Maine Mom

Sickness on Groundhog Day

2012-02-02T21:50:00.001-05:00

I was just going to post this cute picture of Zachbut then Noah threw up and made a HUGE mess, which made the day more eventful. Zach threw up early yesterday morning, but he bounced back super quick. I hope Noah does, too.

Eventful Drive

2012-02-01T21:35:00.000-05:00

Dear Impatient,

I know you had somewhere to be, I did too. Were you in too big of a hurry to notice that it was raining out and the temperature was below freezing? I know, the weatherman was wrong again, which is why you must pay attention to your surroundings. Did you notice the truck off the road to our left? That was a clue to me that we were approaching an icy area, which is why I slowed down. Did you notice the other cars off the road and the police car at the bottom of the hill? I am grateful that you didn't crash into me as you sped by, fishtailing and then half spinning. This didn't keep you on the side of the road for long, though. Not only are you impatient, but you are persistent, too. I must admit that I was annoyed when I noticed you behind me again. I gladly let you by and watched you fishtail again. Apparently, you are also a slow learner. I have no idea if you made it to your destination or not. I hope you did. Please slow down the next time you are driving on icy roads. Remember, rain that falls from the sky in temperatures below freezing will turn to ice. Ice is slippery.

Sincerely,

Cautious

I had a bizarre evening. Zoe & I headed to Ellsworth, so I could stop at a
convenience store to order pizza to contribute to the potluck dinner at the Blue & Gold Banquet. Then we were going to Hancock to drop off a meal for a sister who has been sick. Then we were going to go pick up the pizza and head to church. A stretch of road that was extremely icy put a wrench in that plan, as well as the fact that I didn't plan for enough time. I managed to drive through this icy patch without going off the road, but I drove very slow and continued to drive slow until I got to the store. I ordered the pizza and then I dropped Zoe off at church since it was getting close to the time for her activity. It was close to the starting of the banquet as well, but I hadn't dropped the meal off yet and I hadn't picked up the pizza. I started to drive to Hancock, but I realized that if I didn't get the pizza first, then it would arrive at the banquet too late, so I picked up the pizza and brought it to the church. Then I headed to Hancock. It was dark and I've only been to this home a few times in the daytime. It took me awhile to find it! By the time I arrived back at church, the banquet was over! I thought about making up for not being there by helping to clean up, but everything was being taken care of, so Zoe & I headed home. I was ready to be home and I am glad to be home safe and sound now!

Stop sending me emails!

2012-01-31T22:35:00.000-05:00

As of today, I am decluttering my email inbox. I have 15347 messages! As you can tell, I am not good at deleting messages after I read them. Plus, I receive many emails that I am not interested in getting, but I have never taken the time to unsubscribe to them. I have started this process today. It is not helpful when I unsubscribe to a company's email list and they send me a confirmation email to let me know that they will not send me emails anymore! That gives me more emails to delete!

In other news, I got ALL of our laundry done today! That is a major accomplishment!

Just Lightning

2012-01-30T21:05:00.001-05:00

Noah insisted on being called Lightning today. This evening, Matt called him Magnus.
Noah said "My name is Lightning!".
Matt..."Okay Magnus Lightning".
Noah laughing..."Not Magnus Lightning, just Lightning!".
Matt..."Okay Just Lightning". We all laughed and we continued to laugh every time Matt called him that this evening. :-)

Zoe had an exhausting gym class today! She took the pacer test...
The test involves running continuously between two points that are 20 m apart from side to side. These runs are synchronized with a pre-recorded audio tape, CD or laptop software, which plays beeps at set intervals. As the test proceeds, the interval between each successive beep reduces, forcing the athlete to increase their speed over the course of the test, until it is impossible to keep in sync with the recording (or, in rare occasions, if the athlete completes the test). Many people who test people using the Multi-stage fitness test allow one level to beep before the person makes the line, but if the person being tested does not make the next interval then the most recent level they completed is their final score. The recording is typically structured into 21 'levels', each of which lasts around 62 seconds. Usually, the interval of beeps is calculated as requiring a speed at the start of 8.5 km/h, increasing by 0.5 km/h with each level thereafter. The progression from one level to the next is signaled by 3 rapid beeps. The highest level attained before failing to keep up is recorded as the score for that test.It gets faster every level of the test.
Zoe ran 42 laps. The other girls in her class ran around 20 laps or less. Zoe has the record so far for the girls! When she stopped, there was only 1 boy running with her. Aaron stopped at lap 43. He was determined not to be beaten by a girl! Another boy in Zoe's class, who ran in a different group ran 70+ laps! Mrs. Frost stopped him because it was time for a different group to do the test. I'm exhausted just thinking about all this running!

The kids had a great time sledding after school today!

The top layer of snow is icy, so the sleds fly down the hill! I stood at the bottom of the hill earlier in the day to stop Noah from sliding into the trees. He had so much fun flying down the hill! Kate was more cautious and she would stop herself before reaching the bottom of the hill. Noah on the other hand wanted to go fast all the way down and he didn't care if he landed in the trees. I cared, though.

Lighter

2012-01-29T20:06:00.002-05:00

Have I mentioned that I have lost 5 pounds?! I have gone 29 days without sugar and white flour. Some days have been easier than others, but I have been good every day this year so far! Glenn Beck is encouraging all Americans to be more like George Washington, so when I have a hard day, I think "I will be diligent like George Washington". It really helps!

Flying Solo

2012-01-28T21:35:00.001-05:00

Matt left early this morning to get on the bus in Bangor @ 6am to head to the temple. I talked with him this evening on the phone and he has had a nice day in the temple. :-)

The kids & I had fun at my parents' house this afternoon. My Mom hosted a thirty one and a scentsy party, so Zoe, Emily & I went to that. I bought the cutest bag that I can't wait to get and to show you! The younger kids hung out upstairs watching "Babe" and "Rio". My Dad downloaded "Rio" onto Eleanor's mp3 player and she is in heaven! I predict that she will have it memorized soon from watching it over and over again! Eleanor watched "Rio" on her mp3 player, but Kate & Noah watched it on the TV. Zach went to Harry's birthday party and he had a super fun time! He came home with lots of fun stuff in his goodie bag!

Our evening went well because Zoe helped out so much. :-) I dropped the kids off at home with Zoe (her idea) and then I ran a few errands. When I got home, the house was clean, the kids had eaten their treat, and baths had begun. Being able to watch a movie is a great motivator!

Wintry Mix Day

2012-01-27T21:55:00.001-05:00

No school today. We woke up to snow and then it changed over to freezing rain. In the afternoon, it rained. The kids & I had a good day overall. When chores were expected to be done, it was the worst day ever!, but while drinking hot chocolate with colored marshmallows and eating pumpkin pie or brownies (that Zoe made), it was the best day ever! Eleanor made cookies in her Easy Bake Oven. Zoe & Emily made this puzzle.

Matt was going to come home after work instead of having me drive to Brewer to meet him for datenight, but he left his headlights on today and his Suburban wouldn't start when it was time to come home. This led to our datenight since I had to drive to his work to rescue him. :-) We went to Bugaboo Creek again since we would get another $20 off our meal and guess what? Our meal came to less than $20 AND my card still hasn't been fixed, so I still have the same amount of points on my card. :-) I gave them my information again, but this time they encouraged me to call the customer service # to give them my information as well. The waitress told me that I would probably get their voice mail and if I left a message with all of my information, then everything should get taken care of. I am skeptical, but I will try it.

Matt bought an iPhone today. He wanted to buy it at the end of last year, but that didn't work out. Zoe is going to buy his iPod. She has been trying to talk him into a lower price since she hates to part with her money, but no luck. She is still getting a good deal, though.

Eleanor wiggled a loose tooth out this evening! Yesterday, Zach accidentally hit Eleanor in the mouth with his zhu zhu pet, which made her tooth looser than it already was. Her tooth was bothering her after that happened, so she has been wiggling it. Matt & I are glad that this tooth came out on its own instead of having to be pulled! Eleanor was happy, too. :-)

Matt is going on the bus trip to the temple tomorrow. It was a busy week to squeeze in a stake interview, so he could go, but he managed to do it. :-)

Go, Go, Go

2012-01-26T22:25:00.001-05:00

Last evening, the older girls & I went to church for a joint youth activity, Cub Scouts, and Activity Days. Zoe's friend, Caitlin went with us. The youth were supposed to go ice skating, but the rink was closed. I'm not sure if the thin layer of ice would have been solid enough to skate on anyway. The warm temperatures have melted all the snow and ice away. The youth ended up playing a complex version of tic tac toe. My cubs painted their model dragsters to display at the Blue and Gold Banquet next week. Then they paired up and had a basketball shooting contest. They made the game up and they put me in charge of keeping score. The Activity Day girls learned a hula dance that they are going to perform at our branch Valentine Luau. Fun!

I took Kate & Noah to the "Dinosaur pool" today. We stopped at the grocery store and then came home for about an hour and a half before going to get the kids from school. After getting the kids, we stopped at home for snacks and bathroom time and then we drove to Target for band concert outfits. Last evening on the way home from church, Zoe mentioned that she'd like to wear dress pants to the concert this evening, but she didn't have any! Zoe can have the gift of great timing sometimes ! :-) So, we had a quick trip to Target and it really was pretty quick. I was also able to pick up a birthday gift for Zach's friend, which I needed to buy today, so that worked out perfectly. Dress pants turned into outfits, but they were quick finding them and they were looking forward to wearing them, so I bought them. We arrived home, ate dinner, and then headed out the door again with Matt to the concert. This was Emily's first concert and she was nervous.She had a dream last night that she forgot her saxophone, so during the concert, she just stood in the middle of the concert without her instrument while feeling awkward. Not a fun dream! In real life, she remembered her saxophone and she did a great job!

Zoe was happy because for the first time, she really liked what she wore to the concert.

Zach spent some of his time during the concert writing notes. This is what he wrote to me...
"Dear mom I love you. You are a grate mom. I love pumpkin pie. I love you. Zach". So sweet! Wondering why he put pumpkin pie in there? We had a pie auction before the concert and I bought a pumpkin pie. I am giving it to my dad, but a few of the kids, including Zach are insisting on a piece of it!

"My" Bowling Team

2012-01-25T12:56:00.003-05:00

Maine Jump Pictures

2012-01-25T12:26:00.001-05:00

I now can post pictures from my Xoom! Yay!

Lots of Fun

2012-01-24T23:00:00.001-05:00

Kate, Noah & I had a fun day at the Maine Jump. I surfed the internet while the kids jumped, so we were all happy. :-) It also made Noah happy that the basketball game that he always wants to play, but is always out of order, was working today! Kate & Noah spent quite a bit of time in the bounce house that has a ball and a basketball hoop in it. It was cute to see Noah trying to dribble the ball before he took a shot.

Eleanor & Zach had their first sign language class today after school. They loved it! They have learned the alphabet and they now know how to sign their names. Emily has not been in favor of Eleanor & Zach taking this class UNTIL she had the thought today that once they knew sign language, they could talk to each other in sign language and then they could be SILENT!

Zoe made a basket during her last game today. :-) Matt was there to see it. Zoe received an inbound pass right under the basket where she put it up and in!

My Mom & I went candlepin bowling with the Relief Society sisters this evening. Mom watched and the other 15 of us bowled. We had 3 teams of 5. Our team came in 3rd, but I was the only one out of all the teams to get a strike! I had the highest score. :-) Many of the sisters are from out west, so we heard a lot of "If this was REAL bowling or a REAL bowling ball...". We laughed a lot and we had a great time! Mom & I passed on the treats back at the church to enjoy a quiet dinner together at Denny's. It's probably a good thing that Friendly's is no longer a dinner option in Ellsworth because I would have to indulge in white flour and sugar if it was!

FHE

2012-01-23T22:05:00.000-05:00

For Family Home Evening, we watched Emily & Zoe play basketball. Tonight was Emily's last game. She did really well on defense! Emily's team won by 3 points. It was an exciting game to watch! Zoe's team is hard for me to watch because they have a hard time handling the ball and getting the ball near/in the basket. Zoe did really well getting herself open for the ball at the beginning of the game, but no one passed the ball to her. So frustrating! Zoe's last game is tomorrow in Hampden. We went to McDonald's for dinner and then the kids enjoyed sundaes for their treat. :-). My Mom joined us for the game and dinner, which was nice.

End of the search

2012-01-22T21:25:00.000-05:00

I found my phone this morning! That made me SO HAPPY! I found it in our room before church. I had plans to go to the skating rink after church to look for my phone, so I'm glad I didn't have to do that!

