The Many Mini-Adventures of the Wards

kids say the darndest things

2011-10-22T10:34:00.000-07:00

Jackson has a daily behavior card monitoring system in kindergarten.

Green card = good job.
Yellow card = oops, you messed up.
Red card = you're in big trouble.

It is not uncommon for Jackson to pull a card. Every day his goal is to "stay on green card all day". Some days he meets his goal. Some days he does not. As far as we know, Jackson has never made it all the way to red card.

Yesterday, towards the start of the day, Jackson was talking too much and pulled his yellow card. (Oops, he messed up.) He happily went along with his day trying hard to be better, pay attention, follow directions, and not talk too much.

At recess Jackson so kindly shared a cookie from his snack with his teacher. She graciously ate the entire cookie! After she had eaten the cookie Jackson says, "Mrs. Nelson? I can go on green card now?"

Mrs. Nelson paused and thought about his best efforts to be good and said, "Yes, Jackson. You've earned your green card back. You can turn your card back to green."

Jackson walks into class and announces to the entire room, "EVERYONE, IF YOU WANT YOUR GREEN CARD BACK YOU JUST GIVE MRS. NELSON A COOKIE!"

Of course she heard his little announcement and she quickly tried to explain to Jackson and the entire class that this is not the proper way to earn back your green card. Poor Mrs. Nelson!

Summer Movie Fest 2011

2011-08-06T10:00:00.000-07:00

It has been a Summer Movie Fest for the Wards this year. We kicked off the summer early by seeing Kung Fu 2 during the last week of school - we couldn't wait for summer to officially be here - because we knew there were so many great movies coming out in summer 2011! Here is a quick run down of all the shows we saw and what we thought of them... Our grading scale is from 1 (not so great) to 5 (we LOVED it!).

Kung Fu 2
5 stars

We LOVED this movie. It was inspirational, entertaining, and 100% family friendly. It also helps that we are huge Jack Black fans around here :)

Super 8
4 stars

Just Jeremy & Jennifer saw this movie. It was so well done - just like every other Speilberg movie. We didn't think it was as fantastic as the critics made it out to be, but still very very good. It was a combination of Goonies and ET. Set in the 70s, lots of language, a sci-fi twist, with a gang of no-name kid actors.

Rango

3 stars

Jeremy took the kids to see this one at the $3 theater. He said there were some super funny bits and that the kids liked it better than Rio.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon
2 stars

Jeremy went to see this movie for a 'guys night out'. He said, "There was a lot of CG action." Autobots battling Decepticons. I say, "What did you expect?"

Cars 2
2 stars

We were SOOO excited for this movie release. Our family LOVED the first Disney/Pixar Cars movie and were highly anticipating the next installment with our favorite characters. As with so many sequels, the film makers try really hard to out do the first movie. It was too much.We were sorely disappointed :( Several time through the movie Jackson (5 years old - should have totally enjoyed this show) put his hands over his ears and said, "I don't like this movie!" The news clip scenes were so long, the social drinking was inappropriate (I know they were drinking 'oil', but for heaven's sake it looked like alcohol!), and they jumped all over the globe - it was hard to keep the story straight. Now that I've killed this movie, let me tell you what we did like: the animation was great, the characters were the same loveable ones we met in Cars 1, and it was great to see Mater have a bigger role.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
5 + stars!

It was certainly a summer of sequels and HP did not disappoint. This movie was the big finnisher of all finneshes. The Grand Finale to a generation of Harry Potter mania. We did not wait outside for hours and hours like so many die-hards did ;) Instead, we bought the double feature tickets that showed HP 7 part 1 at 8:30 and then the premier at midnight. It was the way to go! We got to sit in a comfy theater seat with air conditioning and entertainment while we waited for the midnight showing. We were so happy with this movie. It stayed true to the book, true to the characters, and true to the fans.The story wrapped up so nicely with lots of action, one great kiss, and a super sweet ending.

This photo was taken AFTER we saw the show at about 3:00 am.

I Am Number 4
4 stars

To confess, we did not see this movie in the theater. We got the disc through Netflix and were pleasantly surprised with a fun teen sci-fi flick! So pleased, in fact, that we've watched it several times. Beware some language and some super scary bad guys.

Thor
3 stars

We began our preparation for next years Avengers* movie by taking the kids to see Thor. It was a good fantasy/mythology genre movie. We liked this movie well enough and look forward to seeing Thor's character again in 2012.
*The Avengers movie will star 4 Marvel Comics heroes: Thor, Captain America, Iron Man, and the Hulk. No worries, we have both Hulk movies in our Netflix queue and Iron Man recorded on our DVR. We will be prepared!

Captain America: The First Avenger
4 stars

The boys were most excited to see this movie. They'd seen the trailers on TV and couldn't wait to see a scrawny man transformed into a hero. We were surprised at the PG-13 rating. The 1940s setting was like a breath of fresh air. Clean humor, modest clothes, clean cut hair, and bright red lipstick! The boys most liked Captain America's super human strength, speed, and cool shield. These days, Jackson is especially enamored with anything resembling the American flag.

Those are all the movies we've seen up to this point in our Summer Film Fest. We have been highly entertained and stuffed with lots of FREE popcorn (thank you to Yahoo! and Regal for 1 million free bags of popcorn promo!). Do not fear! We are not done yet! There are still several films we'd like to see before summer officially comes to a close.

'To See' before summer's end:
X-Men First Class
Adjustment Bureau
Green Lantern
The Smurfs
Cowboys vs. Aliens
Pirates of the Caribbean
The Help

Family Camp 2011

2011-07-07T11:00:00.000-07:00

We had a blast at Family Camp this year. It was a fun-filled, memory-making, high adventure week. Enjoy a photo narration of our good times.

Catching Creatures

Kayaking

Fishing

Trevor caught about 6 fish! His biggest was as 12 inch Rainbow Trout. He learned how to clean it, prep it, and cook it in the fire. He was so excited to eat his catch, "It tastes like chicken!" he said.

Skit Nite

Lounging on the beach

Hanging out with the teeny-boppers

Playing games in camp

We had 2 boats this year! The Sanger and the Malibu Skier

Talent Nite
Zachary kicked things off with the Star Spangled Banner and Jackson favored us with his sword fighting talent.

Celebrating the 4th

Eating!

Rafting

Water balloon fight!

Rock Jumping

Trying to go home

There is always a challenge when trying to pack up and leave camp. This year was no exception. Pulling the boat out of the water posed a challenge for our oversize trucks. Getting stuck in the mud is never fun. How many guys does it take to push a 2 ton truck out of the lake?

We are proud to announce that there wasn't one single trip to the ER this year. Woo hoo! That was a first. We were so spoiled to hang out with good friends and family for a whole week. The Minnicks came all the way from Montana to be with us! It was a fantastic week of good times, dirty fingernails, blue hands, HOT and/or COLD showers, card games, ghost town exploration, scary stories, staying up late, adult conversation at the late night campfire, and excellent dinners. We are already looking forward to Family Camp 2012!

End of the year Awards

2011-06-22T07:32:00.000-07:00

The kids all finished off the year with some great awards. Mom and Dad got to attend several award ceremonies to honor these fantastic kids.

Trevor earned his Block R Award for the 2nd year in a row. To earn this award he had to be involved with a bunch of extra-curricular activities while maintaining good grades. He soared in his academics this year! He earned High Honor Roll all 4 quarters! That is a HUGE accomplishment for our boy!

Logan had a great year in athletics. His coaches were so impressed with him after each season for being consistent as one of the top performing athletes on his team. He was awarded with the Outstanding Runner trophy at the sports awards ceremony. Way to go Logan!

Lizzie had a great year in first grade. In fact, she liked it so much that she never missed a day! We were all so surprised to learn that she had earned Perfect Attendance for ALL 4 QUARTERS. Wow! Good Job Lizzie!

Jackson (and Mommy's) last day of Joy School

2011-06-21T07:51:00.001-07:00

Jackson has successfully finished his preschool years. He had a fun year learning his ABC's, 123's, and making lots of cute crafts. Here he is on his last and final day as a preschooler. Goodness! That boys is full of spit and vinegar! Of course, with a little sprinkling of sweetness and sugar on the side... :)

Jackson and all of his siblings participated in 2 years of Joy School. The moms of all the kids would take turns hosting Joy School at their house once or twice a week throughout the school year. That means that I (ME, the Mama) have also successfully completed 8 YEARS of Joy School! (Yay me!) It is a bittersweet moment to say goodbye to those years - the years when kids were still babies. These kids are all growing up on me. Too fast, I say. 'Stop growing up' has been our motto around here for the last several months. But since there is nothing I can do to slow time or force them to stay young we will instead look to the looming future...

Jackson looks forward to starting kindergarten this fall and is in for quite a surprise... ALL DAY kindergarten! None of our other kids experienced a full day of school during their first year in public school. Another school in our area has had huge success with their trial of an all day kindergarten program and now our school has decided to follow their example. I'm sure there will be a Jackson update at the start of the school year. We cross our fingers and toes to get a loving, patient teacher for our squirrely boy!

For now, Jackson is happy to run wild in the backyard and soak up the long days of summer with all his backyard pals.

kids say the darndest things

2011-06-16T15:41:00.000-07:00

We're having dinner as a family. Jackson's cup is empty and he is thirsty. He thrusts his empty cup towards Jeremy and says, "Daddy. More juice!"

Jeremy says, "Excuse me? Jackson, you are supposed to say, 'more juice, please'."

Jackson responds, "No daddy, YOU say, 'coming right up'!"

* . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . *

Here's another deep conversation between Lizzie and Mommy...

Lizzie: Mommy, are there any old movies I haven't seen?

Mommy: Yes, there are lots of old movies you haven't seen.

Lizzie: Like what?

Mommy: Well... let's see... have you seen Meet me in St. Louis?

Lizzie: No

Mommy: Have you seen The Wizard of Oz? That's one of my favorite old movies.

Lizzie: You're just like Oprah!

Mommy: What?!

Lizzie: You love The Wizard of Oz just like Oprah, but I hate that movie!

Mommy: Well then, it sounds like you need to watch it again because it's the best.

[How does this girl know that Oprah likes that movie? We've watched Oprah ONCE in the last 5 years!]

kids say the darndest things

2011-06-11T09:02:00.000-07:00

While driving in the car yesterday we were having a family conversation that went a little something like this...

Jackson: All the girls nike me.

Daddy: Why do all the girls like you, Jackson?

Jackson: Dey say I so cute.

Summer Activities

2011-06-09T14:32:00.001-07:00

Summer is just about here... only one more day of school for the kiddos and then it's over. Or it's beginning? Either way you look at it, the kids will be home all summer! My friend, Leslie, made a list of all the fun things they'd be doing this summer. I thought I'd do the same - even if only to get ideas from others so we don't end up playing video games all the days long!

Swim lessons

Swim in the pool

Water polo camp

Read books

Music camp

Go to Wild Water Adventures

Cub Scout Day Camp

$1 & $3 movie theaters

Scout Camp

Teach the kids how to cook - cookie squares, mac n cheese, pancakes, quesadillas (any other babysitting foods???)

Camping at the Beach

Once a week library visits (to check out more FREE video games! and books, of course)

Sleepovers

Camping in the mountains

Movies on the wall in the backyard

Smores with a backyard bonfire

Nerf battles

Airsoft wars

Pedicures

Chuck E Cheese when reading charts are filled!

Go to the farm

Check out the city parks with water features

Family bike rides

Walks to the gas station

Playdates

Of course, all of this fun will happen after the morning chore charts have been completed:
brush teeth
make bed
pick up dirty clothes
read
Jackson Job (read with Jackson, ABC Flashcards with Jackson, or white board writing letters with Jackson)
around the house job x2

That's the plan anyway... we'll see how long the mama's will power lasts :/

What are you doing for family fun this summer to keep the summer doldrums away?

