Right decision

I've posted about how Jordan made a community gymnastics team and made it. Then they came up with a practice schedule that included Sundays. They were willing to work with us, having her attend alternate practices on other days and we agonized over this, but in the end dropped off the team. On Thursday night, Coach Alex let my husband know that most of the gymnastics meets this season ended up being held on Sundays. (Only one had been on a Sunday in the previous year.) It made me glad that we made the decision that we did. Had we tried to stay on the team with alternate practices, she would not have been able to do many meets in the end anyway. It's good to know we did the right thing. Hopefully other RIGHT opportunities will come her way.

Kate all dressed up

Our stake had a "fancy" dance last night at the Peabody Hotel (the only 5 star hotel in LR). Kate wore a dress of mine and we curled her hair with hot rollers. She looked great and had a good time. (She did trip walking into the hotel on the uneven sidewalk, and bloodied her knee, but had a great time after that.)

MUD

Jordan and Kammie had fun getting into the mud in a ditch across the way. Fun huh?

Peppy "le Pew"

Jordan is cuddled up on the bed with Peppy the cat. The cat had fun "tickling" her with his paws.

Spencer's toe

A while back, Spencer dropped a can on his foot/toe. It immediately turned black and blue and he cried. Although it's been a while, we thought we'd document his "owie."

Awards Assembly

Kammie and Zack had an Honors/Recognition assembly on Friday. Both earned all 4 awards possible. They are on the Honor Roll, had perfect attendance, met their AR reading goal and had good citizenship.

High Rank Purple Belts

Kate, Kammie and Zack are have earned their 6th belt in TaeKwonDo. They went from purple to High Rank Purple on March 17th, 2011. Way to go!

Super Busy Three days

This past week was crazy busy for us. Monday the kids did not have school, and then the busy began. Tuesday and Thursday parent/teacher conferences were held. We have 5 children at 4 different schools and only two afternoons to see all the teachers for each child. (And there are multiple teachers for the middle school and high school.) Tuesday we had dentist appointments (set up over 6 months ago, not knowing it would be parent/teacher conference). Thursday was TaeKwonDo belt testing for 3 of our children, along with the Additional Relief Society Meeting celebrating the RS's 169th Birthday that I was in charge of. And Wednesday-Friday, James was supposed to be out of town, but in state for the Galaxy (Extension) Conference.

We had to cancel piano lessons on Tuesday, so we could all get to the dentist. (The kids were really sad about that one--sense the sarcasm.) James took time off and did Kate's parent/teacher conferences at the high school. Luckily he was there, because Kate had been on a field trip that day and the bus didn't get back by the end of school. James was able to pick her up and bring her to the dentist before he hurried off to see clients. Kate is doing great in school, but could put forth a little more effort in a few classes. Thankfully no one has any cavities and our trip to the dentist was without incident. :) Then I hurried off to Kam and Zack's parent teacher conferences. They are both doing very well. Then it was time to get kidos off to TaeKwonDo. Dinner was squeezed in there somewhere. I talked Spencer's teacher into letting me do his conference on Wednesday after school. I was able to make bread that day, so I took a fresh hot loaf to both of his teachers. We had an early dinner and then loaded up the mini-van and headed to the church for choir practice at 6pm. After that, while the older girls had Activity Days and Young Women's, I set up long tables and chairs in the gym for the RS dinner the next night. Thursday I picked up Spencer and Jordan and dropped them off at home, while I went back to the middle school to see Jordan's teachers. She is an outstanding student but could still talk a bit more. (Surprise, Surprise!)

Luckily, James was able to leave his conference and come back to take the kids to their activities Thursday night, while I was at the church for RS. (Kate, Kam and Zack tested for their next belt in TKD and J had gymnastics.) The RS B-day celebration went well. Teriney had a great vision and the decorations, food and cakes were wonderful. We played a purse related game and then played some Bingo with some $10 gift cards as prizes. It was a lot of work (we used china plates, Waterford crystal glasses and silverware instead of paper goods, but it was a success. [And I missed seeing the BYU vs. Wofford game live, but we WON and I recorded it, so I was able to watch it after the fact.]

