David, Tracie, Savannah, Xander and Noah

A Little Time with my Girl

2012-02-08T11:14:00.003-05:00

Finally! After 4 long years the golden ticket arrived! Okay, so it was actually more a white ticket but it allowed me to attend Pastries for Parents with Savannah, something I have never been selected to do in all the time she has been attending elementary school. (I've been both years so far with Xander.) Unfortunately David had to work so Noah tagged along and he decided to make it quite difficult for Savannah and I to enjoy some Mother/Daughter bonding time. Oh, well...Savannah handled it with grace as she does everything else. She even read to Noah and shared her muffins. What a sweet girl I have!

Way to Go, Noah!

2012-02-07T11:08:00.002-05:00

I love Noah's preschool! I love his teachers, I love the kids, I love the kids' parents, I love the field trips, I love that he gets to go swimming, I love pink/purple/plaid day as well as Pajama/Pizza Day, I love JOBS on Fridays as well as Belly/Book Time that I get to spend with him, I love the parties, and I love all the crafts. I could go on and on but I'll spare you the long list. Definitely the most important thing I love about his preschool is that Noah is learning! For some odd reason that I can't figure out Noah does not want to listen to me when I try to teach or instruct him. Crazy kid, huh? But Noah has no problem learning new things from Miss Kelly and Miss Carol. Recently the kids in his class were recognized for the different accomplishments they have completed so far this year. Noah received a medal for each area of completion: knowing shapes and colors, writing his first and last name, knowing all 26 Upper Case letters, knowing all 26 Lower Case Letters, and knowing numbers 1-10. Obviously I am extremely proud of him and wanted to take a picture of his medals. One picture quickly became a photo shoot.

That's my cute Noah!

January

2012-01-31T09:34:00.007-05:00

I often think to myself, "Boy, January is such a slow, boring month!" I guess it's because the preceding four months are so jam packed with the start of school, lots of soccer, and three major holidays that January seems so tame. In actuality our January has been just as lively as usual. The big news has been no snow! Okay, so we did get a sprinkling one morning...

but really, that's been it. David warned me not to buy all the snow stuff for the kids. Yes, Maryland, I jinxed you all on my own. The weather has been a tad crazy...freezing cold for a few days, then pleasantly warm, then back down to really cold, then up into the 60's today and tomorrow. Definitely strange!

Savannah has been keeping herself busy with indoor soccer games as well as training sessions by her own personal soccer trainer. She has two more goals to go before reaching her yearly goal of 10. She continues with piano lessons as well as violin lessons at school. She has almost completed the Governors Program at school, with only the first two verses of the poem "The Raven" to memorize. She has started on a special "How To" project at school where she will be making a gumball machine. Savannah is extremely interested in Greek Mythology and created a card game called Mythomagic. She drew up cards of all the major Greek gods and monsters, wrote down the rules and instructions on how to play the game, and has enlisted all of us to play several times. In keeping with her love of all things Greek she has been reading the Percy Jackson series and is almost done with book 4. She loves to run around the house pretending she is Anabeth (costume below).

Xander has also been having a fun month. He absolutely loves playing basketball and his team has been doing quite well. I struggle a bit as I watch him because he is definitely a beginner in the sport but as long as he's having fun, which he is, then that's all that should matter. I must admit that I am a little appalled by the behavior of some of the parents in this league. Most of the games have been so fun but the past two games we have played against teams that apparently are used to winning and it has been extremely sad to watch the parents yell and scream at the boys and the refs. They act as if this is a college game or something. Yikes! Xander is also enjoying his indoor soccer and scoring some goals. Xander loves going to school and his reading is coming along really well. He recently attended the "Eight is Great" fireside for our church; it's hard to believe that this is his big baptism year! He cheered for the Giants as David and I cheered for the Niners and was extremely excited that they are headed to the Super Bowl. I have taught his Primary class three Sundays this month and it has been so fun to spend that extra time with him and see his knowledge of the gospel grow. Xander is a pretty calm little guy but he does have his moments. We have had several emotional mornings when the only clean pants he has to wear are jeans - yes, he loathes and despises jeans, don't ask me why. It has even escalated to the point where he has missed his ride to the bus stop. In our home if you choose to not get ready in time for school then you spend the day at home cleaning. Xander has become my servant for a day twice this year and I'm hoping that he has learned his lesson. Eight hours washing walls, baseboards, and the kitchen floor, as well as vacuuming, cleaning the basement, and any other task I can find is definitely NOT as fun as being at school.

Noah continues to be so full of life. He spends hours playing with his legos and telling me all about the ones I need to buy him for his birthday. He's doing really well in school and loves being there with all his friends. His favorite part of school is when they get to go swimming. He's my special little buddy and I love having him run errands with me although he definitely raises my grocery bill with all the different cereals and treats he begs me to buy. He's started to recognize his sight words as we read and it's so much fun to see him start the whole reading process. He still loves to dress up and gets quite creative with his costumes.

He's funny and gross and crazy and says things that have us all rolling with laughter. He loves to play sports (just NOT soccer - it's boring!) and wrestle and box and show off his muscles.

He loves to color and draw and his specialty right now is drawing houses...all kinds of different houses.

David and I have been keeping busy as well. David always has many work and church responsibilities to fill his time but has made more of an effort to find some time to read. Church basketball has also started back up and the kids and I love to go to his games and cheer him on. I always have time to read as well as chauffeur the kids around, crochet, help plan the monthly Relief Society meetings, and meet friends for lunch. I continue to watch Adelyn two days a week and she continues to be a delight and a pleasure to have around. This month we have had several families in our ward move out and it has been really hard to say goodbye, especially to my dear, dear friend MaryAnn. A bunch of us gathered for one last hurrah to send her off. I'm going to miss my wonderful friend!

Savannah's Winter Concert

2012-01-28T11:43:00.005-05:00

This past week was Savannah's very first winter concert at school. I must admit that I was very impressed by how far she and the other students have come in learning how to play the violin. The students plucked their violins for the first few songs and then for the last three pieces they used their bows. They did a fabulous job!

Savannah with her friend MacKenzie.

For some reason they arranged it so the shorter kids were in the back, thus a picture that has Savannah peeking through from behind some fairly tall boys. It didn't help my picture taking that I also had a crummy seat.

Due to Savannah's position it made us hard to even see her and impossible to video tape. Next time we're getting there extra early to get a good seat!

Super Saturday

2012-01-15T20:50:00.005-05:00

I have always loved those Saturdays where I get to sleep in, get chores done quickly, and then spend the rest of the day reading, playing with the kids, or just basically lounging around. This past Saturday was definitely not one of those kinds of days. No sleeping in - Savannah had a 9:40 soccer game. And what a game it was! This is the game that will always be known in our house as the 6 goal game. Yep, that's right, our Savannah scored 6 goals in this game, 3 within the first 5 minutes of the game. She played tough, was aggressive, and helped her team to a victory. Great way to start our Saturday.

No time for chores - we were home for a brief rest and snack before heading to Xander's basketball game at noon. We always enjoy watching Xander play a little bball!

Noah and I left Xander's game a little early for a ninja birthday party for one of his friends. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures of Noah practicing his kung fu moves but I'm sure he'd be more than happy to show them off to any one who might ask when they next visit. Hint, hint, grandparents, it's definitely time for a visit!
No reading, playing with the kids, or lounging around - Noah and I then headed back to the soccer arena to meet up with the rest of our gang to cheer Xander on in his soccer game where his team won and Xander scored a goal. My kids are definitely chipping away at their personal goals of scoring goals.

From Xander's game it was a hurried drive home to watch our Niners play against the New Orleans Saints. For those of you who follow football you know that our great Saturday was made complete with the 49er victory. What a spectacular game! David and I spent the last 5 minutes of the game in happiness, then utter despair, and then back to shedding tears of pure joy - it was quite the roller coaster of emotions and quite the amazing game!

I definitely don't mind these busy, fun Saturdays!

Character Day

2012-01-14T11:10:00.002-05:00

My kids LOVE to dress up so Character Day at school is always an event they look forward to. This past Thursday the kids at their elementary school were allowed to dress up as one of their favorite literary characters. Xander chose to be Mr. Klutz, the principal in the Weird School series, a series of books that I absolutely despise. Oh, well, Xander seems to enjoy them.

Savannah made a cute Hermoine Granger from Harry Potter.

Thank goodness the costumes were nice and easy!

Welcome 2012!

2012-01-12T20:43:00.002-05:00

New Year's Resolution: update the blog at least twice a week. Twelve days into 2012...my first post. Well, I'm definitely not the best at sticking to those goals I set for myself at the start of each new year but the blog one being blown right out of the gate, now, let's just pathetic! As the kids and I thought back to 2011 and reviewed how well we had done with accomplishing the goals we had set for ourselves last year, we remembered all the many wonderful memories and good times we had. Some highlights from 2011 included visits with family, including both sets of grandparents, the Hill Cumorah pageant and Palmyra with family, a Super Hero party, a Harry Potter party, lots and lots of soccer, soccer camp, T-ball, field trips, Keepers meetings, Book Club, a Louisville getaway for me and David, attending the temple, the beach, Dutch Wonderland, fishing, kitties and more kitties, lunch with friends, and the pool, just to name a few. We're looking forward to 2012 and all the exciting things it holds for our family.
Now, onto goals for the new year.

Noah did a great job last year completing most of the goals he had set for himself. His goals for 2012 are:

Learn to count and recognize numbers 1-100

Complete a season of T-Ball

Memorize 3 Articles of Faith

Memorize the Primary monthly scripture

Stop crying when he's mad

Xander struggled a bit with his goals last year so he has recommitted himself to his new goals for this year:

Learn how to cook a soup and pizza

Score 9 goals in soccer (he already has 1)

Score 4 baskets in basketball

Read 30 books

Memorize the Articles of Faith

Memorize the Primary monthly scripture

Although we reviewed our goals throughout the year Savannah also struggled a bit with a few of hers. This year she knows that she can get them done!

Be kinder to her brothers

Memorize the Articles of Faith

Earn the Governor's Program at school

Score 10 goals in soccer (she also has 1 already)

Read 100 books

Work harder with math and bring up her grade

Earn 15 Keepers awards

As for myself I am quite proud of all I was able to get done last year. I think the only personal goal I set for myself that I totally bombed on was playing the piano again. I was able to read 100 books in 2011 so this year I'd like to up that to 110. I want to continue with my exercising and eating right. I want to improve my personal scripture study; my motivation for this goal was pumped up after last night's Relief Society Scripture Study Workshop. Although my goal of twice weekly blogging hasn't gotten off to the best start, I'm still keeping that on the list and recommitting myself to do better.

Welcome, 2012 - the Pierce family is ready for ya!

Christmas Vacation

2012-01-06T08:45:00.009-05:00

This past week I had to send my kids back to school and my husband back to work and all I can say is it was a bummer!!! We had such a great time together as a family during Christmas break. The last week of December consisted of:

sleeping in every morning

lounging around in PJs all day if we wanted

lots of reading

LOTS of playing our new Wii

a morning at Chuck E. Cheeses (what we do for our kids!)

watching movies: The Smurfs, Kung Fu Panda, and El Cid

riding new bikes

finishing The Book of Mormon as a family

game night with friends

cheering our Utah Utes football team to victory in their bowl game

practicing basketball

going down to DC to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History

Riding the Metro down to DC.

Family picture in front of the Washington Monument.

We thought that the Museum of Natural History would hold the interest of the kids the best so that's where we spent the day. There were so many fascinating things to see but the day after Christmas was definitely NOT the day to go...it was packed!

