End of the year Awards

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!

Lizzie takes 2nd Place

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.

Lizzie Hits the Slopes

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!

kids say the darndest things

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.

Lizzie turns 7!

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!!

Lizzie wins an Art Contest!

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!

Crazy hair = crazy girl!

For Red Ribbon Week our kids' school likes to have the students come in a themed dress each day of the week. Monday was "wear your pjs", Tuesday was "crazy hair day", Wednesday was "wear your clothes backwards day"... you get the idea. Lizzie was quite proud of her crazy hair and had a great time modeling for the camera at the end of the day. (This hairdo stayed nicely in place from 7:15 AM - 8:15 PM!!)

Thank you Red Ribbon Week for all the fun and crazy mornings this week.

She's a big girl now!

We have been talking about getting Lizzie's ears pierced for awhile now. She wanted to have an "Ear Piercing 6th Birthday Party" back in January where all of her little girlfriends would go to the shop and get their ears done! We quickly nixed that plan, but continued to talk about when would be a good time to get her ears pierced.

I always said that I'd love for her to wear earrings - I would've loved her to have had them when she was a baby (Call it my culture coming out in me; babies with earrings are sooo cute!), but I knew it was smart to wait until she was old enough to 1. want them for herself and 2. be old enough to care for her ears on her own.

Jeremy and I never really discussed this ear piercing scenario for our daughter. We never decided on an age or event that would define the time when we were ok with her getting her ears pierced. This lack of planning caused some family friction for awhile. Lizzie mentioned wanting to get her ears pierced. Mommy was excited that she was finally aware and excited about it. Daddy was not so sure he wanted his little girl growing up faster than he was ready. After much persuading (from Mommy) and pleading (from Lizzie) and another outside influence (the cousins next door getting their ears done the week before) Daddy finally gave the gave in.

Maddy and Emma (who got their ears pierced the week before) were willing and excited to come with Lizzie to Claire's and help her through this memorable life-moment. Lizzie was prepared for the pain (thank you to Emma and Maddy for detailing their experiences several times over); the pain factor is what held her back initially, but after the convincing of the cousins Lizzie finally decided it would be worth it and that it really wouldn't be that bad.

She took her time choosing the perfect pair of earrings that would be cute and match everything she wore for those first 8 weeks - perfect "diamonds" set in a gold plated post. It's all about fashion these days, people.

The lady in the store was helpful and accommodating. She suggested we have both ears done at the same time so the pinching sensation would only happen once. She gave Lizzie the "Claire Bear" to hold onto while they did the piercing. The lady took her time choosing the correct placement. Can you see her calm face masking her racing heart!?

Ready?

Set?
Maddy and Emma each held one of her hands for moral support...



Pinch!



Ta-dah! Beautiful new earrings!

Here are the 3 cute girl cousins with their freshly pierced ears. Ooh la la. Don't they look stunning?

It was a big day for mama and daughter. I was so happy that she was so brave. She didn't shed one tear! Lizzie really is one tough girl. At the same time there was a pang of sadness. This was the only time my girl would get her ears pierced. I've waited my whole motherhood for this moment and now it's come and gone. I just didn't quite prepare myself for Lizzie to have a "coming-of-age" experience when she was just 6 years old. Anticipation is a tricky tricky thing. My baby girl is no longer a baby. She's a big girl now!

Of course, the happiness outweighs any sad feelings. We are all happy she's got her new earrings. She looks and feels like a princess. And her ears are healing nicely. There is no more soreness or redness. She remembers to clean her ears every day without a reminder from mom and she does it all on her own - exactly how we wanted it to be.

Next comes the which-earrings-are-appropriate-for-little-girls battle. Any pointers or advice from you experienced mothers?

school days, school days, back to school once more

Trevor's the old man on campus in 6th grade!
Logan's stoked to be an upper-grader in 4th grade!
Lizzie cannot contain her enthusiasm for 1st grade!
Who would've thought it would be so exciting to eat lunch in the cafeteria?

