly contextualized texts.  Where vocabulary has been learned, they can understand predictable language and messages such as those found in the environment.  Typically are able to derive meaning from short, non-complex texts that convey basic information for which there is contextual or extralinguistic support.

Jorja's writing ability is also at 'Novice High' ~ Partial ability to create with language to convey personal meaning by adapting learned material in single sentences and strings of sentences.  Ask and answer questions.  Meet limited practical writing needs.  Meets limited basic practical writing needs using lists, short messages, and simple notes. Writing is focused on common elements of daily school life.  Can recombine learned vocabulary and structures to create simple sentences on very familiar topics but cannot sustain sentence-level writing all the time.  Writing is often comprehensible by natives used to the writing of non-natives.  

Anyway, each of these levels is where she should be at the end of fifth grade.  So proud of her!  Below is an example of her work.  They learn science in the Chinese portion of her day.  Here is her learning about erosion & weathering etc.  One thing the Chinese kids have a hard time with in science is the end of the year tests are always in English.  They have learned the Chinese words to these concepts, but they do not always know the English words.  Crazy!

Preston is also doing fantastic.  The district is now using a new report card.  His teacher said that she was only allowed to mark 'mastery' under one item.  She said they think no one can be at the mastery level at this point in the year.  She said, "If he is not at the mastery level on everything, he is pretty darn close."  Nice job Preston.  I am so excited that he has the Chinese program to be in half the day.  His teachers said that he is the perfect candidate for the Chinese program.  Oh how I wish Maysen and Stockton would have had this opportunity!  I love this note Preston had in his folder: "Dear Mom and Dad, My favorite thing about first grade are...... I love Chineas i like to have a different Langwige than english!  i love lunch also becose the food i love it a lot!  i like reeding.  I love playing with frends.  its fun to go to scooll!  love Preston

My favorite thing about parent/teacher conferences is listening to the kids talk with their teacher in Chinese.  It is just amazing!  I actually recorded both Jorja and Preston on my phone, but I have no idea how to get the sound file on here.  It was fun to play the recording for Mike to listen to.  So cool!

Worst. Mom. Ever.

I totally blew it!  Here is an example of something that would have never happened with Maysen.  Preston brought home a folder last week saying he would be the 'star student' for the following week.  There was a cute poster all about him that he was asked to color and bring back Monday.  Along with a note from him mom about him and pictures of him and his family.  There were other activities to do for the rest of the week.  This morning when I was giving him a bath it dawned on me that we didn't send Preston with his star student folder.  We hadn't even done any of the activities.  I didn't even know where the folder was anymore!  I gasped and said, "Oh no Preston!  I forgot about the star student!"  Preston, as sweet as he could be, said, "It's okay Mom, they didn't get mad at me."  I was getting flustered and started tearing up. How could I have forgotten?  Where did I put the folder?  It is now Tuesday morning, is there any way I can salvage this?  Preston then says, "Mom, it's okay.  Don't cry." I love him.  I love that he doesn't hold my shortcomings against me.  Love, love, love that boy.

I did manage to find the folder.  I put it on the shelf with the library books and other items I don't want to lose.  I had to take Stockton to school, so I had Maysen (thank goodness for late start!) and Jorja help him with his poster thing.  We didn't get any pictures, but I did manage to get a note written...

Dear Preston's Class,

Preston is the most amazing boy in the entire world.  Well, at least his is in the top 10.  Preston was born in Georgia.  He moved to Utah when he was three years old.  He is now 6 years old, but he will turn 7 on Sunday.  Preston LOVES completely.  He is always telling his family how much he loves them.  His family thinks he is the greatest. Preston is always trying to tell funny jokes.  When people laugh he will tell the same joke over and over hoping for the same response. Preston loves dogs.  He can't have his own real dog because his mom hates dogs.  They are gross.  Especially when they lick her toes. Preston does have a favorite stuffed animal.  It is a dog.  Surprise!  His name is Shiver.  He got this dog for Christmas when he was two.  The dog is now falling apart.  Doesn't matter to Preston.  He loves Shiver so much.  For his birthday last year, we gave him a new Shiver. Preston will bring those dogs to school on Thursday.  It is funny to see what Shiver once looked like.  Shiver has sure been loved!  Another thing that Preston has loved to pieces is his blanket.  His great-grandma gave him a blanket when he was a baby.  He sleeps with it every night and carries it around all the time.  Only a few threads now hold the blanket together.  Doesn't matter to Preston.  He loves that blanket.

That is a few facts about Preston.  I hope you love him as much as we do!

Love, Preston's Mom

I can't believe I messed up his 'Star Student' week.  It was already going to be short because they don't have school on Friday.  Oh well.  At least Preston wasn't mad at me.

Tonight Stockton and Mike went to the 100 years in scouting event. They both loved it.  I had Young Womens' with Maysen.  I was in charge of the joint activity.  I was asked to do a missionary activity.  It turned out really well.  The first counselor talked first about her mission and preparing for a mission.  Doesn't matter if you go on one, but preparing for one will help you throughout your life.  Then my Beehive presidency each gave a short message.  They had all picked an article about missionary work to focus on.  We then did a roll play activity. Jacqui had come up with different situations (grocery shopping, riding an airplane, water skiing etc.).  One girl would randomly pick one.  The other girl would pick a gospel topic to bring up in the situation that had already been picked.  It was pretty funny.  The girls had a great time with that!  We ended with a lot of the girls giving an example of a gross food or weird experience a missionary they knew has had.  (We asked the girls to come prepared with this information.)  It was silly.  We then played dinner dice with some food I picked up at Ocean Mart.  Squid crackers, squid shreds, seaweed, yam cookies, roasted anchovies....things like that.  It was pretty fun.  I was glad it turned out so well.  I do have a great group of girls and some very helpful leaders I work with.  That makes everything so much easier!