James went back to his conference early Friday morning and I headed to the school for an end of the term awards/recognition assembly.

Tiptoe through the...

We've had wonderful daffodil blooms since February. This past week the Tulips have bloomed. The first opened up on Wednesday the 16th. Three days later there were at least 50 blossoms. Beautiful! Now if the grass was green the backdrop for the flowers would look better.

True Blue

I am a big BYU sports fan. Football and Basketball are favorites, but I like Men's and Women's Volleyball and others as well. It's been fun this season to watch the BYU men's basketball team excel. Jimmer is incredible, Jackson is great on Defense. It was hard to watch the dream bubble burst for the Cougars as Brandon Davies was suspended from the team. But, I still have high hopes for them. When they are on, they can do it. And I'm not a fair weathered fan. I'm behind them win or lose. I don't just jump on the bandwagon when they are doing well. That said: Go Cougars!

Irish Double Chain quilt with shamrocks

A couple of Christmas' ago, James got me a beautiful quilt rack from which I hang holiday or different themed quilts. I decided that for the month of March I needed a "St. Patrick's Day" themed quilt. I used a pattern called an Irish Double Chain and I made it in greens and white and threw in some shamrocks for that extra Irish touch. (It is strange for me to have a quilt without red and blue or a patriotic theme to it, but it turned out okay.) I was able to pin baste it on Monday and quilt it Monday and Tuesday, then bind it and get it up in time for the month of MARCH!

Spring

Spring is coming. We've had some nice days and some cooler days. James brought me home some beautiful yellow tulips this week. Mine are growing, but not near blooming yet. My daffodils are up, but these too get me in the mood for Spring...

Literacy night

This past week was Dr. Seuss' birthday. Kam and Zack were able to dress up as their favorite book characters. Zack decided to dress up as Percy Jackson and Kam was Autum Norwich from a book continuing the Harry Potter characters belonging to Ravenclaw.

With robes and wand...
Complete with wings on his shoes and a trident...

Flat Scotlyn is on her way home

We posted before that our niece/cousin Scotlyn had come to stay with us for a few weeks in her "flat" form, as a project for her preschool. We had lots of fun with her while she was here. She arrived just in time for a big snow storm that cancelled school for several days. She was able to play in the snow with us, building a snow cave and then a few days later, when the snow was more packable, she helped your cousins, Spencer and Sidnie to build a big Snowman. (Pictures that were already posted.) We also spent time making Valentine’s for the parties we would have at school on Valentine’s Day. She was able to go to the party with Spencer and his friends at school and had fun playing with the big Froggy heart balloon Spencer received at his school on that day. She was also able to go to Chuck-E-Cheese with Zack, his friend Luke, Spencer and Sidnie to play games and have fun while the older girls went out to eat with their dad to celebrate Valentine’s Day. She was also here in time to see our amaryllis bloom. She loved the red blossoms that matched her shirt.

After a few weeks, thing warmed up here in Maumelle, AR and she was able to see all our daffodils as they bloomed. The bright yellow colors were wonderful. And the daffodils even grew bigger than "Flat Scotlyn." She enjoyed family dinners with us every night, although she didn’t like lima beans like the rest of our family. There were Family night activities, delivering Girl Scout cookies, church on Sundays, gymnastics, Taekwondo, girl scouts, and she was even here in time to attend the Dr. Seuss celebration of literacy at school. (Notice the cute picture of she and Spencer in his Cat in the Hat type hat he made at school.)

Thanks for coming to visit. We’ve sure had fun with "flat Scotlyn" and hope her journey home and the telling of our adventures at her school will be good.

Spencer, Luke, Zack and Flat Scotlyn with their prizes from Chuck-E-Cheese.

With Spencer, Zack and Kammie and the Valentine Balloon.

Flat Scotlyn with Spencer in the Hat.

Flat Scotlyn by some daffocils.