We still had a lot of fun looking at the exhibits. We all enjoyed looking at the animals;

Noah liked the skeletons;

and all the kids enjoyed looking at the small insects and sea creatures through these bubble holes...we spent almost half an hour just in this one spot!

Noah was obsessed with the mummies, especially the one of this small child.

Xander measuring up to an elephant's leg bones!

Savannah and her rocks and minerals. Savannah and I also enjoyed our time looking at the Hope Diamond along with all the other amazing jewels they have on display.

Although there were too many people and we spent Savannah's first year college tuition on lunch, we enjoyed the day and all the many interesting things we got to see. We are so blessed to live close to DC!

Christmas Memories 2011!

2011-12-30T14:49:00.013-05:00

Visits with Santa at the Ward Christmas Party.

Making sugar cookies for the goodie plates for friends and neighbors.

We stuck to the traditional Schaeffer Christmas Eve dinner - filets, Caesar salad, cream corn, rolls, and Martinellis. Yummmmmy!

New Christmas jammies.

Reading the Christmas story from the scriptures.

Singing Christmas carols accompanied by Savannah on the piano.

The traditional The Night Before Christmas.

Reindeer food

and cookies for Santa!

Waiting to go down Christmas morning!

Look what Santa brought? Bikes for all the kids!

Some favorite gifts - Legos...

the Wii...

Monster High dolls.

I found out I love Legos as much as Noah.

We finished reading A Christmas Carol.

A wonderful Christmas!

Savannah's Christmas Concert

2011-12-21T11:03:00.005-05:00

Savannah absolutely LOVES playing the piano and I absolutely LOVE listening to her play. I never have to ask her to practice, she just sits down and plays each and every day, sometimes several times a day. Last Friday we got to enjoy hearing Savannah play two beautiful Christmas songs she had prepared for her Christmas recital, I Saw Three Ships and Angels We Have Heard on High.

Angels We Have Heard on High was a duet with her teacher, Kamberlynne. They sounded terrific! If I knew how to put video on here I would have. Unfortunately I am not that technologically skilled so the picture and my words of praise will have to suffice.

Each student received an beautiful ornament with the pieces they played at the recital written on the back.

I am so grateful that Savannah has such a wonderful teacher.

Noah's Christmas Celebration

2011-12-20T11:21:00.007-05:00

Friday was Noah's preschool Christmas program and party. The kids sang several songs for us as well as recited a few poems. They were all so cute!

Of course Noah was most excited that his prop for one of the poems was a Transformer.

Following the kids' program was the party which started off with a fun snowman craft. Good thing Noah had David there to lend him a hand.

And of course what Christmas party would be complete without a visit from Santa! Tops on Noah's wish list? Legos! Lots and lots of legos!

Santa gave each of the children a gift; Noah's, much to his happiness, was a Superhero book.

Parable of the Ten Virgins

2011-12-18T21:04:00.005-05:00

This past Wednesday I had the privilege of participating in The Ten Virgins musical program for our Relief Society December meeting. What a spiritually uplifting meeting it was!
"Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps and went forth to meet the bridegroom." (Matthew 25:1)

"And five of them were wise, and five were foolish." (v.2)
I was Malka, one of the foolish virgins, who, although I loved the unique design of the lamp the shopkeeper had made for me, didn't feel I needed to light it because I had "lived in the village for a long time and could see just fine in the dark".

While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept." (v.5)

"And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him. Then all the virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out." (v.6-8)

"And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage; and the door was shut." (v.10)
Thank goodness the only singing I did was with the whole group, a beautiful song called "When He Comes". I am so grateful that I got to be a part of this program and enjoy the company of such fine women who played the other virgins in the story. They all did such a fabulous job and the ones who had solos blew me away with their amazing musical talent.

After the program we got to enjoy the wedding cake!

This meeting has definitely led to much pondering and personal goal-setting in my life so that when the bridegroom comes I will not be like my character Malka, begging others for more oil, but will be ready to greet my Savior and go in with him.

Multiple Visits

2011-12-15T09:35:00.002-05:00

From the tooth fairy, that is. We are on a tooth-losing rampage over here at the Pierce house. Between Savannah and Xander they have lost 5 teeth in the past two weeks. The tooth fairy has been extra busy around here!

Until Savannah lost this tooth...

The kids decided to sleep under the Christmas tree on Friday night and Savannah, being the diligent girl that she is, placed her tooth that she had lost earlier that day under her pillow.
Just for a little background information, we actually have two tooth fairies who serve our house; that way if one forgets or is too tired to fulfill her job, the other tooth fairy usually helps out and remembers to deliver the money and collect the tooth. Well, this particular Friday one of the tooth fairies was extremely sick and the other one just plum forgot to take care of business. When I went downstairs Saturday morning one can imagine my surprise when Savannah announced that the tooth fairy had found her downstairs and left $2 for her. After I had questioned Savannah for several minutes trying to find out how this had actually happened, Savannah said that when she expressed disappointment to Xander that the tooth fairy had not come, a few minutes later Xander told her to check under her pillow again because maybe the tooth fairy had just come late. Savannah was extremely excited to find out that that had been the case and the tooth fairy had once again delivered. Obviously I pulled Xander aside a little later and asked him about the incident. With joy and excitement he told me that he was the new tooth fairy and that he had wings and special tooth fairy powers but that I couldn't tell Savannah what he had done. I asked him where the tooth was to which he replied that he had put it in his office. Needless to say I was so touched by Xander handling this "tooth fairy crisis" on his own and giving Savannah some of his own money. What a special little guy he is! Our two tooth fairies might be out of a job!

B-Ball Time!

2011-12-12T20:48:00.005-05:00

Because the time commitment of indoor soccer is very minimal we decided to sign Xander up to play basketball as well. (Thank goodness there is only one conflict with games in the entire three months of play.) So far Xander has thoroughly enjoyed learning the game of basketball. Although he is one of the youngest on his team and the only one who hasn't played before, he seems to be quickly picking up all the nuances of the game. He couldn't have a better coach which we are so grateful for. His coach is extremely positive and patient and does such a great job with all the boys in helping them understand and learn the fundamentals of basketball. Saturday was Xander's first game and I must admit I was a little anxious to see how he would do out on the court.

He played in the forward position and did a great job on defense and going for the rebound.

Unfortunately his teammates didn't get him the ball all that often even though he was open quite a bit so he was a tad disappointed that he didn't get a basket. We told him there's always the next game.
And the final score of the game:

Thank goodness Xander's team was the one with the 6 points. Definitely not a high scoring game; nonetheless, it was a lot of fun to watch Xander play and cheer his team to victory!

It's Beginning...

2011-12-06T09:49:00.006-05:00

Maybe it's because of the nice, warm weather we've been having lately. Maybe it's because we aren't visiting family this year. Whatever the reason I have just not been in the Christmas mood yet this year. Here we are, already several days into December and I'm feeling a tad bit like Ebenezer Scrooge. One of the best ways to hopefully work myself into a happy, holiday mom was to get a Christmas tree into the house stat! Saturday morning we all headed out to our local Home Depot to find the perfect tree. As we searched through the trees, Noah picked up a broken tree branch and while standing amongst a bunch of Christmas trees, raised the branch above his head, closed his eyes, and said, "Pick me! I'm a Christmas tree!" It was pretty cute. (The reenactment picture since I was without my camera at Home Depot.)

The kids are always so excited to pull out all the ornaments and find their favorites from years past.

All lit up and ready to be decorated!

This was Xander's year to put the angel on the top. I'm glad he's smiling for the picture because he was actually quite terrified to be up so high.

Having a beautifully decorated Christmas tree and other decorations throughout the house have helped a bit. Daily doses of Christmas carols and the wonderful messages from the First Presidency on Sunday night haven't hurt either. I'm still trying to find that holiday spirit but for now I'm just happy that the kids are feeling it.

Xander's Aquarium Field Trip

2011-12-01T21:05:00.004-05:00

I was so excited to be chosen as a chaperone for Xander's field trip to the aquarium...or at least, I thought I was excited. Doesn't my group of five look so angelic?

All I had to do was keep track of five first graders for two hours as all the first grade classes walked through the aquarium and looked at the many wonderful sea creatures. Well, I had one runner who took about 2 seconds to look at a tank and then wanted to move on while two others wanted to spend at least ten minutes looking at those same tanks. I was so worried about keeping track of my little group and continuously counting them off - 1,2 3,4,5 - that I didn't spend much time looking at any of the exhibits. At least Xander was good for me and had a good time!

The cool octopus...

and the humongous turtle!

The definite highlight of this trip for the kids was the dolphin show.

I came home from this trip with a raging headache and absolutely NO desire to chaperone another field trip to the aquarium!

We Are Thankful

2011-11-25T11:34:00.007-05:00

The Thanksgiving festivities for the Pierce family started Tuesday with Noah's preschool feast. All the kids looked so cute in their "squaw" and "pilgrim" hats. Noah made his thankful wreath that included the first 4 things he told me he was grateful for: football (that was number 1), Heavenly Father, toys, and his family.

Although the other two kids talked a little about Thanksgiving at school, Xander's party was actually called a Harvest Celebration and Savannah learned about all the fun facts relating to the holiday, such as how many turkeys are eaten each year, how many people travel at this time, etc. Are the schools trying to eliminate Thanksgiving as well? Heaven forbid we recognize this holiday because it originated with God fearing people thanking their Father in Heaven for his many blessings. No, that's just not acceptable to talk about in our schools anymore. Geez!!!

I'm grateful that we got to spend such a wonderful day together as a family. I'm grateful that I got to sleep in and then spent most of the day in my pajamas. I'm grateful that David did not have to work and that he got our day started off right with a wonderful breakfast. I'm grateful that I didn't have to feel bad about stuffing my face all day long.

David got our turkey in the oven by mid-morning and I just have to say how thankful I am that turkeys are such delicious things to eat!

David's first time making rolls - they turned out wonderful!

We had such a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner and I am grateful that David was so willing to prepare most of the food. The only thing I made was the green bean casserole and the stuffing.

Noah was so excited to see a plate with a stick of butter on it...he thought it was one of the side dishes. Have I mentioned before that Noah loves to eat butter? Just straight butter?

I am not a fan of sweet potatoes and usually pass on it but this year David tried this new recipe and it smelled so good that I just had to give it a try. Oh, my goodness, it was amazing! Even now as I think about it my mouth is starting to salivate. Anyway, Savannah decided she wasn't going to try it but at the end of dinner I had finally convinced her to try just a tiny bite. After she swallowed she got this huge smile on her face and started to laugh. She exclaimed, "I love it!"

After dinner we played a little Phase 10 and then the kids watched a Christmas show.

I am so grateful for such a wonderful husband who had a ticket to the Ravens/49ers game but elected to stay at home to watch the game with me. I begged him to go because it was the Niners!!! and it would have been his first ever NFL game. But he said he just couldn't go without me. Now that's love! At least we were able to console each other about our team's horrible loss.

There are so many things that our family is grateful for; we have been truly blessed. As a family we talked about our many blessings which include our family, friends, a house, David's job, the scriptures, the gospel, Heavenly Father and Jesus, and even napkins for when we have spills (Noah). We are grateful for it all!

Reading, Reading, Reading!

2011-11-21T09:41:00.005-05:00

When I set the goal of reading 100 books this year I thought it would be a cinch. I read so much that I thought 100 books would be a piece of cake and that my goal would be completed by the summer. How wrong I was! As summer turned into fall and I still hadn't reached my goal I started to get a little nervous. One Sunday at church the older gentleman who lends me history books handed me a book comparable in size to the Bible about the entire history of Europe and I just knew that if I started reading that book that my goal would never be achieved. I put that one aside for the moment and persevered through the remaining number of books I needed. Finally, this past week, I reached the big 100! It always feels so good to accomplish one of my personal goals. Since I hardly ever do any blogging about myself I thought it would be fun to share some of my favorite books from this past year.