Zoe has a new youth Sunday School teacher that she thinks is the best teacher ever! Brother Battaline is Italian and he is funny! I'm glad Zoe is going to enjoy her class this year. :-)

My kids have been practicing the new primary song, "As a Child of God" every morning before school for the past 3 weeks. This has helped them so much in learning the song. In Sharing Time today, I asked the children to raise their hand if they could fill in the blank from the 3rd verse of the song "In my own ____________". Noah raised his hand and confidently said the correct answer - home. Then as the kids were coloring, I heard Noah singing this new song as he colored. So sweet! Zach sings the loudest as we sing at home and in primary. He is very proud of the fact that he can sing all 3 verses without any help. I am proud of him, too. :-)

Saying goodbye to Mahershalalhashbaz

2012-01-21T22:30:00.000-05:00

Our fish has gone to fish heaven. The reaction from the kids after hearing this news was...Can we get a hermit crab now? Can we get a turtle? A dog? Another fish? A chipmunk? A squirrel? I hope our fish is feeling the love in heaven because I don't think he was feeling it much here!

Matt & I had a super fun datenight last night. We ate dinner at Bugaboo Creek, where our meals together came to $15. Love it! We have a rewards card that doesn't acknowledge our rewards because my name hasn't been entered into the system with my card #. I have tried many times to add my name on their website, but it never works. Whenever you reach 300 points, you are supposed to get $20 off your bill and then your points go back to 0. My points are never recognized and have never gone back to 0, so every time we go to Bugaboo Creek now, it looks like we have enough points for the $20 off even though we have received the discount already. We explain the situation to our waiter or waitress, but they give us the discount anyway because it is their companies error. Last night was our second time talking with the manager about it. He gave us the discount again, but this time he had me write down my information, so the problem can be fixed for me. He did say that my point total will remain the same after it is fixed, so we'll get one more discounted dinner before my points go to 0. Sweet! We have been told that many people are having problems with their rewards cards, so someone has been hired just to handle these problems. Lately, it really hasn't been a problem for us. :-)
We did some shopping after dinner and then we came home to watch "My girlfriend's boyfriend". I was happy to see that Alyssa Milano was in the movie! I haven't seen her in years. It was a good, clean movie, so I loved it!

Justin came over this morning to help Matt work on the house. That is dedication to be willing to help out when the weather is in the teens! They worked for an hour and a half on some outside walls on the bottom floor. Justin brought his 3 year old son with him, so Noah had a playmate this morning. They had lots of fun and they got along great!

Emily went to Jenny's birthday party from 10am-1pm. After I picked her up and then picked up Eleanor & Zach from my parents' house where they spent the night last night, we went ice skating and sledding. The older girls had fun playing with friends there. We lasted an hour before the little ones got too cold. I was ready to go, too. We have now been skating 3 times this winter! That is a record! Usually we make it once a winter.

I think I lost my phone at the ice skating rink. :-( I'm hoping that if it is there that it fell out of my pocket inside the building and not out in the snow!

Pictures!

2012-01-20T15:05:00.001-05:00

Kate and Noah at Sesame Street Live!

The letter for the show was K! Kate was happy about that. :-)

Zoe on her way to give the Buck a high 10.

I drove in a blizzard this morning to get the kids to school, but then it stopped snowing. Now we have snow to sled on again! Here is Noah sledding at home this morning.
Then he wanted to swing...his favorite outdoor activity!

Then we went sledding after school near the ice rink. The kids wanted to go skating, but there was too much snow on the ice.

Snow makes winter FUN!

Tomorrow is Friday already?

2012-01-19T22:35:00.001-05:00

Today was a much needed cleaning day. It was nice to be home after being on the go the past 3 days. This morning, Kate told me she was in charge of the day and we were staying home! That was already my plan. Our afternoon and evening turned out to be busy, though. We went ice skating after school. Everyone, but Zoe since she was at her basketball game in Old Town. I had my doubts about being out in 19 degree weather, but when you are all bundled up and moving, it doesn't feel that cold. Daisy, Anna & their Dad met us at the skating rink. That made Eleanor super happy since she is always asking to get together with Anna. Thanks to the free skates you can borrow at the rink, Noah was able to skate for the first time! He is a natural, like Zach. Noah's first time on skates and he walked on the mat to the rink all by himself! He didn't do that well on the ice and soon after wanted to put his boots back on. He still hung out on the ice, though. Kate did better at skating today. She wouldn't let go of me the other day, but today she tried skating by herself. She put her boots on after awhile, too. We borrowed hockey sticks and pucks and the kids had fun playing hockey. We didn't have one big game, everyone just did their own thing. Zach fell and bumped his head on the ice. He laughed while crying when I pointed out that he was on a giant ice pack. :-)

I made a big dinner since we were all going to be home this evening. It felt so nice to sit down to a hot meal as a family. We should do that more often!

Matt bought a new printer, so I can now print from my Xoom and he can print from his iPod. Sweet! Now we need to order a cord, so I can post pictures here from my Xoom!

It all works out in the end

2012-01-18T22:10:00.000-05:00

I took Kate & Noah to the Bangor Auditorium today to see "Sesame Street Live". My kids haven't watched Sesame Street as much as I did as a kid or as much as other kids do now since we don't get any TV channels. They've seen it enough though to know the main characters. Even I don't know some of the new characters they have added. Kate & Noah enjoyed the first half of the show. During intermission, they complained about being hungry, wanting cotton candy and popcorn, but I wasn't going for that. They had snacks in the car that they ate on the way to the auditorium and they had more snacks to eat when the show was over. They also wanted an Elmo balloon, but I wasn't going for that either. $10 for a balloon! I felt bad for the mom or dad who bought the balloon that almost immediately ended up in the rafters. It wasn't the only one to end up there. I wondered as my children complained about not getting the stuff that they wanted if that was going to override the fun of watching the show. Then Kate came up with an awesome idea to go to Dunkin Donuts after the show. Yes, we could do that. That gave them something else to look forward to and they quit asking for stuff at the show. :-) Kate got right back into the show after intermission. Noah asked a few times when it was going to be over, but he pretended to be super Grover as we walked to the car, so I think he liked the show. We headed to DD after the show, but we passed McDonald's and decided to go there instead. I spent just a little more than 1 Elmo balloon for 3 meals and 2 toys. :-)

Zoe & I went to church this evening for Cub Scouts and Young Women's. We had 1 hour to complete our activities and then head back to Bucksport. This was a bit stressful for me since I bought kits for the boys to make model dragsters and I wanted them completed this evening, so we can paint them next week and then display them at our Blue and Gold Banquet in 2 weeks. We got off to a slow start, some of the boys were covered in glue, some were unfocused, but we miraculously assembled all of the dragsters in 1 hour!

Zoe and I made it back to Bucksport for the Girls High School Varsity basketball game where Zoe, Emily & their teammates were recognized for their participation on the Middle School teams during halftime. Emily had practice after school and then my Dad brought her over to the high school to watch the jv game and then the varsity game. My Mom and Grandmother also watched both games. It was fun to watch the varsity team win by 53 points. :-)

All smiles while ice skating

2012-01-17T13:40:00.000-05:00

Our Adventures

2012-01-16T20:45:00.000-05:00

We have enjoyed this day off from work & school. Matt took Zach & Noah to get their hair cut. Then they went to see "The adventures of TinTin." I'm glad Matt & the boys have had lots of fun adventures this weekend. :-) The girls & I spent time with my parents. My parents & I played a game of Phase 10, which was fun. Then I took the girls ice skating at the rink near the schools. They saw several friends there, so they enjoyed time with them. Kate tried ice skating for the first time. She wore skates that I had bought for Zoe when Zoe had first gone ice skating. It's hard for any of us to believe that Zoe's feet were ever that small! :-) Zoe wore my skates today that I bought when I bought Zoe's first skates. They barely fit Zoe...too small! Kate wore her skates for a little while, but then she wanted to walk on the ice with her sneakers. When Eleanor was done skating, she joined her friends in sledding down a small hill near the rink. Kate tried sledding, too, but she didn't like how fast the sled went. We hung out in the car and Kate played on my Xoom. It was nice to get out in the fresh air and fun to see people we know. You know it has been really cold when people are commenting on how warm and nice it is outside when the sun is shining, but it is only in the mid 20s!

The Holy Sabbath

2012-01-15T20:19:00.002-05:00

Zoe & Emily stayed over with my parents last night. My Mom called early this morning to let me know that Zoe had thrown up three times during the night. So, Zoe stayed at my parents' house while the rest of us went to church. Matt went to the Brewer ward, so he had a more relaxing morning since they start at eleven. He didn't get home until after four, though. I had a busy church day doing two Sharing Times, but they went well. President and Sister Hutchins visited our branch today. President Hutchins is a counselor in the Mission Presidency. Sister Hutchins is a Primary chorister in their branch, so she helped us out in Primary. I had her lead the music for the junior primary and she played the piano for the senior primary. I loved having her help today! Emily went home with my Mom for a bonus night at my parents' house with Zoe. Zoe is feeling much better after her day of rest. :-)

Pictures!

2012-01-14T17:45:00.001-05:00

The girls & I went to Goodwill today and then we went to the museum.
The new hang glider exhibit is open!
Kate took a look at this picture and said, "You totally need to put that on the blog!"

Matt, Zach & Noah went to the tool store where they each got tools! They also ate at McDonald's. :-)

My grandmother turned 83 today! Happy Birthday Grammie!

One on One Time

2012-01-13T22:50:00.000-05:00

Noah was up before 5 am this morning, so he fell asleep on the way home from dropping the kids off at school. This gave Kate & I time together to play outside in the snow. I have cute pictures of Kate sledding, which I hope to post soon. I need to see if we have a cable that will connect my camera to my Xoom, and if not, then I need to buy one. I will be over at my parents' house tomorrow, so we'll see if I can get the pictures posted from there if I don't succeed with the Xoom.

Noah & I had some time alone this afternoon as we ran a few errands and picked up dinner for the kids. Noah commented on how fun it was to be out with just the two of us. It was fun!

Matt & I went out on date night this evening. We ate dinner at the Harbor View Restaurant for the first time. We went there because they serve breakfast food all day. Well, they used to. The sign we read right before we opened the door announced that they no longer serve breakfast all day. We went in anyway, but our food options were very limited. I would rather travel to Dysarts next time. We wanted to eat in town because we watched the new Mission Impossible movie at the Alamo after we ate. I really enjoyed the movie. It was very intense, though! Matt & I left there exhausted!

The kids want a snow day!

2012-01-12T21:30:00.000-05:00

The kids were hoping for a snow day today, but it didn't start snowing until the afternoon, so they had school. I didn't like driving in the snowy mess when I picked the kids up from school, but we arrived home safely. Matt stayed home today to clean up/organize some things outside and in the new house while the ground was still bare. The weather people have been wrong about the weather so much lately that it's hard to know what exactly is going to happen, but it could remain snowy, icy, rainy until Saturday. The kids are now hoping for a snow day tomorrow, which would give them a 4 day weekend.

One of my favorite websites is tofw.com (Time Out For Women). I love reading inspiring quotes and stories, watching inspiring videos, and I'm looking forward to reading the book club books this year. I discovered this blog today, The Sullengers...patrickandashley@blogspot.com from the tofw website. Ashley is a gifted writer who honestly shares her ups and downs after her 18 month old daughter fell into a canal and died later on at a hospital. I can't even imagine the pain and sorrow of losing a child. I admire mothers like Ashley who share their experiences while grieving. I can tell by reading their blogs that they benefit from writing and those of us who are reading benefit from heartfelt and honest posts. Life is full of ups and downs. It's easier to write about the good things going on, but only writing about the good gives a false impression. I think that's why I get a lot out of reading blogs that deal with hardships and grief. The writers are real, humble, faithful and prayerful and they inspire us to be the same way.

Eleanor's Night Out

2012-01-12T07:00:00.000-05:00

I spent time yesterday figuring out what I was going to do for Activity Days that evening, but we ended up cancelling the activity. I called around to make sure parents knew about the time change, which they did, but they weren't coming to the activity due to sickness. I was filling in for Activity Days because Sunshine is sick. Emily wasn't feeling well when she got home from school. Everyone is sick! :-( My Mom called to see if I wanted to go to dinner with her, but I still had Cub Scouts and Zoe had Young Women's. Eleanor had been begging me to take her with me to church or to drop her off SOMEWHERE, so I told Mom that Eleanor would love to go out with her. It turned out to be a perfect evening for Eleanor as she went to the Harbor View Restaurant and even got a candy bar at the grocery store. :-)

XOOM saves the blog

2012-01-11T21:08:00.002-05:00

Our "dinosaur computer" is refusing to turn on after shutting off abruptly last night when we lost our power. It hasn't been running well lately, so this is not surprising, but we are bummed about it. We have many pictures on our computer that have not been copied. A lot of them are on my blog, though. The CD Rom hasn't worked on the computer for awhile. We had bought a thumb drive to put our pictures on, but I wasn't good about actually getting the pictures onto it. We'll look into getting the computer looked at to see if we can save our pictures. The fact that we have lost everything on our computer doesn't phase Zoe at all. She is just thinking about a future new laptop that may exist in our home!