Double Digits

2011-05-24T10:00:00.000-07:00

Logan is officially 10 years old. It has been a great decade. Here are some pretty fantastic things Logan did in his 10th year:

- won a baseball championship
- went to his first concert: Star Wars
- shook Pat Hill's hand!
- won most of his Cross Country races & was awarded MVP for his team
- placed 9th in Cross Country District Finals
- earned his Bear rank in Cub Scouts (and several arrow points, belt loops, and beads)
- learned how to knee board
- won all but one of his wrestling matches
- went snow skiing several times
- took first place in Regional DI competition

Just for funsies, here are all the different "cakes" Logan got at his multiple birthday parties (remember Logan does not eat sweet or anything with too much sugar):
1. family party: Toaster Scramblers (top L picture)
2. Duran family party: french fries (bottom L Picture)
3. Ward family party: tator tots

Logan learned a little trick last year...he asked only for ca$h on his birthday wish list and ended up with enough money to purchase his own 32 gig iPod Touch. That was last year. This year he had a different expensive item in mind - a PS3. He put out his wish list again and he was gifted enough money to purchase a new game system. Here he is with all of his loot. WOW. That is a lot of cash for one kid. My favorite is the dollar bill boa necklace. Nice. :) (Special thanks to all the grandmas, grandpas, cousins, aunts, and uncles that obliged Logan's request for birthday $$ - you made his day!)

Here are the things we will always remember about you at 10 years old. You are a most obedient boy, always trying to do the right thing. You are a master at finishing your chores in record time. You are already an excellent co-babysitter - paying attention to the kids and cleaning up before mom and dad get home. You give the best goodbye/goodnight kisses. We love that you say, "I love you" as many times as possible at bedtime. WE LOVE YOU TOO. Happy Birthday, Logie Man.

Book Page Wreath

2011-05-20T12:29:00.000-07:00

The last several weeks have been busy as usual, but I caught a small decorating bug. If you've ever done some decorating in your home you know what happens when you start one project... it snowballs. The above cabinet space in the kitchen needed to be revamped after Easter, as did the shelves in the dining area, the art above my couch has been screaming at me for months, and so has the family picture above my piano. Rearranging and repurposing items from around the house creates even more projects.

Soooo, instead of doing all those other things, I began with a craft project that I knew could be finished started and finished within a couple of hours. Those other projects would take much preparation and planning.

Here is the idea I found online. Read her blog for directions and tutorial on putting this wreath together. Here is the list of supplies needed for this project:

1 9 inch foam wreath (I used a wicker 12 inch wreath)
1 pack of mini glue sticks (and glue gun)
1 paperback book (I got a big hardcover book) 300 + pages
black, gray, gold paint (I used whatever spray paint I already had in my garage)

TOTAL COST: $2 + glue sticks

I purchased the wreath and book at the Dollar Tree. The small difference in the inches of the wreath made a HUGE difference in the end. And the size of my book was pretty big too. A paperback would have been easier for ripping out pages too.

Total time to complete this project. 2 hours (including a break for visiting with neighbors). Perfect for a Sunday afternoon.

The wreath I made turned out really really big. Much bigger than I imagined. It is nearly 2 feet across! I should have known this would happen - start with a 12 inch wreath and all that paper will double its width. Lesson learned. You want a small wreath...use a small wreath to begin with. I am happy with the results. And the enormous size has grown on me. I like it. It makes a statement.

As much as I like my new handmade decoration, I still prefer the look of the inspiration wreath. Mine is very fluffy while hers is more compact and scrunched looking.

Here's what I'd do different next time:
1. use a smaller wreath
2. use a smaller PAPERBACK book with words that stretch to the edge of the page
3. paint the edges of my paper even more
4. make my paper more scrunchy

For now, my paper pleasure will delight visitors as it greets them on my front door. (I have nowhere else to hang something this large.) And if you make one, please post pictures somewhere and leave a link so we can compare notes.

kids say the darndest things

2011-05-11T19:31:00.000-07:00

Jackson and I are pumping gas at Costco when the freak hail storm hit us last Monday. The hail is hitting the ground and bouncing all over the place. I think to myself, Jackson's got to see this up close! I call him to get out of the car and check out all the crazy hail. As he's hopping out of the car some stray pieces of hail make their way into the car. Jackson sees them and yells (loud enough for all the other gas pumping people to hear), "WE GOT TO GET THE HAIL OUTTA HERE!"

Yes, that is my child. He is hilarious!

Take you to Rio, Rio

2011-05-05T10:30:00.000-07:00

It's STAR testing at our school this week. That means that our kids do NOT have any homework for a solid week! Yippeee! What do we do to celebrate these extra few hours of freedom? We go to the movies of course!

The only family friendly movie that fit into our Tuesday schedule was the vibrantly colorful Rio.

This movie was made by the creators of the Ice Age movies. There is an Ice Age short just before the feature film begins. It was quite funny. That Scat (squirrely prehistoric creature) is a comedic character that we all muchly enjoyed.

Here's what we liked about Rio:
1. It had GREAT music! We'll be downloading several songs from the soundtrack for sure.
2. The colors were so vibrant
3. The setting was gorgeous - never been to Rio, but would like to see for myself if it is as fantastic as it was portrayed to be.
4. It was fun to hear a star studded cast of animated characters: will.i.am, Anne Hathaway, Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network guy), George Lopez, Tracy Morgan, Jaime Foxx, Jayne Lynch.

Here's what we disliked about Rio:
1. The story was only ok. Not super engaging.
2. There were some skanky costumes towards the end (they go to Carnival in Rio) It seemed sort of inappropriate to watch a character in a children's movie walking around in a bikini.

We give this movie 2 1/2 drooling bulldogs out of 5.

Go see this movie if you're up for a family friendly experience. But take care to go to the $3 theater.

Don't go see this movie if you dislike talking animals, great music, or if you plan to just rent it at Red Box for free.

Or, just watch the Ice Age short and download the soundtrack from iTunes.

Jackson get's stitches AGAIN!

2011-04-29T07:33:00.000-07:00

Just in time to kick off Spring Break this year, Jackson took a header off the trampoline and smacked his forehead into the trampoline frame. It split his skin perfectly down the center of his forehead. We butterfly bandaged it up pretty good until we got to see our favorite expert stitches doctor at urgent care. Remember, Jackson had his first set of stitches only 6 months ago. We got to see the same doctor again.

Here we are in the exam room. That gash was really good.
BEFORE: (Here is the BEFORE picture from 6 months ago. Look how close his new gash is to the old gash.)
.....

We passed the time waiting for the doctor with some good ol' thumb wrestling...

DURING the procedure:
Here's Jackson under the paper shield and the doctor's expert hands working their magic. Can you see only his boo boo peeking out from the cutout in the shield?

AFTER
Jackson was not a fan of getting stitches. He told us as much afterward. He did not like being strapped down to the papoose board totally restrained from using his arms. Can you see the white ring of skin all around the stitches? That is the numbing medicine the doctor shot right into the gash. The stitches didn't hurt going in, but that shot was sooo painful!

A WEEK LATER

Here is our boy at his Easter portrait photo shoot. Stitches removed. Happy as can be. It looks ok in this picture, but if you see him anytime within the next 30 days he will have a big purple splotch of "anti-scar" ointment over his scar. We will do our best to make sure that scar is as small as possible in that prominent spot on his forehead. We can only hope that there will be a single scar right there on his head. With Jackson's track record we're probably in for many more trips to the urgent care.

Easter Portraits

2011-04-27T08:33:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter 2011

2011-04-24T09:19:00.000-07:00

kids say the darndest things

2011-04-16T08:00:00.000-07:00

We had just hopped in the car to run a few errands. We're almost to our destination when Jackson looks up from the iPod and realizes...

Jackson: Aw, dane-it! I got for my shoes!

Mom: You what?

Jackson: I got for my shoes!

Mom: You got for your shoes?

Jackson: See, I got for my shoes. Dey are at home.

Mom: Oooohhh. You mean you FOR-GOT your shoes.

* * * * * * * *

Jackson is helping me load the groceries from the conveyor belt and into the car. He spies a treat he likes and says, "I nike those rocket chips!"

Mom: You like rocket ships?

Jackson: No, I say rocket CHIPS.

Mom: Rocket chips?

Jackson: See, dose rocket chips. [Pointing to the flamin' hot cheetos] Dey so spicy.

Jackson turns 5!

2011-04-15T08:00:00.000-07:00

Jackson is officially 5 years old! He survived his whirlwind birthday day (that was the same day as the great DI competition) and ended up more spoiled than usual. He had so many birthday celebrations!!

- with the Duran family
- with the Ward family
- a small family party on his birthday morning
- a large chorus of DI competitors singing at lunch
- a McDonald's full of cousins singing at dinner
- a birthday date with mom to Build-a-Bear workshop and pizza lunch
- and a special birthday playdate with his birthday friend, Liam

We went to the doctor for his 5 year old physical (and shots - ow!). We had already measured him on our "birthday growth chart measuring board thingy" and the dr. visit confirmed our measurements. Here are his official stats: 44 inches tall and 44 pounds! He is perfectly proportioned.

Jackson is one inch taller than Lizzie was at 5 years. He also grew 3 INCHES in one year! My goodness they grow so fast!

Jackson, here are 10 things we will remember about you at 5 years:
1. you love to play on the iPod
2. your favorite foods are chicken nuggets, Me N Ed's pizza, Dole peach parfait cups, and top ramen noodles
3. you like to wear your church clothes all day long on Sundays
4. you love going for bike rides to get a shoot gun from the gas station
5. you like helping mommy make banana chocolate chip muffins
6. your favorite color is RED
7. you are addicted to playing with LEGOS and love to organize them on your lego shelf
8. your googah is still around and brings you much happiness
9. you are excited to go to kindergarten
10. you know all the letters in your name and enjoy writing them... in no particular order

DI CA State Finals 2011

2011-04-13T18:37:00.000-07:00

Trevor's group got to compete at the State Finals this year. They originally did not make the cut after Regionals (watch their Regionals performance HERE), but circumstances were altered in our favor and they got to go after all! The kids were stoked at the chance to compete again and show off their stuff.

Trevor and his team knew they'd have to amp up their game at State because they'd be competing against the BEST 17 Junior High teams from the entire state. (Our kids are all 6th graders attending elementary school, but because of their age, they had to compete against teams that are all older than them!) They worked their booties off to prepare for their main challenge. They researched and memorized information about 6 different cultures and prepared 6 differents skits to go with each one. Each skit was only 5 minutes long, but you'd be surprised at just how much preparation goes into those quick 5 minutes.

Here's their mission:

Create a five-minute Improvisational Skit about a Mission involving a Mythical Creature. This must be done in a five-minute Preparation Time prior to your Presentation at the Tournament.

This skit was THE BEST performance we'd ever seen from these guys. Their level of energy and stage presence was so much more than their first attempt at Regionals. They were really good at Regionals, but at State - they were AMAZING. Enjoy a video of their fabulous performance.

Be on the lookout for these items:
- mythical creature
- facts about mythical creature
- culture
- facts about culture
- 3 "souvenirs"
- 1 "mega prop" made out of 3 souvenirs
- unexpected element (Elder breaks his tooth) and how the team resolves the issue

Logan's team did a compeletly different challenge than Trevor's. They got to build a structure, test it's weight, and prepare an 8 minute skit. No improv elements here. They did a FANTASTIC job at Regionals. They took FIRST PLACE in their event! (Watch their Regionals performance HERE.)