The Rangers Apprentice series has become one of my absolute favorites! There are 10 books in the series and I zoomed through each book in about a day; I just could NOT put them down. It always amazes me that an author can create characters that the reader comes to love and talk about as if they are friends and that's how David and my sister and I would talk about the people in these books.

An author that I read for the first time this year is Juliet Marillier and I absolutely fell in love with her style of writing. During the year I have read 8 of her books and have enjoyed all of them but the two that I absolutely fell in love with are Daughter of the Forest and Son of the Shadows. As soon as I finished reading I just wanted to start reading them all over again and that hasn't happened for me in a long time.

East was such a fun read! I told the kids all about it one night and Savannah, who became enthralled with what she heard me tell, picked up the book and read it herself.

Unbroken was one of the most amazing books I read all year and would highly recommend to everyone. The writing is beautiful and draws the reader from the get-go into the story of Louis Zamperini's life...and what an amazing life it was. Once again I had my kids riveted at the dinner table with tales of plane crashes, survival on a raft for over five weeks, shark attacks, and capture by the Japanese. It was right after I read the appalling stories of life as a POW in a Japanese camp that we had an incident at dinner. Noah sat down to eat and was apparently disgusted about what I had made for dinner. He announced loudly that this food was gross and he would not eat it. I got very angry and said very firmly to all my children that in THIS house we will NOT complain about food. While imprisoned by the Japanese our brave American soldiers were only allowed a small ball of rice to eat each day so our family will NEVER take food for granted!!! Noah sat down and ate. Funny story but truthfully I can not say enough good things about this book.

Surprisingly enough I had never read Little Women and found it to be absolutely wonderful.

This one appealed to the romantic in me.

Although I did not like the main character in this book, the story of the mother was heartbreaking but powerful.

I love, love, love reading biographies and the book on Peter the Great and the two volumes about Hitler were fascinating. I love when authors can make a history book read like a novel and these biographies are definitely very readable.

Reading is one of my favorite things to do and I am always looking for good recommendations. If you haven't already, check out the website www.goodreads.com and become my friend!

Cleopatra

2011-11-18T17:08:00.003-05:00

Cleopatra visited the 21st century the other morning to give some lucky 4th graders the story of her life. The students asked questions and Cleopatra answered them honestly, with a definite regal air.

Some of the questions concerned her family, where she grew up, and important decisions she had to make in her life.

Did Cleopatra ever look this cute?

Soccer 2011

2011-11-16T09:16:00.003-05:00

It's always a bittersweet time when the fall soccer season comes to an end. We thoroughly enjoy watching our kids play, going to all the games and cheering them on. On the other hand, after two long months of weeknight practices, hurried dinners, later bath times and bed times, and driving all over the county to attend multiple games on Saturdays, we do let out a huge sigh of relief when November rolls around.
Savannah had another outstanding soccer season! Her ball handling skills keep improving and even her power kick is starting to "kick" in. She finished the season off with just under 10 goals, some even scored with her left foot. I was one of her coaches again this season and we had a great time as the Powerful Purple Panthers!

Look at #8 go towards the goal!

At the team party each of the girls received a participation medal along with a recognition award - Savannah earned "The Ball Handler" award.

Coach Clarence with the girls. Coach Tracie is of course behind the camera.

Savannah wasn't the only one with a great season. Xander is improving as a soccer player as well and I was so impressed with his aggressive yet clean playing. Both his coaches told me he was the best player on the team and Xander even had his own personal fan at one of the games. A grandfather there to cheer on his grandson who was on Xander's team recognized Xander's skill and started shouting, "Get the ball to #11!" (Xander's number) "Look at number 11 go!" "Great job, number 11!" "I can't wait to see number 11 score. Go number 11!" It was hilarious but also very heartwarming to see my son cheered on by a complete stranger. Eventually he picked up on the fact that David and I were his parents and he started telling us how fun it was to watch Xander play. And he's right - David and I loved it!

With a $1 given for every goal scored Xander had a huge incentive to score some goals...and he did. He reached his goal of 8 goals for the year with a few extra scored for good measure!

And then there's Noah. Looking at this picture you might think that Noah was as mighty a soccer player as his siblings.

You would be wrong. The above picture shows a little boy in a green jersey with complete possession of the soccer ball while my cute little Noah ran along side him and then watched this little boy score a goal.
The picture below is probably the only picture I have of Noah kicking the ball. Actually, it's the only picture I have of Noah even showing any interest in the ball.

Noah's short lived soccer season consisted of wandering around on the field, watching other kids dribble the ball and score.

Oh, the ball is right in front of me? Should I go after it and see if I can get it?
Nahhh, I'll let the other team go score another goal while I look on.

David and I are adamant about our kids following through on their commitments. If they sign up to do a sport and find out mid-season that they don't like it, too bad. You made a commitment to the team and you're going to finish out the season. After that we just don't sign them up again. Noah was extremely excited to start playing soccer but that quickly evaporated after the first 2 practices. From then on it was meltdown city before every practice and game. Finally David and I decided it just wasn't worth it and informed his coach that he would not be playing anymore. The whole sense of commitment to a team was falling on the deaf ears of our four year old. Oh, well, we'll try again in a few years, if Noah decides he wants to give it another try.

X's Turn

2011-11-12T12:08:00.003-05:00

Savannah got hers in September, Xander earned his in October. An ABBY award, that is! Once again, so proud of my Xanderman!

Xander and his wonderful teacher, Mrs. Deremeik.

His photo in the front hallway of the school.

Way to go, X!

Yummy Pies

2011-11-07T08:46:00.005-05:00

Our November Keepers meeting couldn't have been more delicious - pie making!!! The girls were definitely ready to get started.

Working on the fruit pie.

Rolling out the dough to make the crust. Yes, they even made a homemade crust!

Making the crust look lovely.

The ice cream pie, Savannah's favorite.

All in all the girls made three pies - a fruit pie, an ice cream pie, and a chocolate pudding pie. The girls did a great job and of course we had a fabulous time tasting everything!

Making Applesauce

2011-11-05T16:24:00.006-04:00

My good friend Elinor invited the kids and I to come over to her place to make some applesauce. She assured me that it was extremely easy so we headed over to try it out. The kids enjoyed putting the apples in and cranking out the sauce.

Teamwork!

Although Savannah and Xander did enjoy it, they were soon tempted away by the trampoline and other fun things in the backyard. Noah, on the other hand, stayed with it until the end. What an applesauce maker he turned out to be!

When all the apples were gone he did head out for a brief break to play with the dogs.

But he came right back in to sample the goods. He gobbled a bowlful right up and came back for seconds.
"Please, sir, can I have some more?"

We ended up with over a dozen jars of yummy applesauce as well as a dozen jars of apple butter. My little applesauce man!

Halloween

2011-11-03T21:39:00.010-04:00

On the day of Halloween Noah had his preschool Halloween party. Since I was a party mom I didn't get to take as many pictures as I would have liked but I did manage to grab a few.
Noah and his class trick or treating around the club.

One of the party moms had a face painting station and she did such a fabulous job!

I was in charge of the games and I'm pleased to say that the spider races were the hit of the party.

Hanging out with his favorite buds.

We also did the feeling game where the kids reach into a bag to feel all kinds of different things like ears, tongues, bones, and a brain. Here's Noah who "accidentally" pulled out some of the guts.

Those sticky eyes just wouldn't stick.

His fun teachers, Miss Kelly and Miss Carol.

That evening the kids were ready to go! What could be better than going out on a cold night all dressed up to receive candy from strangers? We had a few costume changes; Xander was the killer from the movie Scream (without the knife, of course) and Noah was a werewolf.

We invited Noah's good friend Anthony and his family to join us for trick or treating and then dinner after. Poor Noah...his costume change was a last minute thing so we didn't have time to "un-warp" his werewolf mask.

Savannah wasn't the only Clawdeen Wolf prowling the streets that night.

Xander thoroughly enjoyed passing out the candy.

Another fun Halloween! The kids are already planning out next year's costumes.

Carvin' Time

2011-11-01T11:14:00.006-04:00

For Family Home Evening on Sunday we carved pumpkins which is always a fun time for the kids. We made it much faster and easier for ourselves this year by sticking to just the basic ole' Halloween faces rather than doing the fancy sketches.
First came cleaning out all the guts.

Noah wasn't too thrilled with this part of the process.

Each of the kids told David what kind of face they wanted and we were all pleased with the results.

Noah was so bummed that David had carved pieces out of his pumpkin that he stuck all the pieces back in. No amount of explanation on our part could persuade him that to make it a Jack-a-Lantern we needed to remove them. Oh, well...that's just so Noah.

2011-10-30T20:43:00.005-04:00

Saturday evening was the Trunk or Treat at our church and, as always, it was a ton of fun. In the past we have enjoyed an evening of soup and pie followed by the trunk or treat but because our ward has basically outgrown our building the refreshments were donuts and cider. They were still pretty tasty and it left everyone plenty of room to mingle and check out everyone's great costumes.
Our family had such a fun time dressing up this year...okay, maybe not David but he was a good sport and went as Zeus to my Medusa.

Xander went as Darth Maul;

Savannah was Clawdeen Wolf (Monster High person);

and Noah was an astronaut.

Every year there are some pretty amazing costumes and this year was no exception. We had lots of witches, Harry Potter characters, policemen and robbers, soldiers and Arabs, and vampires but always the best are done by my friend Megan. Her family is always coordinated and she makes the costumes herself. This year they were characters from the movie Labyrinth and their costumes were quite impressive. Here is her husband Jon as one of the wise men along with my hunky Zeus.

Noah hanging out with the teenagers, as usual.

It's always such a fun night!

The Pumpkin Patch Field Trip

2011-10-26T10:17:00.003-04:00

Ahhhh, yes, the Pumpkin Patch Field Trip. This was my seventh time going on this one...yes, seventh time! But it was also my last so that made it a touch bittersweet but only a touch. Noah and I did the exact same things that all my kids have done on this field trip. First, we showed up with plenty of time for Noah to run around the hay maze with all his friends.
We then rode the wagons out to the pumpkin patch where the kids received a lesson on the many jobs a farmer has.

After that the kids were set free in the pumpkin patch to select their very own special pumpkin. The adults always get to pick one as well.

Last, we headed back to the main area for treats and more hay maze fun!

Savannah's Award

2011-10-21T10:53:00.003-04:00

What a great way to start off the school year - Savannah was nominated by her teacher to be the ABBY student of the month for September. Bascially this means that Savannah is well-behaved and doing all the right things in her classroom.

Way to go, Savannah! We are always so proud of the kids when they receive this special award.

Her wonderful teacher, Ms. Patek.

Go Utes!

2011-10-19T10:08:00.008-04:00

This past weekend we headed up to Pittsburgh to cheer on our Utah football team as they faced the University of Pittsburgh. What a great time we had! Although it was extremely windy and a tad cold we cheered loudly and enjoyed the great game. The Utes had a tough start but came back to win it.

Xander seemed to enjoy most of the game but grew a little restless by the fourth quarter.

And Noah? Well, he was done with the game after about the first minute. Of course we had forgotten the gameboy in the car so for about the first half of the game he sulked.

Thank goodness the Walker boys (the family that joined us on our fun little weekend adventure) entertained him and kept him busy. Noah can be so cute when he wants to be and even endeared himself to some of the Pitt fans that were sitting next to us. One of the Pitt guys kept offering him licorice and patted Noah's head any time Noah got near him.