2012-01-11T07:00:00.000-05:00

We lost our power last night around 8:00. We had just finished FHE (Monday night, Zoe & Emily were traveling back from MDI after their games) and Emily was in the shower and I was doing the dishes. Thankfully, Emily was all rinsed off when her shower unexpectedly ended. At first, she thought one of her siblings had turned the light off on her. She was not happy! The kids got ready for bed using a flashlight and water from the fridge. We bundled them up and put them to bed, not knowing how long the power would be out. It ended up being out for an hour and a half, so thankfully it didn't get too cold in the house. I need to put batteries in one of our bigger flashlights and put it somewhere that is hidden from the kids. If the younger ones know where a working flashlight is, they will use it for fun until the batteries are dead. We appreciated Matt's keychain flashlight last night!

Would I survive without the internet?

2012-01-09T21:36:00.003-05:00

I am so grateful for the internet! I had no idea what I was going to do for Sharing Time this Sunday, so I searched Google to see if someone else came up with an idea for me. Of course someone did! Thank you Hailey of Little LDS Ideas!

We now have 19 kids in our Primary. That is a lot for our little branch. We now have a Junior Sharing Time during the 2nd hour and a Senior Sharing Time during the 3rd hour. It makes for an exhausting day when I get to teach 2 Sharing Times in one day, but then I get 2 Sundays off. At least that will be the case when my Mom is healed enough to teach Sharing Time again in a couple of weeks. And when I say I get a couple of Sundays off, I mean from Sharing Time because there is usually a class that needs to be taught that I fill in for. Never a dull moment in Primary! :-)

Bangor Daily News 1/7/12

2012-01-08T21:52:00.003-05:00

Kate Erickson, 4, of Bucksport, pushes with all her might to hide a fossil in the sand of the Dino Dig exhibit at the Maine Discovery Museum in Bangor on Thursday. Kate's brother Noah, 3, digs them up behind her at the museum's newest exhibit which has been on display for about 3 months.

Mysteries Solved

2012-01-07T22:10:00.000-05:00

Remember the sneakers that Noah lost at church several months ago? He found them today! He had placed them on a chalkboard tray in the Primary room. The mobile chalkboard is never used and it faces a wall, so you can't see the tray. I looked on the floor near that chalkboard, but never on the tray! Noah was very happy to find his Spiderman sneakers and he wore them home.

Several of the kids have had rosy cheeks and itchy rashes this week. The answer to these symptoms came when I read the school newsletter this evening. Fifth disease is going around the schools. I am glad to know the cause of these rashes!

Justin Millis came over this morning to help Matt put tarps over the new house. They had a productive morning!

The kids & I went over to my parents' house to provide cleaning service this morning. Then we headed to church with my Mom to change the Primary bulletin board and to set up chairs for Primary. We stopped at Walmart before coming home. I am now the proud owner of a dustbuster! I am anxious to vacuum the Yukon with it!

I looked in the paper yesterday for Kate & Noah's picture at the museum, but I didn't see it. Our librarian called me this morning to let me know that Kate & Noah were on the front page of the State section of the Bangor Daily News today. Exciting! I'll try to post the picture tomorrow.

Rough Start, Great Finish

2012-01-06T21:10:00.003-05:00

My plans changed for the day when I woke up around 1 am to the sound of Eleanor throwing up. She bounced back quickly and so far everyone else seems to be healthy.

Matt & I had a fun date night this evening. We went to see the new Sherlock Holmes movie and then we ate dinner at Dysarts. The kids ate pizza and watched Eight Below. It was a fun evening for everyone!

Zach went over to Harry's house after school. The highlight (besides playing with Harry) was eating munchkins and cookies. :-)

Food, Basketball & Museum

2012-01-05T20:00:00.002-05:00

I have lost 2 pounds! I have many more to go, but I am on the right track. :-) I had my first experience at McDonalds last night and I was good. I had a cheeseburger with no bun and no condiments and I added lettuce and tomato to it. It wasn't great, but I felt good after eating it. I was also good at Subway this evening. It was my first time eating a salad there and it was good. As good as a salad can be without dressing that is.

The last two days have been busy with basketball. Both Emily & Zoe had a game yesterday in Ellsworth and then Zoe had a home game this evening. After sitting through two games yesterday with the kids, it was nice to watch Zoe's game this evening with just Emily and my Mom!

I asked Kate this morning what she wanted to do today and she decided it was a good museum day. It was like playing at the beach as they made sand castles and played in the dino dig sand pit. A woman from the Bangor Daily News took pictures of Kate & Noah playing in the sand pit, so look for them online or in the paper tomorrow. :-) She was taking pictures for a story about what you can do on a winter day when there's no snow and it is COLD outside.

Kate & Noah went into the karaoke room for the first time today. They had fun singing!

Victoria's Story

2012-01-04T20:53:00.001-05:00

Woman Survives Random Gunshot to Head While Driving

Updates

2012-01-03T22:05:00.001-05:00

Kate, Noah & I spent most of the day with my grandmother. :-) We took her to get some lab work done and then we headed over to Bath & Body Works in the mall. Kate found some things there to put on her birthday wish list. She loves the little hand sanitizer bottles and the fancy covers to go over them. Kate & Noah went on one of the rides a few times before we left the mall and they were able to get some candy and gum from the $.25 machines. They loved that!

Victoria was on Eleanor's mind today. During class, Eleanor's teacher noticed that Eleanor was quieter than usual. Eleanor told her about Victoria and Mrs. Wight asked Eleanor if she wanted to see the Guidance Counselor. Eleanor talked with the Guidance Counselor and she made Victoria a sweet card. Victoria's story is going to be told on Fox 8 and a local paper, Northwest Observer is going to write about it. The paper is going to do an interview over the phone and Fox8 is going over to Donna's home tomorrow to interview. I'm glad this story is going to be told. People need to be smarter while celebrating on New Year's Eve!

My mom met with Dr. Curtis today and she had an x-ray taken. She was hoping for a miraculous healing, but no luck. She was advised to stay home from work for 6-8 weeks...not going to happen. She didn't argue with getting out of jury duty for the 2nd month in a row, though. She was scheduled for jury duty in Ellsworth during December, but Matt had a case there in December, so her jury duty got changed to January. Now she has a doctor's note saying she can't do it in January. That is fine with my mom since she has tons of work to do at work. She has a cat scan scheduled on Friday to make sure nothing else is damaged besides the bone. She'll find out the results of the cat scan next Thursday when she meets with Dr. Curtis again. Hang in there, Mom!

For my own record...
I love it when Zach tells me he loves me at random moments. It is so sweet!

Back to School

2012-01-02T21:50:00.000-05:00

Our kids went back to school today. It made Kate's morning to be able to stay home with Matt & Noah while I brought the kids to school. Kate would LOVE to have her siblings ride the bus, but I prefer to drop them off and pick them up.

Matt bought some tarps today and worked on covering the new house. Kate, Noah & I spent time with my parents. My mom is doing well, but she keeps beating me at Phase 10! She goes to the doctor tomorrow to have an x-ray taken of her leg to see how it is healing.

My diet is going well. I was up at 5am to exercise. I didn't dive into the remaining sugar cookies at my parents' house! That is a good sign that I am in the diet zone. My mom, Kate, Noah & I went to Dysarts for lunch. My dad had to go to work, so he wasn't able to join us. I love the omelets at Dysarts! I have a feeling that Dysarts is going to become a favorite date night spot this year.

We watched the Rose Bowl on our computer for FHE. I am not a fan of having cable tv, so Matt endures watching football in a little box on the computer monitor. We also had our regular FHE (Song, Prayer, Article of Faith, Lesson, Scripture, Game & Treat) during half time.

Victoria had a cat scan done this morning. The bleeding is the same, which is good according to the neurosurgeon. The swelling has gotten worse, but she is still able to rest at home with someone watching over her at all times. I am grateful that she has many family members close by to help her! She will have another cat scan done soon and she will need to see the neurosurgeon again before going back to work.

New Year News

2012-01-01T17:37:00.001-05:00

My niece, Victoria was shot in the head early this morning. This is what my sister, Donna wrote on her FB page...
This is the piece of the bullet they pulled out of my daughters head last night.

A stray bullet came down around 12:20am as she was driving home, hit her drivers side window and embedded itself behind her ear. Official diagnosis from emergency room says gunshot wound of head with an additional diagnoses of fractured skull, subarachnoid hemorrhage and subdural hematoma - she has a little internal bleeding. We're on our way back to the hospital now to make sure the bleeding isn't worse. So glad she's ok, though. Still trying to wrap my own brain around how random this was and how she could be in that spot at that moment. And, so very thankful for windows! And, as my mom said, I know she was guided to a safe stop. She listened when a voice in her head told her to pull over gently and stop the car. She can't remember when it happened. She was driving along and then suddenly her head hurt and her window was broken.
I am grateful that she is doing okay! She was scheduled to have a cat scan this afternoon, but it was changed to tomorrow. I hope we receive good news tomorrow! Please keep her in your prayers.

Noah had his first day in Primary as a Sunbeam! I wanted to get a picture of him in his new white shirt and brown pants from Old Navy, plus he wore Zach's tie, but it was too busy of a day for me. He looked so handsome! Matt did get a picture of Kate looking cute in her big girl outfit. This was her first day as a CTR, but she is still in the Sunbeam class with Noah, Bo, and Ian since she is the only 4 year old who comes regularly.

I'm a big fan of setting new goals at the start of a new year. This year I am eliminating sugar and white flour from my diet. I will also continue to exercise using our Wii Fit. It will be a Get Fit 2012! I have been eating junk for too many months and it is time to get my body back in shape. It will not be an easy journey, but I am committed to it. Matt started his diet the day after Christmas, so we will now support each other in our weight loss.

New Year's Eve

2011-12-31T20:35:00.001-05:00

Today was the first Saturday in a long time that Matt, Zoe, & Emily have not worked on the new house! There was plenty of work to be done inside our old house, though! The Christmas decorations have been put away and we are ready for a new year! We are not going to stay up tonight to welcome in the new year since we will be up early tomorrow for church. The kids watched one of the Free Willy movies this evening and now they are in bed. I'm going to watch "Midway to Heaven" and then I am off to bed, too. Matt has already crashed.

The kids are still enjoying their new games and toys. :-)

Happy New Year!

New Year's Eve Eve

2011-12-30T22:00:00.001-05:00

Kate is still dealing with a tummy ache/diarrhea, but everyone else is back to being healthy. Zach complained that his stomach hurt before he went to bed. Hopefully, he'll sleep and feel good in the morning.

The kids were up for an outing today so we stopped at McDonald's for lunch and then we went to Old Navy to spend Christmas money and a gift card. Going to a store with all of the kids is always an adventure!

Matt and Zoe went to a stake youth activity this evening. The highlight for Zoe was getting to play volleyball. The rest of us ate dinner with my parents and my grandmother at my parents' house. The kids watched "Kung Fu Panda 2" and made huge messes everywhere while my mom and I played Phase 10. A few of the kids spent quite a bit of time crying because they were expected to finish their dinner before they ate anything else. OUTRAGEOUS!

Matt's truck and old SAAB are no longer sitting in our driveway. YAY! Matt gave them to a guy he knows in exchange for labor on his Suburban. I like it!

Sickness Has Struck

2011-12-29T19:50:00.001-05:00

Eleanor was supposed to go play with her friend, Anna today, but she woke up not feeling well. She is REALLY sick if she passes up a chance to spend time with a friend! She has been hit the hardest with a fever, headache, and achy body. Zoe wasn't feeling great yesterday and Kate has had diarrhea and stomach aches on and off for days. Matt came home and said he hasn't felt good all day. Ugh.

Emily & Zach were able to go play with Daisy, Anna, & Ryder today. Zoe & I had a wii fit competition. It was a fun way to exercise. :-) We started simplifying old toys and making room for new toys. That will be a work in progress for awhile.

Emily's Basketball Fame

2011-12-28T20:55:00.003-05:00

If you have trouble watching this video, you can click on this link

House Progress

2011-12-27T21:26:00.003-05:00

The last floor board on the 2nd floor was put down today! :-)

The kids are going to have a laundry chute! How neat is that?!

A view from the 2nd floor of the kids sledding.

Maher-shalal-hash-baz

2011-12-26T21:04:00.001-05:00

Our fish turned 2 on Christmas Day! When we got him, he had fin rot, so we didn't think he would live long. He has never been very healthy and lively, but he has hung on much longer than we expected! He spends most of his days sleeping at the bottom of his bowl.

