January Happenings

Each month the kids' school focuses on a different character trait and each teacher picks one kid from their class who has demonstrated this trait. This month, Nicholas earned the "Compassion" award. Mike and I are proud of him!
Here is the whole group of kids who earned the Compassion award:

I've really been wanting to frame this silverware that belonged to my grandmother, Lillian Terry, and this very old bowl that belonged to her grandmother, Carrie Harris. I received the framed result as a Christmas present from my mother-in-law.

My parents have now been temple missionaries in Ukraine for almost 5 months and are surviving the winter weather quite well!

Seven-year-old Taylor brought me this note:

It says, "Dear Kate, I've been thinking maybe you'll be willing to help me with piano lesons, please! Sincerly, Taylor." How could I refuse! Fortunately, she was next on my waiting list and we started lessons right away.

 

David (2 1/2) and Brooke (almost 5) having a stuffed animal party!

December 2010

Well, here we are, it's been a month (or more) since my last blog post and NO ONE HAS COMPLAINED!! What's up with that? Actually, I've been debating on what to do with the blog. Maybe they are not that cool anymore. Is it worth posting on the blog and then turning it into a book because it's been (sadly) YEARS since I've scrapbooked and I really don't think I'm going to go back to it. I want to document my family and get it into a hard-copy book, but is printing the blog the best method? Or are there easier/better ways to digital scrapbook and get a hard-copy?


Well, until I decide what to do, here's what December looked like for us (at least the happy parts):
Going to our favorite lot and picking out the perfect tree:

The owner said he was closing the lot after this year so we'll have to find a new spot. (sniff)

Grandma (and her sister) came with us:

Zach getting a turn with the saw:

Nicholas' turn with the saw:

A couple days later this very bright double rainbow appeared for only a couple minutes:

Gorgeous!

Mike turned 40 on Dec. 22 and his birthday wish was for him and I to take the camping trailer to Beverly Beach on the coast for a couple nights without the kids. (Thank you, Grandma!)

Yes, we could see the beach right out our camper window! We could also see these people camped in a tent - who does that? In a tent on the beach in the rain in December?! They did park in an RV site and had an extension cord going from their tent to the plug-in. A heater, maybe?

We (and the seagulls) pretty much had the beach to ourselves!

Mike's co-worker made this cake for him too:

A close-up:

She's quite talented and made this cake for him last year:
His birthday was right after getting his braces on. How cute is that!

We got back from the beach in time to celebrate with the kids.
I made him his favorite grasshopper pie:

Mike and the kids before before opening presents:
On Christmas Eve, we went to Ellen's (Mike's mom) church for a rousing, spiritual sermon and then Mike's sister made dinner and Ellen had the kids perform The Nativity for us:

Fortunately, there was no competition for Brooke to play Mary so that is why she is such a happy girl in this picture. (Thank goodness for no sisters!)

Then, Christmas morning:

Ellen, Sara (Mike's sister), Tom (her husband), Brooke, Zach and Nicholas during present opening madness:

Christmas dinner with everyone plus the Andersons from our ward:

Merry Christmas to all and to all a Good Night!

TOFW, Mt. Hood Village, gymnastics, Indian Village/Potlatch

Lately, I've felt so busy, and looking back I can see why! Lots of things are going on and I guess that is just life. Here's what we've been up to lately:
Time Out For Women came to Portland so I went with a few friends. Pictured are Holly, Mindy, Tonya, and me (aren't the falls colors behind us gorgeous?): Gotta love the free bags!

Tonya was so excited to meet Hilary Weeks! We left our homes extra early to get a good seat and Tonya even had a chance to go up to Hilary and tell he how much she loves her music. Just before I took this picture, Hilary said, "I'm sorry I don't look very good today." Really!?

She sang great and showed us her down-to-earth, personably, humorous side.

This lady is named Mariama Kallon. She lived in Sierra Leone, Africa during the civil wars and went through some horrible situations. She later joined the church and went on a mission to Temple Square. She was also quite humorous.