Hours Done

Maysen finished her 40 hours of driving today!  After the kids were in bed, she drove us up to Steve and Shannon's house.  They are getting a new couch and wondered if we wanted the couch in their basement.  It is the couch that was in Mike's basement while he was growing up.  We took one part of the couch back with us.  Now we just need to find a time to take Maysen to the drivers license place and make it official.  Wow.

Cold

I forgot to write about something funny that happened yesterday.  I woke up and was freezing!  Mike went and looked at the thermostat.  It was about 62 degrees inside.  I guess technically that isn't freezing, but I was cold!  For just a moment we thought our heater was broken.  Then Mike checked to see what the temperature was set at.  It was set at 40 degrees!  What!?!  Turns out, the other day Preston was hot.  He fixed that problem.  Silly boy!

I left church after sacrament meeting today.  I hurried down to see Natalie and Dustin's twins get blessed.  They are adorable!  It was my first time seeing them in person.  Natalie let me help get Sierra in her blessing dress.  The blessings were so sweet.  Natalie and Dustin's testimonies were very tender.  So many people love those babies!

I was lucky and got to sit next to Ella and Abby for a lot of the meeting. When Abby saw me she said, "Where's my Jorja?"  Ella learned how to spell my name.  I took Amelia out of the chapel and played with her for a bit.  Ange started to take her out during Sierra's blessing, but I was able to quickly and quietly convince her to let me do it.  That is what I was there for!  Lincoln slept through most of the meeting.  They have church at 9:00 and had already been through their three hours.  What troupers!

We had family dinner over here tonight.  Pot roast and rolls etc. Yummy!

Girls' Room Day 13

Chelsea painted Chinese characters on Jorja's wall before she went back to Idaho.

qing wa = frog

 chao zhi ya = Jorja

Matt and Sam came over today.  Mike and Matt worked most of the day putting shingles on the shed.  It is looking really good.

This evening was Lincoln's baptism.  I can't believe I didn't take any pictures!  Especially since all of Bubs' kids looked adorable.  Jorja played the opening song.  "When I Am Baptized" (the rainbow song) She had been working on it since July.  She was so nervous.  She had it pretty good, but still struggled in parts.  Jorja played the first couple of lines of the song great, then kind of lost her place and could never really catch up.  It was fine though.  Jorja was so upset.  She was in tears at the piano.  I was so proud of her.  It was something really hard and she was brave enough to try, even though she was so scared.  Even though she wasn't flawless I was so proud of her for giving it her best effort. Ella did the conducting of all the songs and did a fantastic job.  She was really cute up there and seemed to love being the center of attention. Abby then gave the opening prayer.  Adorable.

Stockton gave a talk on baptism.  This was it: Hello, everyone.  My name is Stockton Smith, and I am one of Lincoln's cousins.  I was asked to give a talk on baptism.  The fourth article of faith says, "We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the gospel are: First, Faith in the Lord, Jesus Christ.  Second: Repentance.  Third: Baptism by immersion for the remission of sin.  Fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.

When we are baptized, it is important that we are submerged completely under the water.  This is because baptism is a symbol of Christ being buried and then being resurrected again.  When my sister, Jorja, was baptized, she had to go under the water a second time to be fully immersed.

The second half of baptism is confirmation.  When we are baptized, we make a covenant, which is a two-way promise.  We agree to always remember Jesus and to keep his commandments.  When we are confirmed, we officially become a member of the Church and take Christ's name upon us.  We renew this promise each week when we take the sacrament at church.

We can only be baptized when we are old enough to understand the difference between right and wrong.  I am proud of Lincoln for making the choice to follow Jesus and become a member of His church.  I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

My dad also gave a talk on the Holy Ghost.  I don't have a copy of his talk though.  The stake primary presidency was there.  They did the coolest thing.  When Lincoln was getting changed they handed out index cards to everyone to write their thoughts about the day and about Lincoln.  They gathered them up and put them together into a baptism book. (The cards were hole punched in the corner, then they put a ring through the holes.)  They were able to give Lincoln this book after his confirmation.  I thought that was a great way to pass the time.

Pretty awesome day.  Congratulations Lincoln!

Girls' Room Day 12

Maysen's wall got more mountains and a new dragon.  When you look at the dragon close it is awesome.  You can see the veins in the wings and everything.

Chelsea must have stayed up late!  I went to sleep when the wall was blue.  When I woke up, all the blue walls were three colors.  Blue, yellow and green.  The frog looks amazing with this background.  At first I was a little worried that the frog would blend into the background, but it doesn't at all.  I love it.

Maysen started her NaNoWriMo today.  NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month.  She has been thinking about this book for awhile, but didn't start on it until today.  I think she is planning on calling the book "Silverfish".

I'll end with pictures of our sad pumpkins.  They looked much better on Sunday.  At least we carved them!  Plus, Jorja and I discovered that we love roasted pumpkin seeds.  Yummy!

Preston's pumpkin

 Stockton's prize winning pumpkin

 Jorja's pumpkin