The kids went outside first thing this morning to try out their new sleds. There was fresh snow to slide on since it snowed yesterday. Eleanor opted to stay inside to try out her Easy-Bake oven.

I didn't get a photo of the pink frosting Eleanor made. She was quite impressed that the frosting powder and water mixed together made real frosting! :-)

Zoe opened her Mouse Trap game while Eleanor was baking.

Later on, the boys had some bonding time with Daddy as they played with Zach's new toy from Grandpa. :-)

Emily & Zoe had back to back basketball practices today. I'm glad Matt was home to do most of the transporting. :-) Zoe has a Round Robin in Dexter tomorrow and Emily's team has a game tomorrow and then they are off for the rest of the week. Yay!

Eleanor received the movie, Rio for Christmas. so we watched it tonight for FHE. It was a fun family night!

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T20:55:00.001-05:00

It just may be the BEST CHRISTMAS EVER! First thing this morning, the kids opened their stockings and a few other presents from some church friends. Then we ate French Toast and pancakes and got ready for church. Sacrament meeting was delightful with beautiful music/singing and testimonies of Christ. I wish we could attend Sacrament Meeting every Christmas. The kids did well waiting until we got home from church to open their presents. They were super excited when the unwrapping began!

Zoe & Emily received Kindles.
My parents & Grandmother now have 2012 calendars with pictures of our family. :-)
Pillow Pets for all of the kids!
Games! Noah loves to play Don't Break The Ice. He was happy to receive a new one since he wore out the old one.
Money! Zoe & Emily unwrapped several boxes within boxes before they found their money. Fun idea Grammie! Matt regrets giving me money since I am seriously thinking about spending it on a weekend trip to Orlando in March for Time Out For Women!
Christmas wouldn't be the same without Grammie hugs!
I'm not sure where we are going to put this CARS track, but it is fun to play with!
Some toys needed to be charged before they could be played with. Remote control cars are so much fun!
Zach made this hand print for me. I consider it Matt's too, but only my name was on the card. :-)
Fijit Friends! The highlight toy for the younger kids!

Some other highlight presents...
Emily ~ Camera
Zoe ~ Pottery Barn Teen Gift Card
Eleanor ~ MP3 Player
Sleds for all of the kids

The Magical Christmas Dust that Zach, Kate, and Eleanor spread all over the lawn last night for the reindeer really was magical! It has been a wonderful Christmas!

Christmas Eve

2011-12-24T22:15:00.000-05:00

I have been wanting to post this video of Zoe playing basketball and making her first basket of the season since Tuesday! It is such a sweet shot. :-)

Zoe & Emily were supposed to have games on Wednesday, but the games were cancelled due to icy conditions. It was supposed to be cold, but dry during the day and then get warmer with rain in the afternoon/evening, but it ended up being cold and rainy all day. I got my hair cut, picked the girls up from school and then I was happy to be home and off the slick roads! Emily had a field trip to the Gulf of Maine Research Institute in Portland on this icy day and I'm so glad they traveled safe! We had an unexpected family dinner/evening at home which was so delightful!

Thursday was warm, but still icy as my Mom found out the hard way. She slipped and fell down her steps as she was heading to work. A trip to the walk in care confirmed a fracture just above the ankle and she is in a boot cast. :-(

I couldn't find my phone on Thursday and I was sure it was somewhere in the house since the last time I had used it was Wednesday evening at home. I was quite surprised Thursday afternoon when I talked with the secretary at the middle school and she told me that my phone was in their office! I still don't know how it ended up at the school when I hadn't been in the school that day. Strange! I did drop Zoe & Emily off in the morning, but I didn't get out of the Yukon. My guess is that my phone fell out of my jeans pocket or my bag and was on the floor of the Yukon and it got knocked out of the Yukon in front of the school. I am grateful for whoever found it and turned it into the office!

We have snow for Christmas! The kids had a great time playing outside yesterday as it snowed. :-) What a fun way to start Christmas vacation!

We have had a fun Christmas Eve! We went over to my parents' house to eat a yummy brunch. We were going to have the brunch at our house, but since Mom is still getting used to walking on her boot cast, we brought the food to her. My grandmother was there, too. :-) Our family went to the movie theater to see "Puss in Boots". It's fun that our kids are old enough to sit through a movie without interruption. It makes watching the movie much more enjoyable. :-) The kids colored pictures when we got home to complete our coloring page countdown. We were a bit behind, so we colored all the pages that we had missed and they are all hanging up on the wall.

I love how festive our living room looks this year! I'm thinking the snowflakes will stay up until Spring. :-)

We have our tradition of watching the animated version of The Grinch every Christmas Eve. Max, the dog is SO ADORABLE! We love all the parts he is in. :-)

I tried to send the kids to bed, but they reminded me that we hadn't prepared the cookie plate for Santa!

Then I was going to send them to bed again, but I remembered that we hadn't unwrapped our last Christmas book of the season. There were actually two books because I added one of Zoe & Emily's favorite Christmas countdown books that I neglected to get at the beginning of the countdown. Oops! They looked for the book all month.

Then Zoe unwrapped the last Christmas book that was in the original pile. Emily has been waiting for this one.

We are all excited for Christmas tomorrow! I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!

Christmas Books

2011-12-21T20:00:00.000-05:00

Here are more books that the kids have unwrapped and we have read. :-)

Handsome, Silly Boys!

2011-12-18T20:40:00.001-05:00

Zach & Noah received these sweet vests from Pat (Daisy & Anna's Grandmother). They looked so handsome today in church.

They were quite active this evening as I took pictures of them in their CTR shirts!

Taking individual pictures worked much better!

Here is a picture of Kate's shirt. I love the brown and the butterfly! These shirts will get worn a lot because they are so awesome!

Christmas Party, Man Camp & Other Things

2011-12-17T23:10:00.001-05:00

We went to our Branch Christmas party this evening. We had a yummy potluck dinner and the kids (& the Branch Presidency) performed in the nativity play. It was a very delightful evening. :-) Sunshine and Jessica got together to make this awesome stable. Jessica made the beautiful star.

Sunshine made this manger. This picture was taken before the play, so baby Jesus is behind the manger...waiting to be born.

Zoe is wondering why that now she is in Young Women's, the primary nativity play has all these awesome props!

We had a great turn out for our party this evening!

Kate was the donkey.

We had many wandering sheep that loved baby Jesus and our donkey was pretty fond of Him, too! Our young animals wanted to pick up the baby and cuddle!

Emily was the angel who appeared to the shepherds. Eleanor was also an angel.

Zach was a shepherd.

Our talented nativity cast.

The kids each received a gift from the wise men. Sunshine and Jessica made CTR (choose the right) t-shirts for the kids. The shirts were a big hit! I need to take a picture of them. Eleanor's shirt was too small, so Sunshine is going to make a bigger one for her.

Last night was man camp. The numbers are increasing for this annual event! There were the regulars...Matt, Justin & Jason and then a few newbies...Rob, Logan & Alex. The men were disappointed that it wasn't colder. I guess 20 or 30+ weather is not true man camp weather. I would consider that winter camping weather! The men stuck around this morning to help work on the house.

Zoe & Emily focused more on the cold.

The men focused on being productive and stayed warm.

While the men were at camp yesterday in the late afternoon/evening, the kids, my grandmother, my mom & I went to Zoe & Emily's basketball games in Brewer. Then we went to eat dinner at Pizza Hut. Brianna & Cassie's family ate there as well, so that was fun for Zoe & Emily. Brianna & Zoe are on the same team and Cassie & Emily are on the same team. We stopped at the Dollar Tree after we ate, so the kids could shop for sibling and friend gifts. When we finally got home, I was ready to crash and end TGIF!

Emily & Eleanor made gingerbread houses Wednesday night during Activity Days.

It's fun to be able to put presents under the tree as we receive them! It has been about 11 years since we have done that!

Report cards came home this week. Zach and Eleanor don't receive letter grades yet, but they are both doing great in school! Emily did very well getting 6 A's and 2 B's. Zoe got 6 A's and she has perfect attendance. The kids are working hard in school and they are looking forward to their Christmas break!...which will start next Friday.

Locks of Love

2011-12-14T16:19:00.001-05:00

Kate has been asking for months to get her hair cut, but I was waiting until February when she will turn 5 and have her annual picture taken. Well, Kate and I both decided that we had had enough of taking care of her long hair, so the long awaited hair cut happened today! Since her hair was so long and she wanted it cut to shoulder length, it became a perfect opportunity to give a gift this Christmas season to Locks of Love. :-)

Here is Noah playing a memory game on my XOOM while we waited for Kate.

Emily & Eleanor had their bangs trimmed yesterday.

Last night we read

One review says, "The cozy Christmas story celebrates the importance of literacy." Horn Book Guide) This is a great story.

This morning we read

This story reminds me of the Toy Story toys. :-) I think it could have had a better ending, but it was still a cute story.

Starting & Ending with Mary Engelbreit

2011-12-12T22:30:00.001-05:00

Thursday evening we read

Who doesn't love Mary Engelbreit?

Friday night we read

Fun! We sang the book (to the tune of The 12 Days of Christmas). The book also has cute & fun illustrations.

The kids stayed at my parents' house Friday night. This was one of our gifts from my parents for our 15th Anniversary (which was on Saturday). Sweet! The kids watched "Elf", ate pizza, and LOVED being at "Grammie's house"!

Matt and I went to Bugaboo Creek where we enjoyed a quiet, delicious meal together. We received $20 off our bill from our rewards card, so that was awesome! We came home and watched "The Holiday", which we watch every Christmas season. We enjoy it every time we watch it. :-)

Matt & I spent our anniversary working on the new house with my Dad.

I spent some time scraping ice off the floor. We have had a few storms to deal with, but overall we have been blessed with good construction weather.

Zoe & Emily LOVED having the day off! The kids spent the day with Grammie.

Saturday night we read

This was an okay story. It wasn't a hit with all of the kids.

We received a fun package on Saturday from Grandpa & Grandma that we got to open BEFORE Christmas! :-) We are enjoying the yummy treats and the kids love to sleep on their new Christmas season pillow cases!

Sunday we read

I love Felicia Bond's illustrations!

We also watched

This was also in our special package from Grandpa & Grandma. Love it! I have heard of David Archuleta, but I had never listened to him sing. WOW! What a beautiful combination with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. I will be listening to this DVD over and over again!

Look what we put up today!

This evening we read my favorite Christmas book

Again, who doesn't love Mary Engelbreit?!

Zoe's 1st Game & Random Thoughts

2011-12-08T13:19:00.001-05:00

Zoe's 1st basketball game against Ellsworth was Tuesday afternoon. I won't talk about the fact that they lost the game or what the score was, just the fact that Zoe started the game and she played well. :-) Her confidence in sports has grown a lot since last year, so it is fun to see the difference as she plays. She is now the tallest player on her team (not by much, though), so she gets to play under the basket, which is new for her. She took a few shots, but none of them went in. That happened a lot for most of her teammates as well!

Here she is committing a foul. She is more aggressive this year as well!

We are heading to Bangor this afternoon to watch Zoe's game and then Emily's game. The younger kids get restless toward the end of one game, so we'll see how much of Emily's game we actually see!

During Young Women's the past several weeks, Zoe and the other young women have made this super cute nativity.

Kate has been content to stay home during the day lately, which is fine with me. However, I needed to get the oil changed in the Yukon yesterday, so I suggested that we go to the Maine Jump after. Noah was super excited about this, but Kate didn't want to leave the house. We did end up going, but Kate would have preferred to stay home.

I made a to-do list at the beginning of the week and I finally crossed everything off today. Christmas preparations and basketball are keeping us busy, busy, busy!

We are doing pretty well keeping up with our Christmas Countdown. Our printer was giving me trouble this week, so we are a bit behind on the coloring pages, but we have had no problem keeping up with the unwrapping of books. :-)

The Gingerbread Doll is a favorite for the older girls.

Snoopy and the gang kept everyone's attention. :-)

Zoe read Drummer Boy to the kids before school on Tuesday since we were going to be too busy in the evening to read before bed.

After we read Cobweb Christmas..The tradition of Tinsel and I explained that it was a Folk Tale, the kids liked it better. Some of the girls were not impressed with the focus on spiders in the middle of the book. I don't think it's a story that they are going to want to read over and over again.

Zach came home yesterday with 2 bookmarks from his 7th grade reading buddies. Zoe is one of his reading buddies. :-) Zoe and Caitlin have spent time reading with Zach and Ella in the 1st grade classroom. Fun!

House Progress/Parade/Books

2011-12-03T21:55:00.000-05:00

Matt has been blessed with good construction weather lately. :-) It was cold today, but the sun was shining.