By the fourth quarter Xander, Noah, and AJ kept themselves busy with games on the parents' phones. Whatever works!

Savannah stayed true the whole game and really seemed to enjoy the game.

When the Utes win on the road they come sing the Utah fight song with the Utah fans.

Despite the cold wind, the lack of a band or cheerleaders, and the Mormon bashing going on by some of the Pitt students, we had a fabulous time!

While driving home Sunday we decided to take a slight detour and see the memorial to Flight 93. It was definitely a sobering experience to see the memorial, the crash site, and the pictures of all the men and women who fought back the morning of September 11, 2001.

The memorial that contains the names of the people on the flight follows the flight pattern of the plane just before it crashed. We explained the significance of this event to the kids but I think Xander and Noah still a little young to truly appreciate that they were wallking where heroes had sacrificed their own lives to save others.

The crash site.

A Night of Planning

2011-10-11T22:21:00.002-04:00

Savannah and I truly look forward to the first Friday of each month when we meet together as a Keepers group , learn new things, and have fun. The culminting event for this year is a special dinner for the girls' dads so each meeting that we have before then has an activity or two in preparation for this event. At this October meeting the girls decided what they would serve at the dinner (working on their Menu Planning award) but we'll keep that secret since David reads the blog and I know Savannah wants him to be surprised. It's definitely going to be yummy!
The girls also spent some time on napkin folding, a nifty little skill that will enhance the beauty of the table at "the daddy dinner".

Ladew Gardens

2011-10-10T23:03:00.004-04:00

Noah's first preschool field trip was to Ladew Gardens and all the kids had a great time. As we walked through all the beautiful gardens the kids had a checklist of things they needed to check off once they saw it. These items included leaves changing colors, seeds of certain trees, butterflies, frogs, and bees. Looking for all of these items really kept the kids busy!

We loved checking out all the bushes that had been trimmed into various shapes. Here's Noah in front of "the man on his horse" jumping the fence.

We finally found a frog!

Blowing seeds into the meadow.

The X Man is 7!

2011-10-09T20:58:00.005-04:00

Seven fun facts about our Xanderman:

He loves to sing! Most afternoons when he finishes his homework he heads down to the basement, blasts some music, and sings at the top of his lungs.

He's really tall for his age. I never really noticed until last year when I was a chaperone for a kindergarten field trip - Xander towers over other kids his age. I can't tell you how many times I have heard parents from the other soccer team commenting on Xander's size and how they think he's in the wrong age group. And he's not just tall...he has humongous feet! His are a full size bigger than Savannah's.

He is like me - he does NOT have a sweet tooth. He would prefer a bowl of fruit over candy any day.

He's good at saving his money. Just recently he saved half the price of a DS. Pretty impressive for a young kid.

He is a mama's boy; he absolutely loves me. We definitely have a little Oedipus Complex going on. One night he was snuggled up next to me as we watched a movie on TV. David walked in and asked what we were doing. Xander replied, "I'm stealing your love." It was pretty funny. He's always picking flowers for me and tells me I'm his beautiful mom. I definitely treasure his feelings for me because I know in a few years I will probably turn into lame mom.

He loves math and is really good at it.

He is a hard worker.

Somehow the kids instituted a tradition of being able to open one of their gifts in the morning. Xander was thrilled to find out that his first gift was a Panthers shirt. I'm going to interject here what great parents David and I are. Here we are, complete San Francisco 49ers fans and we allow our children to choose their own special teams to root for. Aren't we fabulous? For some reason Xander has attached himself to the Carolina Panthers...go figure.

We all got to cheer Xander at his soccer game

and then spent a wonderful afternoon watching General Conference. Before the men headed off to the Priesthood Session we had Xander open his presents. I love how Noah wrapped up one of his own toys to give to Xander. What made it even more funny was the Panthor he gave to Xander (not really gave, more like presented for a few minutes) was that it was a Christmas gift to Noah from my parents and they were sitting right there. Talk about a re-gifting faux pas.

The love of all things Harry Potter has not disappeared in our house and now Xander is all set to cast evil spells with his very own Voldemort wand.

Remember how I mentioned what great parents we are? Look at this - the love continued with his very own Carolina Panthers jersey. I do have to confess to a little secret...that player whose jersey Xander has? Well, the only reason it has been allowed in our home and on our son is that it is Steve Smith's. Yes, Steve Smith...a former Utah Ute. The ONLY reason it's allowed.

Cake time! No, Xander is not 9...that's what happens when Mom totally forgets to pick up birthday candles and just goes with the only candle to be found in the house.

Xander's Favorites at 7:

Food: hamburger

Color: green

Movie: Rio

TV Show: The Clone Wars

Book: the Froggy books

Toy: Imaginext Samurai

Thing to do: be with mom

Dessert: chocolate milkshake

Candy: Dots

Fruit: watermelon

Vegetable: broccoli

Song: Disney songs

Sport: football and soccer

Holiday: Halloween

Temple: Salt Lake City

Scripture Hero: King Solomon

Animal: Panther

Restaurant: Red Robin

Place to go: school

Season: summer

Wants to be when he grows up: a rock star and a police officer

His best friends: Orion, Jesse, and Kyle

Happy Birthday to our Xanderman!

Grandparents Visit

2011-10-07T21:18:00.011-04:00

For several years my parents have wanted to visit during the fall to see the kids play soccer but it wasn't possible with my mom working. Now that she is retired they headed on out for a wonderful five day visit. The first day they were here was Rosh Hashanah so, with the kids out of school, we decided to head to the Baltimore Zoo.

On Friday Mom and Dad were able to spend some time with Noah in his preschool class which he absolutely loved! For the first half hour of class on Fridays the kids rotate between stations that have various academic activities and the parents (and grandparents!) are always welcome to stay and help out.
Noah enjoyed picking out sight words while reading with Grandpa.

Working on numbers!

And of course on Saturday came the main event - or actually two events, Xander and Savannah's games. Although the weather was pretty damp and cold, we cheered their teams on.

After the Saturday afternoon session of General Conference we celebrated Xander's birthday and he was so glad to have his grandparents there to celebrate his special day.

The kids took advantage of the time they had with Grandma and Grandpa. They had them read LOTS of books...

and even help with homework.

We were all so bummed when it was time for them to leave. We sure do love when family visits!

X's Big Accomplishment

2011-10-05T10:49:00.002-04:00

Eighty dollars may not seem like a ton of money but, to a six year old boy trying to save up half the price of a DS, at times it seemed like an unattainable amount. Xander has had his heart set on a DS (a handheld gaming system) for quite some time and David promised to kick in half the cost if Xander could save up the other half. With a monthly spending allowance of just five dollars it took A LOT of months of saving rather than spending! It also took some tremendous will power to not just cave and spend his money on other, less expensive toys that he wanted. Grandma and Grandpa Pierce visited last month and gave each of the kids some spending money and that was what pushed Xander past the needed amount. Finally, Xander has his DS!

In school Xander was asked to write down what his greatest accomplishment is and he wrote: "Win I am tring to saf my mney". (Interpretation for those who aren't used to reading 6 year-old-writing: "When I am trying to save my money"). David and I are so proud of him and he is obviously proud of himself as well.

Grandparents Visit!

2011-09-27T15:17:00.004-04:00

After serving a year long mission in Oklahoma, David's parents decided to take the long way home to Salt Lake, visiting some of the southern states before moseying up our way for a visit. It was so wonderful having them here even though we didn't get to do too many exciting things with the kids in school all day. However, just having them here to talk to and hang out with was great!
The kids always love visits with family, especially grandparents. Dave and Jackie treated the kids to a trip to Toys R Us where each of them got to pick out a new toy. The boys both chose Lego sets and Grandpa was extremely patient as he helped them assemble all the minuscule pieces.

We even got to celebrate Dave's birthday while he was here.

Hopefully we'll get to visit again with them real soon! It's so hard living far away from the ones we love.

Keepin' Busy

2011-09-17T19:42:00.007-04:00

As we enter the fall season Savannah is keeping herself very busy. School assignments, piano lessons start next week, soccer practices and games, playing with friends, taking care of 6 kittens, preparing to learn the violin, Activity Days at church, and Keepers! What a fun schedule!
After the summer break the girls were all ready to kick off our new Keepers year. The meeting was held at our house where we introduced the new theme for the year - Others - and did some activities to go along with that. The girls especially enjoyed preparing a care package for a missionary from our ward serving in California. They wrote messages on balloons that he can then blow up to read.

Savannah's most recent Activity Days night featured Olympic events where the girls tried walking on cans, racing while carrying a ball on a tray, shooting cans, and throwing pool sticks. It was definitely a fun night hanging out with friends.

Each of the girls received a medal reminding them to be pure and virtuous.

Preschool!

2011-09-14T15:27:00.005-04:00

Noah has waited so patiently these past two weeks and now it is finally his turn - preschool has finally started!

Noah goes every afternoon and is so excited that almost his entire preschool class from last year is with him again this year.
One of Noah's admirers!

The first day he got to spend some time checking out his new classroom and doing some fun activities.

Noah and his two teachers, Miss Kelly and Miss Carol.

Finally...First Day of School!

2011-09-01T21:53:00.005-04:00

Irene caused so much havoc out here that the first day of school was cancelled...and then the second day was as well. The kids were devastated! Thank goodness by Wednesday the schools were open!
Savannah is starting 4th and Xander is heading into 1st.

The walk to the bus stop. Notice Noah also brought along his backpack and lunch box in the hopes, I think, that no one would notice if he hitched a ride on the bus as well.

I can't believe another school year has begun.

Boo! One more year at home for me!

Oh, Yes...6 More!!!

2011-08-30T12:08:00.005-04:00

The other batch of kittens wasn't even weaned before Princess was in the family way once again.

Thank goodness I was able to get rid of all the other kittens, plus the 3 wild kittens someone dumped in our woods, before her new litter arrived. Much to our joy and dismay there are 6!!! Introducing Inky, Peanut, Villa (after a certain famous soccer player), Loo-Loo, Chutney, and Oreo.

The kids and I have already enjoyed so much time hugging and snuggling with these little cuties but come October if anyone would like to take a kitten or two off my hands please, PLEASE let me know!

Happy Birthday!

2011-08-28T10:28:00.002-04:00

Tuesday we celebrated David's last birthday in his thirties!

David is not one for parties but we still have our little family one complete with presents and dessert. David received a whole new collection of drawings as well as a box of his favorite candies from each of the kids. Unfortunately my big gift for David - new basketball shoes - did not arrive in time for his birthday. Oh, well...I surprised him a few days later!

We are just not a cake family - David picked brownie sundaes for his dessert of choice. Yummy!!! Way to ham it up for the camera!

Some of David's favorites at 39:

Movies: Braveheart, To Kill a Mockingbird, Sherlock Holmes

Books: The Book of Mormon, To Kill a Mockingbird, Pillars of the Earth

TV Shows: Burn Notice, Parenthood, Storage Wars

Color: Blue

Food: Steak

Fruit: Watermelon

Vegetable: Broccoli

Sport to Watch: Football

Sport to Play: Golf

Things to Do: check his Blackberry (according to his family); Play golf (according to David)

Holiday: Christmas

Season: Fall

Dessert: Brownie Sundae

Candy: black licorice

Animal: elk

Scripture Hero: Ammon

Temple: Salt Lake

Restaurant: PF Changs

Place to Go: St. John, VI

Happy Birthday, Babe!!!