These kids built countless structures and used many gallons of glue to perfect their structure. It all paid off in the end. The structure they took to State held the most weight of any other they built. They also decided to amp up their game because they'd be competing against the top 18 teams from the state of California. They constructed some very cool dual sided backgrounds in addition to their wood/foil props. Their skit contained much humor - it always helps to get those judges laughing. :)

Here was their challenge:

Design and build a Structure made only of Aluminum Foil, Wood and Glue
Test how much weight the Structure will hold
Present a Story about a character that is Foiled
Integrate team-written Verse and published Verse into your Story

Be on the lookout for these skit elements:
- 2 side trips (ninja powers, dancing)
- 2 verses (one original and one copyrighted)
- the main character getting "foiled"
- props made of wood and/or foil

The main challenge are the ones you see recorded here. There is one more element to Destination Imagination - the Instant Challenge (dun dun dun!). The Instant Challenge is a secret event. (No details can be spoken or shared until after the Global Finals in June. Truly! The team swears an oath and signs their lives away!) The Instant Challenge will either make or break your rank. Let's just say, this year, the State IC's were very difficult for both teams.

Overall:

Trevor's team placed 12th in their event.

and Logan's team placed 6th in their event.

Their main challenges were very good, even better, than much of their competitors. It was quite impressive to see them pull out their best game when it really counted. Everything worked out to everyone's satisfaction in the end. Neither of the teams made it to Globals this year, but we were all ok with that. Both teams gave their absolute BEST performance yet! Coaches, parents, and kids are all happy with the end result.

Jackson gets ready for Easter

2011-04-10T13:53:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple of great FHE ideas for your family at Easter time. We did made these "Easter Symbol Baskets" last year in YW and Jackson made one this week at Joy School. The idea behind the basket is this: 12 days of Easter instead of the 12 days of Christmas. Our family will have enough attention span to do one a day for 12 days. You families with older kids will be able to do this activity in one sitting.

This activity should help your family focus on the true meaning of the season. We love to hunt for Easter eggs, eat lots of chocolate Easter candy, and make a traditional Easter basket for the kids. But we never want to lose sight of what the season is really all about.

The short kid-friendly Easter story at the left was perfect for our almost 5 year old boy. He was totally listening the first time I read it to him. He read right along with me the second time and got a huge kick out of reading the pictures.

EASTER SYMBOL BASKET

Supplies:
1. 12 plastic eggs
2. items to fill eggs
-sacrament cup
-3 dimes
-knotted twine
- chunk of hand soap
- square of red fabric
- small nail
- sponge
- crushed rocks
- strip of white cloth
- small flat stone
- bay leaf (we used a small piece of fake greenery)
3. sharpee (or cute scrapbooking stickers) for writing numbers on eggs
4. dollar store basket
5. printed scripture references cut into strips.
6. cute Easter grass or moss to put in the bottom of your basket

Assembly Directions:
Put coordinating scripture references and symbols into each egg - printing the symbol number on each egg as you go. Place all eggs into basket. Display until 12 days before Easter.

EASTER SYMBOLS

1. Matthew 26:26-27,39 (sacrament cup)

2. Matthew 26: 14-15 (3 dimes) [This fulfilled the prophecy in Zechariah 11:12-14.]

3. Matthew 27:1-2 (knotted twine)

4. Matthew 27:15, 17, 21, 24-26 (chunk of hand soap)

5. Matthew 27:28-30 or Mark 15:16-17 (square of red fabric)

6. Matthew 27:31-32 (small nail)

7. Matthew 27:48 (sponge)

8. Matthew 27:50-51, 54 (crushed rocks)

9. Matthew 27:57-60 (strip of white cloth)

10. Matthew 27:60, 62-66 (a small, flat stone)

11. Mark 16:1, 2-6 (bay leaf)

12. Matthew 28:5-6 (empty)

Mentos + Diet Pepsi FHE Activity

2011-04-07T11:35:00.000-07:00

Jeremy received a fun little birthday gift from my mom. It's called a Soda Shooter. We decided to try it out for our Family Home Evening activity this week. Enjoy a 1 minute video of our soda-spraying-ultimate-soda-fountain-non-sticky-because-it-was-diet-soda adventure.

(The geyser is tough to see, but it was an AWESOME 20 foot spray.)

kids say the darndest things

2011-04-06T08:12:00.000-07:00

Let me set the scene....

It's 6:30AM on a school day. The morning sunlight is just starting to come through the blinds. The house is quiet with the sound of sleeping children that went to bed too late last night. Jeremy is the only one up and out the door already.

Without warning, at the top of his 9 year old lungs, Logan begins to belt out the chorus:

"one, 21 guns!
lay down your arms!
give up the fight!"

Repeated over and over and over... until we are all wide awake, bleary eyed from our startling wake up call, and pleading for him to stop (or at least choose a new song!).

Let's just say that Logan is a morning person. He wakes up at zero and within seconds is running at 100 miles an hour. He LOVES to be awake in the morning. He also LOVES to tease and pester wherever he can. And he knows how to get us all going in the morning.

All I can do is plug my ears, pull the blankets and pillows over my head, and wish that someday he'll get to experience a child just like himself when he's a father.

GOOD MORNING to you too Logan!

You + me ski trip

2011-04-04T20:23:00.000-07:00

For our anniversary this year, we did something we've never done before as a couple. We went skiing!

China Peak was our destination. The only time I've ever been up to this location in the past was as a senior in high school - it was called Sierra Summit back then. I went with some friends to try snowboarding. Yeah, me on a snowboard. It was not a pretty sight. There is actually a terrifying story that goes along with that ill fated snowboarding trip... something about completely loosing control, flying at high speeds down a hill, and colliding at full speed with a group of unsuspecting skiers. I may or may not have injured someone really really bad. Hmmm... All I remember after that ill-fated event was a super sore bum. I fell down sooo many times - it took weeks for my booty to recover!

It is for that reason that I was most hesitant to strap on a pair of skis and try it again. But Jeremy decided that this was the year that I was going to learn how to ski. We've been up to Badger Pass a few times this year as a family. And after much patience and some good one on one instruction from my ski expert husband, I am slowly gaining confidence in my skiing skills. And it seemed only appropriate to take a trip up to China Peak to enjoy a day together on the slopes.

It was a gorgeous day. 56 degrees. Sunny and warm. No coat necessary. And there weren't many people there as it is almost the end of the season. (The lack of people there definitely helped ease my fear of running into people.) We started our day at the very top of the mountain. We saw the top of the actual China Peak. That was awesome. The views and vistas were so beautiful. Huntington Lake was completely covered in snow and the white treetops added to the majestic winter woodland effect.

We had a lovely day. Just us. You + me. Enjoying skiing, nature, and just being together.

Winter Beach Trip 2010

2011-04-04T06:57:00.000-07:00

The week after Christmas 2010 we headed over to the Central Coast for a short beach trip. Jeremy's parents had been there for the first part of the week staying in an RV resort. They went further south for the 2nd half of the week and they offered their tent trailer to us for those days. What a treat for our family!

My mom has a theory...

"Our city and Pismo Beach have opposite weather experiences at all times.
Every time it is cold and foggy where we live - it will be warm and sunny at the beach.
When it is cold and foggy at Pismo - it will be warm and sunny back home. "

Most of the time she is right. Truly! This week was the exception. It was cold, windy, and rainy at home and guess what we got while we were at the beach? Yep. Cold, wind, and rain! So, we changed our plan from the "usuals" and instead of playing in the water, boogie boarding, and building sand castles we:

Cliff Jumped

Took a leisurely walk along the beach as we watched the clouds roll in.

Went for a family bike ride (yes, every one of those bikes was part of our group!)...

...to see the butterflies in the eucalyptus grove at Pismo Beach!

The kids went swimming in the resort heated pool - they were dying to get in the water, but didn't stay in for too long. It was super chilly when they got out! We met up with Kelly & Julio and went to Woodstock's for a pizza dinner.

We did some pier fishing

Look! I missed one more family picture!

We had a fun time hanging out with Matt & Aimee and Kelly & Julio and their kids. The night time sleeping-in-the-tent-trailer was also an adventure as it stormed and poured rain all night long!

Happy 13th Anniversary to us!

2011-04-03T06:00:00.000-07:00

Enjoy another glimpse back into our past. Here is the first snapshot ever taken of us (almost 15 years ago in 1996 or 97). We were dating, so young and so carefree. This was back in the day when he drove around in his sporty Rx-7 and I had my lovely 1982 Honda Prelude. He taught me how to drive a stick shift on our first date.

And here we are today. Well, about 6 months ago anyway (at Jordan and Stephanie's wedding). We look the same as in our dating pictures, eh? Just kidding. We're definitely older. More mature. And maybe not so carefree anymore. But I think we've aged beautifully.

We are just as happy as when we were first dating, maybe even more. In the beginning phase of our relationship we couldn't stand to be away from each other. That phase hasn't faded one bit. Even after 13 years we can't stand to be apart.

We've grown a family, grown through trials great and small, grown a solid relationship, and grown even closer together.

Happy 13th anniversary to us!

Tijuana circa 1997

2011-04-02T08:00:00.000-07:00

Jeremy's sister, Kelly, emailed me this picture a few weeks ago. It is a blast from the past!

L to R: Jason, Jeremy, Jennifer, Aimee, Matt, & Kelly (in front)

This picture was taken when Jeremy and I were dating. 1997 as you can see in the picture. I was just 18 years old. Eek! Matt and Aimee were dating too! Jeremy's family went down to San Diego for a weekend trip with the Morris family during some holiday (those Wards were always going out of town) and I was invited to come along.

While we were there we made a day trip into Mexico, Tijuana. I have no recollection of what we did on this trip. I vaguely remember putting on that hat and smiling for the picture.

All I know is: we were young. I was had just graduated from high school. Jeremy hadn't been home a year from his mission. We were just at the beginning of our relationship with no clue as to the future that was ahead of us.

It is fun to look back at what we were. And to see how far we've come since then. This here picture is a great piece of our history.

Capturing the perfect family portrait

2011-04-01T08:00:00.000-07:00

I've been flipping through photos from last year. While flipping, I noticed that we took several family pictures from October through December. We are getting better at all of us smiling at the camera at the same time, but I have realized that no matter how many pictures we take - none will ever be perfect! I think we should shoot for a goofy picture next time. That would be more in line with our family dynamics...

...like this lovely photo, perhaps? We were at Montana de Oro on our 2010 summer Pismo trip.

I love that Jackson is the only one smiling in this picture. Classic. Of course he does the OPPOSITE of what he's supposed to be doing for this silly picture. But then again, he is doing the opposite of his usual look-away-stick-out-his-tongue-goofiness that he does when it's time to take a nice photo.

Jordan and Stephanie's Wedding in October 2010 - this is the fanciest/nicest/most pulled together our family has ever looked. One of these pictures is hanging over our piano. It's huge. 20x30 inches. The largest that Costco can print. (Maybe it's not a reflection of what our lives are really like, but it is as close to perfection as we're ever gonna get.)

Disneyland in November 2010 - Our Thanksgiving Break getaway

Thanksgiving 2010 - Family Portrait photo shoot

Tenaya Lodge in December 2010 - one of our Winter Break traditions

Christmas Eve 2010 - all of us in our new pj's

Let's take a vote shall we? Which photo most captures our family's personality?

Lizzie takes 2nd Place

2011-03-31T08:30:00.000-07:00

Lizzie's class participated in an art contest this past fall 2010. They each painted a patriotic scene with only 3 colors - red, black, and blue. Lizzie was selected out of the several hundred participants as a winner! She took second place in her grade level out of the entire school district.