The kids and I went to the parade of lights in Bangor this evening. We enjoyed treats and hot chocolate at the Children's Museum before the parade.

Our favorite float was the shark!

The parade was almost 2 hours long! We stuck it out though and waited for Santa to go by.

We read The Christmas Magic last night. The kids liked the story okay, but they didn't care for the illustrations. Santa has a weird looking mustache.

Emily unwrapped a book this evening. She carefully looked through the wrapped books hoping to pick The Elves and the Shoemaker and she found it! Everyone was excited! This is a favorite Christmas book here. Even Zoe sat and listened, which she hasn't done for the past 2 books. Thanks to Grandma & Grandpa, we have this book in our collection. :-)

I love December!

2011-12-03T12:54:00.001-05:00

We had a fun, eventful Friday! Kate, Noah, my grandmother, and I started our fun at the Millis' for a birthday celebration for Sunshine. Many of the sisters in our branch were there. We ate lots of yummy food, the kids got along well and were content to play and eat, and the sisters had fun talking and laughing together. :-)

Emily's friend, Ansley came over after school. Emily and Ansley are both learning to play the saxophone and they have started working on a band project...that is due in March. Both Emily and Ansley have been very anxious to get together since they found out about the project last week. They are loving this excuse to get together!

We went to the annual Creche Exhibit at the Bangor Stake Center last night. Usually the exhibit opens on Friday and closes on Monday, but this year, the exhibit was only open for 1 evening, which was last night. They didn't have a children's area this time either. The kids missed their nativity room! They did enjoy looking at the different nativities, though. I loved how we were able to look around while listening to choirs and individuals sing. Kate loved all the nativities with animals in them! Here she is looking around.

Eleanor walked around with Nathan.

Zoe & Emily walked around with Morgan.

I loved this nativity made from volcanic ash.

Here are a few of my other favorite nativities.

I was only going to take a few pictures of my favorite nativities, but it's hard to narrow it down to a few! Plus, I had the idea to put the pictures on our computer as a slide show to look at throughout the month to help us remember why we are celebrating Christmas.

My Little Helper

2011-12-02T14:44:00.002-05:00

While trying to crack an egg in a bowl to help me make chocolate chip muffins, Noah dropped the egg on the floor and happily announced, "Look! It cracked itself!"

24 Days 'til Christmas

2011-12-01T22:45:00.000-05:00

Our Christmas countdown started today! We have 6 different countdowns going on. We are all excited it is December 1st! We picked names this morning to see which child would start where on the countdown rotation. Zoe put our Christmas girl in the #1 bag for December 1st this morning. This is my favorite countdown. I love watching the little girl move closer and closer to Christmas Eve. It's a great visual for the kids to see where we are at in the month and to see that Christmas is in fact getting closer and closer!

Zach was the first to tear a link from the paper chain.

Eleanor got the first piece of chocolate! Several siblings were jealous about that!

Emily started our nativity scene, which the kids think is boring, but Matt & I think they will enjoy it more as the scene develops.

Kate colored the first coloring page to go with our Christmas ABCs scripture study for the month of December. We read about the angel appearing to the shepherds this evening, so she colored an angel this morning.

Zach made the Christmas tree that is next to the angel.

Noah unwrapped the first book. Exciting! Don't you love how he dressed up for the occasion? :-)

The book we read this evening is called "A Christmas Promise" by Lark Carrier. The kids liked it okay. They didn't care for the dull colored pictures. They did well listening to the book, though.

Have a Merry Christmas season!

1st Basketball Game

2011-12-01T22:10:00.001-05:00

When I wrote before about Emily only practicing with her team and not playing in any of the games, I was wrong. Emily will play in every other game this season, which is exciting! She is the only 5th grader who tried out for the team, so she is the only 5th grader on the team. A few other 5th graders wanted to play, but they didn't have their physicals/paper work done to try out. Fortunately for Emily, A)I knew that 5th graders could try out for the team this year because I had the information from Zoe and B) I knew what needed to be done before the 1st try out, so she could play. It worked out well because Emily had a current physical from softball, so I just needed to get a copy of the physical and turn it in, plus I knew from Zoe's soccer season that Emily would need an insurance card on file before try outs, which hasn't been enforced in the past. I brought all the necessary forms to the office right before the try outs, so Emily was good to go. Emily played in her first game on Wednesday. It was an exhibition game against Surry. Emily's team won and Emily played well. :-) You can easily pick her out because she is the only player wearing a t-shirt under her uniform.

Emily's fans!
Some of them were more interested in their stuffed animals that they had just received from their Great Grammie who watched the game with us!

The score of the game was close until the very end, which made it a fun game to watch.

House Progress

2011-12-01T21:45:00.000-05:00

Master Bathroom/Bedroom/Dining Room...

Bedroom progress

Future Zoo Keeper

2011-12-01T21:30:00.001-05:00

Kate has mentioned a lot lately that she is going to have a lot of animals when she grows up. She is going to own a zoo and have a lion. She is going to have a lot of animals in her house. She is going to have dogs and put hair clips on them. Every day she comes up with something new about animals. I look forward to visiting her zoo/house of pets and then returning to my petless home. :-)

House Progress

2011-11-28T22:00:00.001-05:00

My Dad and Jason came over on Saturday to help Matt & the girls move recently purchased lumber and to start working on the second floor. EXCITING!

The girls love it when other helpers are shouldering the work with them...or for them. :-)

The Master Bathroom is now covered and has become the storage room for tools.

The Master Bedroom will be the next to be covered.

Right now we can see the sky above.

For the past 3 weeks, Matt has wanted to work in the morning, come home to work on the house in the afternoon, and then go back to work in the evening, but he has been too busy at work. Today was the first day he was able to follow this plan. He was able to work on the house for a few hours before it got dark. It's not a fun plan, but it's the only way to work on the house during the week. We tried borrowing the Dauk's outdoor lamp to be able to work in the dark, but Matt can't have the light on and use any tools that require electricity because then we lose all power inside the trailer. Not acceptable.

A Few Things I want to Remember

2011-11-28T21:30:00.001-05:00

1) Last night, I enjoyed watching Zoe work on her Personal Progress while listening to Emily voluntarily read scriptures to her siblings. It touched my heart. :-)

2) After losing his sneakers at church several weeks ago and buying him a new pair today, Noah said, "The next time we go to church, I won't take my shoes off." It was so sweet the way he said it and I agree it is a good plan!

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-11-26T23:30:00.001-05:00

Our day started with pie for breakfast and fun in the snow!

The fun stops, though when your siblings throw snow in your face!

Noah cheered up when he got inside.

Matt shoveled the snow off of the new house, which wasn't much fun either, but necessary!

The older girls and I watched "Cow Belles" before heading to Dysarts for our yummy Thanksgiving meal. :-)

Noah has the best expressions!

Every year we try to figure out the perfect time to get to Dysarts, so we miss the long wait, but we have yet to arrive at the perfect time. We have learned to have the kids wait in the car until our table is ready. I waited in the car with the kids last year, so it was Matt's turn this year. :-) Our plan of action for next year is to arrive at Dysarts at 3:45pm. It is just non-stop busy any time earlier than that.

We went over to my parents' house after we ate to play and watch football. Eleanor & Zach were lucky because they got to stay behind to spend the night while the rest of us went home.

I hope I never have to go through a holiday without homemade decorations. I am thankful for little artists! Zach made the turkey on the left and Eleanor made the turkey on the right.

We hope you had a nice Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving Eve

2011-11-23T08:15:00.001-05:00

It's snowing!

Zoe, Emily, & Eleanor are going to go play with Daisy & Anna today, I am going to make chocolate and pumpkin pies, and Zach, Kate, & Noah have plans to play in the snow!

We went to the Maine Jump yesterday. It was Zoe, Emily, and Eleanor's first time there. Zach has been there before, but new equipment has been added since he has been there. It was crowded, but the kids still had non-stop bouncing/sliding fun. The Daigle's were there, too, which made it even more fun!

We finished our fun day at church eating pie. Yum!

I forgot to mention in my last post that I took Zoe & Emily to see the play "Footloose" last Thursday evening. My Mom & my Grandmother came with us. It was fun to watch our talented High School actors. :-)

I've been meaning to post this picture of the latest work on the new house. Matt & the girls worked on closet walls last Saturday. Minor progress, but still progress!

The Latest

2011-11-20T20:05:00.001-05:00

This has been our schedule this past week after school. Pick up Eleanor, Zoe, and Zach from school and head home. Emily stays after school for basketball practice. Load everyone in the car to bring Zoe to basketball practice and pick up Emily. Head home to cook dinner. Matt picks Zoe up from practice and then we all meet at home for dinner. I must say that with this schedule, we are eating more dinners together as a family. :-) However, progress on the new house is going even slower than before since Saturday is the only day to work on it.

Matt & I went to Bugaboo Creek Friday night for dinner and then we started our Christmas shopping! We are on the ball early this year and it feels great! The kids have started to do chores around the house to earn money to buy Christmas presents. :-)

We went to Tiffany Dauk's 40th birthday party last night. We danced, we ate yummy birthday pie, the kids played games, and we had lots of fun!

Speaking of birthdays, my new Kindle Fire arrived this week. Matt wasn't sure which I would like better ~ the XOOM or the Kindle Fire, so he bought both! I love my XOOM and I don't need a XOOM and a Kindle Fire, so Matt is now the proud owner of the Kindle Fire. He loves it! We are both happy with our new "toys". :-)

Emily, Eleanor, Zach, & Kate participated in the Primary Sacrament Meeting Presentation today. They did a great job! Zach recited the 4th article of faith from memory. It is very impressive that he has the 1st five articles of faith memorized! The younger kids practice along with the older girls as the girls memorize the articles of faith for the Faith in God program.

As of tonight, we are memorizing a scripture together as a family. 2 Nephi 2:25 "Adam fell that men might be; and men are that they might have joy." Elder Richard G. Scott's latest conference talk motivated us to do this.

Zoe, Emily, Eleanor, & Zach are on Thanksgiving Break! This is the first year that they have had the entire week off from school for Thanksgiving. We plan to make lots of pies and have lots of fun!

Oh Deer

2011-11-17T10:35:00.001-05:00

Zoe & I didn't get far last night after leaving home for Cub Scouts and Young Women's when I hit a deer. The deer ran off into the woods, but it was bleeding pretty bad according to the guy who was behind me. My headlight still works and there was minor damage, so Zoe and I headed to church again. We arrived safely and our activities went as planned. The Young Women are making a nativity for the Stake Creche Exhibit. Zoe and I ate dinner at Subway and we bought candy bars to eat on the way home while we listened to John Bytheway. Our drive got off to a rough start, but we had a great ending. :-)

Basketball & a few other things

2011-11-14T13:14:00.000-05:00

Zoe and Emily had basketball tryouts last week for the Middle School teams. Zoe made the A team! She is very happy that she made the A team after ONE tryout. :-) Emily is an alternate for the B team, which is AWESOME! This is the first year that the basketball program has been open to 5th graders, so Emily is lucky to be able to practice with the B team. She won't play in any games, unless one of the players can't play and she gets picked to play, but she is going to learn a lot and improve her game as she practices. :-)

Emily earned this certificate from Matt a few weeks ago for being such a great helper around the house without being asked. We LOVE it when the kids see a need and fill it without being told to do so!

Zoe participated in the Honors Festival for band a few Saturdays ago. Her best friend, Morgan was there, too! They practiced all day with a guest conductor and then they put on a concert in the evening. Matt and I weren't able to attend the concert because we were at Stake Conference, which was a bummer, but Zoe was happy that she was able to have this experience.

Haircuts

2011-11-12T17:25:00.001-05:00

I took Eleanor, Zach, Kate, & Noah to Walmart this morning. We stopped at the hair salon first for haircuts for the boys. Noah sits so still when he is getting his hair cut. He doesn't move, he doesn't smile, he doesn't talk, he just sits and waits for it to be done.

Both of the boys like their short hair. They didn't want to cooperate for a picture, though!

After shopping for what I needed, I let the kids look around at the toys and I wrote down everything they wanted. I have quite the Christmas list now!

House Progress

2011-11-12T17:00:00.000-05:00

Door frame to the living room from the mud room

Looking into the dining room to the stair wall. Door frame to the bedroom is on the right.

Stair walls

Door frame to the master bathroom. All the exterior walls for the downstairs are up!
Taken from the master bedroom

Enjoying Mom's XOOM

2011-11-12T16:40:00.001-05:00

Kate and Noah playing on PBSKids.

Under a tent...super fun!

Why rake leaves?

2011-11-10T13:10:00.001-05:00

When they are so much fun to play in!

37

2011-11-09T11:25:00.002-05:00

My birthday celebration started on Monday night. We went over to the Millis' for dinner, FHE, and birthday cake for Sister Milliken and myself. We had a lot of fun!