The first day of school began quickly. The kids were up earlier than usual - giddy, excited, and nervous for the day they'd been anticipating since 3 days ago. (Reality never sets in for these kids until it is nearly upon them.) They dressed quickly and got their shoes and socks on in record time. And what beautiful NEW shoes they were!

Jeremy made a delicious first day of school German Pancake breakfast then hopped in the shower while they baked.

Then the smoke alarm went off.

Mass chaos ensued while mama tried to persuade the smoke coming from the oven to go outside.

Jeremy's yelling from upstairs, "WHAT'S GOING ON DOWN THERE!?"
[the smoke alarm continues to screech]
The kids are all yelling simultaneously in response:
"THE OVEN'S BURNING!"
"DAD, IT'S OK!"
"IT'S JUST SMOKE!"

Jeremy yells again because he can't hear a dang thing they're saying, "DO YOU NEED HELP?!?!"
The kids yell back again trying to outdo the volume of the ear piercing smoke alarms:
"THE OVEN'S BURNING!"
"DAD, IT'S OK!"
"IT'S JUST SMOKE!"

Jeremy yells again, "DO YOU NEED HELP?!?!"
The kids finally get that he can't understand when they're all answering him at the same time. They all yell at him in unison, "NO!"

Just then the alarms quit. *Sigh of relief.*

The volume of those smoke alarm were... well... alarming! Oh, the ringing in our ears! No worries, it was only some butter burning off the bottom of the oven that spilled over the side of the pan that caused all that commotion.

The yummy pancakes were eaten in record time. And then lunches were packed while the kids ran outside to take some back to school photos with dad.

We ran out the door (without the carefully prepared lunches! Ah! Completely forgot to pack the lunches INTO the backpacks!) and drove over to the school for the traditional first day of school "parent drop off". There we met up with some of the kids' good buddies and took some more embarrassing pictures before saying our final goodbyes.

All in all it was a great start to the 2010-2011 school year. (- besides that smoke alarm business and forgetting of the lunches.) We can't wait to see what this year has in store for us!

Frosty Loss

We were at Wendy's 2 nights ago for an FHE treat. Lizzie chose the vanilla frosty - her favorite! She also chose to eat her frosty with a straw. Doesn't she know how how difficult that is? Well she does now. She was sucking on her straw so hard that it pulled her loose tooth right out! (The bottom right tooth was the one that came out - those two front teeth came out ages ago and her new ones are coming in so nicely.)

So, if you ever need to pull out a stubborn loose tooth you can head right over to Wendy's and order a frosty. It's a fun and tasty way to perform this difficult task.

P.S. Make sure to check out Jeremy in the background also enjoying his Frosty Root Beer Float!

Wizard of Oz on stage!

Last week I got to take Lizzie to a live production of the Wizard of Oz. It was done by the Clovis Community summer theater Centerstage production. I had never seen Wizard of Oz on stage before. It was a great show!

There are 2 songs unique to the stage show - not in the Judy Garland movie version. It was quite a treat to hear and see these "additions" to the show. The many background screen changes were so impressive. The costuming was a feast for the eyes.

Lizzie's favorite part of the show was the Jitterbug scene (one of the new ones). She thought those bright neon pink and green costumes were so fun!

My favorite part of the show was the tornado sequence with Ms. Gulch riding on her bike in the tornado and then quickly changing to the witch flying on her broom! And those crazy flying monkeys were the best (not to scary and had some funny bits too).

I would say that this version was definitely geared more towards a younger crowd. The costuming, the lighting, the aerodynamics/flying, and shortened storyline all work together to make a family friendly theater experience.

Here are the details for the run of the show if you'd like to attend:
July 22-24 and 29-31
7:30 curtain
1:30 matinee on Saturdays
Doors open 30 minutes before the show. Seating is first come first serve.
$5 - $15 Tickets

Summer Games

Our kids have discovered some new games this summer. It has been fun to see them get excited about new things. It seems like we stick with the same ol' same ol' for so long and it's hard to break away from that. This summer they've all gravitated toward different interests. Here are each of their latest obsessions:

Jackson: CLUB PENGUIN

This little boy can log on to Club Penguin at any time. He has his own penguin, house, puffle, and items he's "purchased" for his living area. He loves playing the games and buying new things for his wardrobe and his igloo.