The Veteran's Association in our area put on a fancy dinner/reception to honor the winners. We got all dressed up and headed over to the Veteran's Memorial Building (the same place where Jordan and Stephanie had their wedding and reception!) for a special evening.

Here's Lizzie receiving her award. She wanted to do it just right. Some of the other kids saluted back to the uniformed person giving them the award. Lizzie was quite determined to look like she knew what she was doing up there.

It was a proud moment for her standing up there on the stage. All eyes were on her and she knew it!

Lizzie's awesome teacher was there to see her get her award.

And here's the proud girl with her new medal. Check out all that personalized engraving. WOW. What a great thing for our girl.

It was a special night to honor our special, artistic (who knew?!), talented girl. Her award winning artwork now hangs contently in our home.

Trevor Plays Volleyball

2011-03-30T08:00:00.000-07:00

Trevor is having a great 6th grade year. This is his last year in elementary school and he is feelin' good about life. He is the old guy on campus. He is focused on his academics and his participation at school. He really is a grown-up compared to all the younger kids.

Trevor is enjoying his last season of elementary school volleyball. He has perfected his serve and is very focused out there on the court. And bonus, he gets to be on the same team as his BFF, Jacob.

(The entire team very much enjoyed all that weather we had last week. Rain + hail = NO PRACTICE or GAMES.)

We don't know if Trevor will continue to play volleyball in Jr. High or High School, but he is happy, confident, and trying hard where he is now. That's everything we hoped for our boy.

Wimpy Kid is a Winner

2011-03-29T08:00:00.000-07:00

Our kids are huge fans of the Wimpy Kid books by Jeff Kinney. They own and have read every book. Jeremy was a great sport on his birthday and decided that we should see this movie as a family.

The kids thought this movie was great. They love seeing their familiar characters come to life on screen. Jeremy and I are Steve Zahn fans and he rocks the dad role. He's hilarious in a velour lime green polo. My favorite character is Greg's best friend, Rowley. He is the most secure, well adjusted, loveable kid. His best line in the movie: [Talking about Greg's love interest] "Wow. She is pretty. Almost as pretty as my mom!" Gotta love that boy!

Watch out for a a laugh out loud chocolate candy bar stain (ew!) and a most uncomfortable tighty whitey chase scene.

After this movie you will ask yourself: "Would I loan eyeliner to my teenage boy if he asked to borrow it?"

DO NOT go see this movie if you are looking for a "thinker" movie with action packed scenes and a great twist at the end.

DO go see this movie if you are looking to be entertained, by light (mostly bathroom) humor, and a family oriented plot.

We give this movie 4 exploding diapers out of 5.

Watch the trailer if you haven't seen it yet:

It was raining like hail last week

2011-03-28T09:03:00.000-07:00

We get only one good hailstorm a year in our area. This year it came on the first day of spring! Jackson and I were home when it hit. The "ping" sounds began and it got louder and louder until the thunder boomed and the lightning cracked! The sky was dark as night and the power went out for a few minutes. The hail continued for about 15 - 20 minutes. We will put one of our large bowls outside to see how much hail we can catch. The bowl was filled halfway by the time the storm was finished. Jackson had fun eating the hail and kept calling it "frozen rain".

It looked like there had been a snowstorm. The rooftops were solid white, the trampoline, and lawns were all covered in a blanket of hail.

And notice, in our play area, the lovely swamp that came because of all the rain before the hailstorm. Trevor tested its deepness and he came in the house with water up to his shins. That's like 7 or 8 inches in the deepest spots! The hail hung around most of the day and there was even some left for Jeremy to see when he got home from work.

Today, we are longing for the cooler weather. Our weather forecast for this week has a high of 79 degrees! Summer, do not come too early. We want to enjoy Spring for at least a month.

"Green Day"

2011-03-17T21:04:00.000-07:00

Holidays are always something special around the Ward house. We love any excuse to have a family party. (And I like any excuse to hang something cute from my chandelier!) St. Patrick's Day has been a family favorite for awhile. It is a date that has special meaning due to the fact that my brother, a.k.a. Uncle Samuel, was born on this very holiday! He is our lucky charm, he is the shamrock in our shake, he is the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, he is the green candy in my green candy diet...

Our day began with a lively table dressed for a fantastic green breakfast. Waffles, milk, eggs, lemonade were all dyed green. The kids were in emerald city heaven! Gold coins and orange cream soda were our breakfast dessert. (Yes, we had dessert after breakfast. We're classy like that.)

Jackson led the kids in a fun game of "Find the pot of gold with Hot and Cold". Jackson learned this game at Joy School last week in preparation for this holiday. He took my large taco meat cooking pot and dropped in a few gold coins. He hid the pot in a random location in the house. The other kids had to find the pot as Jackson guided them through the house. The closer you got to the pot, the hotter you'd get. The further you got from the pot the colder you'd get. Whoever found the pot got to keep the coins! It was a quick easy game. We played 4 rounds in about 4 minutes. The perfect amount of fun time before running out the door to catch the bus to school!

The table remained intact until dinner. Shocking, I know. And most of the gold coins were also still there too!

We're goin' green at the Ward house! Literally. Green. Green rice, green chicken, green sauce, green broccoli (that one doesn't count because it was already green, of course), and green milk for Logan. I threw some of my favorite orange slices in there for a pop of contrasting color - the color of a leprechaun's hair!

Now for the proof that they actually ate all that crazy food!

We finished off the night by singing Happy Birthday to my brother, Samuel, and then drank a shamrock shake in his honor. :)

Top o' the evening to ye. Cheers!

Follow The Prophet

2011-03-14T21:05:00.001-07:00

Logan the Wrestler

2011-03-06T19:38:00.001-08:00

Wrestling season has finished for our Logan. He did not know what to expect in the beginning. He is not a physically aggressive child by nature. Logan had to learn that it was OK to take down his opponent and not worry about hurting him. He did a great job overcoming his nerves and learning how to succeed. Here is a short video clip from one of his matches this winter.

Relief Society Birthday Celebration 2011

2011-03-03T14:30:00.000-08:00

My new calling at church is the Relief Society Meeting Coordinator. That means that I get to organize the weekday Relief Society events (formerly known as Homemaking and/or Enrichment) for our ward. Last Tuesday night was our Relief Society Birthday Celebration. The 169th Birthday of Relief Society falls on March 17, 2011. This year, for a fun treat, we chose to do a Mad Hatter Tea Party theme. It was so much fun to plan, work on, and carry out. Enjoy the details of our event!

THE INVITATION

We made 100 invites to pass out to all the sisters in our ward. Our committee got together one morning to assemble these super cute Mad Hatter paper hats. We got 4 invites out of one 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of green cardstock. They were inexpensive, but added that special touch to make the invites more personal for each sister. (FYI: that little "3/1" on the front of the hat is not a hat size. It was the DATE of our event!)

Total cost for invites: $3.00 for cardstock (ribbon & gluesticks were already in our closets!)

THE DECOR

The lighting was key in our design plan. Our goal was to make it feel like you were at Disneyland standing at the Mad Teacup ride. The lights and lanterns added that perfect Fantasyland vibe. We borrowed from EVERYONE to gather all the supplies we needed for this event - the lights are our actual Christmas lights we hang on the outside of our house every year (a HUGE thank you to my awesome hubby for helping set up those lights - even after they fell and broke several times :/), 10 Chinese lanterns from my mom (leftover from Marcos & Melody's wedding!), 10 more Chinese lanterns from the dollar store, and I made 10 posterboard lanterns.

TOTAL COST FOR LIGHTING: $10 for posterboard lanterns

Let's preface this next section with this idea: the entire feeling of a Mad Hatter's Tea Party should feel random, eclectic, and a bit wonky. That is how we tackled our table decor - knowing that it would all be a mismatched mish-mash of anything and everything we could put together for FREE!

The table linens were multi-layered:
layer 1: dollar store plastic table cloth
layer 2: a piece of random fabric from the RS committee's personal fabric collections
layer 3: a fun tutu or piece of tulle

Centerpieces: a 3-tier server for the food! borrowed from 7 different sisters. With a super cute "Eat Me" tag.

Place Settings: we purchased ZERO paper goods for this activity. We dug out all the leftover paper plates, utensils, doilies, and napkins from our RS closet and made do with what we had.

Tea Cups & Pots: surprise to us all - we collected more than enough tea sets from members of our ward. (We LDS ladies do not drink caffeinated tea, this is the reason for our surprise!) To add to our eclectic feel, we mis-matched the tea cups at each table. It was fun to see all the different styles and collections.

TOTAL COST FOR TABLE DECOR: $5 for Dollar Store tablecloths

THE AMBIANCE* (see a list of all the Riddles at the end of this post)

1. Disney's Animated Alice in Wonderland Soundtrack was playing throughout our evening. All of the songs were downloaded for FREE over time using different promo codes from amazon.com.

2.During our dinner we largely projected on the wall the Mad Hatter Tea Party scene from the Disney animated DVD version of Alice in Wonderland. It was a fun addition to the ambiance.

3. At each place setting was a riddle* to try and figure out through the course of the night. (The riddles were inspired by the DVD. Remember the Mad Hatter's "riddle" he gives Alice in the movie? "Why is a raven like a writing desk?")

Total cost for ambiance: FREE!

THE FOOD* (see the end of this post for all the recipes we used)

The rules of a true tea party state that food must be small or in small portions. We enjoyed lots of small things! Orange slices (FREE from a sister's orange tree), cucumber sandwiches, turkey/mozzerella panini sandwiches sliced in quarters with a honey mustard dipping sauce, and a delicious Chinese Chicken Salad. Of course we did not drink tea. Instead, we served sparkling strawberry vanilla lemonade from our teapots. The food was served family style using the 3-tier servers in the center of the tables.

Our dessert was inspired by the first cupcake picture on the left. Are those the most darling little green hats?! We used our resident pastry chef (who, coincidentally, is a member of our RS committee) to create these cute hats made out of fondant. 4 of us got together to make the little hats. Another sister baked the cupcakes, and I whipped up some yummy cream cheese frosting to go on top. Ours turned out similar to the inspiration, but tasted sooo good because of that cream cheese! The cupcakes were also set out with each place setting. They added a perfect pop of color to each table.

Total cost for food: ??? Still haven't tallied up those reciepts...The dinner was where we spent most of our budget, naturally.

THE SPIRITUAL MESSAGE

Our goals for the evening:

1. To make it feel like a party – it is a celebration after all!

2. To honor the beginning of Relief Society

3. And to celebrate YOU as modern day RS sisters (A Very Merry Un-birthday to you!)

4. To remember the purpose of Relief Society

5. To inspire each of us to fulfill the our responsibilities as RS members & serve others!

This short youtube video encompassed everything spiritual we wanted to share this evening. It touches on the history/birth of RS, discusses the purpose of RS, and tells us how to proceed as modern day sisters in the RS program.

This video was projected extra large up onto the cultural hall wall to be easily seen and heard by all sisters in attendance.

To summarize:

Pres. Monson: We are surrounded by opportunities for service. Small acts of service are all that is required.

Elder Uchtorf: You don’t need money to create. Start small. Smile.

Especially in our world today. Money is tight for everyone. We need to dig within. Within our creativity and within our closets! Make do with what we have and turn it into something extraordinary.

Small examples of this creativity is around us this evening:

- The honey mustard dipping sauce was made with food storage honey

- The oranges we ate were grown in one of our sisters backyard

- Your handmade gifts were made entirely of FREE items from our sister’s craft supplies – nothing was purchased!