I had a very nice birthday yesterday. It had some stressful moments with getting Emily's insurance and physical information to the school for basketball tryouts, but overall it was fun. The day included a trip to Goodwill with Kate, Noah, my Mom, and my Grandmother followed by lunch at the Ground Round. My Mom & I played a game of Phase 10. My parents and my grandmother came over in the evening for cake and ice cream.

Eleanor made a personalized pad of paper for me. She wrote my name at the top of each piece of paper. It was so sweet and I will think of her every time I use it. :-)

I received money to do some fun shopping with, which I am looking forward to! Noah kept trying to steal my money!

I also received a Motorola XOOM, which is super exciting!

I'm not the only one who is excited about it!

Matt downloaded the Netflix app and had Iron Man playing.

Now I can update my blog even when someone is on the computer. :-) Matt downloaded an LDS Scriptures app this morning and I almost forgot to use it when I got out my Sunday School manual and scriptures, but then I realized that I could use the XOOM and not have to flip through my scriptures to find different chapters and verses. It was AWESOME to just click on the scripture from the manual and then click back to the manual. I love it, love it, love it!

Yummy cake and ice cream time!

I have a great family and I'm glad they celebrated with me. I also appreciated the phone calls, Facebook messages, and emails I received from family and friends. It all made my day. :-)

Randomness

2011-11-09T10:30:00.001-05:00

Eleanor made us laugh a few weeks ago when Matt and I were hugging and Eleanor said, "You guys are freakin' me out with your romance!"

Due to a recommendation from the school nurse, Emily had an eye exam done on Saturday and now she has a prescription for glasses. She is slightly near sighted. She is looking forward to wearing glasses and being able to see better.

We had a very uplifting Stake Conference this past weekend. Many of the speakers were asked to increase their scripture study for 2 weeks, saying a prayer before and after their scripture study, and then come prepared to speak by the Spirit, with no specific topic and NO notes. All of the speakers did a fantastic job!

Look What Matt Brought Home

2011-11-05T09:15:00.003-04:00

Matt has been on the search for a "new" Saab for weeks now. His convertible Saab has been sitting in the driveway for months and the top leaks, so it was time to find a car with good gas mileage for Matt to drive around. I will drive it as much as I can this winter because it has heated seats. :-)

Field Trip

2011-11-04T14:05:00.001-04:00

The 1st graders walked to the creative playground and the fire station today. Zach played mostly on the tire swing, as he always does when he is at the park!

When visiting the fire station, the question is always asked "Where is the pole?". There is no pole, but there are several fire trucks and an ambulance to see.

The kids got to sit inside the fire truck. :-)

I found out that a girl at Zach's school rode in an ambulance yesterday from school when she fell and broke her arm.
We met the dispatcher and we watched her take a call, but it wasn't an emergency call. That is good.
My Dad watched Kate & Noah, so I could go with Zach on his field trip. Thanks Dad!

House Progress

2011-11-04T13:35:00.000-04:00

More bedroom walls

Left to Right...Kitchen, Utility Closet, Bathroom

Taking a picture from the Dining Room looking into the Bedroom

New at the Maine Jump

2011-11-03T10:05:00.001-04:00

An area for kids 4 and under

Another obstacle course with a fun slide!

A baseball station! Everyone loves how the ball floats in the air.
Kate hit a single!

A mega climbing wall and slides! Kate and Noah were intimidated by it at first, but once they tried it, they went on it over and over and over again!

The slide was super fast!

A fancy chair to rest in.

Rides!

While we were there, the car was replaced with a roller coaster ride and a bouncing ball machine.

They also added an air hockey table while we were there.

Noah is looking at these pictures and he just asked, "Mom, can we make our home into a Maine Jump?" It is a fun place!

Halloween 2011

2011-11-02T09:45:00.001-04:00

The Halloween fun started at school. Zach had a party in the afternoon that Kate, Noah, & I went to. Kate & Noah blended right in and took part in everything that Zach did. They started in the Treat/Bingo room. Noah was more into his treats than the game, but Kate enjoyed both.

The next room had the donut game

and the witch's broom game.

The broom would get passed around and when the music stopped, the child with the broom went into the middle of the circle to ride around on the broom. Kate kept getting the broom, but she didn't want to go in the circle. Noah wanted to ride the broom, but the music never stopped when he had it. Kate finally rode the broom toward the end of the game.

The last room, which is Zach's classroom had pin the eye on the monster. Zach went first.
Pretty close!

They also did an apple relay. Balancing an apple on a spoon is hard!

Kate & Noah talked and played with Zach's classmates like they see them every day. It was cute.
Eleanor had fun at her school in the afternoon as well. The 3rd graders went to different classrooms to play fun learning games and they went to Mrs. Lalonde's room to eat yummy snacks while listening to Halloween music.

We had enough time after school to get costumes on and drive to the mall. Noah, Kate, & Zach took a little snooze on the way.
A true vampire...sleeping during the day!

Let the trick or treating begin! Noah was sleepy at first and he wanted to be carried, but once he saw a lollipop in his bucket, he perked up and wanted to walk and carry his own bucket.

It's fun to see all the other creative costumes!

It's fun to have different costumes to wear! Kate didn't mind the floppy butterfly wings like I did. I kept trying to fix them, but Kate would stop me and say they were fine.

It was dinnertime when we were done getting candy, so we ate at Ruby Tuesdays.
Noah helped himself to my salad.

Besides getting candy, the kids wanted to visit the pet store and ride on the rides. The older girls had a desire to shop and they were able to browse a tiny bit.

We had a super fun Halloween!

Snow in the House

2011-10-31T09:23:00.001-04:00

The Master bedroom walls are going up!

Feeling Like Christmas

2011-10-30T21:01:00.001-04:00

We woke up to snow-covered ground this morning and it continued to snow as we drove to church. We were part of the few that ventured out to church, so we just had Sacrament Meeting. Kristen Speranza was released as the 1st counselor in the Primary Presidency and I was released as the 2nd counselor. I was called back into the Primary Presidency as the 1st counselor and my Mom was called as the 2nd counselor. Fun! Kristen was called to be our Nursery Leader. She will be great and we've needed a Nursery Leader since Summer began, so it will be nice to have that calling filled.

The snow has created a Christmas-like feel today and the fact that I made our traditional Christmas morning sausage and egg casserole and Pillsbury cinnamon rolls for lunch, it really felt like Christmas!

I hope the snow sticks around for one more day, so the kids can go play in it. Noah has been the most anxious to get his hands on it! He did linger outside for a bit when we got home from church, but he could have stayed outside all afternoon!

Harvest Party

2011-10-30T20:44:00.001-04:00

This is also known as our Branch Halloween party, but we are trying to focus more on the Fall Season and the Harvest than Halloween. Not everything was Harvest-themed, but we are improving. Costumes will always be part of this activity, though!
I couldn't resist this prison costume that I found at Goodwill. The back of the costume says "GOTBUSTED PENITENTIARY". Matt added the tattoos.

The kids had a great time hitting apples. The activity was a big hit. (Ha Ha) Emily is a great hitter! She had hit the farthest until the young men & leader had a turn.
We had a pumpkin relay.
There was also bowling outside and a witch's cauldron inside and a room set up inside to shoot nerf gun darts at G.I. Joe & Barbie mummies (Matt thought of this great idea). We ate soup & bread and when the kids were finished eating, they decorated treat bags and pumpkins with stickers. We had pumpkin face stickers for the pumpkins. Then the moment arrived that all the kids were waiting for. CANDY!

Families with children were encouraged to load up their kids after they got their candy and head home, so the adults without young children at the activity could do a quick clean up and then leave. When we got home, the kids sugared up, took baths, and Zoe took lots of pictures. Here are a few. Emily was not in the picture taking mood.
Eleanor was!

The kids loved getting little notebooks from the Speranzas!

This is my favorite picture of Noah.
This is Zoe's favorite.
It was a fun evening and the kids are super excited for Halloween tomorrow!

Sunshine & Flowers

2011-10-30T19:46:00.001-04:00

While the house building was going on Saturday outside, I was getting ready for the Harvest Party at church. I made a creamy carrot soup, which I had never made before. I wanted to use up some of our carrots, so carrot soup seemed like the perfect soup to bring. Kate tried some at the party and she said it tasted like Sunshine & Flowers. It was easy to make and super yummy! Here is the recipe.

Ingredients

* 1 cup chopped onion
* 1/4 cup butter, cubed
* 4 1/2 cups sliced carrots
* 1 large potato, peeled and cubed
* 2 (14.5 ounce) cans chicken broth
* 1 teaspoon ground ginger
* 2 cups heavy whipping cream
* 1 teaspoon dried rosemary, crushed
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/8 teaspoon pepper

Directions

1. In a Dutch oven, saute onion in butter until tender. Add carrots, potato, broth and ginger. Cover and cook over medium heat for 30 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Cool for 15 minutes.
2. Transfer to a blender or food processor in small batches; cover and process until smooth. Return all to the pan; stir in the cream, rosemary, salt and pepper. Cook over low heat until heated through.

Work Party

2011-10-30T19:36:00.001-04:00

Matt camped out Friday night in our new house after date night. We went to see "The Big Year", which had a great message, and we ate dinner at Chili's. We also did some Halloween shopping. Matt said he saw the most amazing shooting star that night, which would have been awesome to see, but it was a bit too cold for me to be sleeping outside! Matt woke up yesterday morning to Peter Dauk nudging him. Peter was the first to arrive to help Matt work on the house. Matt & Peter put up this wall to the utility closet and the bathroom.

My Dad, Jason Barrett, Zoe, & Emily also helped him. A few more walls went up. :-)
Two of our bedroom walls went up, but I haven't taken a picture of them yet. In these pictures, you can see the dining room wall without the insulation that Matt put up this week...and you can see my parents and Emily.

School Laptop

2011-10-28T08:49:00.001-04:00

Zoe brought home her laptop from school for the first time yesterday. She worked on her essay "What freedom means to me" in the car as we drove home from Young Women's.
Noah wasn't about to let a photo opportunity pass him by!

Oops!

2011-10-27T13:29:00.001-04:00

I was so busy yesterday taking Kate & Noah to the children's museum, taking them to Burger King for lunch, stopping at the grocery store, stopping at home to pick up Zoe's soccer uniform for her to turn in at her soccer pizza party after school, picking up the kids from school, making a bean dip for our Relief Society International cooking night, and putting together my cub scout meeting (we talked about taking care of a minor cut and we played a game of marbles) that I completely forgot about my parent/teacher conference with Eleanor's teacher, Mrs. Gail Wight. Usually if something is on the calendar, which this conference was, then it gets scheduled into my day. I never looked at the calendar yesterday, I thought I had everything covered. Wrong! We rescheduled for today and I will remember today. I will also remember to bring Zoe to Young Women's tonight. The kids and I are going to play in the gym while we wait for her. That is all for today and I know that because I looked at the calendar. I guess that needs to become a morning habit for me now!

Here are a few pictures from the museum. Kate & Noah painted, which they loved! They used glow in the dark paint, but they mixed it in with the regular paint, so it doesn't show up very well. The spot that Noah used with just glow in the dark paint shows up very well.

The museum is changing their 3rd floor to a fitness theme. Kate & Noah practiced jumping at this station.

First, you get your fingertips wet.

Then you jump and touch the paper and see where your mark is. The kids jumped and jumped and jumped.

There is also a snowboarding station. None of us are good at it!

There is also a hang glider station, but it isn't open yet.

We were hungry after all that exercising! Here is Kate looking cute and silly at Burger King.

Jack 'O Lanterns

2011-10-25T12:26:00.000-04:00

For Family Home Evening last night, we carved pumpkins, listened to John Bytheway, and ate donuts with apple cider. :-) Lots of fun!
Kate did very well for someone who HATES to be messy.

Eleanor made her own paw print. Impressive!

Eleanor's paw print, Zach's dragon, Zoe's bird on a branch, Emily's chihuahua, & Matt, Kate, & Noah's vampire.

House Progress

2011-10-25T11:53:00.000-04:00

Looking into the Mudroom, Living Room, Kitchen
Looking into our tiny kitchen.
Taking a picture of the Kitchen from the Living Room. Utility Closet will be to the left of the Kitchen and the Dining Room is beyond the Kitchen.
Matt is standing in the Kitchen while I take a picture from the Dining Room.
Utility Closet & Bathroom space

Choose to Become

2011-10-25T11:22:00.001-04:00

I had an amazing weekend away, but I am happy to be home now. I came down with a cold yesterday. I am so grateful that I was healthy during my trip and now I can rest at home. Our original plan was to go to the Palmyra Temple on Friday, but we ended up going to the Boston Temple Thursday evening. We made it to the temple and that is what matters.