Cinci Trip

2011-08-21T20:22:00.007-04:00

We spent a fabulous week in Cincinnati with my family and did all the fun things we normally do. A few highlights of this particular visit included:

celebrating Grandma's birthday;

putting on spectacular shows for the grown-ups;

the Cleopatra exhibit (I missed it when it was in Philadelphia so was so happy that it was still going on in Cinci during our visit);

the bouncy place;

and a few new things at the zoo.

Although it's been there for four years, the Cheetah Encounter has never caught our eye. This time David brought it to our attention and we are so glad he did - it was absolutely amazing! As I told Savannah, when will we ever get to see a cheetah run full speed other than on TV? Well, at the Cincinnati zoo a person can see it happen!
A fuzzy toy that the cheetahs apparently love is attached to a retractable rope and the cheetahs chase after it all throughout the enclosure. Watching these cheetahs run just might have been the highlight of the day, even more than the gorillas (which for me is saying a lot!)

Another fun thing for the kids was feeding the giraffe.

David and I also got away for two days - we went down to Louisville, Kentucky, and enjoyed some alone time. We saw Harry Potter, enjoyed eating out, and went to the temple. I am so grateful to my parents for watching the kids so we could spend this time together.
We always have the best time in Cincinnati and hate saying goodbye. At least we'll get to see the grandparents again soon!

Soccer Camp

2011-07-31T19:43:00.011-04:00

The old saying - "Time flies when you're having fun" - is definitely true. The past two weeks of soccer camp for Savannah, Xander, and myself just flew by. Every day, Monday through Friday, from 8:30 - 2:30 we endured the horrific heat to improve our soccer skills and have some fun!
Daily warm ups for the kids before the drills began. Savannah and Xander were lucky - due to the heat the younger kids were outside for the first part of the morning but then spent the rest of the day inside. I, on the other hand, remained outside throughout the day doing drills or playing in the scrimmages with the teenagers. Despite the heat, I still loved every second!

On the day we focused on heading, Coach Bill decided that we would try and set a record of the most consecutive headers made by the North Bay Soccer Camp campers. Here are the kids all lined up, ready to head! If we had accomplished it, it would have been 36.

Thank goodness mine weren't the first to miss but both Savannah and Xander did struggle a bit. Eventually they were both on target.

A little soccer tennis!

Too funny - after Savannah's scrimmage team would make a goal, they would gather in a circle, raise their hands up together...

and then fall to the ground.

My kids (and all the other campers) absolutely love the coaches. They insist that I am their favorite but I know that my competition is pretty stiff. Savannah and Coach Potter. Right after I took this picture I insisted she give back his sunglasses; I had no interest in replacing $250 glasses if she ruined them!

Coach Paul is another favorite - he is so great with the kids and quite an amazing soccer player!

And then there's Coach Bill, the director of the camp. He is just so fabulous and does a tremendous job making this camp the most fun it can be for these kids. One morning he brought out his trumpet to play Happy Birthday to some of the campers; other mornings he played it to get them excited for the day. He is such a great guy!

Savannah with her buds!

Each week the kids participate in Jersey Day. The second week Savannah ended up being one of the finalists...

and won the whole thing! She won this fabulous jacket though she keeps insisting that it's not too big and totally acceptable to wear in 90 degree weather.

On Friday we had some 3 v 3 games; the campers not partcipating were there to cheer on their favorite team.

Xander even took a turn on the trumpet.

And Coach Bill got the wave going.

With two of my favorite campers. The one on the right with the USA jersey knew how much I like David Villa from Spain so he brought me his Villa jersey to wear for the big Campers/Coaches game.

I'm definitely in need of some rest and time to allow my body to heal. My list of injuries for the week include multiple bruises on knees, shins, and arms, a black toenail, and a sore jaw from when some kid headed my chin rather than the ball. But these past two weeks have been some of my favorite weeks of the year. I love spending time with my kids as well as the other amazing campers. So many of them were repeats from last year so our friendships and relationships even grew stronger this summer. I'm already looking forward to next year!

The Hill Cumorah Pageant

2011-07-24T21:38:00.011-04:00

Last weekend we met my parents and Heidi's family up in Palmyra for the Hill Cumorah Pageant. Needless to say, we had a blast!
We met up Friday afternoon and the first thing we did was celebrate Grandpa's birthday. He opened some gifts and enjoyed all the pictures the kids had made for him.

After a 6 hour drive the kids were ready to release some energy so we let them run wild outside the hotel. They played tag and a short game of hide-and-go-seek as well as Simon Says with Grandma. Aunt Heidi even put on a juggling act as part of the entertainment.

After dinner at Red Robin where the girls and boys each had their own tables and we got the waiters to sing Happy Birthday to Grandpa which thoroughly embarrassed every adult male at their table, we headed over to the Sacred Grove. I love going there in the evening because most of the people have left and we pretty much get the place to ourselves.

The Grove was so peaceful and beautiful so it was somewhat hard to face the crowd of people at pageant...but it's also exciting to see such a beautiful production. We headed into the pageant with smiles on our faces, tuning out the antis yelling at us with their blow horns.

Definitely a favorite - meeting up with the cast members.

I'm glad we came prepared with sweatshirts and blankets because it got cold!!!

And boy, did our feet get dirty!

Couldn't resist including this one.

Saturday we checked out the Hill Cumorah in the daytime...

the boys were convinced they found the spot where the plates were buried. They were somewhat bummed to find out that the plates were no longer there.

The beautiful Palmyra temple.

Visiting the home of the Smith family.

What a wonderful trip!

Happy 4th!

2011-07-06T22:04:00.005-04:00

After a morning of softball followed by an afternoon of painting our deck we were definitely ready to head to our friends' home for some food and fireworks.

The Last Day

2011-07-02T17:35:00.007-04:00

We spent the last day my family was here at the beach. It's technically not the ocean but there's sand and water and that's all the kids care about.

My mom has always been a water/beach person so she was great about getting out in the water with the kids

as well as building sand castles. I remember her doing this with us when we were kids.

For some reason whenever the Clarks are with us at this beach we find dead fish. The kids all carried this one around like it was a cherished pet - so gross! I finally made the comment to my dad that it was a little like they were carrying around a dead rat; Doug quickly made sure the fish went in a bucket of water and they could carry it around in that.

The sand monsters!

All the kids had to get buried by Grandpa.

I'm so sad they left but it was sure fun while they were here.

Dutch Wonderland

2011-06-30T21:10:00.008-04:00

While my family was here we headed north to Lancaster County to the wonderful little amusement park they have up there called Dutch Wonderland. We had a blast!

The log ride was a little less than exciting for me but terrifying for Ashlyn; she thought that alligator on the grassy slope was going to get us, poor little thing. She quickly moved to the back of the log.

Noah and I rode on the sky lift thing that takes you from one part of the park to the other. For someone afraid of heights like I am this ride was probably NOT the smartest thing to get on. It was one scary moment for me when the ride stopped for what seemed like an eternity right at the highest point. I had a death grip on Noah who I was convinced was going to slide right under the bar and fall to his death.

The highlight for the kids was the roller coasters. Grandpa took Noah on the little one a few times and then we headed over to the big one. Noah was just tall enough this year to ride with the rest of the big kids - he was so excited.

This year we made sure to watch the diving show and we're so glad we did because it was pretty fun to watch. It was the Princess and the Frog and of course the villain of the story just had to find McKenna.

The kids insisted on sitting in the splash zone so the rest of us sat a few seats up hoping that we could avoid getting wet. No such luck! I was sitting next to my dad who happened to look over at McKenna just at the moment when the big splash came our way; I ducked behind him and was able to avoid most of the soaking. Others were not so lucky, including Kellan who couldn't figure out why all of a sudden he was all wet.

The bumper cars were a TON of fun...

and the kids enjoyed all the different rides.

I regretted immensely getting on this twister ride. I just had to cover my eyes and pray for it to be over. Then when the ride stopped and they announced that we would now be going backward, I thought my lunch might be making an appearance. Thank goodness it did not. I curse getting older - I just can't stomach these rides anymore.

A special treat to end the day.

We love Dutch Wonderland!

Family Visits are the Best!

2011-06-29T22:14:00.008-04:00

Yay! Cousins are finally here!

The mandatory wrestling match with Grandpa.

Noah loves spending time with the "funny" uncle, Uncle Bryan.

A trip to the Washington DC temple.

Father's Day.

What lucky kids to have a dad like David.

And what lucky daughters to have a dad like this one.

Lots of outdoor play.

Kellan likes to say "die" as he waves his light saber at everyone. Too cute! It was definitely fun to have another little guy around the place.

Ahhh! Yummy fraps from Starbucks. Perfect treat for a hot summer evening.

Spring Sports

2011-06-27T21:28:00.010-04:00

This spring the boys played T-ball and, even better, were on the same team, the Padres.

Noah had to use the T most of the time but did get a few hits off the pitch during the season.

Xander was really able to improve his hitting this season as well as his fielding the ball.

Yes, the child sitting down on second base would be Noah...I guess running from base to base is extremely taxing!

Ahhh, there he goes!

Unfortunately I was only able to attend two of the boys' games but it was definitely fun to watch them in action. Noah was most excited to receive a trophy, his very first one.

The reason I missed so many of the boys' games was because I was with Savannah at her soccer games. We signed her up for spring soccer with a league we've never played in before and were definitely disappointed. There ended up being only 4 teams in her age group and the teams were coed. Although Savannah says she doesn't want to play soccer next spring, she definitely used this season to better her skills. Plus she ended up with 5 goals for the season!

I love it - she's beating those boys!

She dribbled right around the defender and scored a goal; I was so excited that I didn't take a picture of her actual shot, dang it!

She's a little toughie, fighting off another boy.

The Red Team. Her coach is from Germany so he spoke with a heavy accent. The parents all found ourselves laughing on the sidelines at some of the things he would yell out - there were sisters on the team and since he couldn't tell them apart (even though they weren't twins) he would just yell out "Sister, go get the ball!" "Sister, come out!" He never learned Savannah's name either so he would just call her Honey. He was VERY vocal and my kids love to imitate him. It cracks me up to hear Noah all of a sudden shout out, "Sister, Sister" or "Sheppie, tie your shoe!" with a German accent.

Savannah's Spring

2011-06-26T20:51:00.013-04:00

Before I plunge into any more posts about our summer activities, I need to recap Savannah's spring just like I did for Xander and Noah.
Savannah participated in a spring piano recital, playing two of her favorite pieces. Although she struggled a bit through one of them, overall she did a great job. She also had the opportunity to play the prelude music for our church's senior primary as the kids filed into sharing time.
Savannah and her best friend Kaia at the recital.

Savannah and her fabulous piano teacher Kamberlynne.

This spring we had two fun events for Keepers, the first being a Tea Party at our house. Unfortunately the weather did NOT cooperate and we had to turn our Garden Tea Party into an Indoor Tea Party.

We all still had a lot of fun and enjoyed some yummy food that included fruit, cucumber sandwiches, and these fun little ladybug cookies that Savannah did all on her own.

And of course we can't forget the amazing cake that my friend Megan made for this special Keepers occasion! What would a Tea Party be without a cake?

Although we missed out on playing croquet, the girls beaded bracelets

and decorated hats.

Don't they all look so cute?

Our June Keepers meeting was Mosaics taught by the Washburn's artistic Aunt Sally. Savannah chose a turtle as her design; she said it reminded her of the VI, our family's most favorite vacation spot. Tracing the design...

breaking up the tiles...

and piecing it all together.

Voila! A mosaic masterpiece.

Aunt Sally was kind enough to have supplies for all the moms to do this project - such fun!

Savannah has absolutely LOVED third grade and has dreaded seeing it come to an end. Her class celebrated the final days of school with an End of Year picnic which the parents were invited to attend. The celebration started in the classroom where the students put on a talent show. Savannah shared her musical talents on the keyboard.