- The cupcakes were made using the talents of sisters right here in our ward

The message for the evening was this:

1. Act on the promptings of the Spirit. (like pres. Monson said)

2. Be creative. (as Elder Uctdorf directed)

3. Do something extraordinary. (as emma smith envisioned in the beginning of RS).

Use all of these tools to serve others and serve God.

The sisters, were given an opportunity to do something extraordinary. Right then. We had several infant quilts that were created by a neighboring ward's quilting club.They graciously gave us the opportunity to do the final touches on this project before they being delivered to a NICU at our local Community Hospital.

This was an opportunity for us to create - just as we had been inspired to do.

No money was required (Every bit of fabric, batting, thread, was already in someone’s closet). Since we are celebrating the birth of RS it felt only natural to do a SMALL service project. AND since we are also celebrating your “Very Merry Unbirthdays” it is also appropriate that the sister leave the activiy with a SMALL gift.

The sisters each gave a gift of service and then chose a gift from our gift table to take home.

THE SMALL SERVICE ACTIVITY

The 4 quilts were already made. All we had to do was tie them. The supplies were all donated FREE from sisters personal closets and leftover materials. It took about 20 minutes to do this project. We had several quilt savvy sisters take man each of the 4 quilts for quality control. They had a great time working and visiting. And it ALL got finished!

Total cost for service project: FREE!

THE "UN-BIRTHDAY" GIFTS

I handmade these greeting cards with supplies already in my craft closet. Tracy and her mom sewed up 30 of these super cute pincushions. The sisters could choose from the cards or the pincushion to take home after the service project.

Total cost for 65 Un-birthday gifts: about $3 for the cute heart pins in the cushions

We had a lovely time celebrating the birth of Relief Society. It was a lot of work, but was so worth it to make each sister feel loved, celebrated, and special that night. We had so many sisters come with a hat in hand. Some were silly. Some were fancy. Some were plain ol' cute! These 2 tables below had EVERY SINGLE SISTER wearing some sort of hat!

It was great to get so much support from the sisters who helped put on the event and also from everyone that attended.

Until the next RS Meeting.... "A Very Merry Un-birthday to you! To Me? To YOU! So blow the candle out my dear and make your wish come true.... A very merry un-birthday toooo you!"

*THE RIDDLES

1. I am only useful when I am full, yet I am always full of holes.

2. I end the race. I am the beginning of the end. The start of eternity and the end of space. There are two of me in Heaven and one in hell. I am in water, fire, sunshine and darkness. I am the beginning of earth and the end of life. What am I?

3. I have seas without water
I have forests without wood
I have deserts without sand
I have houses with no brick
What am I?

4. No legs have I to dance,
No lungs have I to breathe,
No life have I to live or die
And yet I do all three.
What am I?

5. There is a common English word that is nine letters long. Each time you remove a letter from it, it still remains an English word - from nine letters right down to a single letter. What is the original word, and what are the words that it becomes after removing one letter at a time?

6. Pronounced as one letter and written with three, two letters there are and two only in me. I'm double, I'm single. I'm black, blue and gray. I'm read from both ends and the same either way. What am I?

7. What gets wet when drying?

8. He who has it doesn't tell it. He who takes it doesn't know it. He who knows it doesn't want it. What is it?

9. What is it that you will break even when you name it?

10. What is it the more you take away the larger it becomes?

11. What goes into the water red and comes out black?

12.What goes into the water black and comes out red?

13. What kind of room has no windows and no doors?

14. Which is correct to say, "The yolk of the egg are white?" or "The yolk of the egg is white?"

15. What has a foot on each side and one in the middle?

16. What do you fill with empty hands?

17. A tree doubled in height each year until it reached its maximum height over the course of ten years. How many years did it take for the tree to reach half its maximum height?

18. What's the difference between a penniless man and a feather bed?

19. When is a door not a door?

20. What's brown and sounds like a bell?

21. What's brown and sticky?

22. Why is six afraid of seven?

23. What is yours but your friend uses more than you do?

24. If you remove four letters from this five-letter word, the letter you're left with will be pronounced the same as the original word.

What is the five-letter word?

What's the same-sounding letter?

25. The names of five animals are hidden in the sentence below. Can you find them?
(The letters are in consecutive order.)

He is rich or seems to be, since he buys from expensive catalogs and ogles million-dollar homes for sale.

Answers to RIDDLES

1. I am a sponge!

2. The Letter E

3. I am a map!

4. I am fire

5. The base word is: Startling

starting

staring

string

sting

sing

sin

6. an eye

7. a towel

8. counterfeit money

9. Silence

10. A hole

11. A red-hot poker

12. A lobster

13. A mushROOM

14. Neither, the yolk is yellow!

15. A yardstick

16. Gloves

17. Nine Years. Because on the 10th year it doubled for the last time and reached the maximum height

18. One is hard up, while the other is soft down.

19. When it's ajar (a jar).

20. Dung.

21. A stick.

22. Because seven eight (ate) nine.

23. Your name.

24. The Word is: queue

The letter is: Q

25. · horse

· pens (female swan)

· cat

· dog

· lion

*THE RECIPES

Cucumber Sandwiches

by Elizabeth Minnick

1 8 oz. pkg. Cream cheese, softened

½ c. mayonnaise

1 pkg. Dry Italian salad dressing mix

2 loaves French bread, cut into 1 inch slices (or any bread you prefer)

2 medium cucumbers, thinly sliced

1 pinch dried dill weed

1. In a medium bowl, mix together cream cheese, mayo and Italian dressing mix. Refrigerate at least 6 hours, or preferably overnight.

2. Spread the cream cheese mixture onto slices of French bread. Top with a cucumber slice, and sprinkle with dill. Serve open faced.

The cream cheese mixture keeps for about a week in the refrigerator.

Chinese Chicken Salad

By LaShay Sapp & Tracy Fletcher

2 heads of Romaine lettuce (or any lettuce blend)

1/3 head of cabbage shredded

3 green onions sliced

3 celery stalks sliced thin

3 cooked chicken breasts seasoned and diced

2 packages of dry Ramen noodles-no seasoning packet

Chinese chicken salad dressing (Girards)

1/3 to ½ a package of Wonton wrappers (Slice ¼ inch strips with pizza cutter. Deep fry in oil until golden brown. Sprinkle with sugar while hot.)

Combine lettuce, cabbage, onions, celery, and chicken in bowl. Dress salad right before serving with ramen noodles, dressing, and wonton wrappers.

Yummy Honey Mustard Dipping Sauce

www.allrecipes.com

1/2 cup mayonnaise

2 tablespoons prepared yellow mustard

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

2 tablespoons honey

1/2 tablespoon lemon juice

Mix the mayonnaise, yellow mustard, Dijon mustard, honey, and lemon juice together in a bowl. Cover and chill in refrigerator overnight.

Cream Cheese Frosting

by Jennifer Ward

1 8 oz. brick cream cheese at room temp.

2 lbs. powdered sugar

3 T. milk

1 T. vanilla extract

food coloring (optional*)

Beat cream cheese smooth in a stand mixer. Continue mixing as you add vanilla and small amounts of powdered sugar. Add milk one tablespoon at a time when frosting becomes too thick. Beat frosting until all powdered sugar is mixed in. More or less milk may be required depending on your desired thickness consistency. *Make your frosting slightly thicker if you are using food coloring. The food coloring will thin your consistency. Add food coloring once your frosting is completely mixed.

Sparkling Strawberry Vanilla* Lemonade
makes 5 gallons

6 Hawiian Punch Lemon-Berry Squeeze (sugar-free) packets
2 cans frozen Pink Lemonade concentrate
2 2-liters Fresca soda
1/4 c. vanilla extract*
water

Mix punch packets, lemonade concentrate, vanilla*, and soda in a 5 gallon water jug. Fill the rest of the jug with cold water and mix well.

*vanilla is optional, but take care to use REAL vanilla - not imitation

Serves 60

Lizzie Hits the Slopes

2011-02-26T20:28:00.000-08:00

Lizzie has been skiing twice now. She has such a happy-positive-never-give-up attitude that makes for a fantastic experience. In fact, Lizzie is picking it up so quickly that she only fell down one time on her second skiing escapade. Enjoy a short video of Lizzie's super skiing adventure!

On The Move Episode 1

2011-02-21T08:14:00.000-08:00

Polar Bear Plunge 2011

2011-02-19T13:06:00.000-08:00

You can always find a bunch of crazy kids in our backyard on New Year's Day. This year was no exception. ALL the adults wised up and decided to forgo the traditional Polar Bear Plunge, but there were still several kids that were out to show off their wild side! These kids (minus the youngest girl) all took the plunge this year.

Looks like J was the brave one and went first!

Logan and Jake were right behind him. 3, 2, 1, JUMP!!

The girls went next:

Does that look on her face leave you breathless?! That water was COLD!

Jackson was so excited to put on his trunks and go swimming. The pool has been off limits since summer ended and he was ready to show of his swimming skills. Except that, hmmm... this water was kind of cold? It took him only seconds to realize that he would not be jumping in all the way. This picture shows how far he ventured into the water. Let's just say that he was quite disappointed with that water temperature - like we'd played a mean trick on him or something!

I've been looking through some old pictures this week and came across this one:

The photo is from one of our first Polar Bear Plunge days (January 1, 2008). Notice the large number of children that participated! And there were about 3 more adults (not pictured) that also jumped in on this day 3 years ago. I wonder why our numbers have dwindled since then??

We do this tradition because the kids love it. And because, truthfully, the adults get some good laughs and entertainment out of is as well. Next year, you can break out that bathing suit at Christmastime because it is guaranteed that we will be out there freezing our buns off every year on January 1.

2011 DI Regional Awards Ceremony

2011-02-17T17:17:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures of the teams just after they finished their Main Challenges. They were riding so high! Both teams knew they'd done so well in their performances. We knew their positive vibes and enthusiastic mood would be impossible to capture in a photo, but we thought we'd try anyway.

THE SUPER SMART ALAKAZOO AIRHEAD OF DOOM: serious first then a little silliness

THE SEVEN DI WARFS: serious with a side of silly

I don't know about you, but I think I prefer the silly pictures!

Fast forward to the awards ceremony...

Trevor's event was announced first. Now remember, these guys took first place at Regionals and State last year - they went to Tennessee to compete at Globals! AND our elementary school kids were up against all middle school teams because they are in 6th grade. They announced 6th place. 5th place. And a 4th place tie - The Super Smart Alakazoo Airheads of Doom and some other team tied for 4th. The team was shocked. It was the most difficult moment to watch them stand and get their applause knowing that their DI adventure was finished for this year.

Logan's team had the opposite experience. They placed first in their event! FIRST! They were so happy! It was an amazing overwhelming moment - so much so that Aubry started crying because she was so happy! These guys were stoked to wear their fancy new medals AND got to walk away knowing that they'd be moving on to compete at State in April. After seeing the scores the next day we found out that they'd scored highest in their IC and highest in their Main Challenge. Their structure held the most weight and their performance was top notch.

Are they looking proud or what?! It really was an AWESOME moment.

This picture is so out of focus, but it really captures the moment. It was surreal and joyful - do those coaches look happy or what?

This awards ceremony was a most challenging experience as a parent. To watch the older team feel like they lost the competition. Which, of course they did not lose. They took 4th out of 12 Jr. High teams! That is an amazing accomplishment. No matter how many times we try to convince them that they did so well, it still does not give them that 3rd place they were after. And in almost the next moment we had to be enthused and excited for the other child that took 1st place. Talk about a strained moment. We didn't want to rub it in the older team's faces, but we also didn't want to diminish the younger kids' win. Boy, it was rough.

We are so proud of both teams bringing their best to their performances and placing so well in their events.

