General Conference Part 1

We watched conference at my parents' house today. We got there an hour early, so the kids could eat before conference began. We've tried eating during conference in the past, but it's too much of a distraction. Food wasn't an issue today. The kids did very well listening! They each had a word to listen for and each time they heard their word, they would earn a little piece of candy. Zach loves President Eyring now because he said faith many times in his talk! Noah's word was church and that was said a lot, too. Everybody helped Noah with his word. Kate started out with the word prayer, but she had fun listening for the word church, so she switched. Emily chose the word love, Zoe chose the word temple (which wasn't mentioned as much as she had hoped) and Eleanor picked Jesus Christ to listen for. This activity really helps the kids to pay attention to what is being said. :-)

3 Day Weekend

There was no school today and no datenight. :-( We did some cleaning, watched too much "Good Luck Charlie", Caitlin & Cassidy came over & the kids watched "The Smurfs" movie. This evening, Zoe & Emily went to see the middle school play "Kilroy was here". They enjoyed seeing their classmates and friends perform.

I am looking forward to General Conference this weekend! The candy is bought and I am ready to bribe the kids into listening. :-)

Movie Night

Matt & Zoe are watching "The Hunger Games" right now at the theater. Zoe's friend, Caitlin is with them. The rest of us stayed home to watch "The Tale of Despereaux". I have watched this movie twice and I have yet to see the ending of it! The first time, I was at a movie night at the school and I was looking at the new math programs that were being considered for this school year. Tonight, I fell asleep.

Report Cards

Zoe & Emily had another great trimester of school!

Zoe
Math: 98
Language Arts: 96
Social Studies: 98
Science: 97
Physical Education: 100
Art: 98

Emily
Math: 92
Language Arts: 91
Science: 92
Social Studies: 93
Physical Education: 100
Music: 95
Art: 100
Reading: 91

A=93-100
B=85-92

We are proud of you girls!

Happy Birthday Relief Society!

We had a dinner this evening to celebrate the sisterhood we have at church. Along with the delicious food, we enjoyed some entertainment.

Tiffany, Nathan, Morgan & Zoe rapped along with Alex Boyle to a song dedicated to Relief Society sisters. FUNNY! We were all singing the chorus by the end of the song.

We also had a spiritual moment together as we watched a video about a burn victim who lets her light shine (our theme for the evening) and each member of the Relief Society Presidency shared her testimony. Then it was dessert time! I enjoyed the sugar free apple crisp. :-)

I am so grateful to be a part of Relief Society!

The 13 year no cavity stretch

Has ended for the kids. Emily has a few cavities, but fortunately for her and us they are on her baby teeth that will be falling out soon. Zoe thought for sure that Eleanor would get the first cavity, but no cavities in sight for Eleanor. Noah had the worst news of all. He has a cavity that needs to be filled and his front tooth that he knocked into his gum and then it came back down on its own needs to be pulled. That tooth is acting as a splinter and it is causing problems in his gums. So, next month he will have his tooth pulled and get a filling during the same visit. :-(

Shhhhh

Sacrament meeting was eventful today. It goes smoothly when Matt is not there until both Kate & Noah want to sit on my lap. I had them both on my lap until Noah was squishing Kate, so she got off. Noah was quite whiny and talkative throughout the meeting. He wanted to know when the meeting was going to end (repeatedly). He whined that he didn't get to finish his cereal. He wanted to know if he could finish his cereal when he got home. I was constantly shushing him. Toward the end of the meeting, Kate & Noah were fighting with each other. Yes, it was an eventful meeting indeed.

Primary went well today. I had a proud mommy moment when my kids were recognized for knowing all of the verses to "Choose the Right". Want your kids to learn a song, scripture verse, article of faith, etc..? Sing/say it with them every day. My younger kids are learning the articles of faith along with the older girls because we recite the same one over and over again until Eleanor has it memorized. The younger 3 will have all of the articles of faith memorized by the time they are 8! Now, if I could just get Kate & Noah to remain quiet and sit still during Sacrament meeting!

Let the work resume

Construction has started again! Our winter break was nice, but it's time to get back to work. We cleaned and organized the work area today. Zoe dug a hole to the septic line. Our goal this Spring/Summer is to complete the outer shell of our home. This will include the 2nd floor walls, the roof, windows, doors & shingles. I'm excited!

Zoe & I went over to my parents' house this evening to watch the Young Women General Broadcast. Zoe is staying with my parents this evening. She takes advantage of any opportunity to sleep in a real bed. That is one thing I look forward to buying my children when our new home is finished. Real beds!

Done

I should know by now that my body can't handle a lot of aerobic exercise. At the beginning of the month, I started doing step aerobics every morning for 30 minutes. Now I have swollen lymph nodes in the right side of my neck, I'm tired (more than usual), and I had a bad headache at the beginning of the week. I had myself convinced today that I have mono, but this evening I am convinced that I am dealing with sarcoidosis again. Hopefully, this time my lymph nodes are just involved and not my lungs. I am done with step aerobics and will go back to yoga and other easy going exercises. This is the second time that aerobic exercise has led to unpleasant symptoms. No more!