Logan: FUSION FALL

He is content to spend hours and hours in front of the screen on this game. All I know about this game is that it's made by Cartoon Network and the kids all wanted to try it out after seeing the advertisements between TV shows. He logged on, created a username and password, and hogs the computer all day long




Lizzie: OLD MAID

Lizzie spent some time at Gramma Elizabeth's house this summer. She came home with this "new" card game called Old Maid. (We'd never played this game at our house before and she was sooo excited to teach us something new!) She has taught everyone in the house how to play. She sounds like an expert as she teaches the rules and explains exactly what an old maid is. She looks so cute hiding behind her fan of cards trying NOT to choose the Old Maid from another player's hand.











Trevor: RISK the game of world domination

Trevor discovered this board game at Family Camp this year. All the big boys were playing the game and he got sucked in. He was OBSESSED. They played for hours and hours 2 days in a row trying to conquer the world! When we got home from camp he had to keep playing. We decided it would be a good investment for our family to spend some quality bonding time together so we purchased it from Target. We played 1 game - for 6 HOURS! Oh boy. We had fun, for sure, but wow. It is time consuming! Anyone that will "risk" the time commitment to play this game is welcome to come on over and feed Trevor's need to dominate the world.

lazy daisy day

One of the things I've always loved about summer are the plentiful grassy fields of those white dandelion flowers. While sitting at Logan's summer league baseball game we discovered huge patches of these flowers. I asked Lizzie if she'd ever made a daisy chain before and she said no. How did my girl come this far in life without ever experiencing a homemade flower necklace?!

We promptly set to work and made her a beautiful jewelry set. Tiara, bracelet and ring. It only took a few minutes to teach Lizzie how to make these gorgeous accessories. She got to hear "when I was a little girl..." stories while we linked the flowers together. By the time we were finished she felt like a beautiful flower fairy princess.

Thank you lazy summer days for these lovely mother/daughter moments.

104 days of summer vacation

We're finding good ways to spend our summer vacation - like making an air guitar music video!

How 'bout you?

"Mo-m! Phineas and Ferb are making a title sequence!!"

Public Notice

A new sign has been posted on Lizzie's bedroom door. Please take note:

"Do not come in. Private. It is a secret. If you want to come in you need to pay $1."

We will definitely be taking this announcement seriously. It is, after all, perfectly printed on spaghetti paper. How can you disrespect such a request?!

Lizzie says good-bye to Kindergarten

Lizzie and her class prepared for months to be ready for this end of the year program. She tried her best to keep the songs a secret from us at home so her program would be a big surprise. Lizzie just couldn't contain her enthusiasm - she sang those songs every day, she knew them backwards and forwards, and so did we!

The program was held in the cafeteria. That room was packed! There were wall to wall parents in that place. The kids looked so nice in their nice outfits, "nice, but not too fancy" as per the teacher's instructions.

I got 3 of her songs on film. The 3rd one was done at home with her BFF from school. My favorite part is when Benny holds his sign upside down - so cute! Pay close attention and you'll see that Lizzie knows every word to EVERY song! This girl LOVES to sing!

After the program the kindergarten teachers had arranged a reception in the kindergarten play area. It was complete with goodies, juice boxes, parents and friends. We took the opportunity to snap a few pictures:

The STAR of the show,

her adoring fans,

the most awesomest kindergarten teacher ever,

and some of Lizzie's kindergarten buddies.

Lizzie had a great kindergarten year. She had the best teacher and made lots of new friends. She excelled in her academics, loved learning, and loved going to school each day. She earned straight "C's" on her report card (C for completed). She finished out the year at reading level 4. And is ready for first grade! Lizzie can't wait to stay longer days at school and eat lunch in the cafeteria. It's the little things in life that make it so exciting to be a kid. :)

KINDERGARTEN IS THE BEST!