Destination Imagination State Competition 2011

2011-02-15T09:23:00.000-08:00

The season of Destination Imagination is in full swing! Trevor and Logan have been involved in weekly practices, early morning, and after school practices since the teams were aligned last December. This year, there were seven different challenges our teams could choose from (read about them HERE).

THE SUPER SMART ALAKAZOO AIRHEADS OF D O O M: Trevor's team (coached by Aunt Kari & assisted by team parent ME) chose the improvisational "Mythology Mission". This is the team's 3rd year together - it is so refreshing to see these kids work as a team. They are comfortable with each other, themselves, their ideas, and they don't worry about looking like a little bit silly every now and again. If you remember, this team took first place at Regional and State finals last year and went on to compete in Tennessee at Globals.

The video of their regional competition performance is posted below. But first, I wanted to give you a list of all the things that had to be incorporated into their improv so you could be on the look out for the elements they were judged on. Their time ended at the EXACT moment that they finished their skit. It was AMAZING!

1. Mythological Creature (Kappa) + several facts about the creature
2. Culture (Ancient Japan) + several facts about the culture
3. 3 souvenirs
4. combine 3 souvenirs to one great mega-prop
5. Improv Element - how well they incorporate and resolve this element
6. teamwork

It's hard to see or feel in a video just what it was like in that room, but the energy was almost palpable. Those kids were on fire! They knew exactly what then needed to accomplish and they went out there and nailed it! We are so proud!

THE SEVEN DI warfs: Logan's team was coached by Uncle Matt and Jeremy. This is their 2nd year together and are really starting to gel as a team. They chose the structural challenge "verses! foiled again!". Here are all of the elements they were judged on in their skit. I wish they'd been partially judged on their use of humor - they were sooo funny!! Here are all the elements to watch for when you view their video:

1. side trips (karate & dancing)
2. teamwork
3. props made of wood and foil
4. 4 lines of verse penned by the team
5. 4 lines of verse from a published/copyrighted song
6. storyline that involves a character that is foiled

7. structure
a. how much weight it holds
b. the design and use of wood + foil

Watch it again and listen for Lizzie (she was sitting right next to me during filming) singing along and saying the lines with the team. She knew this skit by heart!

This team totally came together to make this performance the best they'd ever done. That structure weighed only 24 grams. 24 GRAMS. Guess how much it held. Take a wild guess. It ended up holding 255 POUNDS! Is that amazing or what?! Yes, they are smaller than the other team, but their energy was just as electric as those older kids. They were so fantastic!

Stay tuned to read about the award ceremony...

Welcome Baby Clare!

2011-02-11T09:00:00.000-08:00

My brother, Thomas, and his wife, Amy welcomed a new baby into their family on January 20th! Baby girl #2 for these guys. She is a most beautiful baby girl with tons of dark hair, cute chubby cheeks, lovely long fingers and toes, and rosy red lips.

Our kids were so excited to meet their new cousin baby Clare Elizabeth!

Baby Clare is grandchild #7 for my parents. It is so exciting to watch this family grow. 7 cousins in the Duran family! Here's the score so far:

Boys: 4 Girls: 3

Kings River Expedition

2011-02-10T14:35:00.000-08:00

After browsing through old pictures last week, I came across our last summer's excursion in river rafting. Somehow it never made it's way onto the blog!

Last year for Father's Day, several of our friends decided to purchase (through Groupon again!) a Kings River Expedition as gifts to the husbands. Yes, the wives included themselves in the gifting and 4 couples got to go on a real wild water adventure! Matt & Aimee, Jeremy & Jennifer, Jared & Elizabeth, and (not pictured because they were on a different boat) Rick & Michelle. That guy in the back was our river guide, Ryan. We found out within minutes that we all knew his wife - she teaches at the elementary school our kids go to!

We all made our babysitter arrangements for the children and then headed out to the Kings River. We made it there in record time - thank you Matt for your mad driving skills - and arrived in time for our brief training. It's been so long that I honestly don't remember much, but I knew it would be a mostly safe journey because we were there at the end of the season which meant low water flow. That was good for me and my oh-so-non-adventure-seeking self. I was mostly worried about getting wet. Ha! That water was cold!! Yes, everyone in our group thought that fear of mine was quite silly and had a hay-day with the teasing before it all began. Everyone else was totally excited for this experience!

We slathered up with sunscreen, put on our water shoes, and hopped on the bus for a 10 minute ride to the head of the river trail. And when I say bus, I don't mean charter bus. This baby was an old rickety, 1932 original. (I don't really know what year it was made, but lets just say it was old, ok?) It had no AC = windows rolled down on this warm summer morning. The exhaust and fumes were pungent. And our driver took us over a rickety old bridge, but to make the turn after the bridge he had to BACK UP THE BUS! back onto the bridge to get us turned in the right direction! Talk about freaky.

We made it to our destination without incident and began our journey down the river. The river rafting company had their photographer perched at the most exciting point along the river so he could capture the moment perfectly. Let me narrate the photos for you...

Yeah, we're rafting, we're rafting...

Uhhh... here comes a big dip...

Splash!!

Ahhh! That's cold water!

*Nervous laughter*

We made it - yes! And oh, that is still cold!

This was the 2nd to last big rapid. There was still one more to go after the big photo shoot and Matt was determined to get it all on film. He had his Flip camera with waterproof casing all prepped and ready to go. He started filming just as we went over the top of the rapid, we hit a huge bump, his oar snapped in half, the splintered end of the oar rammed into our river guide's shin (so sorry Ryan!), and his camera shut off right before it caught any of the last of our river rafting experience. Bummer! The size of that last rapid was a quite unexpected! It was heart pumping and thrilling to say the least.

We paddled to shore and our guide hit the first aid station quickly to bandage up his fresh wound. Then he hit the BBQ to grill up our hamburgers for lunch! What a guy!

It was a great run. Really, it was. We had so much fun being there together as friends and doing something completely different than our usual out to dinner & ice cream dates. And the water really wasn't that cold. I'm just a wimp. Surprise, surprise, I know.

Our Minnicks have moved away since we took this trip. We miss them like crazy. Especially when we look at pictures and see how much fun we all had together. But let's not get too weepy. We will have more fun times together in the future! But, maybe next time there's a river rafting trip we'll just send the husbands. Guys only trip. I like the sound of that.

You, Time-Out!

2011-02-08T13:06:00.000-08:00

Thank you to Groupon for the excellent deal on tickets for our entire family to attend a basketball game! The kids were all excited to dress in the college colors and were feeling much school pride as we entered the arena.

The crowds have been VERY sparse at our local college basketball games... Which is fine by us because those sparse crowds worked to our advantage in several ways. The tix came at a great price, we did not loose a child in the crowd this time :/ ,and we got to meet Time-Out!

Time-Out was making his way through the crowd, talking to all the kids and taking pictures along the way. He spotted our eager children and came right over to them! What a sport! I was shocked when Time-Out leaned over to pick up Jackson and he jumped right into his arms. The kids were all in heaven. They've never had the chance to meet him up close. What a great night.

Oh, and we won the game too. That was just a bonus. Go Dogs.

kids say the darndest things

2011-02-07T07:39:00.000-08:00

The scene: we are doing Lizzie's hair in my bathroom, as we do every morning.

Lizzie: Mom, I want to be one of those girls on that show.

Me: What show?

Lizzie: You know, the one where they sew the dresses...

Me: Oh, you mean Project Runway?

Lizzie: Yeah, Project Runway.

Me: You want to be one of the people that sew the clothes? or one of the girls that wears the clothes?

Lizzie: One of the girls that wears the clothes.

Me: Ok, but you're not old enough yet. You have to be a lot older to be a model. AND it's in New York; that's really far away! You can't move away from me yet! You have to stay here and be my Lizzie girl.

Lizzie: That's ok. I'll just wait until I'm married and then I'll go.

Mom: Sounds like a good plan to me.

"Oh what do you do in the WINTER-time?"

2011-02-06T08:00:00.000-08:00

"When all the world is cold?
Do you play in the snow?
Or drink hot cocoa?
Or watch as the storm goes by???

Is that what we do?"

NO!

We play with our Christmas presents!!

For Christmas this year, we decided to get back to basics. The kids each got a 300 count box of Citi-Blocks. 300 x 4 = 1200 Citi-Blocks. Yes, they are just regular ol' blocks. All the same size. Good ol' wooden blocks. Because no matter what your age - blocks are fun! Right?! Well, that was what we learned last summer in the Children's Museum on our San Diego trip. The kids played with those blocks for hours! And when Costco had them on sale for less than $10 a box - we knew we had to do it.

(And speaking of "back to basics"... the boys also got a 1000 count bin of Legos. EACH. I know, crazy. But totally worth it because they're actually playing with their toys - 2 months after Christmas!)

So, fast forward to the days after Christmas... and what do we find? The camera has been hi-jacked by the kids and several pictures taken of their masterpieces! It was fun to watch their process...

His expression says it all, "Check it out, it's almost as tall as me."

"Let me get out a chair so I can make this tower taller."

The ladder came out next and the competition began.

Then they took a few steps back...

That minor setback didn't deter their determination. Another Bigger, BETTER, tower was quickly constructed.

And finally the pièces de résistance was complete. That thing was probably 11 feet tall!!

And with one fail swoop... the madness was over.

Oh, what do YOU do in the winter-time?

Lizzie turns 7!

2011-02-05T09:33:00.000-08:00

Lizzie turned 7 years old in January. She had our traditional week-long birthday celebration and felt like a rock star princess VIP all week!

Lizzie started celebrating even before her official birthday celebrations began. Gramma Elizabeth took Lizzie shopping (to pick out her own presents!) and out to lunch at the Red Robin. Lizzie had such a great time hanging out with her Gramma and auntie Mica. It was all that girl time and time spent together that made it so fun for Lizzie.

She woke to a pile of presents, donuts, and a family birthday party to start her birthday off right!

One of our family traditions is to measure the birthday kid on the morning of their birthday (you are always tallest in the morning, right?) Here's Lizzie's height on the morn of her 7th year.

Her class was treated to individually wrapped birthday brownies (note fancy new birthday dress and the blue bag full of goodies)

Lizzie ordered up a luxurious Spa Party for her and her girl cousins

Birthday lunch with Mom and Dad at the Dog House Grill! She had her choice of any restaurant she wanted and she totally chose the best eatery in town!!

She took 2 friends for a "girls nite out" shopping trip

And FYI there was NO cake this year. She didn't want it! Instead, she chose:

birthday breakfast: donuts
girls nite out: smoothies
class treats: brownies
spa party: rainbow sherbet with pirouette cookies
family party: cookies with vanilla ice cream (her favorite!)

Here are some things we love about you at 7 years:
♥ that you know what you want (Squinkies and no cake)
♥ you are so much fun to be with
♥ you are a great friend & have the talent of making friends easily
♥ your love of school
♥ you are confident about yourself
♥ your super positive always happy good attitude
♥ the way you memorize songs so quickly
♥ your crazy dance moves and excellent rhythm
♥ your love of crafts

Happy Birthday to our Lizzie girl, Bo Biz, Lizzie bo Bizzie!! We love celebrating you and your birthday!!

Merry Christmas from our home to yours

2010-12-25T06:00:00.000-08:00

Christmas season is here!

2010-11-30T21:26:00.001-08:00

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

kids say the darndest things (grandma too!)

2010-11-19T07:52:00.000-08:00

We were watching Lizzie's soccer game. The opposing team had a player that looked like she was 2 years older than the rest of the girls on the field. She kept bowling the girls over without intent the entire game - she just couldn't help it!

Trevor leans over to me and says, "Wow, that girl must eat her green beans."

And my reply? "Yep, Trevor. You're right. I bet she eats all her green beans!"

