Wii Fit Plus

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

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

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

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





Look at this awesome cake!

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


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

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

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

Marathon Day

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

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

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

House Pictures & More

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

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

Mudroom Entrance


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

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


They made umbrellas.


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



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

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

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

Then a shark...

He played Red Light Green Light


He played Freeze Tag


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

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





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



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

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

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



went down the slide



ran and jumped



went through the obstacle course


rested a tiny bit

and had lots of fun!


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

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

CRAZY Week

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

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

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

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

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

October is

Dress up month!

The Saxophone

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

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

A Rainy Conference Day

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

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

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

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

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

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