This is Merrilee Boyack, the author of my favorite parenting book "The Parenting Breakthrough." We were also entertained by Mark Mabry, Ardeth Kapp, Emily Watts, Michael Wilcox, Kris Belcher, and Michael McLean. I thoroughly enjoyed this time out with my friends and these amazing people who are just like us who have trials and struggles and have CHOSEN how they react to them. They CHOOSE to have faith in Christ, look on the bright side, to be positive and to move on. I really enjoyed every minute of it and the spirit I felt there during the talks.


Mike has been itching to go camping at every possible opportunity in our new camping trailer. So we turned Veteran's Day into a 4-day weekend and went up to Mt. Hood Village for 2 nights. It's a great RV spot with yurts and cabins too. It's great during the cold weather because of the indoor pool, exercise room, pool table, arcades, and ping pong. We spent quite a bit of time in the pool.

Here's Nicholas and Brooke:

Nicholas jumping in:

Mike throwing Zach:

Here are short videos of the boys jumping in the water:

Zach's belly flop (and us all laughing at him, I know, not very nice) :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdshHaa53yw

Nicholas' "spin" :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5sDkX0-eCQ

Mike with David and Zach:

Nicholas and David:

We were quite close to the snow line at Timberline Lodge so we drove up there and played in the snow for about 30 minutes.

Nicholas:

Brooke:

Beautiful Mt. Hood in the background:

The skiing (which we didn't do) was good on Mt. Hood that day!

The day after we got back, Nicholas and Zach played in their first piano recital. I teamed up with another teacher and had the boys play. I was so proud of them for memorizing their songs and doing so well! Nicholas played "The Entertainer" and another song out of his lesson book. Zach played, "Called to Serve" and "Battle Hymn of the Republic."
Piano recital:

Brooke has started a gymnastics class once a week and is really loving it. Here she is doing "casts" on the bar:

And a backward roll:

Nicholas and I had been working hard on a "family project" of this Indian Village. There were some very specific requirements of making Indian people doing things. Since I'm not a crafty person, this really was a stretch for me. Thanks to some friends with great input, we completed the project and he (we) got a 6! The highest grade! Come to find out, most the students received 6's and I'm glad his teacher was feeling generous towards the kids. There really were some fascinating projects.

The whole 4th grade participated in an Indain Potlatch where the kids sang songs, they all memorized a long poem and recited it together and there were some special performances.

Nicholas is in the very top row in the middle and you can see a reflection off his glasses:

Nicholas is the top row, 3rd from left with glasses:

He was a "tree" in the performance and got to wear this cool shirt:

I'd like to say this next month we are just going to take it easy, but it will be December so that's not possible. Can we just slow things down in January and February? We'll see...

Soccer Time!

Brooke and Nicholas each played soccer this year for our 4th year with "Gerber Soccer." I love how ALL the teams share one huge field behind our church and so with multiple kids playing, there is no driving around to different fields to watch them play. There are never games on Saturdays and the season is a bit shorter than a regular league. Best of all, it's FREE!

This year Brooke and her cousin, Spencer were on the same team and both their dads coached. Brooke was also happy to have 2 good friends, Sydney and Paige, on her team.



Brooke in the middle, Spencer on the right:

Going after the ball:

Still chasing the ball:

Sometimes she would rather dump her water out of her water bottle instead of drink it:

Enjoying the game:

Coach Mike leading the stretching before the game. "Pick the weeds!"

Not sure what this picture is about, but Brooke looks like she's having fun!

Brooke all the way to the left and Spencer all the way to the right:

Coach Adam, Coach Mike, Spencer, and Brooke:

Zach the photographer:

(Below his nose is the remains of a bike accident.)


David being cute (with Grandma behind him):

Nicholas was able to have his friends, Nathan and Joe, on his team and Joe's dad as their coach:

Nicholas anticipating the ball:

Throwing it in:

Nicholas was a serious soccer player this year and really went after the ball. He's aggressive as well as a team player.

I think I had the wrong setting on my camera so the pictures are a little blurry:

Watch out red team!

Great job, Nicholas!

We were very fortunate that there was no rain on game days the whole season! Last year we weren't so lucky.