Adventures

Kate, Noah & I wanted to have a picnic today, but we didn't want to be in the 80 degree sun. We settled on an adventure in our future dining room. I had to explain to Kate & Noah what a dining room is. It is going to be so nice when it is finished and we can sit at a table here! :-)




My Mom & I went on another adventure to Waterville this evening. We ate dinner at Applebee's and then we went to our Stake Auxiliary Training. We survived the ride both ways in her smelly car. She suspects that mice have climbed into her heating/cooling system and died. I think she is right!

Can you believe it?

80 degree weather in March in Maine! We are soaking up all this sunshine and heat while we can!


My day started with a headache. I rarely get headaches. I slept most of the morning and then forced myself to get up and moving. I only had a slight headache the rest of the day. We went to the park again after school. When we got home, the kids ate dinner outside. It was cooler outside than in the house! We're not equipped for 80 degree weather yet!

Zoe & I headed to church for Cub Scouts and Young Women's. Zoe worked on sewing a purse. Nathan, Andrew & I talked about what it means to be a good citizen. Then we picked up trash outside near the church. We were all so happy to be outside! Nathan & Andrew were awesome about picking up trash. They were really into it and wanted to fill another bag after we filled the first one. They couldn't believe how much trash we found in a wooded area between a road and the church. We did find a lot more than I thought we would.

Zoe spent some of her birthday money at Walmart before we came home. She now has new gym/track clothes. She is going to try track this Spring instead of softball. I can't wait to watch her!

SPRING

Best First Day of Spring EVER!
Excited to play at the park after school?

Most of the kids were!









They will sleep good tonight. :-)

Field Trips

Eleanor's class went to the Challenger Learning Center today.


It was one of the best field trips I have been on. It is a hands on place and the kids were busy doing different activities. We ate lunch when we first got there. Then the class split into 2 groups. Eleanor's group started in the Mission Control Room. Eleanor and Autumn were partners for the day. Here they are at the navigation center.

I didn't get a picture of them at the visual reaction center because I was busy helping them, but I took a picture of one of their classmates. This activity showed how astronauts in space have to adjust to a new environment. The kids tossed bean bags in the square, then they put on special goggles and spun a few times with their eyes closed and then opened their eyes and tossed more bean bags into the square. These bean bags went to the left and hit the wall.

At the geology center, the kids tested rocks to see if any were magnetic.

They tested different materials to see what would make a good spacesuit to protect astronauts from radiation. Right before I took the picture, a fake siren went off warning that the radiation level was too high in the pretend space shuttle that the other group was in, so it would be landing soon.

At the communication center, the kids put on a headset and read space fact cards. When they were done, they recorded the time that their communication ended.

Then it was time to go into the pretend space shuttle, which was headed for the International Space Station.

Observing the lifeless space insects.

The kids worked in contained environments, which is a challenge! Here is Eleanor creating a pattern.

Eleanor and Autumn didn't have time to test the probe parts, but here are all the kids learning about the activity.

Another contained environment. The girls worked together to make a puzzle.

The kids did the spectrum activity together.

Here is Eleanor checking her pulse at the medical test center.

She proved healthy enough to exercise. :-)

The robotic arm was hard! This was the last activity for the day.


Emily spent her day close by at Starbase.

13

After church, Zoe had lobster and macaroni salad. Her food dreams came true today!

Zoe had some gifts that she didn't know she was getting. Thanks Grandma &
Grandpa!
And some gifts that she picked out for herself yesterday. Thanks Grammie & Grampie! Zoe is going to clean their house to earn money to add minutes to her pay as you go phone.




Zoe requested a lemon cake from Matt. She insisted on putting her own candles on.



This may be Zoe's best birthday yet! She now has a phone! Zoe claims that with her phone and her iPod Touch, she doesn't need anything else. Eleanor is looking forward to going through Zoe's belongings to see what she can claim.

Enjoy your first year as a teenager, Zoe! We love you!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

I normally don't do anything special on this day, but I stepped it up a notch and bought the kids Lucky Charms to eat for breakfast. They loved that change!

Zoe, Emily, my mom & I enjoyed a pre birthday lunch at Applebee's today. Here are Zoe & Emily posing with their green Sierra Mist.

We did some shopping before lunch. Zoe decided that she wanted to pick out a few of her gifts this year. Tune in tomorrow to see what she got. :-). Zoe & Emily are staying with my parents this evening. The next time we see Zoe, she will be 13!

It was a warm, sunny, beautiful day today! The softball/baseball gloves and balls were dug out. This will be Eleanor's first year playing in the softball league and she is very excited!

Stickers & Christmas Colors

Zoe has already made a parenting decision. After seeing a sticker on our Yukon window that Noah put there, Zoe declared that none of her kids would be allowed to put stickers on the car windows...EVER! She is not going to budge on that. There is a car around town that has stickers all over the windows and Zoe does not like it at all. I'm not a fan of the stickers either, which is why usually we don't have stickers on our windows. :-)

Zoe is also not a fan of red and green together (Christmas colors) when it is not the Christmas season. I thought of this when Noah told me that I would be red and he would be green while playing the game Sorry today because they are Christmas colors. :-)

Moments to Remember

Noah & I spent some time together outside today. He loves being able to swing all by himself now!












Zach & I went to Walmart this evening to get his hair cut and to get his picture taken. Then he spent his gift card and some of his birthday money. We had a fun time!

I started reading the 1st Harry Potter book to Eleanor & Zach this evening. I'm excited about this because a) I love the Harry Potter books and b) it is a fun way to spend time with Eleanor & Zach.