We then headed outside to enjoy lunch, the beautiful sunshine, and some final fun with friends.

Savannah and her most wonderful teacher Ms. Hill.

Savannah's locker and yes, that's Edward from Twilight.
Savannah not only enjoyed her year of third grade but she was able to achieve so much. Savannah has always loved to write and she did a lot of it this year. One of her research papers was so well done that it was placed in the school library for other students to use as a reference when writing their own papers. She earned straight A's her last quarter of school and she had perfect attendance for the year. Not too shabby! (Yes, I have to do a little bragging.)

A Magical Party

2011-06-23T09:36:00.030-04:00

Saturday was Savannah's long-awaited Harry Potter party! I must give warning that because of the tremendous fun we had, this blog post contains an exorbitant amount of pictures.
The first years arrived at "Hogwarts" via Platform 9 3/4.

Their first stop was Ollivander's Wand Shop to receive their own personal wand.

Savannah tried out a few wands before receiving her own special wand, the Hermoine Granger special. She had already picked out one of the wands I had made so she was getting a little frustrated when Ollivander kept telling her that that one wasn't the right wand for her. When he handed her the Hermoine Granger wand, Savannah was more than thrilled.

All the first years with their wands.

Following Professor McGonagall into the Great Hall for the Sorting Hat Ceremony.

I had to throw in this picture of the House banners - I worked dang hard on them and was extremely pleased with how they turned out.

Our sorting hat had a nifty little pocket on the inside where we placed a cell phone with the speaker phone on - David was upstairs on his phone and became the Sorting Hat voice. It was fabulous! He said a little something about each girl's personality and then announced which house they would be in.

As for my kids, Savannah ended up in Gryffindor,

Xander in Slytherin (no surprise there),

and Noah in Hufflepuff.

After everyone was arranged into their house, we listened to a welcoming speech by the Headmaster Albus Dumbledore

and was introduced to the staff...

Mad-Eyed Moody,

Professor Snape,

Professor Trelawney,

Professor McGonagall, and Albus Dumbledore.

The rest of the party consisted of six classes, the first being Divination up in the tower taught by Professor Trelawney. All I can say is that my sister Heidi embodied the very essence of this quirky teacher - she was amazing!

She taught them palm-reading

and then each girl read her own personal prophecy after popping open her orb.

Next was Defense Against the Dark Arts. The girls practiced the spell "Immobulus" with Professor Moody.

We then played Freeze Dance where, when the music stopped, each girl shouted Immobulus and had to freeze someone else. The girl who was the fastest with the spell won.

Everyone then drew a picture of their personal patronus

and then had to face a dementor to see how well their patronus charm held up.

Professor Snape taught the third class of the day - Potions. There were four different potions the girls had to complete and they did a pretty good job. When Snape asked the Slytherin house how they were doing on a particular potion that they had struggled with, one of the girls replied, "We have failed you, my Master." Pretty funny!

Following potions we had Care of Magical Creatures. Each house received a stuffed animal as well as a bag filled with pipe cleaners, feathers, and pom poms and had to create a magical creature with these supplies. They also had to answer questions like what is your creatures name? Where can they be found? What magical abilities do they have? The girls were very creative and each house shared their special creature with the rest of us.

Next was Spells and Charms. One charm was to illuminate an invisible message by saying the word "Aparecium" while waving the wand a certain way. Here are some first years writing their secret messages

and then saying the spell. And yes, that's a whole lot of Butterbeer on top of the oven!

Practicing another spell.

The girls enjoyed their Transfiguration class taught by Professor McGonagall. Each girl would "transform" another girl into an animal and the rest of the girls had to guess which animal she had been turned into. Muggles might refer to this as "Charades".

When all the classes were done, we headed outside for broom races. Headmaster Dumbledore reminded the girls that since they were only first years they had to keep their brooms to a low flying level, only a couple inches off the ground.

They did pretty well following that rule.

It was finally time for cake and ice cream! Look at the absolutely fabulous cake my friend Megan made for Savannah's party. It actually pained me to cut it!

As we waited for parents to arrive, the girls participated in a wizard's duel.

Some final shots of the party: Savannah and Hedwig;

Savannah and her grandpa the Headmaster;

me and the cutest girl around.

Although the party was a lot of work, it was well worth it - we had a blast! I am so grateful to my family for driving long distances to help me...this party would not have been the success it was without them!

Savannah is 9!

2011-06-15T13:59:00.006-04:00

Nine fun facts about Savannah:

She has a great laugh that has been compared to a witch's laugh. Yes, it does have a bit of a cackle to it!

She writes a ton! She is always handing me some new story that she has written filled with great characters and adventures.

She is so creative. As mentioned above she writes fabulous stories but she also does a lot of drawings and other art projects. Just recently she made a "board game" called Stickerland. She used tons of different stickers to make the layout of the board and then cut up a bunch of cards to tell you what to do, how many spaces you can go, how many points you receive, etc.

Savannah is a very obedient little girl and usually does what we ask without a fight or fuss.

Savannah is also very kind and thoughtful; she is always making cards or little gifts to give to us or to friends or to anyone she feels needs a little pick-me-up.

She has a strong desire to be good and to do good.

Savannah is a go-getter. She never waits around or puts things off, she just gets them done!

Savannah is highly competitive, a quality that helps her do her best, but it can also be tough at times when she falls short to someone else's accomplishments.

Savannah is a loyal friend and seeks out those who need a friend.

I feel myself saying this every year but it's the truth - I can't believe my little girl is 9!! Savannah had a great 9th birthday that started out with the traditional birthday balloons. My friend/next door neighbor who drives the kids to the bus stop each morning had all the kids in the car sing Happy Birthday to Savannah - too cute! Plus Savannah received plenty of birthday wishes and hugs from her friends at school since attending school until the middle of June is how we roll here in Maryland!
The boys were eager to help Savannah open her gifts. They both got her a gift and had a card for her that they had made themselves. Good job, boys!

Some favorite presents this year were How to Draw books,

Jackson Jekyll and Ghoulia Yhelps, two Monster High dolls she has had her eye on for awhile,

and a Harry Potter Gryffindor robe. With this robe she is all set for her big Harry Potter party this weekend.

As I set this cupcake down in front of Savannah, David asked, "All you made were cupcakes?" Yes, just cupcakes this year since I ordered a cake for her party. But Savannah didn't seem to mind - as long as it's chocolate she's fine!

Savannah's Favorites at 9:
Color: red
Food: chicken Parmesan
Dessert: ice cream
Movie: Casanova's Big Night (a Bob Hope classic)
Book: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Toy: Monster High
Animal: lion
Sport: soccer
Thing to do: read
Fruit: watermelon
Vegetable: broccoli
Holiday: birthday and Christmas
Candy: Twix and Reses Peanut Butter Cups/Pieces
Scripture Hero: Alma
Temple: Salt Lake City
Restaurant: Red Robin
Place to go: the Virgin Islands
Song: I Love to See the Temple
Season: spring
What she wants to be when she grows up: large animal vet
Best Friends: Celine, Kaia, Isabelle, Mackenzie, and Hannah

It was so fun to interview Savannah this year because we had everyone in the family guess what her answer would be. Between me, David, and the boys we pretty much know our Savannah! I also think it's fun to see how the favorites change from year to year.
Happy Birthday, sweet girl!

What Xander Has Been Doing

2011-06-13T15:00:00.007-04:00

Ahhh, little Xander. He has had quite the spring. He decided to try out another hair style - this one is called "the Harvey Two-Face", as in the villain in Batman. See how the hair is different on each side of his face? He loved it!

One of Xander's recent accomplishments? Riding his bike without training wheels.

Another great accomplishment was another ABBY Award for Xander, the only student in his class to earn two awards this year.

A few weeks ago I got to accompany Xander's kindergarten class as one of their chaperones on their field trip to the Strawberry Farm. It was so fun to spend that time with him and his cute classmates.

While Xander was petting some of the animals, this goat decided to try to give him a head butt which took Xander by surprise.

At least there were other animals that seemed a little friendlier.

Xander and his close buddies, Orion and Dayne.

Xander's Kindergarten year has exceeded our expectations. Xander has blossomed this year under the loving care and instruction of his wonderful teacher Miss Tomcanin as well as his reading teacher Miss Machovic. He has made incredible strides in his reading and writing; every day I was blown away with the writing samples and stories he would bring home.

What Noah Has Been Up To

2011-06-12T14:56:00.012-04:00

Spring has been a fun time for us, especially Noah who gets to hang out with me a lot. Some of our activities have included feeding the fish at the library pond.

Looks like most of the bread ended up in Noah...

Noah bonded with one of the kittens and named her Cocoa. Poor little Cocoa has been carried around by the neck for most of her short life but she just hangs there, never making a peep of protest. Thanks to Noah's tremendous "love", Cocoa would be the best cat for a family with young children. (If you know of any please let me know!)

Noah's first year of preschool came to an end and we celebrated with the rest of his classmates with a picnic at a local playground.

Preschool has been such a blessing in Noah's life - he has learned so many new things, made fun crafts, laughed a lot, and made lots of new friends.

Pushing one of his buddies on the swing.

His fabulous teachers, Miss Jill and Miss Barb. Noah absolutely adored them and I admired their patience - I know how difficult Noah can be at times.

Noah talks all the time now about being a missionary and where he's going to go (he says France like Daddy). I love how when he's getting ready for church he asks me, "Mommy, do I look like a missionary?" We have had such stellar missionaries here the past year or so but these two have been some of our favorites. Both my boys really have fun hanging out with them.

Our church Memorial Day Breakfast is one of our favorite activities of the year, this year being no exception. One of the highlights? The kids spotted a turtle laying eggs in the grass...pretty neat!

When is Mom going to get through that long line and bring me some pancakes?

We played softball in the 95 degree temperature along with that wonderful Eastern humidity so Noah was definitely up for some water.

And when we got home, more water!

Noah and I went strawberry picking with some friends of ours and despite flashbacks of the dreaded "weeding the strawberry patch" days of my childhood, it wasn't too bad. Noah had a great time just picking away.

We came home with a bunch of strawberries that were later eaten by Xander - ALL of them! In one sitting!

And then there's the beach - sand, sun, water, and best friend Abby. Who could want anything more?

Our Kitties

2011-06-10T15:13:00.004-04:00

A few days ago David posted something about our new kitties - yes, our cat Princess had yet another litter. Definitely time to get that cat fixed. I let her have the kittens in the woods this time because I didn't want any chance of a repeat tragedy. Allowing her to do this meant I had to turn into Sherlock Holmes and find those kittens quickly so that we could start taming them. It took two weeks to find them and get to them - picture me with snow boots on to protect my feet and lower legs, cutting through thick, thorny branches with cutter and shovel. The first time I picked them up they were barely opening their eyes and so, so adorable. We have had the best time these past few weeks playing with them. Introducing Boo-Boo, Farfel, Cocoa, and Cali!

The kids LOVED crawling around on the grass because the kittens would follow them wherever they would go.

We have been able to place two (very tearful occasions for Savannah who still can't persuade us to keep any of them) and hopefully have found homes for the other two. Right now they are in my neighbor's back yard - thank goodness I have the sweetest neighbor who loves having them there - and we soak up as much time with these little cuties as we can.

Mother's Day Celebrations

2011-06-09T08:41:00.005-04:00

Years ago the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said this about motherhood: "Motherhood is near to divinity. It is the highest, holiest service to be assumed by mankind. It places her who honors its holy calling and service next to the angels." I do not always feel that I am doing the best job at this divine calling but I am certainly trying my hardest! What fun it was this year to have so many fun activities to celebrate motherhood. First, Noah's preschool class had a special Mother's Day celebration. The kids sang to us, made us special gifts that were presented to each mother, and then we all enjoyed some cookies and punch.