Time Out For Women was awesome as always! When we were waiting for the doors to open Friday night, I was sitting on a bench in the lobby with my Aunt Tonia & my Grandmother. After telling Tonia how I'd love to take Zoe to see John Bytheway somewhere next year, in walked John Bytheway!

I had a feeling that John Bytheway was there instead of Sheri Dew and I was right. We joked about that because Sheri Dew didn't make it to last year's Time Out For Women either. Here are a few notes that I took from John Bytheway's talk Friday night. He talked about the yummy chicken that his wife had made that week. It was so yummy because she had marinated it in barbeque sauce. So the theme of his talk was What are we marinating in? He read a quote by President Boyd K. Packer, "We are raising our children in enemy territory." Isn't that the truth! This makes me think of another thing that was brought up (not sure by which presenter) during the event. It used to be that evil things were hidden and you really had to search for them if you wanted to participate in them. Now good things are hidden and need to be searched for among the evil. We need to be careful about what we are marinating in.
*We get to choose our response to everything.
*A sister in the ward said this..."I'm going to stop telling God how big my problems are and start telling my problems how big my God is." Isn't that great?!

Dallyn Vail Bayles

An amazing singer! He is also grateful and it was sweet to hear him talk about his wife.

Saturday's program was filled with more wonderful music and talks.
Mary Ellen Edmunds

She reminded us that we are all unique. We are children of God. When we pray, we should take time to listen. Love is the most magical power in the universe.

Hilary Weeks

I could listen to Hilary Weeks sing and talk all day long. I just love her personality and stories! She encouraged us to focus on our positive thoughts rather than our negative thoughts. It will change you! She also mentioned this, which I had never thought about before. "We will spend eternity knowing our children as adults. What a privilege it is to spend this time here on earth with them as children."
In our morning prayers, ask Heavenly Father what is most important for us to do that day.

DeAnne Flynn

The littlest things matter most. Offer our time, talents, and good example.
What can we do to make the lives of our loved ones better? Be Aware. Make eye contact, Listen, Pay attention to the Spirit. Hurry less. Speak less. Expect less. Be more aware. Become less complicated...simplify our lives. We can start over any time. It is never too late to change. Be our best self at home.

Anthony Sweat

Concept of fairness.
1) God tests everyone uniquely & equally.
The purpose of God's plan is To Become Like God
Trials are not synonymous with tragedy.
2) To be fair, don't compare
Doctrine & Covenants 7:4...Key words ~ What is that to thee?
Don't compare yourself to others
3) The atonement of Jesus Christ is the great equalizer
Power of the Atonement
A. Redeeming Power
B. Changing Power
C. Strengthening Power
D. Understanding Power
E. Equalizing Power
Genesis 30:22 ~ God remembered Rachael ~ God remembers ALL of us

Wendy Ulrich

Be Happy (Taught in a humorous way)
1) Stop worrying about your weaknesses
2) Don't try to get motivated to exercise
*Motivation comes after action (applies to everything) ~ Take little steps such as putting on exercise clothes even if you don't feel like exercising.
3) Stop trying to find friends
*Instead, develop the skills of friendship
*Respond to others as they reach out to you
*Have one meaningful conversation daily
*Celebrate others' successes
4) Don't try to feel happy
*Try to feel grateful
*Write down 3 good things that happen each day and why they happened.
5) Celebrate failure
*We grow, stretch, learn, & serve as we fail
*It's better to do something badly than not at all
*Ask yourself & kids...What was your best failure today? Helps you & your children to learn resilience. Helps you learn.
6) Don't get help with your problems
*Instead, help someone else
7) Don't endure to the end
*Life is to be enjoyed, not just endured
*Savor every day delights

Kris Belcher

Funny! Kris has an amazing story. She became blind 8 years ago due to cancer. She testified that trials and tragedies will get better and that Heavenly Father will help us. We can feel Heavenly Father's love during our trials. We can live happily with the light of Christ. Live looking to God. Are we earnestly seeking for light in our lives?

Time Out For Women always goes by way too fast. It was such an uplifting weekend. Not only did we listen to wonderful music and talks at TOFW, but we also listened to music and talks in the car. We were edified for 3 days non-stop. It was absolutely wonderful!

The reception I received when I walked into my parents' house on Sunday was wonderful as well! There were hugs from all the kids, which turned into one big group hug. I felt loved and I want to remember that moment always. :-)

I'll Be Back

2011-10-19T23:27:00.000-04:00

Kate, Noah, & I went to Walmart yesterday to pick up a few things, including a pair of jeans for Noah. Noah is following in his siblings' footsteps when it comes to clothes. ALL of my kids at the age of 2 decide that they are going to wear what they want to wear. It's not a battle I need to fight, so they wear what they want to wear most of the time. It doesn't bother me to be out in public with a mismatched child or a child with shoes on the wrong feet. They are happy, my clothes match and my shoes are on the right feet, and from experience, I know that their style will improve (although mismatched socks are IN right now) and they will figure out the shoes. Noah has 2 pairs of jeans that he LOVES. He has a drawer full of pants, but he will only wear these 2 pairs of jeans. Well, the "little jeans" (these are a size smaller than the "big jeans") developed holes in both of the knees, so I got rid of them. Noah was happy to wear the "big jeans" every day, but they were a bit too big and they were known to fall down to his ankles in public. Not acceptable. Plus, they were getting a hole in the knee. It was time to buy new jeans for Noah and get rid of every other pair of pants that he owns because he is not going to wear them. Walmart had tons of elastic waist jeans, which I was willing to buy, but that was not okay with Noah. Those are baby jeans. He wanted big kid jeans with a button on the front. I do believe I was close to becoming a teenager before I was super picky about the clothes I wore! I found one pair of jeans with a button and thanks to the adjustable waist, they fit. :-) Noah is happy with his new pair of jeans and after we find him another pair, I will get rid of his "big jeans". Most of his other pants are now at Goodwill.
Kate wanted to get something as well, so she picked out this super cute hat.

We went to the park and picked up my parents from the airport after our shopping trip. We are happy to have them home again. :-)

Noah helped me in the garden yesterday afternoon. He was a great helper and he loved it! We pulled up the carrots. We have tons of carrots! This picture shows half of what we have.

This is the best carrot crop we have ever had. Noah wanted to work in the garden today, but we didn't have time. We'll get back out there next week.

I am heading to Rochester, NY tomorrow afternoon with Patti, my Aunt Tonia, and my Grandmother for Time Out For Women. We are all so excited! We are staying in Worcester tomorrow night, then we're going to the Palmyra Temple early Friday afternoon and then we'll drive to Rochester after that. We are staying downtown, right close to where TOFW will be, so that should be an adventure! We'll head back to Worcester Saturday evening to spend the night and then we'll go to Sacrament meeting in Worcester Sunday morning before heading home. I am looking forward to this time out!

Matt will have his own adventure at home with the kids. Sunday is Branch Conference, but he'll have my parents here to help him. They will also help him on Saturday, so he can work on the house.

I met with Zach's teacher yesterday. Zach is doing great in 1st grade and Ms. Murauckas thinks he is wonderful! I was impressed with Zach the other day because while Eleanor was reading out loud for her homework, Zach went and got a book to read himself. This is the second time that I have seen Zach show an interest in reading. The first time was last week at Cub Scouts when he brought "Harold and the Purple Crayon" into the church because he discovered in the car that he could read it. It was cute to see Zach reading to President Dauk that night. He was so proud of the reading he did and he should be because he is doing great! He does great stretching words and sounding them out. He has never liked being read to, but maybe he will love to read by himself.

I am grateful that Zach & I were not involved in an accident this afternoon. A bus stopped to let us cross the street in the crosswalk when a young man in a car passed the bus and went speeding past us. We were just about to step past the bus when the car went by. I am so grateful we are watched over!

I met with Zoe's teachers this afternoon. It was my first time meeting with 3 teachers at once instead of one. Zoe is doing great as well! Her teachers say that she is a hard worker, she understands the class work and if she doesn't then she asks about it, and she is a pleasure to be around. She likes to get as much of her homework done at school that she can, which is nice. She hasn't had too much homework yet because of testing, but I'm sure that will change soon.

Zoe & I went to our meetings at church this evening. In Young Women's, they played games. For Cub Scouts, we had our pack meeting. Awards were given out and then the boys carved pumpkins. They had fun!

Zoe & I were hoping to eat dinner at Friendly's, but they have closed! Matt had told us that Friendly's went bankrupt, but I was hoping to make it there one more time before they closed. It was so sad to drive by and see the restaurant dark, empty, and abandoned. So, so sad. We went to Denny's instead. I now know what NOT to get at Denny's. I miss Friendly's.

I'll write again on Monday. TOFW...here I come! Matt, Zoe, Emily, Eleanor, Zach, Kate, & Noah...I will miss you!

Having Fun & Getting Work Done

2011-10-18T10:39:00.001-04:00

I took Kate & Noah to the "dinosaur pool" yesterday. They love going there! I never take any pictures there because I am always in the water with them. They had fun jumping in the pool and looking for rings. They also played at the park near the pool before we went in to swim.

Zoe had her last game yesterday. She does a great job as a defender.

Matt, Zoe, Emily, & I put the living room wall up last night. It was fun to talk about where we are going to put things in the living room since now it is closed in and looks more like a living room. The room still needs a few more walls, but it is getting there. :-)

Matt looking out our living room window.

We are loving our Wii Fit Plus! It is fun and it gets us up and moving!

Cute pictures

2011-10-17T08:37:00.000-04:00

Zoe has taught herself how to do french braids, so her sisters have had cute hairdos lately. :-)

Here are Eleanor & Emily's cute soccer pictures. :-)

Wii Fit Plus

2011-10-15T19:00:00.001-04:00

Thursday was a down day as I had hoped. :-) Zoe's practice was cancelled. We never received a call about Emily & Eleanor's practice being cancelled, but I decided that they weren't going even if there was practice. We needed the rest!

Matt got paid a Federal check yesterday that we have been waiting for. Yipee! We went to Bugaboo Creek for datenight. The food was delicious as always and the bill ended up being sweet as well. We got $20 off from my Creek Club card...$20 off that we should have received several months ago, but didn't and we weren't expecting to have it applied last night. Our waiter received a nice tip for noticing that we qualified for the $20 off, but hadn't received it yet.

We bought wii fitness plus last night. I want to start exercising again and it's much easier to make that happen inside the house. I haven't exercised yet, but I'm anxious to try it out. The kids have been exercising all day today!

Zach had his last soccer practice today and Emily & Eleanor had their last games. Today was the round robin where three 15 minute games are played. This allows each team to play against the other two teams. I brought Zach home after his practice and then went back to the field to watch Emily & Eleanor. I was going to keep Zach with me at the field, but he was more than happy to go home and play on the wii fitness, and being alone allowed me to focus on the games and to help out with the luncheon after.
Eleanor in action...

Look at this awesome cake!

The soccer players received a certificate & their team/individual pictures after they ate.

Emily & Eleanor played great this season. Way to go girls!

Matt has a living room wall ready to go up in the new house, but it was too windy today to put it up. We're hoping to get the wall up Monday evening.

Matt, Zoe, & Emily are in Bangor now for the pioneer trek themed stake youth activity. Emily went because she will be old enough to go on the next pioneer trek in 4 years with Zoe. Can you believe that Emily will be 14 and Zoe will be 16 in just 4 years? CRAZY!

Marathon Day

2011-10-13T09:20:00.001-04:00

Wednesdays are usually crazy busy and yesterday was no different. I dropped the kids off at school and then I went to pick up my parents to bring them to the airport. They are in North Carolina visiting my sister, Donna and her family. I had library books to drop off at the Bangor library, so my plan was to drop the books off and then head home, but Noah wanted to be pushed on the swing, so I decided that we would go to the park and then go to the library. The park was wet, but I have a towel in my car for that reason, so we dried off the swings and slides and had fun! The park we went to just got some new wood chips, but it was more like sawdust. What a mess! That was not enjoyable, but with our towel, we were able to clean up before we went to the library. The kids had a lot of fun at the last story time at the Bangor library, so we decided to stick around for that after we dropped off our books. The theme at story time yesterday was birthdays, so the kids listened to birthday books, sang some songs, helped to open a birthday box with spider rings in it, colored birthday cards, and ate a cracker on the way out. Another fun story time!

We had a little bit of down time at home before it was time to pick up the kids from school. Before getting the kids, I picked up a couple of pizzas to have for dinner. We headed to Old Town to catch the second half of Zoe's game. I had planned to bring everyone with me to church after the game for Cub Scouts, Young Women's, and Activity Days, but Matt met me in Old Town and he took Noah home with him. It worked out well to have Zach & Kate with me because only 1 cub scout in my den was there. I kept the kids moving with different activities such as playing catch, doing somersaults, walking like different animals, learning basketball passes, and playing monkey in the middle. Kai & Koa joined us for monkey in the middle. There were no complaints of being bored!