HA HA HA!! Jeremy and I were rolling!!

♪ ♫ • * ¨ * • . ¸ ¸ ♥ ¸ ¸ . • * ¨ * • ♫ ♪

Mom (Grandma Elizabeth) was telling us about something she'd found online. She is quite the tech savvy gal. She says, "I'll send you a link on Spacebook."

We all look at each other and crack up because she actually meant to say Facebook.

Mom corrected herself and said, "No, I mean, MyFace."

BAH ha HA ha ha! She wasn't even trying to be funny! It was a great moment. Thanks for the laugh mama. :)

Does that not sound like the punchline to a joke?
What do you get when you cross Facebook and MySpace?
SpaceBook and MyFace!

A day at the lake

2010-11-18T10:04:00.000-08:00

We spent a day at Millerton Lake during our Veteran's Holiday 4-day weekend. Jeremy's dad and brother spent the night camping at the lake and we joined them the next day for a fun day-camping visit. Jeremy threw all of our bikes in the back of the truck, I packed us a delicious picnic lunch, and we were off!

We had a lovely relaxing day doing only fun things...

Kayaking on Grandpa's new kayak

day fishing

evening fishing

enjoying the wildlife

hanging out in our chonis!

and finished off the day with a glorious sunset!

It was the perfect temperature for enjoying the outdoors. We rode bikes up and down the boat dock ramp and campground. Jeremy and Matt did a little mountain biking. And at the end of the day we found some BMX type trails & bumps for the kids. One of the highlights of the day happened unexpectedly... Logan began building a dam at the bottom of a small trickling stream. It took only minutes for EVERYONE to get in on the building action. We ended up building 3 dams over the course of an hour and watching with awe as they all broke to pieces before our eyes. The kids also liked trying out the word "dam". Some of the kids (and adults) got quite creative with their usage. Mm-hmm. You know what I mean. ;)

The kids and adults alike had a great day. Thank you Veteran's for serving our country. And thank you to our country for giving us a day to enjoy fun family time. It was a much anticipated break that was much enjoyed by all!

DC 2010 Day 5

2010-11-17T06:58:00.000-08:00

September 15, 2010

The final day of our trip was spent on a tour bus taking in the sights of Washington DC. Our first stop was at the National Cathedral.

The stained glass windows in this building are amazing! The left picture is the famous moon rock window that contains an actual piece of the moon in one pane. Our tour guide explained that each window contains much more symbolism than one can see at first glance.

We arrived at the cathedral at a perfect time of day to see the rainbow patterns splashed on the walls by the natural light coming through the windows.

We got an exclusive behind the scenes tour of the cathedral and got to walk the upper outdoor walkway. It was here that we finally learned the meaning of the term "flying buttresses". They are the exterior supports that hold up the building. They look like a bunch of arms coming out the sides of the building.

This grotesque seen at the left is one of many sculptures around the cathedral. Our tour guide confirmed the rumor we'd heard that there is a grotesque somewhere on the premises that looks like Darth Vader.

From our view out on top of the cathedral we could see the Vice President's house. He lives very near the National Cathedral and quite a way from the center of Washington DC.

This tour was one of our favorites of this trip. We learned so much about the cathedral's history and beauty. We were in awe of the massive undertaking it was to construct such a building in more primitive times. We both agree this stop was one of the great highlights of our trip.

We did not get to stay long, but we did get to see Ford's Theater for a few minutes. This theater is where President Lincoln was shot in 1865. The theater is still used for live performances today. We also went across the street to see the Petersen house; the house where Lincoln died.

Our final eating place: Hard Rock Cafe. Jennifer ate at this very same restaurant location 17 years ago when she came to Washington DC as a freshman in high school.

And here is our big orange tour bus. This is the bus we rode all around Washington DC that told the world that, yes, we ARE tourists! Jeremy took this lovely shot at the end of our journey. We were tired from a long fun filled trip and ready to head home.

We had a great trip and feel like we know DC almost as well as our own home. We dream of taking our family for a summer month-long visit sometime in the future. We'll go back someday, but for now we will say farewell to the East Coast.

King and I

2010-11-16T08:33:00.000-08:00

Another of our Veteran's Day weekend family fun activities included attending the local high school production of The King and I. We have been anticipating this show for many months now because we have several relatives in the show!

I love any chance we get to take the kids (and Jeremy) to see a live theater production. That is the culture I always wanted my family to enjoy together. This play is a small piece of my childhood. I was raised on this movie - singing the songs over and over. I did my first ballet performance to the song "Getting to know you" from The King and I. Here's a nice flashback picture of that moment...

Love that huge lacy sequined bib and bow on that costume! I got to wear make up and everything. And what the heck was that hairdo all about? No, it wasn't pulled back in a pony tail - that was my super short haircut! And mom was pregnant with Jordan. Awwww. How weird is it that today I am the same age as my mom was in this picture? Ooh. That's weird!

That's enough reminiscing for now.. let's get back to the show! We all had some favorite scenes:

The introduction of the the King's 57 children

That's Trevor's BFF/cousin Jacob in the green vest.

"Getting to Know You" - I sang all the words right along with the actors!

These headpieces were something else. Check them out!! The costumes in this part of the show were fabulous. The reenactment of "The Small House of Uncle Thomas" was my favorite scene of the entire play. "Run Eliza run! Run Eliza run!" That Eliza was a great little actress.

And finally we get to the lovers... ahhhh.... Lun Tha and Tuptim. These 2 characters hold a special place in our hearts because one of them is ZACHARY! Zach is our cousin, nephew, and neighbor. He did a fabulous job on his part. His vocals were the best of the entire cast. What a voice he has!!

Here are their 2 love songs caught on video. The first is"We Kiss In a Shadow". And I missed his first line! Shoot! But you get the idea anyway.

And the second is entitled "I Have Dreamed".

Good job to all the kids that were a part of this production. Our family enjoyed being entertained by a live theater show for the evening. And we came away with some vocabulary lessons (they really were paying attention!), "Mom, what does et cetera mean?" And so on and so forth the vocab lessons continued...

Megamind: The Review

2010-11-12T07:51:00.000-08:00

It is the Vetran's weekend - a most anticipated 4-day weekend. We made a list of all things fun we wanted to accomplish before we had to go back to school/work and we are well on our way to having a most relaxing entertaining family fun weekend of all time!

One thing we wanted to do on our weekend extravaganza was go see a movie. A real full price new release movie. We are movie loving people here and I had 2 groupons of FREE movie tix for our family that needed to be used. Our movie of choice? MEGAMIND. The latest animated family film. Starring the voices of Will Ferrell, Brad Pitt, Tina Fey, and Jonah Hill.

There were only a few laugh out loud moments. And the storyline was totally predictable (As we were driving over to the theater Jeremy told us how he thought it would all turn out in the end and he was right!) Even the dialogue was predictable! Having never seen this movie before, I said some of the lines right along with the characters.

During the movie you'll ask yourself: How do you pronounce the name of that city? Metro City or Metrocity?

If you love Will Ferrell then this movie is definitely for you. He is ALL OVER and through, inside and out this movie.

Here were our reactions when I asked everyone, "what did they think of the movie?" as we walked away from the theater:

Me: meh.
Jeremy: It was ok.
Logan: But it wasn't better than Dragon. (Our new favorite movie is "How to Train a Dragon". We watch it at least once a day right now.)

Overall we give it 3 brain bots out of 5.

This movie was totally family friendly. Take your children young and old as it is appropriate for all ages. But, I think we could call it a rental.

Logan wins AGAIN!!

2010-11-11T06:00:00.000-08:00

The Fall Sports Awards Assembly was Tuesday, November 9th. Logan was honored like no other! His name was mentioned at least 6 times throughout the presentation. He was the first Cross Country athlete to be given an award - and boy, was it a good one! He received MVP for his team. What an honor! His coach had so many nice things to say about our boy. She even pressured him to continue running next year. (We'll see what Logan decides to pursue next year - football or cross country? Both are equally pulling at him...)

Here's Logan with his MVP trophy. Wow! He was so thrilled!! The coaches made up these cool t-shirts for all the kids that were selected to go to District Championships. Logan was so excited about the shirt that he put it on right away.

Logan was lucky to have such great coaches. They were so kind and supportive of all the runners out there. One of the coaches was Logan's kindergarten teacher - those kindergarten teachers are amazing people to begin with. :)

That is officially the end of the Fall Sports Season for Logan. He has begun his winter season wrestling practices and is enjoying learning something new. Soon, he will be out there in his fancy singlet taking down other kids on those wrestling mats.

DC 2010 Day 4

2010-11-10T08:37:00.000-08:00

September 14, 2010

Day 2 of the Intel itinerary took Jeremy to Capitol Hill to meet our state representative Jim Costa and senator Barbara Boxer.

While in the Capitol, Jeremy secured tickets for us to see the Senate proceedings which we used later that day.

Sorry, no pictures allowed inside. Here we are outside the Capitol. Nice and shiny, hot and sweaty, from lots of walking. We got to sit inside the Senate room and watch some real life Health Care proceedings.

This picture I found on Google Images. The room wasn't nearly this full while we were there, but it looks just like this. This view looks like it was taken from the exact spot we were sitting in the Senate. It was an amazing experience to sit in this room and watch our government at work.

The culminating event for this trip was the awards ceremony held this evening. It was a black tie affair - note the fabulous hair do and fancy clothes. We were served a lovely dinner and then the award ceremony began. It was a nail biting experience waiting to see who the winner would be.

Jeremy's school was named a finalist, but not the overall winner. They were pleased to have made it to the finals even thought they did not win in the end.

It was a fun night full of good food and good company, and we were all grateful to have been given the opportunity to take this fabulous trip. We had one more day of vacation to look forward to and we were determined to have a great last day.

Jackson the dare devil

2010-11-09T08:08:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday we took the kids out to the BMX bike park. Jackson had never been out to this park mostly because all the hills and bumps are much to big for him and his little 12 inch bike. After about 45 minutes we found some small bumps that he could handle. He took the first 3 really well - he LOVED the thrill of flying down the other side of the bump!! Hill #4 was slightly bigger than the previous 3 and he didn't make it all the way to the top. His bike rolled backwards, he fell to the ground, and slid back down the hill all twisted in his bike scraping up his hands on the way. He stood up wailing, crying, and blubbering on!! I tried to comfort him, but he just wouldn't have it. I kissed his scraped hands and tried to snuggle him to make it better. He was SO upset! Come to find out he wasn't crying about his hands or the pain. He was purely frustrated with the fact that he was to small! That he wasn't big enough to ride the bumps like the big boys!

Oh, my risk-taking, thrill-seeking, dare devil boy!

During the last 20 minutes of our stay at the park, Jackson wanted to try the smaller speed bumps on the main course. Jeremy ran right behind him hanging onto his back the whole time to make sure he made it up and over every one. Jeremy ran behind him twice as he rode this course and Jackson was in dare-devil heaven! Finally! Something he could do!! Jackson was so confident that he attempted the bumps all on his own. He fell. But he did not fall hard nor did he cry. He came up laughing at his spill! He got right back up and started again.

He ended up riding those smaller speed bumps several times. And was even sure enough of himself to ride without a helmet.

I know, I know. We are looking forward to some serious injuries in the future. He will be into anything and everything dangerous. He is ALL boy that is for sure. Nothing makes his daddy more proud than to see his boy enjoy the outdoor extreme sports.

Lizzie wins an Art Contest!

2010-11-08T06:59:00.001-08:00

Lizzie's class at school had an art day earlier this year. They were given blue, red, and black paint to create a patriotic painting.