Each of the children had drawn a picture of his or her mother and answered some questions that were posted on the walls of the classroom. We each had to figure out which drawing was ours. It took me awhile to find Noah's picture of me - but here it is. Apparently I am in my ninja turtle form!

The answers to the questions also threw me for a loop - my favorite food (according to Noah) is broccoli; I'm 5 years old; my favorite color is pink; and my favorite thing to do is go to work. Too funny!

Since Sunday mornings are just too crazy trying to get everyone ready for church, David and the kids made me breakfast in bed on Saturday. What a special treat!

While I ate my delicious food, Xander serenaded me with his guitar. All the songs were Xander originals and had something to do with me.

A couple nights after Mother's Day I had one last fun activity with Savannah and her activity days group. We met at the church in our Sunday best to enjoy cupcakes, games, and crafts.

I definitely love being a mom to these three wonderful children. They bring me such joy and happiness!

Noah's Superhero Birthday Party

2011-06-07T21:03:00.007-04:00

Two months without a computer has been tough especially since it has put me way behind on my blog. So over the next few days my goal is to get our family journal up to date. To start with? Noah's 4 year Superhero birthday party. We had about ten little boys and girs invade our home for some fun, superhero style. The first game we played was Pass the Kryptonite...the only problem with this was I had a lot of explaining to do about kryptonite and why it made Superman weak (these little guys have obviously not spent a lot of time watching Superman). They did grasp that if they were holding the green stick when the music stopped, they needed to fall down with weakness.

Next was the Superhero training obstacle course outside. I love this picture of Noah's excitement as he gets ready to run the course. By the way, Noah is dressed as wolverine.

The course included swinging like Spiderman,

jumping over a tall building in a single bound like Superman,

and running as fast as Flash!

Helping himself to some yummies!

While the kids enjoyed some snacks, the villain, Master Xander, shouted down that he was going to ruin the party...and then he dropped a lot of bombs.

We had the kids quickly difuse them before they exploded. Lucky them - the bombs contained candy!

There was a visit from Mr. Freeze

and then cake and ice cream.

Noah's favorite gifts were the Thor helmet and hammer

and the Green Lantern robot.

Another fun party!

2011-06-02T22:39:00.002-04:00

We have 2 really cute kittens that need great homes. Please let me know if you would like one or if you know anyone who would!

The Plumpton Zoo

2011-04-28T08:40:00.006-04:00

The weather held up enough for Noah and I to enjoy his field trip to a local zoo without facing a downpour. In years past when I have attended this particular field trip with the other kids, we have basically wandered around the small zoo, checking out the animals in their poor habitats and small cages, and feeling sorry for them. Fortunately for the animals the zoo is under new management and they are making great strides in improving the welfare and environment for the animals there. And this time we even had a tour guide who filled us in all kinds of great facts about the animals. We had a lot of fun!

Noah was extremely bummed that he didn't get to feed the giraffe.

This donkey could have been the inspiration for the character in Shrek!

The highlight of the day for Noah was getting a little cup of food and feeding the various animals - donkeys, goats, deer, and some pigs.

This one got ahold of Noah's cup which Noah and his friend Cael thought was pretty funny.

Easter Bunny Day

2011-04-25T15:25:00.008-04:00

Artwork courtesy of Mr. Alexander Nicholas Pierce...not too bad.

Friday night we all colored easter eggs in preparation for Easter Bunny day. Noah enjoyed it so much that we had dye everywhere - he just couldn't contain all that excitement!

Each year the kids have to make a dragon egg so here is a picture of them showing off their special eggs.

Saturday morning - Happy Easter Bunny Day! The loot that the Easter Bunny left - Savannah got a cheerleading outfit for her Monster High dolls and Xander and Noah both got Star Wars Galactic Hero guys.

Empty easter baskets are ready to be filled. Unfortunately it rained Friday night and Saturday morning so the Easter Bunny could only leave eggs in the house. I don't think the kids minded.

Checking out all their yummy Easter candy...Easter candy is definitely the best!

This year the Easter Bunny did a much better job of finding things other than just candy to put in the eggs.

We had a fun time Saturday morning and then Sunday we celebrated a beautiful Easter Sabbath as we remembered the resurrection of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Noah's Spring Party

2011-04-23T15:57:00.007-04:00

Noah and I had a fabulous time at his preschool Spring Party. Each of the kids got to decorate bunny ears,

then got a bunny face,

and finished it all off with a cute bunny tail that they wiggled for all the parents. Too cute!

Before the Easter egg hunt, Noah got to decorate a basket to hold all his eggs and goodies.

Next was the parachute game in which Noah got a little crazy...

...but he sure had fun!

All the cute little bunnies!

Searching for eggs.

Another fun party!

Happy Birthday, Noah!

2011-04-20T21:35:00.008-04:00

On Tuesday, April 17, 2007,at 6:00am David and I headed into the hospital not knowing whether we would be bringing home a little girl or a little boy. Just after 8:00 that morning our little Noah Calvin was born, all 8 pounds, 10 ounces of him. Our lives have never been the same!

Meeting Savannah and Xander.

Here we are, four years later.

Four facts about Noah at age 4:

Unlike the rest of us who are quiet, shy, and a little reserved, Noah is extremely social and outgoing. He has the best smile and seems to just attract people to him with his affable manner.

He loves to dress up. Every time he shows up at school his teachers laugh at the various costumes he wears; one day he's Spiderman, the next he's the swamp monster, and another day he'll be decked out as a pirate. Along with the costumes come his arsenal of weapons which include light sabers, guns, daggers, and swords.

Our Irish ancestors would be proud - Noah has one heck of a temper! He will yell and scream if he doesn't get his way or what he wants. He has also been known to throw a punch or two.

I don't really know how Noah survives on what he eats - this kid is one picky eater. Instead of making a list of foods he doesn't like, we thought a list of what he actually will eat would be much shorter: mac and cheese, pizza, hamburgers, chips, waffles, rice, butter (just by itself - gross!), apple slices, and corn on the cob. Oh, and of course, candy!

Probably the best gift Noah received on his birthday, though he didn't recognize it at the time, was shaking the hand of an apostle of God. Later that evening we had a little family party with presents and cake.

Noah is always extremely grateful for all his gifts, an aspect of his personality that I love and appreciate.

More Star Wars guys from the Clarks.

Check out the cool Yoda slippers from Grandma and Grandpa Schaeffer.

Happy Birthday, cute little Noah!!!

Noah's Favorites at 4:

Color: yellow

Food: hamburger

Movie: any Scooby-Doo movie except Scooby-Doo and the Goblin King (he thinks it's too scary)

Book: Papa Bear (The Berenstein Bears)

Toy: Star Wars

Animal: tiger

Sport: football

Thing to do: play with Star Wars guys

Fruit: bananas

Vegetable: corn

Holiday: Christmas and Halloween

Candy: Swedish Fish

Dessert: cake and ice cream

Favorite Scripture Hero: Jesus

What to be when he grows up: Construction man who digs

Best Friends: Abby, David, Brody

Wonderful Weekend

2011-04-19T14:36:00.004-04:00

Our weekends are usually very relaxing and uneventful but this past one was an exception. I felt like Saturday I ran from one event to the next but they were all worth it! Saturday I got to attend the wedding of one of the young women I was over when I was Young Women president a few years ago. Towards the end of high school she became inactive for several years - but then, a year ago, she was introduced to a recently returned missionary in our ward and the rest is history. Through his influence she was able to come back to activity in the church and, needless to say, I was overjoyed to attend her temple wedding. It was beautiful! There is nothing better than watching a couple start off their lives together in this way.

When I got home from the temple David headed off to church meetings and I got the kids ready to go to the wedding reception that was held at our church building. When that was over we swung by to pick up the kids' babysitter for the evening, I dropped them all at home, and headed down to our Stake Center for the adult session of Stake Conference. The biggest treat of the night was listening to an apostle of God speak to us - Elder Neil L. Anderson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

Both Saturday night and Sunday, as I headed down to attend these special church meetings, I couldn't help but think how lucky I am to have the gospel in my life. Here I was, blessed to be able to listen to an apostle of the Lord, and most of the people in Baltimore weren't even aware of this special person that was in their midst.
And of course the best came on Sunday as we celebrated the birth of our little No-No! What joy he has brought to our family! He is definitely one of a kind and we love him so much!

We love Spring!

2011-04-15T09:26:00.002-04:00

We're finally getting warmer weather and seeing some more green! The kids are taking advantage of the wonderful weather we've been having by spending as much time as they can outdoors.

The scooters have come out of storage!

Xander and his special friend Ella. Climbing trees is part of the warm weather fun.

April Keepers

2011-04-06T09:10:00.005-04:00

"She stretcheth out her hand to the poor; yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the needy." Proverbs 31
Service was the theme of the night. First we all discussed ways that we can provide service to others. Next, the girls helped prepare a dinner to take to a family in need.

To end our night the girls made a no-sew fleece blanket to either donate to a shelter or a hospital.

What a great group of girls! Another fantastic Keepers meeting!

Pastries with Parents

2011-04-04T09:55:00.004-04:00

Xander and I got to spend Thursday morning together at his school's Pastries with Parents for the kindergarten kids. We enjoyed a yummy breakfast of cinnamon rolls, muffins, fruit, and juice and read some books together.

I always love spending a little one-on-one time with each of my kids.

Savannah's Championship Game

2011-03-21T10:46:00.007-04:00

Savannah's big Championship game was this past Saturday. Noah was extremely sick so I was the only one from our family able to make it to cheer her on.
First things first - the warm-up cheer:

"One, two,

Fire it up!

Three, Four,

Fire it up!

One, two, three, four,
What do you think these feet are for?

Dribble, Pass, Shoot, Score!

Go, Polar Bears!!!"

Savannah had another absolutely stellar game. She has really improved this season, especially in the defensive position where her coaches have had her play. (I might have to rethink the whole forward position for her on our outdoor team.)

At halftime the other team was only up 1-0 but they were really, really good and broke away from us in the second half, scoring 3 more goals to win it.
That's okay..2nd place isn't too shabby!

Savannah with some of her cute teammates.

Savannah and I hung around the arena for a few minutes after the game and while we were sitting there, one of Savannah's coaches brought over the coach of the winning team for an introduction. Apparently the coach of the other team coaches an outdoor travel team and he was hoping to recruit Savannah. He invited her to come practice with the team in preparation for tryouts in June. Obviously this was a huge compliment to Savannah and he was extremely disappointed when he found out that we don't play Sundays. I was so proud of Savannah for playing so well that she caught the attention of this coach.
Following the big game the team got together for a pizza party. After food, Coach Dave recognized each of the girls individually for the job they had done throughout the season. He saved Savannah and Kate for last - the 2 defenders - and made a big deal about how they had helped our team get to the championship game by how well they played all season. Yes, I'm an extremely proud mom!!

Receiving her medal from Coach Charlie.

My cute soccer girl!

Leprechaun Mayhem!

2011-03-19T14:34:00.003-04:00

Yep! The leprechauns were at it again! We woke up Thursday morning to a messy house - couches turned over, pillows scattered throughout the house, underwear hanging from banisters, chairs in the wrong spot, green water in the toilets, and even a lamp in the kitchen. The kids loved it!

The only green food we had was green milk for breakfast (I can only stand looking at so much green food and then it kinda makes me sick).

I think the leprechauns went a little easy on us this year because we didn't set any traps to catch them. They left each of the kids a shamrock light-up wand and some Werther's caramels.