We were all exhausted when we got home last night! I am going to enjoy our rainy home day and evening today. Zoe, Emily, & Eleanor are supposed to have soccer practice this afternoon, but I suspect the rain is going to allow us to just be home. :-)

House Pictures & More

2011-10-11T10:15:00.001-04:00

From left to right...Mudroom, Living Room (no wall yet), Kitchen, Dining Room, Master Bedroom & Bathroom (no walls yet)

From right to left...Mudroom, Living Room, Bathroom, Dining Room, Master Bedroom & Bathroom (no walls yet)

Mudroom Entrance

It is so exciting to see the walls, window frames, & door frames going up!

Kate, Noah & I went to the children's museum last Thursday. They have a new, colorful, & fun instrument to play! Kate is holding a foam paddle to hit the pipes and make different sounds.

They made umbrellas.

AND they learned about spotted turtles and were able to touch one!

Matt & I went to see "The Help" at the Alamo Friday night. We met my Mom there and she ended up treating us to the movie & popcorn. :-) It was a packed theater (maybe because there was an article in the Enterprise last week that mentioned the theater is struggling and may close in the future? or because it was a good movie? or both?), so we were happy that we arrived early enough to get a seat. My Mom had bought our tickets before we arrived, so I guess if we would have arrived later, we still would have gotten in. Thanks Mom!

Zach went to his 2nd soccer practice Saturday morning. He practiced making goals.

He played Fishy Fishy Cross My Ocean!
He was a fish...

Then a shark...

He played Red Light Green Light

He played Freeze Tag

He also played a scrimmage at the end, but I didn't get any pictures because I was setting up the concession stand at that point.

Emily & Eleanor had a soccer game on Saturday. Emily scored 2 goals!

I finally took a picture of the Great Big Pumpkin that we love to see around town!

On Saturday, Matt & Zoe spent the entire day working on the house. The rest of us went to soccer and then my parents brought Emily home after stopping at McDonald's to bring lunch home for Emily & Zoe. I took the rest of the kids to Ellsworth to eat at the McDonald's there where it was super busy! Then we went over to the church to clean. Mom & Dad met us there. Then we went to Walmart before coming home. It was a super busy Saturday! After getting the kids bathed and in bed, Matt & I were more than ready to relax and watch "Top Shot". Noah snuck out of the bedroom and watched it with us. The perks of being the "baby".

Matt was sustained and set apart for his stake young men's calling on Sunday. He received a nice blessing and we were pleased when our vehicles were blessed as well. :-)

We worked yesterday morning and then took the afternoon off to have some fun. Matt took Zoe & Noah canoeing. Emily & Eleanor went to play with Daisy & Anna. I took Kate & Zach to the Maine Jump where they climbed

went down the slide

ran and jumped

went through the obstacle course

rested a tiny bit

and had lots of fun!

We ate dinner and had FHE when we got home. The kids & I watched an episode of "Punky Brewster" before they went to bed. Then Matt & I watched "Top Shot" before we went to bed. We had to watch it...we're addicted!

I will end with a random picture of Kate being cute & silly!

CRAZY Week

2011-10-07T12:50:00.001-04:00

Tuesday evening, Emily & I met with her teacher, Mrs. Raymond for a parent/teacher conference. Emily is doing well in school, as usual. Her teacher is very nice and her looks remind me of Emily's Grandma. I've been told that Mrs. Raymond has a walk in closet and she wears a different outfit to school every day. It is exciting for Emily and her classmates to see what their teacher will be wearing! When Emily missed a day of school a few weeks ago, one of the things she missed was seeing what Mrs. Raymond was wearing that day. Emily got the details the next day from Cassidy. :-) Anyway, back to Emily. From the testing that has been done so far this year, she has improved in math, language arts, and reading since the end of 4th grade. Yay Emily! Mrs. Raymond will encourage Emily to read a variety of book genres throughout the year, which I am happy about. Emily loves to read fantasy and if she had it her way, she would only read fantasy. Mrs. Raymond is encouraging Emily to choose historical fiction after she finishes the fantasy book she is currently reading. Emily is not liking this plan, but I'm sure she will go along with it. Emily is a fast reader, but knowing what is ahead, she'll probably read as slow as she can now! Only a handful of kids are taking band this year in Emily's class, so when Emily goes to her band lesson, the rest of her class will continue with their math/science/social studies lesson (whatever they are working on), so Emily will have to make that work up or have an excused missed assignment. Mrs. Raymond doesn't think that Emily will have a problem with this, but we will evaluate at our next conference. Emily has adjusted well to middle school and I think she is going to have a great 5th grade year!

I have been to Ellsworth 4 times this week and I'll be there again tomorrow. I went on Monday to pick up Emily's saxophone, on Tuesday with Emily, Zoe, & my Mom to bring Zoe to her Joint Youth Activity at the bowling center, and twice on Wednesday for a Primary Presidency meeting in the morning and Cub Scouts in the evening. I am covering for the wolf leader this month since she is away. We only have 3 boys in that pack, so it's not too crazy. I'm taking the younger kids tomorrow to the church to clean after soccer.

My Mom, Zoe, Emily, & I ate at Friendly's Tuesday night. Friendly's is known for their slow service, so we didn't think anything was abnormal as we sat and talked while we waited for our food. The waitress came to apologize to us after awhile because the cooks didn't see our order, so they were late getting it started. When the waitress left, we laughed because we hadn't noticed that we had been waiting for a long time. We were talking and laughing and hadn't noticed the time. Zoe was on a roll telling us jokes. She has read the joke books that we have so much that she has memorized A LOT of the jokes. She cracked us up when she asked us to pick a category and she would tell us a joke. That's when I realized that she is a walking, talking joke book! Our bill was 1/2 of what it should have been because of the wait. Sweet!

My Mom went to Zoe's soccer game in Dedham Wednesday night. It was MISERABLE...so I hear. It was cold, it rained, it hailed, it was FREEZING! My Mom was able to watch the game from her car, but poor Zoe had to play in that messy weather. I went to some of Zoe's home game yesterday, which I thought was cold, but Zoe said yesterday was nothing compared to Wednesday's game! Zoe's team is going to meet at the Girls' Varsity High School Soccer Homecoming game this afternoon. Zoe is looking forward to it!

I just got a call from the secretary at Eleanor's school telling me that Eleanor fell from the monkey bars and had a bloody nose. Maybe my kids should stay inside for recess!

October is

2011-10-05T12:35:00.001-04:00

Dress up month!

The Saxophone

2011-10-04T09:38:00.001-04:00

Emily decided this summer that she wanted to learn how to play the saxophone at school this year. 5th grade is when the kids can pick an instrument and join the band. I played the saxophone in school and I still have the saxophone, so I brought it in to a music store a few months ago to have it looked at. The saxophone is old, broken, and has a musty smell from being in storage. The store owner told me it would cost more to fix my saxophone than to buy a used one. He had one for sale for just under $400, but I didn't have money at that time to buy the saxophone. The months flew by and now band is about to begin. Another music company came to the school Thursday night to rent instruments to the students, so Emily & I went to the meeting. We were late for the meeting because it started a 1/2 hour earlier than I had been informed in a newsletter, so I missed most of what the company said. I did talk with the music teacher and waited for my turn to talk with the music company. I was the last one the company talked to and I had waited for about an hour and fifteen minutes for my turn. They talked monthly rental prices, but I wanted the total of what I was going to pay in the end. $1600 for a new saxophone, $900 for a used saxophone. This did not sit well with me since I knew that I could have bought a used saxophone this summer for $400. I was glad they had run out of saxophones to rent that night because I needed time to think and do more research. It turned out to be a good thing to wait a long time and be last. On Friday, I called around to different music stores. Used saxophones are hard to find! The guy that I had talked with this summer had another used saxophone, but he had painted it red and blue. That just wasn't going to work. I called a company in Ellsworth who didn't sell used saxophones, but their new saxophones were only $399.99. Hmmmm...that sounded too good to be true! I called around some more and found out more about this $399.99 brand saxophone. One issue that was brought up about this brand of saxophone was the fact that it is hard to get repair work done on it. The store owner with the used saxophone would do work on it, though. After talking it over with Matt, we decided to go with the $399.99 saxophone. We figure that for the price of one $1600 saxophone, we could buy four $399.99 saxophones if we have to! The kids & I went to Ellsworth after school yesterday to buy Emily a saxophone. The guy that sold it to me does know a lady that will fix the saxophone if need be, so I don't see that being an issue at all. What a process this has been!

Emily is very happy to now have a saxophone to play! Her first lesson is today. :-)

A Rainy Conference Day

2011-10-01T22:16:00.001-04:00

Emily & Eleanor played soccer in the rain today. Emily ended up playing 2 games since one of the teams in the early game didn't have enough players.

Zoe ran in a mile fun run in the rain. Zoe came in 2nd during the fun run. A boy named Alex came in 1st, so Zoe was the first girl to finish. :-) Now the middle school track coaches are trying to convince her to do track instead of softball this spring.

I sold goodies in the rain ( I have permission to go buy a tent with the soccer league's money, but I have yet to do it). There is a Mom that has offered to let me use her tent, but she was out of town today. I put all the food in the back of the yukon to sell from there when it started to get too wet. Emily played in the game before her game since one of the teams didn't have enough players.

The kids & I went over to my parents' house this afternoon to watch General Conference. Matt stayed home during the first session to work on the house while he listened to conference on his ipod. He came over to my parents' house for the second session. After Matt & my Dad left for the Priesthood potluck/conference session, the rest of us cleaned up and then my Mom & I played Phase 10.

Kate & Noah stayed over with my parents last night. My Mom took Kate & Noah to the Maine Jump this morning where they were making a commercial. We're anxious to see if Kate & Noah are in it! It won't matter to them, they just had fun!

Eleanor & Zach were invited to stay over with my parents tonight. At the end of the evening, my Mom told Zoe & Emily that if they washed the dishes, she would let them stay, too. They were very willing to do the dishes! So, Matt & I will just have Kate & Noah here with us in the morning until conference starts again. :-)

Busy having Fun

2011-09-30T09:40:00.001-04:00

Zoe had a game Wednesday afternoon in Hampden that the kids & I went to.

The kids spent their time on the playground while I watched the game. That made everyone happy. :-) After the game, we drove to Ellsworth for Young Women's, Cub Scouts, and Activity Days. McDonald's was a must on the way home having been out and about since after school.

We spent the day yesterday making food masterpieces. It started with spider cupcakes. So fun to make and yummy, too!

Kate had fun watching videos of more fun Halloween treats to make on the Family Fun site. I think monster cupcakes will be our next sweet creation.

Emily, Eleanor, & Zach loved having such a fun, yummy treat to enjoy after school!
Emily's cupcake...

Eleanor's cupcake...

Zach's cupcake...

It was perfect to have a special treat after school since Zach fell off the monkey bars at school and bruised/scraped his cheek.

The secretary at the school called me after Zach fell to let me know what happened and to let me know he was okay, but he would have a bruise. You can't really tell from the picture, but he does have quite a bruise. This is the second time this year that he has fallen off the monkey bars. Last time, he hurt his leg and he had a hard time running for awhile. Does this stop Zach from playing on the monkey bars? Absolutely not!

We made Mummy pizzas for dinner. Another yummy creation. :-)

This was Noah's pizza. He was the only one that ended up with a real Mummy pizza. Everyone else created theirs the way they wanted with the ingredients they liked.

I've been meaning to report that Noah is officially potty trained! It took him a week to become a pro. It is so great having all the kids potty trained!!!

Kate has mastered whistling. She's really good at it and she is so proud that she can do it!

Short Update

2011-09-28T09:13:00.001-04:00

All the school-aged kids are in school today. :-)

Zoe scored a goal yesterday in her game against Doughty! She was picked for the penalty kick and she made it! I'm bummed that I wasn't there to see it, but I'm glad Matt was there.

Sore Throats, Productivity, & A Mess

2011-09-27T09:48:00.002-04:00

Zach is still home with a sore throat today and Emily is home, too. From Zach's doctor's appointment yesterday, we learned that he does not have an ear infection and he does not have strep. So, no more trips to the doctor for this virus that we have. We will just endure it as it goes through our family.

Matt, Zoe, & Emily put up a bathroom wall last night. :-)

While Matt & the girls were outside, I turned on GBTV to watch for a bit. Well, Noah was in the bathroom without me knowing trying to unplug the toilet and getting water all over the floor in the process. That's what I get for paying more attention to Glenn Beck than my kids!