Here's the description of Lizzie's artwork in her own words:
"That's the street and the sidewalk. The flag is on the sidewalk at our school. It's raining. And that's the sky [at the very top]. And there's also clouds mixed in with the rain."

We had no idea that Lizzie's artwork had been entered into a contest. Lizzie came home from school with an invitation to an "Art Gallery Reception" for all the winners. Lizzie had taken 2nd place in the district! Awesome!

Congratulations Lizzie! You are a magnificent artist full of endless creativity!

DC 2010 Day 3

2010-11-04T06:00:00.000-07:00

September 13, 2010

We stayed in two hotels on this trip. The first was a nice Marriott and this second hotel was a 4 diamond Mayflower Renaissance. It was beautiful! Thank you Intel :) They paid for all of Jeremy's travel expenses including this lovely room!

I spent some quality time in this sweet sitting area while Jeremy was busy with Intel business. This trip offered me the perfect opportunity to finally finish the Mockingjay book (the 3rd/final book in the Hunger Games series). The book and sitting area were equally fantastic.

Day 3 began the Intel itinerary of our trip. It started out with a fantastic buffet breakfast and then each school did a 10 minute presentation about their programs. Jeremy agonized over this presentation for months! It was a perfectly put together power point and narrative all about his school and the exemplary things they do there.

Following the presentations all of the participants were invited to get to know each other by joining in a "City Caper". We were sent in teams throughout the city to find clues and work together to end up at our final destination - the National Zoo. We spent 3 hours working our way through the challenges before we arrived at the Zoo. We were so happy we made it!

While at the zoo, the Intel staff served us dinner in the Small Mammal House. Unfortunately, we were there after hours and most of the animals had been put away. We didn't see more than a few critters during our stay at the zoo.

Logan goes to District Championships

2010-11-02T19:01:00.001-07:00

Logan is the family runner. The child that enjoys running. The one who doesn't even break a sweat when he finishes a race. Well... this boy has done well in his cross country season. He won all but 2 of his races (he placed 2nd and 3rd in those). Because of all that running success he was given the opportunity to run in the District Championship race - against all the other winners from 30 elementary schools in our area. And today was the big race.

Logan did not sleep much the night before. He woke very early this morning with race nerves already kicking in. He had himself quite worked up over this event. So much pressure to run against 120 kids that are just as good as you!

Here are our photos from this afternoon:

The line-up. YES, there really were 120 4th grade boys out there!

Here's a close-up of Logan just before the guy said, "Take your marks" and then shot off the gun.

It was a very quick race. We'll get his time tomorrow, but for now we'll just say it was quick. Start to finish in about 5 minutes. We got to see the start and then ran over to the finish line to cheer him on. Here comes Logan down the final chute to the finish line. See the look of agony on his face if you can zoom in. He was working harder than we've ever seen!

He came out of the runners area gasping for breath and sweating - finally sweating! He was exhausted and physically fatigued, but he had placed in the top 10. Logan had his heart set on placing in the top 7 so he could receive a medal. He finished 9th and got a ribbon and a free t-shirt instead. They handed it to him almost immediately after crossing the finish line.

He was disappointed at first because he didn't get that medal he had his eye on, but in the end we finally convinced him that really did better than most of the kids out there. Only 15 people got to take home an award - and he was one of them! He also felt better after a treat from the gas station - a 2 liter ice cold bottle of water and a new cap gun. Remember, the gas station always makes everything better. :)

Logan has done some amazing things this season and we cannot be more proud. He always tries his best in whatever task is at hand. All that hard work paid off. Big time. He's the only kid I've ever heard say, "I like cross country!" and actually mean it. He really enjoyed his time out there!

For now, we will put away our token cross country cheer, "Run, Logan, RUN!" now that the season is over. And look forward to the next sport season. . . . Wrestling!

The Costumes

2010-11-02T08:53:00.000-07:00

Trevor: Biker

Logan: Indiana Jones

Lizzie: Doctor Lizzie

Jackson: Star Wars Clone Trooper

Do they look excited to go to the Ward Halloween Party or what!?

Happy Halloween from the Wards

2010-10-30T08:00:00.000-07:00

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Trevor's Arrow of Light

2010-10-29T06:43:00.000-07:00

When Trevor turned 11 years old he entered a new phase of scouting. A special pack meeting was held to honor his accomplishments as a cub scout and celebrate his passage into 11-year old scouts. 11-year old scouts are no longer cub scouts. They are Boy Scouts.

Trevor was awarded his Arrow of Light award at this pack meeting. The Arrow of Light award is the highest award available to Cub Scouts. It requires the Scout to have earned the Webelos Scout badge and eight activity badges. The Arrow of Light award is the only Cub Scout award that can be worn on a Boy Scout uniform.

Along with his arrow of light patch, Trevor was presented with an actual Arrow of Light, made by his dad.

Trevor and his best buddy, Jacob, were both awarded on the same night. After they finished the Arrow of Light ceremony they made the symbolic journey through the tunnel to the new world of Boy Scouts. They were greeted by their new scout leaders on the other side. It was a special moment. A HUGE moment to be more specific. This award was the last one Trevor would receive as a cub scout!

This upcoming year will be full of "lasts and firsts" for our Trevor boy. He is growing up so quickly. We are excited to see him mature and grow, but wish we could hold on to those younger moments just a little bit longer. Since Trevor was a baby, people have been offering the advice, "Enjoy them while they're young. They grow so fast." It is only now that I am finally realizing the brutal truth in that statement that I heard over and over as a young mother.

For now, we will look forward to many more years of scouting in Boy Scouts! Trevor will learn and grow so much in the coming years. We are proud of him for making so many good choices and working so hard to earn this highest award in Cub Scouts.

Congratulations Trevor!!

DC 2010 Day 2

2010-10-28T17:59:00.000-07:00

September 12, 2010

It was only one month before this trip we jumped into the Alias TV series. That show is all about spies, CIA, and bad guys. To say the least, we feel like we know spy work up and down, backwards and forwards because of our dedication to this show. As it turns out, there is an International Spy Museum in Washington DC. We had never before visited the Spy Museum, but now that we had this new obsession with Alias, and all things spy related, we knew we had to do it. We were not allowed to take pictures inside due to Top Secret stuff on display throughout. The very end of the museum experience is a video presentation about real life international spies - all bad guys - that have been caught and found guilty of so many crimes. We were wholly entertained and enlightened about the world of spies. This museum was a fun experience for all ages (just maybe not for those younger kids).

On this day of our trip we saw many people on the metro and groups of people walking the streets of DC wearing matching t-shirts and carrying flags. We came to find out that there was a Tea Party rally happening today at the Capitol. After the Spy Museum we made our way to the National Mall and found this great crowd of protesters out in front of the Capitol. It was a peaceful gathering that lasted the entire day. Special guest speakers and musicians took the stage this day to protest big government and support lower taxes, less government and more freedom!

We had planned to visit a few National Smithsonian Museums on this day. (The Capitol, Smithsonians, and Spy Museum are all within walking distance of each other.) The U.S. Botanic Garden, established by Congress in 1820, is a living plant museum located on the National Mall across from the U.S. Capitol. Neither of us had ever been there and wanted to walk through for a quick tour. We saw a few fun plants, real bananas growing on a tree, and a Venus Fly Trap.

We visited two different art museums today. The first was the American Art Museum which had been advertised all over the city with banners of Stephen Spielberg and George Lucas showing their Norman Rockwell collections. The name of their exhibit was called "Telling Stories". "Lucas and Spielberg recognized a kindred spirit in Rockwell and formed significant collections of his work. Rockwell’s paintings and the films of Lucas and Spielberg evoke love of country, small town values, children growing up, unlikely heroes, acts of imagination and life’s ironies." (No pictures were allowed at this exhibit.) It was fascinating to see the vastness of their combined collections and enjoy them.

The second art museum we visited was the National Gallery of Art. We specifically located the Impressionist Era paintings so Jeremy could see some Monets for the first time! Look at these lovely works of art. They are original paintings!

Monet . . . . . . . . . . & . . . . . . . . . . . .Picasso

In the evening, we made our way over to the Natural History Museum. We got there at the end of visiting hours and had time to see one thing, a 40 foot squid! This picture is of a real life - dead/preserved squid. Ew!

We were allowed to stay in the building longer than the other guests because we had tickets to see the IMAX movie The Wildest Dream: Conquest of Everest.

Outside the theater was a statue that inspired the character from the Night at the Museum movies. "Dum dum, you give me gum gum."

Ben's Chili Bowl was our destination of choice for dinner tonight. Ben's is famous for it's chili and having been visited by many different celebrities; namely, Bill Cosby and Barack Obama. We went to experience the food and the atmosphere. And boy did we get both! We ordered so much food: A chili hot link, a chili burger, and chili cheese fries!

Thank heavens for those late night food joints. We had a hard time adjusting to East Coast Time and wound up eating dinner at 9 and 10 every night! Dinner left us stuffed and overly full. We rolled ourselves back to hotel to soak in the hotel hot tub to rest and rejuvenate our weary legs for the next day's adventures.

DC 2010 Day 1

2010-10-27T08:51:00.000-07:00

September 11, 2010

Back in September, Jeremy and I got to take a second trip to Washington DC. (Our last trip was last November in 2009. Check out our last adventure here, here, here, here, here, and here.) This year, Jeremy's school was a finalist for the Intel School of Distinction Award. Intel invited Jeremy and some of his coworkers out to Washington DC for a 3-day event surrounding the award proceedings. We wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to see more sights than we got to see last time. We booked our flight and hotel so we could arrive a few days before the Intel itinerary began so we could have more time to see and do what we wanted. We arrived late September 10th and began our touring on September 11th.

Mount Vernon was our first destination on this trip. We chose to take public transportation and ended up on the metro and bus system for over 2 hours each way! The time travel was definitely worth it as we very much enjoyed touring the grounds and the new museum.

I was overwhelmed with the reverent feeling at all of the burial sites especially at the unmarked graves in the slaves' cemetery. A small monument was inscribed with "Faith, Hope, and Love" to honor those men and women who worked at Mt. Vernon.

Jeremy's favorite part of our Mt. Vernon tour was walking the forest path. He feels so at home and content in the woods.

We finished our visit to Mt. Vernon in the new museum. We saw many of Washington's old letters, clothing, weapons, and even his own dentures! Ew!

We finished up at Mt. Vernon and took our 2 1/2 hour ride back into the city. Once there, we made our way to Old Ebbitt Grill. It is a famous restaurant in Washington D.C. This eatery was the #1 recommended dining experience from everyone we asked. It is literally steps from the White House and many former presidents have eaten here. Jeremy chose the gnocchi dish while Jennifer went for the traditional fish and chips platter. Both entrees were delicious as you can see by the satisfied look on Jeremy's face.

Following our fine dinner at Old Ebbitt Grill we walked over to the White House. We noticed that the flag was at half mast, in honor of September 11th today. We also saw a guard perched on the roof!

We stayed only a short time at the White House and then hopped on the metro to ride out to Georgetown - a destination we'd never been before. We saw beautiful homes and hoards of people walking the streets of this swanky upscale historical neighborhood.
This picture doesn't do justice to the neighborhood. The homes were so beautiful with their colonial doors, brick work, wrought iron, and painted shutters. We've always wanted to have a house that has all of these characteristics. Maybe someday... but for now, we will be content to dream.

Day 1 of our trip ended back in the hotel room. Jeremy & Jennifer snuggled in front of the laptop watching an entire disc (4 episodes) of Alias - our latest obsession. We brought 3 Alias Netflix discs on this trip to occupy any down time and to watch on our flights. After that first night we knew we needed to pace ourselves or we'd finish off all those episodes before we left for home!