For dinner we had our traditional corned beef and cabbage with potatoes - yummy! Happy St. Patrick's Day!

It's Almost Time....

2011-03-15T09:16:00.001-04:00

Last week was but a taste...I can't wait!!! Bring on the madness!!!

Go Polar Bears!

2011-03-14T09:51:00.003-04:00

Friday night Savannah's team, the Polar Bears, continued their tournament run against the Orange Tigers. The game remained scoreless until, with 22 seconds left, one of our girls finally scored! It was pretty exciting, especially now, with that win, the Polar Bears are in the championship game this Saturday. Go Polar Bears!!!

Xander's Last Game

2011-03-10T08:39:00.003-05:00

Xander's Indoor Soccer season is finally at an end and what a great time we have had watching Xander play. There has been some definite improvement in his skills as the season has gone along and I know he had a lot of fun! Plus, that personal goal Xander set for himself? To score 8 goals this year in soccer? Well, he knocked off 6 this season, leaving him only 2 more to go to accomplish his goal. Not too shabby!
A little flushed and sweaty after the game but definitely proud of his award.

March Keepers

2011-03-08T08:44:00.004-05:00

Savannah and I had such a great time at her March Keepers meeting last week - cake decorating!
Here's a picture of all the cute girls in their aprons.

Preparing the icing.

Practicing some different designs - stars, rosettes, shells, and leaves.

Savannah's cute cupcakes.

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss

2011-03-07T10:00:00.002-05:00

In our house Dr. Seuss is one of the favorites! We decided to celebrate his birthday last week with some green eggs and ham for dinner followed up by a evening of reading. My favorite thing about this year was that I wasn't the only one reading - Savannah took a turn...

as well as Xander! Xander read Green Eggs and Ham almost entirely by himself! He's getting so close to his personal goal of being able to read books by himself; I am so proud of him. I always turn to Dr. Seuss books to help my new readers - they are the best!

Favorite moment of the evening - as Xander read about Sam-I-am continuously trying to get his friend to eat green eggs and ham, Savannah sighed loudly and said, "I think Sam should just leave him alone!"

Fire Station Field Trip

2011-03-01T12:13:00.003-05:00

When Noah grows up he wants to be a builder man and a fireman so obviously his preschool class field trip to the local fire station was a big event and one that he was very excited about! One of the fireman spent some time with the kids reviewing what they should do if there's a fire and then showing them all his cool gear.

Each of the kids got their own fireman hat.

Then we got to check out the fire trucks and the ambulance. Pretty fun stuff!

Noah

2011-02-25T14:50:00.006-05:00

In January Noah became a Sunbeam at church. Amazing! No more kids in nursery!!!

He has since had the opportunity to recite a scripture moment during Sharing Time. I was so proud of him because he basically said it without help from me, although he was a little quiet about it which is unusual for him. It is quite obvious to David and I that he enjoys his time at Primary. For Family Home Evening one night he took a turn asking us all why reading the scriptures was important. After each one of us answered, he exclaimed, "Good job!" which is a phrase frequently used in primary.

At some point in January Noah decided that he wanted his own room and since there were no bedrooms left, he decided to spend his nights sleeping in the bathroom. David said absolutely not - what if Savannah or Xander needed the bathroom during the night? I knew full well this sleeping arrangement would be short-lived so I told Noah he could do it. And guess what? I was right - the bathroom as Noah's bedroom lasted all of two nights.

Just like Xander, Noah LOVES to play in the snow. He and Xander have spent many hours out there doing whatever things you can do in the snow - digging tunnels, building snow forts, throwing snowballs, and lots and lots of sledding.

One day this past month Noah informed me that he was now a monkey and he even made a tail out of toilet paper for himself.

The kids and I spent an evening at one of those bouncy places for Noah's best little friend Abby's birthday party.

This is the first year that Noah got to be involved with Valentine's Day. He decorated a little shoebox so his friends could put valentines in it.

They had a Valentine's Day party at school with the usual mix of games, crafts, and food.

He was pretty happy with all the valentines and candy he received from his classmates.

One of Noah's goals this year is to learn his ABC's and to learn how to write his name. He is really coming along on his alphabet and knows almost all the letters plus the sounds they make. He has no interest so far in writing his name but he does love to draw and color and is getting much better at both those things. He is now starting to draw people with arms, legs, and facial features. Too bad the canvas for his beautiful drawing below was my couch!

Noah says that he wants to be a fireman and a builder man when he grows up. He definitely has spent a lot of time the past few months carrying his tools around the house and finding things that need to be "fixed".

Xander

2011-02-23T10:36:00.003-05:00

Xander has also been playing indoor soccer this winter and is enjoying it as much as last season. Although it's a little painful to watch (Xander is still in the age group where the kids just follow where the ball goes and there's A LOT of falling down and on top of each other) we still enjoy cheering Xander on. At the start of the year Xander had set a personal goal to score 8 goals this year and so far he has 3 under his belt.

He's number 12...this is right before he scored one of his goals!

Xander and Noah really enjoy spending their afternoons out in the snow. For awhile we had a ton of snow on the ground because it just wasn't warm enough for it to melt away. The boys made up a sled run at the side of the house and would spend hours sliding down the hill.

Xander LOVES school, especially his teacher, and each night at dinner he fills us in on all the many fun things he and his classmates do each day. One area in which Xander is really improving is his reading. Each afternoon Xander and I spend about 45 minutes reading one of the many readers we check out each week from the library. That goal of his to read 5 books by himself by the end of the year will most likely be completed much sooner.
Xander likes to head down to the basement when he finishes his homework and jam out to some music - Star Wars, Shrek, Disney, Phantom of the Opera and Pirates of the Caribbean are some of his favorite CDs.
With several snow days keeping us indoors Xander and I have had some fun times playing Gauntlet, a game on the old Nintendo 64 that we still have. We make a great team!
Xander continues his fascination with "bad guys", his most recent favorite being Rumplestilskin from Shrek Forever After. Xander even decided to copy his hair - Xander no longer has a faux-hawk but "the Rumplestilskin hair". Good thing he didn't want to copy it exactly and dye it red!

A Much Needed Update

2011-02-21T17:07:00.006-05:00

My mother-in-law told David that she missed my blog, a great motivating statement to get me back on track. I've kinda fallen away from the blogging world because the months of January and February have been rather uneventful. And yet, as I've thought about what to update, there have been some fun things we've been doing to keep ourselves busy. Let's start with Savannah...

The winter months always bring indoor soccer. Although Savannah's team has not been doing that great, Savannah has been playing really well. Savannah's coach has her playing defense, a great position for one so competitive and tough as she is.

The kids have enjoyed the few snow days we've had. Here is Savannah with our tree that got blown over in the vicious wind we had a few weeks ago.

We've had two Keepers meetings this year - the first was in January, the topic: Cleaning and Organization. I got to tackle that very boring subject and it was definitely not as successful as our February activity, machine sewing. The girls learned how to use a sewing machine and even made their own pillowcases!

Look at that concentration!
Preparing the fabric...
What a great new pillowcase! Savannah did such a great job.

Savannah has been steadily reading the Harry Potter series and has almost finished #4, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
Twice a month she attends Activity Days at the church.
She has been extremely busy with her schoolwork, learning her multiplication facts as well as tackling division. She has done a lot of reading as well as various writing assignments.
One of her favorite things in the whole world right now is Monster High, a bunch of dolls such as Frankie Stein, Cleo de Nile, and Draculaura. She received most of them for Christmas and I can often find her up in her room playing with them. She has also created several of her own Monster High dolls including Carla La Rouge (a devil), Zeeba Zombie, and Becca Bones (a skeleton).

A friend of mine gave me an aquarium with all the trimmings which I handed over to Savannah to work on for a Keepers award. We picked out several colorful fish from the pet store and have had such fun watching their antics these past months. The highlight was Xander's fish had babies so we ended up with 8 free fish!

Snow Day!

2011-01-14T09:11:00.002-05:00

Wednesday the kids were overjoyed to wake up and discover that it had snowed enough during the night to produce a Snow Day! I didn't mind it that much either as I got to enjoy a morning of sleeping in, something I don't get to do that often. David worked from home so he took care of the kids' breakfast as well as getting them all bundled up to head out for some fun in the snow. By the time I made it out to take some pictures, Savannah had been out for several hours and was halfway frozen, thus the "I'm trying to smile when all I want to do is cry" look on her face.

Superdad David also built the kids a sled run so Xander had fun doing that.

Although Noah didn't spend that much time outside, he did enjoy digging for a bit.

After the massive snow storms we received last year, it's funny how 4-5 inches of snow doesn't seem like that much anymore. Savannah keeps saying that she hopes it snows again real soon; me - I'm content with the amount we got. When does spring start?!?! I'm done with the cold!

Goals 2011

2011-01-11T11:55:00.003-05:00

The kids and I sat down at the start of the new year and discussed some of the goals that each of them would like to accomplish in 2011.

Noah:

Learn my ABC's
Learn to write my first and last name
Stop drinking out of a sippee
Stop crying when I get mad
Wear underwear without being asked

Xander:

Score 8 goals in soccer
Memorize each monthly Primary scripture
Read 5 books by myself
Learn how to cook a soup and pizza
Be better at sharing

Savannah:

Do personal scripture reading twice a week
Eat healthier snacks
Be kinder to my brothers
Finish reading all the Harry Potter books
Study harder for school
Earn 15 Keepers awards

Mommy:

Start playing the piano again
Read 100 books
Start exercising
Survive soccer camp
Stick to our Total Money Makeover

Christmas Vacation

2011-01-08T10:41:00.008-05:00

Christmas morning came and, although Santa did not come for my kids (he delivered our presents in Baltimore), he did leave some fun gifts for the cousins. Every year the kids gather at the top of the stairs before heading down to the family room!

McKenna got Monster High dolls which is what Savannah has been longing for since the summer. McKenna was so sweet to let Savannah pretty much monopolize her new dolls.

The kids did get to open some gifts from family...Savannah received a new outfit for her Felicity doll;

Xander, of course, got a new Star Wars guy;

and the most excited person of the morning was Noah - he received a Skeletor and Panthor from Grandma and Grandpa! As you can see, he was in heaven with his new gift.

We always have such a wonderful time staying with my parents and this visit we got to stay for nine days. They spoiled us, as usual, taking us to the Children's Museum, to lunch at Red Robin and then to the movie "Tangled", and babysat the kids one night so David and I could go out. We also hit the local Chuck E. Cheese for a few hours (my least favorite place in the whole world)

and then to the mall where they have this trampoline thing that the kids love to do.

New Year's Eve was a pretty low-key affair with most everyone in the house asleep by 11:00. Dad did get us Montgomery Inn for dinner which was YUMMY!!! The week flew by and now we just have to look forward to our next visit.
One final shot of all the cousins.

Although we hated to leave Cincinnati, there was a bright spot: the kids had presents waiting for them at home.
Initially the excitement was low because Santa did not deliver the gifts that they had been hoping for. But they got plenty of other wonderful things and I loved that they had bought gifts for each other.

When I handed Noah his gift from Xander, Noah exclaimed: "Xander, you got me a present? Thank you!" and ran over to Xander to give him a big hug, without even opening his gift.

Noah was excited about every gift he got and would say, "I've been dying for this" after he opened each one.

And then came the finale...the BIG gifts from Mom and Dad. We explained to the kids that we had contacted Santa and told him that this year we wanted to get them the big ticket items. The kids were thrilled! Noah got his Joker car, Xander got his remote control Star Wars tank,

and Savannah got her Monster High dolls.

Another wonderful Christmas!